The Charlie Kirk Show - The Manchiniman Candidate with Tyler Bowyer and Rep. Byron Donalds

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, Tanner Charlie Kirk Show.

00:00:01.000 Tyler Boyer joins us to talk about a man chinema.

00:00:04.000 Say that three times fast.

00:00:06.000 Ticket, third party.

00:00:07.000 Is it time for a third party ticket?

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00:00:53.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:54.000 Here we go.

00:00:55.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:57.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

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00:01:02.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

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00:01:07.000 He's an incredible guy.

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00:01:37.000 Joining us now is Tyler Boyer, who's doing a great job running TurningPointAction, tpaction.com.

00:01:43.000 There's going to be a lot of news happening this summer.

00:01:47.000 We have ActCon and so many things happening.

00:01:49.000 Tyler, welcome to the program.

00:01:50.000 Tyler, I wanted you to come on based on some articles I was reading late at night on third-party stuff because you've been warning about how the Chamber of Commerce is going to try to be drafting Mansion and Cinema in kind of this uniparty Chamber of Commerce ticket.

00:02:03.000 But I want to put I want to put that aside for a second.

00:02:06.000 Your reaction, news out of the ruling with Kerry Lake, the Sonny Borrelli letter that now the legislature can do what they want without the governor.

00:02:13.000 What's the latest out of Arizona?

00:02:15.000 What's your take?

00:02:17.000 Well, you know, Sonny's right.

00:02:18.000 So all along, the legislatures across America have the explicit right to make sure that the elections are managed, particularly at the federal level, the way that the legislative body determines.

00:02:33.000 And so I think it's gutsy, it's bold.

00:02:36.000 Sonny's right.

00:02:37.000 Ultimately, I hope that leadership will be focused on this and holding individuals like the governor accountable.

00:02:44.000 But there's elements here that you don't need to run legislation in order to make sure the elections are administered appropriately in each state.

00:02:53.000 So he's 100% correct.

00:02:55.000 So just to build this out, so the Arizona legislature can say we're going to go back to precinct-based voting without the governor.

00:03:02.000 Yeah, I mean, look, nobody has really pressed this in the way that it needs to be pressed across the United States.

00:03:09.000 But yeah, I mean, the idea here is exactly that.

00:03:12.000 And remember, the legislative body has a lot of power.

00:03:15.000 It's not just in the forcefulness of actually administering elections.

00:03:20.000 It's also the way that the Electoral College is actually managed as well.

00:03:27.000 And so there's a number of things in the Constitution that really haven't been challenged or taken to the degree that they need to necessarily be taken to.

00:03:35.000 And I think that this is part of where we're at in the battle, which is that the left is trying to manipulate our elections so much in these key target states that, you know, God bless the members of our legislatures who are actually taking this power seriously that is defined in the Constitution.

00:03:52.000 So then really the sky is the limit.

00:03:56.000 we should be doing is from the grassroots side, tell the Arizona legislature, let's get rid of the voting system the way we have right now in Maricopa County, which is these voting centers. 0.98

00:04:06.000 And Tyler, this is the dumbest thing ever. 0.88

00:04:08.000 Go back to precinct-based voting, right? 1.00

00:04:10.000 Go back to paper ballots.

00:04:11.000 So basically, the legislature can do this and say, hey, Katie Hobbs, guess what?

00:04:15.000 But Tyler, I'm a little bit confused.

00:04:16.000 Why didn't we do this a couple years ago?

00:04:18.000 Is it just are we now discovering it?

00:04:20.000 Or is it now that it's just kind of like, oh, now that we have a Democrat governor, we can think more creatively?

00:04:26.000 Well, I think a lot of people, Charlie, just weren't, it just didn't seem like it was a real necessity to take that power back into the hands that it belongs.

00:04:36.000 I mean, think about it.

00:04:37.000 The elections have been basically managed the same way for almost 200 years.

00:04:42.000 And then all of a sudden, just in the last 10 years, things have been manipulated so severely by the left.

00:04:48.000 And so I think people are just finally waking up and realizing like, oh my gosh, we got to take this back into our hands.

00:04:53.000 You know, I would argue this is most of America would agree if we just turned back the clocks and ran elections the same way that we ran them 10 plus years ago, just about 10 years ago, which was just, we got election results the same night.

00:05:08.000 Election results were tabulated and tallied at the polling site, which was by precinct.

00:05:13.000 You know, this is the reason why we had results so quickly in a place like Arizona and why it's become so bad and so messed up was because we've allowed this radical group of leftists to come in and basically manipulate these really bad, really unintelligent, not bright Republicans at the county level just to allow them to do these things.

00:05:34.000 And so I think it's more than fair for someone to come in and say, look, as a legislative body, we're going to come in.

00:05:40.000 We're just going to turn, we're going to do what the public wants, which is turn back the clocks to how we used to do things 10 years ago.

00:05:45.000 Look a lot more like Florida, how Florida manages their elections.

00:05:48.000 If we did that, everyone would be happy.

00:05:51.000 The playing field would be fair.

00:05:52.000 And then we can get back to just the issues.

00:05:55.000 That's what elections should be about, not the administration of the elections.

00:05:59.000 Well, I hope that Borrelli comes up.

00:06:01.000 And I mean, you have more power than I do on this, but just say, okay, we're done with voting centers.

00:06:06.000 And by the way, so just so I'm understanding, they can get rid of early voting then.

00:06:09.000 They could just say one day.

00:06:12.000 Yeah, I mean, I don't know at what depths, you know, because of laws that were passed versus what they, because you could make the argument that the legislature has passed these laws.

00:06:22.000 So the laws that were passed and ultimately signed by the former governor or the governor could, you know, that could be looked at while it's like, well, the legislature was the one that came up with this idea.

00:06:32.000 And so there's going to be a battle that ensues around some of these things, but certainly things that are in the election procedure manual.

00:06:40.000 And again, we're getting really deep for the audience here, but most states have what's called an election procedure manual, which is really rules that are made up in the administration of the elections, typically by the county elections officials and the secretary of state.

00:06:54.000 And so if you've got a really bad one like we do in Arizona, you know, they can make up rules that aren't necessarily law.

00:07:02.000 And this is basically how we've come to the administration of vote centers, voting centers, which are not by precinct in Arizona.

00:07:10.000 But we have laws on the books that currently say you have to do handcuff procedures by precinct.

00:07:14.000 You have to do all these different functions by precinct.

00:07:16.000 And so they're basically not living by the law.

00:07:19.000 And I think what Sonny is saying and what the legislature can do is ultimately come back and say, hey, look, guys, there's all these different things that you're not doing because you've manipulated and changed the elections.

00:07:29.000 This isn't law.

00:07:30.000 And we're going to come in and say, hey, no, this is how things are going to, this is how the procedure is going to be moving forward.

00:07:36.000 Yeah.

00:07:36.000 I mean, so we're in this circumstance.

00:07:38.000 I'm just kind of chuckling right now because it's a big mystery, right?

00:07:43.000 It's a mystery, but I sure hope the legislature uses their power.

00:07:46.000 And then so, so Tyler, is this also applicable in Wisconsin?

00:07:49.000 Can the Wisconsin legislature just decide to do what they want to do?

00:07:52.000 I mean, we should just ask for the order.

00:07:54.000 We should get rid of all drop boxes.

00:07:56.000 We should get rid of all mail and voting.

00:07:57.000 We should get rid of all absentee except for excuse.

00:08:00.000 We should just go to one day, election day.

00:08:03.000 So we could basically fix all of our elections out of governor's consent.

00:08:07.000 I'm just shocked that no one had this idea before the midterms, before we got our clock cleaned.

00:08:13.000 Well, again, Charlie, some of this is like so, it's so new.

00:08:16.000 And remember, we've had some bad legislators, too.

00:08:19.000 So there's, you know, you brought up Wisconsin.

00:08:22.000 So Wisconsin's in a really good place where we have a Republican legislature.

00:08:27.000 We have many places in America that have Republican supermajorities that can certainly take this power back into their hands without the need of the governor, without the battle of the governor.

00:08:38.000 And so, I mean, look, it's more so, I think, of a cultural revolution that's happened where people are finally coming to their senses.

00:08:47.000 Even more establishment members of the Republican Party are coming to their senses, going, oh, we are up against psychopaths who are trying to just completely obliterate election procedure or trying to manipulate us into oblivion.

00:09:00.000 They're finally getting it.

00:09:02.000 And, you know, we know about this pretty intensely in Arizona because it's been happening for, you know, going on eight years now.

00:09:09.000 But in the many states, this is like that's the first two.

00:09:11.000 And so they've been watching what's happening in Arizona and Fulton County and Maricopa County.

00:09:17.000 And they're going, oh, oh, now I get it.

00:09:20.000 And they're trying to do this here at my house in a deep red state.

00:09:24.000 No, we're not going to do it.

00:09:26.000 And so now we're getting a lot more of like the Republican psyche is now changed.

00:09:31.000 It's now further along in that process, which I think is now why people are going, okay, we got to take things and we got to take the constitutional authority into our hands.

00:09:39.000 Tyler, you've been talking about for a while that the entrenched corporate power, they're going to try to place some bets.

00:09:45.000 Tim Scott running for the presidency, really sweet and honorable man.

00:09:48.000 Wish him the best.

00:09:49.000 I don't think he's got a chance to become the nominee unless things completely fall apart.

00:09:53.000 But a lot of corporate money is going behind Tim Scott, which again, I think it's better to support Tim Scott than Mike Pence.

00:09:58.000 I think Tim Scott actually has something to say that drives the left nuts, but he's not conservative enough for me.

00:10:03.000 But there is even some people think Tim Scott is too radical.

00:10:07.000 I think that we're at a place where there's enough moderates and definitely enough donors and corporate interests that might draft a third party ticket.

00:10:18.000 And it looks like it could be Manchinima and a combination of it.

00:10:25.000 And you've been saying it for a while.

00:10:26.000 And or maybe Joe Biden is going to kick Cammy out and put cinema as VP to help carry Arizona.

00:10:33.000 These are all speculation, but not so much.

00:10:36.000 Manchinima, they are popping up more and more together in press interviews.

00:10:40.000 You're seeing a lot of corporate donors floated out.

00:10:42.000 The U.S. Chamber of Commerce likes this idea.

00:10:46.000 And my working hypothesis is I think this actually helps Republicans more than Democrats.

00:10:51.000 I could be wrong, Tyler.

00:10:52.000 I don't know if you agree or not.

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00:11:33.000 There's this pile of money from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that doesn't like the progressive wing of the Democrat Party, the AOC.

00:11:39.000 They certainly don't like anything on the right.

00:11:41.000 They love cinema.

00:11:42.000 They love Manchin because they're quote-unquote moderate and all that nonsense.

00:11:46.000 Is there going to be a draft Manchinima campaign for the U.S. chamber crowd to try to get a quote-unquote third way?

00:11:53.000 Do you think that's possible?

00:11:55.000 Yeah, I mean, it's already underway.

00:11:57.000 We've seen it. 0.97

00:11:58.000 So you just brought up the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been in love with Kirsten Sinema since the day she entered Congress.

00:12:06.000 And they were very nervous when Jeff Flake lost or was out.

00:12:11.000 He was losing in the polls and he decided to tap out.

00:12:14.000 They were very nervous of what was going to happen here, who was going to become the U.S. Senator from Arizona.

00:12:22.000 It's a very powerful thing.

00:12:24.000 The Cokes have invested a ton.

00:12:26.000 And we've started to see where the Cokes have spent a ton of time in the chamber that there's a lot of Coke-adjacent people and a lot of friendly chamber Republicans who are just hanging out and hanging around Kirsten Sinema headquarters.

00:12:41.000 And so when you look at this, you're exactly right with the racism playing out.

00:12:46.000 Her decision to move to independent was by no mistake.

00:12:49.000 It wasn't just she took lightly.

00:12:53.000 She had lost a majority of the Democrat base.

00:12:57.000 And so there's a plan afoot here. 1.00

00:13:00.000 The question is, is the plan see how far she can get in the Arizona election here for U.S. Senate, see how it plays out, see who the Republican candidate is, and then make a decision, potentially run for vice president, potentially run for third party ticket.

00:13:19.000 There's a lot of options here for a person like Manchin and a person like Cinema.

00:13:24.000 And none of it is good for the Democrats.

00:13:27.000 And potentially these people who support them on our side will never be welcomed back ever again to the Republican Party.

00:13:34.000 Yeah.

00:13:34.000 And so this is mostly donor driven, right?

00:13:37.000 I mean, and I don't even, there's fabulous donors.

00:13:40.000 We have great donors at Turning Point that are super patriots.

00:13:42.000 I mean more like corporate donor, right?

00:13:44.000 Like these are people that are actively running Fortune 100, Fortune 200 companies that are so out of touch.

00:13:49.000 I'm talking about the target types, okay?

00:13:51.000 The same ones that put like the trans stuff in Target.

00:13:54.000 They like are really excited about low tax, low regulation, neoliberal, but also woke on the social stuff, right?

00:14:00.000 That's kind of, can you kind of just describe what is the philosophical appeal of a man chinama candidacy?

00:14:07.000 Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of this is just the entire concept is some of that they can control at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, right?

00:14:13.000 Again, what we know, and you just said this at the very beginning, what we know about the chamber is they don't like the direction the Republican Party is going because it's uncontrollable for them.

00:14:23.000 And that's a new thing for corporate America is that they've had this wonderful situation where they've been able to control, you know, most of the U.S. Senate, most of our governors forever.

00:14:34.000 And now you have this weird situation popping up where it's like, wow, they can read the writing on the wall, the hieroglyphics that are there that are left behind by MAGA, by the MAGA base, which is like, hey, all the candidates that are coming out cannot be controlled by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

00:14:48.000 They're free thinking.

00:14:49.000 And so they've shifted to these like left behind, anti-progressive, easy to control Democrats.

00:14:59.000 And, you know, a lot of these Democrats are like, oh, yeah, we'll warmly accept your help.

00:15:04.000 And in the meantime, this is why people are feeling the Uniparty feel.

00:15:08.000 And I've told people for a long time, stop calling, you know, these Republicans, Republicans who are part of the Unit Party.

00:15:15.000 The Uniparty is all made up of Democrats.

00:15:17.000 The Chamber of Commerce has made a decision to go exclusively to support the Democrat Party at this point.

00:15:23.000 And we have to, we have to call it for what it is and demand that they come back to our side by not just looking at this world of simply through the prison of what they can control, but of what America wants and what American interests want.

00:15:38.000 How is this?

00:15:39.000 This is going to manifest almost guaranteed unless there's change in the Arizona Senate race, unless Cinema becomes private equity spokesperson or head of ASU, which I think is unlikely.

00:15:51.000 Cinema is going to be in kind of a three-way race that we might see as a precursor, a canary in the coal mine of American politics to come.

00:15:59.000 Tyler, what is going to happen in the Arizona Senate race?

00:16:02.000 Yeah, and yeah, not to get too deeply into it, but there's this no labels party that came out.

00:16:07.000 And a lot of establishment, a lot of establishment Republicans were like, We can't have that.

00:16:12.000 Well, they can't have that because it messes with their uniparty strategy.

00:16:16.000 Because it actually, the no labels party, I think, actually helps us.

00:16:20.000 I agree completely.

00:16:22.000 Plus, the Democrat base. 0.87

00:16:24.000 You know, Kirsten Cinema splitting the Democrat base is great.

00:16:27.000 You know, if there's a third-party ticket that's Mansion and Cinema, a Manchinima candidate, Kennedy, that's great.

00:16:32.000 Yeah, the scariest thing for us would be cinema running this VPA.

00:16:36.000 I agree because I mean, that would then moderate a radical top of the tick right a time.

00:16:40.000 But think about it.

00:16:41.000 Republican base is 38, 40% rock solid, pro-life, pro-gun, pro-borders, pro-America. 1.00

00:16:47.000 The Democrat Party's been able to margin us with suburban women.

00:16:51.000 If you have a third-party moderate, they're going to go towards that. 1.00

00:16:54.000 And we, as Republicans, could win big-time conservatives.

00:16:57.000 Tyler, thanks so much.

00:16:58.000 See you soon.

00:17:01.000 Hey, everybody, Summer is here.

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00:18:42.000 A couple pieces of breaking news.

00:18:44.000 Number one, it is confirmed that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will announce he's running for president.

00:18:52.000 Ron DeSantis will be taking place in an exclusive Twitter conversation with Elon Musk.

00:18:58.000 And so he will be doing that on Twitter.

00:19:00.000 Do not be surprised.

00:19:01.000 I'm just, if Donald Trump starts streaming live on Twitter at the exact same time, that would be something, wouldn't it?

00:19:09.000 It's an interesting strategy.

00:19:11.000 It will definitely get eyeballs.

00:19:12.000 So that's good.

00:19:13.000 Elon is somebody that is incredibly powerful.

00:19:16.000 World's richest man.

00:19:17.000 That makes sense.

00:19:18.000 Is it the best possible audience for a primary?

00:19:23.000 That remains to be seen.

00:19:25.000 But if the idea is to get eyeballs and attention and an announcement, this is strategically smart by DeSantis' team.

00:19:34.000 This is strategically smart to go on Twitter and to do a live stream.

00:19:38.000 I mean, Elon is the number one Twitter out there.

00:19:41.000 And DeSantis will have an opportunity to communicate mostly to undecideds.

00:19:46.000 And so for this, I'm actually kind of glad he's doing it on Twitter because you're going to be communicating to a lot of moderates and a lot of center-right people that in the general election, I'd love to eventually win over.

00:19:58.000 So for that, I hope you make the best pitch possible.

00:20:01.000 Look, the average 75-year-old Christian in Kiakuk, Iowa, who is going to be caucusing, is not going to probably be watching on Twitter spaces.

00:20:14.000 They might watch some of the clips that are re-aired on news networks or radio programs or written in newspapers.

00:20:20.000 But I don't know if that's DeSantis' goal.

00:20:22.000 I think DeSantis wants to get the most impressions and the most eyeballs and the most engagements.

00:20:28.000 He wants to start with a bang, and this is definitely unique.

00:20:32.000 We'll see.

00:20:32.000 This will be a test.

00:20:34.000 And again, I think Ron DeSantis is a great man.

00:20:37.000 He's the best governor in America, total patriot.

00:20:39.000 I say that as somebody who's endorsed Trump.

00:20:41.000 You guys know that.

00:20:42.000 I don't like it when they fight.

00:20:43.000 I don't like the bickering.

00:20:44.000 I don't like the attacking.

00:20:45.000 I'll say that publicly.

00:20:47.000 I'll say it privately.

00:20:48.000 And Donald Trump is going to win the nomination.

00:20:50.000 The base is behind him, 100%.

00:20:54.000 And with this announcement, again, we're going to cover it very closely.

00:20:58.000 We're going to cover it fairly.

00:20:59.000 You see, two things can be simultaneously true.

00:21:02.000 You can be 100% behind Trump while also call balls and strikes and say, look, Ron DeSantis very well could be a once-in-a-generation leader.

00:21:13.000 I'm a little afraid, though, for DeSantis' future because I wouldn't want to run against Trump.

00:21:21.000 He is better at this than anybody else. 0.77

00:21:23.000 The guy is savage.

00:21:25.000 He's ferocious.

00:21:27.000 And he already has 50 to 60% of the base.

00:21:29.000 He's got most of conservative media.

00:21:31.000 He's got a lot of money.

00:21:32.000 He has more money and more institutional respect and support than he had in 2016.

00:21:37.000 And he is a man scorned.

00:21:40.000 MAGA is very unforgiving.

00:21:42.000 You want to talk about a long memory?

00:21:44.000 MAGA has a long memory.

00:21:46.000 It took Senator Ted Cruz, who I adore.

00:21:49.000 I think he's one of the great patriots in America.

00:21:51.000 It took him years to recover from the 2016 convention speech.

00:21:58.000 It literally took him years before people were willing to overcome that.

00:22:04.000 And the failure to endorse and the whole thing and the convention speech, the refusal to endorse, I should say.

00:22:11.000 And so I'm a little bit afraid for Ron DeSantis' future.

00:22:14.000 And I say this as someone who considers him a friend.

00:22:15.000 I've known Ron for a long time and I'm very, very supportive of his future because I think he could be an unbelievable president.

00:22:23.000 I think he'd be an unbelievable leader.

00:22:25.000 I'm afraid he's going to become damaged goods once Trump does what Trump does.

00:22:29.000 And some of you in the audience say, oh, Charlie, I don't like it when Trump does that stuff.

00:22:32.000 I don't like it when Trump.

00:22:34.000 It doesn't matter what you like.

00:22:35.000 You got to live in reality.

00:22:36.000 Okay. 0.91

00:22:37.000 Trump is a lion.

00:22:39.000 Trump is relentless.

00:22:41.000 Trump hates to lose. 0.93

00:22:43.000 And Trump will, he will ratchet up the temperature until he obliterates you.

00:22:48.000 He will engage the steamroller and he will run you over.

00:22:54.000 And the strategy very well could be, you know, that Ron DeSantis wants to try to activate a different type of demographic to come out in the GOP primary.

00:23:06.000 That's interesting.

00:23:07.000 Maybe that's why he wants to start on Twitter to try to get to that 20 to 40 something demographic, the kind of demographic that resonates more with the Daily Wire and less with kind of traditional Fox News media.

00:23:23.000 That's kind of more in the Shapiro camp and less in the Bannon camp.

00:23:28.000 Because you can kind of look, you can always kind of put a primary into different media figures.

00:23:32.000 Ron DeSantis is going to try to get more Shapiro listeners out.

00:23:36.000 Again, Ben's a great American.

00:23:38.000 I'm not saying this negatively.

00:23:39.000 And less Bannon people.

00:23:42.000 Or he's going to say, okay, the Bannon people are already going to MAGA.

00:23:46.000 That's a tough strategy.

00:23:47.000 There's only been one, and we have Byron Donald in just a second.

00:23:50.000 Let me close the thought.

00:23:51.000 There's only been one candidate.

00:23:54.000 No, that's not true.

00:23:55.000 There's been two candidates, one that did it ultimately successfully and one that did it ultimately unsuccessfully, that was able to significantly increase the primary electorate.

00:24:08.000 Actually, that's not true.

00:24:09.000 There's three.

00:24:10.000 Obama did it in 08.

00:24:12.000 Bernie Sanders did it unsuccessfully in 16 and 20.

00:24:16.000 And then Trump did it, obviously, in 16.

00:24:18.000 So it can work.

00:24:20.000 But does DeSantis have the gusto to really motivate and activate more than Trump?

00:24:27.000 Does he have the capacity to expand the electorate in a primary?

00:24:31.000 Primaries traditionally have very, very low turnout, right?

00:24:35.000 Primaries have very low turnout.

00:24:37.000 And to be able to expand the electorate that dramatically, it's going to be a challenge.

00:24:42.000 We'll see if Governor Ron DeSantis will be able to do that.

00:24:46.000 But all eyes will be on Twitter, that's for sure, tomorrow evening.

00:24:49.000 Joining us now is Congressman Byron Donalds.

00:24:51.000 Congressman, thank you for joining us.

00:24:52.000 I know that you've endorsed President Trump.

00:24:54.000 Ron DeSantis is going to make it official tomorrow.

00:24:56.000 What is your initial reaction?

00:24:58.000 Well, look, I think this has been one of the worst kept secrets, you know, in politics, but these things happen.

00:25:04.000 I think when you're at high profile, but at the end of the day, Donald Trump's still the leader in the clubhouse.

00:25:09.000 And until that dynamic starts to shift, we're basically where we all knew we were a month ago or two months ago.

00:25:18.000 It is definitely the worst kept secret in Florida politics and certainly in American politics.

00:25:24.000 So, Congressman, I want to try to get your reaction here.

00:25:26.000 The reports are still coming in.

00:25:28.000 It seems as if Russia intercepted two U.S. fighter jets over the Baltic Sea.

00:25:34.000 There's still some confusion as to what they were doing there.

00:25:38.000 I don't quite know the atmospherics of who actually controls the Baltic Sea.

00:25:44.000 And I guess now that Finland, or I guess Finland is part of NATO, is that part of it?

00:25:50.000 What is your just initial reaction to some of the geopolitical confusion that we're seeing under this administration?

00:25:58.000 Oh, look, Charlie, you're the first person getting me this information.

00:26:02.000 I was on the floor.

00:26:02.000 One of the reasons was I'm a little late to be with you on the floor going through some side conversations around debt ceiling.

00:26:10.000 But a couple things.

00:26:11.000 One, and this is a big one, we do not have real leadership at the top in the United States.

00:26:18.000 Russia and China are much more aggressive than they have been, frankly, in quite some time.

00:26:25.000 Definitely, they weren't this aggressive when President Trump was in office.

00:26:29.000 And so we're going to continue to see, in my opinion, issues like this, because at the end of the day, they don't think Joe Biden's tough enough to hold them accountable.

00:26:38.000 And you can get into all the gravitas of past relationships and all the other stuff that foreign policy experts try to talk about.

00:26:47.000 But at the end of the day, foreign policy is about, I'm strong, and do you truly think I'll do the thing you don't want to see me do?

00:26:54.000 It's about strength.

00:26:56.000 And right now they're not seeing it in America, and that's really concerning.

00:26:59.000 You know, so for our pilots that are over there, number one, it's for their safety and that they get home safely and for their families.

00:27:08.000 You know, just stay tuned and keep your prayers up.

00:27:11.000 Make sure nothing happens to our men and women who happen to be in this entanglement right now.

00:27:15.000 Congressman, what is the latest on the debt ceiling?

00:27:18.000 Kevin McCarthy's driving a hard bargain.

00:27:21.000 Joe Biden says we're still very, very far away from a deal.

00:27:24.000 What can you share?

00:27:26.000 Well, they're still in there.

00:27:27.000 They're pushing hard right now as we speak.

00:27:29.000 You know, my attitude is if Joe Biden can't be serious, it might be time to start talking to senators.

00:27:34.000 Senate is not even in this week, so you can tell how serious they've looked at this situation.

00:27:38.000 It's an existential don't bother my vacation, right?

00:27:42.000 Yeah, but they're not here.

00:27:43.000 But it might be time to start talking to the U.S. senators and saying, let's maybe, maybe they come up with a deal, pass something out of the Senate, and then we sit down and talk through that deal because Joe Biden is not leading the country, surprise, surprise.

00:27:55.000 Joe Biden wants more revenue.

00:27:57.000 He wants, of course, tax increases.

00:27:59.000 But I don't think Joe Biden is negotiating in good faith because all of his proxies, they're singing in harmony.

00:28:05.000 You know, you have sweatshirt, Shrek, Fennerman, and you have all these other people talking about the 14th Amendment.

00:28:10.000 They don't want to work through you guys, which is completely unconstitutional.

00:28:15.000 So, Congressman, my fear, though, and maybe you can help walk us through this, is there might be a catastrophic move by Republican leadership to say, hey, we're going to get enough of kind of our more moderate members and Democrats and get this hiked.

00:28:31.000 So, what I'm saying, though, is we should ask for serious cuts, but we don't control everything.

00:28:35.000 Is that fair to say that there's got to be, we have to take a good deal when we have it?

00:28:39.000 I don't think we have a good deal yet, but I don't think people, you know, somebody said earlier, oh, we control all the cards.

00:28:43.000 No, no, that's not true.

00:28:44.000 They'll get enough Democrats and enough more moderate Republicans to hike the debt ceiling with very little concessions.

00:28:49.000 Is that correct?

00:28:50.000 Yeah, that is correct.

00:28:52.000 And that's one of the concerns.

00:28:54.000 You know, I'd spend time talking to some members, you know, and stuff like that.

00:28:58.000 And so a lot of members are in different places, depending on where you are in the country.

00:29:02.000 You got some who are basically like, look, I just need a deal to just go ahead and get this thing done and get it over with.

00:29:07.000 And so that's a real concern.

00:29:08.000 I think from the conservative side of the conference, what we've been saying is hold firm.

00:29:13.000 We're the only game in town in terms of where a deal actually has been passed that's actually alive to be voted to get to the president's desk.

00:29:22.000 So we are, we have a strong position.

00:29:24.000 We don't hold all the cards, but I think we have a good number of cards.

00:29:28.000 I think that if we play, if we do, if we manage this right, we will actually end up getting a very good deal for the American people.

00:29:34.000 So let's talk some specifics if you're comfortable.

00:29:37.000 What do you think some of those concessions would be that are realistic?

00:29:41.000 What do you think?

00:29:44.000 It's tough, Charlie.

00:29:45.000 You know, it's really tough to put this out here.

00:29:47.000 And typically I don't like doing that.

00:29:49.000 But now when they're in the room negotiating this stuff, I don't really want to put anything and peel it off the table because my position is clear.

00:29:57.000 To raise the debt ceiling about one and a half to two trillion dollars, we should be cutting about 4.8 to 5 trillion.

00:30:04.000 That's easy stuff.

00:30:05.000 And then the other thing that we should definitely be doing is pulling back these Inflation Reduction Act subsidies because that stuff, all it is, is tax cuts for the rich who believe in this crazy Green New Deal stuff, which is going to set back our energy matrix in the United States.

00:30:22.000 So why would we subsidize these Solyndra-type companies to make billions of dollars doing business with China and the American people fall behind?

00:30:32.000 Makes no sense at all to me.

00:30:34.000 And so, you know, it's funny.

00:30:36.000 You have the White House and you have the Democrats.

00:30:39.000 They're the ones who now support these quote-unquote tax cuts for the rich.

00:30:43.000 That's a great point.

00:30:44.000 And by the way, just so everyone understands, there's still tens of billions and by some estimates, hundreds of billions of unspent money.

00:30:50.000 We're talking, I mean, we're talking about employee retention credits.

00:30:52.000 We're talking about COVID relief stuff.

00:30:54.000 And this is a different show that we'll do at a different time.

00:30:57.000 But the amount of fraud and abuse, Congressman, as you all know, that came to the COVID money surge was in the tens of billions of dollars, right?

00:31:04.000 DOJ is having a field day going after scam artists and all this.

00:31:07.000 So, Congressman, let me just paint not so much of a hypothetical, but I want your position. 0.97

00:31:11.000 Joe Biden's a traitor to the country. 0.67

00:31:13.000 I've said it before, but let's Joe Biden. 0.98

00:31:15.000 Let's say he's negotiating in good faith and he says, okay, I'll give you domestic if you do some foreign.

00:31:20.000 Is there any wiggle room in the Republican caucus to say, hey, we'll cut some of the woke military? 0.99

00:31:25.000 We'll cut, or because some Republicans are saying you're not going to get a dollar out of the defense budget.

00:31:30.000 Where do you stand on that?

00:31:33.000 Look, if you're talking about the woke programming and DOD, as far as I'm concerned, that can go immediately.

00:31:38.000 I'll be the first one to support those cuts.

00:31:41.000 Secondarily, I think, and this is something we were talking about with dealing with the National Defense Authorization Act that's to come later this year, is procurement reform, actually beginning that work because we have a situation where we have defense contractors who, you know, whether they deliver or not, the money gets spent.

00:32:02.000 That's a problem.

00:32:03.000 So we shouldn't be doing that at all.

00:32:04.000 So I think if you would get rid of those woke programming, yep, dealing with procurement reform to really help DOD be a lean meat fighting machine, we should definitely do that as well.

00:32:14.000 Yeah, so this is what you just articulated is super reasonable.

00:32:17.000 And that shows that Republicans want to get a deal done.

00:32:19.000 Look, you can't get everything that you want, but the Democrats are saying, you know, again, Joe Biden, he's so disingenuous and his puppet people, the puppet masters.

00:32:27.000 And they say, oh, really?

00:32:28.000 What do you guys want to do on foreign policy?

00:32:30.000 And they always go after the military, right?

00:32:32.000 But you just articulated, look, there's some, okay?

00:32:36.000 You know, we'll come to some meet, but hey, Joe, why don't we cut this ridiculous explosion of trillions of dollars of spending, hundreds of billions of dollars of unspent money, the crony green energy subsidies?

00:32:47.000 You got to give a little.

00:32:48.000 And that's why they like the 14th Amendment idea so much, Congressman, is because they don't want to deal with you.

00:32:52.000 They think you're an annoyance.

00:32:53.000 They think the American people are irritating to their regime aims and ambitions.

00:32:57.000 And so you can't push too far.

00:33:00.000 And Congressman, you've been super prudent on this.

00:33:02.000 And our audience agrees, but some people say, oh, Charlie, we have all the cards.

00:33:05.000 No, we have most of the cards.

00:33:06.000 There is a scenario where leadership could go to Democrats to raise the ceiling and we get nothing.

00:33:11.000 So we got to strike it right at the crescendo, right at the proper climax, sell at a high mark, and then move towards the spending bill.

00:33:18.000 Congressman, thank you so much.

00:33:19.000 Appreciate your leadership.

00:33:20.000 Anytime.

00:33:21.000 Thanks, Charlie.

00:33:24.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:33:26.000 Email us your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:33:29.000 Thanks so much for listening and God bless.

00:33:34.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - May 24, 2023

The Manchiniman Candidate with Tyler Bowyer and Rep. Byron Donalds

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