The Charlie Kirk Show - Lindsey Graham's Hidden Agenda with Pedro Gonzalez and Rep. Jim Jordan

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, today on the Charlie Kirk show.

00:00:01.000 Jim Jordan and Pedro Gonzalez join us.

00:00:03.000 We talk about the weaponization of government.

00:00:06.000 We talk about AOC, Elon Omar, and Lindsey Graham.

00:00:09.000 Action-packed episode.

00:00:10.000 You want to catch every single word.

00:00:12.000 Email me your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:00:15.000 That is freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:00:17.000 Get involved with TurningPointUSA Today at tpusa.com.

00:00:22.000 That is tpusa.com.

00:00:24.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:25.000 Here we go.

00:00:26.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:28.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

00:00:30.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:00:33.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:00:37.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:38.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:00:39.000 His spirit, his love of this country.

00:00:41.000 He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created.

00:00:46.000 Turning point USA.

00:00:47.000 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.

00:00:56.000 That's why we are here.

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00:01:08.000 Joining us now is Congressman Jim Jordan.

00:01:12.000 Congressman, welcome to the program.

00:01:13.000 I want to dive into the controversy with you and Jerry Nadler, but I want to get an initial reaction to your Congressman.

00:01:18.000 Right now, there is a balloon from the Chinese Communist Party still over the continental United States.

00:01:23.000 What's your immediate reaction?

00:01:26.000 Well, I'm concerned like I think every American should be.

00:01:28.000 I mean, this is not a balloon from anywhere.

00:01:31.000 It's from China, the same China that's, you know, supposedly spying on Americans through TikTok, the same China who's showing all kinds of aggressive moves regarding Taiwan, same China who steals our intellectual property.

00:01:43.000 The same China who told us, oh, no, no, the virus didn't start in the lab. 0.65

00:01:49.000 It was a bat to a penguin, to a hippopotamus, to Joe Rogan, and then, you know, the virus goes everywhere. 0.56

00:01:55.000 I mean, so we're supposed to just say, oh, this is just a weather balloon that is off course because of the western, the prevailing westerly wind.

00:02:03.000 I just'm concerned, I think, like any American would be, Charlie.

00:02:09.000 But Joe Biden seems not to be too concerned.

00:02:11.000 I think he's heading off to his home in Delaware for the weekend.

00:02:15.000 Yeah, and the Pentagon has just told us, get used to it.

00:02:18.000 The Chinese spy balloon is going to be over the United States for a few days. 0.95

00:02:21.000 So just get comfortable as the Chinese Communist Party floats a surveillance object over our sovereignty. 0.94

00:02:28.000 Yeah, it's remarkable. 0.99

00:02:30.000 So Congress, I'm going to play a piece of tape here of something that happened in the committee hearing.

00:02:35.000 Let's play Cut 109, and I would love your reaction.

00:02:37.000 Play Cut 109, please.

00:02:38.000 And our Pledge of Allegiance is a national symbol of pride and unity.

00:02:43.000 So my amendment gives the committee the opportunity to begin each of its meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance.

00:02:50.000 It gives our members the ability to invite inspirational constituents to be able to share and lead in the Pledge of Allegiance.

00:02:57.000 I thank the gentleman for his amendment.

00:02:58.000 Support the amendment.

00:02:59.000 Does anyone seek recognition?

00:03:01.000 I would oppose it simply on the grounds that as members know, we pledge allegiance every day on the floor.

00:03:08.000 And I don't know why we should pledge allegiance twice in the same day to show how patriotic we are.

00:03:15.000 Congressman John Jordan, how should we think about that?

00:03:18.000 Yeah, remember this.

00:03:20.000 Well, the history here is we offered this amendment two years ago when we organized under the Democrats to organize the Judiciary Committee and they voted it down.

00:03:27.000 So we Representative Gates brought it back again and we had his guest there, a decorated member of our military.

00:03:35.000 You know, the reason we think it makes sense is because this is not just any committee.

00:03:40.000 This is a committee of the United States Congress that's the Judiciary Committee whose primary responsibility is to protect the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment, which we think has been assaulted by the Biden administration, the Democrats last two years, the Second Amendment, and all the rights we enjoy as American citizens.

00:03:55.000 And so we felt maybe it's appropriate for this committee from time to time to go ahead and say the Pledge of Allegiance before an important hearing.

00:04:02.000 And we thought that the hearing that organized the committee made sense to do that and to put this in our rules.

00:04:07.000 And so we did.

00:04:08.000 We figured the Democrats would push back.

00:04:09.000 They did.

00:04:10.000 But in the end, God bless them, they voted to support the amendment.

00:04:13.000 And it's now part of our rules for the 118th Congress for the Judiciary Committee.

00:04:19.000 That's a good thing.

00:04:20.000 So what is on the top of the agenda for you here in the House Judiciary Committee?

00:04:24.000 I mean, you're off to a fast start.

00:04:26.000 What are the top priorities for both oversight, but also making sure that we hold the Biden administration accountable?

00:04:35.000 Well, the first priority is the border.

00:04:37.000 That's why we had our first hearing immediately after that hearing that you just referenced there where we organized.

00:04:41.000 We held a hearing on the border situation.

00:04:43.000 I think there are the three fundamental questions.

00:04:46.000 How did it happen?

00:04:47.000 Why does it matter?

00:04:47.000 And how do we fix it?

00:04:49.000 How it happened?

00:04:49.000 We all know that.

00:04:50.000 This is intentional, what the Biden administration has done, because on day one, Joe Biden said, we are going to stop building the wall.

00:04:56.000 We're going to get rid of Remain in Mexico for people seeking asylum, and we're not going to deport anyone.

00:05:02.000 And then you get this influx of people, this unbelievable number never seen in the history of our country, record numbers month after month after month, 5 million in two years. 0.98

00:05:11.000 So that's how it happened.

00:05:13.000 Why it matters is what we really tried to get across in our hearing on Wednesday, where we had a father who lost his son to fentanyl.

00:05:21.000 We had a deputy sheriff, excuse me, a county sheriff who talked about in his 38 years in law enforcement.

00:05:27.000 Two years ago, he said was the best the border situation has ever been.

00:05:31.000 Today, it's the worst.

00:05:32.000 I mean, literally what he said, and he said it's the worst because all the people coming across, but the crime, the cost to communities, the cost of schools, the cost of local hospitals, the cost of the entire country, the cost to our system, and then the focus on processing these individuals, what the Biden administration is doing, and then you can't catch the fentanyl and everything else and the smuggling and all the bad things that are happening coming across outside the ports of entry.

00:05:55.000 So that was why it matters.

00:05:57.000 And then, of course, what we're going to do in the committee is fix it by passing legislation that will immigration enforcement legislation that will change the policies.

00:06:06.000 Back to the policies, frankly, we had under President Trump.

00:06:09.000 That's what we're going to do.

00:06:10.000 Joe Biden may not sign those bills, but our job is to pass them and show the country what actually works.

00:06:15.000 So that'll be a huge focus.

00:06:17.000 And then, of course, as you mentioned, the oversight, because we do believe that our government now has been turned against the people and in many ways is targeting the very people it's supposed to represent and that we have a double standard of justice in the country.

00:06:31.000 No doubt.

00:06:32.000 And so, Congressman, in addition to the border, I mean, you're also involved in the weaponization of government committee.

00:06:42.000 What is the status of that?

00:06:45.000 Can you talk about, I know it's being formed or in formation.

00:06:49.000 Is that correct?

00:06:50.000 Yep.

00:06:51.000 We will have our first hearing next Thursday.

00:06:51.000 Yep.

00:06:53.000 We've noticed that.

00:06:54.000 We haven't announced the witnesses yet.

00:06:55.000 Excuse me.

00:06:56.000 Haven't announced the witnesses, but we will do that soon.

00:06:59.000 We're working on finalizing those details.

00:07:02.000 But, you know, we've had whistleblowers come talk to us, Charlie.

00:07:05.000 We've talked about this before on your show, that FBI agents have come talk to us about how political that place has become.

00:07:12.000 The very first one was on the school board's issue, where they talked about this threat tag designation put on parents who were reported on the snitch line that the Attorney General of the United States set up.

00:07:22.000 And as a result of all that, 25 different parents had the FBI show up at their house simply because they went to a school board meeting and advocated for their son or daughter.

00:07:31.000 Now, the chilling impact that has on speech is, I think, profound.

00:07:34.000 So we're going to look at those kind of things, not to mention other areas where we think the government has been weaponized.

00:07:43.000 We saw just this past week, the pro-life activist who was found not guilty for a charge brought by the U.S. attorneys in that district outside of Philadelphia, brought against this guy where he was arrested in his home in front of his wife, in front of his kids, for defending his son outside an abortion clinic where they were praying and counseling people.

00:08:02.000 But yet the federal government prosecuted, even though local law enforcement, even though the local prosecutors said there's no crime here, we're not going to prosecute this.

00:08:09.000 The federal government comes in.

00:08:11.000 The FBI comes in and does this kind of stuff.

00:08:13.000 Now, thank goodness the jury did the right thing.

00:08:15.000 But the double standard we see time and time again, whether it's with Trump and the classified documents or this issue, is real and it's not supposed to work that way in America.

00:08:28.000 Well, Congressman, keep up the great work.

00:08:30.000 And just one final, I want to get your reaction on the outrage, just the out-of-control reaction from Elon Omar not being on, I think it's the Foreign Affairs Committee or it's some foreign policy-focused committee.

00:08:46.000 Yeah, just the out-of-control reaction.

00:08:49.000 What is your reaction to that news?

00:08:52.000 Well, I mean, look, this is the lady who said all kinds of things about our best ally, Israel.

00:09:00.000 This is an individual who has said, you know, after 9-11, some bad things happened that day.

00:09:05.000 I mean, it's like, so do we really want that person on foreign affairs representing our country on trips abroad and everything else?

00:09:12.000 So I was with the speaker and with the entire Republican conference when he made a decision.

00:09:16.000 He's still going to be on committees.

00:09:17.000 He just felt that she shouldn't be on this committee.

00:09:19.000 And that's why he saw the Congress vote the way that we did.

00:09:22.000 Very good.

00:09:23.000 Congressman Jim Jordan, please keep fighting.

00:09:25.000 Thank you so much.

00:09:26.000 You bet.

00:09:26.000 Thanks, Charlie.

00:09:27.000 Take care.

00:09:29.000 Email us, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:09:32.000 Just to reiterate the news that we said earlier, the Pentagon has told you, the American people, the Chinese spy balloon will probably be over the United States for another few days.

00:09:42.000 So just get used to it.

00:09:43.000 Just stay in awe and wonder.

00:09:46.000 It's like a solar eclipse event.

00:09:48.000 Like take a selfie as it comes by your town. 0.67

00:09:51.000 Hey, the Chinese blimp is over my town. 1.00

00:09:54.000 It should make sense, though. 1.00

00:09:57.000 Why would our government all of a sudden start to care about foreign enemies invading our country?

00:10:02.000 We're invaded every single day.

00:10:04.000 3,000 people invade our country every single day.

00:10:07.000 Why would a balloon make them upset?

00:10:10.000 It's more of the same.

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00:10:51.000 That is Charlie to 74868.

00:10:56.000 I want to get into this story here with Alexandria Acasio-Cortez.

00:10:59.000 Every time I say AOC, we should have salsa music.

00:11:02.000 Just as a way to say, here's AOC on the program.

00:11:06.000 AOC got very upset.

00:11:08.000 AOC was speaking on the House floor about the ingrate, Elon Omar.

00:11:17.000 Alexandre Acasio-Cortez was really fired up that Elon Omar is no longer on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

00:11:28.000 AOC is celebrating Black History Month by pretending to be black.

00:11:35.000 PlayCut 94.

00:11:37.000 Don't tell me that this is about a condemnation of anti-Semitic remarks when you have a member of the Republican caucus who has talked about Jewish space lasers and an entire amount of tropes and also elevated her to some of the highest committee assignments in this body. 0.85

00:11:54.000 This is about targeting women of color in the United States of America.

00:11:59.000 Don't tell me because I didn't get a single approach.

00:12:01.000 Time is inspired.

00:12:02.000 My life was threatened.

00:12:03.000 Thank you.

00:12:04.000 She's jumping around. 0.92

00:12:06.000 I mean, it's rhetorical blackface. 0.95

00:12:08.000 Okay.

00:12:08.000 It's called code switching is what it is.

00:12:10.000 It's where you try to talk like a black person. 1.00

00:12:13.000 I think it's really insulting, honestly, and incredibly racist and bigoted. 1.00

00:12:16.000 And they never get called out on it, ever.

00:12:18.000 This is what she said before.

00:12:20.000 She said it's uncomfortable serving with people who engage in what many experts deem stochastic terrorism, play cut 93.

00:12:28.000 I think it's uncomfortable serving with people who engage in what many experts deem stochastic terrorism.

00:12:40.000 But I have had to ride, as has Representative Omar, have consistently had to ride in 20,000-pound armored vehicles in engaging in some of the most gruesome threats that you can imagine that were incited by Republican members.

00:13:00.000 This is not just about a tweet.

00:13:02.000 It is about what life looks like and the marshaling of hundreds, thousands, if not millions of people into doing something.

00:13:13.000 AOC needs to get married. 1.00

00:13:15.000 It's not good for her to be single this long. 0.88

00:13:16.000 It's not.

00:13:16.000 She needs to have a man in her life and have children.

00:13:19.000 She's just, she's engaging in really disturbing neurosis.

00:13:23.000 Play cut 96, Elon Omar.

00:13:25.000 I think she's engaged.

00:13:25.000 She's got to get married, though.

00:13:26.000 That changes your life.

00:13:27.000 I mean that non-sarcastically, but it's just, she needs something to focus on that's not politics.

00:13:33.000 It's deeply unhealthy.

00:13:34.000 She's becoming an angry and angrier person. 0.64

00:13:36.000 Okay, Play Cut 96, Elon Omar said she's going to be honored for her service by leaders all around the world.

00:13:43.000 Play Cut 96.

00:13:45.000 I didn't come to Congress to be silent.

00:13:48.000 I came to Congress to be their voice.

00:13:50.000 And my leadership and voice will not be diminished.

00:13:54.000 If I am not on this committee for one term, my voice will get louder and stronger, and my leadership will be celebrated around the world as it has been.

00:14:06.000 Her leadership will definitely be celebrated in Tehran and Mogadishu.

00:14:14.000 Absolutely.

00:14:15.000 What bothers me the most about Elon Omar, it's not about women of color or any of that nonsense. 0.54

00:14:20.000 No, what bothers me about Elon Omar.

00:14:22.000 And she stood there next to a picture of her as a refugee.

00:14:26.000 And that should exactly be why, Elon Omar, you should have a little more gratitude for living in the greatest nation ever to exist in the history of the world.

00:14:33.000 You were let into America because of our benevolency and our generosity.

00:14:37.000 You were let into America because we believe the lie, invade the world, invite the world. 0.85

00:14:42.000 Now, we didn't necessarily invade Somalia. 0.54

00:14:44.000 We certainly played some shenanigans in Mogadishu.

00:14:46.000 In fact, the film Black Cawk Down summarizes part of that.

00:14:50.000 We were definitely involved in Somalia in the 90s, no doubt.

00:14:53.000 We didn't necessarily invade it. 1.00

00:14:55.000 But then we felt bad and we're like, okay, look at all these refugee camps.

00:14:58.000 I think she was in a refugee camp in Kenya, actually.

00:15:01.000 Okay, let's let all these people in.

00:15:02.000 And then we educate Elon Omar, send her to our schools. 0.99

00:15:06.000 And what is the product of all that? 0.95

00:15:07.000 Elon Omar telling us that we're racist, bigoted, homophobic. 0.99

00:15:11.000 And then, of course, she hates Jews. 0.99

00:15:12.000 Elon Omar hates Jews. 0.99

00:15:14.000 It's well documented. 0.98

00:15:15.000 She's been that way for a while.

00:15:16.000 And her fellow comrade in the fight for the destruction of America is Rashida Toledee Play Cut 95. 1.00

00:15:26.000 You are showing who you all are, really.

00:15:30.000 The gentlewoman's time has expired.

00:15:34.000 The gentlewoman's time has expired.

00:15:35.000 The Congressman Omar.

00:15:48.000 I just, the theatrics of it.

00:15:54.000 Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk here.

00:15:56.000 When Roe versus Wade fell as the law of the land last year, all it did was increase what pro-abortion states are doing to entice and mislead women to abort their children.

00:16:05.000 States are now advertising to travel just to get an abortion. 0.97

00:16:09.000 It's become abortion trafficking.

00:16:11.000 So the need to provide the truth as girls and women are contemplating what to do about their pregnancy is greater now than ever before.

00:16:18.000 Ultrasounds save babies because ultrasounds give the truth at a time everyone else is saying it's not just a baby, it's just a clump of cells.

00:16:26.000 When you introduce a girl to her baby by providing an ultrasound, you are giving her the truth at the most important time of her life.

00:16:33.000 And more than 85% of the time, she will choose life.

00:16:36.000 You don't have to make a lot of noise to make a big difference for life.

00:16:39.000 Just give an ultrasound at preborn.org to be a hero for life.

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00:16:57.000 Joining us now is Pedro Gonzalez.

00:16:58.000 Check out his Substack Contra.

00:17:00.000 I am a subscriber to it and I learn a lot.

00:17:02.000 Pedro, welcome to the program.

00:17:04.000 I really want to talk about Lindsey Graham with you.

00:17:07.000 I thought you had some of the best commentary on that.

00:17:10.000 I am a Trump supporter in 2024, and I am disturbed and bothered at Lindsey Graham's proximity to Donald Trump.

00:17:19.000 Let's play Cut 47, and then I want you to react to play Cut 47.

00:17:23.000 I am for Trump, not because of the flaws of anybody else.

00:17:27.000 I'm for Donald Trump because I know what I'm going to get.

00:17:30.000 We need somebody that on day one can get this country back on track, that can secure our border and bring order out of chaos.

00:17:38.000 Somebody the Russians and the Chinese fear, somebody that can take the fight to the terrorist.

00:17:43.000 The Abraham Bakor is the result of Donald Trump impressing the Arabs and the Israelis.

00:17:48.000 He is the best solution to the problems we face, not because of the flaws of others, but because what I know he can do.

00:17:57.000 Does he believe that?

00:17:58.000 Pedro, your reaction.

00:17:59.000 I don't know because Lindsey has built his career on lying to people and probably lying to himself.

00:18:06.000 But I think the bottom line is exactly what you said at the outset: that it's not a good sign that Lindsey Graham is in such close proximity to Trump.

00:18:13.000 And the idea that Trump needs Lindsey Graham's support in order to win South Carolina, that argument just seems to not make sense at all.

00:18:22.000 And if that's true, that actually means that Trump has bigger problems than people, I guess, are aware of, right?

00:18:31.000 If Lindsey Graham is critical to your success, it's not a good sign for your campaign.

00:18:36.000 So really, there's no rational reason for the right to make excuses for Lindsey Graham's proximity to Trump.

00:18:44.000 And I think that Graham is among the most pernicious in the GOP, precisely for the reasons that I outlined the other night on Tucker Carlson.

00:18:54.000 But I can actually go a little bit more in depth here because I have more time.

00:18:57.000 But, you know, again, people look at Graham.

00:18:59.000 People look at Graham and they see this kind of goofy character who's ultimately harmless, but he's not.

00:19:06.000 Graham is a snake, and he knows that there's this kind of public perception of him as this kind of dainty, you know, strange guy who, again, is just, you have a lot of questions about him, but ultimately, you know, he's not going to stab you in the back.

00:19:22.000 It's just not true at all. 0.78

00:19:24.000 And Lindsey Graham is very well aware of that.

00:19:26.000 And he plays, he plays his part very well.

00:19:29.000 And so there are two things that I wrote about recently.

00:19:32.000 And one is a clip that you've probably seen where Lindsey Graham is in Ukraine talking about how we're going to go to war with Russia.

00:19:39.000 2017 is going to be the year of offense.

00:19:41.000 He's in Ukraine talking to Ukrainian soldiers at a Ukrainian military base, telling them 2017 is going to be the year of offense.

00:19:48.000 So you've seen that clip.

00:19:49.000 Okay, but what's the significance of that clip?

00:19:52.000 Why does that matter?

00:19:53.000 Because that took place in late 2016, one year after a ceasefire had been signed between Russia and Ukraine.

00:20:04.000 After the U.S.-backed color revolution in Kiev produced regime change favorable to Washington, D.C., pro-Russian groups in eastern Ukraine, because there are people that are pro-Russian, that have been living in Ukraine for a long, long time.

00:20:18.000 They speak Russian.

00:20:19.000 They basically are Russian.

00:20:21.000 And when they saw that regime change, they basically said, we think that this government is illegitimate. 0.58

00:20:27.000 And so they began clashing with Ukrainian forces, right?

00:20:30.000 And so there were two agreements that were signed.

00:20:32.000 They're called the Minsk Agreements.

00:20:34.000 And the second one was signed in 2015.

00:20:36.000 And again, the idea was stop fighting.

00:20:39.000 We're going to try to work out a deal that basically satisfies Russia's security concerns and also guarantees Ukrainian sovereignty, right?

00:20:48.000 Satisfies both sides.

00:20:49.000 So Minsk II, the second part of the ceasefire attempt was signed in 2015.

00:20:55.000 In 2016, that's when Graham is saying 2017 is going to be the year of offense.

00:21:01.000 A ceasefire has just been signed.

00:21:03.000 And Graham, a U.S. politician who has no business in Ukraine, is saying, we're going to use you for a proxy.

00:21:09.000 We'll screw the peace deal that you just signed.

00:21:12.000 Like give up on it. 0.90

00:21:13.000 Next year, we're going to go to war with, we're going to lay the ground for war with Russia. 0.79

00:21:18.000 That's why that clip that you've probably seen is so significant. 0.93

00:21:22.000 And I think that it's difficult to get into how significant that is, you know, just in just a couple of seconds, but that's why.

00:21:28.000 Like, in my view, Graham belongs in jail.

00:21:32.000 And it's precisely because of guys like him that we are where we are right now.

00:21:37.000 Yes, Russia started the war, but guys like Graham made it inevitable.

00:21:43.000 They made it so that this war would not be avoided. 0.80

00:21:46.000 I think that's really important. 0.95

00:21:47.000 I don't know if you want to say anything.

00:21:48.000 I can keep going.

00:21:50.000 It is important.

00:21:51.000 No, it's okay.

00:21:52.000 So, but what, Pedro, what I also want to explore with you is how Graham appropriates MAGA when it's convenient to him.

00:22:01.000 That's right.

00:22:02.000 And where he has proximity to Trump through, I think he understands that Trump is probably going to be the nominee.

00:22:12.000 He uses flattery, even though he's ideologically inconsistent with Trump on immigration, trade, and foreign policy, and obviously the fourth branch of government, the administrative state.

00:22:26.000 And so help me understand what's going on here because our audience, Pedro, shares my concern.

00:22:35.000 They are just as disturbed as I am that Lindsey Graham is now in the inner circle.

00:22:40.000 He is now on the like foundational launch committee for Donald Trump's 2024 candidacy.

00:22:47.000 Yeah.

00:22:48.000 Yeah, I think flattery is certainly part of it.

00:22:50.000 But I think that I'm sorry to say, and this is something that Trump supporters have to grapple with for the sake of your own movement, you know, for the sake of the America First Man, it's really important to make that distinction, right?

00:23:02.000 The man and the mandate.

00:23:04.000 And yes, Trump started the movement.

00:23:06.000 And yes, Trump became the standard bearer of the movement.

00:23:09.000 But ultimately, if the man is doing things that are inconsistent with the mandate and you believe in the mandate, then you have to basically police your own movement.

00:23:19.000 I mean, I don't know how else to put it.

00:23:21.000 And Trump basically, not just keeping Graham around, but endorsing him, because go back to that rally in January.

00:23:31.000 You know, Trump says he's a good guy and a good politician.

00:23:34.000 Graham is neither.

00:23:35.000 Graham is neither a good guy, and he's a good politician in the sense that he's a very good liar, but in the sense of a statesman, he's not that, not at all.

00:23:42.000 And that's that's a problem because you can't drain the swamp when you're keeping people like Lindsey Graham around who are integral to the swamp.

00:23:51.000 And so, again, I think that this actually unfortunately just fits a pattern of Trump making bad decisions when it comes to who he keeps around.

00:23:59.000 And flattery is certainly part of it.

00:24:01.000 But at the same time, I think there's some other kind of transactional aspect to it that's just not obvious.

00:24:07.000 It's not above the surface for most of us.

00:24:10.000 And to give another example of this, someone who's just like Lindsey Graham in the sense that they're ideologically not aligned with the America First mandate, and yet they occupy a position of power and influence in the Trump world as Susie Wiles.

00:24:25.000 And I've also written about her.

00:24:26.000 Susie Wiles became rather infamous because she publicly went to war with basically Trump supporters over the RNC chairship. 1.00

00:24:40.000 And she made these public statements saying she didn't name names, but it's very obvious who she was directing her fire at Harmee Dillon and Mike Lindell, saying that anybody criticizing Rana Romney McDaniel for mismanaging her tenure at the RNC was basically lying and distorting her record and all this stuff.

00:24:59.000 And so it was a really awkward moment because you have Trump's top lieutenant, that's Susie Wiles.

00:25:06.000 She runs his Save America leadership pack.

00:25:08.000 She vets candidates for endorsement.

00:25:11.000 She's effectively his gatekeeper and she runs his fundraising operations.

00:25:14.000 This is not like a random foot soldier.

00:25:16.000 This is a woman who's extremely important in Mar-a-Lago.

00:25:19.000 And Trump basically entrusts her to run his operations.

00:25:23.000 And she's in the public fighting with the staunchest Trump supporters, essentially calling them liars. 0.78

00:25:29.000 And Trump is quiet about it.

00:25:32.000 And publicly, he's, you know, he's saying, let the best person win.

00:25:36.000 I'm neutral.

00:25:36.000 But actions speak louder than words, right?

00:25:40.000 And when you're allowing someone like Susie Wiles to attack your own supporters, that says a lot.

00:25:47.000 And again, I think Lindsey Graham fits this pattern of Trump making awful decisions when it comes to the people that he trusts around him.

00:25:58.000 I want to go to cut 48, Lindsey Graham visiting his constituents in Ukraine, talking about why we need to further escalate conflict.

00:26:09.000 Play cut 48.

00:26:11.000 Kevin McCarthy said no blank checks.

00:26:13.000 That makes sense to me.

00:26:15.000 We're not asking for a blank check.

00:26:17.000 I'm not. 0.51

00:26:18.000 I'm asking for military aid to accomplish the purpose of driving Russian invaders out of Ukraine.

00:26:25.000 If Putin gets away with this, there goes Taiwan.

00:26:30.000 If Putin's successful in Ukraine is not prosecuted under international law, everything we said since World War II becomes a joke.

00:26:39.000 He will continue beyond Ukraine.

00:26:44.000 Yeah, from Canada from the idea of neoliberalism becoming a joke.

00:26:48.000 No, I think this is important.

00:26:49.000 Who's around Trump matters?

00:26:51.000 I said this on Toronto Carlson's show.

00:26:53.000 Lindsey Graham's influence is negative.

00:26:56.000 You know, people have forgotten about this, but in 2020, he was pushing a visa giveaway for China with the Trump White House.

00:27:03.000 And the only reason that that got traction was precisely because of his proximity to Trump.

00:27:08.000 And the only reason it died, again, was because of the pandemic.

00:27:13.000 So I think that's, I've said that before.

00:27:14.000 I'm going to say it again until I'm blue in the face, but it's an example of why it does matter who is around you because they will influence you.

00:27:23.000 And Lindsey Graham is a master of influence, despite the fact that we think of him as this, again, this kind of like weird but harmless person.

00:27:30.000 He's not. 0.97

00:27:31.000 He's a snake.

00:27:34.000 All right, Pedro. 0.72

00:27:35.000 Our audience is defending Lindsey Graham's proximity to Trump by saying, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

00:27:45.000 Your response.

00:27:46.000 It doesn't work like that.

00:27:47.000 I mean, think about Kevin McCarthy, right?

00:27:50.000 Friends close, enemies closer.

00:27:52.000 Well, we know for a fact that Kevin McCarthy undermined, who's, you know, a friend of Trump.

00:27:57.000 And I know Trump supporters would say, well, he's actually an enemy, but Trump is keeping him closer for that reason.

00:28:02.000 Well, that actually hurts actual MAGA people.

00:28:05.000 We know for a fact that Kevin McCarthy ran interference against actual MAGA candidates like Joe Kent.

00:28:13.000 He slandered.

00:28:14.000 I think, I mean, this infuriates me.

00:28:16.000 Joe Kent's wife died in the wars that guys like Kevin McCarthy support, right?

00:28:22.000 Kevin McCarthy's never fought in these wars, neither has Lindsey Graham for that matter, but they support them.

00:28:27.000 And so Joe Kent, a guy who lost his wife in these wars and who fought them himself, got slandered by the political machine around Kevin McCarthy as basically a crypto leftist, as a Bernie Sanders guy.

00:28:38.000 They found pictures of him with long hair because he was in special forces.

00:28:41.000 So they allowed him to do that, right?

00:28:43.000 And they said, look, this is proof that this guy's a leftist.

00:28:47.000 They did the same thing with Anthony Sabatini.

00:28:49.000 And, you know, I think that the records of guys like Kent and Sabatini, what they said and what they believe in, speak for themselves.

00:28:56.000 And so you have a guy like Kevin McCarthy who you say Trump is, or some people believe that Trump is keeping him close because he's actually an enemy.

00:29:04.000 Well, the problem with that proximity is that it enables him to attack people who are actually MAGA and then get away with it.

00:29:11.000 You could say that it allows him to get away with murder.

00:29:13.000 And I think it's the same thing with Lindsey Graham.

00:29:16.000 The problem is that if you encircle yourself with your enemies, going again with this analogy, those people are going to do bad things to like MAGA people, basically.

00:29:29.000 Like keep your enemies close, keep your enemies close, keep your suddenly you find yourself surrounded by a wall of enemies who are keeping all the good people out of the movement or making sure that there's a kind of gate that only allows them to get so close.

00:29:42.000 And I think that I don't believe, I understand why people believe that analogy and keeping your enemies closer.

00:29:48.000 I don't think it's true.

00:29:50.000 But at the same time, even if you accept it on its face, at a certain point, you know, when you're only surrounded by enemies, you see the problem here.

00:29:59.000 And you see why the mandate is just undermined at every single turn.

00:30:05.000 And then you find out, like, oh, you know, that's why we didn't get things done in the first administration because it was Chad Wolf at DHS.

00:30:13.000 Keep your enemies closer, right?

00:30:14.000 Well, Chad Wolf was an immigration lobbyist.

00:30:17.000 A lot of people don't know about this.

00:30:18.000 They just, you know, they see the picture of Chad Wolf with aviator sunglasses in a helicopter and they're like, okay, well, that guy, look at his physiognomy.

00:30:24.000 He must be great, right?

00:30:26.000 Well, at DHS, Chad Wolfe was terrible.

00:30:29.000 People have totally forgotten about this.

00:30:32.000 But Chad Wolf, who was an immigration lobbyist before he became the head of DHS under Trump, did nothing to ensure the border wall was going to get built.

00:30:42.000 He lavished discretionary funds on sanctuary cities and he pushed for increasing visa programs, the kind of programs that take jobs for American workers.

00:30:52.000 So that's what happens when you keep your enemies too close, I guess.

00:30:56.000 Even if you accept that analogy at a certain point, it does not make sense.

00:31:01.000 Yeah, I would, and I would also add to that that that might be a truism under certain regimes and certain circumstances.

00:31:10.000 I have never found that to be true in my own personal life of running a program or running Turning Point USA.

00:31:16.000 I don't actually find it to be, it's somehow become a phrase that's repeated a lot.

00:31:21.000 And I don't think it actually works.

00:31:24.000 Now, there was obviously maybe the Lincoln team of rivals, and even that is hotly debated.

00:31:29.000 But look at John Bolton, Amarosa, Rex Tillerson, Gary Cohn.

00:31:33.000 I mean, do we need more examples of that?

00:31:36.000 I just think that they became impediments, leakers.

00:31:40.000 And so, anyway, Pedro, thank you so much.

00:31:43.000 Appreciate it.

00:31:43.000 Check out his substack contra.substack.com.

00:31:47.000 Thanks, Charlie.

00:31:51.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:31:52.000 Email me your thoughts as always: freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:31:56.000 Thank you so much for listening, and God bless.

00:32:00.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - February 04, 2023

Lindsey Graham's Hidden Agenda with Pedro Gonzalez and Rep. Jim Jordan

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