The Charlie Kirk Show - Team USA or Team Woke? + TPAction Endorsements

00:00:03.000 My name is Charlie Kirk.

00:00:05.000 I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country fighting for the future of our republic.

00:00:11.000 My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth.

00:00:14.000 If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're going to end up miserable.

00:00:19.000 But if the most important thing is doing good, you'll end up purposeful.

00:00:24.000 College is a scam, everybody.

00:00:26.000 You got to stop sending your kids to college.

00:00:27.000 You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible.

00:00:31.000 Go start a Turning Point USA college chapter.

00:00:33.000 Go start a Turning Point USA high school chapter.

00:00:35.000 Go find out how your church can get involved.

00:00:37.000 Sign up and become an activist.

00:00:39.000 I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade.

00:00:41.000 Most important decision I ever made in my life.

00:00:43.000 And I encourage you to do the same.

00:00:45.000 Here I am.

00:00:46.000 Lord Musemy.

00:00:48.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:49.000 Here we go.

00:00:56.000 The Charlie Kirk Show is proudly sponsored by Preserve Gold, the leading gold and silver experts and the only precious metals company I recommend to my family, friends, and viewers.

00:01:09.000 All right, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:01:12.000 I'm in Palm Beach.

00:01:14.000 Blake is holding it down in Phoenix.

00:01:16.000 And Blake, we get to talk about your favorite type of music next.

00:01:19.000 Oh, boy.

00:01:21.000 Which one?

00:01:22.000 You and Charlie shared your lack of appreciation.

00:01:25.000 You and Charlie shared a lack of appreciation for country music.

00:01:28.000 As somebody who grew up with cowboys all around me and ranchers, I am steeped in it, steeped in the culture, and I love it.

00:01:35.000 And so I'm really excited about this next guest, Jeffree Steele.

00:01:39.000 He's a Hall of Fame songwriter.

00:01:41.000 He's written hits like Cowboy and Me by Tim McGraw, Rascal Flat, Flat's What Hurts the Most and My Wish, Montgomery Gentry, My Town, and Hell Yeah.

00:01:54.000 I mean, this guy has done some absolute bangers, some huge, huge hits.

00:01:59.000 And he released a song called A Voice, and it mentions Charlie.

00:02:04.000 It was a beautiful tribute to Charlie.

00:02:06.000 And when he released it, I got this song sent to me by about, I'm not kidding, maybe 15, maybe 20 people saying we should have him on.

00:02:14.000 So I'm going to play his song and we'll welcome Jeffree Steele 385.

00:02:18.000 We're the coal miners, the firefighters, the Charlie Kirk choir, all Latinar liners finally waking up. 1.00

00:02:26.000 Yeah, we've had enough of the liars setting the world on fire. 0.99

00:02:35.000 So Jeffree Steele, Hall of Fame songwriter, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:02:39.000 It's good to have you.

00:02:40.000 What an honor to be here.

00:02:42.000 Thank you for having me.

00:02:43.000 Well, it's an honor that you chose to honor Charlie in that way.

00:02:47.000 And to just tell us, it felt like the right time to do this interview because we just had our All-American halftime show and millions tuned in.

00:02:56.000 We're still working on a final number.

00:02:57.000 40, 50 million people watched that thing.

00:03:00.000 We had obviously a bunch of country acts and Kid Rock even did Tell You Can't.

00:03:05.000 So it felt like the right time to do this.

00:03:06.000 Tell us what inspired you to do this song and this tribute to Charlie.

00:03:10.000 Well, I mean, the message of the song speaks to what you're just talking about, the numbers you're talking about.

00:03:16.000 People do feel unspoken for, and we just saw it with these numbers that you've got.

00:03:22.000 The song was written about me wanting to try to make a point of talking about the people that are unspoken for and the people that are always neglected in this society.

00:03:35.000 And after Charlie was assassinated, I went, after the song was written, I went to a hometown vigil in Franklin, Tennessee, my hometown, and I showed up with a bunch of friends and there were 5,000 people in the town square overflowing with people just praying and singing.

00:03:52.000 There was no statues coming down.

00:03:54.000 There was no flags being lit.

00:03:55.000 There was nobody cussing and screaming and fighting.

00:03:58.000 It was just people praying for a better outcome and a representation of who Charlie really was.

00:04:04.000 And I just, as a songwriter, I was just standing there watching all of that happen.

00:04:09.000 I was like, man, I've got to put this in the song.

00:04:11.000 It's a Charlie Kirk choir out here.

00:04:14.000 And I just felt like I had to go in the song.

00:04:16.000 And I got some rocks thrown at me for that.

00:04:20.000 I was going to say, what's the reaction been from your research?

00:04:24.000 Well, a lot of people, you're really well known in that community.

00:04:27.000 I mean, if people at home don't know who you are, everybody in Nashville knows who you are.

00:04:34.000 So it's a big deal.

00:04:35.000 And a lot of people heard the song.

00:04:38.000 And the first reaction was, well, we can help you with this song, but you're going to have to change a couple of the lines.

00:04:45.000 And I was like, I wonder which ones they want me to change.

00:04:48.000 And I said, no, I can't do that because that's my job as a songwriter.

00:04:53.000 I write what I see.

00:04:54.000 I write the truth.

00:04:55.000 And I try to represent that the best I can.

00:04:57.000 And I just figured I could work this song on my own grassroots if I couldn't get the help from the industry that was kind of frowning upon what I wrote about.

00:05:06.000 So I just figured I'd try to go for it myself with the help of some people like John Rich and others.

00:05:13.000 I got a few platforms where I could launch this thing and get it heard and with accompanying video.

00:05:20.000 And the next thing I know, I'm off to the races with a hit song on my hands because people want to hear it.

00:05:26.000 People do feel like they're not spoken for and they do need a voice.

00:05:29.000 Thank you.

00:05:30.000 Thank you for your courage.

00:05:31.000 And I think Blake's probably going to have some thoughts on this too.

00:05:34.000 But when we set about doing the halftime show, we hit some serious pushback from venues, from not really artists.

00:05:46.000 A lot of the artists were really excited to be a part of it, but then their agents and their managers would get involved and they'd be looking at dollar signs and then there was some sort of hesitancy.

00:05:55.000 Explain that piece of the industry that people maybe don't understand.

00:06:00.000 Why would there be reticence to use the name Charlie Kirk in a song?

00:06:03.000 Why would there be reticence to be a part of something like the halftime show?

00:06:06.000 And when we push through and we get 40 to 50 million eyeballs on it, does that change things?

00:06:11.000 Yeah, I feel like they're pushing a narrative as hard as they can.

00:06:17.000 And it started a few years ago with the national anthem and taking the knee.

00:06:21.000 And the public immediately showed what they thought about that.

00:06:26.000 And you've got basically a country that so many people are watching.

00:06:31.000 Everybody in the world is watching this game, but the American audience is so vast.

00:06:36.000 And what they want to see on that field is a representation of what they feel America is.

00:06:43.000 And I think that every year this thing gets crazier, more outlandish, more sex-driven, less morality, less about faith, less about country.

00:06:54.000 And I just think there's quite a few hundred million Americans out there that have just said, enough, we've had enough.

00:07:00.000 And that was the reason to try to be a voice for those voices that are just being completely silenced by the music industry.

00:07:09.000 For me to try to get this song out, I can give you a great example.

00:07:12.000 The week after I released this song, Bruce Springsteen comes out with an anthem about Minneapolis.

00:07:19.000 And it's an anti-Trump and it's an anti-ICE lyric.

00:07:23.000 And it's immediately embraced and wrapped around and it goes to number one, where my song, they won't even, they tell me it's too right wing.

00:07:31.000 They can't play it on the radio.

00:07:32.000 And that's what we're up against as a conservative music listener.

00:07:39.000 You can't find the music unless I find a way.

00:07:42.000 I have to creep and crawl to find a way to get it out there to the public that really wants to hear it.

00:07:47.000 And the main thing is, Andrew, everywhere I've gone playing this song live before I released it, everywhere I went and played the song live, people are on their feet.

00:07:55.000 They're just immediately on their feet cheering.

00:07:58.000 And I knew that I was hitting a nerve.

00:08:01.000 And so to have them push back at me and not help me promote it, it was a tough thing for a guy that's been around for 45 years.

00:08:09.000 It's a tough thing, but you just have to find ways.

00:08:12.000 And you know people want to hear it.

00:08:13.000 So you keep pushing for the truth.

00:08:14.000 That's all you can do.

00:08:16.000 Blake is our resident, huge, massive country fan.

00:08:19.000 Any thoughts, Blake?

00:08:20.000 i i'm very glad no i'm i am very glad about about the reaction It's just, you were saying, Andrew, like you grew up around ranchers.

00:08:30.000 I grew up around a lot of ranchers too.

00:08:31.000 It just did, it did not.

00:08:33.000 I didn't like Charlie.

00:08:34.000 I was not born with the country gene in my brain.

00:08:38.000 But I'm very glad that you've shown that love for Charlie, Jeffrey.

00:08:43.000 I'm very glad your song is a hit for that reason.

00:08:46.000 And I'm glad the All-American Halftime Show was a hit.

00:08:48.000 If people want to hear country music, they should hear country music.

00:08:52.000 I just put on rock music instead.

00:08:54.000 Absolutely.

00:08:55.000 And I think to put it down, to put down the halftime show and to put down somebody's work.

00:09:02.000 I mean, this is America.

00:09:04.000 It's free speech.

00:09:04.000 We should be able to get it all out there.

00:09:06.000 Either we get all of it out there or we get none of it out there.

00:09:09.000 And the one thing that Charlie was, was a voice for everybody.

00:09:13.000 He was a voice for everybody that felt like they didn't have a voice.

00:09:16.000 That was his whole mission, to bring what he knew and just try to bring some common sense to everything he spoke about and let people have a microphone and have a voice to speak their minds.

00:09:27.000 And that's really was the basis of the song.

00:09:29.000 So there was no way I couldn't include that in the song.

00:09:32.000 I had to speak to him and what he did for young Americans.

00:09:36.000 Good for you, Jeffrey.

00:09:37.000 So how do people get the song?

00:09:39.000 How do they support you?

00:09:40.000 Okay, through all the traditional means, whether it's iTunes, Spotify, all the streaming services, you can go to jeffresteel.com and that will link you right to it.

00:09:48.000 That's probably the easiest way.

00:09:50.000 And look for me, I'll be around all around the country playing this song, but it's available at all your normal streaming, Spotify, Pandora, all of them, anywhere, iTunes, and jeffreysteel.com.

00:10:02.000 Yeah, amen.

00:10:03.000 God bless you.

00:10:04.000 I mean, you're a legend in the space.

00:10:06.000 And thank you for honoring our friend in the way that you have and for standing firm, keeping his name in there.

00:10:11.000 God bless you, Jeffrey.

00:10:12.000 Thank you.

00:10:13.000 Thank you for giving me a minute.

00:10:14.000 I appreciate you guys.

00:10:15.000 Thank you.

00:10:17.000 For a lot of Americans, the healthcare system is reactive.

00:10:21.000 You get sick first, and then you wait for an appointment.

00:10:24.000 Then insurance decides what you're allowed to have, and suddenly the medication you need is delayed or it's not available.

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00:10:41.000 That's the idea that you should have the freedom to make informed choices about your own health and the ability to prepare ahead of time.

00:10:47.000 So you're not reactive anymore.

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00:11:40.000 It feels amazing.

00:11:42.000 I love representing the U.S.

00:11:44.000 I freaking love living there.

00:11:46.000 I love it.

00:11:47.000 And I'm so happy I get to represent USA.

00:11:52.000 Blake, isn't it just so nice that all of our Olympians are just, you know, honoring the flag, patriots, just being so gracious in their interviews in Milan?

00:12:03.000 Isn't it?

00:12:04.000 If only that were the case, Andrew.

00:12:08.000 Oh, man.

00:12:09.000 Why don't you start us off, Blake?

00:12:10.000 What was the most offensive this year?

00:12:13.000 Well, first of all, I'm going to say the real villain here, of course, are the press because they're the ones who ask the questions.

00:12:18.000 I don't think it's not like the Oscars where everyone goes up on stage and they're instantly chomping at the bit to go out and be like, by the way, screw America.

00:12:26.000 It's that every single person after they compete, after they win a medal, there's some hack with a media badge who's like, oh, does it feel awkward to compete for your evil demon fascist country?

00:12:39.000 Which they'll never ask anyone in any other country.

00:12:41.000 So the one that's been in the news lately that stood out is freestyle skater Hunter Hess, who had some negative vibes.

00:12:49.000 Clip 310.

00:12:49.000 We'll show that.

00:12:51.000 Makes to motions to represent the U.S. right now, I think.

00:12:55.000 It's a little hard.

00:12:57.000 There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't.

00:13:02.000 If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I'm representing it.

00:13:07.000 Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S.

00:13:12.000 So yeah, I just kind of want to do it for my friends and my family and the people that support me getting here.

00:13:16.000 It's all such a rigged thing.

00:13:18.000 There's an American-born skier, Eileen Gu.

00:13:22.000 She competed in China.

00:13:25.000 Last Winter Olympics were in China.

00:13:26.000 She competed in those as an American-born individual, but of Chinese descent.

00:13:30.000 She's competing for China again. 0.94

00:13:32.000 And she's like the perfect example because she's opined, oh, oh, we need legal abortion in America. 0.94

00:13:38.000 She supports Black Lives Matter.

00:13:40.000 And anytime Chinese internal policy of any kind comes up, she's like, I just, I do not comment on internal matters within the People's Republic of China.

00:13:49.000 Like, 100% to double standard, 100% nonsense.

00:13:52.000 Nobody's ever going to badger her.

00:13:54.000 Oh, how do you feel about internal events in Hong Kong, or that treatment of dissidents, this or that political action by the Chinese government, which is vastly more authoritarian than anything going on under President Trump?

00:14:07.000 Pure nonsense.

00:14:08.000 But instead, we get more of this.

00:14:10.000 We have another clip.

00:14:11.000 This is skater Amber Glenn, clip 311.

00:14:15.000 It's been a hard time for the community overall under this administration.

00:14:20.000 It isn't the first time that we've had to come together as a community and try and fight for our human rights.

00:14:28.000 And now, especially, it's not just affecting the queer community, but many other communities.

00:14:35.000 I hope I can use my platform and my voice throughout these games to try and encourage people to stay strong in these hard times.

00:14:46.000 I know that a lot of people say, you're just an athlete.

00:14:50.000 Like, stick to your job.

00:14:51.000 Shut up about politics, but politics affect us all.

00:14:55.000 It is something that I will not just be quiet about because it is something that affects us in our everyday lives.

00:15:03.000 Deport.

00:15:04.000 That's my word for them.

00:15:06.000 Deport.

00:15:08.000 I don't even care.

00:15:09.000 It's so absurd.

00:15:11.000 That clip, we've played that one before because it was from pre before.

00:15:15.000 This is so offensive to so many people because, Blake, can you riddle me this?

00:15:20.000 Like, one policy from the Trump administration that is affecting LGBTQ plus IA whatevers?

00:15:27.000 One policy.

00:15:28.000 I guess we are.

00:15:30.000 We're rolling back some of the transgender insanity. 1.00

00:15:33.000 And then the other day, because of the rule that they said, stop waving pride flags at government facilities, they took down the pride flag at the Stonewall National Monument, which I got a big kick out of. 0.56

00:15:43.000 But I feel like that's the biggest atrocity.

00:15:45.000 Obviously, they're not doing anything on, certainly not their right to exist or whatever hyperbolic rhetoric you'll find online.

00:15:53.000 It's so offensive to me because, listen, all these people enjoy wonderful lives.

00:15:58.000 They have amazing opportunities because of this country.

00:16:02.000 If you can't say nothing nice, just don't say anything at all.

00:16:05.000 And you're right, Blake.

00:16:06.000 It's these media villains that come in and they try and bait athletes that have no media training, that don't know how to kind of weave out of a stupid question.

00:16:14.000 They were doing this, by the way, at the Australian Open as well.

00:16:18.000 It was one guy who kept going around saying, What is it like in this terrible time in your fascist dictatorial country?

00:16:24.000 And it's completely a rigged game.

00:16:26.000 They're not asking anybody else this.

00:16:28.000 I mean, why don't they go ask British athletes, say, well, what does it feel like to have your whole country invaded by Muslims? 1.00

00:16:35.000 Is it really hard to represent your country at?

00:16:37.000 No, no questions about that.

00:16:39.000 What about the cover-up of the rape gangs?

00:16:41.000 No, none of it.

00:16:43.000 And this is part of, you know, we're victims of our own success here.

00:16:46.000 And Blake, you've probably experienced this.

00:16:48.000 When you travel abroad, the foreign media covers like half of their own country and then half of their programming is just devoted to anything that's going on in America.

00:16:56.000 So the entire world feels like they're entitled to opine on American domestic politics.

00:17:02.000 Oh, yeah.

00:17:02.000 It's frustrating.

00:17:03.000 We are 100% victims of our own success and just how fascinating we are.

00:17:08.000 I've seen people joke where it's like Canadians notoriously follow, often follow American politics more than their own politics.

00:17:17.000 A lot of Europeans, as you say, it's 50-50. 0.95

00:17:19.000 And I guess we're also just victims of the nature of modern sports media.

00:17:23.000 If you're a sports journalist, probably no one's going to care that much about your curling athletes unless, oh, if you can get them to say something bashing ice, bashing the administration, it's now a general story, which they were completely successful at.

00:17:37.000 We have Clip 361.

00:17:39.000 But we'd be remiss if we didn't at least mention what's going on in Minnesota and what a tough time it's been for everybody.

00:17:45.000 I am a lawyer, as you know, and we do the constant.

00:17:49.000 We have a constitution and it allows us to freedom of the press and freedom of speech, protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures, and makes it that we have to, you know, have probable cause to be pulled over.

00:18:09.000 And what's happening in Minnesota is wrong.

00:18:11.000 There's no shades of gray.

00:18:14.000 It's clear.

00:18:16.000 Yeah, you know what?

00:18:17.000 It is wrong what's happening in Minnesota because these agitators should stop harassing law enforcement, you dunce.

00:18:25.000 Yeah, really anyone can become a curler, is what I got from that video.

00:18:28.000 It's like, oh, it's a 45-year-old lawyer-looking guy.

00:18:32.000 But to make sure we get this in, Vice President Mance had a very good response to Hunter Hess's comments that we showed a few minutes ago.

00:18:39.000 We need to play that.

00:18:41.000 363.

00:18:42.000 Olympic athletes were unbelievable, and I know the entire country is rooting for them.

00:18:46.000 Yes, you're going to have some Olympic athletes who pop off about politics.

00:18:49.000 I feel like that happens every Olympics.

00:18:51.000 My advice to them would be to try to bring the country together.

00:18:54.000 And when you're representing the country, you're representing Democrats and Republicans.

00:19:00.000 You're there to play a sport, and you're there to represent your country.

00:19:02.000 And hopefully win a medal.

00:19:03.000 You're not there to pop off about politics.

00:19:06.000 So when Olympic athletes enter the political arena, they should expect some pushback.

00:19:10.000 But most Olympic athletes, whatever their politics, are doing a great job, are certainly enjoy the support of the entire country.

00:19:17.000 And I think recognize that the way to bring the country together is not to show up in a foreign country and attack the president of the United States.

00:19:22.000 Let me translate that for you.

00:19:24.000 Shut up and dribble. 1.00

00:19:27.000 That's it.

00:19:28.000 That's all we want you to do.

00:19:32.000 Hi, folks.

00:19:32.000 Andrew Colvett here.

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00:20:31.000 We have Tyler Boyer in the studio.

00:20:32.000 We're about to get to an around the horn sort of what races to watch.

00:20:38.000 What endorsements have we just made?

00:20:40.000 Tyler, welcome to the show.

00:20:42.000 What's up, Andrew?

00:20:43.000 You know the trial.

00:20:44.000 Yeah, hey, man.

00:20:46.000 So I started seeing, we made a bunch of announcements about endorsements in the state of Texas.

00:20:51.000 I started seeing a bunch of chatter online.

00:20:54.000 Why don't you walk us through it and then we're going to go race by race, where we're looking and how Turning Point Action is getting involved and what the audience can do to help.

00:21:02.000 Yeah, so we actually just made a lot of different endorsements.

00:21:06.000 You can actually go see all of Turning Point Action's endorsements live in real time as they come out.

00:21:12.000 And this is kind of peak endorsement season.

00:21:15.000 Usually the first quarter of the year of the election is when a lot of endorsements are coming out.

00:21:20.000 So you see a lot of different organizations making them.

00:21:23.000 We've been pretty judicious about our endorsements at Turning Point Action.

00:21:28.000 Most of it's based off of our scorecard.

00:21:30.000 But you can go see our endorsements at tpaction.com slash endorsements.

00:21:34.000 That's tpaction.com slash endorsements.

00:21:37.000 And again, a lot of what we do when we make endorsements, we're making them around what their score looks like if they have a record.

00:21:46.000 So our scorecard, we're pretty tough graders.

00:21:48.000 We've been kind of hailed as the toughest graders.

00:21:52.000 Other issues we particularly emphasize?

00:21:54.000 We have an all-encompassing scorecard.

00:21:56.000 So if you go to our scorecard, we have a bunch of different issues.

00:22:00.000 The key issues that we cover are typically a scorecard will cover one issue.

00:22:03.000 Like, for example, the NRAs covers Second Amendment issues.

00:22:06.000 Ours covers American culture, big tech and free speech, border security, educational freedoms, our school choice, election integrity, health and medical freedom, Second Amendment, taxes and spending.

00:22:18.000 So we kind of cover all of it.

00:22:20.000 And that's what goes into our scoring for how we make endorsements.

00:22:25.000 And then those that don't have a record, we give them a questionnaire to fill out.

00:22:31.000 And based off of their answers that they give in the questionnaire, that matches up with how the most recent voting goes.

00:22:38.000 That's typically how we'll start placing endorsements with our team.

00:22:42.000 But yeah, so we just made some critical endorsements in Texas and Texas statewide candidates.

00:22:50.000 There's two very interesting ones.

00:22:52.000 Ken Paxton, who's running for U.S. Senate, who's leading the polls right now, doing very well, supported by the conservatives across the state.

00:23:00.000 And then Chip Roy, who has been a member of the Freedom Caucus for AG to replace Ken Paxton.

00:23:05.000 We're kind of the two big, big movers and shakers.

00:23:08.000 Some other big ones.

00:23:09.000 Well, yeah.

00:23:10.000 And Tyler, just if we pause there, I saw people commenting.

00:23:14.000 So it's sort of a well-known fact that, you know, Ken, who we endorsed for Senate, and Congressman Chip Roy, who we endorse for AG, have a little bit of history.

00:23:27.000 People are like, I can't believe you endorsed both or whatever.

00:23:30.000 Listen, both come on the show.

00:23:33.000 Both have been great patriots.

00:23:34.000 Both have stood by Turning Point, by Charlie.

00:23:38.000 Is there anything you want to just say about that particular dynamic?

00:23:41.000 Because it is something people have brought up.

00:23:43.000 Yeah, I mean, everybody's got an opinion.

00:23:46.000 No one's perfect in politics, right?

00:23:48.000 So there's always going to be a situation when you do endorsements where, you know, somebody's upset.

00:23:56.000 We don't generally wade into endorsements lightly.

00:23:59.000 So again, we have a very judicious approach that we take, which is, you know, it's not you're just endorsing someone because they're friends with somebody.

00:24:06.000 We look at their score.

00:24:08.000 We look at their record.

00:24:09.000 We look at the polling that exists right now.

00:24:12.000 Do they have a chance to win?

00:24:15.000 Blake just brought up on a recent podcast that we did, the Buckley rule, which is you want to try to elect the most conservative candidate that has the best chance of winning.

00:24:28.000 And so that's kind of the approach that we take with things is they need to have a great record.

00:24:34.000 They need to bring back the questionnaire.

00:24:36.000 They need to be recommended by people we trust.

00:24:39.000 But then, you know, we kind of grill them.

00:24:40.000 We talk to them.

00:24:42.000 We court them, talk to them for a long time and see kind of where they end up.

00:24:48.000 And based off of that, that's how we come to things.

00:24:51.000 We also prioritize states that matter the most.

00:24:54.000 So you'll notice on our scorecard, most of the states are swing states.

00:24:59.000 And then we just started wading into a state like Texas, which has a primary that's coming up here in the next week, week or two here, where you have early ballots starting to drop and the election is going to take place in March.

00:25:14.000 So that's kind of the approach that we take with everything.

00:25:17.000 Again, very judicious, very focused.

00:25:20.000 No one is perfect in politics.

00:25:22.000 So you're always going to have a situation where you feel like somebody has some, you know, susceptibility to lose or that they have a quality that you don't like or a vote that they made that you don't like or a statement that they said that you don't like.

00:25:39.000 That's pretty much on both sides.

00:25:42.000 You kind of, in most cases, want to find the person that aligns most with the value system and then has the most importance for us to win long term and help the elections in 2026 and 2028.

00:25:56.000 And so if you look at our statewides right now, obviously one of our earliest endorsements, Charlie's endorsement, Andy Biggs, you know, former chairman of the Freedom Caucus here in Arizona, Byron Donald's running for Florida.

00:26:08.000 We have Ken Paxton on the wrong part.

00:26:10.000 We have his run for U.S. Senate on the state endorsements instead of the end of the year.

00:26:14.000 Got to move that. 0.93

00:26:15.000 It's on the federal.

00:26:16.000 It's on the federal, too.

00:26:17.000 That's supposed to be up on the federal.

00:26:19.000 So it is.

00:26:21.000 Yeah, they just, I think, they duplicated there.

00:26:25.000 But yeah, that's you have Joe Lombardo running for Nevada governor.

00:26:31.000 You have Burt Jones running for Georgia governor.

00:26:34.000 Marsha Blackburn, obviously, who's been a friend of the organization for a long time.

00:26:39.000 These are kind of, we're laying out the future here, and many more will come.

00:26:44.000 Congresswoman Harriet Hageman just recently announced she's running for U.S. Senate.

00:26:48.000 So we have a couple of U.S. Senate. 0.63

00:26:50.000 We have a couple of really interesting congressional endorsements that we made.

00:26:53.000 Michael Alfonso, who will be the youngest member of Congress, should he get elected to replace Tom Tiffany in Wisconsin.

00:26:59.000 Again, a swing state.

00:27:01.000 Great young dude.

00:27:02.000 He was at America Fest.

00:27:04.000 Incredible, incredible talent, great family, beautiful, beautiful family.

00:27:10.000 Joe Mitchell, who's in Iowa, who will, again, also be one of the youngest members of Congress.

00:27:16.000 So yeah, there's just some really exciting, really exciting hope for the future, I think, when you go through this.

00:27:24.000 And again, a great place to put your focus, energy, money, time, energy, and to help us chase votes ultimately when it comes to the end of this election, the end of this year.

00:27:34.000 So there's a lot of questions about that.

00:27:36.000 And I do want to just reiterate real quick that this is, we've got Michael Alfonso and Joe Mitchell.

00:27:47.000 Really, one of our focuses here at Turning Point Action is finding that next generation of talent of next generation of conservative leaders that really can not only do a good job in Congress, but that have bright futures ahead of them wherever they choose to go, whether that's stay in Congress or run for Senate or governor.

00:28:02.000 So Joe Mitchell in Iowa and Michael Alfonso in Wisconsin are two really great shooting stars that you want to keep your eye on.

00:28:11.000 And we'll have more of those coming out in the months ahead.

00:28:14.000 Also, so Tyler, there's a lot of question about where Turning Point Action is going to be deploying resources, paid staff, ballot chasing ahead of the midterms.

00:28:23.000 Now, we have kind of a 2028 vision for things, but we're also working on 2026.

00:28:28.000 Maybe walk the audience through where we're focusing our attention the most.

00:28:32.000 Yeah, so our top, so we are the only national organization in the conservative movement that has full-time staff in all the swing states.

00:28:40.000 So, you know, actually right now, as we're speaking, we have a training class that's over in our Turning Point Action building that I just came from, that I just spoke to, where we are training up staff to be deployed to Indiana.

00:28:53.000 We have staff that are being deployed to all the swing states.

00:28:56.000 Indiana, of course, has just as a refresher, we had the individuals in the state senate that blocked redistricting.

00:29:03.000 That would have given us at least another House seat in Indiana. 0.50

00:29:07.000 And so that's of utmost importance to hold those people accountable.

00:29:12.000 And so we have staff that are being deployed out there for candidates that are running.

00:29:17.000 But then in the swing states, of course, so Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio, those are all the key states where there are key races,

00:29:32.000 fundamental races in many of those states, a majority of those states in 2026 that are crucial for us to win and set the stage for 2028 for a candidate JD Vance or a really strong Republican ticket that is going to come forth, of course, through the pathway, the normal pathway of Iowa, the Iowa caucuses, and the New Hampshire where we have full-time staff.

00:29:56.000 So again, we're laying the ground game now, and anyone getting involved with Turning Point Action now is directly helping, again, set the table, lay the foundation for 2028.

00:30:09.000 And this couldn't be more critical because 2028 is going to define whether we win or lose long term, specifically around the census and redistricting for 2030.

00:30:20.000 If we lose the presidency in 2028 and we do not set the table correctly in 2026 in all these states, you lose 2028, you lose the country, maybe for a generation.

00:30:30.000 So it's really, really critical that we win.

00:30:32.000 Blake, since you spent so much time in D.C., I want to get into staffing.

00:30:38.000 Like, what would the implication of staffing?

00:30:41.000 If you have four years of President Trump and then let's just say another four years of JD, maybe Marcos is VP, maybe you get eight years.

00:30:49.000 What kind of momentum you can build from a staffing perspective?

00:30:52.000 Because one of the things that's good about President Trump having a term off, so we got to kind of clear the table and bring in real, real talent, right?

00:31:00.000 But it also meant that Joe Biden had four years to kind of keep staffing and replace people in the bureaucracy, which was a problem.

00:31:08.000 Also, breaking news here, the U.S. House has approved a rule for the Save America Act.

00:31:13.000 The bill requires proof of citizenship to vote.

00:31:15.000 It passed 216 to 215.

00:31:18.000 The only GOP no vote was, you guessed it.

00:31:22.000 I'm almost certain you guessed it, Thomas Massey voted.

00:31:25.000 The downfall of Thomas Massey is a very heartbreaking story, and we'll have to talk about it sometime when it's all over.

00:31:31.000 We should.

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00:32:48.000 So, we just found out that Thomas Massey is apparently anti-the Save Act, which puts him out of step with the entirety of the conservative movement, basically.

00:32:58.000 Pretty, pretty, yeah.

00:33:02.000 There's some fireworks also on the House floor because Pam Bondi is just level, just went after him directly as well.

00:33:09.000 Lots going on today.

00:33:10.000 Yeah, she was testifying about the Epstein files today, so he was digging into her.

00:33:14.000 Hopefully, we can get that clip.

00:33:15.000 That'd be interesting.

00:33:16.000 But yeah, Tyler, there's literally no excuse to be anti-Save Act.

00:33:19.000 Yeah, not.

00:33:20.000 I mean, there's zero excuse.

00:33:22.000 Like, literally, it's an 80-20.

00:33:24.000 Like, at this point, you just look ridiculous.

00:33:26.000 Yeah, I mean, you stayed quiet on the Massey thing, but this is obscene.

00:33:30.000 How do you know against the save act?

00:33:31.000 I mean, I have been this is, you know, all the arguments that have been made pro-Massey.

00:33:38.000 And again, we've been historically, Charlie was friendly with Thomas.

00:33:41.000 And, you know, there's that.

00:33:43.000 I think one of the best YouTube videos I've ever watched was him, you know, putting in a Tesla cell to power his off-the-grid house.

00:33:51.000 He's such an impressive guy.

00:33:53.000 You really want to love him.

00:33:54.000 He's incredible.

00:33:55.000 He's from the impoverished town in Kentucky.

00:33:58.000 He goes to MIT, marries his high school sweetheart, builds his off-the-grid house, has his battery-powered national debt clock that he wears around.

00:34:05.000 A very impressive guy in a lot of ways.

00:34:08.000 But I do think he's feuded with President Trump a long time.

00:34:12.000 He feuded with him in the first term.

00:34:13.000 And I do think that's warped him a bit over time.

00:34:17.000 But you could offer more perspective on that maybe.

00:34:19.000 I think what happens is you just get a certain people in Congress unfortunately get sucked into just talking to the people who fund them the most, which I think is actually antithetical to what the idea of Congress is supposed to be.

00:34:34.000 The idea of Congress is supposed to be originally was that you are representative of the people.

00:34:39.000 It was a certain amount of people.

00:34:40.000 It was a lot smaller of a group of people in America at the time when it was originally devised.

00:34:45.000 And you were deeply influenced by your actual community.

00:34:50.000 And unfortunately, congressmen, you know, have, I think it's 700 and some odd thousand people that they represent.

00:34:57.000 And so the reality of representing people just doesn't happen.

00:35:00.000 And so when you're peppered by people who talk to you the most, which end up being your fundraisers and the people who give you money and the people who influence you the most or have been your ideological fanboys or fangirls, you listen to those people the most and they warp your sense of representation.

00:35:18.000 And I think that people fall prey to that on the left, for sure.

00:35:22.000 We see that all the time.

00:35:24.000 Obviously, we see that with the entire Democrat Party, but we see it happen on the right, you know, fairly frequently, where these people just become fairly warped and inaccessible, and they just become full of vitriol for, again, the president or for a specific piece of legislature.

00:35:43.000 They get warped, and then it crashes their career instead of being balanced, which I think Thomas Massey has been balanced for most of his career, and it's unfortunate to see him go against the Save Act.

00:35:53.000 Yeah, and I think, you know, genuinely, I felt terrible for Thomas Massey when he lost his wife.

00:36:00.000 The president's been opining on Truth Social, though, that his new wife is leading him down this very liberal path.

00:36:06.000 And who knows?

00:36:07.000 You know, it's not really, you can't really know that sort of thing.

00:36:10.000 But this is that fiery exchange I was just telling you about.

00:36:13.000 We have it loaded now between Attorney General Pam Pondi and Thomas Massey, the floor of the House, 419.

00:36:20.000 Move to the chairman's question.

00:36:22.000 Within 40 minutes, you asked me a question.

00:36:25.000 Within 40 minutes, Wexner's name was added back.

00:36:28.000 Within 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed.

00:36:32.000 Red-handed.

00:36:33.000 There was one redaction.

00:36:35.000 Where he's listed as a coach.

00:36:37.000 And we invited you in.

00:36:40.000 This guy has Trump derangement syndrome.

00:36:42.000 He needs to get.

00:36:43.000 You're a failed politician.

00:36:45.000 He needs to watch it.

00:36:48.000 That was the illustrious Constitutional Republic in action.

00:36:52.000 No, yeah, she was mad that they had Wexter's name blacked out on something, which evidently they knew he was there because he could call it out.

00:36:59.000 And then they put it in within 40 minutes.

00:37:02.000 It's such a bizarre thing.

00:37:03.000 But Blake.

00:37:04.000 Blake, they're also getting mad at the lack of redactions, too.

00:37:08.000 They're saying it's too messy.

00:37:09.000 There's not enough redactions.

00:37:10.000 There's people on both sides of this debate.

00:37:12.000 There has been such a push from grassroots on the left and the right, politicians on the left and the right to get this stuff out.

00:37:19.000 They pushed it all out based on this act that was passed.

00:37:22.000 And now there's people saying not enough redactions, too many redactions.

00:37:25.000 So it's a complete mess either way you look at it.

00:37:28.000 Is Massey the first politician to go downhill big time when he grew a beard?

00:37:34.000 Like JD Vance got way better with the beard.

00:37:37.000 I feel like usually growing a beard is awesome for a politician.

00:37:41.000 I think it goes either way.

00:37:41.000 I think it's like, you know, when they talk about women changing their hair color dramatically, it's like either it's really good or really indicative of something not going well.

00:37:51.000 Yeah.

00:37:52.000 I think that's beards for men.

00:37:54.000 Yeah.

00:37:54.000 I don't know.

00:37:55.000 As a beard grower myself.

00:37:57.000 You're doing great.

00:37:58.000 I'm territorial.

00:37:59.000 We want it to be an improvement.

00:38:00.000 You slow rolled into it.

00:38:01.000 Yes.

00:38:02.000 But you've gotten the full, like, I'm trying to get you to go the full linen, you know?

00:38:09.000 Let's not go too far here yet, Tyler.

00:38:11.000 Before we close, Andrew, I just, I do want to emphasize that point you mentioned, why it is so important that we win, because it does come down to who's staffing things in D.C.

00:38:19.000 And as much as we think Trump did have the chance to improve because they spent four years in the wilderness and they learned a lot from mistakes and they came out like a cannonball, the biggest loss they had was they had four years of appointments, interrupted four years of Biden, and then they resume.

00:38:34.000 And you saw this with Obama especially.

00:38:36.000 A lot of consolidation happens in the second half of an administration and especially in a second term.

00:38:42.000 You just, you have a full, like a kind of generation of federal hires who are controlled by a process.

00:38:49.000 And there's all these rule changes.

00:38:50.000 You basically need till the end of this term for President Trump to win every Supreme Court case he's going to have to win to have strong control over federal hiring.

00:38:58.000 And then you'll get that in the second half.

00:39:00.000 So that's why all of these turning point endorsements, these turnpoint action endorsements matter.

00:39:05.000 That's why we need them to win so that we can win in 28.

00:39:09.000 It's all about consolidation.

00:39:11.000 And we need to.

00:39:11.000 Can you imagine 12 years of hiring?

00:39:13.000 12 years of hiring at the federal level.

00:39:15.000 Man.

00:39:16.000 We have to win in 2028, and we need people to work together.

00:39:19.000 We've got to work.

00:39:20.000 We've got to stick together in the movement.

00:39:21.000 Sign up at TPAction.

00:39:23.000 TPaction.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - February 12, 2026

Team USA or Team Woke? + TPAction Endorsements

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