The Charlie Kirk Show - Our Borders are Closed, and Alcatraz is Reopening

00:00:00.000 Hey, everybody.

00:00:00.000 Charlie Kirk here, live from the Bitcoin.com studio in the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:00:05.000 Optimism!

00:00:05.000 I bring you into the room of how some very powerful people are thinking about the next six months and three years.

00:00:12.000 A very, very important discussion here.

00:00:15.000 Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:00:17.000 Senator Rick Scott also joins us about the reconciliation and the budget bill.

00:00:20.000 And finally, Alcatraz is reopened.

00:00:22.000 That's right.

00:00:23.000 Alcatraz is open, and I think you're really going to enjoy this conversation.

00:00:28.000 Email me, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:00:30.000 Subscribe to our podcast.

00:00:32.000 Open up your podcast application and type in Charlie Kirk Show.

00:00:35.000 Get involved with Turning Point USA at tpusa.com.

00:00:38.000 That is tpusa.com, tpusa.com.

00:00:42.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:43.000 Here we go.

00:00:44.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:45.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

00:00:47.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:00:51.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:00:54.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:55.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:00:56.000 His spirit, his love of this country.

00:00:58.000 He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.

00:01:05.000 We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.

00:01:13.000 That's why we are here.

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00:01:33.000 That is noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:35.000 It's where I buy all of my gold.

00:01:37.000 Go to noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:41.000 We had an amazing weekend.

00:01:43.000 In fact, we did not stop.

00:01:44.000 There was no rest this weekend.

00:01:45.000 Usually, I take a very serious Sabbath, a Shabbat, but this week was a wartime weekend where we hosted well over 375 of our top Turning Point USA donors and supporters in beautiful San Diego.

00:01:59.000 That was, of course, after we did University of California, San Diego.

00:02:02.000 I was all over the place yesterday.

00:02:04.000 And in fact, I'm going to tell you about a dinner I had.

00:02:07.000 I'm not going to be able to tell you who was there.

00:02:08.000 I'll kind of be a little bit cryptic, but that's not the important part.

00:02:11.000 The important is the type of people that were there and the takeaway about the United States economy and how people feel about it.

00:02:17.000 So last evening, I was part of a, let's just say, a ruling class dinner.

00:02:22.000 These are the people that make the decisions economically, culturally, politically.

00:02:28.000 As a side note, I got a chance to meet Ross Ulbricht, which was amazing.

00:02:33.000 That was just awesome.

00:02:34.000 And Ross Ulbricht is now free from prison with a full pardon thanks to President Donald Trump, something that I advocated for fiercely and forcefully for quite some time.

00:02:44.000 And it was just awesome.

00:02:45.000 There it is up on screen to be able to meet Ross Ulbricht, one of the more, let's just say, satisfying accomplishments.

00:02:55.000 Ross Ulbricht was given two life sentences plus 40 years and egregious over-sentencing for what he did.

00:03:02.000 I was nonstop focused on getting him out of jail, and President Trump deserves all the credit.

00:03:07.000 So I was thrilled to be able to meet him in person.

00:03:09.000 It was very surreal because I actually never had a chance to meet him.

00:03:12.000 I'd only communicated through letter while he was in a maximum security prison.

00:03:16.000 So I was at this dinner, and it was mixed politically.

00:03:19.000 I would say it was probably 30-40% Republican, 30-40% Democrat, and then kind of in the middle.

00:03:25.000 So this was not an ideological...

00:03:28.000 Dinner.

00:03:29.000 This was one where they're kind of just talking about current events, artificial intelligence, all that.

00:03:33.000 I'm not going to tell you what it was or all that, because there's all these confidentiality agreements.

00:03:36.000 But here's the important point, is that at one point, somebody asked the groom, raise your hand if you are bullish on the economy and the state of America for the next six months.

00:03:47.000 And almost no hands went up.

00:03:49.000 Well, a group of about 100 very important economic titans.

00:03:53.000 How many of you are bullish on the country a year from now?

00:03:57.000 About one-fourth of the hands went up.

00:04:00.000 How many of you are bullish on the company two years from now?

00:04:03.000 Almost every hand went up.

00:04:05.000 How many of you are bullish on the company, a country, three years from now?

00:04:09.000 Every single hand went up.

00:04:12.000 And for me, in this off-the-record kind of private gathering, it was very interesting that there might be some short-term pessimism.

00:04:21.000 I took this actually as a major positive.

00:04:23.000 And the reason there's uncertainty in the next six months is there's just too much unpredictability.

00:04:28.000 That's what they're saying.

00:04:29.000 We don't know where the tariffs are.

00:04:30.000 We can't plan anything.

00:04:31.000 We don't know if we're going in recession.

00:04:33.000 We're delaying some investments.

00:04:36.000 All sorts of excuses.

00:04:37.000 I actually think I'm more bullish for the short-term economy than they are, but that's not worth debating.

00:04:41.000 What was telling, though, is that they believe that long-term Trump is going to be long-term great for America.

00:04:49.000 And that was the kicker, is that when the money is on the line, There is a long-term bullish perspective on this country.

00:04:58.000 That there might be dips and there might be little speed bumps and there might be corrections, but there is an even private agreement amongst people who hate President Donald Trump.

00:05:10.000 They believe that this long-term economic realignment will work and that it is necessary.

00:05:17.000 And that, I think, is lost in all of the coverage.

00:05:20.000 And finally, we have a president that is rejecting the temptation to indulge and engage in immediate gratification.

00:05:29.000 It's easy to just get the hands in the room about the next six months.

00:05:33.000 What is difficult, but what is necessary, is what is the economy you're building for the next three years, the next 10 years, and the next 30 years?

00:05:41.000 That is the instrumental question.

00:05:43.000 And President Trump wants a real legacy.

00:05:44.000 And of all the things that President Trump will be reminded for, will be honored for, is cutting us off from the instant gratification of the lords of easy money, of getting high on low interest rates while we are barreling towards a financial and fiscal apocalypse, and then also making the provocative and yet so necessary truth claim That if you don't make stuff in your country, you're not actually a country.

00:06:14.000 And finally, he has awoken the United States to what could be called the New Cold War.

00:06:21.000 Whether we like it or not, we are involved in some form of a conflict with the Chinese Communist Party.

00:06:28.000 And let me just say it right here, there's going to be a testing time.

00:06:32.000 The Chinese Communist Party very well might go and play their Taiwan card in this presidency.

00:06:39.000 And what that looks like, we don't know.

00:06:41.000 And if they're able to get TSMC, which is the Taiwan Semiconductor Plant, which is the backbone of the semiconductor chips for the entire industrialized world, billions of them every year.

00:06:53.000 Now, TSMC is investing in America in Arizona, but they do not have the highest grade plant.

00:06:59.000 They have what is a three out of four plant, and only a four out of four plant is actually able to make the semiconductor chips that are necessary for the latest iPhones and the latest...

00:07:08.000 Devices that power the entire world economy.

00:07:12.000 We hardly ever talk about Taiwan and we talk about Israel and Ukraine a lot.

00:07:17.000 There's a lot of interesting elements here.

00:07:21.000 But I found this to be an incredibly optimistic take.

00:07:26.000 Full of growth.

00:07:29.000 One that is against the narrative that they're trying to paint on television.

00:07:34.000 Because if you think about it, what does the next six months matter?

00:07:37.000 If in three years you're going to be in economic freefall.

00:07:42.000 Let's play part of President Trump's phenomenal interview from NBC.

00:07:45.000 He sat down with Kristen Welker, asking all about small businesses and tariffs.

00:07:51.000 Instead, the question should be, how do you think the economy will be in two years?

00:07:56.000 How are you reconfiguring how the economy is currently composed?

00:08:01.000 That's the more critical question.

00:08:03.000 In America, our goal is growth, and this is such an important point.

00:08:08.000 When you talk to European CEOs and you talk to European leaders, their goal is sustainability, deindustrialization.

00:08:16.000 So much of the developed world just wants to die because they think that growth means more carbon emissions.

00:08:23.000 Here, in this country, we are a country of flourishing.

00:08:26.000 We're a country of risk-taking.

00:08:28.000 We're a country of building.

00:08:30.000 We're a country of inventing.

00:08:32.000 We're a country of innovating.

00:08:35.000 And it's so against the framing of this ridiculous question from Welker from NBC, which I can't get away from.

00:08:42.000 We've got to play Cut 148.

00:08:44.000 Play Cut 148.

00:08:45.000 So small businesses say they are being hurt by the Chinese tariffs.

00:08:50.000 Many businesses are being helped.

00:08:51.000 Are you considering tariff relief for small businesses?

00:08:54.000 Why do you always mention that, you know, you pick up a couple of little businesses.

00:08:58.000 What about the car business?

00:08:59.000 They're going to make a fortune because of the tariffs.

00:09:02.000 And instead, the question should be, will that small business even have an economy to be able to trade in?

00:09:13.000 Delayed gratification is at the heart of every single entrepreneur.

00:09:17.000 When you think about what makes an entrepreneur, it's that I'm not going to pay myself.

00:09:21.000 I'm not going to reward myself because there will be a payout down the road.

00:09:26.000 Delayed gratification built the West.

00:09:29.000 Delayed gratification is why Texas was able to be built.

00:09:34.000 Delayed gratification is why pioneers went west.

00:09:37.000 Delayed gratification is why people built Arizona with no air conditioning.

00:09:43.000 Delayed gratification is why so many people went to California during the gold rush.

00:09:47.000 And we have changed the mindset the last 20 years to be an immediate gratification.

00:09:53.000 It's bad for everybody.

00:09:54.000 It's bad for your kids.

00:09:55.000 It's bad for society.

00:09:58.000 And it's going to take some maturity to now look two or three years down the horizon.

00:10:04.000 But I could tell you that even those in the ruling class that don't like Trump, even those in the ruling class that have disdain for him and might have a lot of skepticism for the short term, they all believe deep down that President Trump will be able to unleash and unshackle the American economy to greater heights, to be stronger than ever before.

00:10:30.000 Hey everybody, Charlie Kirk here.

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00:11:31.000 I want to talk about the psychology of fear.

00:11:35.000 It's really interesting.

00:11:36.000 And only for this because When you make decisions, when you're panicking, and when you are fearful, they're, of course, not the most rational decision.

00:11:44.000 By the way, we're here at the Bitcoin.com mobile studio.

00:11:46.000 Phenomenal people, Bitcoin.com mobile studio.

00:11:48.000 And just think to about a month ago.

00:11:51.000 But a month ago was Liberation Day, April 2nd.

00:11:55.000 President Trump announces the reciprocal tariffs on all these countries, and the market dips day after day after day, and people are worrying that there will be a run on the bonds.

00:12:04.000 Now, mind you, privately, I was getting a lot of messages.

00:12:08.000 I think I was a lot more calm than a lot of people I was getting messages from.

00:12:13.000 The language and the anger was just out of control.

00:12:16.000 And the market went down.

00:12:17.000 Again, I don't like market watching.

00:12:19.000 I think that it's very deceiving because markets can be manipulated by cheap money and quantitative easing and just high overvaluation of stocks.

00:12:28.000 And so I don't love just market watching.

00:12:30.000 We're not a market watch show.

00:12:32.000 But I could tell you that a lot of people in my own circle that usually were very calm and very even-keeled were losing their mind.

00:12:42.000 And I asked them, I said, guys, do you really think that President Trump is going to intentionally crash the American stock market?

00:12:49.000 Well, that looks like what he's doing here.

00:12:52.000 And I said, well, are you bullish on America or are you bearish on America?

00:12:55.000 That's the most important question.

00:12:59.000 I don't know.

00:13:00.000 I'm going to sell everything. 0.96

00:13:01.000 I know a lot of people that sold millions of dollars of stock, which ended up being like the dumbest thing.

00:13:06.000 If they just would have waited a month, the stock market has already recovered, and it looks like it's going to go even higher.

00:13:13.000 I know a lot of people that bought the dip, and they've done very, very well.

00:13:17.000 And Trump is also often a rollercoaster ride.

00:13:21.000 And this is where it connects the dots.

00:13:23.000 And it goes back to Trump's economic plan, goes back to this whole thesis here.

00:13:29.000 If you were willing to sell during the panicking, or as Trump says, the panicking, then you yourself are a short-term gratification investor.

00:13:42.000 America was built on long-term gratification, delayed gratification.

00:13:46.000 The stock market is not a casino.

00:13:48.000 You buy companies.

00:13:50.000 We said this on the show, and oh my goodness, we'd be getting emails.

00:13:53.000 Charlie, I can't believe how much money I lost because of President Trump, and what do I do?

00:13:58.000 Okay, well, you actually only lost the money if you sell the stock.

00:14:02.000 Yes, it is down materially.

00:14:04.000 But just wait a year?

00:14:06.000 Wait six months?

00:14:07.000 Because there is so much to be bullish about.

00:14:10.000 Where America is on the cutting edge of quantum computing, on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence breakthroughs, on the cutting edge of liquefied natural gas, we are an energy superpower.

00:14:20.000 We have entrepreneurs that are the envy of the world.

00:14:22.000 And when you have a semblance of a free market liberty economy...

00:14:26.000 We are going to be able to compete against China. 0.71

00:14:28.000 China has so many advantages against us. 0.61

00:14:31.000 I think China's an enemy. 0.62

00:14:32.000 What is our greatest advantage against China out of everything? 0.99

00:14:36.000 That we are a freer society than them.

00:14:38.000 That's it.

00:14:39.000 That is the great advantage.

00:14:40.000 They have more people.

00:14:41.000 They are a little bit more industrious, to be honest with you.

00:14:45.000 Meaning that they just...

00:14:46.000 I'm not saying that our people aren't hardworking, but there is an energy from the working class there that is very ambitious.

00:14:54.000 They want to break out of poverty there.

00:14:57.000 We have, actually I'll say this, energy and a free society.

00:15:00.000 They don't have energy.

00:15:01.000 They have a big problem.

00:15:02.000 But when you have a free society and you don't have 700 million cameras like China does, constantly monitoring your thoughts and your actions, your body movements, your words, and you live in a legitimately Orwellian society, I actually think that we're going to beat them because of that.

00:15:19.000 When you don't have a free society and it's pure totalitarian, long term, I think we're going to have better ideas.

00:15:28.000 We're going to have happier people.

00:15:30.000 In the short term, China has an advantage. 0.92

00:15:34.000 They have over a billion people, about 400 million of them, which is more than the population of America, are extremely driven to get more money and get more stuff.

00:15:44.000 It is a problem.

00:15:46.000 The way they run their manufacturing plants, it is a thing of honor to run a manufacturing plant in China.

00:15:51.000 They're like a pseudo-mayor, but they're very materialistic.

00:15:56.000 They don't have a belief in the divine.

00:15:58.000 They're going to be lacking meaning.

00:15:59.000 They're going to have the same problems that we've had in the West when we get away from ultimate issues.

00:16:05.000 Viktor Frankl's thesis will be just as applicable to the people of China as it is here to the mainland of America.

00:16:12.000 And what President Trump has done is he says, no longer am I going to destroy the middle class to enrich the middle kingdom.

00:16:19.000 And the middle kingdom, of course, is what China literally means in Mandarin.

00:16:23.000 Middle kingdom.

00:16:24.000 So instead, we want to challenge the Middle Kingdom and rebuild the American middle class. 0.99

00:16:31.000 And what President Trump has finally framed using delayed gratification is, hey, wake up, America.

00:16:37.000 This is the fight of the century.

00:16:39.000 It's not Russia. 0.79

00:16:41.000 It's China. 0.90

00:16:43.000 And once America gets focused, as Churchill would say, once America wakes up, watch out.

00:16:49.000 And we are finally awakening from our slumber.

00:16:52.000 And President Trump, He's the alarm bell.

00:16:55.000 President Trump is that alarm at 4.30 in the morning that you don't want.

00:16:59.000 What is this?

00:17:00.000 I want to keep sleeping.

00:17:01.000 No, get up.

00:17:02.000 It's time to beat China. 0.98

00:17:03.000 He deserves great credit for that.

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00:17:59.000 The world is turning to gold.

00:18:03.000 Shouldn't you be looking into doing that too?

00:18:09.000 The great senator from the state of Florida, Senator Rick Scott.

00:18:12.000 Senator, thank you so much for taking the time.

00:18:14.000 Great to see you.

00:18:15.000 There's been so much news here, but there hasn't been enough coverage, in my opinion, about President Trump releasing the fiscal year 26 discretionary budget request to Congress.

00:18:25.000 What is in it?

00:18:26.000 And please take some time to educate our audience on it.

00:18:28.000 Thank you, Senator.

00:18:29.000 Charlie, let's think about why President Trump won.

00:18:32.000 He won because he said he was going to secure the border.

00:18:34.000 He's done that.

00:18:35.000 Also said he's going to focus on inflation.

00:18:38.000 The only way we get inflation under control is to stop this wasteful spending.

00:18:44.000 That's what he's doing right now.

00:18:45.000 This is the only part of the budget he's ultimately going to put out, but he's got a great team that's focused on how do we get rid of this wasteful spending.

00:18:53.000 Now, think about it.

00:18:54.000 He's done it with what Elon Musk is doing with Doge.

00:18:57.000 He's been cutting spending, and I think they're going to continue to do that.

00:19:01.000 They're finding ridiculous waste of money.

00:19:03.000 But what he's done with his blueprint is to show there's so much waste, and he's going to do everything he can to get this budget balanced.

00:19:12.000 Now, it's our job in the House and the Senate to work with the president to get the spending under control so we can get inflation under control and we can get interest rates down.

00:19:21.000 So this is the beginning of controlling the spending, but we're gonna do it through our budget process and through the reconciliation.

00:19:28.000 Well, what the president wants to do is actually balance the budget.

00:19:47.000 He's got a short-term plan to balance the budget.

00:19:49.000 So part of it is going to be...

00:19:52.000 It doesn't make any sense because your family doesn't do it this way, but we have things that are mandatory that we don't even review, like Medicare and Social Security and Medicaid, and that we have discretionary things like defense spending and NPR, PBS, things like that, that we focus on every year.

00:20:09.000 Now, what we should be doing is look at all parts of the budget.

00:20:12.000 In the reconciliation process, we're going to be going through the mandatory parts of the budget.

00:20:17.000 And in the budget process, which we have to have done by September 30, we'll be going through the discretionary part.

00:20:24.000 So as I talk to Russ Vogt, who runs the Office of Management and Budget for the President, and I'll be meeting with this week, is their goal is to very quickly balance the budget.

00:20:33.000 But they know they have to work with the House and the Senate.

00:20:35.000 So hopefully, here's where we need to get down to.

00:20:38.000 My opinion, this year, we need to get down to about a $6.5 billion total spend, discretionary and mandatory.

00:20:45.000 That will get us down to hopefully less than a trillion-dollar deficit with the goal that over three years we balance the budget.

00:20:52.000 Now, if it was me?

00:20:54.000 And if it was President Trump, we'd be in bounds of budget right now.

00:20:57.000 We think we'll collect about $5.5 trillion.

00:20:59.000 We'll see what he collects through the tariff process.

00:21:03.000 But we think that we'll collect at least $5.5 trillion, so we need to get our spending down.

00:21:07.000 Now, is that possible?

00:21:08.000 Absolutely.

00:21:09.000 We've seen a 53% increase in spending in five years and only a 2% increase in population.

00:21:15.000 If we actually went back, all right?

00:21:18.000 And stop growing the budget and just grew the budget, like, let's say, since Barack Obama left or since Bill Clinton left, just based on population and inflation, we would have a balanced budget right now.

00:21:31.000 I mean, the Democrats have just thrown money like crazy, and they've taken money and made it mandatory, which means we don't even review it every year.

00:21:38.000 So it's going to be a lot of work, but I know the president's committed to this.

00:21:42.000 So hopefully we'll get down to less than $3 million this year, deficit, and with a balanced budget within three years.

00:21:49.000 So let me ask you a question, Senator, and this is just me representing a lot of the questions of the audience.

00:21:56.000 I love our military.

00:21:57.000 I know that you're a big Navy guy.

00:21:59.000 I see you wear that hat all the time, and you're very proud of that.

00:22:04.000 There's certainly a lot of waste in every government department, including the Pentagon.

00:22:08.000 In this proposed budget, President Trump wants to have the first trillion dollar defense budget.

00:22:13.000 It would increase spending by 13%.

00:22:15.000 To be honest, I'm a little bit, let's just say I need to be won over on this because I think that there's a lot of waste in the Department of Defense.

00:22:24.000 It's nothing against our veterans or our military, the greatest military ever.

00:22:27.000 What would be your argument, if you agree with it, I mean, I'm not sure if you do, of why we need to increase defense spending right now?

00:22:34.000 What we ought to be doing, Charlie, is doing exactly what you do with your family budget.

00:22:38.000 You review everything.

00:22:40.000 So we should be going through line by line through the defense budget, like we do every other budget, and say, is that a must-have or is that a nice-to-have?

00:22:48.000 We also need to see how can we get things done less expensively.

00:22:52.000 So I was just over in Denmark, Finland, and Estonia two weeks ago, and one of the things I did was I met with shipbuilders over there to say, okay, so...

00:23:00.000 Can you do it less expensively than what we do here?

00:23:03.000 We need icebreakers. 1.00

00:23:05.000 Can you build them cheaper than we can?

00:23:07.000 You have technology on shipbuilding that you can bring to the United States so we can get things done quicker.

00:23:12.000 So what we have to do is we have to stop saying we're going to do everything and say, okay, so let's prepare for our problems.

00:23:20.000 Our biggest problem right now is China. 1.00

00:23:23.000 So what do we need to do to prepare for China and spend our money that way?

00:23:26.000 Build our budget up that way.

00:23:29.000 Charlie, I agree with you.

00:23:30.000 There's lots of savings.

00:23:31.000 I'm glad to hear that.

00:23:33.000 The best argument, again, I'm still a little bit skeptical because I'm such a fiscal hawk.

00:23:37.000 The best argument would be that it's a signal to the world that the dollar is safe because the dollar is largely backed by the supremacy and the superiority of the United States military.

00:23:48.000 People feel safe because they know that if anything were to happen, the United States military can intervene and do so better than any other.

00:23:55.000 Any other country.

00:23:58.000 Let's also talk about Medicaid.

00:23:59.000 And so, from what I understand, what Speaker Johnson put forward was to try to remove the cap limit where you have to spend a certain amount of money on Medicaid in a certain state to then trigger the federal money to come in and basically do block grants.

00:24:15.000 This is being met with a lot of advertising against Republicans want to cut Medicaid and a lot of misinformation.

00:24:23.000 Can you please educate the audience on what is the ideal plan for Medicaid and where you stand on this issue?

00:24:30.000 Okay, so I used to run the largest hospital company in the country, right?

00:24:35.000 There are so many ways to deliver health care less expensive than we do it.

00:24:41.000 So here's some of the things we're doing wrong, in my opinion.

00:24:45.000 Number one, we shouldn't be covering people that don't want to even look for a job.

00:24:50.000 If you don't want to even look for a job, Then why are we giving you free public housing, food stamps, health care, any of that?

00:24:59.000 So that's number one.

00:25:01.000 Number two, it's supposed to be a match program.

00:25:03.000 But what's actually happened is states have taken advantage of the program.

00:25:07.000 And now it's become most of it is all the growth is in federal spending because they've used provider taxes to dramatically increase the federal spending, but not the state spending.

00:25:19.000 It's supposed to be a match.

00:25:20.000 Next.

00:25:21.000 The match between the states is tied to the income levels of the state.

00:25:25.000 Well, places like California and New York, they're guaranteed 50% match when their average income is way higher than a state like Mississippi or Alabama or things like that.

00:25:38.000 So we should do it based on real income levels.

00:25:42.000 The other thing you have to do is you have to fix the delivery system.

00:25:50.000 You shouldn't say, oh, for the exact same procedure, I'll pay you more in an inpatient setting than an outpatient setting.

00:25:57.000 So there are so many ways to reduce the cost.

00:26:00.000 Now, we clearly shouldn't be covered, people here, illegally. 1.00

00:26:04.000 So you've got to have a work requirement.

00:26:07.000 You've got to have skin in the game.

00:26:09.000 We've got to make this a program that...

00:26:14.000 You have to work to get this.

00:26:16.000 You don't get it just because you don't feel like going to work.

00:26:19.000 So there's a lot of money.

00:26:20.000 There's a lot of money to be saved in the Medicaid program.

00:26:24.000 Actually, when I was governor, Trump was president the last few years as governor.

00:26:29.000 I said, if you give us and allow us to spend the money the way we want to spend the money, you don't have to give us as much money. 0.98

00:26:36.000 You have so many foolish rules.

00:26:40.000 That I have to comply with that cause the cost of Medicaid to go up. 0.88

00:26:45.000 And so if you got rid of those rules, I could drive down the cost of Medicaid for the state and also for the federal government.

00:26:51.000 So about a minute remaining here, Senator, and thank you for taking the time here.

00:26:55.000 Do Republicans have the backbone and the spine to fix Medicaid, as you have suggested, and improve it?

00:27:02.000 Despite all the media lies and the Democrats' misleading framing of what Republicans are trying to do, do your colleagues have the capacity to get this done?

00:27:13.000 Please, one minute remaining.

00:27:15.000 Okay, Charlie, I'm hopeful.

00:27:17.000 I'm responsible for the Wednesday lunch.

00:27:19.000 I brought in an individual, Taron Braggdon, last week.

00:27:21.000 He came in and explained all the different ways that we could save money on the Medicaid program.

00:27:26.000 I'm optimistic.

00:27:28.000 It starts with the House, so we'll see what they're going to do.

00:27:30.000 They're not going to do it this week now.

00:27:32.000 They're going to do it next week.

00:27:33.000 But we have to do this.

00:27:35.000 We have to do this.

00:27:36.000 Our interest rates are not coming down.

00:27:38.000 Inflation is not coming down.

00:27:39.000 And we're allowing people to take advantage of the program that's not fair to the American public that's out there working every day.

00:27:45.000 Senator, thank you so much.

00:27:46.000 You're always welcome.

00:27:47.000 Keep fighting hard.

00:27:48.000 And let me just communicate something from the audience.

00:27:51.000 Please find ways to cut spending.

00:27:53.000 We are careening towards bankruptcy.

00:27:55.000 No one wants to talk about it.

00:27:57.000 We love the tax cuts.

00:28:01.000 But it will all be for nothing if we are posting two or three trillion dollar deficits.

00:28:06.000 So please just know with conviction, and we are empowering you here on this program, to go back to your colleagues and say, guys, the people want spending cuts.

00:28:15.000 We need to live within our means and shrink the size of government. 0.73

00:28:18.000 Senator, thank you so much.

00:28:19.000 Like every family, Charlie.

00:28:20.000 Like every family does.

00:28:21.000 Absolutely.

00:28:22.000 That's right.

00:28:23.000 Exactly.

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00:29:26.000 Okay, everybody.

00:29:28.000 Big news.

00:29:29.000 Alcatraz is reopening.

00:29:32.000 President Donald Trump announces, rebuild and open Alcatraz.

00:29:36.000 Man, I love it.

00:29:37.000 Our borders are closed and Alcatraz is open.

00:29:41.000 For too long, America's been plagued by vicious and violent and repeat criminal offenders, the dregs of society who will never contribute anything other than misery and suffering.

00:29:48.000 When we are a more serious nation in times past, we don't hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals and keep them far away from anyone they could harm.

00:29:54.000 That's the way it's supposed to be.

00:29:55.000 No longer will we tolerate these serial offenders.

00:29:57.000 It keeps on going to say that we are going to open Alcatraz.

00:30:00.000 And so he wants it reopened.

00:30:01.000 He's directing the Bureau of Prisons to do that.

00:30:03.000 Now here's what I think he should do.

00:30:05.000 I think it should be basically an announcement.

00:30:12.000 When someone goes to Alcatraz, people need to know who's there.

00:30:15.000 Very high profile.

00:30:17.000 As they kind of go on the boat there, there needs to be media coverage.

00:30:21.000 There needs to be almost a perp walk.

00:30:24.000 And no, this will not be like a...

00:30:26.000 It'll be the opposite of a marker of approval.

00:30:32.000 It'll be a public reminder that if you do terrible stuff, you're going to go to the nastiest prison that we have.

00:30:39.000 Alcatraz is nasty, everybody.

00:30:40.000 That is no good.

00:30:42.000 It was formerly a military fort.

00:30:44.000 36 inmates tried to escape in 14 separate attempts.

00:30:48.000 Almost all were captured or killed.

00:30:49.000 It's now operated by the National Park Service.

00:30:51.000 And yes, it is a popular tourist attraction.

00:30:54.000 Well, I mean, hopefully we clean up San Francisco so you guys can go back to the Ghirardelli chocolate factory or something.

00:31:01.000 But you think about it, what President Trump is doing is very smart.

00:31:04.000 High profile, high publicity, imprisonment.

00:31:08.000 Playcut 194.

00:31:10.000 Where did you get the idea for reopening Alcatraz?

00:31:13.000 Just an idea I've had, and I guess because the judges, so many of these radicalized judges, they want to have trials for every single thing of it.

00:31:23.000 Every single person that's in our country illegally, that came in illegally, that would mean millions of trials, and it's just so ridiculous what's happening.

00:31:32.000 And it's long been a symbol, Alcatraz, of whatever it is.

00:31:37.000 I mean, it's a sad symbol, but it's a symbol of law and order.

00:31:43.000 And, you know, it's got quite a history, frankly.

00:31:46.000 So I think we're going to do that, and we're looking at it right now.

00:31:49.000 Where did you get the idea for reopening Alcatraz?

00:31:52.000 Here's where President Trump is right.

00:31:53.000 It is a symbol.

00:31:54.000 Now, reopening, it will cost millions of dollars, so it will be an extra expenditure.

00:31:59.000 I can make the argument, though, from a public relations standpoint, it shows that we're not going to put up with the looting and the crime.

00:32:04.000 It's pure symbolism.

00:32:05.000 Let's be honest, everybody.

00:32:06.000 We got enough prisons.

00:32:07.000 Well, actually, we need to build more prisons because we need more people in jail in this country, not less.

00:32:10.000 But the TV images alone are going to be worth it.

00:32:12.000 President Trump will be able to fly to Alcatraz at the reopening.

00:32:15.000 Imagine, President Trump will be able to give a hallmark speech in front of Alcatraz at the reopening and say that this once housed Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, Robert Stroud, which was known as the Birdman of Alcatraz.

00:32:28.000 He says, now it's reopened.

00:32:29.000 And let me tell you who's going there now. 0.98

00:32:31.000 This rapist, this child sex trafficker, this multi-murderer, this school shooter, they're all being moved to Alcatraz. 0.98

00:32:37.000 And as new ones are moved here, we will make those announcements. 0.99

00:32:41.000 Because America is no longer a country to be looted.

00:32:44.000 It is no longer a Wendy's to be burned.

00:32:47.000 It is no longer a convenience store to fleece.

00:32:51.000 It's straight out of Bukele's playbook in El Salvador.

00:32:53.000 And do it like Bukele's high-security prisons.

00:32:56.000 Bring the cameras in.

00:32:57.000 He could lead a tour throughout the jail.

00:33:00.000 He could say, here, you know, I wish we would have had a little bit more gold here, and the finishing here is a little rough.

00:33:06.000 It is pure symbolism, and it's smart symbolism.

00:33:10.000 Here we have the Trendy Aragua wing.

00:33:12.000 Over here we have the MS-13 wing.

00:33:16.000 Over here we have Peter Struck, Struck, Smirk.

00:33:19.000 I'm kidding.

00:33:19.000 It's not going to happen.

00:33:21.000 And you combine all that together into an important symbol.

00:33:28.000 That law and order is back.

00:33:30.000 That, okay, it was closed, it was a tourist attraction.

00:33:32.000 No.

00:33:33.000 The symbol of being locked up and doing harm to our country is reopened.

00:33:37.000 Because we're not going to put up.

The Charlie Kirk Show - May 05, 2025

Our Borders are Closed, and Alcatraz is Reopening

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