The Charlie Kirk Show - August 15, 2023


Porn and the Nature of Evil - Dennis Prager’s Side of the Story


Episode Stats


Length

44 minutes

Words per minute

145.03955

Word count

6,418

Sentence count

592


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

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00:00:00.000 Hey, everybody, today on the Charlie Kirk Show, it's a special episode, special guest with a friend of mine and one of the most important thinkers in America, Dennis Prager.
00:00:10.000 I invited Dennis to come on the program because there has been a fair amount of chatter from people I really respect about Dennis Prager's interview on pornography, more specifically animated child pornography, which I know is not a topic that comes up all the time.
00:00:30.000 I have felt that Dennis And his life work have been, let's just say, not necessarily presented fairly.
00:00:35.000 And I wanted a chance to speak about it.
00:00:38.000 I do want to play the clip right now, though, before the start of the episode that is in question.
00:00:42.000 It's a two minute clip that went viral, so you can hear it because basically this entire episode centers around it.
00:00:48.000 So listen to it right here.
00:00:50.000 If you have bad thoughts and don't act on them, you're on a higher moral plane than the guy who never has a bad thought.
00:00:58.000 I don't get any credit for not molesting children.
00:01:01.000 I'm as interested in children sexually as I am in bananas.
00:01:05.000 Or peach trees.
00:01:06.000 Okay?
00:01:08.000 So I get no credit for not molesting a child.
00:01:10.000 But the sick dude who does want to and doesn't, he gets a lot of credit.
00:01:16.000 So, speaking of pedophilia, suppose a man says, I view animated child porn.
00:01:25.000 So there's no real victim in that sense of child pornography, which we both agree is horrendous.
00:01:30.000 And by viewing animated child porn, it prevents me from acting out sexually on a child.
00:01:35.000 Now, I deny that.
00:01:36.000 I think that pornography.
00:01:38.000 Inflames us to then want to act those fantasies out.
00:01:41.000 And I think there's good studies that back that up.
00:01:43.000 But surely you wouldn't say to the man who views animated child pornography, that's not bad so long as you don't act it out.
00:01:50.000 Wouldn't you want to help this poor, sick dude?
00:01:52.000 Yes, I would.
00:01:53.000 But I'm thrilled that he's not acting it out.
00:01:56.000 Agreed.
00:01:56.000 Okay.
00:01:57.000 Well, that's big.
00:01:58.000 We're both thrilled that he might have a poor substitute, but it is a substitute if that were the case.
00:02:07.000 No child is being used.
00:02:08.000 It's all animated.
00:02:10.000 Yeah.
00:02:12.000 And he.
00:02:13.000 Would you use the word evil of animated child pornography?
00:02:16.000 No, I certainly would.
00:02:17.000 No, I would use evil only with behavior.
00:02:19.000 That's where we might differ, forgetting the sex issue.
00:02:22.000 You can't be evil.
00:02:24.000 You didn't do evil if you thought evil.
00:02:26.000 You did evil if you thought evil.
00:02:27.000 If I'm masturbating to animated pictures of pornography, I'm not doing something evil.
00:02:30.000 That's correct.
00:02:31.000 Yeah, I think that's despicable.
00:02:33.000 Really?
00:02:34.000 Yes, of course.
00:02:35.000 Who is being hurt?
00:02:36.000 You have to have a victim.
00:02:37.000 Oh, I'll tell you, there's at least two people being hurt.
00:02:40.000 There's the person who's poisoning himself by encouraging him to think I don't want children.
00:02:45.000 And there's also the animator.
00:02:47.000 Okay, wait a minute.
00:02:48.000 We both are aching for him not to have those fantasies.
00:02:52.000 I agree with you, but I.
00:02:53.000 But you won't call it evil.
00:02:54.000 I won't call a fantasy evil.
00:02:57.000 There's too much real evil on earth for me to start being preoccupied with people's thinking.
00:03:03.000 It's not just thinking, it's him masturbating to eat his food.
00:03:06.000 Yes, he's okay.
00:03:07.000 Okay, so the real question about the whole pornography issue is not pornography, it's masturbation.
00:03:13.000 As always, you can email us, freedom at charleykirk.com.
00:03:15.000 I just want to say I have great respect for Dennis Prager.
00:03:18.000 I do disagree, and we don't get too much into the disagreement here.
00:03:21.000 I do believe that thoughts can be sinful.
00:03:23.000 I do believe that attitudes can be sinful.
00:03:26.000 Obviously, I think actions are worse than thoughts.
00:03:29.000 There are gradations of sin and evil.
00:03:32.000 But that's not really what we get into here.
00:03:34.000 We instead allow Dennis to clarify, and you guys can then be the judge.
00:03:40.000 I think Dennis is a good man who has done a lot of great things for our country against the Marxists over his 40 year career.
00:03:47.000 And he has certainly enriched my life and my understanding of the Bible, specifically Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.
00:03:56.000 He's a good man.
00:03:57.000 Email us freedom at charliekirk.com and get involved with Turning Point USA at tpusa.com.
00:04:03.000 Text this episode to your friends and do me a favor listen to the entire episode before you email me some reaction because the episode in its entirety, I think, is unbelievably powerful.
00:04:15.000 At least it was for me.
00:04:17.000 Okay, buckle up, everybody.
00:04:18.000 Here we go.
00:04:19.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
00:04:21.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
00:04:23.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.
00:04:27.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.
00:04:30.000 I want to thank Charlie.
00:04:31.000 He's an incredible guy.
00:04:32.000 His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:04:40.000 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.
00:04:49.000 That's why we are here.
00:04:53.000 Brought to you by the Loan Experts I Trust, Andrew and Todd at Sierra Pacific Mortgage at andrewandtod.com.
00:05:02.000 Okay, everybody, welcome to this episode of the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:05:04.000 I want to tell you, I requested this conversation with somebody who has significantly impacted my life.
00:05:11.000 Dennis, I think I have consumed and listened to more Prager content than anybody alive.
00:05:18.000 I think that is the case.
00:05:20.000 From the Rational Bible series to your lectures, almost 30 years on the Torah have touched me in just infinite ways.
00:05:30.000 I've listened to every fireside chat.
00:05:33.000 And so I'm really glad that you agreed, Dennis, to come on.
00:05:36.000 And you were quick to agree, largely just because of this clip or series of clips that started to go viral.
00:05:44.000 And Dennis, I felt it was people were treating you unfairly.
00:05:47.000 And I wanted to have you on and we could have a conversation about it.
00:05:49.000 So, Dennis, welcome to the program.
00:05:52.000 Let me just say, I think it is true.
00:05:55.000 You have heard more than any living person outside of me.
00:05:59.000 I think we're tied.
00:06:02.000 So.
00:06:03.000 Well, Dennis, sometimes when we're spending time, I remind you of stories and you say, How do you remember them?
00:06:09.000 It's mind blowing.
00:06:10.000 That's right.
00:06:10.000 Exactly correct.
00:06:11.000 Well, you have an incredible memory.
00:06:13.000 I'm very touched and I'm very thrilled because you're having such an effect on so many people.
00:06:18.000 Okay.
00:06:18.000 So there are a few major things to be said here.
00:06:23.000 So let me begin.
00:06:26.000 The latest viral issue is I was asked on a broadcast with a Catholic podcaster.
00:06:33.000 We were talking about thoughts versus deeds and this whole issue, which I raised originally in the Exodus seminar with Jordan Peterson on the Daily Wire, which I was honored to be part of.
00:06:46.000 And the issue of can thoughts be sinful?
00:06:55.000 Does God or man, should we regard thoughts or even as evil or only deeds?
00:07:03.000 And I am on the side overwhelmingly of deeds.
00:07:06.000 I don't think good thoughts count as good deeds, and I don't think bad thoughts count as bad deeds, and I think that's true for God too.
00:07:14.000 But I can't speak for God.
00:07:15.000 I can only speak for someone like myself who's inspired by God.
00:07:22.000 But as you are, as anybody who wants to be inspired, I don't hold that I have a special relationship that others don't have.
00:07:31.000 But I want to make that clear.
00:07:33.000 If we are going to say that thoughts, Are evil or render you evil, then thoughts render you good.
00:07:44.000 But good thoughts that don't translate into good deeds are worthless.
00:07:49.000 In fact, many good thoughts translate into bad deeds.
00:07:53.000 Most communists in the West had good thoughts, equality, fraternity, comradeship, elimination of poverty, and they created the greatest monster in history, communism.
00:08:08.000 So good thoughts don't count, and bad thoughts don't count much.
00:08:12.000 Okay, they count, but they don't count much.
00:08:15.000 So we got into this discussion, and one was with Jordan Peterson, and the next one was with this Catholic with whom I had this dialogue.
00:08:26.000 So he, in light of my position that thoughts don't count, only deeds, we got into the discussion of what is it called when it's not AI?
00:08:40.000 He didn't use AI.
00:08:42.000 What was the word of the.
00:08:43.000 Animated was the word that he used?
00:08:44.000 Animated, yes.
00:08:45.000 Yes.
00:08:46.000 Animated kiddie porn, animated child porn.
00:08:50.000 So I had made it clear, and I'll make it clear again, in the list of true evils on earth, the.
00:08:57.000 Using children for porn is one of the greatest of all the possible evils humans can engage in.
00:09:04.000 In fact, let me make this clear I would be for castrating anyone who made kiddie porn, just to give you an idea of my passion on that subject.
00:09:17.000 I am, of course, I'm for having it illegal.
00:09:20.000 I even flirt with the idea of animated kiddie porn, the distribution of it being illegal.
00:09:27.000 Just to give you an example.
00:09:28.000 But he asked me, in light of my position that only deeds really count in terms of evil, what do I think of animated kiddie porn?
00:09:38.000 Is it evil?
00:09:38.000 And I said, no.
00:09:40.000 Meaning that compared to using real children, using animation, of course it's less evil.
00:09:49.000 I mean, the gulf is gigantic.
00:09:52.000 If a child isn't used, that's all I meant.
00:09:56.000 I think it's deranged.
00:10:00.000 Listen, I have.
00:10:02.000 You know, since you listen to me, how much I want to protect children, how much I am angry when they have drag queen story hours for kids.
00:10:12.000 So I'm devoting my life to protecting children.
00:10:15.000 I'm not going to care about this issue.
00:10:18.000 But in a philosophical sense, on the sheer one issue of is watching something that didn't happen as disgusting as it is.
00:10:32.000 Is that evil?
00:10:33.000 It's deranged.
00:10:35.000 It's sick.
00:10:37.000 Evil is when a real human is used.
00:10:41.000 Now, then people say, but this is a gateway to real kiddie porn or real, God forbid, use of children.
00:10:52.000 Well, that is use of children.
00:10:53.000 If that is true, it is an almost inevitable gateway to real child porn, then it is evil.
00:11:00.000 In any event, I'm for having it illegal.
00:11:03.000 Just to give you an idea of my thoughts on it.
00:11:07.000 Well, and I think, Dennis, part of the controversy of the clip was that I think it was too short in how it was distributed because it was a long conversation where you had widespread agreement with the host.
00:11:19.000 And I watched the whole video multiple times.
00:11:22.000 But also, Dennis, I think that you're a stickler for the definition of evil, where you would say that animated child pornography is profane.
00:11:34.000 It's ugly.
00:11:35.000 It's degenerate.
00:11:37.000 Sick.
00:11:38.000 I just, I think what it is, what ended up getting people confused that don't know your life's work on evil is that you're very careful to use that word or you're very precise.
00:11:52.000 Is that a fair way to think about it?
00:11:56.000 Completely.
00:11:56.000 Completely.
00:11:57.000 And I think it.
00:11:59.000 So let me go now, develop this.
00:12:03.000 I know you will find this both something you're aware of and maybe even a new take on it.
00:12:12.000 So, first, this is a sad part.
00:12:14.000 The sad part of all this is that there are people on the right and there are some Christians, not the biggest Christians by any means.
00:12:26.000 The biggest Christians have been allies of mine.
00:12:30.000 But there are Christians and there are conservatives who have acted in this case just like the left does with me.
00:12:42.000 What they're doing is they're playing gotcha.
00:12:46.000 You can have a lifetime of good work, but you said a sentence, or in one case, a word, wrenched out of context.
00:12:58.000 I'll give you an example of how a decent Christian, which is most by far, but some have not been, or a decent conservative, again, most by far, but some have not been, should have acted.
00:13:13.000 When Kanye West came out with anti Semitic comments, and they were anti Semitic.
00:13:19.000 Again, I don't use that word loosely like I don't use the word evil loosely.
00:13:25.000 And his good friend, Candace Owens, had not condemned him.
00:13:32.000 I got calls and emails from some of the leading Jews in America, including conservatives.
00:13:38.000 Dennis, you must speak out against Candace Owens for not saying anything about her friend, Kanye West.
00:13:45.000 But I didn't because I knew how much good Candace Owens has done.
00:13:51.000 Let's say she made a mistake.
00:13:53.000 Okay, I won't join the bandwagon because she has done so much good.
00:13:57.000 She has a very high moral bank account with me.
00:14:00.000 What I did was I called her up.
00:14:03.000 I said, Candace, talk to me.
00:14:05.000 What's going on?
00:14:07.000 Then a few weeks later, I wrote my column on Candace Owens and Kanye West.
00:14:12.000 And I spoke about how much good she has done, how there's not an anti Semitic bone in her body, how she is so pro Israel.
00:14:20.000 Her husband is one of the leading activists in England on behalf of Israel.
00:14:25.000 And I hope one day she will make a statement.
00:14:28.000 She should make eventually a statement about Kanye West.
00:14:31.000 That is her decision at her time.
00:14:34.000 That's what I wrote.
00:14:36.000 And that is the decent thing to do because she had a moral bank account.
00:14:40.000 Do I not have a moral bank account with conservatives and Christians?
00:14:44.000 Is there a bigger non Christian friend of Christians in America than Dennis Prager?
00:14:49.000 I can't think of who that is.
00:14:52.000 And yet to jump on this all of a sudden, I am a bad guy.
00:14:58.000 A lifetime of goodness doesn't matter.
00:15:01.000 All of a sudden, a bad guy, it doesn't reflect on me.
00:15:05.000 It reflects on them.
00:15:06.000 And it is distressing.
00:15:12.000 It's a human tendency.
00:15:14.000 Gotcha.
00:15:16.000 It's like when kids, the parent says, don't curse.
00:15:20.000 Then the father's driving, somebody cuts him off on the road, the father curses, and the kid goes, gotcha.
00:15:27.000 You're a hypocrite, dad.
00:15:30.000 This is a very human and childish thing.
00:15:33.000 To do.
00:15:34.000 And one of the reasons why it's happening more and more, I think, is that people are let down by their leaders and people in media, and they want to almost find some reason to hate somebody.
00:15:48.000 But, Dennis, I also want to make sure this is clear.
00:15:52.000 Listening to your lectures on Genesis and Exodus, you're so clear that the Torah was the first document to protect children against sacrifice.
00:16:00.000 Let's just forget the pornography issue for a second.
00:16:05.000 The murder of children.
00:16:06.000 And you've made a career about fighting evil and fighting some of the great, the great daunting tasks of the left of our time.
00:16:16.000 And, but Dennis, I do think that what confused some people about this, and I want to just drill into some of the detail for a second.
00:16:24.000 And it happened so quickly in the interview was when the host, Matt Frad, asked about masturbation to that thing.
00:16:34.000 Now, to be clear, I don't think you think that's a good thing.
00:16:37.000 By any way, shape, or form.
00:16:41.000 It's hard to imagine something sicker.
00:16:43.000 Right.
00:16:43.000 But I guess my question, and I mean this just even theologically from a Jewish perspective or Christian, I would consider that evil because they're doing evil against themselves.
00:16:57.000 That's a question I've actually wanted to ask you for a while.
00:17:00.000 Can you be evil in private against yourself?
00:17:04.000 Is that possible?
00:17:06.000 Well, let's take the worst thing that humans can do, or one of the worst, certainly.
00:17:12.000 Abuse of a child can actually rival this, but murder, because murder ends a human life.
00:17:21.000 So if you commit suicide, is it a sin in Christianity and Judaism?
00:17:27.000 It is a sin.
00:17:29.000 Is it evil?
00:17:30.000 I've never heard it described as evil in my religion.
00:17:34.000 I can't speak for other religions in this matter, and in many matters, I know Christianity pretty well.
00:17:41.000 But the ultimate evil is murder.
00:17:44.000 So if you murder yourself, Are you an evil individual?
00:17:50.000 I wouldn't go that far.
00:17:52.000 So I don't know what it means to commit evil against yourself.
00:17:55.000 I believe this you can hurt yourself, you can injure your soul.
00:18:01.000 There are a whole host of things.
00:18:03.000 See, you're right in pointing out because I'm so obsessed with evil.
00:18:09.000 It's like I wrote a book on anti Semitism, and I'm very careful not to call people anti Semites if they're not.
00:18:20.000 If we cheapen the word evil, you could say it's a sin.
00:18:25.000 I mean, in Judaism, it's a sin to eat bacon, and I don't eat bacon.
00:18:30.000 I do believe it's a sin, but it's not evil.
00:18:33.000 Not all sin.
00:18:35.000 For a Catholic, not to go to Mass is a sin, as far as I know.
00:18:41.000 But I don't think they'd say it's evil.
00:18:44.000 There are sins and there's evil.
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00:19:51.000 I just think the issue is that I want to make it very clear to defend you.
00:19:56.000 If you won't ascribe the word evil, that doesn't mean you think it's virtuous.
00:20:01.000 Of course, exactly.
00:20:03.000 Exactly.
00:20:03.000 Thank you.
00:20:04.000 Thank you.
00:20:05.000 You understand that.
00:20:06.000 But the audience, so Dennis, I'm trying to help you out just in the sense I want the audience to know that.
00:20:13.000 Can you expand on that?
00:20:15.000 Thank you.
00:20:16.000 Yes.
00:20:18.000 It's painful.
00:20:21.000 I reserve evil for murder, torture, rape, child abuse, childborn, gulag, Auschwitz.
00:20:33.000 If everything we think is wrong is evil, Is it evil to speed?
00:20:40.000 It's wrong to go above the speed limit.
00:20:42.000 Is it evil?
00:20:44.000 Yes, it's evil if you go 55 in a 25 mile per hour zone where there are kids around.
00:20:49.000 In other words, it's relative to the circumstance.
00:20:52.000 If you go 70 in a 65 mile per hour highway, it's not evil.
00:20:59.000 I mean, we can't cheapen the word.
00:21:02.000 Masturbation is not glorious, but it is not evil.
00:21:11.000 It makes God and religion look bad.
00:21:15.000 I have brought more people to Christianity, I believe, than any American Christian.
00:21:20.000 Okay?
00:21:21.000 And I'm a Jew, I might add.
00:21:24.000 And I'm proud of that.
00:21:26.000 And part of the reason is I make God real.
00:21:30.000 I show God in a light that doesn't make him look foolish.
00:21:37.000 If God thinks masturbation is evil, that's not my God.
00:21:42.000 I'm sorry.
00:21:44.000 I gave this man an example of a man I knew for 15 years, took care of his Alzheimer's wife.
00:21:51.000 She didn't even know who he was.
00:21:53.000 He wouldn't marry another woman, he wouldn't divorce her.
00:21:56.000 All he did is take care of her.
00:21:58.000 I don't know if he masturbated, but I asked Matt Fred if he did, was it evil?
00:22:05.000 And he said, Well, you can't give me that example or whatever, but yes, he thinks it's evil.
00:22:12.000 That hurts me on behalf of religion.
00:22:15.000 That's mean.
00:22:18.000 Now, if masturbation becomes an addiction, if masturbation hurts a marriage, if masturbation, X, Y, or Z, I mean, what is it?
00:22:30.000 Pastor Dobson of Focus on the Family, the founder of it, said in the 90s God is, I'm paraphrasing, God is troubled by other things.
00:22:41.000 I mean, normative Christians have also understood this is not the hill to die on for religious people.
00:22:51.000 Does that make sense, Charlie?
00:22:53.000 It does.
00:22:54.000 And I think we would differ a little bit theologically on the importance of thoughts.
00:22:58.000 And I want to have that in a second, Dennis, but I want to strengthen your argument because I see completely where you're coming from.
00:23:08.000 If everything is racist, nothing is racist.
00:23:11.000 So we have to be very careful not oversupplying the world with labels that have real.
00:23:22.000 That have real weight.
00:23:23.000 Is that a fair way to put it, Dennis?
00:23:28.000 I think I'm protecting these terms.
00:23:33.000 The worst thing on earth is evil.
00:23:35.000 Those of you who love God must hate evil.
00:23:37.000 Psalm 97.
00:23:38.000 This is from the Bible.
00:23:39.000 Yeah, Psalm 97.
00:23:40.000 It's my favorite verse.
00:23:42.000 It's my favorite verse in the Bible.
00:23:45.000 No, and I think what, but on this particular example, I would differ, Dennis, on if somebody was self pleasuring to even the form or the animation of a minor.
00:23:59.000 I agree.
00:24:00.000 Okay.
00:24:00.000 Yes.
00:24:01.000 I'm very, very close to you on that.
00:24:03.000 I would use you to admit that.
00:24:04.000 I would have to say you're okay, Dennis.
00:24:06.000 That's fair.
00:24:06.000 Okay.
00:24:07.000 And I'm not going to argue with you.
00:24:08.000 Okay.
00:24:09.000 My only point was that it is not the same as with real children.
00:24:14.000 That was my only point.
00:24:16.000 And the host agreed with you.
00:24:17.000 And you agree with that.
00:24:18.000 I do.
00:24:19.000 And he agreed with that.
00:24:20.000 Yes.
00:24:20.000 Exactly.
00:24:21.000 That's it.
00:24:21.000 That's all I would say.
00:24:22.000 So we both believe it's a lesser evil.
00:24:25.000 Yes.
00:24:25.000 That there are gradations to this.
00:24:28.000 That's right.
00:24:28.000 Yes.
00:24:29.000 Correct.
00:24:30.000 Yes.
00:24:30.000 Okay.
00:24:31.000 So, Dennis.
00:24:33.000 Before I go on to just more of the interesting tension between Christianity and Judaism on thoughts, is there anything else you wanted to speak on this particular thing?
00:24:45.000 Yes, yes, I thank you.
00:24:46.000 Yes.
00:24:48.000 To give Christians an idea of how important my distinction between thoughts and actions is, Christians have no idea how often I am attacked by Jews saying, you know, you're such a big defender of Christians.
00:25:07.000 But you know, they think we're going to hell because we don't believe in Jesus.
00:25:11.000 And I go, that's right, I know that.
00:25:15.000 And they think that that belief makes them, if not evil, certainly dangerous and untrustworthy.
00:25:23.000 And so I say, and I've said this all of my life, I don't judge people by what they think.
00:25:33.000 And I know how good Christians, certainly American Christians, Have treated me and have treated Jews and Israel.
00:25:43.000 That's what matters to me, how Christians act.
00:25:46.000 That they believe something I think is wrong.
00:25:49.000 I don't think I'm going to hell.
00:25:52.000 But that's not how I judge.
00:25:53.000 I don't judge people by their theology, which is the same as by what they think.
00:25:59.000 The whole basis of my love of Christians emanates from my judging Christian behavior, not Christian thought.
00:26:08.000 And I.
00:26:11.000 I find this to be true when, and I just want to push our audience, they might say, I don't agree with that.
00:26:17.000 How often?
00:26:18.000 Don't agree with what?
00:26:19.000 What would they say?
00:26:19.000 They don't agree with what?
00:26:20.000 Well, let me be clear that where you're saying that the inner thoughts are not as important to the value judgments of the person, because we have, as a society, we've drifted towards trying to find the secret person, that the secret person tells us the true person.
00:26:41.000 And that might be somewhat instructive.
00:26:44.000 And I think you've convinced me over time, Dennis.
00:26:47.000 If somebody cuts me off when I'm in traffic, I'm not at my best and I say words I shouldn't say in an expletive filled rant, right?
00:26:58.000 But is that the best picture of who I am?
00:27:01.000 It matters how you treat the other person.
00:27:04.000 But let me use this example, though, Dennis, which is conservatives, large in part, rallied to Donald Trump.
00:27:13.000 When Donald Trump privately was speaking to another man about a woman, and it would be called locker room talk.
00:27:20.000 That's right.
00:27:21.000 That's right.
00:27:23.000 That would reinforce your argument, the Access Hollywood tape, would it not, Dennis?
00:27:26.000 Right.
00:27:27.000 Yes, exactly.
00:27:29.000 It's none of my business what people say privately.
00:27:32.000 It's my business what people do, and it's my business what people say publicly.
00:27:37.000 It is not my business what people say privately.
00:27:40.000 That does not tell me about the human being as much as people think it is.
00:27:45.000 I mean, the examples are legion of the division between thought.
00:27:51.000 I mean, it may simply be a theological difference, and I respect that.
00:27:55.000 That's what I didn't understand.
00:27:56.000 Why can't people have said, Listen, Dennis has done so much good, does so much good.
00:28:00.000 Well, let me.
00:28:01.000 This country is being this.
00:28:03.000 No, you're asking the question.
00:28:04.000 Let me tell you why, Dennis.
00:28:06.000 Because some people in a short clip that goes viral without context, while there is a very.
00:28:16.000 The zeitgeist right now is focused on child exploitation because of Sound of Freedom.
00:28:21.000 So it's in the news.
00:28:23.000 And some people made it feel like, and it was unfair, the sound bite was as if you were minimizing that.
00:28:32.000 That's right.
00:28:33.000 Okay.
00:28:35.000 That's fair.
00:28:35.000 That's fair.
00:28:36.000 Yes.
00:28:37.000 And people should therefore do what I did with Candace Owens.
00:28:39.000 No, that is fair.
00:28:39.000 Yes.
00:28:40.000 Let's find out what Dennis believes, which is what Charlie Kirk is doing.
00:28:44.000 Yes.
00:28:45.000 That's exactly right.
00:28:46.000 And just to make sure everybody understands on the toughest fight of toughest fight, for no exaggeration, 50 years, Dennis has been on the front lines, every single one of them.
00:28:58.000 And somehow in a 20 second clip, that's going to tell you something.
00:29:04.000 I think it's really.
00:29:05.000 It's really silly and it's also.
00:29:07.000 Well, we'll be left with nobody.
00:29:09.000 The people.
00:29:11.000 This is exciting.
00:29:11.000 We will lose to the real bad guys.
00:29:14.000 Yeah.
00:29:15.000 If we're going to throw our allies overboard, let us say I was totally wrong.
00:29:22.000 Let us say, let us imagine.
00:29:24.000 Now people understand better what I think thanks to you.
00:29:27.000 But let us say I was totally wrong.
00:29:33.000 Isn't the mature reaction okay?
00:29:38.000 This is my great ally in the battle against the great evil of what the left is doing to the Western world and the collapse of religion.
00:29:48.000 My great ally in sustaining religion and sustaining the Ten Commandments, sustaining in God we trust, made a mistake.
00:29:56.000 Okay, so let's go on.
00:29:58.000 I mean, why?
00:29:59.000 That's my reaction when people I respect make a mistake.
00:30:06.000 Fidelity Charitable released its latest giving report.
00:30:08.000 According to the report, its account holders in 2022 recommended $11 billion to nonprofits in the mix, Planned Parenthood.
00:30:16.000 In fact, according to the report, Planned Parenthood was just the sixth most popular nonprofit among Fidelity charitable account holders last year.
00:30:23.000 Does that upset you?
00:30:24.000 Well, it upsets me too.
00:30:25.000 Open a giving account with an organization that shares your values.
00:30:28.000 Visit donorstrust.orgslash Charlie to learn more about Donor's Trust.
00:30:32.000 That's donorstrust.orgslash Charlie to discover how you can partner with a giving account provider that shares your values.
00:30:38.000 I love Donor's Trust.
00:30:40.000 I encourage you guys to look at it right now.
00:30:41.000 They're excellent.
00:30:42.000 Donorstrust.org slash Charlie.
00:30:47.000 I'm not defending the masses.
00:30:49.000 I am trying to answer the question just to keep, I think you'll like this, Dennis.
00:30:55.000 Where right now there is a movement in America against children with the trans stuff, the drag queens, and all of that, right?
00:31:05.000 And people on the internet, especially, this is where social media can be very destructive, that they are.
00:31:14.000 Pouncing on anything or anybody.
00:31:16.000 Dennis, if you would have gone on that program, you would have said, I think that we need a mandatory law to eat kosher.
00:31:22.000 No one, it wouldn't have, people would have said, okay, whatever.
00:31:25.000 It just was the subject matter.
00:31:28.000 I agree with you.
00:31:29.000 I agree with you.
00:31:30.000 You're 100% right.
00:31:33.000 And it's very unfortunate.
00:31:35.000 And I think anybody watching this or listening to this will be clear.
00:31:40.000 It is, as I said, in the list of evils in God's eyes and man's eyes, child porn is up there with the worst possible things humans can engage in.
00:31:55.000 I have devoted much of my life to protecting children.
00:31:58.000 All I was doing was with a, and I should, in retrospect, I wish I had said, compared to using real children, it is certainly less evil because we're talking about the issue of thought versus, we're not talking about defending kiddie porn in any form.
00:32:18.000 It's vile, period.
00:32:20.000 I've never wavered for a nanosecond on that.
00:32:24.000 My, I went to one of my favorite human beings and asked, who happens to be a psychiatrist, who's a professor of psychiatry.
00:32:32.000 For many years at UCLA and is a religious Jew.
00:32:35.000 And he has told me repeatedly he doesn't think that people who are attracted to prepubescent children are curable.
00:32:48.000 This is a tragic realization that I've had for many years.
00:32:54.000 So I'm thinking, would I rather this person, this incurable sick person, fantasize to pictures or to real children?
00:33:04.000 That's all that went on in my mind.
00:33:07.000 But it is terrible, even if it's just pictures.
00:33:09.000 And by the way, even since I said that a few months ago, I've only recently, just this weekend, somebody showed me AI pictures of women in bikinis.
00:33:25.000 And they were created just by AI, indistinguishable from real sexy women.
00:33:34.000 And I realized whoa, we are entering a really, really dangerous realm.
00:33:40.000 Because if children will be as depicted as, as like that, as accurate, maybe it will draw in even more people who are not already sick.
00:33:52.000 Yes.
00:33:52.000 In that arena.
00:33:53.000 I'm glad you said that.
00:33:54.000 So now, yes.
00:33:56.000 And, but I didn't realize this when that issue came up in a philosophical realm more than a real realm.
00:34:04.000 Now that I do, I am very, very troubled.
00:34:11.000 By animated child porn.
00:34:14.000 I was troubled before, but I only didn't use the word evil.
00:34:19.000 That's the only issue we had.
00:34:21.000 And now I'm prepared to do so.
00:34:24.000 Very good.
00:34:26.000 So, and I just want to build this up.
00:34:32.000 Dennis is one of the great gifts to Western society and fighting the left and fighting all this Marxism.
00:34:41.000 For 40 years, the scholarship, The radio.
00:34:46.000 Dennis, just inform our audience that you've had tens of thousands of people go to church that are Christians, from Prager U to the billions of views.
00:34:55.000 I just want to remind our audience this is a good man.
00:35:01.000 Yeah, well, it's sad that you have to remind anybody.
00:35:04.000 Well, no, I. Let me make it clear.
00:35:05.000 Hold on, Dennis.
00:35:06.000 Hold on.
00:35:06.000 You know, in the Torah, short memories are human.
00:35:10.000 That is humanity, short memories.
00:35:12.000 Okay, that's fair.
00:35:15.000 That's really short.
00:35:17.000 But okay, listen, you're a blessing to me and to the country.
00:35:24.000 I think I want people to learn lessons from this.
00:35:28.000 That, A, my theme I've had for 30 years moral bank accounts.
00:35:36.000 Every human being has a moral bank account, meaning the good we do are deposits, the bad we do are withdrawals.
00:35:45.000 And everybody makes withdrawals.
00:35:48.000 Everybody your wife, your husband, your children, your parents.
00:35:53.000 That's why you have to look at people, their whole bank account.
00:35:59.000 That's number one.
00:35:59.000 Number two, the gotcha.
00:36:01.000 Oh, gotcha.
00:36:03.000 There was a one word response to a very complex moral question.
00:36:07.000 Gotcha.
00:36:10.000 I don't play it with the left, even, and certainly not with my allies.
00:36:15.000 It's a very dangerous thing.
00:36:17.000 It's wrong.
00:36:19.000 And as I said, we'll end up with no allies.
00:36:24.000 I said on the radio that.
00:36:28.000 Just as we can say the word kite in context, I was talking about Harry Truman's use of it on the air.
00:36:34.000 I was talking about, I just read the biography of him and how he would use that word.
00:36:41.000 And he used the N word.
00:36:42.000 And I said, it's ridiculous.
00:36:44.000 We can't say the N word, but I can say kite.
00:36:47.000 And now, just this weekend, the biggest newspaper in Oregon said, Dennis Prager used the horrible word for Jews.
00:36:59.000 On his radio show.
00:37:02.000 Like I'm an anti Semite.
00:37:04.000 I'm a Jew who's written a book on anti Semitism, who's fought anti Semitism his whole life.
00:37:10.000 But that's what I mean.
00:37:11.000 Gotcha.
00:37:12.000 Gotcha.
00:37:13.000 Well, and we have to be careful, Dennis, on the right, because there's a totalitarian impulse to the gotcha, isn't there?
00:37:19.000 Which is.
00:37:19.000 That's exactly right.
00:37:23.000 Yeah.
00:37:23.000 Well, you must think like I do, or you are to be canceled.
00:37:35.000 And even if you don't think the way that we do, how do I put this?
00:37:44.000 That it's the punishment is excommunication from the tribes.
00:37:50.000 Well, that's the canceled, exactly.
00:37:52.000 Yeah.
00:37:52.000 So, as I said, that's what I said to you at the beginning who's going to be left?
00:37:57.000 And we, you know.
00:38:01.000 It's like the Russian Politburo, the purity test.
00:38:04.000 You end up with one.
00:38:05.000 There's only one communist left, right?
00:38:07.000 Yes.
00:38:08.000 What is it?
00:38:09.000 One Christian said to me, a very big one.
00:38:12.000 He said, in the very beginning of when this started, he said to me, Dennis, we're in a purity death spiral.
00:38:20.000 This is another thing to be learned.
00:38:24.000 Purity is not available in the human life.
00:38:28.000 No soldier remains pure.
00:38:31.000 They're killing.
00:38:34.000 But they're doing good.
00:38:37.000 Pure, the pacifist is pure.
00:38:39.000 But he lets Hitler win.
00:38:41.000 He lets Stalin win.
00:38:42.000 He lets Mao win.
00:38:44.000 But he's pure.
00:38:46.000 I didn't touch a gun.
00:38:49.000 Purity is not an ideal.
00:38:54.000 Doing as much good as possible.
00:38:57.000 We are all God's children.
00:38:59.000 And just like parents care how their children treat each other, God, in my view, most cares how we treat each other.
00:39:07.000 The human being is very complex.
00:39:09.000 I am not about to analyze.
00:39:12.000 Their private thoughts.
00:39:13.000 I'll give you, I know we're running out of time.
00:39:15.000 I want to give you one example.
00:39:17.000 We can keep going as long as you want.
00:39:19.000 Okay.
00:39:19.000 All right.
00:39:20.000 Well, this is very touching.
00:39:22.000 The very first decade of my radio career, 40 years I've been doing this.
00:39:27.000 So between year 40 and 30, a guy called my show.
00:39:33.000 I was in my 30s and he was in his 30.
00:39:37.000 Dennis, I'm a bad son.
00:39:41.000 Because people open up to me on the radio, as you know.
00:39:44.000 I go, really?
00:39:45.000 Why are you a bad son?
00:39:46.000 He said, well, let me tell you.
00:39:48.000 My mother has been sick, really sick for 10 years.
00:39:52.000 I have been the sole emotional and financial support of my mother.
00:39:58.000 My siblings have opted out.
00:40:02.000 And Dennis, I got to tell you, there are times when I wish she would succumb to her illness and die.
00:40:11.000 I am a terrible son.
00:40:13.000 And I responded, I want you to know, I think you are a great son.
00:40:19.000 And he said, Why are you mocking me?
00:40:22.000 He thought I was playing with him.
00:40:25.000 I said, What are you talking about, mocking you?
00:40:27.000 I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
00:40:30.000 You are a great son because I don't care what you think.
00:40:34.000 I care how you treat your mother.
00:40:36.000 The fact that you might wish that she would finally die because it's such a difficult thing for you, it doesn't matter.
00:40:43.000 It only matters how you treat her.
00:40:45.000 He had never heard that in his life because his whole life he's heard that thoughts are sins.
00:40:53.000 It's very powerful.
00:40:55.000 Well, Dennis, there's so much.
00:40:57.000 Other more technical stuff we can go through theologically.
00:41:00.000 But just to close all this, anything remaining that you wanted to touch on or repeat or reemphasize with this?
00:41:10.000 And I just want to say I'm honored to have you as a teacher.
00:41:15.000 And the hundreds of hours of lectures that you put into making the Bible real, it's unbelievable.
00:41:27.000 It really is.
00:41:28.000 If the conservative movement in America, Has an issue with Dennis Prager, then we'll lose everything.
00:41:34.000 That's a bad sign.
00:41:36.000 That is a bad, bad sign.
00:41:41.000 Well, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
00:41:45.000 That I've touched your life is an enduring blessing in mine.
00:41:50.000 I just want to make clear no major Christian leader, no major conservative leader has joined any bandwagon.
00:42:02.000 I'm saying, I'm I'm coming on your program to say these things for the good Christian, the good conservative who might wonder about me because of my answer is it evil?
00:42:20.000 The animated kitty.
00:42:23.000 And I don't want to lose these people, not for selfish reasons.
00:42:32.000 I want to continue to touch their lives.
00:42:36.000 With the good ideas that I do, with the good that Prager U does, and my Bible commentary, I don't want to lose them for no good reason.
00:42:46.000 If I lose people for a good reason, I'll just tell you this.
00:42:51.000 You'll find this very moving, Charlie.
00:42:54.000 The great tragedy in Jewish life before the Holocaust was the destruction of the second Jewish temple and the second Jewish commonwealth, the second Jewish state in 70 AD.
00:43:07.000 The rabbis of the Talmud, the second holiest work in Judaism, asked the question, and they wrote this a few hundred years afterward why were the Jews exiled, killed, massacred at that time?
00:43:25.000 And they said they didn't blame the Romans.
00:43:28.000 They said because Jews hated each other for no good reason.
00:43:34.000 That lesson has stayed with me.
00:43:36.000 There are people worthy of hate, but you better have a really good reason.
00:43:43.000 Dennis Prager, God bless you.
00:43:44.000 Thank you for taking time.
00:43:45.000 And I encourage our audience to text this episode to your friends.
00:43:49.000 And we have your back, Dennis, 100%.
00:43:51.000 God bless you.
00:43:53.000 And you too.
00:43:54.000 Thank you.
00:43:57.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.
00:43:58.000 Email us your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:44:01.000 Want to hear your reaction to this episode?
00:44:04.000 So email me, freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:44:06.000 Thank you so much for listening, and God bless.
00:44:11.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.