The Charlie Kirk Show - May 03, 2026


From the Archive: Charlie on Why America is the Greatest Nation in the World


Episode Stats


Length

31 minutes

Words per minute

205.23

Word count

6,451

Sentence count

405

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Toxicity

10

sentences flagged

Hate speech

19

sentences flagged


Summary

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

In this episode, Charlie talks about the importance of free speech and why college is a scam. He also talks about why you should stop sending your kids to college and why you need to get married and have as many kids as possible.

Transcript

Transcripts from "The Charlie Kirk Show" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
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 will 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 Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of The Charlie Kirk Show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals.
00:01:06.000 Learn how you could protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at NobleGoldInvestments.com.
00:01:13.000 That is NobleGoldInvestments.com.
00:01:18.000 Thank you, everybody.
00:01:19.000 Thank you.
00:01:20.000 It's great to be here.
00:01:21.000 I have to apologize in advance.
00:01:22.000 It's been a long day.
00:01:25.000 We sat at a table there.
00:01:26.000 Was anyone there today?
00:01:27.000 We had a good time, I have to say, outside of a couple people.
00:01:30.000 But generally, I learned a lot.
00:01:34.000 One of the individuals there, she asked, she said, you actually go here to learn.
00:01:39.000 Not that I've heard anything that was totally new and profound, but I learned a lot at kind of where this generation is politically and philosophically.
00:01:47.000 And yeah, I learned a lot kind of about some of the major sticking points there.
00:01:51.000 And I do want to thank a couple people.
00:01:53.000 I want to thank the students there that were there for all two hours and were respectful.
00:01:57.000 That says a lot.
00:01:58.000 Speech is important.
00:01:59.000 In fact, without speech, all you have is power and brute force.
00:02:02.000 And so that says a lot about you.
00:02:03.000 So if you're out there and you hear that, good for you.
00:02:06.000 And then I also, I can't believe I'm doing this, but I want to thank the UT administration that.
00:02:11.000 Kind of came, it's amazing.
00:02:13.000 No, you have to be honest in life, though, right?
00:02:14.000 I'm not exactly a fan of college.
00:02:18.000 But they came in and they.
00:02:21.000 Yes, smart enough to make you attend.
00:02:23.000 Okay, so, yeah, thank you.
00:02:28.000 Imagine.
00:02:34.000 That right there is what someone who's about to lose very big acts like, let me tell you.
00:02:41.000 That was one minute and eight seconds.
00:02:44.000 That's a new record.
00:02:53.000 Here I am complimenting that everyone had a great time and trying to be magnanimous even though people said very bad things, whatever, and that happens.
00:03:03.000 You've got to love it, it's great.
00:03:05.000 Okay, where was I?
00:03:07.000 Speaking of how wonderful of a university this is, let me continue with my compliments.
00:03:12.000 No, I mean it, it's that the UT administration came in to a couple people that were trying to interrupt and play music or whatever, and they said you have to do that elsewhere.
00:03:20.000 So that allowed our discussion and our conversation to continue, and so that was very nice.
00:03:24.000 And we appreciate that.
00:03:25.000 And so there was, yeah, you could give it up for the UT administration.
00:03:28.000 They deserve credit for that.
00:03:32.000 They do.
00:03:34.000 And they had a commitment to free speech, which is very, very important.
00:03:37.000 So something that kept on coming up in our discussions today, which I found to be fascinating, not surprising, but it was fascinating to keep on hearing, which is who are you to say what is right and wrong?
00:03:49.000 And that's not a new question.
00:03:51.000 I thought that that would be probably well understood by the time you get to college, but it shouldn't be a huge shock for those of you that are.
00:03:58.000 Kind of consuming postmodern deconstructionist philosophy on an almost daily basis, which is who are you to say?
00:04:05.000 Why is your right the right?
00:04:07.000 And that really does ask the question of what is the purpose of college, right?
00:04:10.000 Where I think college should be, kind of what Hillsdale College has become, which is an exploration of the good, the true, and the beautiful, and what is right, what is good, what is, how should you as a human being properly develop?
00:04:23.000 And, you know, it was a really interesting question where they said, you know, your beliefs should not be able to be imposed on somebody else.
00:04:30.000 And that sounds really good, right?
00:04:32.000 Like, okay, yeah, your beliefs, but it's not true.
00:04:34.000 At some point, somebody's belief is going to be imposed on you.
00:04:36.000 Even the absence of a belief is somebody's belief.
00:04:39.000 So at some point, you have to come to some sort of consensus of what is good.
00:04:42.000 And they say, well, I don't think the government should be involved in any decisions.
00:04:45.000 That's a decision in and of itself.
00:04:47.000 Not to be involved is a decision.
00:04:49.000 Not to do something is actually a decision to do something, and you have to have a moral basis for that.
00:04:54.000 And so we had a very long conversation about that, and I hope that can continue in the question and answer line, of which disagreement will be invited, and you guys can have the microphone.
00:05:02.000 We'll have a back and forth.
00:05:04.000 But, you know, it kind of goes back to that question of who are you to say?
00:05:07.000 And boy, the founding fathers really thought deeply about that.
00:05:11.000 And we are the beneficiaries of framers that gave us the greatest nation ever to exist in the history of the world.
00:05:17.000 And I have to say, when I said that today, there were a lot of people gasping and booing, which is just such a shocking thing because that is as close to an objective fact of anything I could say here tonight that you are the beneficiaries to live in the greatest nation ever to exist in the history of the world.
00:05:31.000 That's a big deal.
00:05:32.000 And.
00:05:35.000 And somebody asked, and they said, Well, why?
00:05:38.000 And I said, Look, I mean, by the first of all, greatest is obviously relative.
00:05:41.000 You're judging yourself against other countries.
00:05:43.000 Are we perfect?
00:05:43.000 Of course not.
00:05:44.000 We're human beings.
00:05:45.000 We're far from perfect.
00:05:46.000 But we're the most generous country.
00:05:48.000 We're the most productive country.
00:05:49.000 We have the longest waiting list of people that want to come into our country.
00:05:52.000 Our ideals have been successfully replicated all across the planet.
00:05:56.000 We're the nation that goes and fights wars for the freedom of other people, not perfectly all the time, obviously, but has an ethic within our history and within our background.
00:06:06.000 Of something that is not an empire to try to gain lands, but in some ways something greater than yourself.
00:06:12.000 And I could go on from medical advancements to cultural impact.
00:06:15.000 There's something very special about America.
00:06:17.000 And I'm deathly afraid that we're losing it.
00:06:20.000 And not only are we afraid of losing it, I'm afraid that people want it to be lost.
00:06:25.000 And that's even more troubling to me.
00:06:27.000 And it wasn't said today, but I've heard it before when I was at Berkeley, which, don't laugh too much, you guys are right up there with Berkeley, so it's right up there.
00:06:38.000 I have to say that.
00:06:40.000 I heard some wacky stuff today, but Berkeley had some other wacky stuff.
00:06:43.000 It was right up there. 0.85
00:06:43.000 But I heard something else, which is, you know, America's the great Satan. 0.85
00:06:47.000 We want it eliminated. 0.98
00:06:48.000 It's a force of evil in the world. 0.98
00:06:51.000 And only spending an exhaustive amount of time in a lecture hall listening to someone who hates about America could you come to such a ridiculous conclusion as that.
00:07:00.000 Which, I mean, just the evidence in front of it is you look at America's greatness, which, again, I think we're losing through self inflicted decisions, and you look through our history and you look at what we've been able to accomplish.
00:07:12.000 There's just one fact that will tell you everything you need to know.
00:07:16.000 America's the only nation on the planet where even those who hate it, and they say they hate it, they refuse to leave.
00:07:22.000 And so, and people, and they say, well, you know, where am I supposed to go?
00:07:31.000 I said, I don't know, you guys talk about Denmark all the time, like Paris?
00:07:34.000 I'm not saying leave, I'm saying, why don't you?
00:07:37.000 And because I have to hear about how awful this place is, but your actions speak a lot louder than your lectures in that regard.
00:07:44.000 And that does kind of tell you something.
00:07:46.000 It kind of reminds me of all the celebrities that said they were going to leave the country.
00:07:49.000 After Donald Trump won, it's actually like, yeah, okay, you might have a problem with that, but it turns out that this place still is the best hope.
00:07:55.000 It still is the greatest nation.
00:07:59.000 Charlie had an absolutely relentless passion for learning.
00:08:02.000 I saw it up close and personal in every waking moment, every spare moment that he could.
00:08:09.000 He had a book open, he had a podcast open, he had a Hillsdale online course open.
00:08:15.000 He was always diving into new ideas, absorbing information, studying up, and sharpening his skills.
00:08:20.000 That's why I love Dr. Arne.
00:08:22.000 At Hillsdale College, they shared a deep understanding that learning is the key to shaping your character, creating courage, and changing lives.
00:08:30.000 Charlie never stopped learning, and neither should you.
00:08:33.000 Through Hillsdale's online courses, he spent time studying the classics, the American founding, and the enduring truths of the Bible.
00:08:40.000 Now it is your turn.
00:08:42.000 With Hillsdale's free online courses, you can follow in his footsteps, learning from real professors and challenging yourself with rigorous coursework that's free and accessible to anybody who's willing to learn.
00:08:54.000 A great place to start is their brand new course on logic and rhetoric.
00:08:58.000 Learn from Hillsdale professors how to speak masterfully, make a powerful point, and see how clear thinking leads to better decision making and more effective speech.
00:09:07.000 Don't wait.
00:09:07.000 Go to charlieforhillsdale.com to enroll today.
00:09:10.000 It's completely free.
00:09:12.000 This is a real good one, by the way.
00:09:14.000 Logic and rhetoric.
00:09:15.000 Pick up the mic, carry it forward, learn like Charlie.
00:09:19.000 Start right now at charlieforhillsdale.com.
00:09:24.000 So, why?
00:09:24.000 Why is this country great?
00:09:25.000 Why have we achieved anything of value?
00:09:28.000 Well, you can ask yourself the question what is the longest lasting constitution in world history?
00:09:33.000 And you're living under it.
00:09:34.000 It's the United States Constitution.
00:09:36.000 Magna Carta is not a constitution.
00:09:38.000 The Ten Commandments is not a constitution.
00:09:40.000 Constitution is an agreement, it's a compact, it's a contract.
00:09:43.000 And they wrestled with these ideas, the framers, and boy, did they get it right.
00:09:47.000 They got some things wrong, and they can prove it along the way.
00:09:49.000 But what they got right more than anything else is the question that we spent about two hours trying to go back and forth with today.
00:09:56.000 I don't know if we ever found consensus.
00:09:58.000 But it's a very simple question what is a human being?
00:10:01.000 Is a human being a collection of cells?
00:10:03.000 Is it just kind of an accident of hundreds of millions of years of evolution?
00:10:07.000 Or is a human being more than that?
00:10:09.000 Is a human being an image bearer, has a soul, has something that is worthy of protection?
00:10:14.000 And the answer to that question can tell you directly the type of government that you think should exist.
00:10:19.000 And it said so clearly because the Declaration of Independence starts completely and totally universally.
00:10:24.000 It doesn't start specific, it gets specific.
00:10:26.000 But Thomas Jefferson writes when in the course of human events, he's talking about all time, all human beings, all people, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands that have tied them to another.
00:10:35.000 Deriving the separate but equal power that it goes on to equal station, it goes on to say laws of nature and nature is God.
00:10:40.000 What he's making is a moral argument that the people of this nation have something that is even greater than reason and is even greater than touch and feel in the senses.
00:10:49.000 And again, you can have your own religious views, but it's an arguable argument to say that the founders of the greatest nation ever to exist in the history of the world believed you had a soul, and that's a very big deal.
00:10:58.000 And if you believe you have a soul, then you must have a government that respects all human dignity, regardless of size, level of development, environment, or degree of dependency, including those in the womb or outside of the womb.
00:11:08.000 That those beings are worthy of protection.
00:11:11.000 And when you start to talk in that way, all of a sudden natural rights start to come into the picture.
00:11:15.000 You say, wow.
00:11:16.000 And obviously, they talked life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
00:11:18.000 Previously, it was life, liberty, and property from John Locke and Thomas Jefferson.
00:11:22.000 I had added the pursuit of happiness, which is you have a right to be able to live.
00:11:25.000 That's a very big deal.
00:11:26.000 And guess what?
00:11:26.000 Government does not give you those rights.
00:11:28.000 And that was the huge change, right?
00:11:30.000 Is that the government protects those rights first and foremost from government abusing those rights.
00:11:35.000 And not only were they able to tell you what a human being is, they told you how human beings acted.
00:11:39.000 And if there was kind of the bit, one of the big lies, if you will, of American progressivism is that somehow human beings change just because technology changes with it.
00:11:47.000 And that is not true.
00:11:49.000 Just because times change, human beings do not change.
00:11:52.000 We're exactly the same.
00:11:53.000 In fact, technology only makes it easier for us to do the bad stuff that would have been harder for us to do a couple hundred years ago.
00:11:58.000 Said differently, the Constitution was not written for the times, it was written to stand the test of time.
00:12:03.000 That it was an analysis of human behavior, of every civilization that ever acted before, and they had some truths in it that all of us are able to enjoy today.
00:12:11.000 The first and most obvious one is consent to the governed.
00:12:14.000 You are the sovereign in the US Constitution.
00:12:16.000 And that is so easy to take for granted.
00:12:18.000 And it only existed in a short little spurt in maybe Athenian democracy before that.
00:12:22.000 And it's a big deal they put that into place.
00:12:25.000 But it's important that it's not a democracy, though.
00:12:27.000 People say we're a democracy.
00:12:28.000 We are not a democracy.
00:12:29.000 We're a constitutional republic.
00:12:31.000 What's the difference?
00:12:32.000 In a democracy, the majority rules no matter what all the time.
00:12:35.000 And I say, well, that's the way I want it.
00:12:37.000 Well, if the majority wants something that is evil and wrong, shouldn't there be a check and balance against the majority?
00:12:41.000 Shouldn't there be a process to slow it down?
00:12:44.000 You see, a constitutional republic says there are things that are true that will always be true.
00:12:48.000 Do you notice that the preamble to the U.S. Constitution has never had to be changed?
00:12:52.000 It's because it's always been true that we do ordain these truths.
00:12:57.000 We do ordain this Constitution said differently.
00:13:00.000 And so when we kind of look at all these different things that are kind of factoring in, I think it's important to note that the posture that I encourage you to have, and we can have obvious disagreements here, we're going to get to questions early tonight because, boy, some of you guys wore me out today.
00:13:13.000 I've got to be honest.
00:13:14.000 I had three hours of radio and we were talking forever.
00:13:17.000 And Is a posture of gratitude.
00:13:21.000 One of my great complaints, I really couldn't care less about your political affiliation.
00:13:23.000 We could talk about that.
00:13:24.000 That's not why I'm here tonight.
00:13:25.000 If you want to ask me political questions, I don't care.
00:13:27.000 It's fine.
00:13:27.000 Obviously, I have strong opinions that way.
00:13:29.000 But it drives me nuts when there is a lecture of ingratitude towards America.
00:13:35.000 People that are thankful are happier.
00:13:38.000 And you have a lot to be thankful for.
00:13:40.000 And you might not be happy.
00:13:41.000 You might say, oh, look at all these injustices.
00:13:43.000 I would venture a guess there's probably half truths baked in that, and it's not as much of the injustice as you think.
00:13:47.000 But whatever, I'm sure I could agree with part of it.
00:13:49.000 But when you think about it, when you're ungrateful, you're much more likely to be a revolutionary.
00:13:54.000 When you're grateful, maybe you want to conserve that thing.
00:13:56.000 That's why I'm a conservative.
00:13:57.000 That's why a lot of you are conservatives.
00:13:58.000 You say, This is something that I actually want to protect to make sure future generations are able to live through.
00:14:03.000 Just becoming a father, I could tell you, I'm like, I want my daughter to be able to live in this nation.
00:14:08.000 I want future generations to be able to enjoy this incredible system.
00:14:11.000 And you always got to ask the question, which is replace it with what?
00:14:15.000 Replace it with what kind of experiment?
00:14:18.000 What kind of a country?
00:14:19.000 What is the solution?
00:14:20.000 What is the form of the structure of government?
00:14:22.000 And there's a reason why that Constitution has stood the test of time and the stress test at every single corner, despite opposition, foreign and domestic.
00:14:29.000 It locates the sovereignty within you.
00:14:33.000 And at the same time, the people are actually not running the administration of the government.
00:14:37.000 It excludes the sovereign from the ordinary business of the government or the ordinary operations of the government, which in some ways is a check and balance on the people, which again shows that absolute power can corrupt absolutely.
00:14:49.000 And it comes down to this fundamental question and this fundamental thing where it goes down to at some point you have to agree upon what C.S. Lewis said, which is you have to come to some consensus of the Tao or the way.
00:15:00.000 And this is what really troubles me about some of the things I heard today more than anything else.
00:15:04.000 When they say there's an unlimited amount of truths.
00:15:08.000 And I want you to understand the ramifications of what that looks like in society.
00:15:13.000 And somebody said, different cultures have different truths.
00:15:17.000 Think about that.
00:15:18.000 Different cultures can have different diets and customs and attitudes.
00:15:22.000 But is it really the case that if you believe that child sacrifice to Molech is okay, that's somehow something we should act as if that's not eternally wrong, regardless of where it happens?
00:15:33.000 No, there's eternal principles that apply to all people, regardless of where they are on the planet.
00:15:38.000 Now, are there different customs?
00:15:39.000 Of course, be respectful of them and all things, but you do look at that question.
00:15:43.000 There's an unlimited amount of truths.
00:15:44.000 Now, there could be lots of different shared experiences, but for example, if you have a car crash and there's five witnesses, everyone says, well, this happened and this happened, eventually you want to get to the truth of what ended up happening.
00:15:55.000 You want to be able to get to the consensus of the matter.
00:15:57.000 And when you design a government or you have a society and you raise a generation that says, you know what, anyone can believe whatever they want to believe about anything at any time, how on earth are you going to have a stable and civil society from that point?
00:16:09.000 If everybody had a definition of what North is, Good luck trying to orient everybody.
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00:17:19.000 So, no, there's not an unlimited amount of truths.
00:17:33.000 I believe there's one truth, but I think that truth that we could agree tonight is rather broad.
00:17:37.000 I think that it's a road that is not too narrow and not too wide, as C.S. Lewis would say in The Abolition of Man.
00:17:44.000 It's the Tao.
00:17:44.000 It's something that says, okay, within the maxims of liberty, We can agree that separation of powers, consent to the governed, independent judiciary, private property rights, these things are important to protect.
00:17:55.000 And whenever there is a threat against those things, we're not going to put up with that.
00:17:59.000 Like, we're not going to say, you know what, yeah, maybe you could believe that you're a platypus or that you could believe that you're actually six foot eight when in reality you're not.
00:18:08.000 That your feeling is not as important as to what actual reality is happening in that exact moment.
00:18:15.000 And the consequence of this, I could tell you, will end up being two things.
00:18:18.000 First, you get chaos, and that's bad.
00:18:20.000 And that's kind of the talking point.
00:18:21.000 If you don't have all these things, You have societal chaos.
00:18:23.000 But we never talk about what happens after that, which is then you get totalitarianism.
00:18:28.000 You see, as soon as you confuse everybody, there is no truth, you have your own truth, and you have all these different kinds of bickering tribes, eventually people are going to want order.
00:18:37.000 And that's when you get someone like Joseph Stalin that comes along. 0.84
00:18:40.000 And all they care about is power, and they're good at it. 0.84
00:18:43.000 And then all of a sudden you could throw out all the stuff I've talked about consent to the governed, separation of powers.
00:18:47.000 Chaos is a strategy towards totalitarianism.
00:18:51.000 And not everyone who's participating in it even recognizes or realizes it.
00:18:54.000 They say, oh, we're liberating groups to be able to have whatever truth they want to have under any circumstance.
00:18:58.000 Now you can have your own opinions.
00:19:00.000 But do you notice how quickly it goes from this is my truth to all of a sudden if you don't accept your truth, you're going to be penalized?
00:19:06.000 Happens very quickly.
00:19:08.000 So it's not just your truth, it's that I must now adopt that.
00:19:11.000 And whatever that kind of fiction or whatever that might be.
00:19:14.000 And so I'm very, very worried about the direction of the country currently for a variety of reasons.
00:19:20.000 And I think that the restoration has to kind of rest in all of you.
00:19:23.000 Something I wish we could have talked about more in this kind of in our time together on the quad, wherever we were, is.
00:19:31.000 Kind of what's going on generationally.
00:19:33.000 I guess you're all Gen Zers, is that right?
00:19:35.000 If you're in college.
00:19:36.000 I'm a millennial, so I have to thank you, by the way. 0.97
00:19:39.000 I have finally found a generation boomers hate more than millennials, Generation Z. 1.00
00:19:42.000 It's great. 1.00
00:19:43.000 So thank you very much.
00:19:44.000 I get to now hate on the younger generation.
00:19:46.000 It's terrific.
00:19:47.000 It's great. 1.00
00:19:47.000 For years, all those stupid millennials are the worst. 1.00
00:19:49.000 It's awful. 1.00
00:19:51.000 Now I get to do that.
00:19:51.000 It's actually quite delightful.
00:19:55.000 But let's talk seriously here.
00:19:56.000 There's two ways we could take this, and I think both have something that we can glean from it.
00:20:03.000 The first is the reality of the topic is that this is the most depressed, suicidal, alcohol addicted, and drug addicted, psychiatric drug addicted generation in history.
00:20:12.000 Most likely to kill themselves, least likely to get married, least likely to have kids, most likely to believe that there is no God, no eternity, no reason or harmony for life.
00:20:20.000 That's a very scary thing.
00:20:22.000 And for those of us that are not in Generation Z, we should press pause and take time out and say, what is going on?
00:20:27.000 That is a very troubling and sad thing.
00:20:29.000 Now, I do believe that there is a direct connection between a lot of this postmodernist garbage that a lot of you guys are going into debt for.
00:20:36.000 To learn, and the fact that all of a sudden you have something that could be best described as existential despair.
00:20:44.000 You feed a child a steady diet of Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault and Herbert Marcuse without being anchored in absolute truth, or at least the kind of inquiry of such, you're going to really mess with some kids' heads.
00:20:56.000 I really believe that does not help.
00:20:57.000 But also, even deeper than that, and this is where I think some students would totally agree, especially those on the left, and some adults would say not so fast, is I think that older generations did a massive disservice to this generation.
00:21:10.000 And I don't say that lightly.
00:21:11.000 I'm not one to try to wage generational warfare. 0.61
00:21:15.000 I don't like it, but it's true.
00:21:17.000 The lockdowns will go down as one of the worst mistakes in American history where we decided to harm a generation for an awful reason.
00:21:26.000 And this generation is still trying to climb out of it.
00:21:29.000 We locked down a generation and masked them and forced mRNA gene altering technology on them by saying, maybe you'll get kicked out of school or have your entire life ruined for a virus that did not significantly threaten them.
00:21:40.000 And every single person in this room could tell you a story of someone that has been left aside.
00:21:43.000 Maybe you are one of those people, and we're here for you if you need help in any way possible, of someone that is now in a very serious mental health crisis, someone that took their life.
00:21:52.000 And I'm telling you, the lockdowns are a direct correlation to this generational carnage that a lot of young people are living through.
00:21:59.000 And a lot of adults will say, oh, young people just need to work harder.
00:22:01.000 I agree, there is a work ethic issue.
00:22:04.000 But how about we take a pause and we tell young people, like, we were wrong.
00:22:08.000 This never should have happened.
00:22:10.000 Prom and graduation, and I know a lot of you out there that are adults were against it, so I'm overly generalizing.
00:22:22.000 But the consensus of the American adults did it, it's a fact, right? 0.90
00:22:26.000 They just did.
00:22:27.000 And it was so perverse when you really think about it, which is the 15, 16, and 17 year olds that have their whole life ahead of them, they need to be locked at home so that they won't spread a virus to their grandparents.
00:22:41.000 Now, I'm not a fan, obviously, of anyone spreading viruses to anybody, but the question should have always been the kids come first.
00:22:48.000 What's right for them first?
00:22:50.000 Because now we see the result, right?
00:22:52.000 And not to mention all of our insane fiscal policy is around this.
00:22:56.000 And I say this to conservatives all the time.
00:22:59.000 And I think that we could find some agreement with some people on the left here tonight, which is you want to know why so many people on the left, younger, that love socialism, yeah, part of it, they want free stuff and they've been indoctrinated, all that.
00:23:09.000 Obviously, that's all totally true.
00:23:10.000 I get that.
00:23:11.000 But I want you to put yourself in a young UT Austin grad's shoes for a second.
00:23:16.000 They graduated with a philosophy degree and now they have to go become a barista or whatever the career track is.
00:23:24.000 I mean, that non jokingly, right?
00:23:26.000 And they were like, wait a second, I did what I was told.
00:23:28.000 I borrowed the money, I got the piece of paper, I'm $70,000 in debt, whatever, right?
00:23:32.000 And now they go to go pay rent, and everything's twice as expensive because we decided to go print a bunch of money we didn't have.
00:23:38.000 And inflation is crushing people.
00:23:40.000 And good luck trying to buy a home if you're a young person right now, with what, 6.6% interest rates and down payments out of reach?
00:23:48.000 And this is something that some conservatives reject this argument, but just hold on, which is some people that then embrace socialist ideas, at some point you have to wonder like, man, you can blame them a little bit, but did we create the conditions where they're ready to embrace free enterprise?
00:24:03.000 And the answer is no.
00:24:07.000 Charlie had an absolutely relentless passion for learning.
00:24:11.000 I saw it up close and personal in every waking moment, every spare moment that he could.
00:24:17.000 He had a book open, he had a podcast open, he had a Hillsdale online course open.
00:24:23.000 He was always diving into new ideas, absorbing information, studying up, and sharpening his skills.
00:24:28.000 That's why I love Dr. Arne at Hillsdale College.
00:24:31.000 They shared a deep understanding that learning is the key to shaping your character, creating courage.
00:24:38.000 And changing lives.
00:24:39.000 Charlie never stopped learning, and neither should you.
00:24:42.000 Through Hillsdale's online courses, he spent time studying the classics, the American founding, and the enduring truths of the Bible.
00:24:49.000 Now it is your turn.
00:24:51.000 With Hillsdale's free online courses, you can follow in his footsteps, learning from real professors and challenging yourself with rigorous coursework that's free and accessible to anybody who's willing to learn.
00:25:03.000 A great place to start is their brand new course on logic and rhetoric.
00:25:07.000 Learn from Hillsdale professors how to speak masterfully.
00:25:10.000 Make a powerful point and see how clear thinking leads to better decision making and more effective speech.
00:25:15.000 Don't wait.
00:25:16.000 Go to charlieforhillsdale.com to enroll today.
00:25:19.000 It's completely free.
00:25:21.000 This is a real good one, by the way logic and rhetoric.
00:25:23.000 Pick up the mic, carry it forward, learn like Charlie.
00:25:27.000 Start right now at charlieforhillsdale.com.
00:25:32.000 I hear all the time, and this is probably the best argument from the left right now in America.
00:25:36.000 And since they're this is the left, they're so busy talking about stuff.
00:25:39.000 If they were smart, they would talk about this stuff, they would win everything.
00:25:41.000 But instead, they're too great talking about race all the time and defunding the police. 0.86
00:25:44.000 Men becoming pregnant. 0.53
00:25:46.000 If they were smart, they would say the very simple, which is really true, which is a 25 year old is working harder and getting poorer than any other time in American history. 0.97
00:25:54.000 That's true.
00:25:55.000 Not American history, the last 50 years.
00:25:57.000 And not only is that true, it creates a lot of anger in people, and it should, because you have a rule following generation.
00:26:02.000 That's what I call Gen Z and millennials, because they followed every single rule put in front of them, and they say, I can't afford gas, I can't afford groceries, I have to go into debt just to be able to survive.
00:26:12.000 And they want to just be preached by the older generation, like, oh, just go work harder, go apply yourself more.
00:26:19.000 You want to have a Marxist revolution on your hands?
00:26:20.000 You got to fix this really quick.
00:26:22.000 You got a bunch of young people with college degrees that don't own anything? 0.96
00:26:26.000 That's not going to end well. 1.00
00:26:28.000 You got a bunch, you know, it's a great rule for life.
00:26:30.000 People burn down Wendy's only if they don't own anything, okay?
00:26:34.000 Like the people, if you own a mortgage, you're probably less likely to go all of a sudden act in revolutionary fervor.
00:26:39.000 And I think we're on the cusp of an economic collapse in this country in more ways than one.
00:26:43.000 And again, it's not even political, it's just talking very realistically, which is do you think the hard economic left, which again, this is the great miscalculation of the American Marxists, and if there's a Marxist here tonight, I'd be happy to talk to you.
00:26:56.000 Because the Marxism, here am I giving advice to Marxists, right?
00:26:59.000 It's quite a thing. 0.93
00:27:00.000 Which is, they decided to go all in on this race Marxism garbage, which actually was the best gift for those of us that are conservatives because they decided to show their true colors that they're actually not about economics, they're about dividing people based on skin color and tribes and going against straight white men and all that sort of nonsense that they're doing. 0.64
00:27:15.000 When every single one of their arguments, like, oh, we need to confiscate wealth and all, it was all total and complete garbage, obviously, being a free enterprise guy, has kind of gone by the wayside in a way where you have a legitimate economic anxiety amongst the younger generation. 0.87
00:27:31.000 And so the question is, how are conservatives going to respond to that?
00:27:34.000 Well, I mean, I think our response needs to be, of course, rooted in market principles and rooted in consent to the governed and constitutional ideas.
00:27:40.000 But I have to even say, beyond that, it's we should also, as conservatives, be defenders and we should be pushers of things that would give this generation that currently is telling us they're in misery by every metric possible things that would give them meaning.
00:27:54.000 Make it easier to marry and have children in our country, make it easier to be able to buy a home, to have a little bit of investment in that very same American dream.
00:28:02.000 You want to de radicalize a generation?
00:28:04.000 Have them experience the same sort of growth that many of you experienced, adults in the room, in the 1980s.
00:28:10.000 Your politics get very deradicalized when you're getting wealthier and you start having kids.
00:28:15.000 You want to know why this generation has radicalized politics?
00:28:18.000 Because they're getting poor and they're not having children and not getting married.
00:28:21.000 It's the perfect kind of raw material for every single one of these awful ideas to kind of go in and metastasize.
00:28:29.000 So it kind of goes both ways.
00:28:30.000 I tell young people work harder, apply yourself more.
00:28:33.000 At the same time, as someone who's kind of a bridge between generations, being 28 years old, I think there needs to be a national recovery plan.
00:28:39.000 I don't know what that looks like.
00:28:40.000 I don't know what that means, but I've said this before. 0.97
00:28:42.000 I would much rather see money go to help kids be able to own homes and have families and send it to Ukraine.
00:28:49.000 I think that is a much more important priority for our leaders. 0.97
00:28:56.000 That's not a popular position in every room.
00:28:58.000 Obviously, it is here, but I think there's a moral obligation to defend your citizens. 0.67
00:29:03.000 But yeah, look, for those of you that are Gen Z and you're here tonight and you don't know how you stand politically welcome, by the way, we're glad you're here.
00:29:10.000 It's more important where you ask yourselves the question, how am I going to be able to live a life of contribution and meaning and purpose?
00:29:17.000 And I guess I'll close with this and we'll do some questions, which is it could be very depressing and very dark when you watch the news and all this, but I just want to be able to tell you that there is a beautiful life that is ahead of all of you.
00:29:28.000 There really is.
00:29:29.000 There are things that give your life meaning that you might be told on a daily basis you shouldn't do getting married, having children, having a job that you believe in, being able to serve your country, your church, your community, whatever those things might be.
00:29:41.000 Those are very beautiful and important things.
00:29:44.000 And so we're kind of going through this massive thing where they say, you know, we have this mental health crisis on our hands.
00:29:49.000 And I know we do.
00:29:49.000 And there's a lot of different reasons for that.
00:29:51.000 Lockdowns, as I said, contributed to it.
00:29:52.000 But what does a young person generally, if they believed everything the left told them, what are they to believe in?
00:30:01.000 Yeah, I mean, exactly.
00:30:02.000 Government.
00:30:02.000 Yeah, okay, great.
00:30:03.000 That's awfully depressing, right?
00:30:06.000 Where it's, can't we as conservatives paint a much more beautiful picture than that of safe local communities that function?
00:30:13.000 How about a future where we don't care about skin color at all?
00:30:15.000 We don't talk about it.
00:30:21.000 I think that's necessary, and I think it's very compelling.
00:30:24.000 In fact, I know it's compelling, and I think that's a lot more important for conservatives to talk about than tax cuts.
00:30:30.000 But it also goes into this, which is one of the main strategies if you get a generation to no longer believe in the history and the story of that nation, then why wouldn't they just tear it all down?
00:30:40.000 And that's one of the reasons why I'm such a defender of the American Republic and our history, which is a beautiful history.
00:30:46.000 It really is the great American story, it's a land of hope.
00:30:50.000 It's a story where you can start with absolutely nothing and you can achieve something.
00:30:53.000 I just don't mean monetarily.
00:30:55.000 It's a place of applied success and meritocracy, and we have to get it back.
00:30:59.000 And that starts here at this campus and spreading the truth and having debate and dialogue and reason and hearing each other's ideas out.
00:31:06.000 But I'll tell you right now, it's a massive crisis because I look at the next generation and I'm very afraid that we're going to be talking about a country that used to exist.
00:31:15.000 And I'm not okay with that, and that's why I'm here tonight.
00:31:22.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.