The Charlie Kirk Show - Retire Mitt Romney with Trent Staggs and Robert Lighthizer

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, 10 to Charlie Kirk Show.

00:00:01.000 It's time to retire Mitt Romney.

00:00:03.000 A good man is running against Mitt Romney.

00:00:05.000 It's time to put Mitt Romney away from politics.

00:00:08.000 Let's put it that way.

00:00:09.000 Email us freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:00:11.000 Get involved with turning point action at tpaction.com.

00:00:14.000 We're also joined by Robert Lighthizer, who has some really insightful commentary on free trade and the destruction that our trade policy has initiated over the last 20 or 30 years.

00:00:27.000 Get involved with Turning PointUSA.

00:00:29.000 That's tpusa.com, tpusa.com.

00:00:32.000 Get involved with turning point action.

00:00:34.000 That's tpaction.com.

00:00:36.000 As always, you can email me, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:00:39.000 Buckle up, everybody here.

00:00:40.000 We go.

00:00:41.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:43.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campuses.

00:00:45.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:00:48.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:00:51.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:52.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:00:53.000 His spirit, his love of this country.

00:00:55.000 He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.

00:01:02.000 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.

00:01:10.000 That's why we are here.

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00:01:24.000 Free trade.

00:01:25.000 It's one of the orthodoxies you are not allowed to challenge of neoliberalism.

00:01:31.000 Our next guest did challenge it, and the author of the, he's the author of the book, No Trade is Free, Changing Course, Taking on China and Helping America's Workers by Robert Lighthizer.

00:01:41.000 Robert, welcome to the program.

00:01:43.000 Congratulations on the book.

00:01:44.000 Tell us about it.

00:01:46.000 Well, thank you very much, Charlie.

00:01:47.000 First of all, it's a great pleasure to be here.

00:01:49.000 And you know that I'm a fan of the work that you do.

00:01:53.000 We're engaged in this great struggle for our country.

00:01:56.000 Yes.

00:01:57.000 But it's going to be your generation that ends up winning it.

00:02:00.000 So I'm very much pleased to be a part of it.

00:02:07.000 So the book is kind of a couple of things.

00:02:10.000 One, it challenges, as you say, the free trade orthodoxy, which I think is what President Trump did.

00:02:19.000 I think the free trade orthodoxy created a lot of problems for this country, particularly starting in the 1990s.

00:02:27.000 And I think we need more of a worker-focused, community-focused, family-focused, I would say conservative approach to trade.

00:02:37.000 So, and then the other thing that it does is it talks about China and the threat to China.

00:02:41.000 And it goes through, it gives the indictment.

00:02:45.000 It says what we did in the Trump administration and why we did it.

00:02:49.000 And then it gives a path forward.

00:02:50.000 And in his endorsement of the book, President Trump said, if you want to know what we're going to do in trade in the next administration, this is the place to look.

00:03:02.000 So I was very pleased with that.

00:03:04.000 But it's very much consistent with his ideas.

00:03:07.000 And he and I have, you know, we weren't friends before the administration, but we were ideological brothers for decades on this issue of trade in China.

00:03:19.000 So let's talk about the root issue.

00:03:22.000 In D.C., prior to President Trump's arrival, it was a nonstop celebration of the importation of plastic from China, the re-domiciling of critical industry overseas.

00:03:33.000 And in fact, when I first got my start in conservative world in politics, I was told free trade is the greatest thing ever, free trade is the greatest thing ever.

00:03:41.000 And I was inundated with pamphlets and seminars and think tanks that I now know are funded by a lot of companies that do benefit from the kind of massive labor arbitrage that has occurred over the last 20 or 30 years.

00:03:54.000 Of course, trade can enrich a country, but also not every trade deal is made the same.

00:04:00.000 There's some things you should make domestically.

00:04:02.000 And also, probably a good idea to have an industrial policy so that you don't have to worry about your enemies making vitamin C or critical infrastructure.

00:04:10.000 Where did we go wrong as a country?

00:04:12.000 What parties, politicians, or decisions really charted the path where we started to intentionally deindustrialize America?

00:04:22.000 So, I mean, that's a really good fundamental question.

00:04:27.000 The history of trade, the way I see it, is laid out in this book.

00:04:32.000 But I would summarize it.

00:04:35.000 First of all, the Republican Party has always been the party of a patriotic populist, pro-production, and not a free trade party, right?

00:04:45.000 If you go right back from Lincoln, the very first one, he would have said, I, Lincoln, am a protectionist, and free trade is bad.

00:04:52.000 And you go all the first kind of change in that was probably Eisenhower, who was focused on the Soviet Union.

00:04:59.000 And then you look at what Nixon did.

00:05:02.000 He took very important steps to put tariffs on the entire world when we had a trade problem.

00:05:06.000 You look at Ronald Reagan, who I worked for as a deputy back when I was about your age, I should say.

00:05:14.000 In any event, he took a very, very populist, defend America approach on trade.

00:05:22.000 He stopped Japanese cars from coming in and stealed from around the world and did semiconductors and motorcycles and all kinds of other things. 1.00

00:05:31.000 And then you find yourself, and this is the answer to your question: you find yourself in the early 90s.

00:05:39.000 We have Bill Clinton in the White House.

00:05:42.000 There's a kind of a sense that it's the end of history.

00:05:45.000 Remember that book?

00:05:46.000 Yep.

00:05:46.000 And that we've won.

00:05:48.000 Yep.

00:05:49.000 Exactly.

00:05:50.000 We've won.

00:05:51.000 The wall has come down.

00:05:54.000 The American way of life is going to perpetuate throughout the world.

00:05:59.000 And everyone's going to be happy and sing kumbaya.

00:06:02.000 The only thing it ignored was human nature, right?

00:06:05.000 So kind of implementing that notion of kind of, you know, this kind of elitist notion that we've won, three things happened in the Clinton years in those 90s.

00:06:17.000 And by the way, all of them with substantial Republican support.

00:06:23.000 None of them would have the Republican Party.

00:06:26.000 But so first of all, they passed NAFTA, which was a mistake and hurt American workers.

00:06:32.000 Then they passed this great, implementing legislation for the last great trade round called the Uruguay Round.

00:06:39.000 And there they created the WTO, the World Trade Organization, which was a mistake and really hurt America. 0.79

00:06:45.000 And then the trifecta of stupid was completed when, on the way out the door, as he puts the last piece of furniture into the van, leaving the White House, Clinton gets the Congress to pass and a lot of Republicans to vote for him to pass this permanent most favored nation for China. 0.72

00:07:06.000 And then the two decades that follow, let's say a decade and a half up to President Trump, we saw millions of jobs leave, tens of thousands of factories leave. 0.97

00:07:17.000 We saw small towns like the ones that I'm from in Ohio and all across the country dilapidated.

00:07:25.000 You saw these so-called rise of these so-called deaths of despair.

00:07:28.000 You saw drug use.

00:07:29.000 You saw the breakdown of the family, the breakdown of community.

00:07:33.000 You saw all of these horrible results of this very, very failed policy from the 90s, which I would say sort of a hubris, you know, kind of a policy.

00:07:48.000 And it was uber free trade.

00:07:51.000 And we went from having a policy that was kind of okay, kind of not okay, to one where we had hundreds of billions of dollars of trade debts every single year.

00:08:02.000 Yeah, but they said, Robert, I would always say, oh, no, it's a capital account surplus.

00:08:05.000 They would always have a spin when you're like, oh, it's a trade deficit.

00:08:09.000 And they say, well, it's a capital account surplus because now somebody is doing the work for you and you get it for less.

00:08:14.000 And this was ingrained in those of us in the younger ranks of the conservative movement.

00:08:18.000 So just about two minutes here, Robert.

00:08:20.000 Can you talk about, though, the capital flows from major corporations to the preferred think tanks?

00:08:26.000 You know, for years, Heritage, Cato, they would always not, there would be mandatory celebration of free trade on demand.

00:08:33.000 You could not challenge it.

00:08:35.000 Absolutely true.

00:08:37.000 And by the way, Heritage Now is very much on our side.

00:08:40.000 Of course, but for years, they were the cheerleader for years.

00:08:43.000 Look at, I thought, Charlie, well, all these people right down the road, they were basically funded by large corporations who made money importing and then bred this false, this false theology of free trade.

00:08:59.000 That's precisely what that was the dynamic.

00:09:01.000 And by the way, it was the dynamic all the way through the Trump administration.

00:09:05.000 We fought those same people every time we tried to help our workers.

00:09:10.000 And just you could, one of Donald Trump's longest-lasting legacies, regardless of how this next, you know, his candidacy, is it was a thought crime, Robert, to even utter a question against free trade.

00:09:24.000 You were considered to be anti-intellectual.

00:09:26.000 You were considered to be against economic theory.

00:09:29.000 And what happened is there were some very, very well-paid, I mean, you know, these people, economists, that were really just kind of corporate shills that, yeah, okay, they would go to supply and demand and capital account surplus and they would be able to defend things through a very abstract and theoretical lens.

00:09:44.000 But then as soon as you'd commit the crime and noticing, like, hey, Southeast Ohio is poor.

00:09:49.000 Like, oh, no, no, no, actually, it's great that they have dollar generals and opioids.

00:09:52.000 Don't you understand that we get all this stuff for less?

00:09:56.000 There are other things to factor into your trade policy than whether or not you get a textile for 50 cents instead of $1.10.

00:10:03.000 There's other factors.

00:10:05.000 And so, Robert, your book is really excellent.

00:10:08.000 No trade is free.

00:10:09.000 I want to ask you about that, the title, because that is considered to be a provocative statement.

00:10:14.000 And I do agree, though, the traditional DC think tanks on the right, the center right, they are no longer nearly as enthusiastic to express their free trade views because they know they're going to get slammed that neoliberalism is no longer popular with the American people.

00:10:31.000 And boy, Donald Trump did a really fabulous job of challenging that.

00:10:39.000 America is the first nation in history founded on the idea of a natural God-given rights and on political principles proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence of liberty, equality, and limited government.

00:10:50.000 That's what my friends at Hillsdale College want you to join them in remembering our founding principles on our nation's birthday this July 4th.

00:10:57.000 You can do so by taking three simple steps.

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00:11:30.000 That is charlieforhillsdale.com.

00:11:32.000 Check it out.

00:11:33.000 Wonderful resource, charlie4hillsdale.com.

00:11:41.000 The name of the book is No Trade is Free.

00:11:46.000 So, Robert, tell us about that.

00:11:49.000 That right there is kind of a gut punch to the prevailing dogma of DC.

00:11:53.000 What do you mean that no trade is free?

00:11:56.000 Well, I mean, just in our own lives, if you're making a trade, you're paying something for it, right?

00:12:01.000 So there's like a double entendre.

00:12:03.000 There is that notion, but also the notion that we are, free trade is a philosophy that basically emphasizes consumption, materialism, not values, and not production.

00:12:18.000 That's exactly right.

00:12:20.000 And what we like as conservative is we believe that there is an intrinsic value to work and that that's what keeps families together.

00:12:30.000 And I always say, Charlie, I want a country where kids are proud of their parents because they work.

00:12:37.000 You know, my dad is foreman at the factory or whatever, whatever it is, and where the parents then are hopeful for the kids.

00:12:45.000 And, you know, for America, manufacturing and the jobs that it spits out is the middle class for the 60% of the country that's not college graduates and for a number of the other ones, too.

00:12:59.000 So what I was doing was kind of, you know, just making the obvious point that when you think about it, trade is never free.

00:13:06.000 And it's certainly, there is no free trade.

00:13:08.000 No country practices free trade in the world.

00:13:11.000 Yeah.

00:13:12.000 And it's also, it's this new phenomenon that has made corporate America really rich.

00:13:16.000 It has basically had an all-out assault on normal, ordinary, muscular class labor.

00:13:26.000 And are we well?

00:13:27.000 I mean, so like, let's be very honest, Robert, 30 years of these ideas, favorite nation status, we're almost on the third, no, about 20 or 25 years.

00:13:35.000 Is America better off?

00:13:37.000 I mean, so you're right, no trade is free.

00:13:39.000 Do most people in DC, do they ever just stop and say, hey, this has actually made us poorer and our outcomes for health are going down and drug use has gone up.

00:13:50.000 And yeah, we have homes that are twice as big, filled with three times as much garbage with half as many people in them.

00:13:57.000 And we have piles of plastic that we never use that we ask people to give away.

00:14:02.000 And so the last 20 or 30 years, it's actually rather damning our industrial policy.

00:14:11.000 Absolutely.

00:14:11.000 The effect on families and communities.

00:14:14.000 And in addition to your point about this capital account, this nutsy bird thing about that, which another time we ought to probably address that heads-on.

00:14:22.000 But we have also transferred since about 2003 about $16 trillion worth of the value of our assets, America's equity, debt, and real estate overseas.

00:14:38.000 All, as you say, in return for the third television set in your basement.

00:14:42.000 Exactly.

00:14:45.000 And your question is, are people figuring it out?

00:14:47.000 Yes.

00:14:48.000 Yes.

00:14:48.000 I think it's one of the gate contributions of Donald Trump was that people are starting to figure it out and Republicans particularly are starting to figure it out and realize that this is free trade is not about conserving anything.

00:15:04.000 It's just about consumption.

00:15:05.000 Just about consumption.

00:15:07.000 I totally agree.

00:15:08.000 Let's play Cut 37.

00:15:09.000 I'd like your quick reaction to it.

00:15:10.000 Play Cut 37.

00:15:12.000 The Treasury Secretary has arrived in the past hour here in Beijing over the next four days.

00:15:18.000 She's expected to meet with President Xi Jinping's new economics team, many of whom are not familiar to her or to the Biden administration.

00:15:27.000 She's going to discuss with and consult with the U.S. business community, as well as communicate directly what Treasury has described as areas of concern with the Chinese.

00:15:40.000 In addition to that, she's going to be speaking about global challenges, as you had mentioned, such as climate change and debt distress in poor nations.

00:15:48.000 But a minute remaining.

00:15:49.000 Robert, climate change, your response.

00:15:53.000 So basically, I'll just give you the short version of what you just saw.

00:15:58.000 She's going to go there and say, we will continue business as usual, transfer more of our wealth, more of our jobs, the well-being of more of our communities to you, China. 0.97

00:16:09.000 And in return, all we ask is that you make a promise you won't keep to do something about another theology in 20 years.

00:16:17.000 That's the summary of it.

00:16:19.000 And that is the Biden administration summarized rather beautifully.

00:16:23.000 The book is excellent.

00:16:25.000 You should check it out.

00:16:26.000 And you could learn a lot.

00:16:27.000 No trade is free.

00:16:29.000 We have to keep on challenging these neoliberal pro-importation of plastic consumption Republicans.

00:16:35.000 They're doing such damage to our country.

00:16:37.000 We're going to have you back on, Robert, for an entire hour to dive into this because there's so many complexities and including the historical aspect of how we, all this, where did these ideas come from?

00:16:47.000 Well, we can blame McKinsey and the consultant class, General Electric and others that were the cheerleaders and the designers of the deindustrialization of America.

00:16:56.000 Robert Lighthizer, thank you so much.

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00:18:05.000 Joining us now is Mayor Trent Staggs, Mayor of Riverton, Utah.

00:18:09.000 Welcome to the program.

00:18:10.000 Yeah, thank you.

00:18:11.000 Thank you so much for having me here.

00:18:12.000 You are primarying Senator Romney.

00:18:15.000 Tell us about yourself.

00:18:16.000 That we are, that we are.

00:18:17.000 Well, I am a lifelong Utah.

00:18:19.000 I've actually, from elementary school to graduate school, I've attended Utah schools.

00:18:22.000 I've raised my family there.

00:18:24.000 I've operated scores of businesses, several businesses.

00:18:27.000 Took a company public last year, got listed on NASDAQ in the energy space.

00:18:30.000 And I've been an elected official locally for the last 10 years.

00:18:35.000 In the last six, served as mayor of this community.

00:18:37.000 It's a top 20 city by population in the state of Utah and have, you know, have quite a bit of accomplishments there that we've been able to do.

00:18:46.000 And I think I've not just walked or talked the talk, I've actually walked the walk as a conservative, and people know what they're going to get electing me.

00:18:53.000 So tell us, our audience, why are you deciding to challenge kind of the darling of the Utah ruling class, Mitt Romney?

00:19:03.000 Because Massachusetts does not need a third senator.

00:19:06.000 That's in short, one.

00:19:08.000 That's his home state, right?

00:19:09.000 That's correct.

00:19:10.000 Yeah, he moved to Utah for the Olympics or something, right?

00:19:13.000 Well, back in 2002, he worked with the Olympics, but he didn't really move there until right before his run for Senate.

00:19:22.000 I think of him as a Michigan, Massachusetts guy, not as a Utah guy.

00:19:25.000 Yeah, no.

00:19:26.000 And clearly, I mean, his voting record, his preference, his policy preferences just, yeah, they emulate that section of the country, really not Utah.

00:19:37.000 And that's what I'm hearing is I'm going around.

00:19:38.000 We've built quite the coalition already.

00:19:41.000 You know, scores of mayors, county commissioners that are endorsed our campaign.

00:19:45.000 We've got the fraternal order of police, represents 70% of all law enforcement state of Utah, 5,000 cops.

00:19:50.000 They've endorsed a number of other conservatives.

00:19:53.000 They've recognized that I am the only conservative in the race and that Mitt's record that we've called out, I mean, five years ago, he put together a video and said, I will fight for Utah every day.

00:20:04.000 You elect me as your senator.

00:20:05.000 I am going to put us on a pathway to a balanced budget.

00:20:07.000 I'll end illegal immigration. 1.00

00:20:09.000 I will stop federal overreach and spending.

00:20:11.000 And I'll appoint conservative justices to the court.

00:20:14.000 He hasn't done those.

00:20:15.000 In fact, he has fought just against those things.

00:20:18.000 And people have recognized it.

00:20:19.000 He votes with Biden 60% of the time.

00:20:21.000 Wow.

00:20:22.000 And that just doesn't, it's not reflective of Utah's and particularly Republicans in the state.

00:20:28.000 Well, and he also voted to convict President Trump in that kind of drive-by impeachment.

00:20:33.000 Now, Utah, I would consider to be the most polite state in the country.

00:20:38.000 Do you think that's fair?

00:20:41.000 There is a, yeah, culturally, we want it to be very, very proper.

00:20:46.000 Very orderly, very rule-following.

00:20:49.000 So primarying a sitting senator is kind of not against the rules, but that some people would consider to be a little bit rambunctious, right?

00:20:58.000 Like wait-your-turn type thing.

00:21:00.000 So tell us kind of the operating calculus, because what I understand from Utah culture, it's, you know, very respectful, you know, don't speak ill of the, you know, the senior senator type thing.

00:21:11.000 I guess he's the junior senator.

00:21:12.000 Junior senator.

00:21:13.000 But yeah, tell me about the reaction you're receiving, specifically in the LDS community.

00:21:18.000 Yeah.

00:21:18.000 No, great question.

00:21:20.000 And that's you, you've, I think, accurately characterized that.

00:21:24.000 And I mean all that positively.

00:21:25.000 I love you, Dan.

00:21:25.000 Yeah, sure.

00:21:26.000 I think naturally I'm a bit of a contrarian, right?

00:21:29.000 I ended up running first on city council, beating a 12-year incumbent, then I ran for mayor back in 2017 against a 12-year incumbent.

00:21:36.000 So this is just what I've done, I think, naturally as I've taken a look at things.

00:21:42.000 I believe in term limits.

00:21:44.000 And I only envisioned, my wife and I, that I would run for two terms as mayor.

00:21:50.000 And so we took a look at this and said, what else can we do?

00:21:52.000 How can we best serve?

00:21:53.000 Do we pivot back to the business world or do we continue on with this public service?

00:21:57.000 And this race in particular is one that really stood out.

00:22:01.000 And we have to make a change.

00:22:02.000 And so as I'm going out there and meeting with folks, Mitt is down 11 points in the poll since we announced.

00:22:09.000 Is that just favorability or a one-on-one ahead of time?

00:22:11.000 Favorability.

00:22:12.000 He's only in the 40% range amongst all voters.

00:22:15.000 And we know he's got a 75% plus approval rating amongst Democrats.

00:22:19.000 So I think he's only in the 30% range amongst Americans.

00:22:24.000 Yes.

00:22:25.000 And we're seeing that.

00:22:26.000 He's very vulnerable in a primary.

00:22:28.000 So what is the process then in Utah for the primary?

00:22:31.000 It's a straight ballot or do you have this rank choice thing that's popping up, right?

00:22:34.000 Well, we had, we used to be uniquely a caucus convention system.

00:22:38.000 And in 2014, they passed a law that was.

00:22:40.000 They were all yelling at each other, right?

00:22:42.000 And they got rid of it or something, right?

00:22:44.000 Well, they created a dual pathway.

00:22:45.000 Okay.

00:22:46.000 So now somebody can, I say, buy their way on the ballot.

00:22:49.000 If you got 60% of the delegates previously, like Mike Lee did back in 2010, you were automatically the Republican nominee for the general election.

00:22:58.000 Since 2014, after the passage of the Senate Bill 54 in Utah, somebody can gather signatures and force their name on a primary ballot.

00:23:06.000 And I expect that's what Mitt would do.

00:23:08.000 He hasn't even attended.

00:23:09.000 I'm a state delegate, and he hasn't even attended the last couple of years.

00:23:12.000 I don't think he'd be warmly received there, right?

00:23:14.000 No, he was booed a few years back, and he hasn't returned.

00:23:17.000 He hasn't returned since.

00:23:18.000 So he could get on the primary ballot just through signature collection, basically.

00:23:22.000 He could, yeah, on a statewide race, you know, Utah's about 3.2 million people.

00:23:26.000 I think it's a little over around 30,000 signatures.

00:23:29.000 So, but he wouldn't be able to be the nominee unless the voters select him.

00:23:34.000 Unless he ran as an independent third party, which is conceivable.

00:23:37.000 That is, yeah, correct.

00:23:38.000 So we think the convention will be sometime in April to May, and the primary would be around June.

00:23:45.000 But it's possible that you get the delegates in the convention, but he gets signatures, and you still have to play it out in the primary.

00:23:52.000 That's correct.

00:23:52.000 Got it.

00:23:53.000 And that also factors no one else really getting in, right?

00:23:57.000 So you're in this race then, and you're receiving a really warm reaction.

00:24:01.000 Is it fair to say that Utah is more conservative than Romney?

00:24:05.000 I mean, and talk about just I'm assuming you're LDS, is my assumption right?

00:24:11.000 I am.

00:24:11.000 Okay, that's not a, you know, you flip a coin.

00:24:14.000 No, you turn over a rock.

00:24:15.000 Everyone's LDS in Utah. 0.83

00:24:17.000 But can you talk just about traditional LDS values?

00:24:20.000 Again, I'm not LDS.

00:24:21.000 My closest friends are LDS.

00:24:22.000 I work with LDS all the time.

00:24:23.000 Tons of respect. 0.99

00:24:24.000 But one of the things I respect the most is family, pro-life, none of this trans garbage. 1.00

00:24:30.000 But I feel as if there's like some fault lines in that LDS. 0.96

00:24:34.000 Is that fair to say that there's like a little bit of a tension in the LDS world over these issues?

00:24:39.000 Yeah, I mean, by and large, yes, very family, pro-life.

00:24:43.000 And I think there's a natural inclination for, you know, in the LDS culture for us to want to be well-liked, right?

00:24:57.000 Take a look at LDS history over the years, and there's been...

00:25:00.000 I'm from Illinois.

00:25:02.000 I know about NaVoo.

00:25:04.000 That and the extermination order in Missouri.

00:25:07.000 In Missouri, that's correct.

00:25:08.000 So I think there's been almost a bend over backwards to try to be perceived as accepting and tolerant.

00:25:19.000 Yes.

00:25:19.000 And so, yeah, these fault lines, as you maybe say, that can exist in the culture.

00:25:27.000 But your first question is whether or not Mitt Romney is reflective of Utah's and their values.

00:25:31.000 No, absolutely not.

00:25:33.000 And Michael Lee just proved that initially this last year.

00:25:35.000 But do you see that in Utah that there's a demand of, hey, we want a senator who is better, is more articulate and at least espouses these Mormon LDS beliefs of strong family, especially with all this trans stuff. 0.75

00:25:52.000 I mean, your governor, in my opinion, has just been perplexing on some of this stuff, at least from looking at it from afar.

00:25:59.000 I'm sure there's a demand in the LDS world for that, right?

00:26:04.000 And I don't think it's just in the LDS world.

00:26:07.000 I think people generally, they want somebody who is bold, a bold conservative that can articulate conservatism and not be afraid to stand up to that.

00:26:17.000 And that's what I believe I've demonstrated over the last 10 years in elected office.

00:26:20.000 I mean, throughout my lifetime of career.

00:26:21.000 But in the last 10 years in particular, I stood up, I said no to mask mandates, to vaccine mandates as a mayor.

00:26:28.000 I said, look, my law enforcement, my police department is not going to enforce this stuff.

00:26:33.000 With Biden trying to use OSHA as a means to force down vaccine mandates on people, we have a lot more than 100 employees in our city, so we were maybe going to be subject to that.

00:26:44.000 I've taken a very strong stance with these types of things.

00:26:46.000 I've actually cut taxes.

00:26:47.000 I've cut taxes in my community and demonstrated time and again that I'm going to push back against the establishment.

00:26:53.000 And so that's what people, that's what they want.

00:26:55.000 They want to.

00:26:56.000 So I totally agree.

00:26:57.000 And so let's just talk about Utah.

00:27:00.000 I think if you think Mitt Romney is going to run 50-50 shot, maybe?

00:27:03.000 Because that's still a mystery.

00:27:05.000 A little bit.

00:27:06.000 Yeah, his camp's been a little coy, right?

00:27:07.000 They said, well, we filed our paperwork with the FEC in the event that he wants to run again.

00:27:13.000 He knows he's vulnerable, though.

00:27:14.000 He does, and they haven't given a formal announce, but we're operating on the basis that he is going to run.

00:27:20.000 And I'm seeing things that could indicate that.

00:27:25.000 He said that if he were to choose to run, he's confident that he would win.

00:27:30.000 We're not saying the same thing, seeing the same thing on the ground.

00:27:33.000 No.

00:27:33.000 But his saving grace could be all these out-of-state Utah transplants in the tech corridor, right?

00:27:41.000 I mean, Utah is changing.

00:27:42.000 Am I incorrect by saying that?

00:27:44.000 You're not incorrect.

00:27:44.000 I mean, we've been the number one fastest-growing state, I think, for the last decade in terms of percentage population.

00:27:50.000 We have more data centers than Silicon Valley.

00:27:52.000 It's really remarkable.

00:27:53.000 They call it the Silicon Slopes area in Utah.

00:27:56.000 And we have, we've seen more.

00:27:58.000 It used to be, you know, we had a really naturally high birth rate.

00:28:01.000 You know, this culturally, we have a lot of children.

00:28:05.000 But in the last, I think, five years or more, we've seen in-net migration actually outpace natural birth rates.

00:28:12.000 And so 60% plus of people coming in, they're coming in from other states, particularly California.

00:28:18.000 And that has changed, yeah.

00:28:19.000 Demographically, just in terms of ideology, that it's made a little bit of an impact for sure in our state.

00:28:26.000 It's going to be fascinating.

00:28:27.000 We have you through another segment.

00:28:29.000 What is your website for people to support you?

00:28:31.000 Yes, trentstaggs.com.

00:28:33.000 It's S-T-A-G-G-S, TrentStaggs.com.

00:28:37.000 It's great courage, and we're behind you because Mitt Romney's got to go.

00:28:40.000 And it's not even just a matter of representing Utah.

00:28:42.000 It's just so frustrating to see what he's doing in D.C. He's not representing conservative values at all.

00:28:48.000 And he does it rather pompously, if I may say so.

00:28:51.000 That's me talking.

00:28:52.000 I just, I don't like his attitude.

00:28:54.000 And it's almost holier than now.

00:28:56.000 And I'm trying to always win over the approval of the kind of current regime.

00:29:04.000 Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk here.

00:29:05.000 Just when you thought the government would stop trying to take over health care, Senator Bernie Sanders, that socialist Marxist communist, is pushing something that is no good.

00:29:13.000 I need your attention right now.

00:29:14.000 I'm urgently asking you to support the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste to stop the Senate from passing the Sanders Bill S1339.

00:29:22.000 It would raise the price of prescription drugs by making it harder for pharmacy benefit managers to continue to save an average of $1,000 per year for 275 million Americans just like you.

00:29:31.000 Bernie Sanders, he is a sneaky commie.

00:29:34.000 I'll tell you what.

00:29:35.000 He will not lower prescription drug prices despite what the bill says.

00:29:38.000 It will create a socialist health care system here in America.

00:29:41.000 I've read the bill.

00:29:42.000 It's dangerous.

00:29:43.000 You've got to stop it.

00:29:43.000 You have to sign lowermydrugprices.com.

00:29:46.000 I'm telling you, I'm involved in this.

00:29:48.000 You've got to get into the game.

00:29:49.000 Add your name to thousands who are standing up and saying you don't want more government interference in healthcare, but you must hurry.

00:29:55.000 The Sanders bill will come up for a vote in only a few weeks.

00:29:58.000 Go to lowermydrugprices.com.

00:30:00.000 All of us together must oppose the Marxist Bernie Sanders, lowermydrugprices.com.

00:30:07.000 The website is trentstaggs.com, S-T-A-G-G-S.

00:30:11.000 Utah is a special place.

00:30:13.000 It's going to take a candidate that speaks the Utah language.

00:30:16.000 And I think Mayor Staggs has that.

00:30:19.000 I love mayors.

00:30:20.000 I don't think we embrace mayors enough as conservatives.

00:30:22.000 Bloomberg has been like the Mr. Mayor Project guy.

00:30:25.000 Is there a national network of conservative mayors that you know of?

00:30:31.000 There is an organization that has conservative mayors.

00:30:35.000 And I think you're spot on.

00:30:37.000 I mean, this is, I say that as a mayor, I am on the front line.

00:30:42.000 Yes, it's a tough job of pushing back on government overreach, whether it be federal, state, county.

00:30:46.000 And you have to get, everyone's complains to you.

00:30:48.000 Everyone.

00:30:48.000 Yeah.

00:30:49.000 Right?

00:30:49.000 It is just, who's the mayor?

00:30:50.000 What's this?

00:30:51.000 Stuff that you don't always have power, jurisdiction over.

00:30:53.000 No, no.

00:30:54.000 And that's the funny thing.

00:30:56.000 I mean, my wife says, I can't go to the grocery store with you anymore because whenever we go, it's.

00:31:00.000 Oh, yeah.

00:31:00.000 It's like, hey, you know, can you do something about this easement or can you get something approved?

00:31:05.000 So being a mayor, I have a lot of respect for you in that.

00:31:08.000 And so let's just talk about some policy stuff.

00:31:11.000 You know, looking at your website, it looks like we're in total alignment, but pro-life, pro-family, strong justices.

00:31:17.000 Absolutely.

00:31:18.000 You know, talk just about philosophically what, if you were to say a type of senator there currently is in the Senate that you would be most like, who would that be?

00:31:26.000 Oh, I think Mike Lee is a good senator that we want.

00:31:31.000 I would emulate.

00:31:32.000 I love Mike Lee.

00:31:33.000 He's one of my favorite people.

00:31:35.000 Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, these are senators that I think Rick Scott that I would in that mold.

00:31:44.000 Exactly.

00:31:44.000 That type of ilk.

00:31:46.000 Well, and I obviously harmonize with that.

00:31:49.000 Mike Lee has been great and super helpful and a fighter.

00:31:52.000 And so going to D.C., you know, it tends to change people.

00:31:56.000 What guarantees can you give that you will stay strong and principled and not become a Mitt Romney if you were to win?

00:32:03.000 And that is a problem, you know, and I've seen that happen, unfortunately, to some people.

00:32:08.000 And I think my response to that is take a look at what I've done in 10 years.

00:32:12.000 I've been in elected office for that period of time.

00:32:15.000 I don't believe that I've ever done anything contrary to what I said I would do.

00:32:20.000 I have not been shy to stand up for things like we talked about earlier with respect to governmental overreach at the federal level.

00:32:26.000 I've stood up for the craziness going on at schools.

00:32:30.000 I mean, as a mayor, we don't fund in Utah the schools or set the curriculum, but we handle things such as all the resource officers, the crossing guards.

00:32:38.000 And I have a school safety roundtable meeting that I lead out on every single year.

00:32:44.000 And all the inappropriate materials that have been going on in schools, I had to stand up and fight back on that just this last April.

00:32:51.000 And so people, I think they know what they're going to get.

00:32:54.000 I've demonstrated that, again, I walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

00:32:59.000 And that is something that I would continue to do in D.C.

00:33:02.000 I think you'd be a great senator.

00:33:03.000 And so is the race pretty set now?

00:33:05.000 Is that right?

00:33:06.000 It's just a one-on-one?

00:33:07.000 Currently, we have one other candidate that's announced an exploratory committee.

00:33:12.000 But yeah, right now, in terms of fully announced, filed...

00:33:16.000 I think a one-on-one hurts him, right?

00:33:18.000 Because a referendum on Romney, according to your numbers, he doesn't get above 40%.

00:33:22.000 Yeah, I think in a primary in particular, yes, that's going to be the case.

00:33:26.000 But you also know they're going to come viciously after you, right?

00:33:30.000 Yeah.

00:33:30.000 And they hold a bunch of corporate money.

00:33:33.000 Yeah, and that's, you're right.

00:33:34.000 He's got the establishment.

00:33:35.000 He's got the establishment money.

00:33:38.000 And that is something that my family had weighed long and hard about.

00:33:43.000 Is this something that we want to be able to do?

00:33:45.000 Because we know we want to go into it eyes wide open, and we know that we're going to be attacked, unfortunately.

00:33:51.000 It's kind of a sad state that we're in right now.

00:33:54.000 But God bless you for wanting to go into it and want to go into that line of fire.

00:33:59.000 Yeah, because they're going to do everything they possibly can to try, if he runs, to hold on to this.

00:34:05.000 And I really believe you could have like a Liz Cheney type referendum on this.

00:34:10.000 I do too.

00:34:11.000 Where the numbers get so wildly out of whack, it just becomes almost unreachable.

00:34:16.000 So the website, again, is trenchstaggs.com.

00:34:21.000 And you got a little bit of a lead up, right, before the convention.

00:34:24.000 So you're building support.

00:34:26.000 And so if you want to retire Mitt Romney, go to trentstaggs.com.

00:34:30.000 Final thoughts, Trent?

00:34:32.000 Yeah, when you go there, you'll take a look at three high-level themes.

00:34:36.000 Smaller government, safer families, stronger economy.

00:34:39.000 There's some policy briefs, a little paragraph or so on each on nine top issues.

00:34:44.000 And that's what I want to do.

00:34:45.000 I think number one, first and foremost, is a smaller government.

00:34:48.000 Our government is way too big.

00:34:50.000 The size scope burden of the government on the lives of average everyday Americans is just out of control.

00:34:55.000 We need somebody that's actually demonstrated they can cut taxes, as I've done, and innovate and actually lower cut spending and improve governmental services, but lowering costs at the same time.

00:35:08.000 And that's something that I've done.

00:35:09.000 So lower taxes.

00:35:12.000 The regulatory framework is out of control.

00:35:14.000 That's something we have to address.

00:35:16.000 I think the Reigns Act is something that we need to implement.

00:35:19.000 Balanced budget, Reigns Act, just those two things if we can lower the size of government.

00:35:24.000 I love it.

00:35:24.000 TrentStags.com.

00:35:25.000 It's time to retire Willard Mitt Romney, the Michigan Massachusetts senator masquerading from Utah.

00:35:32.000 Mayor Trent Staggs, thanks so much.

00:35:33.000 Email us freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:35:35.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:35:36.000 Email us your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:35:39.000 Thank you so much for listening, and God bless.

00:35:44.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - July 07, 2023

Retire Mitt Romney with Trent Staggs and Robert Lighthizer

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