The Charlie Kirk Show - April 17, 2023


Should We Cancel the Republican Primary?


Episode Stats


Length

33 minutes

Words per minute

185.60637

Word count

6,224

Sentence count

547

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Toxicity

13

sentences flagged

Hate speech

6

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Should we cancel the Republican Primary? Today's episode of the Charlie Kirk Show comes from Turning Point USA and its President, Charlie Kirk. In this episode, Charlie talks about why the primary should be canceled and why the Democratic primary should not be either.

Transcript

Transcripts from "The Charlie Kirk Show" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hey, everybody, today Charlie Kirk Show.
00:00:01.000 Should we cancel the Republican primary?
00:00:04.000 I make the arguments for both sides.
00:00:06.000 Email us freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:00:08.000 Subscribe to our podcast.
00:00:09.000 Open up your podcast application and type in Charlie Kirk Show.
00:00:13.000 Get involved with Turning PointUSA today at tpusa.com.
00:00:16.000 Start a high school or college chapter today at tpusa.com.
00:00:21.000 As always, you can email us, freedom at charliekirk.com, and get involved with the best organization in the country, tpusa.com.
00:00:29.000 I love all of you that support us at Turning Point USA.
00:00:31.000 We're thankful for it.
00:00:32.000 We are educating the next generation around the ideas of freedom, liberty, and the Constitution, tpusa.com.
00:00:38.000 Buckle up, everybody.
00:00:39.000 Here we go.
00:00:41.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
00:00:42.000 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, 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.
00:01:14.000 Brought to you by the Loan Experts I Trust, Andrew and Todd at Sierra Pacific Mortgage at andrewandTodd.com.
00:01:23.000 We had a very interesting weekend this last weekend.
00:01:26.000 We had a retreat for our top supporters at Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action.
00:01:32.000 And I learn a lot when I'm around some of our supporters and our donors.
00:01:36.000 I asked them, you know, how are you feeling for 2024?
00:01:38.000 And there was an interesting perspective that I totally sympathize with.
00:01:42.000 They said, Charlie, we just don't want a long primary.
00:01:44.000 We don't want a bloody primary while the Democrats get ready to coronate a single person while they build a machine for ballot chasing and voter registration.
00:01:52.000 And we're just kind of worrying about a specific candidate.
00:01:54.000 And I said, well, you know, do you guys, are you okay with Trump?
00:01:56.000 And a lot of Trump enthusiasts.
00:01:58.000 I said, look, that's not really the point.
00:02:00.000 The point is, I want to win.
00:02:01.000 That was the main rallying cry, especially amongst our Turning Point Action donors, is we want to win.
00:02:06.000 We want to do what it takes to win.
00:02:08.000 We want to get towards building a coalition of victory.
00:02:12.000 We're sick of losing.
00:02:13.000 We're sick of this pattern of falling short.
00:02:16.000 We're sick of them being able to gain the system and we're going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a primary.
00:02:20.000 We have to win.
00:02:21.000 It has to be mission critical.
00:02:24.000 And the question I want to ask today as we begin is, should we really play into a Republican primary?
00:02:32.000 Is it necessary?
00:02:33.000 Is it a good thing to have a long, drawn-out primary?
00:02:39.000 I could see arguments for both sides, but it is a fact that Donald Trump has surged to the Republican primary polls.
00:02:46.000 In certain states, he has 60 or 70 percent.
00:02:48.000 Other states, 50 to 60 percent.
00:02:50.000 Donald Trump, in the last couple of months, his team decided to take a ultra aggressive, like 10 out of 10 aggressive posture towards Ron DeSantis.
00:02:59.000 I personally didn't like a lot of this.
00:03:01.000 I like Ron DeSantis.
00:03:02.000 I think he's a good governor.
00:03:03.000 But it's a fact that the strategy has worked for Donald Trump.
00:03:06.000 He's relentlessly pounding Ron DeSantis by running ads.
00:03:10.000 He is tweeting about him.
00:03:11.000 Well, not tweeting, but he's posting social media about him.
00:03:14.000 He's talking negatively about him.
00:03:15.000 And Ron DeSantis really hasn't responded very much.
00:03:18.000 DeSantis, one of his super PACs is a couple ads up here or there, but it's working.
00:03:24.000 And so the question is, can somebody else besides Donald Trump actually become the nominee?
00:03:28.000 It's not going to be Asa Hutchinson.
00:03:30.000 It's not going to be Glenn Young.
00:03:32.000 Glenn Young said he might want to run.
00:03:34.000 Should we even indulge in Republican primaries?
00:03:38.000 You see, the Democrats have decided no more primaries.
00:03:41.000 And yes, there is an article out today that shows that Joe Biden is less popular than ever before.
00:03:48.000 Now, we made the prediction that Joe Biden is not going to run for re-election.
00:03:51.000 That remains to be a mystery.
00:03:53.000 Is he going to run?
00:03:54.000 Is he not going to run?
00:03:55.000 Very soon, we're going to have to find out.
00:03:57.000 But it doesn't matter.
00:03:59.000 Joe Biden running in 2024 is going to be really hard to beat.
00:04:03.000 And they say, what do you mean, Charlie?
00:04:04.000 Hard to beat.
00:04:05.000 He's so unpopular.
00:04:06.000 Yep.
00:04:06.000 He can't even speak in sentences.
00:04:08.000 Yep.
00:04:10.000 Tough to beat.
00:04:11.000 Candidate quality means next to nothing right now.
00:04:15.000 Because the Democrats have such a structural advantage with how they've built the infrastructure in these key states.
00:04:20.000 They can run a brain-dead person like they did, a pseudo-brain-dead person like John Fetterman, who can become a senator.
00:04:26.000 They just chase ballots.
00:04:27.000 They relax the signature verification thresholds.
00:04:29.000 They have their thousands of paid community organizers, knock on doors and scoop up ballots.
00:04:34.000 We're harvesting this legal.
00:04:35.000 They relentlessly run television advertisements. 1.00
00:04:38.000 The oligarchs come in with text message campaigns and anti-Republican campaigns. 0.92
00:04:43.000 They micro-target.
00:04:44.000 They do not run a campaign.
00:04:46.000 They run 40 different campaigns.
00:04:48.000 They run a micro-targeted campaign for pro-abortion voters in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
00:04:53.000 They run one for people that are concerned about gun violence, people that immigration is their top issue.
00:04:58.000 They run micro-targeted campaigns with sophistication, data precision.
00:05:03.000 They don't care who the candidates are.
00:05:05.000 Should we?
00:05:06.000 That's an interesting question.
00:05:08.000 Should we care as much as we do?
00:05:11.000 The Democrats say we don't care who the candidate is.
00:05:14.000 We want to run with our machine.
00:05:16.000 So whether it's Joe Biden or not, my advice is don't take the bait.
00:05:21.000 They're going to blur the lines.
00:05:22.000 They're going to do stuff that is not totally ethical.
00:05:30.000 And as we are progressing, Donald Trump is gaining steam, not decreasing with steam.
00:05:36.000 It's probably still a good idea for Ron DeSantis to run, especially in the primaries, or even participate in the debates.
00:05:44.000 Better to run and lose and not be forgotten, and there will be another hot thing in Florida by 2028.
00:05:50.000 That's the personal advice I would give for Ron DeSantis.
00:05:53.000 I say this as a friend of Ron DeSantis.
00:05:55.000 He's had a bad month and a half.
00:05:57.000 He has not come across as strong or confident.
00:06:00.000 His team would disagree with what I'm saying.
00:06:02.000 I'm just telling you what the grassroots are saying.
00:06:04.000 I see your emails.
00:06:05.000 He's just kind of seemed as a scripted politician where people right now want a fighter.
00:06:09.000 In a time of widespread weakness, Donald Trump is coming across as strong.
00:06:13.000 And Ron DeSantis is not.
00:06:15.000 And some of the advice that Ron DeSantis is receiving is: well, you know, don't get into the gutter.
00:06:23.000 Don't get into the fight that Donald Trump will win best.
00:06:27.000 There's some truth at that at the same time.
00:06:28.000 Are you going to engage at all?
00:06:31.000 You see, the Republican primary is it ending before it begins.
00:06:40.000 So Joe Biden at Politico.com, Biden's poll numbers look grim as he prefs a reelection bid.
00:06:45.000 None of it matters.
00:06:45.000 Stop looking at polls.
00:06:46.000 How many ballots are you going to chase?
00:06:48.000 How many ballots are you going to bank?
00:06:49.000 Again, Fetterman is evidence that somebody with no talent that can't speak sentences can speak someone who's charismatic.
00:06:57.000 Dr. Roz, who is a very successful heart surgeon.
00:07:01.000 According to 538, Biden's average poll numbers stands at 43%, about nine points lower than his 52% disapproval rating.
00:07:09.000 Doesn't matter.
00:07:10.000 That's only one point higher than Trump's 538 approval rating on April 15th, 2019, at the same point in his presidency.
00:07:19.000 Joe Biden has one of the lowest approval ratings of any president at this time.
00:07:24.000 Remember, we were like, oh, the midterms are going to be amazing.
00:07:26.000 Joe Biden is so unpopular.
00:07:27.000 Were they amazing?
00:07:29.000 Remember, September was all about Joe Biden being doomed and we're going to sweep the Senate.
00:07:34.000 We didn't sweep the Senate.
00:07:36.000 They did well.
00:07:37.000 They won the Nevada Senate race.
00:07:38.000 They won the Arizona Senate race.
00:07:39.000 They won the Pennsylvania Senate race.
00:07:40.000 They won the Georgia Senate race.
00:07:42.000 The Pennsylvania was a flip for them.
00:07:44.000 They increased their Senate majority.
00:07:47.000 Why?
00:07:47.000 Because we're so worried about candidate selection and primaries.
00:07:50.000 We spent over $100 million, we being the conservative movement, on the Illinois gubernatorial primary to be able to lose 10 points to J.B. Pritzker.
00:08:01.000 Maybe instead of spending so much in primaries, it's a better idea to spend it on election integrity, fix our elections, signature verification, no more drop boxes.
00:08:10.000 Are we really robustly spending money on that?
00:08:15.000 Now, the counter argument is, Charlie, primaries are healthy to figure out what does the party believe.
00:08:21.000 Primaries are good to be able to have the debates of, are we going to be a uniparty moderate Republican party or are we going to be a base party?
00:08:28.000 Primaries are good to send a message to the Uniparty that the grassroots are in charge.
00:08:32.000 And boy, do I agree with a lot of that.
00:08:34.000 At the same time, it would be a shame.
00:08:36.000 It would be a catastrophe to have hundreds of millions of dollars spent on which horse is then going to go up against the Democrat well-oiled machine.
00:08:46.000 The RNC, of course, is not going to build the machine.
00:08:49.000 The RNC, which raises hundreds of millions of dollars more than the Democrat Party, spends about 40 to 50% of all the money that they raise on more fundraising.
00:08:59.000 They don't know how to build a machine, nor are they going to build a machine.
00:09:02.000 We're going to do our best at turning point action to try to build it.
00:09:05.000 But I look at this looming horse race.
00:09:08.000 I look at this primary, and I'm simultaneously concerned, and I'm excited.
00:09:14.000 I'm excited because I think that someone like Vivek Ramaswamy has a lot to say.
00:09:19.000 I'm concerned, though, that we're going to spend all this time and this attention on the primary that, of course, we're going to cover.
00:09:26.000 That, of course, we're going to try to find the ideological fault lines and certain people's arguments and perspectives.
00:09:32.000 And it's going to all be a waste of time, a waste of time for something that Donald Trump is already winning in.
00:09:37.000 You know, they're going to raise all this money.
00:09:39.000 They're going to have all these fundraisers and run all these ads.
00:09:41.000 And then Donald Trump will win with 54% of the vote instead of 61% of the vote.
00:09:45.000 And he'll still be the nominee.
00:09:46.000 And then will we have the infrastructure in Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin that is necessary?
00:09:51.000 Will we have the election integrity machine built?
00:09:54.000 I sure hope so, and I'm seeing no evidence of that.
00:09:57.000 I'm seeing way too much attention on the horse race, which Donald Trump is going to win anyway.
00:10:03.000 The most probable outcome for the Republican primary, Trump is going to even pull further ahead.
00:10:08.000 If that is true, then why have a primary at all?
00:10:11.000 In the sense of why do we engage in this?
00:10:13.000 Why don't we just call for all the candidates to drop out?
00:10:14.000 Trump is up by 60 or 70%.
00:10:17.000 Let's end this thing.
00:10:18.000 Is that the healthiest thing?
00:10:19.000 I want to hear from you.
00:10:20.000 Email me freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:10:22.000 The only counter argument is that primaries actually can make Trump a better candidate, more on message, more responsive to the base.
00:10:28.000 And we can have real debate about the issues that matter.
00:10:31.000 And it's just fun to clobber the Republican moderate uniparty.
00:10:35.000 Personally, I would find delight in that.
00:10:36.000 I think it's great.
00:10:37.000 It's fun to just see these Republican, good-for-nothing, Vichy French consultants, boom, lose by 60 points, even though they get rich while doing it.
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00:11:29.000 All right, the ad war is already starting, and I'm like, I'm like, geez, this is not helpful.
00:11:34.000 Where's the investment in Arizona?
00:11:36.000 Nowhere.
00:11:36.000 Where's the investment in Georgia?
00:11:38.000 Nowhere.
00:11:39.000 Where's the investment in Wisconsin?
00:11:42.000 Okay, so DeSantis is running ads.
00:11:45.000 Trump is running ads.
00:11:47.000 Play cut 20.
00:11:48.000 This is a Ron DeSantis ad against Donald Trump.
00:11:51.000 Play Cut 20.
00:11:52.000 Donald Trump is being attacked by a Democrat prosecutor in New York.
00:11:56.000 So why is he spending millions attacking the Republican governor of Florida?
00:12:00.000 Trump's stealing pages from the Biden-Pelosi playbook, repeating lies about Social Security.
00:12:06.000 Here's the truth from Governor Ron DeSantis.
00:12:08.000 We're not going to mess with Social Security as Republicans.
00:12:11.000 What did Trump say?
00:12:12.000 Entitlements ever be on your plane.
00:12:13.000 At some point, they will be.
00:12:14.000 We will take a look at this.
00:12:16.000 Trump should fight Democrats, not lie about Governor DeSantis.
00:12:19.000 What happened?
00:12:20.000 Donald Trump.
00:12:20.000 Never back down.
00:12:21.000 He's responsible for the contents of this ad.
00:12:22.000 So that's a pro-Ron DeSantis super PAC, not technically Ron DeSantis, but usually those things are done with winks and nods within kind of favorable circles because the ad war is just looming.
00:12:35.000 I mean, consultants are going to make tons of money on this.
00:12:38.000 You see, the incentive structure is that consultants want this race to happen.
00:12:42.000 I'm not a consultant.
00:12:44.000 I stand to gain.
00:12:45.000 All I stand to gain is more viewers and more downloads, I guess, if there's a primary.
00:12:49.000 I don't care about that.
00:12:50.000 I want my country back from these radical Marxists that are vastly out of alignment with actually how Americans view the world.
00:12:58.000 That's what makes me upset.
00:13:00.000 You know, I know what fires me up and I think fires you up?
00:13:02.000 Is that the people running the country do not share the values of the vast majority of the country?
00:13:08.000 Yes, there are elements of the fringe trans stuff.
00:13:11.000 There are elements of the earth worshipers.
00:13:13.000 The vast majority of Americans do not see their value system reflected in this current government at all.
00:13:19.000 Yet they keep winning, winning, in quotes.
00:13:22.000 And yeah, we're getting some emails.
00:13:24.000 Charlie, why don't you talk about election integrity?
00:13:26.000 My whole point is actually about election integrity.
00:13:28.000 Wouldn't it be more rational to say end the primary and go spend $250 million right now on election integrity in Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin?
00:13:38.000 Or would you rather have that money spent on an ad war?
00:13:41.000 Would you rather have that money spent on people shouting at each other and talking to each other?
00:13:46.000 There's ad after ad after ad.
00:13:48.000 Can you get some of the anti-DeSantis ads that I could show you?
00:13:51.000 Most Republican consultants is exactly the primary of the campaign is how most Republican consultants cash in.
00:14:00.000 Three years of famine, one year of feasting.
00:14:06.000 It is the harvest for the Republican consultants.
00:14:10.000 It's the same perverse incentive structure that we have in the military industrial complex or in the pharmaceutical industrial complex.
00:14:18.000 And some of these consultants are very nice people.
00:14:20.000 They're very sweet.
00:14:21.000 They're very smart. 0.95
00:14:22.000 Not all of them are dumb, but they're acting in their own self-interest. 0.90
00:14:25.000 So they're trying to recruit candidate after candidate because a competitive primary, quote unquote, even though it's not competitive, that's what's so hilarious about it, is that you have one candidate at 55, 60%, and you have all the rest at two, three, five, six. 0.93
00:14:40.000 And the other thing that is fuming this is that if you take the 1% of the Republican primary of the richest 1% of Republican primary voters, they're not very sold on Trump.
00:14:52.000 The wealthier you get on the Republican ladder, the less popular Donald Trump is.
00:14:57.000 There's a lot of reasons for this, one of which is just there is a style that Donald Trump embraces that is not exactly popular amongst upper echelon levels of Republican politics.
00:15:10.000 I hear frequently, Charlie, I hate the style.
00:15:12.000 I hate his bloviation. 0.98
00:15:12.000 I hate his bluster. 0.98
00:15:14.000 We got to win without this.
00:15:15.000 And that just seems to be a popular opinion in that group.
00:15:21.000 But they're not a majority of Republican voters.
00:15:23.000 But there's a lot of money to be raised.
00:15:24.000 If you want to go run against Donald Trump, you could be like Nikki Haley, who vastly overestimated how much money she raised.
00:15:29.000 Did she raise $11 million or $6 million?
00:15:31.000 I can't tell.
00:15:32.000 But Nikki Haley raised millions of dollars.
00:15:35.000 Asa Hutchinson will raise millions of dollars.
00:15:38.000 Mike Pompeo decided not to run, which I think is a signal that he doesn't see a path.
00:15:42.000 He's very smart.
00:15:44.000 There's not a path.
00:15:45.000 Mike Pence is probably going to run and he'll raise a bucket of money.
00:15:49.000 But for what?
00:15:50.000 What reason is this?
00:15:52.000 Now, again, the only counter argument, so Haley said she raised $11 million, but it was really $8 million.
00:16:00.000 What is the reason for this?
00:16:02.000 Besides consultants getting rich and future book deals and time on a debate stage, is this going to make America more free?
00:16:09.000 And the mission-critical question: is a long-drawn out, nasty primary that Trump will end up winning make us more or less likely to beat the Democrats?
00:16:21.000 Does a long-drawn out primary that Donald Trump is going to win make the party weaker or stronger to go beat the Democrats?
00:16:30.000 There is an argument to be made that Donald Trump against opponents gets stronger and he gets momentum because of it.
00:16:36.000 But I'm not seeing near the investment that we need to make in the early states to secure our elections so that we can defeat the Democrats.
00:16:45.000 I want your thoughts.
00:16:46.000 Freedom at CharlieKirk.com.
00:16:50.000 Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk here.
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00:17:53.000 Okay, I want to play a piece of tape here.
00:17:56.000 Just to remind you of the kind of primary that we're heading towards.
00:18:00.000 Donald Trump is the best at this.
00:18:02.000 Is somebody really thinking they're going to go up against it at this point with the momentum?
00:18:06.000 And honestly, the indictments help him.
00:18:09.000 The more they try to go after him in the primaries.
00:18:13.000 Go to Cut 18, Donald Trump against Jeb Bush.
00:18:17.000 This is a tough business to run for.
00:18:20.000 You're a tough guy, Jeb.
00:18:21.000 And we need to have a leader that is really...
00:18:23.000 You're never going to be president.
00:18:25.000 You're not going to be able to insult your way to the business.
00:18:26.000 Let's see.
00:18:27.000 I'm at 42 and you're at 3.
00:18:28.000 So so far I'm doing better.
00:18:30.000 It doesn't matter.
00:18:30.000 So far I'm doing better.
00:18:32.000 You know, you started off over here, Jeb.
00:18:34.000 You're moving over further and further.
00:18:36.000 Pretty soon you're going to be off the end.
00:18:37.000 He doesn't do a thing to do.
00:18:40.000 It sounds like a lot of people.
00:18:41.000 It sounds more.
00:18:43.000 It doesn't matter if you like it.
00:18:45.000 It doesn't matter if you hate it.
00:18:46.000 It doesn't matter if it makes you cringe.
00:18:47.000 It's effective.
00:18:48.000 It's who he is.
00:18:49.000 At this point, I mean, again, every week it's getting worse.
00:18:53.000 And I know the Ron DeSantis folks, and they're not taking our advice.
00:18:57.000 We're trying to tell them.
00:18:58.000 We're like, hey, you guys realize you guys are not doing very well right now.
00:19:02.000 I don't think they agree.
00:19:04.000 You can try to go up against the buzzsaw.
00:19:06.000 And by the way, Ron DeSantis is a fabulous governor.
00:19:09.000 But Ron DeSantis against Trump on a debate stage, especially as the terrain has changed in the last month with the indictment and Donald Trump's relentless, ultra-aggressive campaign.
00:19:19.000 He's trying to destroy Ron DeSantis' campaign before he even gets out of the gate.
00:19:23.000 This is not about governing.
00:19:24.000 It's a primary race.
00:19:25.000 It's totally different.
00:19:26.000 It's a show.
00:19:27.000 And Donald Trump's good at that.
00:19:29.000 Cut 21, Donald Trump against Ted Cruz.
00:19:31.000 Play cut 21.
00:19:33.000 Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood.
00:19:38.000 I disagree with him on that.
00:19:39.000 That's a matter of principle.
00:19:43.000 probably are worse than Jeb Bush. 1.00
00:19:44.000 You are the single biggest liar. 1.00
00:19:47.000 All right. 1.00
00:19:48.000 This guy lied.
00:19:49.000 Let me just tell you.
00:19:50.000 This guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa.
00:19:55.000 And he just continues.
00:19:57.000 This guy will say anything. 1.00
00:19:59.000 Nasty guy. 0.98
00:20:00.000 Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. 0.99
00:20:03.000 All right, John, I can tell you.
00:20:06.000 I don't think people realize how badly the conservative base wants an alpha male.
00:20:12.000 That plays into a lot of it.
00:20:14.000 They want someone who is strong and authoritative, not whiny or complaining.
00:20:19.000 They don't want someone that is just going to talk policy.
00:20:22.000 They want a fighter.
00:20:23.000 And part of that, it's more pathos and ethos than it is logos.
00:20:29.000 It's more that, man, that guy embodies the spirit to go up against the Chinese, to go up against any one of our enemies. 0.64
00:20:38.000 And Donald Trump knows exactly what he's doing in how he communicates from his mannerisms, his posture.
00:20:45.000 He's been on TV for 40 years, pretty good at it.
00:20:49.000 And so you got to wonder like what candidate can actually stand up to at this point.
00:20:54.000 And then so then it begs the question: is the entire process futile?
00:20:59.000 Or is it helpful to have Donald Trump just go obliterate people on the debate stage?
00:21:03.000 Is it helpful for him to say this is a waste of time?
00:21:05.000 I'm at 50 or 60.
00:21:06.000 I was a great president.
00:21:08.000 Is it helpful to the party to have Donald Trump attack from every direction?
00:21:11.000 Or is it healthy to have Donald Trump have to listen to the conservative base and recommit to a conservative grassroots agenda and have to answer legitimate questions about the vaccine and Fauci and Deborah Burks and Mark Milley and John Bolton and Rex Tillerson and Amarosa and Anonymous and The Leaker and Mitch McConnell's wife.
00:21:40.000 Should Donald Trump have to answer for those things, not answer for them on some sort of negative way, but give us some guarantees that in the next Donald Trump second term, that we're not going to have John Bolton, that we're not going to have people like Michael Cohen, that we're not going to have gutless wonders that are constantly acting like Judas, Cassius, or Brutus, people all around Donald Trump looking to knife him in the back.
00:22:06.000 That's a big concern from many of you.
00:22:08.000 Many of you say, Charlie, I love Donald Trump, but on the vaccine thing and on the personnel thing, I'm just not sold.
00:22:14.000 So maybe in a primary, we can get some guarantees.
00:22:19.000 Let's go to another piece of tape here.
00:22:22.000 As I remain concerned that this fight and the nonsense that's going to ensue, that is largely performative, the Democrats want that.
00:22:31.000 Is it possible the Democrats want a heated and expensive Republican primary while they build a lawfare operation in the three major states while they're registering more voters for the general election?
00:22:43.000 Are we doing that?
00:22:44.000 No, we're doing none of that.
00:22:46.000 Well, turning point action is, but the RNC is doing none of that.
00:22:51.000 It's a waste of time.
00:22:53.000 What they're doing, they're buying flowers in Nashville.
00:22:55.000 Evidently, they're trying to.
00:22:56.000 I'm going to show you the turning point flower budget in the break.
00:22:59.000 Get that picture for the next segment.
00:23:02.000 Turning point flower budget is really different than the RNC flower budget.
00:23:05.000 Very different.
00:23:06.000 I don't like this ad.
00:23:07.000 Apparently, it's effective.
00:23:08.000 It's Donald Trump attacking Ron DeSantis.
00:23:13.000 I don't like it.
00:23:13.000 It's kind of a disgusting ad.
00:23:15.000 Almost makes me want to hurl.
00:23:17.000 This is where we're headed.
00:23:18.000 Play cut 23.
00:23:20.000 Ron DeSantis loves sticking his fingers where they don't belong.
00:23:24.000 And we're not just talking about pudding. 0.96
00:23:27.000 DeSantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements.
00:23:31.000 Like cutting Medicare, slashing Social Security, even raising our retirement age.
00:23:39.000 Tell Ron DeSantis to keep his pudding fingers off our money.
00:23:43.000 Oh, get this man a spoon. 0.74
00:23:47.000 I mean, I'm going to be very honest.
00:23:48.000 I don't love the fear-mongering in Republican primaries around Social Security or Medicare.
00:23:53.000 Current beneficiaries, I don't think anything should be touched.
00:23:56.000 But yes, there need to be some adjustments for future retirees.
00:23:59.000 And if you even say that, it's like the third rail, especially amongst Republican voters.
00:24:05.000 We get emails from you.
00:24:07.000 Charlie, I hate DeSantis because he's going to touch Medicare or Social Security.
00:24:10.000 Like, come on, guys.
00:24:12.000 That's not true, first of all.
00:24:14.000 It's just not, it's not a good attack.
00:24:16.000 Secondly, let's just get a little bit deeper than that.
00:24:20.000 That is a left-wing fear-mongering tactic.
00:24:22.000 I don't like it, but apparently it's effective.
00:24:24.000 I'm just saying, I'm just calling balls and strikes.
00:24:26.000 I'm just trying to tell you how it is.
00:24:27.000 Trump is running as a populist, and the ad is effective, I suppose, in that sense.
00:24:32.000 Someone says here, Charlie, Evelyn, Charlie, right now my biggest concern is Donald Trump's choice of staff.
00:24:37.000 What a disaster.
00:24:39.000 Is it helpful to have Donald Trump have to get some criticism about that?
00:24:42.000 Probably. 0.98
00:24:43.000 Because you look at the cast of buffoons that Donald Trump had surrounding him. 0.96
00:24:48.000 People say, I think he'll do better in 2.0. 0.92
00:24:51.000 Okay, well, I need to see some evidence of that, honestly.
00:24:54.000 Can you give us lists of people you'll hire as staffers the same way you did a list of Supreme Court justices in 2016?
00:25:01.000 I think that'd be very helpful.
00:25:02.000 Give us a staffing roster.
00:25:04.000 Make it public.
00:25:05.000 I would have Kash Patel as Attorney General.
00:25:07.000 I'd have Stephen Miller as senior advisor.
00:25:11.000 Like, okay, now we're talking.
00:25:13.000 I think that would be really great.
00:25:15.000 You have Lou Dobbs as communications director.
00:25:18.000 I mean, I'm just thinking off the top of my head.
00:25:20.000 And so we're quickly going into this Republican primary.
00:25:28.000 And I got to wonder, are we getting closer or farther away from being able to have what is necessary to win the only three states that matter, which is Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona?
00:25:42.000 How does that advertisement help us win Georgia, Wisconsin, or Arizona?
00:25:47.000 Maybe the Democrat Uniparty with the Republican moderates want a long primary.
00:25:52.000 Are the Democrats going to have a long primary or are they going to coordinate Joe Biden?
00:25:56.000 It doesn't matter because they already have.
00:25:58.000 They are currently spending the Democrats via Arabella Advisors and George Soros and Lorene Powell Jobs and Reid Hoffman right now.
00:26:06.000 Instead of spending money on primary advertisements, do you know what they're spending money on?
00:26:11.000 They're spending money on lawfare to make it easier to cheat.
00:26:15.000 They're spending money nonstop.
00:26:16.000 Every dollar the Democrats are raising are going towards a machine to win Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia.
00:26:22.000 Our side is doing none of that.
00:26:23.000 We're so focused on this race between the two of them, of which I think we all know the outcome. 0.80
00:26:29.000 So what is the point of it?
00:26:31.000 The only good argument is that Donald Trump will become a more conservative candidate and we can get answers that will satisfy us.
00:26:37.000 But quite honestly, can we do that without a primary?
00:26:39.000 Now, someone said, well, Charlie, what do you mean?
00:26:40.000 We're going to end the primary.
00:26:41.000 We're not going to have.
00:26:42.000 I mean, you just kind of call for candidates to go and it just becomes somewhat performative.
00:26:47.000 And then every money, every dollar that Donald Trump raises, the superb can go and say, let's go raise a billion dollars right now to go win the only three states that matter.
00:26:57.000 I said this before, and consultants hate it when I say this.
00:27:00.000 They hate it.
00:27:01.000 That you can win the presidency without Pennsylvania.
00:27:03.000 Ooh, they don't like it.
00:27:04.000 You know why?
00:27:04.000 Because the media markets in Pennsylvania pay very, very well.
00:27:07.000 To go place an ad in Philadelphia, it's one of the most expensive media markets in the country.
00:27:11.000 They don't like that.
00:27:12.000 You got to win Wisconsin.
00:27:14.000 You got to win Georgia.
00:27:15.000 You got to win Arizona.
00:27:16.000 You're going to win Iowa.
00:27:17.000 You're going to win Ohio.
00:27:18.000 You're going to win North Carolina.
00:27:20.000 You're going to win Florida.
00:27:20.000 The three states to victory.
00:27:22.000 Every single day that we talk about the 2024 race, I'm going to be a broken record.
00:27:26.000 I'm going to ask the question, what is the machinery?
00:27:29.000 What is the plumbing?
00:27:31.000 What is the infrastructure?
00:27:33.000 Is it getting put into place?
00:27:34.000 Are we raising the money to do that?
00:27:36.000 Are we hiring the ballot chasers? 1.00
00:27:37.000 Are we trying to fight for election integrity?
00:27:40.000 Are we raising hundreds of millions of dollars necessary?
00:27:42.000 The primary is demonstrating no.
00:27:45.000 And that bothers me.
00:27:47.000 It worries me.
00:27:49.000 Some of you say Donald Trump needs to be held accountable.
00:27:51.000 Donald Trump needs to be run up against.
00:27:53.000 Okay, every dollar that is spent in this primary is a dollar that the Democrats are not spending.
00:27:59.000 So we're actually, it's double as bad.
00:28:01.000 We're in a deficit a dollar, and they're up a dollar.
00:28:04.000 I make no friends when I tell the truth about the RNC, but you know what?
00:28:08.000 I think you guys want the truth.
00:28:09.000 You know how many people in mainstream media are bought and paid for by the RNC, in conservative media?
00:28:14.000 They've remained quiet on them.
00:28:16.000 They're getting paid a lot of money.
00:28:17.000 When you got $400 million, you could pay off a lot of people.
00:28:20.000 Okay, now one primary I do support, though, is Robert Kennedy Jr.
00:28:25.000 We're going to have him on the program.
00:28:26.000 We're going to ask him why is he running his questions?
00:28:28.000 Hopefully we'll have him on soon.
00:28:30.000 I hope he just does everything he can.
00:28:32.000 I don't think he's going to be.
00:28:33.000 I don't know how successful he'll be in the Democrat Party.
00:28:34.000 I have no idea.
00:28:36.000 The answer is probably not very because the Democrat Party is just so off the reservation.
00:28:42.000 But I support that.
00:28:45.000 Someone says here, freedom at charliekirk.com, Charlie, I love the primary.
00:28:48.000 It's entertaining.
00:28:49.000 It's good to see.
00:28:51.000 And I want Trump to win.
00:28:52.000 I can't wait to see him obliterate these other candidates.
00:28:54.000 Okay, I agree with the entertainment part, but that's a bad reason to have a primary.
00:29:01.000 There are other things that are entertaining in life that are probably not going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars that we otherwise could be spending in primaries.
00:29:08.000 And so look, just to build this out, we are in a resource hunt.
00:29:13.000 We're in a world of limited resources, especially as conservatives.
00:29:16.000 We are outspent tremendously by the Democrats.
00:29:18.000 The Democrats are the party of oligarchs and plutocrats.
00:29:21.000 They have Soros, Lorraine Powell Jobs, Reid Hoffman, and that's just the beginning of it, right?
00:29:25.000 They have endless money.
00:29:26.000 They have endless resources.
00:29:28.000 They have a huge ability to do it.
00:29:30.000 So if we are in a situation where resources are limited, is it the best and highest use argument of our money, our resources, as a quote-unquote movement to spend on a mess?
00:29:43.000 Also, we need a coalition.
00:29:45.000 You don't want people who are bidder after a tough primary who respond by not voting.
00:29:49.000 And Donald Trump knows only one way forward.
00:29:54.000 He knows only one thing, which is to move forward.
00:29:58.000 And he's good at it.
00:29:59.000 And he is brutal.
00:30:01.000 And he could be cruel to his opponents.
00:30:03.000 And you do not want to get in the way of that.
00:30:06.000 No, instead, isn't it interesting?
00:30:07.000 You know, you read the New York Times.
00:30:09.000 We read it so you don't have to.
00:30:12.000 And they're loving the primary.
00:30:14.000 They're loving it.
00:30:16.000 They are covering the Republican primary almost more than we are, the New York Times.
00:30:20.000 Why is the New York Times covering it so much?
00:30:22.000 Why are they so interested in it?
00:30:26.000 Well, it's because I think they benefit from it.
00:30:28.000 The Democrats are stealthily under the radar, building a machine that's going to get them the electoral votes they need.
00:30:38.000 And you know, a lot of people say, well, Charlie, they're going to cheat.
00:30:40.000 Of course they are.
00:30:41.000 So why don't we spend our money to try to lobby state legislators in Georgia to fix the voting laws?
00:30:47.000 Why don't we go spend $100 million right now in lawfare in Wisconsin or Georgia?
00:30:51.000 Why didn't we go spend $100 million to go make sure we won the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat?
00:30:55.000 Oh, we didn't.
00:30:56.000 We were more focused on other stuff.
00:30:58.000 Why don't we go spend the money to go hire 1,000 Scott Presslers?
00:31:02.000 The money that is going to be spent on the Republican primary would be much better spent on hiring 1,000 Scott Presslers.
00:31:07.000 1,000 Scott Presslers would be a much better investment in the future of the Republic than advertisements about petty stuff.
00:31:15.000 I don't like it.
00:31:18.000 And yeah, I mean, people say, well, Charlie, what candidate do you support?
00:31:20.000 I've supported Trump.
00:31:21.000 I've said that repeatedly.
00:31:22.000 Of course I do.
00:31:23.000 He's a friend.
00:31:24.000 He's a great president.
00:31:25.000 He'll be a great president again.
00:31:26.000 I want him to become a great president again.
00:31:28.000 I want him to be president, not just the nominee.
00:31:32.000 I want to make sure that we are there at Inauguration Day in 2025, January 25, when somebody is going to put up their right hand and say, I solemnly swear I want that person to be someone who loves America, not bought by the Chinese Communist Party.
00:31:49.000 Because as soon as that person gets sworn in, if it is Donald Trump, within 24 hours, he'll have executive orders closing the southern border.
00:31:56.000 He'll have the war in eastern Ukraine ended or on the way to ending.
00:32:00.000 He'll have the Chinese Communist Party held accountable.
00:32:03.000 The Founding Fathers gave us a gift.
00:32:05.000 The Founding Fathers gave us the United States Constitution.
00:32:07.000 The Founding Fathers gave us an ability to win the presidency without San Francisco, without Portland, without New York, without Chicago.
00:32:15.000 It's seven counties in three states: Fulton County, Cobb County, Maricopa Pima, parts of Yabapai, Kenosha, Waukesha, and parts of Eau Claire.
00:32:23.000 That's it.
00:32:24.000 We know the game.
00:32:25.000 Seven counties, three states.
00:32:28.000 The Democrats know this, which is why they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars in those states, making it easier to cheat, registering voters, finding voters to go run ads right now.
00:32:36.000 Demonize Republicans, demonize Trump.
00:32:38.000 Are we even playing in that arena?
00:32:39.000 Nope.
00:32:40.000 We're too busy doing this whole horse race.
00:32:46.000 This is a sign of the time.
00:32:47.000 If DeSantis gets into the race officially, the attacks will only ramp up.
00:32:51.000 All the more reason not to have a primary.
00:32:53.000 All the more reason to say, you know what?
00:32:54.000 We're not going to take your bait.
00:32:56.000 Asa Hutchinson, Nikki Haley, and all this, you guys can't get above two points.
00:33:00.000 Let's build a machine.
00:33:02.000 Let's make it so that they can't cheat. 0.95
00:33:04.000 We have ballot chasers.
00:33:05.000 We engage in ethical early voting.
00:33:07.000 We make it so that cheating is nearly impossible.
00:33:09.000 Just so you know, none of that is happening right now.
00:33:12.000 What is happening is a looming, nasty, petty personal fight.
00:33:16.000 And I don't think that makes it more likely for us to win.
00:33:19.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.
00:33:20.000 Email us as alwaysfreedom at charliekirk.com.
00:33:23.000 Thanks so much for listening, and God bless.
00:33:28.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk. com.