Erica Kirk is the CEO and Chairwoman of Turning Point USA, a pro-American student organization founded by her late husband, Charlie Kirk. Three months ago, Charlie was assassinated on a college campus in Utah. To some, he was controversial. To others, he transformed the American right in the 21st century.
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00:01:19.000If you're watching this or you're sitting here in this room with me, you know what I know, which is that we live in a very divided country.
00:01:27.000A country where many people feel that they can't speak across the political divide.
00:01:32.000Sometimes they feel they can't even speak across their own kitchen table.
00:01:36.000And one of the goals of the new CBS News is to change that.
00:01:40.000And this town hall is just the beginning.
00:01:42.000This is going to be the first of many conversations and debates on CBS News about the things that matter most, which are often the hardest to talk about.
00:01:53.000I can make one promise to you, and it's this.
00:01:56.000You will not agree with everything you hear tonight or in any of these other broadcasts.
00:03:18.000I was very grateful when you had reached out because it was an opportunity to be able to have a conversation that Charlie always enjoyed, being able to have dialogue on both sides so that people could really hear everything that's going on.
00:06:34.000They basically said that because Charlie said or believed things that they believed were controversial or even hateful, that he somehow had it coming.
00:06:45.000What do you say to people who justified his death?
00:07:57.000And if you think it's okay to murder someone because you think they had it coming for them, because they took the time to have people come to the front of the line if they didn't agree with you, and you think it's okay because you don't like what they say or how they say it, that they should be murdered and you're enjoying it and you're rejoicing in that.
00:08:31.000As you know, and as I know, one of the ideas that has gained a lot of traction among young people, especially in this country, Erica, and this leads them to this kind of justification: the idea that words themselves are violence.
00:08:50.000And that brings us tonight to our first audience question.
00:09:13.000A recent survey that we took after Charlie's assassination found that 90% of undergraduates believe to some extent that words can be violence.
00:09:24.000Another fire survey that we took earlier also found that one-third of surveyed students believe that using violence to stop disfavored speech can be acceptable, at least in rare cases.
00:09:34.000What's your response to those numbers?
00:09:37.000And what would you say to those students in particular?
00:09:41.000Well, for the people who say that my husband might have incited violence, I know that was not your question, but I'm going to put a squash on it before anyone else can attach to that.
00:11:59.000And what he knew in that book was not just so much, stop that, take a minute to get off of your phone and realize that we are all human operating on this broken planet, all sinful, no one's perfect, and we're not getting out of here alive.
00:12:18.000But what he knew in that book was the balancing factor of communication.
00:12:24.000You cannot communicate with someone if you're not at peace with yourself.
00:12:27.000So he went on campus talking to a kid.
00:13:02.000We're going to talk about the book in a little bit, but I want to pick up on a theme that you've now hit on twice, which is the idea that the black squares that we all have in our pocket, our phones, that they are doing something to us collectively, that they are dehumanizing us.
00:13:18.000Later, we'll talk about the conspiracies that are spreading right now on those platforms about who killed your husband.
00:13:26.000What do you recommend to people sitting in this room?
00:13:29.000What are your practices to disconnect, to reconnect by disconnecting?
00:13:34.000Well, like my husband, I took all of it off my phone.
00:13:58.000One of the things that has happened over the three months since Charlie was murdered is that people have gone through the thousands, maybe tens of thousands of hours of words he produced.
00:14:09.000He said more in 31 years than most people will say in a lifetime.
00:14:13.000And I want to read a few that have captured the most attention, especially on the political left, okay?
00:14:20.000Some gun deaths were, quote, unfortunately worth it to preserve the Second Amendment, he said.
00:14:26.000Acknowledging that he wishes he didn't feel this way, he said, I'm sorry, if I see a black pilot, I'm going to be like, boy, I hope he's qualified.
00:14:34.000He said the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a mistake.
00:14:38.000Now, I realize that all of those quotes come from longer conversations that he had on his show.
00:14:45.000And Charlie is being memorialized by many people as a person who promoted civil discourse, as a person who said, come to the front of the line, let's have a civil conversation.
00:14:56.000How do you square that with the statements I just read?
00:14:59.000I would love for everyone to be able to watch the full and entire clip of what he said.
00:15:07.000Charlie didn't care what skin color you were.
00:15:10.000He didn't care what religion you were.
00:15:18.000He loved knowing that people, his favorite word was earn.
00:15:22.000He loved knowing that people worked hard to earn what they got.
00:15:27.000He worked so hard to build Turning Point USA.
00:15:31.000The first statement you meant about guns and shooting, I have no idea the context of that, and I have no idea what he was, that whole, there's a lot more there than just that one little sentence.
00:15:44.000My husband is not to be deteriorated to two sentences.
00:16:19.000You're having a 15-second clip on the internet to define your thought of who someone is instead of taking the time to educate yourself on truly who that person is, what they thought, because why they challenged you to think a little different.
00:16:38.000Again, my husband was an amazing man or human.
00:16:45.000But I do not once for one second think he was anything else than exceptional.
00:16:57.000Erica, as you know, the last person that Charlie ever spoke to was a Utah Valley student named Hunter Kozak.
00:17:07.000He was asking Charlie a question that day when he was shot, and he's here tonight, and he wants to ask you a question.
00:17:17.000Erica, I want to tell you how much I appreciate your calls for peace and unity.
00:17:23.000And I'm likewise horrified by the people in my so-called camp who were cheering about Charlie's murder.
00:17:30.000I believe that they stoke the flames of violence.
00:17:33.000But even worse is when powerful, influential people on either side of the aisle stoke the flames.
00:17:38.000When they do it, the flames can become an inferno.
00:17:42.000And this leads me to Donald Trump, the most powerful and influential person on earth who has more responsibility than anyone else to put the flames out.
00:17:50.000Just last month, President Trump called on six Democratic lawmakers to be tried for sedition, which he clarified was punishable by death.
00:18:04.000I think that you've been making strides to bring peace to our country, and that turning point has been asking Democrats to decry the individuals who cheer for violence.
00:18:12.000I have and will continue to decry them.
00:18:15.000But any good faith effort to stop political violence must hold both parties to the same standard and expectation.
00:18:21.000So in that spirit, will you condemn the violent rhetoric of Donald Trump, the most powerful and influential person on earth?
00:19:53.000You can just sit in the corner and look at your iPad or look at your phone and go down that rabbit hole and see what you can learn from that instead of being a parent.
00:20:01.000So my call to action from that is: parents, step up.
00:20:06.000Do you want your kid to be a thought leader or an assassin?
00:20:50.000Just as our family could not anticipate the pain we've been going through following the murder of our daughter Sarah, there is no way I can understand the pain that you and your children are going through as a result of Charlie's tragic death.
00:21:07.000Our daughter was killed because of anti-Semitism, hate against Jews, and hate against the Jewish homeland, Israel.
00:21:18.000We know about the growth of anti-Semitism on the left, including here in New York City, where the mayor-elect still will not condemn the phrase, globalize the infotata.
00:21:32.000What I want you to address is growing anti-Semitism on the right, including Holocaust denial, anti-Zionism, and the normalizing of centuries-old conspiracy theories about Jews.
00:21:48.000Will you here condemn the individuals spreading that hate and speak out clearly enough against anti-Semitism so we can prevent another tragedy?
00:26:16.000Being able to separate truth from lies, reality from unreality.
00:26:25.000A 22-year-old man named Tyler Robinson has been arrested and charged with the murder of your husband.
00:26:32.000And yet there are a huge number of conspiracy theories, you might call them brain rot, that are spreading right now online about the actual story behind the reality.
00:26:43.000One, people say that Tyler Robinson was actually a MAGA Republican.
00:26:49.000Or two, some people say you were actually a Mossad agent sitting in front of me and you were Charlie's handler and Israel killed Charlie.
00:26:58.000Other people say that a number of men in the crowd were wearing maroon t-shirts and this signifies that his killing was an elite airborne operation, whatever that means.
00:27:07.000They say that the rings on your fingers, which are my kids, your kids' initials, my wedding band, the Medal of Freedom, my engagement ring.
00:27:17.000But apparently they symbolize some kind of secret plot.
00:27:20.000There's also a new theory that Egyptian aircraft have been tracking you.
00:28:30.000Why in the world, why should we, prior to the trial, lay all of our hands and cards on the table for the defense team to see to somehow then, I don't even know what they would do with it.
00:28:45.000But what I will say, and I want to get on the Egyptian plane thing, we'll take a flight on that for a second.
00:28:51.000What I will say is what I'm worried about and I'm fascinated, just from a legal standpoint, to see how the United Healthcare trials pans out.
00:29:01.000And I say that because this is the first time where we are seeing the implications.
00:31:57.000During that discussion with Charlie, neither of us knew that was going to be the last long-form interview he would ever conduct because his life was cut short by the actions of a very disturbed young man.
00:32:10.000As someone who admired Charlie's ability to offer young people a productive and optimistic path, I wanted to ask, how should the conservative movement think about cultivating leaders and role models for young men?
00:32:26.000And how can it continue offering them a constructive alternative to the toxic currents Charlie so astutely criticized?
00:34:14.000But it is our responsibility, my responsibility, our team's responsibility to make sure that our chapters are cultivating those leaders.
00:34:26.000So when they leave high school and they decide not to go to college, they're in the workforce being incredible people and incredible leaders.
00:35:30.000And he thought to himself, what can I be doing?
00:35:35.000And he always loved the Ten Commandments.
00:35:39.000And then he saw it, honoring the Sabbath.
00:35:41.000And he realized that if you don't, this one commandment, this one, if you don't honor it, you're the one who misses out on the gift, not God.
00:36:04.000So instead of a full 24-straight, I'll break it apart only because my mom's sick and I need to be available because I'm her medical power of attorney.
00:36:12.000So I need to be available if something happens.
00:36:26.000Erica, you have made a lot of comments that a lot of people have noticed about women suggesting, you know this, right?
00:36:35.000Suggesting that women should get married young, that they should have children young, that they should prioritize family over their careers.
00:36:42.000And at the same time, you are now doing both.
00:36:46.000You now have two young children, I think both under the age of three.
00:36:51.000You're the CEO and chairwoman of Turning Point.
00:38:43.000I'm a 26-year-old Christian woman living in New York City.
00:38:46.000I would like to stay here long term, but I wonder whether it's sustainable.
00:38:51.000Do you believe there's a place for women like myself in modern cities who care about having a career, but also marrying a like-minded, Christian, conservative man?
00:39:47.000So if you're expecting to marry someone that I was blessed with, like a Charlie, you have to be the type of woman that will attract a Charlie.
00:40:28.000He knew that because I was not dating in New York City, he knew that in order for me to know that that was my man, he had to blanket Charlie as a job interview.
00:40:39.000Because if that went in, no joke, if he came to me and said, hey, let's go on a date to Bill's Burgers, I'd be like, I am so sorry.
00:40:47.000Thank you, but no, we're not doing this.
00:41:10.000My prayer for you is to remain open and to remain prayerful and to let people around you know, old school style, I'm ready and I'm looking to get married and having a family.
00:42:01.000I'm not trying to plug them for like something.
00:42:03.000So I'm just trying not to even say the name, but you understand my sentiment is that there's something really special and beautiful about making sure that you are the woman that your future husband deserves and vice versa.
00:43:41.000What I am doing is releasing myself from the enemy's hands where he could have a foothold in me and he could be able to just, like I said earlier, you have a choice.
00:44:54.000Is there a difference, Erica, between forgiving someone in a religious and spiritual sense, but also wanting justice for them here on earth?
00:46:37.000We just finished our broadcast town hall with Erica Kirk, and she has graciously given us a little bit more time to take a few more audience questions.
00:46:53.000My question is from someone coming back to, you know, their faith after what happened, especially to Charlie.
00:46:59.000So I was raised Christian, and then in my young adult life, say high school, college, I kind of fell off in terms of, you know, practicing, never stopped believing, but someone who, you know, just kind of stopped going to church and whatnot after the horrible events of what happened to Charlie.
00:47:16.000That was kind of the moment for me that really sparked my faith to kind of start up again.
00:47:21.000And since then, I've been attending church almost every Sunday and have started to read the Bible again.
00:47:26.000As part of that, I just wanted to ask you, do you have any advice for someone who's, you know, reconnecting with God, reconnicting with their faith as to how to deepen that relationship and kind of strengthen that along their journey?
00:49:40.000As you take the helm of Turning Point USA, what is the single most important strategic change you plan to implement to engage young voters like myself on college campuses moving forward?
00:49:53.000Before Charlie was murdered, he was very intentional about making sure that I'm going to go the turning point action route right now, saying that, just in case anyone tries to conflate the two.
00:50:09.000Turning point action side, Charlie from the start, when he started the organization, was clipboard and tennis shoes.
00:50:18.000He knew the importance of getting out there, knocking on doors, signing up people to vote, chasing ballots.
00:50:26.000He loved that work and he wanted to inspire that to the students as well.
00:50:31.000Now, what we're doing, there's a lot of things.
00:50:33.000It's funny because some people think, oh, when a CEO comes in, things go crazy.
00:51:54.000I wanted to ask, there's a lot of young people in the audience here, a lot of college students.
00:51:59.000And sometimes in college, it feels like the walls are caving in, whether that be with relationships, professors who give us a hard time, and anything else that college students experience.
00:52:08.000What guidance do you have for us when the walls start to feel like they're caving in and there's not a light at the end of the tunnel?
00:53:13.000But instead, if the prey knew that while that lion was roaring to run towards that roar and they wouldn't be eaten because they wouldn't turn around the other way, they'd escape.
00:53:27.000So if there's any encouragement there, I would just run towards that roar and know that the Lord's got your back.
01:00:15.000Especially given the re-entrance of faith into the public square, which I think has never been on display more than at your husband's memorial.
01:00:25.000I would love to get your take on what it feels like, what it's like to watch Christianity and politics come together, especially through something that happened to your family.
01:00:50.000Yeah, so what I mean by the vibe shift is that over the past probably two years, in response to the wokeism of the Biden administration and even just the last 10 years, there has been a shift back towards populism with Trump and then also a return of religion, which we've seen lots of articles about the return of young men to church.
01:01:12.000And Charlie Kirk is often said in, is often mentioned in the same breath as that.
01:01:18.000So I work for a magazine that's very interested in this, first things.
01:01:21.000And I'd love to know what you think of this recombination of faith and politics.
01:01:28.000So Charlie used to say on campus and to anyone and everyone that he would start talking about liberty and he would start talking about justice and he would start talking about freedom and people would want more and they would want more.
01:02:06.000And I think when you live authentically, you're not trying to be someone else, but you truly live authentically and again, let the Lord use you, it shows on full display that if you want to make a difference in this world, you don't remove that very important piece in point.
01:02:27.000And everyone saw the type of man that Charlie was, and it inspired a lot of people as it should.
01:02:33.000But notice how when he was murdered, they didn't go and grab a Constitution, they grabbed a Bible.
01:02:42.000And once you get that Bible in your hands, the Constitution makes way more sense.