The Charlie Kirk Show - April 18, 2025


How Trump's New Team Members Blocked War With Iran

Topics
fentanyl smuggling Iran nuclear facilities airstrikes
Hosted by
Charlie Kirk
Mentioned
Joe Biden Dominique Alexander Jeff Metcalf Carmelo Anthony Faith Austin Metcalf Forbidden Andrew Kolvet Sam Harris Pete Hegseth Patty Morin JD Vance Ann VanderSteel Susie Wiles Sheen Timu Anne Kilmar Abrego Garcia Turning Point USA Todd Nettleson and 18 more
The Modern Left Fights For Foreign Gangbangers Instead of American Citizens THOUGHTCRIME Ep. 80 — Karmelo Anthony "Race War?" AI Action Figures? Charlie Gets High?

Episode Stats


Length

35 minutes

Words per minute

158.6

Word count

5,691

Sentence count

456

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Toxicity

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

13

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Ann Fundner lost her son, Weston, to an overdose in February of 2022. She is an advocate for stopping the flow of fentanyl across the U.S. border with Mexico, and fighting against the war on drugs. In this episode, Ann tells us about her son's tragic death, and how she and her family are doing all they can to stop it.

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 .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:00:01.000 Andrew Colvin in for Charlie, who is on assignment at Washington State University.
00:00:06.000 Honored to be with you all.
00:00:07.000 We talk with Ann Fundner, who lost her son tragically to fentanyl.
00:00:12.000 We talk about what is happening at the border.
00:00:14.000 How is Trump dealing with fentanyl?
00:00:16.000 Where is it at?
00:00:17.000 How much is getting through?
00:00:18.000 What can be done to stop it?
00:00:20.000 We also talk about the Tragic FSU shooting as alerts came in while we were on the air as that breaking news story unfolds.
00:00:30.000 And then we talk about the update in Carmelo Anthony's case out of Texas with his spokesman, Dominique Alexander.
00:00:40.000 Excoriating Austin Metcalf's dad, Jeff, for daring to show up at a press conference.
00:00:44.000 The whole thing's bizarre and insane.
00:00:46.000 We break it down as it comes.
00:00:49.000 If this show means something to you, if it helps bring order from the chaos of your everyday life and news cycle, please consider becoming a monthly paying subscriber at members.charliekirk.com.
00:00:59.000 It means the world to us.
00:01:00.000 that helps us keep doing everything that we need to do, keep the lights on, keep paying our staff, growing our team, and bringing you exclusive news and resources every single day.
00:01:11.000 That's members.charliekirk.com, members.charliekirk.com.
00:01:14.000 We pack a lot of value into this membership, especially if you like coming to our events, especially if you want to talk to Charlie.
00:01:22.000 Buckle up for this episode. 0.99
00:01:24.000 Here we go.
00:01:25.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
00:01:27.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
00:01:29.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.
00:01:32.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.
00:01:36.000 I want to thank Charlie.
00:01:37.000 He's an incredible guy.
00:01:38.000 His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:01:46.000 We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:01:55.000 That's why we are here.
00:01:58.000 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.
00:02:08.000 Learn how you can protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at noblegoldinvestments.com.
00:02:15.000 That is noblegoldinvestments.com.
00:02:17.000 It's where I buy all of my gold.
00:02:19.000 go to noblegoldinvestments.com.
00:02:21.000 I want to start with this story here that I don't think gets nearly enough
00:02:28.000 Attention. It's the Trump effect.
00:02:31.000 And yes, it's at the border, but it's specific to fentanyl.
00:02:35.000 In 2023 and 2024, there was an average of 2,000 pounds monthly in 85 seizure events under Joe Biden of fentanyl.
00:02:47.000 In October of 2024, so right around the election to January 2025, that average fell from 2,000 pounds to 990 pounds monthly.
00:02:57.000 In 47 seizure events.
00:02:59.000 In February of 2025, seizures plummeted to just 590 pounds in 45 seizure events.
00:03:08.000 To put this in perspective, that is countless, tens of thousands, if not 100,000 or more lives saved just in the drop of fentanyl at the border.
00:03:20.000 And to help me describe all of this and to put a Personal story on it is Ann Fundner, who is a mom and she is an advocate for the stopping of fentanyl crossing our borders and poisoning our children.
00:03:36.000 Ann, welcome to The Charlie Kirk Show.
00:03:39.000 Thank you.
00:03:39.000 Thank you so much for having me.
00:03:41.000 It's an honor to have you.
00:03:42.000 We wanted to have you on for quite a while at this point.
00:03:45.000 And this story still resonates so loudly.
00:03:49.000 And I just want to bring our audience up to speed of this powerful moment that you had at the RNC.
00:03:56.000 I mean, I was there in Milwaukee.
00:03:59.000 I remember this moment.
00:04:00.000 I remember when you went on stage.
00:04:02.000 I remember everybody in the whole complex talking about it afterwards.
00:04:07.000 Let's go ahead and play cut 306.
00:04:10.000 My family and I were living in Southern California when President Biden took office and opened our borders.
00:04:17.000 My Weston was 15. And in a moment of peer pressure, he tried something that someone gave to him, and it took my baby's life.
00:04:29.000 We did everything right.
00:04:33.000 I had those conversations with him, and fentanyl still found my son.
00:04:39.000 And on February 27th, 2022, our lives were shattered and our baby was gone.
00:04:49.000 This was not an overdose.
00:04:52.000 It was a poisoning.
00:04:54.000 His whole future, everything we ever wanted for him was ripped away in an instant.
00:05:00.000 And Joe Biden does nothing.
00:05:03.000 I hold Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, It's an incredibly powerful moment,
00:05:21.000 and you were so brave for doing that in front of that audience, in that context, in that forum.
00:05:29.000 Tell us more about your personal story and your son.
00:05:33.000 Well, my son was just, he's a really sweet kid.
00:05:36.000 He was a good kid.
00:05:38.000 He was so warm-hearted, had a lot of friends.
00:05:41.000 He was very well-liked.
00:05:44.000 He always stood up for what was right and wasn't afraid to tell people, you know, that, you know, just to cut it out if they were, you know, not being nice to someone.
00:05:54.000 He always stood up for what was right, even if it was against one of his friends picking on someone.
00:06:02.000 He was generous.
00:06:04.000 He was kind.
00:06:07.000 He played sports.
00:06:08.000 He was smart.
00:06:09.000 Had a good GPA.
00:06:10.000 Went to church twice a week.
00:06:11.000 Very strong faith, which I cling to because I know where he is and I know his life had a purpose.
00:06:21.000 But he was my everything.
00:06:23.000 He was my firstborn and I never knew what love was or that my heart had that kind of love in me.
00:06:30.000 Until I met him.
00:06:32.000 And so he, you know, it was just, it was a shock.
00:06:36.000 It was blindsided.
00:06:39.000 And my lesson to everybody is I assure you this could happen to you.
00:06:43.000 So that's what I'm doing.
00:06:46.000 Crusading. And you have not stopped since the RNC.
00:06:50.000 I mean, you have been busy crisscrossing the country, raising awareness for this important issue.
00:06:55.000 And educate our audience on how...
00:06:58.000 Fentanyl actually gets into the country.
00:07:00.000 Where does it start?
00:07:01.000 I know much has been made of China's role in this, gets smuggled in through the southern border and elsewhere.
00:07:08.000 Tell us how it gets into America and how it ends up poisoning our children. 0.66
00:07:13.000 So it starts in China, where these factories make illicit fentanyl, the precursor chemicals. 0.55
00:07:21.000 It's then shipped to Mexico.
00:07:25.000 To the cartels, who knows who?
00:07:28.000 Not a chemist that works for Merck or Pfizer.
00:07:32.000 It's somebody who probably has no idea what they're doing, sprinkles it into a bunch of blue pressed powder, and they press it with the exact markings of pharmaceutical pills.
00:07:44.000 From there, it comes over our open borders.
00:07:47.000 I think you mentioned that under Joe Biden, they were seizing about 2,000 pounds a month.
00:07:53.000 That's not nearly what comes over here.
00:07:55.000 That's the tip of the iceberg.
00:07:57.000 The very tip.
00:07:58.000 So, you know, it comes over through that.
00:08:02.000 It also comes over through the de minimis loophole.
00:08:04.000 President Trump just put triple tariffs on Timu and Sheen because anything under $800 does not have to be inspected when it comes from overseas.
00:08:15.000 And, you know, Timu and Sheen being somewhat social media, kind of like a little bit of an Amazon one, you know, one's for fashion, one's like Amazon.
00:08:23.000 They have private senders shipping things over.
00:08:26.000 And fentanyl bricks were coming over that way.
00:08:30.000 And so those are the two main ways it comes over.
00:08:34.000 But it's still coming over in ways we don't know.
00:08:37.000 And that's what we're getting to the bottom of.
00:08:39.000 And there's a stockpile over here.
00:08:40.000 So it's not going to stop all of a sudden.
00:08:43.000 Multi-billion dollar corporations called the cartels don't shut down overnight.
00:08:48.000 And neither do the thousands of factory workers in China.
00:08:53.000 So this is a business, make no mistake, these are CEOs making a lot of money, and they don't intend to shut down anytime soon.
00:09:01.000 So we still need to fight every single day.
00:09:04.000 Absolutely. Well, we've got to root out all these loopholes.
00:09:06.000 This is, you know, please, and we want to be a part of that, so please message us after this segment of what we need to be focusing our attention on, because we want to advocate on behalf of families like yours, on behalf of families like mine.
00:09:20.000 And you made this point, I think, so beautifully, both here but also at the RNC, how you guys did everything you could to love your children so well.
00:09:29.000 You did nothing wrong.
00:09:31.000 It was the failure of leadership that let this happen.
00:09:34.000 And nowhere is that more clearly visible than at the southern border.
00:09:39.000 And I want to emphasize this point, Anne, when you have the morale of our Border Patrol agents was dangerously low.
00:09:49.000 But not only that, they were overwhelmed.
00:09:51.000 They became paper processing staffers of the federal government, essentially.
00:09:56.000 They were not allowed to do their job.
00:09:58.000 And now, in an about-face that is truly historic, and we have, I believe, a graphic that will demonstrate this for you visually, 312.
00:10:08.000 Go ahead and throw that up.
00:10:10.000 The amount of border crossers that were coming over were overwhelming our border patrol agents, so they weren't able to do searches and seizures like they normally would or would want to do. 0.90
00:10:21.000 And now we have the numbers at such a place, and you can see how they plummeted under President Trump, where there is enough personnel to do more searches.
00:10:31.000 So we're going to be getting more of this fentanyl.
00:10:34.000 Per search, per seizure, per operation than we would have before when they were completely overwhelmed and overrun at the border.
00:10:42.000 And so there's reporting now.
00:10:45.000 Todd Bensman, who comes on this show often, has done reporting of this in the Daily Wire, that the cartels are actually realizing they're not able to smuggle as much of this fentanyl across the border.
00:10:56.000 Thank God.
00:10:57.000 Unfortunately, they're turning their sights on Europe.
00:11:00.000 And other countries, they're now shipping it abroad to those countries, which, thank God it's not in our country, but this needs to be rooted out where it originates, and that's China, that's with tariffs, and so much more.
00:11:13.000 whyrefi.com go to whyrefi.com y-r-e-f-y.com whyrefi is amazing whyrefi is the underwriter of our campus tour they are wonderful and it's because a lot of students have private
00:11:28.000 student loan debt if anybody in your life has private student loan debt go to whyrefi.com whyrefi refinances distressed and defaulted private student loans which are different from federal loans many clients aren't even able to make the minimum monthly payments on their private student loans when they
00:11:44.000 first contact.
00:11:44.000 You can finally take control of your private student loan situation.
00:11:48.000 It may not be available in all 50 states.
00:11:50.000 They will go after defaulted private student loans that others will not touch.
00:11:54.000 I want you to think about anybody in your life that might have private student loan debt.
00:11:58.000 A sister, a brother, a niece, a nephew, a son, a daughter, a grandson, a granddaughter, maybe you yourself.
00:12:03.000 Think about it for a second and then refer them to YREFI.
00:12:06.000 Amazing Patriots, Y-R-E-F-Y.com.
00:12:09.000 Y-R-E-F-Y.com.
00:12:11.000 And I want to get to sort of a second wrinkle in this topic.
00:12:16.000 You pointed out in your speech, Gavin Newsom, all the Democrats, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris.
00:12:22.000 That did nothing as young Americans and old Americans, by the way.
00:12:28.000 One of the producers on this show knows two people that lost children to fentanyl poisoning.
00:12:34.000 But we see this dichotomy with the way Democrats react to the illegal immigration problem.
00:12:41.000 And they seem to have so much compassion.
00:12:45.000 For this Kilmar Abrego Garcia guy that is likely an MS-13 gang member who apparently beat his wife, who lied to immigration courts, and he's been deported to El Salvador, his home country.
00:12:57.000 They're getting on planes right now, flying to go get him.
00:13:02.000 And they say bring him home, even though his home is El Salvador.
00:13:05.000 But they don't seem to care about people like Rachel Morin or your son.
00:13:11.000 And I want to play this clip from Patty Morin.
00:13:15.000 I think it's really powerful.
00:13:16.000 And she's angry.
00:13:18.000 And I want to get your reaction on the other side.
00:13:21.000 No, actually, I'm very angry.
00:13:23.000 I'm actually outraged, but I'm too sad at the moment to show anger at the same time.
00:13:29.000 He did not call our family.
00:13:32.000 He did not give condolences.
00:13:34.000 There was no action on the Democratic Party in any way from Joe Biden, Kamala Harris.
00:13:43.000 My Orcus, anyone here in Maryland, none of the senators, did anything to help search for the murderer of my daughter.
00:13:54.000 Your reaction to Patty's moment is very touching.
00:13:59.000 What's your reaction when you see that?
00:14:01.000 Well, I love Patty.
00:14:02.000 She's a friend of mine.
00:14:04.000 We're angel parents together, and we've done some things together in this fight.
00:14:11.000 So she's a wonderful person with an incredible, compassionate and warm heart.
00:14:17.000 You know, to see her up there upset with one of her own senators who was flying over to El Salvador to try to get someone to come back who is here illegally, who happens to probably be part of a gang, who does have two orders of protection against him for who knows what.
00:14:35.000 And I'm hearing some other things come out today that he's been involved with that just...
00:14:40.000 It's disgusting the way these Democrats protect people that aren't supposed to be here, and you have to question why.
00:14:47.000 With the open borders, what I used to call it was the Future Voters of America program.
00:14:53.000 How many people can they get over here to show allegiance to them for letting them come over to vote for them in the future?
00:14:59.000 And I believe that's what it's all about.
00:15:00.000 And that's why Democrats are so open to all of this.
00:15:05.000 Open border and all these illegal immigrants coming over, unchecked, unbedded. 0.99
00:15:09.000 Whether or not they want to come here for the right reasons or not, they're here illegally. 1.00
00:15:12.000 And that's not part of what America is all about.
00:15:15.000 Yeah, I mean, I think it's pretty transparent too.
00:15:17.000 And you've seen what Doge has uncovered as far as how many of these illegals have gotten Social Security numbers and how many have gotten welfare benefits and they just get... 0.92
00:15:27.000 Smuggled into the system, laundered into the system, and the amount of work that the Trump administration has before them to unravel the tangled web and the destruction that's been sown by the Democrats in four small years,
00:15:44.000 four short years, they were able to do so much damage to this country and to rip apart families like yours. 0.53
00:15:51.000 And we've seen there's polling out.
00:15:54.000 That is showing from CNN, Harry Enten, CNN saying that in 2016, only 38% of Americans wanted to deport all illegal immigrants.
00:16:04.000 Now it's at 56%.
00:16:05.000 So this message is winning with real Americans, even as the legacy media tries to trumpet up rage and outrage through their through their shrinking size of the Anne,
00:16:25.000 I just want you to give one message to the Trump administration, to our leaders.
00:16:30.000 Give them the encouragement that only somebody like you could, Anne, who's gone through what you've gone through.
00:16:35.000 What is your message to them?
00:16:37.000 Well, first of all, I would love to say thank you, which I actually got the opportunity to do a few weeks ago on stage with President Trump because he's doing all the right things.
00:16:46.000 There's been a 98% drop in border crossings.
00:16:50.000 That is incredible.
00:16:52.000 And he's put all the right people in all the right places.
00:16:55.000 He started working on the de minimis loophole.
00:16:57.000 He's dealing with China, Canada, and Mexico right now.
00:17:00.000 He's labeled the cartels foreign terrorist organizations.
00:17:04.000 And through Pam Bondi, she has...
00:17:07.000 Also labeled fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction because this is a poison.
00:17:12.000 This is more potent than cyanide.
00:17:15.000 That's a poison.
00:17:15.000 People don't know they're taking it.
00:17:17.000 When people don't know they're doing something, it's not an overdose.
00:17:19.000 It's a poisoning.
00:17:20.000 Our kids can't learn from their mistakes.
00:17:21.000 They're dying from them.
00:17:22.000 So what I would say to the Trump administration and President Trump is thank you.
00:17:27.000 Thank you for doing all the right things.
00:17:29.000 Thank you for the continued strength and courage you have to do even more to keep America safe.
00:17:36.000 Amen. Thanks, Sam.
00:17:40.000 Hey, everybody.
00:17:41.000 Charlie Kirk here.
00:17:42.000 So you've heard me talk about Patriot Mobile for a while now.
00:17:44.000 You probably already know that for years they've stood in the gap for every American who believes that faith, family, and freedom are worth fighting for.
00:17:51.000 They are the real deal.
00:17:52.000 But did you know they've got cutting-edge technology too?
00:17:56.000 Switching is easy.
00:17:57.000 No store visits.
00:17:58.000 No hassle.
00:17:59.000 Keep your number.
00:17:59.000 Keep your phone or upgrade.
00:18:01.000 Their 100% U.S.-based customer service team can activate you in minutes right over the phone.
00:18:07.000 And get this, Patriot Mobile is one of the few carriers with access to all three major U.S. networks.
00:18:13.000 This means exceptional nationwide coverage, plus they can even put a second number on a different network on one phone.
00:18:19.000 It's like carrying two phones in one.
00:18:21.000 They have unlimited data plans, mobile hotspots, international roaming, internet-on-the-go devices, and home internet backup.
00:18:28.000 You can't get all this from the big guys, so what are you waiting for?
00:18:32.000 Go to patriotmobile.com slash charlie or call 972-PATRIOT and make the switch today.
00:18:37.000 That is patriotmobile.com slash charlie.
00:18:42.000 Blake Neff, are you with me?
00:18:44.000 Yep, you got me, Charlie.
00:18:46.000 Andrew? It happens a lot, by the way.
00:18:49.000 Oftentimes I'll call people and they'll think that I'm trying.
00:18:52.000 I don't know if it's like our voices have melded together over the years and we just sort of sound similar.
00:18:59.000 I'm not sure what that is.
00:19:01.000 There's a couple stories.
00:19:02.000 I want to get to Iran because this is a massive, massive story that's going to continue on. 1.00
00:19:11.000 The drums of war are beating in Washington, D.C., Blake, and we have some new intel, if the reporting's correct, that there's some very specific people within the administration that have worked to...
00:19:27.000 Yeah, Andrew.
00:19:29.000 So this came out yesterday, late yesterday.
00:19:32.000 And what the story is, is it says that basically since last fall, there's been the development of plans for a series of airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.
00:19:45.000 As described in the reporting, I think the New York Times had it first, or at least with the most detail.
00:19:50.000 They said that...
00:19:52.000 The idea was to do strikes on Iran's facilities that could set them back by about a year in terms of pursuing a nuclear weapon.
00:20:00.000 And the idea was the strikes would be conducted by Israeli jets, but inevitably they would probably need U.S. support, buy-in.
00:20:10.000 There was even discussion that we would give more direct support by, for example, moving U.S. jets into Israel, which...
00:20:17.000 I'm not sure, but I don't know if America's ever actually based our own fighter aircraft in Israel before, so it might be a new step.
00:20:23.000 But anyway, there was this buildup.
00:20:25.000 There was building more and more momentum.
00:20:27.000 And then...
00:20:28.000 Other figures in the administration pushed back, said we should not race towards war.
00:20:33.000 We should focus on diplomacy.
00:20:35.000 And they said that, first, I'll read directly from the New York Times.
00:20:40.000 Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, presented a new intelligence assessment that said the buildup of American weaponry in the Middle East could potentially spark a wider conflict with Iran that the United States did not want.
00:20:54.000 And then it goes on to say that Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Vice President J.D. Vance all voiced doubts about the attack.
00:21:04.000 And so, certainly for us, this feels like a great vindication.
00:21:08.000 We were big supporters of J.D. Vance as Vice President, and of course Trump's picks for Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth.
00:21:16.000 And I think, you know, we just said a moment ago on Twitter that...
00:21:20.000 Could you imagine the people in those exact jobs before where we had John Kelly as chief of staff, we had James Mattis as secretary of defense, we had Mike Pence as vice president.
00:21:30.000 Could you imagine any of those guys stopping a march toward war with Iran?
00:21:35.000 The exact opposite.
00:21:36.000 We had, I believe, our...
00:21:38.000 President Trump's first director of national intelligence stepped away because he thought we weren't hawkish enough on Iran.
00:21:45.000 So we're really seeing the difference in the personalities, the difference in perspectives that we've brought to the second administration on this extremely important topic.
00:21:54.000 Well, Blake, you know what this made me think of is the signal gate, right?
00:21:58.000 Where you saw J.D. Vance weigh in and basically say, listen, you know, do we have to really do this now?
00:22:04.000 You know, maybe we need to build up the PR for this, the messaging for this.
00:22:09.000 We need to get our plans in place.
00:22:10.000 And Hexeth was like, hey, listen, we can do this now.
00:22:13.000 I don't think there's, you know, we're going to benefit by waiting.
00:22:16.000 We've got to clearly see lanes and nobody else can.
00:22:17.000 But you saw that back and forth.
00:22:19.000 And I think importantly, you saw J.D. Vance being a skeptic.
00:22:25.000 Instantly, his perspective on it was that we should be skeptical of getting embroiled in these Middle East quagmires. 0.98
00:22:35.000 I think in the Sea Lane story, Signal Gate, there was a different calculus, right?
00:22:41.000 They were disrupting ships and vessels, and they were firing at U.S. ships.
00:22:48.000 And so obviously they were different calculus.
00:22:50.000 They made a different decision.
00:22:51.000 In that instance, they decided to move forward.
00:22:53.000 But I love that there is this initial skepticism from the traditional, you know, drums of war, Washington, D.C., you know, military industrial complex, business as usual, and that you're seeing this play out in such a way that gives us more time with Iran. 0.69
00:23:13.000 For example, We've been told all week that there's going to be this meeting in Rome, I believe, with Iran to see about peace talks.
00:23:23.000 And President Trump has said that he wants Iran to be a great country, a great place to live.
00:23:30.000 He wants the people to thrive, but they will not have a nuclear weapon.
00:23:35.000 And so you see these dynamics within this administration.
00:23:39.000 And Trump 2.0, though, to your point, Blake, you couldn't imagine.
00:23:43.000 This type of skepticism, caution.
00:23:46.000 We know that President Trump is not afraid to use lethal force.
00:23:50.000 He used the mother of all bombs, of course, to take out Soleimani.
00:23:55.000 He took out ISIS.
00:23:57.000 He's not afraid to use weapons of war to defend the American interests when those American interests are properly represented.
00:24:04.000 But this is a really powerful display.
00:24:09.000 Of the contrarians within the office. 0.88
00:24:12.000 I think, to your point, I think Americans should look at this and be very, very grateful that we have prudent, thoughtful people in leadership.
00:24:22.000 Exactly. We're seeing...
00:24:24.000 There's so many times where when you look at it in the past...
00:24:27.000 I was just reviewing the other day the process that led us towards the Iraq War.
00:24:32.000 And what popped up so often was that they, it was this lack of willingness to question things too much.
00:24:42.000 In fact, the funny thing was, is I was reading that like the British government, which was helping us with that, they were tricked by an intelligence estimate of Iraq's WMDs that was based on a guy watching the Michael Bay action movie, The Rock, which
00:24:57.000 had a fake WMD in it.
00:24:59.000 And it was just, you had to ask basic questions.
00:25:02.000 You had to pause and say,
00:25:03.000 And for decades, America didn't...
00:25:08.000 Have that impulse, and it led to so many bad interventions.
00:25:12.000 It led to Iraq, of course, but it also led to Libya.
00:25:15.000 Libya is a great example where they just sort of staggered into this war without seriously asking, are we being told the truth here? 0.97
00:25:23.000 Do we have a plan for how this will go long term?
00:25:25.000 What are we going to do if there's unexpected consequences to this?
00:25:29.000 Now we have people in the government who are asking that question, and it's very likely it's going to save us.
00:25:35.000 Billions of dollars and quite possibly many thousands of American lives.
00:25:40.000 Blake, I think we're going to pivot a little bit just for this FSU story.
00:25:44.000 And then we've got the Dominique Alexander, Carmelo Anthony update as well.
00:25:50.000 But, you know, I think we can put a button on this and say, you know, thank God for J.D. Vance, Susie Wiles, Pete Hegseth for voicing.
00:26:01.000 Skepticism and doubt being slow to really intense action here.
00:26:05.000 So FSU, we're getting news reports.
00:26:09.000 Let's go ahead and play cut 315.
00:26:11.000 Honestly, I just hope everyone's okay, and I hope that, like, we can just do better precautions so this doesn't happen again.
00:26:19.000 And I just feel awful for the students on there having to go through these emotions right now, dealing with the, like, dealing scared for their lives, honestly.
00:26:29.000 It's really scary.
00:26:30.000 And you said you had friends on campus at the time?
00:26:32.000 Yes, right now.
00:26:33.000 They're still on campus.
00:26:34.000 They're on lockdown right now.
00:26:35.000 And you've heard from them.
00:26:36.000 They're doing okay?
00:26:37.000 Yep. Mm-hmm.
00:26:38.000 Texted them.
00:26:39.000 They just said they're scared.
00:26:40.000 They're in lockdown, and they just want to go home.
00:26:43.000 Is there anything else you want to add?
00:26:45.000 No, I just hope everyone's okay, praying for the people that are injured, and I just hope we can do better in the future.
00:26:52.000 And let's go ahead and play Cut 316.
00:26:53.000 This is FBI and local police are on scene.
00:26:57.000 Dan Bongino's been tweeting that they have resources en route.
00:27:01.000 Let's go ahead, 316.
00:27:04.000 Amen to that.
00:27:05.000 No college student should have to live through this type of fear.
00:27:09.000 Nicole, why do you believe that they wouldn't immediately make aware, if they have someone in custody, who that person is?
00:27:16.000 Because there might be a co-conspirator.
00:27:18.000 There may be another person involved.
00:27:19.000 They may not want to tip anybody off at this point.
00:27:22.000 But right now, I can tell you, having responded to multiple mass shootings, it really is chaotic.
00:27:27.000 And so everyone is trying to do the best that they can.
00:27:30.000 So we're getting initial reports.
00:27:32.000 And again, I want to caution and just say these are initial reports from local news sources that are saying five students dead, or at least people dead, could be non-students on campus.
00:27:48.000 Five dead, four injured.
00:27:51.000 It looks like that is five dead, four injured, an active shooter incident at FSU, law enforcement said.
00:27:58.000 Go ahead and throw that screen grab. 0.85
00:28:00.000 That's from WFTV9 in Florida.
00:28:05.000 So not a great situation there.
00:28:07.000 As more details, to say the least, as more details come in, we will be monitoring that situation actively.
00:28:14.000 So prayers up for FSU.
00:28:19.000 Yeah, I mean, it's just a horrible situation, obviously, and nothing that we want to see happen.
00:28:27.000 I mean, this is, you know, one speculates about the incident.
00:28:31.000 Is there a second shooter?
00:28:33.000 Is this person in custody?
00:28:36.000 You know, are they still alive?
00:28:37.000 Have they been killed by campus PD?
00:28:40.000 Is this a gun-free campus? 0.93
00:28:42.000 I'm not 100% sure.
00:28:44.000 With Florida, I know they have very...
00:28:46.000 Very pro-Second Amendment laws, concealed carry as well.
00:28:52.000 Are you ready to be inspired and uplifted by the stories of courageous Christians who stood firm in their faith despite facing persecution?
00:28:59.000 Today I'm thrilled to offer you a complimentary copy of Todd Nettleson's best-selling book, When Faith is Forbidden.
00:29:04.000 Todd, who works with the voice of the martyrs, has ventured into some of the most dangerous countries of the world to bring you these powerful testimonies.
00:29:11.000 In When Faith is Forbidden, you'll discover the awe-inspiring stories of believers who endure unimaginable trials for their faith.
00:29:17.000 Prepare to be moved, inspired, and challenged to stand strong in your own faith as well.
00:29:22.000 To claim your free copy of When Faith is Forbidden, simply call 844-464-3043.
00:29:28.000 When Faith is Forbidden is an exceptional tool that has touched many hearts deeply, and I'm eager to share it with you today at no cost.
00:29:35.000 Call 844-464-3043 for your free copy of When Faith is Forbidden.
00:29:41.000 That's 844-464-3043.
00:29:44.000 844-464-3043 or visit vom.org.
00:29:53.000 Blake, this is a very bizarre ongoing story.
00:29:57.000 So Carmelo Anthony is at a press conference that's being hosted by this, you know, what is this, Dominique Alexander or whatever his name is.
00:30:10.000 And first of all, they're just like, why are you having a press conference?
00:30:15.000 And then Austin Metcalf, the young man that was stabbed to death, his father Jeff shows up and is getting escorted away.
00:30:23.000 Do we have our details here right?
00:30:26.000 So it's still emerging a bit, and we can probably show clips after the jump, but it seems, yeah, that they are holding a press conference, the attorney and the defendant, which, you know, that happens.
00:30:38.000 But what's shocking is, yeah, apparently Austin Metcalf's father...
00:30:42.000 Is it Jeff Metcalf, I believe?
00:30:44.000 He showed up at the event, at the press conference, and we don't know precisely the chain of events, but we have footage that I believe we're showing on screen right now that police spoke with him.
00:30:58.000 Some people are saying that they called the police.
00:31:00.000 Maybe police were already there.
00:31:01.000 It could also be security.
00:31:02.000 We're unraveling this.
00:31:04.000 And then it seems that he was escorted out or asked to leave.
00:31:08.000 And then they held the press conference where we also have footage where this Dominique Alexander blasts Jeff Metcalf and said it was disrespectful for him to attend this press conference.
00:31:20.000 Let us remind everyone his son was murdered.
00:31:22.000 His son was murdered, and I'm not going to judge how he chooses to react to that, but we'll be getting a lot more of this.
00:31:30.000 This is clearly inflaming a lot of passions, and I don't think it's going to slow down anytime soon.
00:31:36.000 Because, well, we have an entire murder trial in front of us over this.
00:31:40.000 Well, and I want to just make one other point here.
00:31:43.000 It's almost like they're intentionally inflaming racial tensions here because Dominique Alexander, the guy representing the family when Trump won, said that white supremacy had won.
00:31:54.000 And Carmelo Anthony stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalfe at a track meet at Frisco High School in Texas over a seating dispute.
00:32:05.000 And all of these people are coming out of the woodwork, raising all this money for his family and his legal defense fund, which they've apparently used partly to buy a new home in a gated community, a $900,000 new home.
00:32:17.000 And now they're doing a press conference.
00:32:19.000 And out of, apparently unbeknownst to Carmelo Anthony's family and Dominique Alexander, Jeff Metcalf, the father, shows up, and it looks like chaos ensues.
00:32:31.000 Let's go ahead and play cut 317. 0.74
00:32:34.000 And all I'm going to say, so it don't be asked later, is that was disrespectful and just shows you all the character who was not invited.
00:32:51.000 He knows that it's inappropriate to be near this family.
00:32:57.000 But he did it.
00:32:58.000 And so I say to people, actions speak louder than words.
00:33:05.000 What he has failed into is the political operatives that want to make this thing a political thing of hate, yet bigotry, and yet racism.
00:33:20.000 We have conservative operatives that have been posting non-stop about this case.
00:33:29.000 Blake, what on earth is he talking about?
00:33:31.000 First of all, I'm trying really hard to place that accent that he had.
00:33:34.000 But, no, that's what we have here, is we have what should be a pretty straightforward tragedy of a violent individual wildly escalates and stabs somebody to death because, I believe the detail was, he was under the tent of an opposing team at a track event.
00:33:53.000 He was told he had to leave, and he basically said, like, touch me again and see what happens.
00:33:57.000 And then Austin Metcalf grabbed him, allegedly, and he replied by pulling out a knife and stabbing him to death.
00:34:04.000 And now it's just become this cause celeb.
00:34:07.000 They've raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.
00:34:10.000 Some people believe it was self-defense, but you also find comments that are just people saying, man, he was disrespecting him.
00:34:19.000 I'm so mad that I would have had to leave. 0.98
00:34:23.000 It really is this attitude that because Oscar Metcalf angered him or imposed him in any way, he deserved to get stabbed to death. 0.82
00:34:32.000 And by the way, I'm sorry, I just have to say, this was not self-defense. 0.94
00:34:36.000 I don't care what anybody thinks.
00:34:37.000 This was a high school conference.
00:34:41.000 These happen daily on campuses all across the country, and you don't pull out a knife and stab somebody.
00:34:46.000 I'm sorry.
00:34:47.000 There's no justification for that.
00:34:49.000 It was not about race.
00:34:50.000 It was two kids and a high school track.
00:34:55.000 So what?
00:34:56.000 Live and let live.
00:34:57.000 Move on.
00:34:58.000 This was not worth this moment.
00:34:59.000 And for him to sit there at that podium, Jeff Metcalf came out the day after his son was murdered and said, this isn't about race.
00:35:08.000 I don't want anybody to make this about race.
00:35:10.000 And then Dominique Alexander, which was weird, but again, I'm trying not to judge his reaction.
00:35:14.000 But then Dominique Alexander gets up there and claims...
00:35:18.000 That his presence there is somehow trying to racialize this or make this conservative political operatives or whatever.
00:35:26.000 This is insane to me.
00:35:28.000 But take it away.
00:35:29.000 Finish this off here, Blake.
00:35:30.000 It's tragic, and I think it's going to get more tragic because, unfortunately, a lot of people want to turn this into something bigger.
00:35:41.000 And I think it would be nicer if we could agree it's just bad to murder someone and there are consequences for that.
00:35:47.000 But some people disagree with that and they're going to stake a lot on it.
00:35:50.000 You're unfortunately right.
00:35:52.000 Thanks so much for joining, everybody.