00:00:22.000He will not close his gym despite the authoritarians and the tyrants coming after him.
00:00:27.000He's being fined $10,000 a day by the state of New Jersey and faces possible prison time for keeping his doors open, despite zero virus cases going back to his gym.
00:00:38.000You should draw inspiration from this story to fight back and to stand for truth and with courage.
00:00:44.000I want to thank those of you that support our program at charliekirk.com slash support.
00:00:48.000You allow us to tell the truth every single day at charliekirk.com slash support.
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00:01:30.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:01:48.000Ian, you are, you've made national news, my friend.
00:01:52.000You are demanding that your gym gets to reopen.
00:01:58.000And you have, in a lot of different ways, pushed back.
00:02:02.000There are zero virus cases tracing back to your gym as of today.
00:02:08.000And you guys have done everything responsibly.
00:02:11.000And you guys were in a viral video kicking down the barricades, I guess you could say, of your gym.
00:02:19.000Tell us about what you're going through and tell us a little about yourself.
00:02:23.000Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me on the show.
00:02:26.000I appreciate it because one of our biggest weapons as a small individual person in this or small entity in this kind of David versus Goliath, you know, little guy versus big guy battle has been the fact that so many people care about the story.
00:02:47.000But yeah, we have 15,546 visits as of last night to the facility since June 16th without a single case of COVID reported so far.
00:03:00.000And we have extensive records that we can look back at any time.
00:03:04.000So, and that's something that we sort of came up with ourselves.
00:03:08.000But yeah, it's been a pretty crazy journey.
00:03:11.000We started this thing out because we thought that every small business should be open and that the world doesn't need to come to a grinding halt for a virus, especially one with a mortality rate of much less than originally forecasted, I should say.
00:03:28.000So we didn't plan for it to turn this big.
00:03:31.000We didn't know where it was going to go, but I don't think we thought it was going to get to this level.
00:03:36.000We put together a 15-point safety protocol about six weeks after the two-week shutdown because there was no government plan present.
00:03:48.000It was this trickle of, here you can have your parks back.
00:03:53.000Oh, you can go to the beach, but you can't sit in chairs on the beach.
00:03:57.000It was this like trickle of liberty like coming back, these breadcrumbs.
00:04:01.000And it was like, you know, enough is enough because I've seen this played out before in history where, you know, they're quick to grab power and they're real slow to give it back.
00:04:14.000My partner and I, we worked every day since the shutdown started, and we put out that plan very publicly because it wasn't about being openly defiant.
00:04:23.000It wasn't about, you know, the middle finger in the face of the man.
00:04:26.000It was about saying, hey, there's no plan present.
00:04:30.000We're as responsible adults and as responsible citizens, we're going to put one forth to the public.
00:05:29.000And that was kind of where this, I guess, this powder keg started to explode.
00:05:33.000So, we kicked them down and we resumed operations.
00:05:35.000And now, Governor Murphy, again, has not reached out in any way other than punitive measures.
00:05:42.000You know, he hasn't reached out to say, Hey, I'm going to send somebody down there and we're going to take a look at what you guys have in place, you know, and we're going to talk about it.
00:05:51.000So, from there, you know, we were held in contempt of court again.
00:05:55.000We're still, we're still operating, still going strong.
00:05:58.000And he's requesting that Judge Robert Lugie, who has been his kind of right-hand man through every will he's wanted carried out in New Jersey.
00:06:10.000You know, Robert Lugie is the guy who shut down the town of Asbury Park that was set to reopen all of its indoor dining, which is a shore town that thrives on restaurant business.
00:06:19.000They were all going to open as a town.
00:06:28.000So, he's requesting that we're fined $10,000 per day every day that we're open.
00:06:34.000And that, and what's crazy about that one, especially is right in the wording of the motion, they admit what they're trying to do.
00:06:43.000That $10,000 figure is not like based off of our daily income or anything like that.
00:06:48.000You know, like a good, a good day for our business would be $1,500, $2,000 worth of revenue coming in.
00:06:54.000And they're just slapping that number and they follow that up in the motion, saying, justifying it by saying they have enough money in their legal defense, go fund me to pay these fines.
00:07:07.000So, you're openly admitting that you're trying to cripple our legal fight against you.
00:07:15.000He's also asking for long-term imprisonment, which is six months or more.
00:07:20.000And then this two, and those hearings are not scheduled yet.
00:07:23.000We imagine those will come up in the next week.
00:07:26.000But he's also scheduled a hearing in the township of Belmar, which is where Attilas is located, to have our business license revoked.
00:07:34.000So that's next Tuesday at five o'clock.
00:07:36.000We go in front of six council members and the mayor in a very, very Democratic town to potentially strip us of our business license, just kind of based off of Murphy's weaponization of things.
00:07:50.000I wouldn't be surprised if they do strip that license of you.
00:08:28.000But the one thing that's that's true in my heart and in Frank's heart is that if you're going to destroy my life, you are going to have to destroy me first.
00:08:37.000And if you take this from us, you will ruin, you will, especially you will ruin Frank's life.
00:08:43.000You know, he's, it's, there's not time for him to rebuild.
00:08:47.000You know, you would ruin my life too, but I could obviously, you know, I'm 33, I could rebound.
00:08:53.000But if you're going to, if you're going to take everything from me, you're, you're going to have to take it.
00:08:56.000I'm not going to give it up, especially when you have not presented anything that shows that I'm doing anything wrong other than I'm not listening to what you're saying because you haven't presented any information at all.
00:09:11.000He just, he just said, they say these things, oh, it's guided by science and data.
00:09:16.000They've not put forth one piece of solid scientific evidence that proves a gym is more dangerous than walking into a Walmart.
00:09:24.000They blanket these industries as if we're all the same.
00:09:28.000You know, you can't just lump everybody into one.
00:09:32.000So it comes down to standing up for what's right, you know, because yeah, we're the ones being targeted right now.
00:09:38.000But if we fall, it's going to be somebody else next.
00:09:41.000And then there's nobody left to fight.
00:09:43.000And it's for us, it's much bigger than a gym.
00:09:46.000It's about protecting the American dream and the American way of life because it is so clear at this point that this is an all-out assault on the middle class and this is an all-out assault on the American way of life.
00:10:02.000And whether or not that was something that was planned or something that was an opportunity that was jumped on, it's a power grab and it couldn't be more clear.
00:10:14.000And if we don't stand up to that, we're going to find ourselves in a position, all of us in a position that we don't want to be in.
00:10:25.000Yeah, I mean, look, I couldn't think higher of what more highly of what you guys are doing.
00:10:30.000I mean, the amount of cowards that are out there right now that especially, I mean, we talk about some of the great pastors out there like Jack Hibbs and Rob McCoy, but if you guys are fighting harder than the Christian pastors, that's just not right.
00:10:43.000I mean, it's just, you guys own a gym and you just say, this is, this is government tyranny.
00:10:48.000You know, this is, you haven't had enough.
00:10:50.000If you've had a virus outbreak at your gym, I mean, I kind of get it, sort of.
00:11:00.000What's the response been from normal people in your town?
00:11:03.000Not the ruling class, not the health department people that never visited you.
00:11:06.000I'm talking about middle class people in your town.
00:11:09.000The response from people in the town, in the state, and in the country has been overwhelmingly positive.
00:11:16.000And I think it's actually growing too.
00:11:19.000You know, we started out with you always have your, you know, your, we get it.
00:11:22.000We get a couple interesting phone calls every day.
00:11:25.000You know, I pick up the phone and say it's hilarious gym and somebody says like, you're a murderer, you know, like, you know, or just like, just nonsense.
00:11:34.000But yeah, and then you just tell them, come visit, and they'll see you and they'll be like, I'm just kidding.
00:12:13.000And it always reinforces that what we're doing is right.
00:12:18.000I have military reaching out all the time, veterans, people who serve their community, cops, firefighters, nurses, people that make up America, people of all walks of life saying, thank you for doing the right thing.
00:12:31.000When people walk in here, it's a guy who walks in here every day.
00:13:24.000Because that's what the leaders actually might make you do.
00:13:28.000And I know that sounds outrageous to our listeners right now, but you're a gym owner who's acting responsibly and they might put you in prison.
00:13:35.000Meanwhile, there are 20,000 people on the streets of Philadelphia every other day burning, looting, and rioting.
00:13:42.000And they wonder why virus cases are going up there.
00:13:45.000You're 25, 30 minutes from Philadelphia, more or less, right?
00:13:48.000And you're able and you do things correctly, yet somehow you're the enemy.
00:13:57.000See, this is one of those fights where, and again, circling back to the idea of the big guy versus the little guy, they don't want you to make it to round 12 because in round 12, you'll knock them out and you'll lose every battle along the way.
00:14:27.000And if that means serving prison time, you'll pay for it in the long run.
00:14:31.000And I'll, you know, and I say this, and I don't say this to sound like a tough by tough guy or like some badass, but if you want to make me make me a martyr, do it.
00:15:03.000If you do not confront tyranny, it'll spread very, very quickly.
00:15:07.000Tell us about your CNN interview with the bodybuilder over there, Cuomo.
00:15:13.000You know, what I will say is that I was expecting something far different than what we got.
00:15:20.000You know, we first got the national attention when Tucker picked up the story after local radio and stuff like that.
00:15:28.000And then, you know, we've been interviewed by local stations and we've been interviewed by all local stations, but then it's mostly been on the national level and especially with podcasts and stuff on the internet.
00:15:48.000So when CNN called, we were like, oh, cool.
00:15:51.000And we welcomed the opportunity because we thought, hey, this is an opportunity to come to a side that probably disagrees with us in a lot of ways, especially because most of our supporters tend to be center and to the right.
00:16:08.000But we went and we went in with our guard up.
00:16:11.000But I do have to say that Chris asked some pretty fair questions and he definitely did allow us to talk.
00:16:16.000I think that he was taken back by Frank's.
00:16:20.000Frank's knowledge of the numbers and probably Frank's energy too.
00:16:25.000You know, Frank's got a lot in this at this point.
00:17:08.000And I was thankful for the outcome because I think as this goes on and as these punitive measures get more and more intense, people who may not have agreed with what we did in the first place are starting to look at this situation and go, really?
00:17:24.000Like a gym, like we got to go this far over a gym, $10,000 a day, jail time, you know, stripping business license.
00:18:35.000So how much of this do you really believe?
00:18:38.000I mean, I know it's hard to look at people's intentions, but you're in this.
00:18:41.000Do you really believe that the people that are putting these orders, are their intentions good?
00:18:45.000Or is there something else really deeply at play when they want to shut you down?
00:18:50.000You know, I've spent a lot of time thinking about that, honestly.
00:18:54.000And that's a good question because you want to think the best of people and you want to think that, you know, whether you agree with somebody or disagree with somebody, that their intentions are good.
00:19:07.000And that, you know, even though you may disagree with them, it's not out of malice or, you know, because they want to cause you harm.
00:19:14.000But when you take a step back at this stuff and you start looking at the D, I mean, Frank and I have gone over the details.
00:19:20.000We've read every word of the executive order.
00:19:22.000We've listened to every minute of these press conferences.
00:20:34.000And if, you know, if you, if you've ever read a good self-help book, they tell you that leaders lead from within the pack, you know, and rulers sit above it.
00:20:42.000And it's two very different structures, you know, and that's what these politicians are supposed to be.
00:21:08.000So what's crazy is everybody's forced to fight their own fight.
00:21:14.000You know, the measures that Newsom is taking out in California and the weaponization of public organizations that he does is different than Murphy.
00:22:01.000And it sucks hearing all the different stories about all these different people and what they're going through, because as much as my story sucks, there's other people.
00:22:12.000I just met a guy from Ocean County yesterday.
00:22:26.000They put on a quick song and dance in a press conference and say a few words.
00:22:30.000But at the end of the day, the $60 million man here, our governor of New Jersey, who's worth $60 million, he just gets in his helicopter and flies home to his house at the end of the day.
00:22:42.000And he's not worried about whether he's going to feed his family.
00:22:44.000He's not worried about if his job is secure.
00:22:49.000His head hits the pillow at night and he's good.
00:22:52.000And you can't say that for millions and millions and millions of hardworking, honest, good hearted, just genuine American people today.
00:23:09.000We were fine before this, you know, and that's, I think, what gives us the strength to fight the most is because this is wrong on so many levels.
00:23:19.000And it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, what your background is.
00:24:28.000We're pinned between a couple of the biggest hospitals in the country.
00:24:32.000People with just high stress regular jobs, not necessarily putting their life on the line.
00:24:38.000We have people who are recovering drug addicts and alcoholics who have been sober for years and couldn't go to AA or NA meetings and couldn't get to the gym.
00:24:46.000Like that's that's literally the playbook to be addiction is like go to meetings and go to the gym.
00:24:57.000So I know what that feels like when you're trying to fix yourself and you need something to anchor to.
00:25:06.000And that's that's what the gym is for a lot of people.
00:25:08.000And it's an anchor for people in a lot of different ways.
00:25:11.000And we're actually today we're shooting a quick little like 60 second or 90 second video.
00:25:19.000We're going to interview people and ask them why it's important.
00:25:22.000And we're going to blast that out as much as we can.
00:25:25.000Because that was the one criticism that really pissed me off is when we did this, like you get the keyboard warriors who were like, oh, you know, you just want to work out and look good, like, you know, idiots.
00:25:38.000And it's like, no, you've clearly never been to the gym before because you don't understand why we're here.
00:26:05.000I'll set up a change my mind table and have one of these governors sit down and tell me that their actions have been in the interest of public health.
00:26:13.000You won't convince me because I'll read every word you wrote and every policy you make, and it's all backwards.
00:26:21.000You're spot on and the politicians don't care about their people.
00:26:25.000That's a very important lesson that people have to realize.
00:26:28.000And it's both parties, but I'd say it's mostly Democrats.
00:26:32.000But I mean, have there any Republican New Jerseys, New Jersey members that have been standing by you in solidarity?
00:27:10.000We don't have time to reach out and do whatever.
00:27:13.000Yeah, well, they should be reaching out to you.
00:27:15.000That's what, I mean, they should be, but they're not because the traditional Republican Party doesn't care about these sorts of things because there's no donor interest in that.
00:27:51.000You know, it's if, if, if you didn't want to be a politician, if you didn't want the pressure of being a politician, if you didn't want to make the right choices, then go do something else.
00:28:00.000Go be a roofer where you don't have to make hard choices.
00:28:03.000You don't have to put yourself on the line.
00:28:05.000You know, that's what being a politician is about.
00:28:07.000That's what being involved in politics is about: it's an ugly game and it's a rough game.
00:28:11.000And if you're not willing to play it, like, get out, get out of the way.
00:28:15.000Let somebody else who's going to make a change.
00:28:18.000In closing, Ian, how can people help you?
00:28:42.000But anytime you see the story, whether it's somebody posted on your Facebook or your Instagram, share it.
00:28:48.000Because like I said in the beginning, one of the biggest weapons that we've had is that now the whole country and we're even getting contacts from around the world, like the world is watching.
00:28:59.000And I want them to continue to watch because I want them to see where these politicians will go to in order to enforce their will.
00:29:12.000But if you want to donate, we do have a GoFundMe that Governor Murphy thinks that he's going to take with $10,000 a day, but we'll never pay that.
00:30:14.000That's what we are doing every day at Turning Point USA.
00:30:16.000So I encourage you to go to tpusa.com, tpusa.com, and help us continue to fight for freedom and liberty on college campuses across the country at tpusa.com, tpusa.com.
00:30:28.000Please consider supporting our program at charliekirk.com/slash support and email us any thoughts that you have.
00:30:33.000It goes to me directly, freedom at charliekirk.com, freedom at charliekirk.com.