00:00:56.000He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:01:02.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:01:14.000Brought to you by the Loan Experts I Trust, Andrew and Todd at Sierra Pacific Mortgage at andrewandTodd.com.
00:01:23.000Hello, everybody, live from Nashville, Tennessee, with producer Andrew here at the TPUSA Faith Pastor Summit, the second one that we have done and the largest that we know of in the country.
00:01:33.000If there's a larger pastor summit, then let us know.
00:01:36.000You guys can email us your thoughts, freedom at charliekirk.com on an incredibly important news day as Governor Ron DeSantis, America's greatest governor, in our opinion, is announcing for the presidency tonight.
00:01:46.000But I just want to first frame all this because you have Tim Scott who announced earlier this week.
00:01:50.000You have Ron DeSantis that announcing tonight.
00:03:06.000They want someone to say, I'm going to go against the Washington, D.C. crime syndicate, the cartel, the Uniparty in both parties.
00:03:13.000Now, ironically, the person who used to be president is actually positioning himself as the most anti-establishment candidate, largely because of the indictments and the Durham report and just the kind of the multi-institutional avalanche of opposition that's against Trump.
00:03:29.000You have to know what the audience wants, right?
00:03:31.000So does the audience want someone with perfect sound bites and really beautifully curtailed messaging and the right words, you know, nice TV ads?
00:03:40.000Or does the audience want the Republican base that you have to win over?
00:04:34.000Because what he ended up doing, even though DeSantis could have assumed the outsider dissident street fighter posture, certainly his record in Florida would warrant that that would be the lane you would think he would go down.
00:04:45.000But what he ended up doing is sort of signaling to the base, like, actually, you know what, these donors that I have.
00:06:00.000And Molly Hemingway's book, The Rigged, is great on it.
00:06:02.000But the audience of the Republican base, they want someone who is willing to understand the globalist pressure against America, willing to understand that there is an insidious and nefarious campaign, and not just someone who has good policy ideas.
00:06:19.000And this can't always be articulated in a way that, let's just say, people in the middle can understand.
00:06:25.000Because somebody stopped me as we were traveling yesterday.
00:06:28.000Somebody stopped me and said, Charlie, I don't understand.
00:06:35.000And I say, if you feel as if every institution is rigged against you, you're going to want to have someone that also has the same enemies as you.
00:06:43.000And that is a person that is willing to push back against it.
00:06:46.000And yes, the indictments, I think, help Trump.
00:06:48.000I think these investigations help Trump.
00:06:57.000Does the Uniparty has the does this is a very interesting thought experiment for this hour?
00:07:02.000Does the Unit Party understand the Republican base better than most Republican candidates?
00:07:07.000Meaning from a consultant standpoint, meaning they know that Trump actually will get more popular with the indictments, and maybe that will hurt him in the general.
00:09:21.000They want someone that's willing to go tear some stuff apart, not be neat, not be polite, not just have good policy ideas, but someone that's willing to shred the Leviathan.
00:09:31.000Well, you know, they want someone with a vengeance.
00:09:33.000Well, and here's what occurs to me in this moment.
00:09:36.000You know, the great songwriters, the great poets, the great filmmakers of any era, they know how to say the thing that you're thinking, but you don't have words for it, right?
00:09:44.000It's almost like Trump is the great politician-songwriter of our generation.
00:10:08.000Trump is one of the few candidates that is able to channel the pathos, the emotion.
00:10:13.000Usually, Republicans are very bad at this.
00:10:15.000And the wonkier you get, the less people feel connected to you.
00:10:20.000Even though they say, oh, yeah, he's doing a good job.
00:10:22.000But there is a deep emotion that goes beyond anything that you can articulate that people, an attachment they have with Trump, as if he is a symbol.
00:10:36.000Look, I can't believe the dire headlines we're facing in the world today.
00:10:39.000Everywhere you look, things are falling apart.
00:10:41.000And that's why the smartest investment you can make right now is in your family's food security.
00:10:46.000The reality is you might not be able to find food when the next disaster strikes.
00:10:51.000The reality is you might not be able to find food when the next disaster strikes.
00:10:54.000Grocery stores will be empty because roads will be closed and trucks won't be able to make deliveries.
00:10:59.000When that happens, you need emergency food in full supply.
00:11:02.000That's why I urge you to grab a three-month emergency food kit from MyPatriot Supply, the nation's largest preparedness company.
00:11:09.000When you order today, you'll save $200 on each kit you need.
00:11:12.000Having these kits means your family will stay fed while others stand in food lines.
00:11:51.000Part of this is actually not so smart.
00:11:53.000So tonight at 6 p.m. Eastern, Ron DeSantis will be joining a Twitter space of the world's richest man, Elon Musk, moderated by... the day with the stock prices.
00:12:38.000I mean, when you announce the presidency, typically it's done at your home state in front of a friendly audience with lots of warm applause, kind of Tim Scott style, right?
00:12:47.000With everybody holding, you know, your kind of signs.
00:13:47.000Whereas the thing I don't like about it is that it is sort of, it feels a bit almost like Cruz or Jeb Bush Playbook 2016, right?
00:14:00.000In the sense that it feels like he's trying to do Trump light.
00:14:04.000He's trying to win over the moderates and the centrists and the independents without, which is not a winning strategy for a primary, you know?
00:14:34.000Now, the risk is what if Elon gets the headlines in that Ron DeSantis?
00:14:40.000What if all of a sudden it becomes the Elon show and Elon starts saying some stuff?
00:14:44.000Because Elon is very unique and has takes on stuff.
00:14:49.000And I mean, what if Elon Stark is talking about simulation theory?
00:14:52.000So, Governor, what is your theory on the fact we're living in the simulation?
00:14:59.000This is literally a video game we're all living in.
00:15:01.000That's something that Elon has talked about, by the way.
00:15:03.000At the same time, if Governor DeSantis can navigate the Joe Rogan-esque type line of questioning, right, aliens and kind of just more abstract stuff, his points could go up huge.
00:15:14.000However, let's get back down to what is necessary.
00:15:18.000Again, there'll be time for Governor DeSantis to try to compete in this arena, but first impressions matter.
00:16:02.000Simultaneously, though, it's kind of brilliant because it's like, hey, I'm going to use the platform of a non-political Tony Stark figure for my political candidacy.
00:16:16.000I'm palatable enough to go win the states we need to win because the guy who's considered to be a hero amongst our target demo that we need to win, 25 to 40-year-old voters, is willing to interview me on my announcement.
00:16:29.000That's pretty awesome if you think about it.
00:16:54.000Look at NAD and see what it could do for you.
00:16:55.000Well, look, I take NAD every single day.
00:16:58.000Strong Cell is a scientific breakthrough in cellular health replenishment that combines NADH, CoQ10, and marine collagen to boost your body's cellular function.
00:17:06.000I personally take Strong Cell every day, and so do a ton of Kirk listeners.
00:18:00.000In a way that is hard to always explain, where words will not always suffice because language is not the only way human beings are able to connect.
00:18:09.000Language is actually, according to a Harvard study, only 7% of people value language over physiology or over emotion.
00:18:19.000We're actually a highly emotional people.
00:18:21.000And Donald Trump knows this in a certain way, from his language choice to his body posture to just the alpha male energy that he's able to communicate.
00:18:30.000And Ron DeSantis, I think, is going to get advice from his consultants, which is going to be win the policy debate.
00:18:37.000Okay, there are some voters that will vote on policy, but the Republican base is much more about the ethos.
00:19:12.000I was talking about Churchill and the wonder if that's a little bit, this sort of like, you know, it doesn't sound like Churchill, though.
00:19:19.000So I was not Churchill, but if anyone knows who's actually, again, this is what I love about our audience, the combined wisdom of our audience solves the mysteries in like 90 seconds.
00:19:27.000Who on earth is the one narrating this advertisement?
00:20:30.000Like when I talk about how the voters say they want an outsider, so you would naturally assume that would be DeSantis because he's never been president before and Trump has.
00:20:45.000It sounds like there's so many little signals because you and I live and breathe this stuff and we work with these people.
00:20:51.000There's so many little signals that say, oh, donor inspired that move.
00:20:54.000He was checking a box there, or he's taking a consultant tip there.
00:20:58.000Or like, yeah, get the sort of transatlantic, like global, like ambiguous accented guy that they hire for VOs and the expats in London that are donated to his campaign.
00:22:38.000And Fox News has confirmed that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will announce his candidacy for president in a Twitter space conversation that Ron DeSantis will have with Elon Musk.
00:22:54.000So just so we're clear, the audience so far says it's Gordon Ramsey, Prince Harry, Klaus Schwab, or Sebastian Gorka.
00:23:12.000We are swinging and missing right now in the Charlie Kirk show audience of the identification of the foreigner narrating big Ron DeSantis's ads.
00:23:18.000PlayCut 66, Elon Musk confirms the rumors.
00:23:22.000And someone just said, Charlie, it sounds like, why do you like Elon so much?
00:23:52.000I think it's positive, though, just for the general conservative movement that somebody that is, again, Ron DeSantis is a true conservative.
00:23:59.000People say he's a globalist and all that.
00:24:02.000But I think it's positive for what we want for the country, Andrew, right?
00:24:05.000To have someone like Elon platforming these ideas.
00:24:08.000I think from the broader Overton window, that's an exciting thing that will happen tonight.
00:24:14.000I think there will be millions of young people that are tuning in that have a negative view of Republicans that might have a better descriptive understanding of our worldview and what we're trying to accomplish.
00:24:28.000I think that's excellent that there is a platform for our ideas to get out into the zeitgeist, into the place where otherwise, because there will be tens of millions of people that see whatever ends up happening.
00:24:41.000Oh, there's going to be all kinds of look-y-lose and people just curious about what this could mean.
00:26:03.000Yeah, what you just said, I think it's important.
00:26:07.000I think, again, I go into the strategy side of this, and it's almost like his policies have almost, he's come out with these very conservative policies in Florida, just made all kinds of headlines.
00:26:20.000Yes, but it's almost like the consultants, the advisors are going like, hey, listen, we're going to own this conservative base grassroots space over here, but on our messaging, on a tonal, on this rollout, we're going to try and appeal to this non-Trump side of the party, if you will, the non-mAGA base.
00:26:35.000And I think it's coming off convoluted.
00:26:40.000Andrew, you think this is a pattern with Ron DeSantis?
00:27:34.000But when I say this is becoming a trend, again, the problem is that Ron has a lot of money that's gotten excited about him and come around him and all these consultants.
00:27:45.000And I think you're starting to see that in some of these signals.
00:27:47.000And one of the signals I want to bring up is when he signed the legislation in Israel about further combating anti-Semitism.
00:28:11.000But the thing was, doing it in Israel, I thought was an interesting signal when you've got like Boca Raton in your backyard.
00:28:18.000So again, when we start, that's why I think you see us kind of really chiming it, going like, wait, hold on.
00:28:24.000Why is there this Americanized, softened British thing in the voice over your announcement video?
00:28:30.000I just think, again, I just think it shows that it's hard to build a team that is cohesive, especially out of the gate, right?
00:28:38.000I mean, Trump, by the way, if we're going to be critical, I mean, Trump, the one area of critique against Trump, especially in term one, was the fact that some of the personnel choices were ho-hum, right?
00:28:51.000So, I mean, listen, it's hard to build a team that's ready and prepped from the jump to run for president and not skid your knees a couple times.
00:28:59.000So the question is going to be: are the voters willing to sort of like look past some of these mistakes?
00:29:05.000I think no mistake was bigger than the Trump indictment under Alvin Bragg, and he should have come out real strong and said, listen, politics aside, you don't come for a former president.
00:29:14.000You don't come for a sitting president with this novel legal nonsense.
00:29:18.000This is bigger than the presidential race.
00:29:39.000Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, the turtle, Lady Graham.
00:29:43.000I mean, Boehner, you know, yeah, who's a total drunk.
00:29:46.000And how many times have we heard a nice platitude and seen a good rollout and a beautifully produced video to see them sell out our country and not fight for us?
00:29:56.000And then all of a sudden we have a contrast of Trump that didn't just say the right things, but blew up the system and did what he said he was going to do.
00:30:04.000And this is something I try to tell candidates all the time, which is that our base is incredibly skeptical of you.
00:30:26.000I mean, when we talk about patterns, look at what also some of the sort of neocon neoliberal sort of just he was, he touched on a few of those trigger words, those trigger ideas for us in the base with everything that's going on in Ukraine.
00:30:43.000And so I'm just saying, like, if you're going, you know, listen, if you're going to pick a path and say, I'm going to try and get the, I believe that it's 51% of the base voters that are going to vote in this primary are not Trump people.
00:30:54.000He might get 49, but I'm going to get 51.
00:30:56.000If that's your lane, that's what you're going to go for.
00:30:59.000But what I think the read is, is that the same people that loved and love Ron DeSantis were basically very, they were Trump skeptics, but they loved Trump, right?
00:31:10.000So I just think it's a weird strategy, and we'll see how it plays out.
00:31:14.000The conservative base is scorned for good reason.
00:31:28.000And Trump is the standard because for a decade of, I've been in this for 11 years, and I have more people that have betrayed us and let us down than people that have fulfilled the mandate.
00:31:37.000And they go soft, and they go soft, and they go vanilla, and they go to DC, and they change their language.
00:31:42.000You're like, wow, Paul Ryan, you were supposed to be the guy, and now you're just basically controlled opposition.