The Charlie Kirk Show - December 19, 2025


Erika Kirk's Opening Speech at AmFest 2025


Episode Stats


Length

20 minutes

Words per minute

124.754906

Word count

2,545

Sentence count

234


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, I talk about how the enemy has thrown curveballs at us over the past three months and how we have managed to overcome them. I also talk about some of the crazy things that have happened in the past year and a half leading up to AMFEST.

Transcript

Transcripts from "The Charlie Kirk Show" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
00:00:03.000 My name is Charlie Kirk.
00:00:05.000 I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country fighting for the future of our republic.
00:00:11.000 My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth.
00:00:14.000 If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're going to end up miserable.
00:00:19.000 But if the most important thing is doing good, you'll end up purposeful.
00:00:24.000 College is a scam, everybody.
00:00:26.000 You got to stop sending your kids to college.
00:00:27.000 You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible.
00:00:31.000 Go start a Turning Point USA college chapter.
00:00:33.000 Go start a Turning Point USA high school chapter.
00:00:35.000 Go find out how your church can get involved.
00:00:37.000 Sign up and become an activist.
00:00:39.000 I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade.
00:00:41.000 Most important decision I ever made in my life, and I encourage you to do the same.
00:00:45.000 Here I am.
00:00:46.000 Lord, use me.
00:00:48.000 Buckle up, everybody.
00:00:49.000 Here we go.
00:00:56.000 The Charlie Kirk Show is proudly sponsored by Preserve Gold, the leading gold and silver experts and the only precious metals company I recommend to my family, friends, and viewers.
00:01:19.000 This is a full circle moment for me.
00:01:25.000 Two years ago, my husband stood on this stage and said, Here I am, Lord.
00:01:37.000 Use me.
00:01:39.000 And boy, did he.
00:01:46.000 You know, it's really interesting.
00:01:51.000 The enemy has thrown a lot of curveballs at us today and this week in the past three months.
00:01:58.000 And one of them is the fact that my entire speech has been wiped because my iPad won't even turn on.
00:02:05.000 So that's a fun technical difficulty that we can figure out.
00:02:09.000 So we're just going to wing it.
00:02:12.000 We're just going to wing it.
00:02:17.000 I was going to share with you stats.
00:02:20.000 I was going to share with you all the things that we have going on building.
00:02:25.000 So I'm going to just start it off with this.
00:02:27.000 So last year, Charlie, I'll rewind.
00:02:34.000 Amphest is Charlie's Super Bowl.
00:02:37.000 Thank you.
00:02:38.000 These are the stats.
00:02:39.000 I got the stats.
00:02:40.000 No speech.
00:02:41.000 So again, we're going to wing it.
00:02:44.000 So Amfest last year, Charlie reminded me that this was his Super Bowl.
00:02:51.000 And for those of you who are sitting in the back, my husband was very intentional about making sure he was in the back because he wanted to sit in what he considered maybe the worst seat in the arena.
00:03:03.000 And he made it a point to listen to the whole intro video, every speaker video, and he would tell the team, louder, more bass, more noise.
00:03:16.000 He would say, there's a treble and a bass knob.
00:03:19.000 Turn the ones to make it right.
00:03:21.000 So even if you feel like you're in the worst seat in the house, you're not, because Charlie's sit in one of those.
00:03:26.000 So you're in good company up there.
00:03:33.000 But what's also very interesting is that when Charlie first and the team first came up with, since I don't have a speech, I might as well just walk around.
00:03:42.000 When Charlie first came up with Amfest, he thought to himself, who would not love to celebrate America?
00:03:52.000 So we're going to name it Amfest.
00:03:54.000 And that's what he did.
00:03:57.000 And I'll never forget, last year, we were blessed to have President Trump come and speak.
00:04:07.000 And afterwards, Charlie turns to me, starts running.
00:04:15.000 Like, where are you going?
00:04:17.000 He's like, I'm about to go on Air Force One.
00:04:19.000 I'm in heels trying to chase him to figure out what is going on.
00:04:24.000 He goes, okay, so I got to get on Air Force One.
00:04:26.000 I was like, good for you, baby.
00:04:27.000 He's like, okay, so I need you to close out the AMFest, and I need you to do the staff meeting afterwards.
00:04:34.000 And I was like, excuse me?
00:04:35.000 He's like, yeah, you're closing out AMFEST.
00:04:37.000 And I was like, I am not closing out AMFest.
00:04:40.000 He's like, yes, you are.
00:04:41.000 And I said, what am I supposed to say?
00:04:43.000 And he goes, you'll figure it out.
00:04:45.000 That's why I married you.
00:04:47.000 I was like, you always say that to me.
00:04:48.000 Whenever we're in a position where we won't, like, there's no script, there's nothing.
00:04:53.000 He's like, baby, you'll figure it out.
00:04:54.000 That's why I married you.
00:04:56.000 So again, here we are.
00:04:59.000 Right.
00:05:00.000 So now we're opening AMFEST.
00:05:04.000 But what's so interesting and what I have learned so much within these past three months, again, the enemy.
00:05:15.000 But he will never win.
00:05:16.000 We know we're on the winning side.
00:05:18.000 God is so good.
00:05:20.000 So Charlie loved to share AMFest stats.
00:05:24.000 So that's what we're going to do really quick.
00:05:27.000 He would love for you guys to know that 80% of the attendees have never attended a TEAP USA event before.
00:05:34.000 So thank you for everyone who is new.
00:05:36.000 Welcome home.
00:05:38.000 Turning point USA is your home and we're loving that you're here.
00:05:42.000 One-third of the attendees are students.
00:05:46.000 54, yeah.
00:05:49.000 We love our students.
00:05:51.000 54% are female attendees.
00:05:58.000 Okay.
00:06:01.000 We have 40 breakout sessions, 178 sponsors, all 50 states represented.
00:06:12.000 We have 25 countries represented plus Puerto Rico, but I have the list here.
00:06:19.000 Don't worry, guys, Egypt is not on the list.
00:06:23.000 Don't worry about that.
00:06:28.000 But, oh, how funny.
00:06:30.000 I say Egypt and my iPad turns on.
00:06:35.000 That's fun.
00:06:37.000 Where were we?
00:06:39.000 Okay.
00:06:40.000 So anyways, the past three months I have learned a lot.
00:06:46.000 You learn very quickly who is ready to go to war with you.
00:06:50.000 You learn very quickly who thinks emotionally versus logically when you go through something as horrible that not only myself went through, but every single one of you in here that loved my husband.
00:07:07.000 You find out who stays with you, who leaves.
00:07:13.000 You find out a lot.
00:07:13.000 You find out who's going to pray with you when there's no words left.
00:07:19.000 And you also learn some unexpected things, like the fact that Joy Reid probably needs a really, really good hug.
00:07:27.000 And honestly, I'm here for it if she needs it.
00:07:30.000 I got a good hug for you.
00:07:33.000 Good hug for you.
00:07:35.000 I'll even touch the back of your head, but I love you guys.
00:07:48.000 But here's what I've learned the most in these past three months is that my husband, he deeply mattered on a multitude of levels, so much so that it proved even more once he was assassinated how much of a peacemaker he was and how much of a coalition builder he was.
00:08:11.000 Because when he was assassinated, we saw infighting.
00:08:17.000 We've seen fractures.
00:08:20.000 We've seen bridges being burned that shouldn't be burnt.
00:08:26.000 We saw a lot on full display.
00:08:29.000 And what I knew as a wife, and I'm the same exact way as him.
00:08:37.000 If you are trying to put up fight or flight mode, we're always fight mode.
00:08:42.000 We don't retreat.
00:08:44.000 Charlie would go wherever he needed to go, and I'm the same exact way.
00:08:49.000 Same exact way.
00:08:50.000 And you'll learn that.
00:08:52.000 You'll learn that about me the more that you get to know me.
00:08:55.000 I know I'm new here.
00:08:56.000 I'm new here, but you'll learn.
00:08:59.000 You'll learn.
00:09:00.000 Him and I were not afraid of that.
00:09:03.000 And that's also why the past several months, several weeks, I honored my husband by completing all of his pre-planned fall media tour hits for his book, his any commitment he had.
00:09:22.000 I wanted to honor that for him.
00:09:25.000 I wasn't going on a media tour myself.
00:09:27.000 This was for my husband.
00:09:29.000 Because in our household, our word is our bond.
00:09:32.000 And when you give it, you uphold it.
00:09:35.000 So I honored my husband that way.
00:09:39.000 And so what I'm inspired by is the fact that Charlie and I, again, will go wherever we need to go, but so will you.
00:09:48.000 That's why you guys are here.
00:09:50.000 All of you are here because you know that you're sitting saying, I want to do something.
00:09:56.000 So that's why you came here.
00:09:58.000 You came here to meet other people to know that you're not in this fight alone.
00:10:04.000 You're here for a purpose.
00:10:05.000 God made you for a purpose.
00:10:07.000 Students, raise your hands.
00:10:09.000 Out of those students, drop your hands if, put your hand up if you're in high school.
00:10:14.000 Okay, all of you.
00:10:19.000 I love it.
00:10:20.000 I love my high schoolers.
00:10:25.000 Charlie had a very special place in his heart for Club America.
00:10:29.000 He's like, how could you not love Club America?
00:10:32.000 All of you, again, going where you need to go.
00:10:36.000 If your Club America is not set up or you want to set one up, step right into your admin's office.
00:10:42.000 College students, raise your hands.
00:10:45.000 Got a lot of them.
00:10:51.000 So where you got to be willing to go is on your campus.
00:10:54.000 That means either starting a chapter, joining a chapter, maybe even one day putting up a tent in the quad.
00:11:02.000 We're not afraid.
00:11:05.000 For churchgoers, hold your pastor accountable for biblical citizenship.
00:11:12.000 Okay?
00:11:14.000 There are so many ways to get involved.
00:11:16.000 That's why Charlie built Turning Point USA the way he did.
00:11:20.000 He didn't care your race, your age, your background.
00:11:23.000 If Charlie listened to every single person that told him, you're too young to make a difference.
00:11:30.000 You don't have enough connections.
00:11:32.000 You're not going to do it.
00:11:34.000 He would have let that noise consume him and he would not have built the machine that he has built today.
00:11:40.000 So don't you dare let anyone tell you you're too young.
00:11:44.000 You're not smart enough and you're not connected enough.
00:11:46.000 As long as you're a part of Turning Point USA, we will empower you and give whatever you need to be able to make that come to life.
00:12:00.000 Charlie wasn't just a speaker.
00:12:02.000 He wasn't just a political thinker.
00:12:04.000 He wasn't just a thought leader.
00:12:06.000 Again, he was a bridge.
00:12:08.000 He was a pathway.
00:12:09.000 He was a connection point to generations.
00:12:13.000 He was a pathway and connection point to communication, to inner politics.
00:12:18.000 And he also looked at a generation that has been mocked, that has been dismissed, that has been discouraged, and told them, you matter.
00:12:30.000 Your ideas matter.
00:12:33.000 Your decisions matter.
00:12:36.000 And he would say this country is still worth defending and still worth sacrificing for.
00:12:45.000 So, like all of you, this is our turning point as well, especially as we move into 2026.
00:12:51.000 And I want to share with you off this paper, I'm not going to wing at this one because I want all of you guys to absorb the magnitude of these numbers.
00:13:02.000 The number of student requests to get involved since 9-10, 140,000 plus get involved requests have been submitted since 9-10.
00:13:14.000 140,000.
00:13:20.000 Total number of students involved, this is involved within Turning Point USA, 1 million plus students involved in Turning Point USA.
00:13:35.000 Current chapter numbers as of December 18th, 2025, 3,082 Club America chapters.
00:13:49.000 1,432 college chapters.
00:13:55.000 So that leaves 4,514 total chapters as of today.
00:14:01.000 And we are starting 50 chapters per day at Turning Point USA.
00:14:06.000 It's amazing.
00:14:11.000 Something I also love right now is how we are getting some amazing state partnerships with Club America.
00:14:19.000 I want to give a huge shout out to Oklahoma.
00:14:24.000 Oklahoma's in the house.
00:14:26.000 Florida.
00:14:28.000 Okay.
00:14:29.000 Indiana.
00:14:32.000 Texas.
00:14:34.000 Of course.
00:14:36.000 And Tennessee.
00:14:41.000 Another turning point for us for 2026 is the Make Heaven Crowded Tour, something I'm very excited about.
00:14:48.000 For those of you who attended the memorial service, that revival is a slice of heaven that I'm going to make sure we take around this whole entire country.
00:14:58.000 So we have different tour stops that are going to be coming up that I want you guys to be aware of.
00:15:03.000 Feel free to take a picture whenever they put it up there.
00:15:06.000 But if you're in any of these cities, we are bringing that to you.
00:15:12.000 It's going to be amazing.
00:15:13.000 God is so good.
00:15:16.000 God is so good.
00:15:19.000 I also want to note that our church partnership, since 9-10, we have over 8,000 church partnerships and counting.
00:15:35.000 This one's very special to me.
00:15:37.000 Charlie's love for debate will always be The DNA of Turning Point USA.
00:15:46.000 We believe in debate because we believe in truth, and we believe in civil discourse because we believe that truth can withstand scrutiny.
00:15:56.000 So that is why we will be launching the Pick Up the Mic initiative and getting back on campus for Prove Me Wrongs and campus tour events this spring and fall of 2026.
00:16:18.000 I'm also really excited about everything that we're doing at Turning Point Action.
00:16:23.000 We are locked in and mission focused for both 2026 and 2028.
00:16:31.000 We're investing in states and not just in races.
00:16:34.000 So, what I mean by that is we are building the red wall: Arizona, Nevada, New Hampshire.
00:16:41.000 That's going to be very important to us.
00:16:43.000 We're going to ensure that President Trump has Congress for all four years.
00:16:52.000 We are going to get my husband's friend, JD Vance, elected for 48 and the most resounding way.
00:17:08.000 And for our hometown, Arizona folks, are you guys in the house?
00:17:12.000 Arizona?
00:17:14.000 Go bigs or go home is where we're at right now, mentally.
00:17:20.000 But my husband didn't build this movement so people could feel comfortable.
00:17:25.000 He built this movement so people could feel brave and to be brave with action.
00:17:32.000 So people could see on full display that when you stop talking to people, especially those that you disagree with, you are the one that actually becomes weaker.
00:17:43.000 Let that sink in.
00:17:48.000 So you may not agree with everyone on this stage this weekend, and that's okay.
00:17:56.000 Welcome to America.
00:18:03.000 Charlie would have welcomed that.
00:18:06.000 He believed disagreement was something not to be canceled.
00:18:13.000 It was something to confront with clarity, courage, and grace.
00:18:18.000 And Charlie loved truth way more than conformity.
00:18:23.000 So this weekend for me personally is laced with nostalgia and it's laced with hope.
00:18:30.000 But deeper than that, it's about carrying forward what Charlie built and ultimately what he gave his life for.
00:18:38.000 And I've said it before and I'll say it again: the mission didn't end with Charlie's life.
00:18:45.000 It's being lived out through each and every one of you in your own way.
00:18:50.000 Again, it doesn't matter your age, doesn't matter your race, doesn't matter your background.
00:18:58.000 AmFest is not about echo chambers.
00:19:03.000 It's very important to know that because it's about sharpening one another.
00:19:08.000 It's about digging deeper into ideas instead of retreating into slogans.
00:19:14.000 And it's about remembering that freedom requires responsibility and truth requires courage.
00:19:21.000 So my challenge to you this weekend is very simple: don't just attend AMFEST.
00:19:31.000 Let it mark you.
00:19:34.000 Let it stretch you.
00:19:37.000 Let it challenge assumptions, strengthen convictions, and maybe even make you a little uncomfortable because that's where growth happens in those moments.
00:19:53.000 Let it be another turning point in your life.
00:19:57.000 Another moment where you decide not to drift, not to disengage, not to give in to cynicism, but to stand up boldly, to be brave, to speak clearly, because that is how we are going to honor Charlie.
00:20:15.000 We are going to honor him not just with words, but with action.
00:20:22.000 So, with that, welcome to Amfest.