The Charlie Kirk Show - No Kings and No One Under 50 + The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

00:00:03.000 My name is Charlie Kirk.

00:00:05.000 I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country fighting for the future of our republic.

00:00:11.000 My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth.

00:00:14.000 If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're going to end up miserable.

00:00:19.000 But if the most important thing is doing good, you'll end up purposeful.

00:00:24.000 College is a scam, everybody.

00:00:26.000 You got to stop sending your kids to college.

00:00:27.000 You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible.

00:00:31.000 Go start a Turning Point USA college chapter.

00:00:33.000 Go start a Turning Point USA high school chapter.

00:00:35.000 Go find out how your church can get involved.

00:00:37.000 Sign up and become an activist.

00:00:39.000 I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade.

00:00:41.000 Most important decision I ever made in my life.

00:00:43.000 And I encourage you to do the same.

00:00:45.000 Here I am.

00:00:46.000 Lord Museum.

00:00:48.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:49.000 Here we go.

00:00:56.000 Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of The Charlie Kirk Show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals.

00:01:06.000 Learn how you could protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:12.000 That is noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:17.000 All right.

00:01:17.000 Welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:01:19.000 It's Monday, March 30th, 2026.

00:01:21.000 Welcome, Blake.

00:01:22.000 Howdy.

00:01:23.000 Howdy.

00:01:24.000 We've got a jam-packed show for you.

00:01:26.000 Lots of news over the weekend to get to.

00:01:28.000 And a Japanese timeline purge on X. Not a purge.

00:01:33.000 Well, it's like a cleanse.

00:01:36.000 That's what it is.

00:01:37.000 The Japanese are amazing.

00:01:39.000 We love them.

00:01:40.000 And it's been amazing.

00:01:41.000 Watching them take over X, it's been much needed.

00:01:45.000 And we're going to get to that too in the second segment here.

00:01:47.000 We've also got Michael Knowles from the Daily Wire.

00:01:50.000 We're going to talk about Cardinal Pizza Bala, which is by far the coolest name in all of Catholicism.

00:01:57.000 It has to be.

00:01:58.000 He's the, what is he, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem.

00:02:03.000 And so we're going to talk about some of that controversy as well.

00:02:05.000 Then in hour two, we've got the, we're going to be keeping our eyes out for a press conference about Iran.

00:02:11.000 Apparently, there's going to be some updates there.

00:02:13.000 And then we've also got our TPOSA frontlines team that was scattered out across the country this weekend covering the No Kings protests.

00:02:20.000 So we've got three of those frontline journalists joining us.

00:02:24.000 And then we've got the apostate prophet Ridvan, who was formerly a Muslim, now he's a Christian. 0.93

00:02:29.000 And he's going to be talking about the state of the ground, what the grassroots feels like in Iran.

00:02:36.000 Are they ready to rise up?

00:02:37.000 Are they not?

00:02:38.000 And he's been doing research all weekend getting ready for this segment.

00:02:41.000 So I can't wait to hear what he has to say.

00:02:43.000 We got to start, though, with updates on Iran.

00:02:46.000 The biggest controversy over the weekend that I could see was whether or not we're going to be sending ground troops or not.

00:02:52.000 And it still remains up in the air.

00:02:54.000 It remains up in the air.

00:02:55.000 Let's go ahead and play SAT 6.

00:02:57.000 Reports indicate the United States is preparing for a possible weeks-long ground operation in Iran that would include thousands of U.S. service members.

00:03:05.000 Over the weekend, the USS Tripoli, manned with 3,500 troops, including 2,500 Marines, arrived in the CENTCOM area of operation.

00:03:14.000 This comes as the United States and Israel launched a series of strikes against Iranian military infrastructure over the weekend, including hitting Iran's nuclear development facilities.

00:03:24.000 So we're obviously getting a lot of folks ready over there.

00:03:28.000 Thousands of U.S. troops are getting stationed and ready to go.

00:03:31.000 And I just want to be very clear where I stand, where I believe Blake stands, where I think Turning Point stands, frankly, is we give President Trump a lot of trust, a lot of patience when it comes to this.

00:03:43.000 He's proven that he doesn't do quagmires.

00:03:46.000 He doesn't do forever wars.

00:03:48.000 And we've been willing to sort of, you know, be a part of this, watch, wait, understand that waiting is part of this game and to see how this plays out.

00:03:57.000 And we hope for the best.

00:03:58.000 We pray for our troops, but really, boots on the ground is a line we don't want to cross.

00:04:04.000 And we are not supportive of boots on the ground.

00:04:06.000 Full stop.

00:04:07.000 And as we've warned, whatever you make of the merits of the conflict itself, it is likely to be politically disastrous if it continues long term.

00:04:18.000 Yes.

00:04:18.000 And we want to make that clear, especially because I think there's a lot of people who will just be determined to sell anything the president does and say, oh, it's really popular.

00:04:29.000 Everyone loves it.

00:04:30.000 And that's not a responsible position to take.

00:04:33.000 If you look at the numbers, this is probably the most skeptical the public has been about any conflict the United States has ever entered.

00:04:40.000 And we've been honest.

00:04:41.000 We've never, we've not been frothing at the mouth.

00:04:43.000 Some of you have gotten mad at us in the emails that we haven't been more, I guess, you know, enthusiastic in our support.

00:04:50.000 What we're saying is we don't like war.

00:04:52.000 We hate it, actually.

00:04:54.000 Doesn't mean that this wasn't the best national security decision that the president could have made.

00:04:59.000 I'm not in the room.

00:05:00.000 I don't know the intel.

00:05:01.000 But we do not want boots on the ground.

00:05:03.000 We do not want a quagmire.

00:05:05.000 We do not want this thing to get out of control.

00:05:08.000 And it does seem like President Trump is signaling that things are getting better.

00:05:12.000 He put out a truth this morning.

00:05:14.000 I don't know if this was to encourage the markets.

00:05:18.000 You know, a lot of people are skeptical sometimes about these truths, but he says the United States of America is in a serious discussion with a new and more reasonable regime to end our military operations in Iran.

00:05:29.000 There was another quote where he basically said, regime change is already done, essentially, to end our military operations in Iran.

00:05:36.000 Great progress has been made, but if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately open for business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants, oil wells, and Karg Island, and possibly all desalination plants, which we have purposely not yet touched.

00:05:55.000 This will be in retribution for our many soldiers and others that Iran has butchered and killed over the old regime's 47-year reign of terror. 0.94

00:06:02.000 Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump.

00:06:05.000 And part of what's complicated here is we want this to end quickly.

00:06:09.000 We want this to end without escalation.

00:06:12.000 And we are aware that the president's negotiating style does include lots of very aggressive threats and saber-rattling in order to then back off.

00:06:22.000 And so everything we say has to be couched in those terms.

00:06:26.000 Like if the president playing super hardball does help him get out faster, we have to support that because we want us to get out faster.

00:06:35.000 Yes, exactly.

00:06:37.000 And we'll just play last week we covered the 15-point plan.

00:06:41.000 He was asked about this 15-point peace plan by a reporter.

00:06:46.000 Here's his answer, Sot9.

00:06:50.000 Did they ever come back?

00:06:52.000 Yeah, they came back on the 15-point plan.

00:06:54.000 They gave us most of the points.

00:06:56.000 Why wouldn't they?

00:06:58.000 You make it sound like they've made some concessions.

00:07:01.000 Can you identify those?

00:07:02.000 Well, they're agreeing with us on the plan.

00:07:04.000 I mean, we asked for 15 things, and for the most part, we're going to be asking for a couple of other things.

00:07:10.000 And just to prove that they're serious, they gave us all these boats.

00:07:13.000 When I talked about four days ago, a present, I said they gave me a present.

00:07:17.000 But I didn't think I was at liberty to say what it was.

00:07:21.000 What it was was eight plus two.

00:07:23.000 It's 10 massive boatloads of oil.

00:07:27.000 And today they gave us another present.

00:07:29.000 They gave us 20 boatloads of oil.

00:07:30.000 That starts being shipped tomorrow.

00:07:32.000 We're having very good meetings, both directly and indirectly.

00:07:35.000 And I think we're getting a lot of very important points.

00:07:38.000 So I'm very pro signaling that this thing can get done, that there can be a route forward, that we can have peace quicker, sooner, without boots on the ground.

00:07:50.000 Now, if President Trump is moving those assets into the region in order, to Blake's point, to saber adult, to strengthen his negotiations, that's okay.

00:07:59.000 I understand.

00:08:00.000 He's got to do what he's got to do.

00:08:02.000 But we do not want boots on the ground.

00:08:04.000 We do not want this thing becoming a quagmire because in war, this tends to happen.

00:08:11.000 When you get into a situation, you escalate a little bit.

00:08:13.000 Well, then something else goes wrong.

00:08:15.000 Then you escalate a little bit more.

00:08:16.000 And then you think, well, we're pot committed.

00:08:18.000 We better take Carg Island.

00:08:19.000 We better take this field. 0.76

00:08:20.000 We better blow this up.

00:08:21.000 And we better hold it for the protection of the local citizenry.

00:08:25.000 Whatever the rationale will be, there will be endless rationales.

00:08:28.000 And that's the point.

00:08:29.000 There will always be a reason to go farther and deeper and get more committed.

00:08:33.000 This is how you end up in Afghanistan for 20 years. 0.98

00:08:37.000 So hopefully, prayerfully, this will not be the decision that is made.

00:08:42.000 Prayerfully, we will get out.

00:08:43.000 Prayerfully, there will be moderate actors on the other side of this negotiation.

00:08:48.000 Prayerfully, there will be an opportunity for us to declare victory and exit stage left.

00:08:53.000 That's what we want to do.

00:08:54.000 And hopefully, and prayerfully, the Straight of Hormuz will be opened.

00:08:59.000 And that really, I think, is the crux of the matter.

00:09:01.000 Can we get that thing open?

00:09:02.000 Scott Besson is basically saying it will happen.

00:09:05.000 Marco Rubio is saying it will happen.

00:09:08.000 Hopefully we get that done.

00:09:09.000 Prayerfully, we get that done because Boots on the Ground is a line I certainly do not want to cross.

00:09:14.000 I do not think the American people want to cross. 1.00

00:09:16.000 And to Blake's point, it's politically, extraordinarily fraught.

00:09:22.000 Before he ever stepped behind a microphone, Charlie understood something important.

00:09:26.000 Leadership begins with learning.

00:09:29.000 He didn't chase a diploma or a title.

00:09:31.000 He chased truth.

00:09:32.000 Through Hillsdale College's free online courses, he studied the great works of the classics, the principles of the American founding, and the life-changing truths of the Bible.

00:09:40.000 Those ideas didn't just inform him.

00:09:43.000 They shaped his character, strengthened his convictions, and prepared him for the challenges ahead.

00:09:47.000 One of the courses he took was the Genesis story, taught by Hillsdale professor Dr. Justin Jackson.

00:09:53.000 This free online course explores the relationship between God and man, what happens when that relationship is broken, and the path toward reconciliation.

00:10:01.000 It's a real college course, rigorous, thoughtful, and accessible to anyone willing to learn.

00:10:06.000 You can take the very same course completely free.

00:10:09.000 Grow stronger in your faith, gain clarity about humanity and your place in the world.

00:10:13.000 Prepare yourself for a life with courage and conviction.

00:10:17.000 Visit charlie4hillsdale.com to enroll today.

00:10:20.000 That's charlieforhillsdale.com.

00:10:23.000 Learn deeply.

00:10:24.000 Lead boldly.

00:10:25.000 Carry it forward.

00:10:28.000 If you are not on X, consider yourself lucky, actually, most of the time.

00:10:33.000 Yeah, most of the time.

00:10:34.000 But if you are not on X this weekend, you have missed out in one of the great cultural exchanges I have ever seen, actually.

00:10:42.000 And what's amazing about it is that, you know, so there's a guy on Twitter that I think he's kind of like the guy who, or X, he announces all the big changes, right?

00:10:53.000 And he said that the number one country on X, actually, per capita, is Japan.

00:10:58.000 The saturation of Japanese users.

00:11:01.000 I got it here, actually.

00:11:02.000 It's Nikita Beer.

00:11:03.000 He is, let's see what his title is.

00:11:06.000 He's head of product at X.

00:11:08.000 And he says they have more daily active users and more overall time spent on X than any other country in the world.

00:11:14.000 The U.S. has more users overall, but they're not on it as much.

00:11:17.000 Whereas over two-thirds of Japan uses X on a least monthly basis.

00:11:23.000 And they used to be very much in their own world.

00:11:26.000 They speak a difficult language that no one can understand.

00:11:28.000 But especially with modern AI tools, it's really easy to translate everything and have it be pretty accurate.

00:11:35.000 And so what X has started to do, and it really ramped up in the last few weeks, is they started to share a lot more cross-language content.

00:11:44.000 They have an auto-translator.

00:11:45.000 Yeah, because they have an auto-translator.

00:11:46.000 And so you can scroll through and you'll see a post and it'll just be automatically translated from Japanese or from French.

00:11:53.000 And they're wonderful.

00:11:54.000 And they're wonderful.

00:11:55.000 And people have discovered this, especially over the past week.

00:11:58.000 There was a giant explosion of Japanese stuff showing up on Americans X.

00:12:04.000 And it's amazing.

00:12:06.000 It turns out the Japanese are awesome and everyone loves the Japanese.

00:12:10.000 Well, I heard it put this way, that there's like four really cool foreign countries in the world and the rest of them are awful, but Japan is definitely one of the really cool ones.

00:12:18.000 Do we have 24 ready?

00:12:20.000 Yeah.

00:12:21.000 This is a good explainer video on how this happened.

00:12:24.000 If you're not on X, formerly known as Twitter, you're probably missing.

00:12:24.000 24.

00:12:27.000 There's a massive love affair going on between Americans and Japanese people.

00:12:31.000 So basically, the product manager at X decided to reveal the information that the largest country participating on X is actually Japan.

00:12:40.000 It's not America. 0.65

00:12:41.000 America's number two.

00:12:42.000 And so they decided to flip on the auto translate feature.

00:12:46.000 And then from that point on, Americans and Japanese people started interacting.

00:12:49.000 And turns out we love each other.

00:12:51.000 And that's honestly really nice to see.

00:12:53.000 Like, the timeline is just filled with Japanese people talking about American culture, predominantly like red America culture. 0.92

00:13:00.000 We're talking like monster trucks, barbecues, pickup trucks, Texas in general.

00:13:06.000 And obviously Japan, you know, Americans have always had a thing for Japan.

00:13:09.000 So that's, you know, the weeb thing's always been there.

00:13:11.000 But the tweets are so it's I have to say, it's so nice to see an ally actually like us because we get so much smugness from Europeans these days that it's really nice to see something. 0.98

00:13:21.000 So like there was one, they actually showed the photo there.

00:13:24.000 It's the one with all the guys around the barbecue.

00:13:24.000 Throw out this tweet.

00:13:27.000 This Japanese guy just posts a photo and it's a bunch of white dudes probably in the south somewhere with just a gigantic pile of steaks over a giant grill.

00:13:37.000 And he says, I'd love to see this photo.

00:13:39.000 I want to participate in this event in person someday.

00:13:43.000 Yeah.

00:13:43.000 And they're like, it got 20 million.

00:13:45.000 Yeah, no, these guys are like, I've been told that if I just post a picture of nice looking meat, I'll get a lot of comments and then like, you know, millions of engagements later.

00:13:53.000 And the other thing that's been really interesting about this is that I feel like it's transforming people's brains in real time right now about something called cultural appropriation, right?

00:14:04.000 We have been told in this country that cultural appropriation is so terrible and it's bad.

00:14:09.000 Well, guess what?

00:14:10.000 You can play the B-roll of these Japanese people dancing to American music if you want. 1.00

00:14:16.000 They are all about appropriating American culture. 0.93

00:14:19.000 And they're show, like, I think they're doing the twist, right?

00:14:21.000 Yeah, this is a thing that has been the case in Japan for a while and people are more aware of it, that Japan actually has a lot of nostalgia is not the right word, but a lot of enthusiasm for like what you'd consider really iconically American parts and especially classic America.

00:14:37.000 So they like cowboys.

00:14:39.000 They like jazz music.

00:14:40.000 They like classic Hollywood stuff.

00:14:43.000 They like bluegrass.

00:14:44.000 Yeah, so they like bluegrass.

00:14:45.000 They like gangster movies.

00:14:46.000 Like, you know, like kind of classic, you know, Roaring 20s type stuff.

00:14:50.000 And they like barbecue.

00:14:52.000 They love baseball.

00:14:52.000 Yeah.

00:14:53.000 They love, yeah, monster trucks pro wrestling.

00:14:55.000 Hulk Hogan was big in Japan.

00:14:56.000 Yeah.

00:14:57.000 And it's just so sweet because these people, here's what you realize.

00:15:02.000 And this is what I was thinking about this morning, is that Japan is a pretty closed culture, meaning they don't have a ton of immigrants.

00:15:08.000 The reason you have the current prime minister of Japan, who's a big Trump fan, is because they got flooded with a bunch of Muslims and they started seeing mosques pop up and they closed it down instantly. 1.00

00:15:20.000 Now, I'm not saying the problem's completely fixed, but that is a new wave in Japan that they haven't had to deal with as far as foreign cultures coming into their own. 0.99

00:15:29.000 So it's a pretty homogenous culture.

00:15:31.000 They don't have to, and these videos of them not having to lock up at the Apple store, their Apple phones and their Apple devices because nobody's going to steal anything.

00:15:40.000 There was one tweet where I saw this American guy had it, their baby, and they had a stroller.

00:15:46.000 They're baby in a stroller and they're going to cross Jaywaka Street and this old Japanese man stops them and says, the downfall of civilization starts with a single individual.

00:15:55.000 A single individual, which is an amazing lesson to learn.

00:15:59.000 But here's the thought.

00:16:01.000 Society has been constructed, civilization has been constructed for millennia.

00:16:06.000 Blake, you know, you and I geek out on like British history, for example.

00:16:10.000 They get invaded by the Vikings.

00:16:13.000 And so for hundreds of years, they're just fighting off the invaders.

00:16:16.000 And you think about this.

00:16:18.000 We built cities with walls in the old days.

00:16:20.000 Every city had to be protected.

00:16:22.000 Our whole civilizations were built around protecting against the invading hordes.

00:16:26.000 Look at Roman history.

00:16:28.000 And yet, something happened.

00:16:30.000 The borders get really well constructed, really firm.

00:16:33.000 And we fight wars and they're huge wars, but it's all with the assumption that these borders are sacred, that they mean something.

00:16:41.000 And then you enter into modern culture and the modern world.

00:16:44.000 And you got air travel and all this stuff.

00:16:46.000 And it's like we forgot that our cultures meant something, that they were worth protecting.

00:16:51.000 And then you get this one outpost, Japan, that still believes that its culture is worth protecting.

00:16:56.000 And it's marvelous.

00:16:57.000 It's wonderful.

00:16:58.000 And it just, I happen to believe that what you're seeing is going to be this re-energizing behind the nation state and about the purity of a culture and the beauty of a culture.

00:17:08.000 This mass migration, this invasion-level migration that we've suffered under doesn't need to be the case across the world.

00:17:15.000 We can build antibodies to it and relearn these old lessons against stopping the invading hordes.

00:17:21.000 Yeah, this is the other great thing.

00:17:22.000 I think that the other reason this is really blown up on the right is a lot of the stuff that's gone viral from Japan is Japanese people just saying really right-wing stuff. 0.73

00:17:28.000 Yeah, I'm really tired of all of these immigrants. 1.00

00:17:31.000 And then there was one like some, I guess, some Muslim migrant to Japan was complaining because in Japan, the tradition is to cremate bodies instead of burying them.

00:17:39.000 And he wanted them to change it.

00:17:40.000 And the person, they just say the stuff that you practically get in trouble for saying in America.

00:17:44.000 Okay, go to some other country that buries bodies.

00:17:46.000 Japan does cremation.

00:17:47.000 Thank you.

00:17:48.000 And they say that all the time.

00:17:49.000 And there's a bunch of that.

00:17:50.000 And I think one of the best summaries I saw, this was by an American, but it really gets at the heart of it where he says, the new auto-translate feature is great.

00:17:58.000 Right-wing Americans get to read and retweet their cultural allies, high, conscientious Japanese who cook delicious food and respect craftsmanship.

00:18:06.000 And left-wing Americans get to retweet their cultural allies, bio-Leninists, communists, and third world rapists. 0.91

00:18:12.000 I like this one.

00:18:13.000 So this is actually a Korean guy observing this culture exchange happening.

00:18:18.000 And he goes, Western right-wingers' deep admiration for Japanese, for the Japanese proves they're not irrationally xenophobic.

00:18:25.000 They simply dislike dysfunctional people from dysfunctional cultures. 1.00

00:18:29.000 Exactly.

00:18:30.000 And to that, I say, amen.

00:18:32.000 It's really that simple.

00:18:33.000 But there's really not that many good cultures out there.

00:18:35.000 So the list is short.

00:18:37.000 But we like those guys.

00:18:40.000 Hi, folks.

00:18:41.000 Andrew Colvett here.

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00:19:39.000 Welcoming now to the show, Michael Knowles.

00:19:42.000 Good to see you, Michael.

00:19:43.000 How you been?

00:19:44.000 Good to see you, gentlemen.

00:19:46.000 I'm better now that I'm hanging out with you guys.

00:19:47.000 Well, exactly.

00:19:48.000 And that Japan has taken over our ex-feeds. 0.89

00:19:52.000 I think we all are feeling a lift from this.

00:19:55.000 It's great.

00:19:56.000 Much appreciated.

00:19:57.000 Seriously, we needed it bad.

00:19:57.000 I know.

00:19:58.000 We needed it real bad.

00:20:00.000 So, you know, we have a very ecumenical spirit on this show.

00:20:03.000 We are by nature.

00:20:05.000 He's Catholic.

00:20:05.000 I'm Protestant.

00:20:06.000 Although I was born Catholic, but, you know, it's a long story.

00:20:10.000 Cradle.

00:20:11.000 We'll get you inside.

00:20:12.000 And then I left the true faith.

00:20:15.000 I got saved in college.

00:20:17.000 I actually got saved reading a C.S. Lewis book.

00:20:20.000 So, you know, Anglican guy.

00:20:21.000 So, anyway, so here we are.

00:20:22.000 You know, by the way, not to derail us, but actually in college, I was like falling away and everything.

00:20:27.000 And it was an evangelical Protestant guy who had a table set up on the commons.

00:20:31.000 And I was somewhat interested in religion, but I was very interested in free stuff.

00:20:35.000 And he was giving out books.

00:20:37.000 And one of the first things that brought me back to the faith was an evangelical guy passing me a C.S. Lewis book at a college table.

00:20:46.000 You know, C.S. Lewis, if you haven't read him, read Mir Christian.

00:20:50.000 It's a great place to start.

00:20:51.000 But I'm actually going through the great divorce right now and A Grief Observed as well.

00:20:56.000 So he's amazing.

00:20:57.000 He strengthens my faith every time I read his stuff.

00:21:00.000 Anyways, so, but there was a big kerfuffle. 0.80

00:21:03.000 All right.

00:21:03.000 And I want to get the Prots and the Catholics, you know, back on the same page.

00:21:08.000 We got to get the vibes right here, Michael.

00:21:10.000 That's why, I mean, Charlie's.

00:21:11.000 It's going to be rough getting the Protestants on the same page of this, but we should set this up for people that aren't aware of this. 0.66

00:21:16.000 So there's a major church in the heart of Jerusalem in the old city, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

00:21:22.000 It's built over the site, which Catholics, Orthodox, a lot of other Christian groups believe is Jesus' tomb.

00:21:28.000 I say that because I know when Charlie went to the Holy Land, there is another tomb that a lot of Protestants like.

00:21:33.000 But this is the one, this is the traditional one that's been the case for a very long time.

00:21:37.000 And it's in the heart of the old city.

00:21:39.000 And since the beginning of the war with Iran, they have closed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for religious services.

00:21:46.000 Now, what's not brought up by a lot of people, they have also closed Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, and they have closed the Western Wall for like a large number of pilgrims.

00:21:54.000 This is Palm Sunday.

00:21:55.000 But this was Palm Sunday.

00:21:57.000 And the dispute specifically was that the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierre Battista Pizzabala, say that 10 times fast.

00:22:05.000 By far the coolest name in Christendom.

00:22:07.000 He complained because he was not allowed even to basically privately, him and a couple others, offer a mass for Palm Sunday.

00:22:15.000 And he was very concerned about that.

00:22:17.000 And it caused a lot of backlash.

00:22:19.000 A PR nightmare.

00:22:20.000 A PR nightmare for the Israeli government, which eventually quickly, Benjamin Netanyahu did step in and say, I am going to take steps to make sure religious services can be held during Holy Week.

00:22:31.000 But Michael, you were commenting on this a lot online as well.

00:22:33.000 Yeah.

00:22:34.000 Michael, what was your take?

00:22:36.000 So this was an egregious mistake by the Israeli government in the thing itself, because the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem should not, under any circumstances whatsoever, be prevented from going to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, much less on Palm Sunday, during which time we commemorate Christ's entry into Jerusalem as a king, you know, feted with palms, and it starts off Holy Week.

00:23:02.000 So in the thing itself, it was wrong.

00:23:03.000 Israel had no right to do it. 1.00

00:23:05.000 But just from a PR perspective, it was a huge mistake.

00:23:08.000 And there is a silver lining here.

00:23:10.000 I've been telling people for weeks now, things get a little wacky during Lent.

00:23:15.000 This is just my experience.

00:23:17.000 I think if you have eyes of faith, you might have seen it yourself.

00:23:21.000 People who are atheists are going to look at us like we're crazy for saying that.

00:23:24.000 But something about Lent, especially something about Holy Week, things get a little tough.

00:23:28.000 I don't know.

00:23:28.000 It's like Christian full moon or something.

00:23:30.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:23:31.000 Yes.

00:23:31.000 Yes, it is.

00:23:32.000 It is.

00:23:32.000 And so there's a silver lining, though, to this really unfortunate incident yesterday, which is there was a global outcry, and everybody seemed to agree.

00:23:44.000 Protestants, Catholics, eventually the Israeli government.

00:23:47.000 You had Mike Huckabee come out, U.S. ambassador to Israel, who is as pro-Israel as any person ever has been since Theodore Herzl.

00:23:55.000 And he came out and he said, Hey, this was a mistake, guys.

00:23:57.000 They really shouldn't have done this.

00:23:59.000 Senator Cruz, a good friend of mine, very, very Southern Baptist, very, very pro-Israel.

00:24:05.000 He says he's the most pro-Israel U.S. senator.

00:24:07.000 He came out and he said, Huckabee's totally right.

00:24:09.000 Israel really bungled this one. 0.63

00:24:10.000 Can't do it.

00:24:11.000 So you got the Catholic Church, the Southern Baptists, evangelicals.

00:24:16.000 You've got then Isaac Herzog and Benjamin Netanyahu came out and said, Hey, this was a huge mistake.

00:24:21.000 This is bet on us.

00:24:23.000 We're not going to do it.

00:24:24.000 We talked to Pizza Bala.

00:24:25.000 He's going to be allowed to say these private prayers and, you know, smaller events, celebrations, not 200 people masses, but we want to make sure that there's a presence at the Holy Sepulchre during Holy Week.

00:24:36.000 So it all worked out.

00:24:38.000 And the thing that I noticed on top of all of it is this really showed you the bot accounts on social media, some of the operative accounts.

00:24:47.000 I mean, people were making all sorts of disgusting claims about Cardinal Pizza Bala.

00:24:52.000 This is a great man.

00:24:53.000 This is a man who, during the Gaza war, he offered himself to Hamas in exchange for the Israeli hostages.

00:25:00.000 He's just a wonderful man of the church.

00:25:03.000 And so the people who were going after him still and defending, keeping him out of the Holy Sepulchre, I said, hold on.

00:25:08.000 When you have Netanyahu, the Catholic Church, and the Protestants all on the same team, and you're on the other team, I think you're the problem. 0.99

00:25:16.000 Okay.

00:25:16.000 I think we know which side to be on.

00:25:18.000 It was like cats and dogs living together.

00:25:22.000 There was this amazing breakthrough on social media over the weekend.

00:25:26.000 It was like a ray of light came down.

00:25:29.000 And we got on the same page on Palm Sunday, which is ironic.

00:25:33.000 I actually didn't make this connection.

00:25:35.000 I'm sure everybody on X already did, you know, days ago, but this whole like no kings rally, meanwhile, in Jerusalem, Palm Sunday, celebrating literally the arrival, the triumphant arrival of Christ, our king, to the city of Jerusalem.

00:25:50.000 It is ironic.

00:25:51.000 Do you know?

00:25:52.000 I'm going to confess my ignorance or my lack of thought on this.

00:25:56.000 That's the first time that occurred to me.

00:25:58.000 I'm hearing it for the first time.

00:26:00.000 And that's an amazing connection.

00:26:02.000 Because the thing is, if you're a person of faith, especially if you're Christian, Christianity has a very, very symbolic view of the world.

00:26:11.000 Like everything makes sense.

00:26:13.000 There are no mere coincidences.

00:26:15.000 And if you think that God is real, then like stuff is playing out in history beyond our own actions and our own imaginations. 0.97

00:26:23.000 And so the libs who did their stupid no kings protests this weekend with Maisie Hirono accidentally admitting that Trump is not a king and never will be. 0.95

00:26:30.000 Anyway, that's a point for another time. 0.98

00:26:32.000 When they were doing that, I'm sure they didn't realize the symbolism of it all, but the symbolism is there nonetheless.

00:26:38.000 I mean, frankly, there is even symbolism to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem being denied entry into the Holy Sepulchre, whether people intended it or not.

00:26:46.000 Really, probably they did not.

00:26:48.000 There is a real symbol here.

00:26:50.000 And for the libs to just say, yeah, no kings, no kings.

00:26:54.000 He is not the king of the Jews. 0.91

00:26:55.000 Palm Sunday weekend, where we are literally, they're holding their protests.

00:27:00.000 And 2,000 years ago, there was a whole other gathering where they were declaring, we do have a king.

00:27:06.000 It really is a dramatic juxtaposition.

00:27:10.000 And I mean, that's what happens when you purge God from your political ideology.

00:27:14.000 You don't catch the obvious.

00:27:16.000 But apparently you didn't either, Michael.

00:27:18.000 So we can talk about that.

00:27:19.000 I didn't.

00:27:19.000 I missed the obvious.

00:27:20.000 I needed you to tie it.

00:27:22.000 That's an amazing observation.

00:27:23.000 Yeah.

00:27:24.000 I just realized that we do have a king.

00:27:25.000 His name is Jesus and he's still alive and reigning over us today.

00:27:29.000 And that's a beautiful thing.

00:27:30.000 And I do agree with you, though, that when you see, And I really, that was the spirit, actually, of inviting you on the show was this ecumenical, like, I just felt, I've just been feeling in the ether, Michael, like a little bit of like tension between the Prots and the Catholics. 0.75

00:27:45.000 And it's like, oh, yeah.

00:27:46.000 Going back about 500 years.

00:27:48.000 Well, yeah.

00:27:49.000 But it felt like, you know, in recent years, we kind of put most of that stuff behind.

00:27:54.000 I mean, I, as a cradle Catholic, I mean, Blake disagrees.

00:27:57.000 I just think in general, we tend to see each other very, very much as allies, same team.

00:28:03.000 Yeah, we disagree around the edges or we disagree about that.

00:28:05.000 But I want that to be the case, especially somebody who grew up as a cradle Catholic, like I said, went to Catholic high school and things.

00:28:13.000 I'm the kind of guy who gets annoyed.

00:28:14.000 I got to know, I get annoyed when these Protestant churches go squish and they like delete the stuff from their statements of faith that the Pope is the Antichrist or whatever. 0.73

00:28:24.000 Like, come on.

00:28:25.000 I got to believe this.

00:28:26.000 I was just talking.

00:28:27.000 Not all posts.

00:28:28.000 Right before this interview, I was talking to Doug Wilson, who I adore because he is like the most hardcore Protestant I've ever met in my life.

00:28:36.000 And I have a lot of him in my life.

00:28:38.000 But I do agree with you on this point, especially, look, it comes full circle with the devil goes into overtime during Lent and Holy Week.

00:28:45.000 The devil really loves to stoke division.

00:28:47.000 And you've seen this politically within the administration, trying to stoke division in this really unified admin.

00:28:54.000 And then you certainly see it among Americans of other types, especially people of faith, is you think, hey, guys, the left wants to harm us.

00:29:06.000 The left wants to slaughter babies and redefine marriage and extirpate Christianity from public life.

00:29:13.000 And while I would love to get into the 30 years war, while I would love to discuss all of the nuances of Luther versus Zwingli versus Calvin versus the one holy Catholic and apostolic faith, like that's cool, guys.

00:29:29.000 We'll do that.

00:29:30.000 But to suggest that we should be spending all of our times relitigating like 1517 when there is an actual imminent political problem that is threatening all Christians is to me a little, I don't know, a little misguided.

00:29:44.000 I don't think of politics as debate club.

00:29:46.000 I think of it as real political communities where people have to live together and hopefully flourish.

00:29:51.000 And I think we got to get real sometimes.

00:29:54.000 So I totally agree.

00:29:55.000 Well, if we can't build a coalition between Protestants and Catholics in America, then we have to. 0.59

00:30:00.000 And listen, there's going to be disagreements.

00:30:02.000 There's going to be disagreements on theological stuff.

00:30:04.000 That's fine.

00:30:05.000 But you are definitely an ally.

00:30:07.000 And I want to just keep encouraging that.

00:30:10.000 So, Michael, we've been having a really wonderful conversation and Blake wants to completely throw a wrench in it.

00:30:16.000 Perfect.

00:30:16.000 I was waiting.

00:30:19.000 Well, so I think, you know, we obviously touched upon the drama around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but I think all of us understand this is part of a bigger debate about Israel, America's relationship towards it.

00:30:34.000 And we see a lot of surging skepticism or outright hostility, anti-Semitism.

00:30:39.000 More than skepticism in some quarters.

00:30:41.000 So I was wondering, do you have any thought?

00:30:43.000 If you've been following this, in addition to the scuffle over the Holy Sepulchre, there's also been claims about the last Christian settlement in the West.

00:30:53.000 The all-Christian settlement in the West Bank has claimed it's getting attacked a lot by Israeli settlers.

00:30:59.000 There's a lot of constant violence there.

00:31:00.000 There's also reports of kind of the last Christians in Syria getting wiped out as a result of the government there.

00:31:09.000 And I guess if you've been following either of those things, if you have thoughts on them and how they relate to America's alliances and relationships in the Holy Land.

00:31:17.000 Yeah, certainly.

00:31:18.000 You know, I do care particularly about persecuted Christians in the Middle East.

00:31:22.000 My friend Father Benedict Keely has a group called Nazarean.org, which I strongly recommend people support.

00:31:28.000 It helps persecuted Christians in the Middle East and elsewhere.

00:31:32.000 But there are very few.

00:31:33.000 These are the oldest Christian communities in the world.

00:31:35.000 And it's kind of funny when missionaries from America or Europe say, we're going to go and evangelize in the Middle East.

00:31:43.000 So, you know, they were the first ones.

00:31:44.000 They evangelized you, believe it or not.

00:31:46.000 And so they've been decimated over the last 25 years.

00:31:49.000 You see this even outside of the Middle East with Armenia.

00:31:53.000 You know, Azerbaijan was unfortunately kind of won the war with Armenia, destroyed.

00:31:59.000 Armenia is the oldest Christian nation in the world.

00:32:02.000 It became Christian before even the Edict of Milan, before Emperor Constantine.

00:32:06.000 And they've been really put on the back foot as well.

00:32:09.000 And it's ironic there because in the case of Azerbaijan and Armenia, and this kind of brings it back to the Israel issue, Israel was backing Azerbaijan, which is a Muslim country, against Armenia, which is a Christian country.

00:32:23.000 But it's because Armenia had better relations with Iran, which is a Muslim country, and Iran is the existential threat to Israel. 0.83

00:32:29.000 So, bizarrely, the United States, which has a good relationship with Armenia, was funding the weapons that were going to Azerbaijan, and it becomes a real mess.

00:32:38.000 So, how do we make sense of these things?

00:32:42.000 Well, right off the bat, I would say, obviously, one can criticize the Israeli government and should in some cases.

00:32:48.000 One should be skeptical of entangling alliances broadly.

00:32:52.000 But I would just caution people: I would not allow your skepticism of or even antipathy for Israel to push you into the position of being pro-Islam.

00:33:02.000 You know, the Christians in the Middle East and elsewhere who are persecuted are persecuted by Muslims. 0.95

00:33:07.000 We saw on Palm Sunday in Nigeria, at least 10 Christians were massacred by Muslims in Nigeria and the plateau region.

00:33:14.000 Just adds to the number, you know, which has grown immensely in recent years.

00:33:19.000 So, it's a major problem.

00:33:22.000 And I think that sort of ideological or shallow responses to these issues in the Middle East really miss the point.

00:33:31.000 You know, this is a long-standing problem.

00:33:33.000 Islam has been a long-standing problem for 1,400 years.

00:33:36.000 The question of sovereignty in the Holy Land has been disputed for roughly 2,000 years right now.

00:33:42.000 And so, a little skepticism, I think, is merited.

00:33:45.000 It's just it has to be done with some balance and with some prudence and with some charity.

00:33:49.000 To look at Twitter, to look at some podcasts, you would think that we've just been in a quagmire in the Middle East for 2,000 years because someone didn't read the pseudonymous Twitter accounts post.

00:34:01.000 If only we had the Twitter, we could have solved it all.

00:34:03.000 No, these are immensely complex problems that are not only religious, but also political.

00:34:08.000 I think this is well said.

00:34:09.000 I just want to give Noel some credit that we did not prep him for that.

00:34:13.000 We did not.

00:34:14.000 We just threw him to the wolves on that one.

00:34:16.000 And you navigated it deftly.

00:34:18.000 I think that you deserve some credit for that.

00:34:21.000 I was like, here we go.

00:34:22.000 Here we go.

00:34:24.000 The problem, though, is because I didn't just throw a grenade at this country or that country or whatever, I'm not going to get as many clicks.

00:34:32.000 My answer is too wordy.

00:34:35.000 Which country?

00:34:36.000 Name names.

00:34:37.000 Yeah, you tell me the country.

00:34:39.000 Which one?

00:34:41.000 Listen, I think that's great.

00:34:43.000 All right.

00:34:43.000 So we started the show off, and we'll give you one last hard one here.

00:34:48.000 So it does appear that President Trump, the Trump administration, are positioning assets in the Middle East for a potential boots on the ground situation.

00:34:58.000 We don't know yet if this is saber-rattling.

00:35:00.000 We don't know if this is to strengthen a negotiating hand to, you know, listen.

00:35:06.000 If you doubt President Trump's will to do military strikes of any nature, you shouldn't.

00:35:12.000 And I think he understands that he has that card to play.

00:35:14.000 So he's moving the assets in.

00:35:16.000 What do you expect to transpire in the next coming weeks?

00:35:21.000 And if he does use boots on the ground, what do you think the political ramifications would be?

00:35:26.000 The political ramifications will be very, very tough.

00:35:29.000 And the reason that I think some people don't understand that is because the war itself or the strikes themselves, whether you want to admit it's a war or just call them isolated strikes, regardless, it has a lot of support among conservative Republicans, 90% support about.

00:35:45.000 But I think that support is soft.

00:35:47.000 I think people recognize Iran has been a threat for a long time. 0.66

00:35:51.000 There is a grand strategic interest in getting rid of the Iranian regime.

00:35:55.000 Trump has been talking about this for 40 years.

00:35:57.000 So, yeah, sure, they've been a thorn on our side for 50 years.

00:36:00.000 That's all true, but I think that 90% support is soft.

00:36:03.000 I think people have trauma from the political experience of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

00:36:08.000 I think it could collapse very quickly.

00:36:10.000 However, and this was one of the arguments for more restraint in Iran is that the die is cast.

00:36:17.000 We are where we are.

00:36:18.000 We cannot let the Iranians get away with closing the Strait of Hormuz. 1.00

00:36:22.000 If we let them get away with that now, we will have only strengthened the Iranian regime. 0.94

00:36:26.000 I don't care how many missiles we took out.

00:36:27.000 I don't care how many Ayatollahs we killed. 1.00

00:36:29.000 That will have strengthened them tremendously.

00:36:31.000 The next time we have any disagreement with them, they're going to close that straight and they're going to feel confident that we're not really going to do anything about it.

00:36:37.000 So I am a Trump truster.

00:36:39.000 He's got a better record on foreign policy than any president in my lifetime.

00:36:43.000 And what I've said since the beginning of this war is I would have argued against it and I did argue against it, but Trump says five weeks, I'll start worrying on week six.

00:36:50.000 The issue right now, I think, for the polling and for the administration is, okay, we're at the start of week five.

00:36:56.000 That means we're entering into week six.

00:36:57.000 Trump says we're close to a deal in the coming weeks, but I think you could see that 90% support start to crater pretty quickly.

00:37:04.000 Am I a Panican?

00:37:05.000 Am I being a Panican?

00:37:06.000 Nope.

00:37:06.000 No, that's about where we started the show today.

00:37:09.000 I mean, listen, my position is I don't want boots on the ground, but I'm with you.

00:37:14.000 What you said, the die is cast.

00:37:15.000 Like, this operation is underway.

00:37:17.000 You cannot let that straight of Hormuz get closed.

00:37:20.000 And this is why we were reticent in the first place, because war has a tendency of getting out of charge.

00:37:25.000 Are unpredictable.

00:37:26.000 They're easier to start than to end.

00:37:29.000 They are, they just rarely, they're expensive, and they're just, they're rarely, they rarely give you the outcome that you're promised is the most likely one when you start.

00:37:40.000 Well, and listen, when you look at some of this stuff, you know, there's that video going viral online of the no kings in LA, and they're saying, you know, shoot ICE agents.

00:37:48.000 It's like, well, there's a lot of enemy combatants here that I wish we would have spent $200 billion addressing.

00:37:55.000 So, yeah, anyways, even just the focus of it, I agree.

00:37:59.000 Exactly.

00:38:00.000 And so there's a lot of reason to feel that kind of not in your stomach.

00:38:03.000 We're praying for our troops.

00:38:04.000 We're praying for success.

00:38:06.000 And we're praying for you, Michael.

00:38:08.000 God bless you.

00:38:09.000 Thank you.

00:38:09.000 Thank you, gentlemen.

00:38:10.000 Good to see you.

00:38:13.000 If you're a parent, you don't need to be told that online safety is important.

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00:38:22.000 And beyond that, parents can set up family pairing to help shape their teens' experience on the app.

00:38:26.000 With family pairing, parents can get visibility into their teens' followers and who they follow, help restrict content that's not right for them, and set screen time limits.

00:38:36.000 Parents can also set restricted times so they're not on TikTok when they shouldn't be, because feeling good about the time your teen spends online shouldn't come with guesswork.

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00:38:55.000 Remember, when safety comes first, discovery and creativity can follow.

00:38:59.000 Learn more by going to tick tock.com/slash guardiansguide.

00:39:05.000 Welcoming now to the show are three TPSA frontlines journalists.

00:39:11.000 We've got Bo Alford, Frontlines TPSA reporter.

00:39:14.000 We've got Gabe Victoll, Frontlines Photojournalist.

00:39:18.000 And then we have Ro Ortiz, a new edition, frontline TPSA photojournalist.

00:39:22.000 I believe she's in DC.

00:39:24.000 Hello, everybody.

00:39:25.000 Hey.

00:39:26.000 Good to see you.

00:39:27.000 So you guys were all active covering the geriatrics against kingship event, holding signs by a billionaire that lives in Shanghai.

00:39:38.000 Tell us about what you saw.

00:39:40.000 Why don't we just start with you, Bo?

00:39:42.000 Where were you stationed?

00:39:43.000 What did you see?

00:39:44.000 What was the vibes?

00:39:45.000 Yes, sir.

00:39:46.000 We were in New York City.

00:39:48.000 I'd like to start by saying it feels great knowing that we did our due diligence in making sure there are no kings in America.

00:39:56.000 No, we were in New York.

00:39:59.000 There was a pretty good size turnout, but the people there couldn't answer some of the more basic questions I had to ask them, which we can get to that in a little bit.

00:40:12.000 But yeah, I was in New York City.

00:40:13.000 And Gabe, you were also in New York.

00:40:16.000 Is that right?

00:40:17.000 Yeah, I was in New York along with Bo.

00:40:20.000 And, you know, to mention the amount of people, there was a lot.

00:40:26.000 I mean, there was about probably 300,000 people.

00:40:28.000 That's how many people RSVP'd for it or signed up online.

00:40:32.000 And, you know, I've normally gone to these events and they say that there's a lot more coming than there actually is.

00:40:39.000 But for this event, New York, it was a huge turnout.

00:40:43.000 Well, that's interesting to see.

00:40:45.000 I mean, 300,000 for New York, though.

00:40:47.000 I mean, I mean, it's like, what?

00:40:48.000 What is the population of New York?

00:40:50.000 About 8 million.

00:40:51.000 8 million.

00:40:51.000 I mean, you know.

00:40:52.000 All right, fine.

00:40:54.000 There's a lot of New York Patriots.

00:40:56.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:40:56.000 This is true.

00:40:57.000 There was actually a lot of people who did mention that they did come from out of state.

00:41:02.000 Yeah, I bet that's true.

00:41:03.000 Roe, where were you covering and what did you see?

00:41:06.000 What were the vibes?

00:41:07.000 I was in Washington, D.C. There were, it was a good turnout.

00:41:11.000 There were lots of people, a couple thousand, definitely.

00:41:14.000 It was mostly old white boomers. 0.53

00:41:17.000 I barely saw people of color.

00:41:20.000 It was pretty tame compared to the protests you saw in LA or in Portland where they're spray painting kill your local ICE agent.

00:41:28.000 It was very chill and tame.

00:41:31.000 Well, that's a very interesting observation you just made, and it reminded me of a clip we have ready.

00:41:36.000 SOT 23.

00:41:37.000 Seems like there's a lack of diversity here today.

00:41:40.000 That it's mostly people who look like you and I.

00:41:41.000 And I just think that's what I'm saying.

00:41:43.000 This is not. 0.92

00:41:44.000 It is not for black people, for people of color to get out on the street. 1.00

00:41:49.000 They're at risk when they do that. 0.99

00:41:51.000 If anybody's going to get arrested here, it's going to be a black person. 1.00

00:41:55.000 It is not safe for them and they don't need to participate. 0.99

00:41:58.000 We need to walk in their name. 0.83

00:42:01.000 So did you guys get the vibe that if a black person would have showed up at one of these rallies, that they would have got arrested?

00:42:07.000 I'm just curious.

00:42:08.000 Absolutely not.

00:42:10.000 Yeah, no, not unless they were committing a crime.

00:42:15.000 You got to love that white savior complex. 0.67

00:42:17.000 Yeah, I mean, this is, I mean, it really was.

00:42:19.000 It was Robert De Niro.

00:42:21.000 It was Bruce Springsteen.

00:42:22.000 It was Amy Klobuchar.

00:42:24.000 One of them said, I think there was some sort of, there was like a musical rally that was, yeah, it was like Bruce Springsteen, Bernie said.

00:42:30.000 It was something where like the youngest person there, Jane Fonda, like the youngest person on the stage was like 78 years old.

00:42:35.000 Another thing I saw, they mentioned, this actually, the Bulwark posted this.

00:42:39.000 They were pointing out turnout in the villages, you know, a very Florida heavy part of Florida.

00:42:44.000 They were saying it was double the turnout of last year, and there's video of, you know, them racing by all this turnout.

00:42:50.000 And okay, yeah, I guess turnout is turnout.

00:42:53.000 But it does strike me that really the sort of mass protest, it's a lot of people who wish they were still protesting the Vietnam War.

00:43:01.000 It's very old lib boomers, basically, which there's a lot of great boomers out there, too, but this is a subtype.

00:43:09.000 And maybe New York was different.

00:43:10.000 So Rose's saying it was old boomers in D.C. What about in New York?

00:43:14.000 I mean, New York's a younger city.

00:43:16.000 There's a lot of people, young people that flock to New York to try and start a life and they're excited by the city.

00:43:23.000 A lot of people from out of town.

00:43:24.000 Did you see a more diverse group there, Bo or Gabe?

00:43:28.000 Not necessarily.

00:43:29.000 I would say it was slightly more diverse, but it is important to note that I was assaulted twice, and both times I was assaulted was by old white men.

00:43:40.000 There were a few people that were diverse, but for the most part, it was old white people that felt like it was their need to speak up for minorities.

00:43:50.000 Yeah, I would say that it was very middle-aged, like older millennial, younger Gen X kind of people that were at this protest for sure.

00:43:59.000 So, which is interesting.

00:44:01.000 You know, it's 75% of liberal students say preventing a speaker from talking is justified.

00:44:07.000 27% say violence is acceptable to stop your political, I guess, enemies.

00:44:14.000 Obviously, we all lived through the assassination of our friend Charlie.

00:44:19.000 And, you know, you see that conservatives show up on campuses.

00:44:23.000 They get spat at.

00:44:24.000 They get blocked.

00:44:25.000 They get harassed.

00:44:26.000 You got assaulted, Bo.

00:44:27.000 I didn't know that.

00:44:28.000 That's the first time hearing about this.

00:44:31.000 Like, when you're talking to these people on the streets, like, what is the animation?

00:44:37.000 What is their motivating factor?

00:44:38.000 Why are they crossing these lines that have been sacrosanct in American political culture?

00:44:43.000 Why is this happening right now?

00:44:45.000 Can you get any conclusion?

00:44:48.000 Yeah, great question.

00:44:49.000 I can tell you, especially the first time that I was assaulted, which the video is coming out here soon, he didn't know the answer.

00:44:58.000 I asked a very basic question, and then people started stepping in trying to get the subject changed when he couldn't get that answer.

00:45:08.000 And one person took it upon himself.

00:45:10.000 He was an older white man walking.

00:45:12.000 When I kept pressing him, when he didn't know the answer, another man stepped in and decided to knock the mic out of my hand.

00:45:20.000 And then another person later on in the day proceeded to try and knock my beanie off.

00:45:26.000 Yeah.

00:45:27.000 Gabe, I'm sorry that happened to you, Bo.

00:45:29.000 Gabe, you were probably right there with him, right?

00:45:32.000 What was your observation?

00:45:34.000 You know, like these people, the reason that they get so violent, at least in my opinion, is over and over again, they're told that conservatives or that right-wingers, that even just journalists in general, are Nazis, that they're violent.

00:45:48.000 And, you know, if you were to think that our grandparents or grandparents of great-grandparents of many other people, they went out and they fought Nazis on the front lines.

00:45:59.000 So they think that in their mind, it is justified to attack us, to hurt us, because they truly believe deep down that we are all these evil, authoritarian Nazi types.

00:46:10.000 Ro, you seem very sweet, not like Bo or Gabe.

00:46:15.000 Did you get accosted at all by any of these protesters?

00:46:21.000 I blended in very well, though.

00:46:21.000 I didn't.

00:46:24.000 But I know that if they knew my stance on things, they would not be nice to me at all.

00:46:30.000 And honestly, it's just very unfortunate.

00:46:32.000 I feel that they have tunnel vision when it comes to these issues, and it's reinforced by the media.

00:46:39.000 I mean, you saw at the protests.

00:46:41.000 There was the one I went to in D.C., there was a correspondent from MS Now, and he had an F Trump shirt on as he's like talking on a reporter, did?

00:46:52.000 On the news.

00:46:53.000 Yeah.

00:46:54.000 Yeah.

00:46:55.000 And so they see that and it just reinforces this mindset that they have.

00:47:00.000 And it's just very unfortunate that they treat other people with such disrespect.

00:47:05.000 Yeah.

00:47:06.000 And did you get any insight when you asked them questions of what they were protesting?

00:47:10.000 I mean, obviously Trump is not a king, but they're saying it anyways.

00:47:13.000 Did you get any insight?

00:47:15.000 Yeah, I mean, it was funny.

00:47:16.000 So They were chanting, this is what democracy looks like, as they're advocating for the removal of a democratically elected leader.

00:47:27.000 I mean, that is just so ironic.

00:47:29.000 Roe, you were in D.C., you were talking to all these geriatric boomers, and they, you, you, what kind of questions did you ask them?

00:47:38.000 And did you find anything out?

00:47:40.000 Did you learn anything?

00:47:41.000 Well, I wasn't asking them questions.

00:47:42.000 I was just taking videos, but I was paying attention to their signs.

00:47:46.000 And one sign that really stuck out to me was, Hitler would be proud of you, Donald Trump.

00:47:52.000 And I think that is just such an insane thing to say.

00:47:57.000 A lot of them were obviously very unhappy with the war in Iran.

00:48:01.000 They were calling for the abolishing ICE.

00:48:05.000 And most of the signs were really saying they just don't want Trump.

00:48:09.000 They want to remove him.

00:48:10.000 Yeah.

00:48:12.000 Bo, you were asking questions.

00:48:15.000 What questions did you ask?

00:48:17.000 And what did you learn, if anything?

00:48:19.000 Learned absolutely nothing.

00:48:21.000 Questions I asked were very simple.

00:48:25.000 What brought you out here?

00:48:26.000 What is the main reason you were out here?

00:48:28.000 What is the biggest issue that you care about that brings you out here?

00:48:33.000 And then I was also asking about conservatives and trying to see what their thoughts were on conservatives in general.

00:48:39.000 So I was asking, what are your thoughts on conservatives?

00:48:43.000 Is there anything you agree with conservatives on?

00:48:46.000 What is your message to conservatives?

00:48:49.000 And their answers were always very extreme.

00:48:53.000 A few of them of which were actually wishing death upon conservatives.

00:48:57.000 Yeah.

00:48:58.000 I'm really interested in knowing if these people understand the origins or the people that are funding these networks that put on the No Kings rallies.

00:49:07.000 For example, Roy Singham, somebody that we've brought up on this show a number of times, he's a billionaire in Shanghai.

00:49:13.000 He attends CCP workshops.

00:49:16.000 He funnels millions of dollars through shell companies through the United States.

00:49:22.000 And three congressional committees have subpoenaed him as a subject of investigation for being a CCP foreign agent.

00:49:30.000 So this is one of the guys funding this.

00:49:32.000 So again, communist country, probably a CCP foreign agent, funneling millions of dollars for signs for these people to carry out.

00:49:41.000 You've heard of Code Pink.

00:49:42.000 I remember Code Pink all the way back in the Bush years.

00:49:45.000 And that's a funny thing to bring up, actually, because if you look at like 1990s Democrat Party, they were anti-illegal immigration.

00:49:54.000 They were pro-parents.

00:49:55.000 They were pro-balanced budget.

00:49:57.000 They were pro-borders. 0.84

00:49:59.000 They were pro-free speech.

00:50:01.000 Like Bill Clinton is essentially from the 1990s, is not dissimilar to the conservative platform in many ways in 2026.

00:50:10.000 I mean, but they didn't have a problem then.

00:50:12.000 Did they call Bill Clinton a king?

00:50:14.000 I don't think they did.

00:50:16.000 But I don't know if there's anything else really to surmise other than that is really just an anti-Trump rally that is spread across the country.

00:50:24.000 And I believe they're trying to spark a color revolution.

00:50:28.000 This is why you hear them talk about we just need 3.5% of the population in order to spark a color revolution. 0.59

00:50:34.000 That's what they really want.

00:50:36.000 Anyways, I don't think they got anywhere close to that this weekend, but nevertheless, it was pretty hilarious.

00:50:42.000 Gabe and Bo, last time we had you guys on, you were dodging IEDs in New York City from a terrorist.

00:50:50.000 You were at the Gracie Mansion, I don't know, terrorist incident.

00:50:56.000 Have you guys had a chance to reflect on what, I mean, you really were close to potentially putting your lives at line.

00:51:04.000 Have you had a chance to reflect on that incident anymore?

00:51:07.000 Have you heard any updates about that?

00:51:09.000 Reflection, 100%.

00:51:12.000 We were praying very hard before going to New York again because, you know, this past weekend, it's definitely something that could have happened, right?

00:51:21.000 These radicals, they typically don't show up to these mass events where there's, you know, over like 100,000 people at it, but 100% they could, especially if they're, you know, expecting any pushback from right-wingers, from conservatives.

00:51:36.000 And I 100%, you know, was praying before, praying that, you know, me and Bo would be safe and that also the other frontlines reporters would be safe across the country.

00:51:45.000 I know we had people in LA and DC.

00:51:48.000 But yeah, I definitely am glad that we got out of it safe the first time and that this weekend there was no issues.

00:51:57.000 Yeah.

00:51:58.000 Yeah.

00:51:59.000 Gabe said that well.

00:52:00.000 I was just going to reflect and say basically what he said when I got home, definitely hugged my wife a little bit harder.

00:52:08.000 And then I'm not going to lie, I think that when we were told that we were going back to New York City for No Kings, it definitely was something in the back of my head.

00:52:17.000 Like, you know, the previous history of New York, of course, and then also who we have elected as mayor in New York.

00:52:24.000 That's definitely something that's always going to be in the back of your mind.

00:52:28.000 So we definitely prayed a little bit harder and we're thanking God when we were safe.

00:52:32.000 Yeah, isn't that wild that that's the world we live in now?

00:52:35.000 You know, I just hate it.

00:52:37.000 I hate it for all of you guys.

00:52:38.000 I hate it for the country.

00:52:40.000 Ro, I'm going to give you the final word here.

00:52:42.000 You are new to the TPOSA frontlines team.

00:52:46.000 What is your beat?

00:52:47.000 What are you going to be covering?

00:52:49.000 And how's it going so far?

00:52:51.000 Oh, it's going great.

00:52:52.000 I'm really enjoying this position.

00:52:54.000 Being with all this team has been fantastic.

00:52:57.000 I'm going to be working on a lot of mini docs, exploring different things around America, different issues.

00:53:05.000 At the moment, just heavily focusing on this administration and the amazing things they're doing.

00:53:09.000 Yeah, because we've got a White House correspondent that's about to have a baby. 0.99

00:53:13.000 If I'm not covering for her, she is super pregnant. 1.00

00:53:18.000 Like, I think she's giving birth this week.

00:53:19.000 It's crazy.

00:53:20.000 Yeah.

00:53:20.000 So Monica is our TPOSA Frontlines White House correspondent.

00:53:24.000 She got married not too long ago, and then quickly they're expecting a child and she's about to give birth.

00:53:31.000 So Monica, we are praying for you and we wish you all the best.

00:53:35.000 In the meantime, Rose coming in and she's doing great work already. 1.00

00:53:40.000 Stay safe out there, guys.

00:53:41.000 Thank you for coming on and telling us your experience.

00:53:44.000 And we're glad you're safe and the geriatric boomers didn't rough you up too bad, Bo. 0.96

00:53:50.000 Could have been worse.

00:53:52.000 Could have been worse.

00:53:54.000 Take care, guys, so much.

00:53:55.000 Bye.

00:53:58.000 Before he ever stepped behind a microphone, Charlie understood something important.

00:54:02.000 Leadership begins with learning.

00:54:05.000 He didn't chase a diploma or a title.

00:54:06.000 He chased truth.

00:54:08.000 Through Hillsdale College's free online courses, he studied the great works of the classics, the principles of the American founding, and the life-changing truths of the Bible.

00:54:16.000 Those ideas didn't just inform him, they shaped his character, strengthened his convictions, and prepared him for the challenges ahead.

00:54:23.000 One of the courses he took was the Genesis story, taught by Hillsdale professor Dr. Justin Jackson.

00:54:29.000 This free online course explores the relationship between God and man, what happens when that relationship is broken, and the path toward reconciliation.

00:54:37.000 It's a real college course, rigorous, thoughtful, and accessible to anyone willing to learn.

00:54:42.000 You can take the very same course completely free.

00:54:45.000 Grow stronger in your faith, gain clarity about humanity and your place in the world.

00:54:49.000 Prepare yourself for a life with courage and conviction.

00:54:53.000 Visit charlie4hillsdale.com to enroll today.

00:54:56.000 That's charlie for hillsdale.com.

00:54:59.000 Learn deeply, lead boldly, carry it forward.

00:55:04.000 I'm excited about our next guest here.

00:55:06.000 This is Rid von Idemir.

00:55:08.000 He is also known as the apostate prophet.

00:55:11.000 You can check him out on YouTube on X under that handle, Apostate Prophet.

00:55:15.000 Welcome back to the show, my friend.

00:55:17.000 Thank you for having me.

00:55:19.000 I'm very happy to be here.

00:55:20.000 Yeah, well, we're happy to have you.

00:55:22.000 So, for those of you in the audience who are maybe not aware of Ridvan's story, he was born and raised a Muslim and then sort of broke away from the faith.

00:55:33.000 And now he's a Christian, which is excellent.

00:55:36.000 But he gives incredible insights about the Muslim mindset, the frame of mind, their ideology.

00:55:44.000 And so, Ridvan, I tasked you with a specific task to go figure out what the vibe is in Iran right now.

00:55:52.000 The people on the ground, I know you have a lot of Iranian friends, Persian friends.

00:55:56.000 So, what is the vibe in Iran?

00:56:00.000 And ultimately, that leads to the next question: are they going to rise up?

00:56:04.000 Okay, well, it's very complicated.

00:56:08.000 I know it's very complicated.

00:56:10.000 I talked to many Iranians over the last few days.

00:56:13.000 I have been following the whole situation very closely.

00:56:16.000 Talked to Iranians.

00:56:17.000 I speak to Iranians who live outside of Iran.

00:56:20.000 Some that are inside Iran, some that are outside and communicate with families inside Iran.

00:56:25.000 The situation is very complicated.

00:56:27.000 What people need to understand is that the people of Iran haven't had access to the internet for, I think, 31 days now.

00:56:33.000 So, it's been more than a month.

00:56:35.000 The internet has been entirely and completely shut down by the Islamic Republic, the Islamic regime, with the excuse that they have to tackle misinformation and international global foreign interference and all that. 0.96

00:56:51.000 But shutting down your own people's access to the internet is, of course, a very miserable way to treat your own people.

00:56:58.000 And it's clear why this is being done.

00:57:00.000 It's to prevent organizing, to prevent mobilization, to prevent people communicating with each other.

00:57:08.000 So, the average Iranian has great difficulties accessing information, understanding what's actually going on. 0.97

00:57:14.000 Those Iranians that we see, we usually see video recordings, we receive some limited information.

00:57:21.000 The majority of Iranians, according to the latest research of all different sources, say that over 85 to 90 percent of Iranians despise the Islamic Republic that is in charge and want it gone.

00:57:35.000 So, they have no good feelings about this government.

00:57:39.000 Many of them look with hope at the current war.

00:57:42.000 I know for some people, it seems like it's a little bit puzzling and confusing that they would cheer on the bombing of their own country, but that's not really what is happening.

00:57:52.000 The current U.S. and Israeli strikes are vastly carried out on military sites and government facilities vastly, not exclusively, but vastly.

00:58:05.000 The Iranians generally seem to be happy about it and celebrate it.

00:58:09.000 You can see them sharing videos of themselves, singing about it and smiling and enjoying it, and hoping for the downfall of the Islamic regime. 1.00

00:58:18.000 The problem is that the Islamic regime is a strongly and firmly embedded regime, an authoritarian government that also has its own militia and its own forces.

00:58:30.000 So, Iran has two separate militaries: the regular national military, and then the one that is purely loyal to the Islamic regime, that is an Islamic military.

00:58:40.000 And that military is very vicious and very loyal to the Islamic regime. 0.97

00:58:46.000 They have their own special forces, the Basij, they have the IRGC, which is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is all about protecting Islam and the ambitions of the Islamic Republic.

00:58:58.000 Those people are the problem because as much as the people of Iran are willing to get rid of this regime, they are dealing with a very, very barbaric, very ruthless, very vicious force that is loyal to the Islamic regime. 0.89

00:59:15.000 They might make up only less than 10%.

00:59:18.000 Those who are loyal to the regime might only make up less than 10% of the population, but they have very strong organized military and police forces that protect them and that have no issues shooting down civilians in masses in the thousands if they mobilize, which is why we have not seen much of an uprising.

00:59:37.000 And I'm sure you're going to ask that as a follow-up.

00:59:40.000 But so that's the situation right now.

00:59:45.000 People are hopeful that America and Israel will together do something to weaken and destroy this Islamic regime, but they are also a little bit uncertain and frightened, also because Donald Trump has kind of sent mixed messages to the people of Iran, such as the latest is stay inside while bombs are falling, but also at the same time, seize the moment and be ambitious, make the change, and all that. 0.95

01:00:15.000 So there is uncertainty, there is hope, there is some fear, but I would say the most dominant feeling that I perceive from Iran is that there is hope at the moment.

01:00:27.000 Obviously, we hope you're right, Ridvan, but at the same time, I guess I just sometimes wonder if when we see these clips or when we see these narratives, like, are we being worked?

01:00:38.000 Because I feel like certainly before the strikes were launched, I think I perceived on X, I perceived on media, a lot of efforts to sell, like, oh, it's really on the tipping point.

01:00:48.000 It's clearly just about to fall and it looks really convincing.

01:00:52.000 And then strikes happen.

01:00:54.000 And it's not even that the government doesn't collapse.

01:00:56.000 It's that there's not obvious signs that it would be, you know, on the ropes.

01:01:01.000 And I guess inevitably, is it the case that when we're seeing videos come out of countries like Iran, we are going to see the people who are most likely to have access to the internet, have access to smartphones, have access to stuff, even when there's the middle of a war going on.

01:01:17.000 And that's just not going to be a representative group for a country like Iran, where there are rural people, poorer people, who are more likely to be backing a fundamentalist regime like this one.

01:01:28.000 So first again, I would like to establish, I mean, these are legitimate concerns and questions.

01:01:32.000 But so according to all the research, even by Iranian organizations, Gaman and certain others, when the Iranian people themselves are polled, this is prior to the war, when they are polled and asked about their opinions on the government and who or what should be in charge, over 85% of them say that the Islamic regime should not be in charge.

01:01:57.000 The most popular option for people to pick as for who should be in charge is half or up to a half of the population says that the crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, should take over and should lead the country towards some kind of democracy or something like that.

01:02:16.000 So the people are really, really severely disheartened.

01:02:19.000 Much of the videos that come out are, many of the videos that come out come out after blackouts, when somebody records something, then we wait for a while and then they somehow gain access to the internet, they publish it and then we see it.

01:02:33.000 So I do have a lot of sources, a lot of people.

01:02:37.000 I can recommend many people who are doing this all the time.

01:02:40.000 One of those is a Canadian politician, former politician actually, who was kicked out because she was speaking about, you know, critically about Islam, Goldi Amari.

01:02:51.000 She posts about this or reports about this and talks to Iranians within Iran every day.

01:02:56.000 And so the sentiments there are generally that the people have hope.

01:03:02.000 Now there is one misunderstanding, which is you mentioned tipping point.

01:03:08.000 I would have been, I was also at the beginning of this war very careful to say that the Islamic regime is about to die or about to crumble. 0.63

01:03:15.000 I was sure that the supreme leader, Khamenei, would die and be killed.

01:03:20.000 He was on the list very high of people who are to be killed.

01:03:24.000 But the Islamic regime, as I said, is not necessarily at a very terrible tipping point.

01:03:32.000 They are weakened, but even when they are weak, they have a very firm ideology that they stand by.

01:03:38.000 They are hardcore ideologues and loyalists.

01:03:42.000 If they only had three people left in that government, they would still not give up and they would still fire whatever they have at their surroundings in order to survive.

01:03:51.000 This is not a government that actually cares about the people.

01:03:54.000 Think about it this way.

01:03:56.000 If in a Western nation, the majority of the population walked toward their government buildings and demanded that the government steps down, in a civilized Western society, the government would most likely eventually give up.

01:04:10.000 In Iran, Iranians are also very, very much unlike most of the Middle Eastern people, but their government is a very barbaric Islamist regime. 0.99

01:04:19.000 And they don't understand any of this.

01:04:22.000 If the entire population walked toward the government and demanded them to step down, they would have no problem shooting down and mowing down the entire population in order to preserve their ideology and their ideological apocalyptic government, which has the ambitions of bringing about their end time figure and expanding Islam or Shia Islam to the whole world. 0.96

01:04:46.000 So there's also one aspect, which is at the beginning of the war, Israel itself was trying to explore whether they could help the Iranian people overthrow the regime.

01:04:59.000 The latest reports are that the Israeli government itself is a little bit frustrated because they don't seem to really be able to mobilize the Iranian people.

01:05:09.000 It's because the Iranian people are scared. 1.00

01:05:11.000 The last time they stood up, the last few times they stood up, they were massacred.

01:05:15.000 Just a few months ago in January, over 30,000 of them were killed.

01:05:22.000 Hi, folks.

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01:06:20.000 I'm going to play this cut here from Prince Reza Pahlavi at CPAC, SAT5.

01:06:27.000 For the goodwill between our two people, which you see on vibrant display here today, to continue, we must finish the job.

01:06:36.000 This regime in its entirety must go.

01:06:39.000 If we do not finish the job and leave a romp of the regime in place, the threat posed by this Islamic Republic will not be solved. 1.00

01:06:49.000 It will only be made worse.

01:06:51.000 Terrorists cannot be trusted to bring peace. 1.00

01:06:54.000 They are thugs. 0.99

01:06:55.000 They are not dealmakers. 0.99

01:06:57.000 They are agents of chaos.

01:06:59.000 All right.

01:07:00.000 So, Ridvan, we've got this juxtaposition here, right?

01:07:04.000 Where you hear Reza saying we've got to have regime change.

01:07:08.000 Trump is like, well, we've already had regime change because the guys I'm working with right now are really nice.

01:07:13.000 And then we just got a report from Breitbart saying Israel will decline to join any ground operations Americans might launch in Iran.

01:07:22.000 There's all kinds of mixed signals.

01:07:24.000 Do we need boots on the ground to get this done, to get this mission accomplished, to get the overthrow of the regime?

01:07:32.000 And we're against that.

01:07:35.000 I'll just be really honest.

01:07:36.000 We're against that on the show.

01:07:38.000 And so is that needed?

01:07:40.000 Because they're not armed.

01:07:41.000 The IRGC is armed.

01:07:42.000 That's why they mow people down in the streets. 1.00

01:07:44.000 How do you overthrow this regime without boots on the ground?

01:07:47.000 Israel says they're not going to help.

01:07:48.000 Reza says we got to get regime change.

01:07:50.000 Make it all make sense.

01:07:51.000 And that's also one of the main issues why the Iranians are not really rising up to overthrow the regime.

01:07:57.000 Rising up to overthrow the regime is not something that the Iranian population would really be, you know, would lovingly do.

01:08:06.000 It would result in mass violence and killings.

01:08:09.000 And it's not a very good Iranian trade that they are really, really into, unlike most of the other Middle Eastern or Arab countries, for example.

01:08:20.000 It is a very difficult situation.

01:08:22.000 It depends on what the plan really is.

01:08:24.000 The thing is that Donald Trump and Netanyahu both said that there is no future for this entire regime.

01:08:32.000 So the regime must go.

01:08:35.000 But then Trump also said that he's actually in good talks with the current Iranian leadership, whereas the Iranian side said we are actually not.

01:08:43.000 So we are receiving lots of mixed signals and there is a complex situation on the ground.

01:08:49.000 The Iranian military says there are no talks.

01:08:51.000 We will not surrender to any of your demands.

01:08:54.000 You will lose this war, publishing leg AI videos and things like that.

01:08:59.000 What the American government currently demands from them is that they completely roll back their nuclear enrichment program because Iran made it very clear that they plan to enrich uranium to absurd levels of 60 or 80 or 90.

01:09:14.000 And civilian, reasonable civilian use is capped at 5%.

01:09:19.000 So they are clearly aiming for military use.

01:09:23.000 To dismantle most of the nuclear facilities, to stop completely and disband all their proxy military units like the Hezbollah, the Houthis and all that.

01:09:34.000 Iran is not going to do these things.

01:09:37.000 Any kind of peace deal that might be reached will be a temporary one.

01:09:40.000 And if there is a peace deal that will be reached, we will be in no time back to fighting again after this.

01:09:48.000 Maybe in months, maybe in a few years.

01:09:50.000 So the regime needs to go.

01:09:52.000 It needs to change.

01:09:53.000 It is also, I would say, from my perspective, a moral issue.

01:09:58.000 This is a regime that brutally mistreats and kills its population over nothing, over women or girls refusing to cover themselves properly and all that.

01:10:08.000 For a power like America, it would be a good and moral thing to help them take out this regime.

01:10:14.000 That said, I also would not like to see boots on the ground in the traditional way.

01:10:20.000 It would be a very difficult situation.

01:10:23.000 It would bring suffering to America, to Americans, and it could also escalate very quickly and result in massive bloodshed over there. 0.69

01:10:32.000 What I do think is reasonable is if America and Israel take this seriously and gain complete air superiority over Iran which is, by the way, one of the goals of the, of the, of the, of the current uh proposed peace deal, to have complete, you know, intrusive surveillance over Iran. 0.89

01:10:54.000 If they gain proper air superiority, I think the only way that uh boots on the ground could be done would be to send in a special force to take out certain targets and then to establish a, you know a a, a proper force for the people inside that country.

01:11:08.000 But that is um, I am at this point just uh, speculating and um, you know, wishing and hoping for something, but it's unclear.

01:11:16.000 What's?

01:11:16.000 What's going to come here?

01:11:18.000 I just it makes me concerned where people say, as you say the, the regime is bad, the regime must go.

01:11:25.000 But if we're going to say the regime must go, what is actually the expense we're willing to bear?

01:11:30.000 Because I think if you could topple this government entirely with air power, it would have happened by now, and so instead once, you're committing troops.

01:11:39.000 Well, it's a country, what is it?

01:11:41.000 Three times the size of, I think, three times the size of Ukraine, it's like five times the size of Texas, something like that, 90 million people, very rugged, very mountainous, it's got a lot of big cities, it's got a lot of deserts, it's got a lot of mountain forests, and I don't think a few thousand people could topple that government.

01:12:01.000 You would actually need a big commitment and at that point I don't think we have the political lift for that in the United States.

01:12:08.000 I don't think we have the readiness to spend that sort of thing.

01:12:12.000 And then you're stuck asking yourselves, okay well, we say the regime must go, but do we actually think that?

01:12:18.000 Or can we tolerate this lesser irrigation?

01:12:21.000 Yeah, my issue is then, it's like, well listen i'm, I don't want a nation build.

01:12:25.000 I mean I, I I want regime change for the Iranian people, but I want stuff for America too.

01:12:30.000 And the whole time we're focused on this.

01:12:32.000 We're not spending 200 billion dollars here at home to get it fixed.

01:12:35.000 You know what I mean.

01:12:36.000 So I I, just as an American, you're kind of going, okay, if we can't get everything we want, but we can get the Straight Of Hormuz open and we can get, you know, no nukes, no nukes, end of their ballistic missiles, whatever.

01:12:47.000 Is that good enough?

01:12:49.000 Right, at some point, Iranians need to take this into their own hands. 1.00

01:12:52.000 Uh and, and maybe Reza can do it, maybe he can spark this, this revolution, maybe.

01:12:56.000 I mean, he try, he tries to appeal to the loyal forces all the time the, the issue is um, so you know that there is one conversation that people have and that people raise, which is that um, that that the Islamic regime in Iran does not pose an imminent threat to the United States Of America.

01:13:12.000 I agree that it doesn't pose an imminent threat to the United States Of America.

01:13:16.000 However, it does pose a threat overall.

01:13:18.000 And you know, when you have a, when you have a very vicious, fierce enemy uh, you usually don't wait until they pose an imminent threat.

01:13:24.000 So um, even if it is simply for our own interests uh, if America just lets them be and and comes out with a deal that prevents them from advancing their nuclear enrichment program.

01:13:37.000 First of all, i'm not, I I do not believe for a second that the Islamic regime will actually honor that uh. 0.99

01:13:43.000 Second secondly, the Islamic regime has it in their constitution and in their words the entire time.

01:13:49.000 Make no mistake.

01:13:50.000 They are expanding their ballistic missile capabilities, capabilities.

01:13:53.000 Their slogan, their most popular slogan, has been, for 40 years now, death to America and death to Israel. 0.97

01:14:00.000 Uh, America is the is the great Satan, Israel is the small Satan. 1.00

01:14:04.000 Yeah, we got to wrap up. 0.97

01:14:05.000 We're running out of time here, but your point is well made.

01:14:08.000 Thank you for making the time.

01:14:09.000 Thank you, um.

01:14:11.000 We're praying for success in a quick and a quick rack up wrap-up to this conflict in Iran. 0.78

01:14:15.000 Thank you, my friend.

01:14:16.000 We'll talk to you guys soon For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - March 30, 2026

No Kings and No One Under 50 + The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

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