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00:00:49.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
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00:02:06.000Hey, everybody, welcome to this episode of the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:02:09.000With us today, as I put on my special hat, is a courageous friend of mine and a member of Congress, the youngest ever elected member of Congress in U.S. history, Madison Cawthorne.
00:02:21.000Madison, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:02:24.000Charlie, good to be on with you, brother.
00:02:25.000Glad we're both in the trenches of this culture war we're fighting.
00:02:56.000Well, the number one thing is come and take it.
00:02:58.000People all wrapped up inside of Washington, D.C., you know, when they hear this come and take it term, they think that it's just a good fundraising tactic, trying to sound like you're talking to a Republican donor.
00:03:09.000But out in real America, Charlie, as you will know, we actually mean that.
00:03:14.000We value our liberties much more than we value our safety, and we will die on that sword.
00:03:19.000So what is the bill that was proposed?
00:03:23.000And talk about what the Democrats are trying to do to take our rights away.
00:03:27.000Well, let me tell you, it's not just one bill, it's actually two.
00:03:29.000So you had HR 8 and HR 1446 both dropped at the same time.
00:03:35.000Now, these bills were ones that had benign names.
00:03:38.000Charlie, as you well know, the Democrats are masters at making something sound like it's safe, sound like it's in the best interest of everyone.
00:03:45.000But once you get down into the substance of it, you realize it only benefits the powerful.
00:03:49.000So what these bills were named are things like increased background checks or increased sunsetting on background checks.
00:03:55.000And so it sounds like, oh, well, of course, we need to make sure that the person we're selling this gun to isn't a felon or, you know, a foreigner, a foreigner.
00:04:31.000Or are they just trying to pander to the mainstream press in Washington and in New York?
00:04:36.000Well, Charlie, you know, when you first started this out, you started talking about how I was under attack by the mainstream press.
00:04:42.000And it's even, I think, it's a slap in the face to the mainstream people in the United States to say mainstream media because they're anything but mainstream.
00:04:50.000They focus on nothing but divisiveness.
00:04:52.000But there is a sect of the Republican Party that genuinely believes that if we capitulate enough, if we bend the knee enough, then we can all come together.
00:05:01.000But Charlie, I've got to tell you, these people are communists.
00:05:21.000And, you know, the people that are in the Republican Party that think you can pander your way to victory, they're completely and totally wrong.
00:05:29.000So, Madison, you've been in Congress for a couple of months now.
00:05:57.000So when I came here, I knew it was going to be dysfunctional, but I figured that the press always played it up.
00:06:03.000They made it seem like it was more partisan than it truly is.
00:06:06.000But Charlie, this place is absolutely broken.
00:06:09.000When I tell you that these people are communists, I genuinely believe it.
00:06:12.000And this sounds like some talking point from our parents' generation, but it is absolutely a fact.
00:06:17.000The people in Washington, D.C. right now worship at the altar of power, and they are willing to do and say anything to be able to hold on to it and to be able to expand ever so, kind of like that great comic book villain, the blob that just encapsulated everything.
00:06:33.000That is what the Democrats and even a lot of people on the establishment on both sides are trying to do inside of Washington, D.C.
00:06:40.000And so as I'm starting to go through Washington, as I'm starting to find my way throughout the halls here, I realize very quickly that true Americans, true patriots are a rare breed here in Washington.
00:06:51.000And so this is the reason why I am so passionate about trying to get other young Republicans, other young conservatives who aren't here for power or for money, but they're here to do the right thing.
00:07:01.000So I'm trying to get them here to Washington because I need reinforcements.
00:07:04.000The entire fate of our country is on the line.
00:07:06.000And you and I are going to be working on that quite a lot moving forward.
00:07:09.000And we'll have some big announcements on that.
00:07:11.000You know, I want to tell everyone a story, Madison.
00:07:13.000I first met you at our Southeast Regional Conference just about a year ago.
00:07:18.000In fact, it was a little, yeah, it was like March 1st.
00:07:52.000I remember it because we hosted Trump that day in Phoenix.
00:07:56.000And so you won in a surprise fashion as a 24-year-old, right?
00:08:01.00024 years old, and you had no shot whatsoever.
00:08:04.000Everyone said there's no way he's going to get the primary.
00:08:06.000And you got into the runoff and then you won the primary.
00:08:09.000Then you won your general election and they did everything they could to try to say you had a close race, but you won by like 12 points or eight to 10 points.
00:08:16.000It was pretty convincing, if I'm not mistaken.
00:08:19.000And that's a pretty awesome story because Madison, you pushed the boundaries.
00:08:23.000You believed in yourself as a young person.
00:08:27.000Talk about the odds you've had to overcome.
00:08:30.000And then also just walk us through some more of the detail of the difficulty of being in Washington, D.C., dealing with Pelosi and her allies.
00:08:42.000I would almost actually call them goons.
00:08:44.000And this is really the actual reason I came to Washington, D.C.
00:08:48.000It's because looking from the outside perspective, you realize that things are broken in Washington.
00:08:52.000You realize that the amount of debt we are carrying as a country is unsustainable.
00:08:56.000You realize that the way our culture is going is something that's unsustainable and will destroy the fabric of our republic.
00:09:02.000And as I'm sitting on the sidelines, you know, at 23 years old, 24 years old, I'm thinking to myself, wow, do I really want to raise a child in this environment?
00:09:12.000I'm getting married here on April 3rd.
00:09:57.000You're having cognitive functions, problems.
00:10:00.000But then I will never forget one time I had a very tough conversation with my father.
00:10:04.000And he basically was saying, Son, you either need to give up or you need to decide to live life in spite of this.
00:10:09.000And so that was a really hard conversation for my dad and I to have.
00:10:12.000And I sat in my room for hours and hours making that decision.
00:10:14.000But then I finally decided that I was willing to live out my God-given purpose and it was to make a difference on this earth.
00:10:20.000And so then I throw my name into this hat to run for Congress because, like I said, I don't want to have raise another generation in this kind of culture.
00:10:28.000And as we're going about this, you know, we face nothing but unbeatable odds.
00:10:33.000Charlie, you know, actually, when you were at your student action summit down in Florida, you had Tucker Carlson.
00:10:51.000But we are also, you know, Tucker also said that we need to work very, very hard to make sure that go for that job that you're not necessarily qualified for.
00:11:00.000Go for that job that people might actually say, Are you actually ready for this?
00:11:04.000And then just blow it out of the water.
00:11:06.000And, you know, Charlie, I'm sure this is the exact same reason why you started the Turning Point USA.
00:11:11.000It's because you realize that if we don't put a flag on the ground and say, here at this moment in the year 2021, we made the difference that changed the country for the rest of time.
00:11:19.000Then we realized that, you know, not since the Magna Carta have we had any version of freedom that has come anywhere close to what our country's had.
00:11:28.000And so if we give up our rights, if we give up our country and we say, hey, the odds are just too hard for me to actually make a difference, then this chance at freedom that the people of the world actually have, it's particularly the people of the United States have, will be gone for another 500 years or who knows how long.
00:11:44.000And so this is the time, no matter what kind of difficulty you're facing, no matter what kind of odds you're facing, know that if you trust God with your plan and you are willing to work your tail off, then you can accomplish anything.
00:11:58.000By now, you've all heard me talk about how my pillow is incredible.
00:12:02.000A lot of you are asking, how do I support Mike Lindell?
00:12:04.000Well, everything Mike Lindell makes is made in America.
00:12:07.000And a lot of you think that Mike Lindell is very courageous.
00:12:10.000And so if you want to get behind Mike Lindell and the work he is doing.
00:12:14.000and say, you know what, Mike, I have your back.
00:12:16.000Go to mypillow.com and use the promo code Kirk.
00:12:19.000Whatever you check out on mypillow.com, use the promo code Kirk.
00:12:22.000All MyPillow products come with a 10-year warranty and a 60-day money-back guarantee.
00:12:26.000You can get a queen-size premium MyPillow for $29.98 regularly, $70.
00:13:24.000But I'll tell you, you're going to want to get some energy drinks or a coffee or something because you're going to need to put in two, maybe even three times the amount of hours that your friends are putting in to be able to make something substantively happen at this stage in our lives without having an immense amount of financial resources at your disposal.
00:13:43.000The only kind of equity you can give is sweat equity.
00:13:46.000So let's say that you're 18 years old.
00:13:50.000You might be able to be in your state house depending on what state you're in.
00:13:53.000But a very real action step that you can take is you can get involved at a local level on some form of a campaign.
00:13:59.000And the best way to win a campaign is to go knock on somebody's door and say, hey, I'm supporting this candidate because he is a true patriot, somebody that actually believes in our Constitution and believes in our founding values.
00:14:10.000That can go against the entire media narrative that the mainstream press is trying to push, that all Republicans are either racist, sexist, or xenophobic, or that they are just these evil, uneducated people, because there's nothing further from the truth.
00:14:25.000The overwhelming majority of Americans are good-hearted people who want to see nothing but a better country be handed off to the next generation.
00:14:31.000And so the best way to be able to defeat this mainstream media narrative that Republicans are vile and evil is to go out and show people what a Republican truly is.
00:14:40.000You know, talking about, we talked about that student action summit.
00:14:43.000You know, when I went there, it was so, so interesting to see, you know, this is back this past summer.
00:14:48.000It was so interesting, actually, it was December, so interesting to see how many people there were of different ethnicities, different orientations, of just a full gambit of Americans represented who were true conservatives.
00:15:01.000And the reason why it was so motivating and why the media wanted to paint it as just as something that didn't even happen is because it went completely against their narrative.
00:15:09.000So the best way to make a difference inside of our world in your country today is to go out and very respectfully make your voice heard.
00:15:17.000You don't need to be some bombastic jerk, but you can go out and you can have a principled and pragmatic argument to why conservative politics are the best and also why conservative politics are the exact opposite of what the mainstream media narrative is as painted in them.
00:15:32.000And taking those action steps and making your voice heard will change everything.
00:15:52.000There are two versions of Republicans.
00:15:54.000Now, they all have the exact same talking points.
00:15:56.000So it's very hard to be able to distinguish them from one another.
00:15:59.000But there are conservatives who have courageous.
00:16:04.000And there are conservatives who just give lip service and it's because what they said what needed to be said to get elected.
00:16:10.000And they like seeing their name in the newspaper every now and then.
00:16:12.000They like signing their name as the honorable Madison Conqueror.
00:16:17.000But then there are people who come up to Washington, D.C., people like Matt Gates, Jim Jordan, myself, guys like you, Charlie, people who actually go and are willing to take the arrows in the back from people on our own side and from the mainstream media narrative that will paint you as something completely opposite of what you are.
00:16:35.000And there are people who are willing to lose friends because they realize that their personal safety and their personal level of comfort is completely subsidiary to the exact paramount goal of making this country a better place and advancing the kingdom of the Lord.
00:17:02.000What gives you optimism in this moment?
00:17:04.000Well, Charlie, you know, I think you've seen it in the news just as much as I have of how many Republicans are starting to wake up and realize just what we just talked about is that not all Republicans are built the same.
00:17:15.000And I genuinely believe that we're going to see that this new generation of conservatives coming up that is truly based on American first principles.
00:17:23.000People who are not going to bend the knee down to the major corporate donors.
00:17:27.000They're not going to bend the knee to globalists who say, oh, well, this is the hip thing to do.
00:17:31.000No, they're going to say, you know what?
00:17:35.000I am here to represent my constituents and the people of this country.
00:17:38.000And I'm here to give them the best, safest, and most prosperous future I possibly can.
00:17:44.000And I think those are going to be young, courageous people who are not going to back down to the mob because I'll tell you, people's spines seem to wither over time.
00:17:52.000And the longer people are in Washington, D.C., the easier it is for them to cave to the mob.
00:17:56.000So Madison, talk about the influence of money and politics.
00:17:59.000Have you seen how corporate donors have been able to influence the legislative process?
00:18:18.000I'm even considering that same tactic because I realize that these major corporate donors are going out and they're what everyone calls the special interest groups.
00:18:27.000They are people who don't really care what side gets their points across, whether it's Democrat or Republican.
00:18:33.000They just want a little change to the tax code so they can make a little bit more money in Southeast Asia.
00:18:38.000They just want a little bit of a change to the immigration policy so they can have cheaper labor.
00:18:42.000And these people do all of this because they're worshiping at the altar of the dollar, not at the altar of what's best for the American people.
00:18:49.000Madison, I want to encourage you to try and do that.
00:18:51.000And people will support you if you do it.
00:19:17.000When you realize that George Bush and Michelle Obama are a part of the exact same party, this unit party that you're talking about, it's absolutely terrifying.
00:19:26.000You realize that people just use these political talking points to stir up their base and their donors so they can get elected.
00:19:32.000But in the end, they're either in it for their own interests or for corporate interests who are paying them and giving them this golden parachute.
00:20:01.000You know, it is the fact that Facebook has the ability to control access of 2 billion people to this new public square.
00:20:09.000They have at the switch of a button the ability to turn off and to turn on our First Amendment rights.
00:20:15.000And this is something that no one corporation should have.
00:20:18.000And, you know, I think Teddy Roosevelt did a really good job when he was president of being able to do some trust busting.
00:20:23.000And I think that we do need to see the Facebook corporation, Google, some of these other big tech giants be busted up to where it's not such a hegemony these people have over even our First Amendment rights.
00:20:35.000And so, you know, Greg Stuby and I are both championing a bill, which is all about Section 230 reform.
00:20:46.000He is trying to give them a better future.
00:20:48.000But he realizes that if these big tech corporations are able to have these Section 230 protections, and now, Charlie, if you'll give me a moment, I want to unpack that because we hear this all the time, Section 230, Section 230.
00:20:59.000But very rarely does the common normal American actually know what that means.
00:21:03.000So what goes on in Section 230 is that it states that a lot of these big tech social media corporations, if you give them the ability to get up off the ground, are exempt from having any civil lawsuits filed against them for limiting somebody's First Amendment rights.
00:21:21.000And so what our bill would do is it would just change a very small couple sentences within Section 230 that would actually make a fix to that where we can allow, if you believe that your First Amendment rights have been limited and that your ability for either political protest or just to speak your mind on religious matters or your right to assemble has been limited by big tech, then you can actually go out and sue them in a civil court.
00:21:44.000And this would then hold them accountable to the American people rather than us being at their becking call and being enslaved to the big tech corporations.
00:22:04.000Well, let me talk to you about this very frankly.
00:22:06.000So one, you know, if you are truly so afraid of COVID-19 that you will not allow our public schools to be open, then you should lock down the freaking border.
00:22:15.000That should be, but that should be option number one is exactly what we should do.
00:22:20.000But also, you know, looking far past COVID-19 to even something that I think is more dangerous to our culture is letting mass immigration happen inside of the United States of America.
00:22:29.000Now, what's going on while you see some of these Republican senators thinking about allowing this amnesty to happen is because what Democrats have done is a masterful move on their part because they know that Republicans are the champions of the blue-collar workers, specifically of the farmers across the Midwest and even in my district.
00:22:45.000And so what we have going on is that they are tying immigration and amnesty to the farm bill, which is something that gets passed every single year, which allows us to not have to offshore our farming and our agriculture production in this country.
00:22:57.000It's a good bill, but then now they're starting to tie, it has in the past been a good bill, but now they're starting to tie amnesty.
00:23:04.000And what this is, it gives a walk down path that will say, hey, you know what?
00:23:08.000If you pass this bill, then that means that you're in favor of farmers.
00:23:12.000But again, it sounds very benign, like we were talking about in the beginning.
00:23:15.000What it does, once you read down into the text, is it gives legal immigration status and even citizenship in the end of all to 11 to 22 million illegal immigrants in our country.
00:23:27.000So that is saying exactly what the Democrats, this is exactly a playbook, number one from the Democrats.
00:23:33.000It says, hey, you come here, you break the law.
00:23:35.000Then not only will we give you a stimulus check, but we will give you a citizenship.
00:23:39.000And we will then also, we will give you, we will give you, we'll send your children to college.
00:23:45.000And so what the problem is, is that this is the exact same thing they're doing with the Second Amendment rights.
00:23:49.000They're asking the United States of America's population, our citizenry, to trust that illegal immigrants and criminals will obey the law before we will.
00:24:00.000And so I want to encourage all Republicans out there.
00:24:17.000And congratulations on your upcoming marriage.
00:24:20.000We'll both have that to celebrate very, very soon.
00:24:23.000And just look, remember, for every one person that is accusing, you know, and coming after and all these crazy things and they're saying bad things, there are thousands and thousands and thousands of people that are supporting you.
00:24:37.000And so let me just tell you that there are so many people behind you.
00:24:40.000It's very, it's very wonderful to hear.
00:24:43.000I know that at Turning Point USA, we really value you and also here on the Charlie Kirk show.