The Charlie Kirk Show - Is the Culture Apocalypse Upon Us?

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.

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00:00:49.000 Here we go.

00:00:56.000 The Charlie Kirk Show is proudly sponsored by Preserve Gold, the leading gold and silver experts and the only precious metals company I recommend to my family, friends, and viewers.

00:01:09.000 All right, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:01:11.000 We are joined by Alan Bakari.

00:01:13.000 He's from the Foundation for Freedom Online.

00:01:16.000 He's been a guest on this show multiple times in the past, so it's good to have him back.

00:01:20.000 You can find him at X at Alam Bakari, B-O-K-H-A-R-I. 1.00

00:01:26.000 Alan, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:01:28.000 It's good to see you.

00:01:29.000 Good to be back on.

00:01:30.000 Yeah, it was wonderful.

00:01:31.000 So we are here to talk about Netflix and Warner Brothers.

00:01:35.000 So Netflix-Warner Brothers merger, yet again, we've talked a bit about this, but you have a new piece in The American Conservative where you say it's quite the headline.

00:01:45.000 It's Netflix swallowing Warner Brothers would create a monster.

00:01:51.000 So that sounds like a fun discussion to have.

00:01:53.000 So why don't we just give it to you?

00:01:55.000 Why would, you know, you're from the Foundation for Freedom Online.

00:01:58.000 How does giant media company buying other giant media company undermine freedom online?

00:02:05.000 Well, I mean, first there's a clear-cut, you know, competition case to be made here, right?

00:02:09.000 I mean, so Netflix is already the largest streaming platform in America with 81 million subscribers.

00:02:15.000 If this deal went through, there'd be almost 50 million subscribers more than their closest competitor.

00:02:22.000 So that's just a clear-cut competition case, you know.

00:02:25.000 Concentration of markets always leads to declining consumer choice and declining consumer standards.

00:02:32.000 So there's that issue.

00:02:34.000 But there's also the wokeness question.

00:02:35.000 I mean, there's the wokeness question here as well.

00:02:38.000 Most of Silicon Valley, most social media platforms have been fairly sympathetic to where they've been going over the last three or four years.

00:02:46.000 They've, you know, they've gone, they've done a little bit of a U-turn, especially in case of X, on their 2016 to 2024 era censorship policies.

00:02:55.000 They've rolled back some of those censorship policies.

00:02:57.000 YouTube, for example, has unbanned a number of prominent creators that had banned during the worst of censorship.

00:03:05.000 So, you know, many of the social media platforms have rolled back their censorship policies.

00:03:09.000 And in a way, social media, you know, it's inherently disruptive to the legacy media, right?

00:03:14.000 So even when, even at the height of censorship, when trust and safety departments were banning conservative commentators, the logic of social media was to disrupt the legacy media and the post-war liberal order, which it held up.

00:03:28.000 Now, Netflix is not like that at all, because they're a studio first and a technology company second.

00:03:34.000 So even though they're disrupting Hollywood, you could say that they've definitely done that.

00:03:39.000 Because they're a studio first, they still have that ideological gatekeeping role.

00:03:44.000 So in a way, they combine the worst elements of post-2016 Silicon Valley wokeness with Hollywood liberalism to create something that's worse than both.

00:03:55.000 So, I mean, I'm not sure why any Republican administration would want to give a company like that more power.

00:04:00.000 Yeah, I like this line that you have in your piece where you just say what makes Netflix notable is not just its size, but its ideological consistency.

00:04:09.000 So, we saw that Microsoft retreated from its partnership with NewsGuard.

00:04:13.000 They've cozied up to the administration.

00:04:15.000 Meta, Mark Zuckerberg came out and said, we're dialing back fact-checking.

00:04:19.000 We're not going to be the speech police.

00:04:22.000 Google's cozied up to the administration.

00:04:24.000 We've had all of this.

00:04:26.000 But Netflix, it's sort of permanently 2020 over at Netflix.

00:04:31.000 Would that be a fair description?

00:04:32.000 That's a very fair description.

00:04:33.000 You just have to look at Reed Hastings' reaction to Peter Thiel backing Trump back in 2016.

00:04:40.000 He sent him an angry email saying, I can't believe you did this.

00:04:43.000 You have terrible judgment for backing Trump.

00:04:45.000 Whereas someone like Mark Zuckerberg was a lot more even-handed, even when he was aligned himself personally against Trump.

00:04:53.000 He put out some statements saying he respected diversity of ideological viewpoints.

00:04:57.000 So that really shows that Netflix is all in for progressive ideology.

00:05:01.000 And that really makes sense when you consider that they're a combination of a Silicon Valley tech company with a Hollywood studio.

00:05:09.000 I mean, those are two types of companies that tend to have very, very woke liberal internal politics.

00:05:16.000 And you can see that in the fact that they put Susan Rice on their board in 2018 and brought her back after her stint in the Biden administration.

00:05:25.000 Yeah, so Alan, I had kind of more of a basic question, actually.

00:05:29.000 And, you know, I was like, why do we even have, why does this company even need to be sold, right?

00:05:34.000 I mean, Warner Brothers Discovery, and this is, by the way, it contains assets like CNN, TNT, HGTV.

00:05:42.000 So it has the linear side.

00:05:44.000 Then they have this huge library of content.

00:05:48.000 Is there an argument that this company doesn't have to be sold at all?

00:05:53.000 Or is that off the table at this point?

00:05:55.000 I'm not sure why it has to be sold either.

00:05:57.000 It seems nothing more than a power grab by Netflix to increase its market share even further.

00:06:03.000 Like I said, it's already the biggest company in the market for streaming, and this would make them even huger.

00:06:11.000 And like you said, it also gives them more power over the news cycle in addition to a monopoly on storytelling and entertainment franchises with their ownership of CNN.

00:06:21.000 Yeah, well, and so that's the interesting.

00:06:23.000 I kind of wonder what's going to happen with CNN in this mad dash to sell.

00:06:29.000 So I think we've seen this where there's been pressure where they might just have to spin it off or change that or dial it back.

00:06:35.000 And I do wonder if that could be the cheap way that they satisfy the administration is this administration, I think it would be fair to say they President Trump, he's a very television-age person.

00:06:47.000 He watches a lot of TV.

00:06:48.000 He's on TV all of the time.

00:06:50.000 He thinks a lot about Fox, CNN, Newsmax, all of those.

00:06:54.000 And so he would view CNN as an extremely important part of this deal.

00:07:00.000 Yet in the big picture, it is clear these networks, they're shrinking in importance, especially CNN.

00:07:06.000 I think they're still dead last in ratings.

00:07:08.000 And the future, is the future in 20 years going to be defined by these news networks?

00:07:13.000 I'm skeptical.

00:07:14.000 It is going to be much more decentralized.

00:07:16.000 There will be more options.

00:07:17.000 There will be more independent shows.

00:07:20.000 And I guess I would express the worry that if we just see this as a CNN thing, when it's really much more about who's controlling the commanding heights of popular culture.

00:07:30.000 Yeah, it's the cultural economy, and we shouldn't underestimate that, the power of storytelling, especially its influence over young people.

00:07:38.000 And Netflix is already a meme.

00:07:40.000 I mean, if you go on X and you search for Netflix adaptation, you'll see all sorts of jokes about, oh, Netflix is going to adapt Beowulf, and then they're going to make Beowulf into a black lesbian immediately. 0.55

00:07:51.000 I mean, you'll see jokes like that.

00:07:52.000 And it's not exactly an exaggeration.

00:07:54.000 These companies really are probably the most liberal and progressive companies in America today.

00:08:01.000 And, you know, if you really want to give companies like that more power, I think we should be thinking more about how we're going to disrupt, how the market can disrupt Hollywood, disrupt these big entertainment studios and their chokehold over culture and the gatekeeping role that they play over, you know, the major, you know, the great Western stories that they all control through these IP controller contracts.

00:08:23.000 And, you know, I think there's Silicon Valley definitely has a role there, especially with AI.

00:08:27.000 But Netflix is definitely not a disrupting agent like some other tech companies have been.

00:08:33.000 So to bring the audience up to speed here, so Netflix had the winning bid at $72 billion cash and stock deal for the studios, HBO Max, DC, and gaming assets.

00:08:46.000 So this excluded the cable networks and the expectation was going to close in 12 to 18 months pending regulatory approval, which is a big, a big weight, a big, big thing there.

00:08:57.000 So then Paramount comes in with a hostile counter on December 8th, so earlier this week, an all-cash, $108.4 billion offer for all of W Warner Brothers Discovery at $30 per share.

00:09:12.000 So, and this is backed by the Ellison family, Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, and Middle Eastern Sovereign Funds.

00:09:18.000 Oh, boy.

00:09:19.000 So it promises a faster closure and $6 billion in synergies, but raises antitrust flags due to further dissolves.

00:09:27.000 Is it better to have the emir of Abu Dhabi on HBO?

00:09:33.000 I mean, you probably wouldn't get as many trans quids and gay, trans, you know, whatever character adaptations.

00:09:42.000 And so President Trump has weighed in demanding CNN's sale in any deal.

00:09:48.000 So to Blake's point, I mean, that's where we find ourselves.

00:09:51.000 So, you know, it was interesting as well, Alan, when on the other side of this break, so ponder it now.

00:09:57.000 You know, you got President Trump come in and kind of took a shot at Paramount CBS with 60 Minutes and Leslie Stahl, and he's demanding an apology.

00:10:07.000 So he's sort of applying pressure equally on both on both sides of this ledger.

00:10:12.000 So it'll be interesting to see how this does play out.

00:10:15.000 But I think your point is well made.

00:10:16.000 The cultural implications are profound.

00:10:20.000 And I think we'd be wrong, Blake, to downplay too much the power of television and storytelling, even in 2025.

00:10:30.000 This is Lane Schoenberger, Chief Investment Officer and Founding Partner of YReFi.

00:10:35.000 It has been an honor and a privilege to partner with Turning Point and for Charlie to endorse us.

00:10:40.000 His endorsement means the world to us, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Turning Point for years to come.

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00:11:39.000 Alan, explain what's going on.

00:11:42.000 We've talked about it a little bit on the show already.

00:11:44.000 What's going on with the DSA, Elon Musk, X versus Meta?

00:11:48.000 It's over these blue check marks that you pay $8 a month to be verified on the platform.

00:11:53.000 They're saying something was untoward there.

00:11:55.000 But doesn't Meta also have paid verification?

00:11:59.000 It does.

00:11:59.000 And, you know, just to put this in context, the EU Digital Services Act is probably the most dangerous censorship law in the world when it comes to online speech.

00:12:07.000 It was brought in a couple of years ago, actually with the cooperation and encouragement of the Biden administration.

00:12:13.000 And X has become, was the first company to be investigated under the DSA after months and months of threats from European bureaucrats.

00:12:22.000 That actually began right after Musk took over the company.

00:12:25.000 So as soon as Musk took over Twitter, turned it into X, and started talking about how he's going to dismantle its internal censorship process.

00:12:32.000 That's when the threats from European bureaucrats started.

00:12:36.000 X became the first company to be investigated, first company to be fined.

00:12:40.000 It's 120 million dollar euros.

00:12:42.000 That's about 140 million dollars.

00:12:45.000 And if X doesn't comply, then the EU has the power to impose periodic penalties of up to 5% of a company's average daily worldwide turnover for each day of non-compliance.

00:12:57.000 That's a massive, massive fine.

00:13:00.000 No company can withstand that.

00:13:02.000 And let's talk about why they were fined.

00:13:05.000 So the EU points to three things.

00:13:07.000 One of them, as you said, was subscriber check marks.

00:13:11.000 The second two things, number one, not giving researchers, quote-unquote researchers, access to Twitter's ad repository and not giving those same researchers access to Twitter's data or language that is to scrape the platform for data.

00:13:26.000 Now, all three of those things are directly related to online censorship, even if they don't seem so at first.

00:13:32.000 The subscriber check marks is how Twitter insulates itself from advertiser pressure because it gives us a stream of revenue that's not connected to ad revenue.

00:13:41.000 So ad boycotts have less of an impact.

00:13:43.000 Number two, making sure researchers have access to ad repositories.

00:13:48.000 That's so the so-called disinformation researchers, who are the foot soldiers of censorship, they're the ones who build lists of disfavored content, who build lists of speech to censor and lists of advertisers to pressure for boycott.

00:14:02.000 That's how they operate.

00:14:03.000 That's why they need access to X's ads so they can see what ads are running.

00:14:07.000 And they also need access to Twitter's public data so they can analyze it at scale, figure out which users are talking about the wrong things, which narratives are going viral.

00:14:16.000 Without that access, disinformation researchers are blind, and disinformation researchers are essentially the Stasi of the worldwide censorship complex.

00:14:26.000 That's been funded by the previous administration and is funded by Western governments to control the internet.

00:14:31.000 Exactly, exactly.

00:14:32.000 Do you know about Travis Brown, Andrew?

00:14:34.000 No.

00:14:34.000 Yeah, you remember this story, right, right, Alam?

00:14:38.000 He's the Antifa-aligned researcher.

00:14:40.000 The German government funded this guy named Travis Brown to scrape the data off of, I believe it was still, it was Twitter at the time, off of Twitter and then X.

00:14:51.000 And then he would just give this to people aligned with Antifa to dox people.

00:14:56.000 So for example, I believe when Libs of TikTok got doxed, it was with information that he got off the website.

00:15:02.000 Andy No was involved.

00:15:03.000 Yeah, they went after Andy Noah as well.

00:15:04.000 And I think the post-millennial, I think all of them got targeted by this guy.

00:15:07.000 And he's considered a researcher.

00:15:10.000 And this is one of the researchers that the European Union is saying you need to give open access to data.

00:15:18.000 I just think it's the most obvious thing in the world.

00:15:20.000 What they want is to permanently use misinformation, hate speech, safety.

00:15:26.000 These are all the buzzwords that they've used that they used in America before 2022 to just justify unlimited censorship.

00:15:33.000 Yeah.

00:15:33.000 And Alam, I mean, you do have an accent.

00:15:36.000 We can hear you're not from here.

00:15:37.000 You know, Musk is calling, he's basically saying Western civilization can only be saved if the EU is abolished.

00:15:45.000 I mean, these are, Musk is not holding anything back.

00:15:48.000 He is, he is painting the EU as the chief villain in this story.

00:15:52.000 Do you agree?

00:15:54.000 What can be reformed?

00:15:55.000 I mean, they seem wholly committed to censorship.

00:15:59.000 Yeah, I mean, the European Union has, and European bureaucratic elites have the most incentive to shut down online free speech because look at what's happening in their countries.

00:16:06.000 France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden.

00:16:09.000 In all of these countries, young people are turning towards the populist right, and they're turning towards the populist right because they have free speech on the internet, because they can see information that challenges mainstream narratives.

00:16:21.000 And European elites know if they don't shut that down, it'll be over for them and the parties, the political parties that support them.

00:16:27.000 They'll just melt away as young voters take over. 0.99

00:16:31.000 Yeah, I mean, you would know better than us.

00:16:34.000 However, what's happening in these countries is truly remarkable, Alam.

00:16:38.000 And I mean, you're seeing the disintegration of the Christian West by mass migration, and young Europeans are fed up with it, as we are, honestly, in the United States. 0.83

00:16:48.000 However, we do have a more robust free speech culture.

00:16:52.000 The whole world sort of looks to American conservatism to get their talking points, to get their inspiration.

00:16:59.000 Alam, we hope you'll join us again as this story unfolds.

00:17:02.000 I know there's going to be more twists and turns in the coming weeks.

00:17:05.000 So thank you so much, Alam.

00:17:07.000 Thanks, guys.

00:17:10.000 Connection, open dialogue.

00:17:12.000 These are the things that build communities.

00:17:14.000 Charlie, Kirk, and TikTok share in that knowledge.

00:17:18.000 That's why TikTok has built a space where that kind of listening actually happens.

00:17:22.000 People don't just post, they respond.

00:17:24.000 They build on each other's ideas.

00:17:26.000 You'll see a teacher simplifying a tough lesson so it finally clicks, or a gardener sharing a trick that saved their crop.

00:17:33.000 But what matters most isn't the video, it's what comes next.

00:17:36.000 Someone asking a question, someone else answering with a story of their own.

00:17:40.000 And suddenly, people who've never met become a community built on curiosity.

00:17:45.000 When people listen and understand, a shift happens.

00:17:48.000 Walls come down, ideas travel further, and connection, real connection, takes their place.

00:17:54.000 That's what listening does.

00:17:55.000 It reminds us that we're not as different as we may think.

00:17:58.000 And that's what makes TikTok so powerful.

00:18:00.000 It's a place where every post can turn into a conversation and every conversation can make a difference.

00:18:06.000 Portions of our program are sponsored in part by TikTok.

00:18:11.000 All right, welcome to the set.

00:18:13.000 Now, Brandon Dre, you're the manager of Frontlines TPUSA.

00:18:17.000 You're also a reporter.

00:18:18.000 You started as a reporter.

00:18:19.000 Now you're running it.

00:18:21.000 And I would say that of all the sort of divisions or projects within Turning Point, Charlie was potentially the most excited about Frontlines.

00:18:31.000 I can't say that for sure, but there was times, I remember conversations when we were dreaming up what Frontlines was going to be and could become.

00:18:38.000 He was so bullish on Frontlines.

00:18:41.000 So why don't you just describe what TPUSA Frontlines is as a starting point?

00:18:45.000 Well, first and foremost, I mean, Charlie was the original Frontlines reporter, right?

00:18:49.000 I mean, he was out there demonstrating what it's like to be a man in the arena.

00:18:54.000 And we're just carrying on that mission, right?

00:18:57.000 So out of the 2020 riots with BLM and protests and all that stuff, a couple years into it, Frontlines emerged as this like on-the-ground journalism wing of Turning Point USA where we're going out and covering these protests, these riots, and we're getting this exclusive, raw, unfettered, on-the-ground footage and posting it directly to social media so that way people are getting the real truth of what's happening out there instead of the mainstream media, which I was working for at the time.

00:19:26.000 They would cut away from these protests and these riots and they would show the more peaceful side of things.

00:19:31.000 Mostly peaceful.

00:19:32.000 Mostly peaceful side of things.

00:19:34.000 So, you know, Frontlines was one of those guerrilla journalism style teams that was giving you the raw access to what was happening on the ground.

00:19:44.000 We had a show for a while.

00:19:46.000 It was a half-hour show where we would kind of break down the news through original reporting.

00:19:51.000 But now we've grown into this nationwide network of videographers and journalists emphasizing truth, objectivity, and integrity, you know, through the turning point lens.

00:20:02.000 And, you know, our videos are often going viral.

00:20:07.000 We're picking up content that is the mainstream media is now forced to recognize because of its virality.

00:20:15.000 And, you know, it's just a really exciting time.

00:20:18.000 We, you know, we've obviously have made an impact.

00:20:21.000 We've broken stories.

00:20:22.000 We're getting, we're expanding all the time.

00:20:26.000 We're on campuses showing things that are happening.

00:20:28.000 Like, for example, at Berkeley the other week.

00:20:31.000 Well, let's give the audience.

00:20:33.000 I mean, I know if you're watching, you can see it, but let's give the audience a little taste of some of what Frontlines does.

00:20:40.000 Play cut 282.

00:20:42.000 Join Antifa.

00:20:43.000 We're always accepting new moments.

00:20:52.000 I think he's scared that we're trying to stop the fascism that he's trying to do in America.

00:20:57.000 Make it fight in the world today!

00:21:05.000 The epidemic of left-wing violence and Antifa-inspired terror has been escalating for nearly a decade.

00:21:18.000 These are agitators.

00:21:22.000 We're on the way home. 0.91

00:21:23.000 You transphobic save anarchists.

00:21:30.000 And they're paid.

00:21:36.000 We're trying to prevent fascism from not bringing on.

00:21:44.000 Can't stand up and fight.

00:21:45.000 Oh, no!

00:21:47.000 Yeah, get us by, get his body.

00:21:49.000 80% of the political violence comes from those on the right.

00:21:59.000 It's not for the Democrats, it's- It's always Republicans.

00:22:05.000 They've used armed gangs to assault local police and cities nationwide.

00:22:10.000 Well, they're going fireworks to mortars.

00:22:12.000 They just blew fireworks to the officers.

00:22:13.000 They have to step back.

00:22:14.000 We'd have to step back.

00:22:17.000 And then they've attacked journalists reporting on their crimes.

00:22:33.000 Nick Sorry's being something.

00:22:35.000 Join Antifa.

00:22:36.000 We're all accepting new members.

00:22:37.000 Oh, these are bad people.

00:22:50.000 These are people that want to destroy our country.

00:22:52.000 We're not going to let it happen.

00:22:55.000 Yeah.

00:22:57.000 I mean, gosh, you guys put yourself in some pretty radical positions.

00:23:03.000 Really, truly.

00:23:04.000 How many frontline reporters do we now have?

00:23:07.000 So we have four full-time reporters, and then we have about five contractors.

00:23:12.000 We're bringing on new people to just have boots on the ground in every part of the country.

00:23:17.000 That's a lot, actually.

00:23:18.000 That's a lot of, that's a bit.

00:23:20.000 I mean, you worked at the caller.

00:23:22.000 I mean, to have nine journalists out in the field doing independent journalism, original journalism, that's like starting to become.

00:23:30.000 That's a significant operation.

00:23:31.000 That is.

00:23:32.000 There's a lot of stuff going on.

00:23:33.000 Yeah, plus all the staff that you have, the camera crews, the travel.

00:23:38.000 I mean, it's a whole operation to make this happen.

00:23:42.000 I want to give some of these guys a shout out because some of them have been on the show, of course.

00:23:46.000 You know, go ahead at 289.

00:23:48.000 This is Cho Show, Jonathan Cho, tell us about Jonathan Cho.

00:23:53.000 There's one, there's nobody like the Cho show.

00:23:56.000 I mean, this guy was in the mainstream media for decades, and he was just too based for them, right?

00:24:02.000 So he joined our team.

00:24:05.000 He's up in the Pacific Northwest.

00:24:06.000 He's in the Pacific Northwest West.

00:24:08.000 He covers a lot of Seattle and Portland stories.

00:24:11.000 He's embedded with all these different underground networks where he's getting leads and often breaking these stories again that nobody else has.

00:24:21.000 He infiltrated two Antifa book fairs recently with one of our other contractors, Kevin Calb, 6'7, Kevin.

00:24:29.000 And they went and discovered where these militants plan and recruit for direct action.

00:24:36.000 And it's at a book fair, right?

00:24:38.000 And so, like, for example, the riots that happened at UC Berkeley at our turning point event the other week.

00:24:45.000 We knew about that ahead of time because we got the flyers from the book fair.

00:24:48.000 Well, and you need to give us a heads up so we can alert authorities, too.

00:24:52.000 Absolutely.

00:24:53.000 That was the one note I got back from some of our friends: hey, next time something like this is going to happen, please let us know.

00:25:00.000 But yeah, so let's hear.

00:25:01.000 Let's go to everybody knows Savannah Hernandez, 291. 0.99

00:25:05.000 Savannah Hernandez has been on the show a number of times.

00:25:07.000 But by the way, she's been on a lot of shows.

00:25:09.000 She's become a huge star.

00:25:10.000 Savannah Hernandez, there she is. 0.98

00:25:12.000 The great Savannah Hernandez.

00:25:14.000 She's, I would say, as far as on-the-ground immigration stories, there's nobody better.

00:25:20.000 Nope.

00:25:20.000 And there's only one Sav as well.

00:25:22.000 I mean, Sav happens to be in the right place at the right time every time she travels.

00:25:27.000 Every time.

00:25:28.000 Which is ironic because her travel always gets disrupted.

00:25:31.000 So it just goes to show that, you know, there's something with her.

00:25:35.000 But she's really good with covering immigration.

00:25:38.000 You know, she's exposing black markets that have been on a thing for decades, but she's actually showing it in real time and showing how when the police come or ICE comes, they have a really operate like a way of, what do they do?

00:25:57.000 They like pack everything up and then get out of the situation really quickly.

00:26:01.000 And then oftentimes, some of these big city police departments, they're complicit in it.

00:26:06.000 Like they'll turn it away and she's exposing that.

00:26:08.000 Yeah, that's amazing.

00:26:09.000 Julio Rosas, 290.

00:26:11.000 So Julio's also with the Blaze, but Charlie and Julio knew each other from like the very beginning of Turning Point.

00:26:19.000 So they go back like 2012, 2013.

00:26:21.000 Yeah, so Julio is a new addition to the team.

00:26:24.000 And he was recently embedded with Border Patrol in Louisiana for Operation Catalua Crunch.

00:26:31.000 Where yeah, he got a couple of the arrests happening in real time, some of the protesters.

00:26:38.000 He was also in Mexico City recently covering that Big Gen Z protest riot that erupted against this younger generation that are fed up with the cartels down there.

00:26:48.000 Yeah, well, and Julio was also, I think he was in Kenosha for Kyle Rittenhouse.

00:26:55.000 He was one of the journalists on the ground, yes.

00:26:58.000 Next up, Bo Diddle, 292.

00:27:02.000 He's a newer addition to the team.

00:27:04.000 So there's our graphic, TPSA welcomes content creator Bo Diddle.

00:27:08.000 Bo, I remember when I saw some of his original content and he kind of does man on the street stuff.

00:27:13.000 He'll do protest stuff.

00:27:15.000 He'll do all the things, but he's really good at man on the street, getting people's reaction to current events.

00:27:21.000 Absolutely.

00:27:22.000 He's a personality, right?

00:27:23.000 I mean, he's very observant and he loves asking questions.

00:27:28.000 And that's one of his famous lines when the left tries to deny him or block him.

00:27:32.000 He'll just say, hey, I'm just out here asking questions.

00:27:35.000 And he asked really objective questions.

00:27:38.000 But he's just got that personality that everybody can identify with.

00:27:43.000 Yep.

00:27:43.000 And then here's Calem Dalmeeda at 293.

00:27:47.000 So Kalen is, he's kind of an OG on the frontlines crew.

00:27:52.000 And I think, if I'm not mistaken, he has the video with the most views of anybody besides Charlie, I would say.

00:28:00.000 Because Charlie had some like runaway ones.

00:28:02.000 But besides Charlie, Kalen had the most viral video.

00:28:04.000 And I think it was a sort of a pedophile, like illegal, illicit sex sting thing that he was involved in, right? 0.56

00:28:13.000 Yeah, he's got a couple. 0.67

00:28:14.000 One of them involved a pedophile sting.

00:28:17.000 Another one involved him.

00:28:19.000 I mean, it was in that video that we just showed where he got knocked in the face.

00:28:22.000 Oh, that's right.

00:28:23.000 He got assaulted.

00:28:24.000 Yeah, and he was blood everywhere.

00:28:25.000 Yep.

00:28:26.000 So that was another one that went viral, but he's been on the ground.

00:28:28.000 I mean, he was out there in LA at the beginning of the summer.

00:28:31.000 He got flashbanged by one of the cops because he was just in the midst of all the chaos.

00:28:36.000 A new addition that I think she's doing an amazing job, 294 Monica Page.

00:28:41.000 She is our, she's our White House reporter.

00:28:45.000 White House Corporate.

00:28:46.000 She's sort of DC.

00:28:46.000 She covers everything over kind of in the Acela corridor for us, if you will.

00:28:51.000 But she's doing a phenomenal job.

00:28:52.000 And she's asked the president a bunch of questions, but then she'll go out on the streets, too.

00:28:56.000 Yep.

00:28:57.000 Yeah, I mean, she's primarily at the White House, but if there's a protest happening or if there's like some sort of man on the street interview that we want her to get, we now have access to the Pentagon.

00:29:06.000 We're part of the new Pentagon Press Card Print, sorry, Pentagon Press Corps.

00:29:11.000 And she will be covering that as well if there is any major breaking news happening.

00:29:16.000 Last but not least, and maybe I'm forgetting somebody, but 295, this is Vicki Richter.

00:29:21.000 She's new on the team, right?

00:29:22.000 Yep.

00:29:22.000 Vicki Richter.

00:29:23.000 She specializes in international exposés.

00:29:25.000 We did a really good piece on Brazil and its alleged CCP ties and this narco-communism ties.

00:29:33.000 And she's doing another one about the Islam takeover of the West. 1.00

00:29:38.000 It's going to be coming out pretty soon.

00:29:40.000 So stay tuned for that as well.

00:29:44.000 Thanksgiving holds so many memories.

00:29:46.000 And I'm sure it's the same for you.

00:29:48.000 Right now, there's a girl finding out she's pregnant. 1.00

00:29:51.000 In the next couple of weeks, she's going to make a decision.

00:29:53.000 And whatever decision she makes will become her memory of this Thanksgiving for the rest of her life.

00:29:59.000 What will she be thankful for a year from now?

00:30:01.000 You.

00:30:02.000 She'll be thankful that you introduced her to her baby by providing a free ultrasound. 0.92

00:30:07.000 And she'll be thankful that she chose life as she prepares for her baby's first Thanksgiving.

00:30:13.000 Take a stand for life by providing an ultrasound with pre-born. 0.60

00:30:16.000 When a young woman sees her baby on the ultrasound and hears her baby's heartbeat, she is twice as likely to choose life.

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00:30:36.000 Call 833-850-2229 or click on the pre-born banner at charliekirk.com today.

00:30:45.000 let's go ahead and play cut 280.

00:30:48.000 what were we looking at there brandon so That's pretty intense.

00:31:11.000 So that was in Portland.

00:31:12.000 Sav was out there covering the ongoing protests outside the ICE facility.

00:31:17.000 And I love that clip because it just shows the heart of what we do.

00:31:21.000 I mean, you saw her running.

00:31:23.000 You can hear her breathing because she's just chasing down these ICE agents that are, you know, going after these protesters and rioters that are disrupting.

00:31:32.000 That National Guard?

00:31:33.000 I think that might have been National Guard.

00:31:34.000 That was National Guard, yes.

00:31:36.000 But that, yeah, that's, I mean, that was a wild scene.

00:31:38.000 And by the way, you saw Nick Sorter getting assaulted, Kalin getting assaulted.

00:31:42.000 I mean, these reporters are putting themselves in harrowing positions to cover these stories that matter.

00:31:48.000 I mean, the amount of courage they display on a daily basis is truly remarkable.

00:31:53.000 And we are very proud and grateful to them here at Turning Point in the Charlie Kirk show.

00:31:59.000 Blake, I think you would make a really good frontlines reporter.

00:32:03.000 I think it's time to send you out on the field.

00:32:05.000 We got Brandon here.

00:32:07.000 What do you want to cover?

00:32:08.000 I don't know.

00:32:09.000 I always think I like to read papers and stuff.

00:32:11.000 That doesn't sound very exciting.

00:32:14.000 I'm not going to be a bogus scientific wind right there during the break.

00:32:16.000 I mean, you are kind of like the token intellectual that we have around.

00:32:21.000 The white paper guy, the white paper guy.

00:32:24.000 So because Charlie was always, we're not a think tank, we're a battle tank.

00:32:34.000 No, I think I think that's this leads into my question, though.

00:32:38.000 It's inspired by an actual question, which is, as you guys have grown, how do you determine your editorial decisions where you're deploying these now nine reporters across the country?

00:32:49.000 Well, it's a case-by-case basis.

00:32:51.000 I mean, we're getting leads.

00:32:53.000 Again, our reporters are embedded into these networks where they're hearing different stories that are about to break or whatever, right?

00:33:00.000 So it just really depends.

00:33:02.000 You know, we'll look into protests and riot, potential protests and planned riots online to see how big they're actually going to get based on social media engagement.

00:33:11.000 You know, we'll go on Reddit.

00:33:13.000 We'll go on Blue Sky.

00:33:15.000 You know, we're looking on X. We're looking on Instagram.

00:33:17.000 We're looking at Blue Sky, so we don't have to.

00:33:19.000 Exactly.

00:33:20.000 Exactly.

00:33:20.000 That was Charlie.

00:33:21.000 Gruesome.

00:33:22.000 What's that?

00:33:22.000 Gruesome.

00:33:23.000 I know.

00:33:24.000 It's dark out there.

00:33:25.000 It'll destroy your soul over time.

00:33:26.000 It really will, man.

00:33:28.000 Honestly.

00:33:28.000 But simultaneously, it's so unimpressive, right?

00:33:33.000 Like, you go on there and the content that they're talking about or stories are talking about.

00:33:37.000 That's an interesting angle.

00:33:38.000 So when you guys are diving into the underworld, the underbelly of the modern left, you're saying you sort of realize the emperor has no clothes.

00:33:48.000 You're sort of realizing just how unimpressive, as you said, it is.

00:33:53.000 Yeah, I mean, it's the same song over and over again, right?

00:33:57.000 They have the same talking points.

00:33:59.000 They're not evolving.

00:34:00.000 They're not changing their tune.

00:34:01.000 They're not thinking outside of their box.

00:34:03.000 They're not letting anybody poke a hole in their argument.

00:34:06.000 So they stick in the same place over and over again.

00:34:09.000 And when you see them in the streets protesting, they have the same chant over and over again, right?

00:34:16.000 Well, it shows coordination, too, that they're all chanting the same stuff.

00:34:19.000 Yeah, and they're totally planned, right?

00:34:21.000 Like we see these meetings that are planned where they're teaching all of the protesters the chance.

00:34:29.000 They're teaching them how to not engage with press like us, right?

00:34:33.000 Or just they have preferred press.

00:34:35.000 And they know you as well.

00:34:36.000 Oh, yeah.

00:34:37.000 They know who you guys are.

00:34:38.000 They know your pictures.

00:34:39.000 They have your images.

00:34:40.000 Well, they love Bo.

00:34:41.000 They love Bo out there because anytime Bo is on the street, you have like five volunteers, right?

00:34:47.000 Volunteers, quote unquote, surrounding you.

00:34:50.000 Bo Diddle.

00:34:50.000 Yeah.

00:34:51.000 Okay.

00:34:51.000 Why?

00:34:52.000 Why Bo?

00:34:53.000 Because his content goes viral. 0.50

00:34:55.000 So they know that if they talk to him, they're going to end up looking sort of like a clown.

00:35:01.000 Wow, that's fascinating.

00:35:03.000 Yeah, I mean, what are we doing from a, I mean, there's got to be a lot of stories that you don't pursue because they, they, it's just, you can't guarantee the safety of the team, right?

00:35:17.000 Sure.

00:35:18.000 Some of that, I mean, you guys are considering their well-being, obviously.

00:35:22.000 And then reporters have discretion, whether they'll accept the story or if they want to pursue one, maybe you guys have to say, no, no, no, don't do that one.

00:35:30.000 Yeah, absolutely.

00:35:31.000 I mean, there's, look, my reporters will tell me all the time, like, please let me go do this.

00:35:35.000 And I say, no, just because we need to make sure that A, it's legit and B, you're going to be safe.

00:35:42.000 But like when Cho and 6'7 Kevin went to those book fairs, they went undercover.

00:35:47.000 They were wearing masks.

00:35:49.000 They had hidden cams on.

00:35:51.000 So it just, again, it depends.

00:35:52.000 It's case-by-case basis.

00:35:54.000 My last question for you is: if we have a lead, if somebody out there in the audience has a lead and they want frontlines to cover, how did they get in touch with you guys?

00:36:00.000 You could reach out to us frontlines at tpusa.com.

00:36:05.000 So just that you have an email frontline at tpusa.com.

00:36:08.000 There's a tip sheet on our Turning Point website, and you could always contact through X as well.

00:36:14.000 Brandon Dre, thank you so much.

00:36:16.000 Thank you for having me.

00:36:16.000 You guys are doing amazing work.

00:36:18.000 Thank you.

The Charlie Kirk Show - December 12, 2025

Is the Culture Apocalypse Upon Us?

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