On the Monday morning after one of the most historic events in the history of our country, remembering Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, I am joined by Benny Johnson, Nick Sorter, and Blake Neff.
00:00:48.000Everybody, welcome to the Charlie Kirk show on the Monday following what truly was one of the most historic events in the history of our country, remembering Charlie Kirk, building a legacy at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
00:01:05.000I am joined by an amazing cast of friends who were all there, who all witnessed it in person.
00:01:13.000They need no introduct introduction, but we're gonna do it anyways.
00:01:17.000Our dear friend Benny Johnson, dear friend of Charlie Kirk.
00:01:32.000And of course, Blake Neff, uh, who played a huge role, by the way, behind the scenes in yesterday's event and what you saw unfold.
00:01:41.000So, but Benny, I asked you here because I knew you were gonna have a lot to say, and I think it's very fitting, you know, what we did last week.
00:01:49.000We had this amazing all-star group of people that came in and honored Charlie by guest hosting the show alongside his team.
00:01:58.000But I think it's very fitting that you have the Monday after that powerful, powerful memorial to his to his life and legacy.
00:02:36.000Blake is here, obviously, but Blake is just a representation, you yourself as well, of the architecture that Charlie put forward.
00:02:44.000There is no group on earth, political or otherwise, that could have pulled off a 100,000-person in-person memorial, including the vast majority of cabinet secretaries, executive offices, governorships, members of Congress, senators, world leaders, richest man on earth, Elon Musk, arguably the most powerful private civilian on earth, Elon Musk, all in attendance yesterday.
00:03:13.000It is an impossibility for nation states to be able to pull that off.
00:03:17.000Like small countries in Europe wouldn't be able to do that.
00:03:22.000With the full force of the with the full force of the Swiss government, they couldn't pull that off.
00:03:27.000What an I just want to like take a giant step back.
00:03:32.000And perhaps we have some some imagery that the producers could play of the size of the audience, the scale of the audience.
00:03:40.000Not only were the rafters filled, not only were was the floor filled, where you don't wouldn't get that normally in an NFL game or an NBA game, right?
00:03:49.000Or a professional hockey game, the field is for the players, right?
00:04:16.000It's the former NHL arena, and it's neighboring State Farm Stadium, and it was filled.
00:04:24.000The energy was unlike the Super Bowl, unlike a sporting event, it was spiritual In nature.
00:04:31.000It was so kinetic because the room was so packed and so filled.
00:04:35.000And as far as I could tell, and I know I know this actually, as a matter of fact, not a single window broken, not a single Moltoff cocktail thrown, not a single fist ever thrown in anger.
00:04:45.000No fights, no burning buildings, no attacks on cops, no attacks on our nation, nothing but a peaceful memorial, the largest perhaps on earth, perhaps in in American history, full filled with prayer, mourning, forgiveness, and a call for righteous justice.
00:05:04.000That is the difference between two ideologies, two directions for Western civilization, and a profound magisterial remembrance of Charlie's legacy.
00:05:17.000It is precisely as he would have wanted it.
00:05:21.000And I want to d jump just one more story in because I was backstage.
00:05:52.000And that sucked, especially for guys like Charlie, who were coalition builders.
00:05:58.000Charlie Kirk was thanked on stage by Donald Trump himself for bringing together RFK Jr. and Maha movement.
00:06:04.000Donald Trump says, Charlie created Maha.
00:06:07.000I don't think Charlie ever will get the credit that he deserved for doing that.
00:06:11.000But also Charlie Kirk brought together massive coalitions of, well, at any turning point event, you can find Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, and Tucker Carlson sharing the same stage, right?
00:06:20.000Maybe not together, but they're all there, right?
00:06:22.000To give an opportunity to project their worldview, right?
00:06:25.000Charlie was constantly doing that, constantly bridging gaps, constantly fusing together because he realized that if we don't hang together, we will surely hang separately.
00:06:36.000Which is exactly what Elon Musk told me.
00:06:38.000So backstage, Elon Musk embraces Erica Kirk, and they're the she's crying in his arms and they're hugging, and it's really profound.
00:06:49.000And this is the words that Elon Musk said to us in this small little group with Erica Kirk.
00:06:55.000And he said, he said, this is why I was proud to sit with my president.
00:07:01.000This is what he called Trump, my president today.
00:07:04.000He accepted Trump's invitation to go up there.
00:07:06.000And he's the majority of the met Elon Musk sent sitting there with Donald Trump, chewing it up.
00:07:10.000Everyone has can see the here's the photos of Elon embracing Erica, and then there are photos of Elon with Trump, and they seem to be having a great time.
00:07:20.000What a profound, not only was the size and scope of this and the peacefulness of it a profound eulogy for Charlie and his memory, but the cornerstone of it all to unite the world's most powerful, richest uh private civilian with the world's most powerful public figure, Donald Trump.
00:07:40.000Charlie said, in this chair right here, he hoped that it happened.
00:07:45.000There's a clip that went viral yesterday.
00:07:47.000Charlie saying, I pray, I pray that Elon Musk and Donald Trump reconcile.
00:07:51.000And they did so at Charlie's funeral in Charlie's memory.
00:07:56.000A profound and beautiful example of what Charlie constantly was doing for our movement.
00:08:05.000And he fused together the greatest schism that we've seen in the in the nascent Trump administration.
00:08:11.000He just fixed Trump and Elon together.
00:08:15.000And it's like the power of Charlie crying out.
00:08:18.000I mean, after death, crying out, and like still the power of Charlie, like bringing together these tectonic forces that that should not reconcile.
00:08:47.000And so uh again, just as a little behind-the-scenes vignette here, a a what you watched yesterday, what tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of people saw yesterday, definitely hundreds of millions saw yesterday, was a beautiful encapsulation, eulogizing, and memorial to Charlie with his energy pulsing through every bit of it.
00:09:12.000I'm I I hadn't heard that that part about Elon, so I I love that.
00:09:17.000And you know, I know, and Blake knows how badly Charlie wanted to see them reconcile.
00:09:23.000So many times we discussed it, and Charlie, you know, he Elon kind of flew off the handle a little bit when it first happened, and Charlie was very reserved.
00:09:32.000He didn't hop on it because he was like, I believe they're gonna come back together.
00:09:36.000And yesterday, Charlie was proved correct, as he often is.
00:10:03.000Um, it's it's sort of I mean, we this we added this this seat location for these streams because you know, we're just gonna all pile around Charlie, which is very Charlie.
00:10:14.000Uh, but but yeah, Benny, I mean, please, you were you were continuing and uh I cut you off.
00:10:30.000Probably he was openly agnostic, actually.
00:10:32.000You know, he he would say that because he was uh more of a uh science-based guy, as he would say, and you know, he wants to see evidence and and and and proof of things before it happens.
00:10:42.000But you know, the amount of people in that room yesterday, I mean, like I I could feel it.
00:10:47.000I I was genuinely convinced that the Holy Spirit was in the room yesterday, and I saw Elon tweet uh uh uh what did you tweet forgive us?
00:11:05.000And I I think we all felt, you know, to Tucker had that great line, and he said the the Holy Spirit was was what did he say?
00:11:14.000It was uh humming like a tuning fork in there.
00:11:18.000And you could just I mean, you could not help but step into that room and feel that and I think probably I mean there was a the our our production team uh that was running all the streams, they they logged well over a hundred million streams, and that was just the ones they knew about.
00:11:33.000That's not broadcast, that's not obviously clips of the of the memorial, that's none of that stuff.
00:11:38.000That was they they could just log over a hundred million.
00:11:49.000I mean, you you were kind of observing, I I saw you a couple times.
00:11:53.000Blake was just kind of taking it all in, and sometimes Blake can be very kind of in your your thing you're doing, and you were unusually sort of observant of the wider moment.
00:12:07.000You know, I think uh the moment I think a lot of people who are there are going to remember is actually right at the start before any of the speakers come out.
00:12:14.000Uh it's just right at the beginning where they had all the different signs that were color-coded.
00:12:19.000And I remember they they chose the signs very well.
00:12:21.000It was like one of them was the, you know, here I am, Lord, send me.
00:12:24.000Another was the uh, I think well done, my good and faithful servant.
00:12:27.000Like they had they they had a good selection of what was on the signs, and everyone just holding them.
00:12:31.000The music is just the strings, there's no one singing or anything.
00:12:34.000And it goes for man, it felt like it was five plus minutes.
00:12:38.000Everyone just sort of sitting there, like marinating in the moment, and that felt very powerful.
00:13:05.000Well, I I I mean uh the first off, it was really uh interesting to me were the amount of people like turning point action yesterday was super busy going around registering voters, like people want to get involved.
00:13:16.000These are people that uh that didn't really pay too much attention to politics before.
00:13:21.000Maybe they did casually, but now all of a sudden, you know, this happened, it woke a lot of people up, it scared them, it shook them to the core.
00:13:27.000You know, I I've been speaking to my mother as well, Uh who she's been a lifelong Democrat, loved Obama when I was growing up.
00:13:34.000And she called me and was like almost in tears because she didn't know Charlie before.
00:13:40.000She didn't know anything about Charlie.
00:13:41.000And then she started seeing all the clips.
00:13:43.000She started seeing the highlights from him doing these college tours and stuff.
00:13:47.000And now she wants to get back into the church.
00:13:49.000And she wants me to start going with her.
00:13:56.000And it it's just this unbelievable power that Charlie has unleashed posthumously on the world, uh, bringing people closer to God.
00:14:06.000I would say it's in the millions upon millions of people that have now just gone to church for the first time over the past couple of weeks, or have gone to church for the first time since I think Erica said since as a child.
00:14:17.000You know, and I think there was this feeling, you know, I in the the immediate aftermath of Charlie's assassination, there was this surge, right?
00:14:27.000You know, people were showing up, you know, hundreds and hundreds of people were showing up in front of the HQ, and there was vigils going on.
00:14:37.000I said, Lord, you know, let this not be the end of it.
00:14:41.000Let this not, I hope that this is not just a flash in the pan.
00:14:46.000And I'll tell you, there's tons of people in front of the building this morning, just paying their respects.
00:14:52.000And I think this memorial and the the this red discovery, re-exploration of Charlie's actually what he said, not what the media said about him, is going to mean that this carries on uh much, much longer than just you know these last 11, 12 days.
00:15:09.000I had the honor of speaking yesterday at Charlie's memorial at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
00:15:30.000And I and it's it just it's exactly what Charlie would have done because Charlie loves this team, probably spent more time on a daily basis with the team that runs the show than any other team because there were so many teams, but this was his daily routine.
00:15:46.000And feel free to chime in, I got a I got a message from a friend who was asking, who's this guy?
00:15:51.000And it was not a photo of me, it was a photo of uh Dallin on our tech team because the the profile he had a very powerful looking chin.
00:16:11.000That's the big E on the eye chart really.
00:16:13.000This is the biggest apostolic event since the times of Christ, I believe.
00:16:18.000I I I don't think there is a some of the greatest reformation given, you know, given technology and given the number of people that can watch concurrently, right?
00:16:28.000Christ can speak to thousands on a hillside, but there's no way to amplify, you know, there's no way to digitally amplify it worldwide.
00:16:35.000Given the number of people watching in South Korea, I mean, we probably will never get those numbers, but it's I think it's probably fair to say that this service was seen by billions by the time it's all said and done and gone worldwide, at least pieces of it, right?
00:16:48.000Parts, snippets, videos, and clips on social media.
00:16:51.000Billions saw it, and there wasn't a single speech that did not have Christ at the center of the speech.
00:16:58.000I believe that this, and you should contact the Guinness Book of World Records.
00:17:02.000This is most likely Charlie's memorial service, the single largest apostolic event in modern history.
00:17:09.000Well, I I don't know if you guys saw this.
00:17:10.000Somebody tweeted out a photo of you know the monitors for all the different news networks, every single major news network in the Western uh world was tuned in live, not cutting to any commercials while these big speakers were going.
00:17:25.000And I will tell you, I handle press for turning point events historically, and so I sort of had to, on top of a number of other things that I was doing, I uh and my team did an amazing job.
00:18:11.000And I will tell you, they said this was more press interest from around the world, not just America, than than the Super Bowl or any other special event they've ever been a part of.
00:18:20.000And this, and I believe it is a very true fact to say that the gospel was just proclaimed to more people in one singular event than in any other time in human history.
00:18:30.000And it makes me remember, Benny, the the verse where he says, Jesus says, You will do even greater things than these.
00:18:36.000It's not that we are greater than Christ, Christ is King.
00:18:39.000But you will do even greater things than these.
00:18:41.000And everybody who had a hand in yesterday's event was was a participant in those greater things because as you said, we have social media.
00:18:49.000We have this ability to spread the message so far and so wide and so quickly.
00:19:29.000The size of the press rafter took up a considerable portion of the football field in order to get the amount of press in that wanted to come.
00:19:35.000It was the biggest uh press riser anybody had ever seen.
00:19:38.000And I talked to, you know, President Trump's team backstage.
00:19:42.000I talked to our our physical production partners.
00:19:56.000Oh, and we had to cut, just so everybody's aware, we had to cut a lot because we originally were going to be able to put some overflow press into the over uh desert diamond arena or whatever.
00:20:06.000And that ended up not being a possibility.
00:20:10.000Uh it's so we could have we could have fit even more uh in into the back, and we just we fire marshal stuff, uh footprint stuff on the floor.
00:20:19.000We had to we had to ultimately cut back.
00:20:21.000So there was some some press that didn't even get in.
00:20:24.000But listen, we we got in the lion share of the press, and to God be the glory for Charlie.
00:20:52.000I mean, it and it I I don't know what it was at his peak, but I just got an interesting tidbit of information that we had some partners do a geotag of how many devices were in the general vicinity, and it was nearly 300,000.
00:21:05.000It was 277,000 devices were geotagged in that vicinity.
00:21:11.000So for comparison and context there, when they geotagged what what was the most famous MAGA rally of the 2024 election, the Madison Square Garden rally.
00:21:39.000So that was nine that the the pain the the full geotag for that, which is seen as the the penultimum MAGA rally was 97,000.
00:21:47.000So yeah, I I mean I you walk I walked outside, I was there most of the night covering like the the growing size of the crowd.
00:21:53.000You had people there the night before it was in in the hundreds, which is still pretty good, especially when they very specifically said nobody's allowed to stay overnight.
00:22:00.000They said you're not allowed to camp overnight.
00:22:02.000They're like, okay, so we're gonna stand on the sidewalk instead.
00:22:05.000And these these people, uh like two hours later, three o'clock in the morning rolls around, and all of a sudden there's tens of thousands of people standing outside.
00:22:13.000They wanted to make sure they got that spot.
00:22:15.000They wanted to make sure they were in there.
00:22:16.000And I read a post earlier today from a guy that was from Maine that came all the way over here.
00:22:21.000He got there early and ended up sitting behind the stage, and he's like, I wouldn't have it any other way.
00:23:03.000We filled up the arena in pretty good time.
00:23:06.000The Secret Service provided a ton of mags, uh, which is the security scanners to get into the venue.
00:23:13.000And so that helped because you know it we had been a part of many Trump events during the campaign where the Biden administration was not giving us a lot of mags.
00:23:23.000They were giving us the bare minimum number of mags.
00:23:26.000So you can only move so many people through those per hour.
00:23:31.000And I I mean, you know, you can't prove it, at least I can't, but there was this feeling like they were like, heh, we're gonna screw your event, and people are stuck out in the heat, passing out, we're out there handing.
00:23:43.000I'll never forget that that uh Palm Beach event where Charlie went out into the uh parking garage because people, the line we put the line out into the parking garage, there's massive 100% humidity, crazy heat.
00:23:54.000We put out big fans, we rushed in fans, chart we ate uh pallets of water, and Charlie went and shook everybody's hand hand and said, I'm so sorry.
00:24:02.000And it was because they screwed us on the mags.
00:24:04.000So this time we got all the mags we needed.
00:24:10.000I I mean I don't I don't know what you guys' experience was entering the arena.
00:24:14.000But when you walked into the arena, there was this major energy change, and we were coming over from Fox, you had done Maria Barcaromo right before me.
00:24:22.000And you went we you know, it took a while to get into the arena, big time security, obviously.
00:24:27.000You get in and you walk in, and the first thing that greets you that greeted me was like three ladies that were like sobbing in tears that all come over to like cry on my chest, and then it was like that every two feet.
00:24:39.000Like every two feet took us an hour and a half to get to our chairs, and people were just mourning Charlie.
00:24:44.000There was like this, there was like this kinetic, there was like this kinetic energy of it was like Charlie it was like Charlie was there.
00:24:51.000You could see people who were just walking onto the floor into the arena area and they were just like sobbing as they walked taking it all in.
00:24:59.000However, you know, I now another massive shout out to Turning Point and the events team here to give P what people are looking for in that time.
00:25:07.000If you don't give them a physical ability to mourn and to get it out, then that energy can out can actually go dark and can can turn into something bad.
00:25:16.000So doing this was actually therapeutic for the nation.
00:25:19.000It was actually it was so important to do it this way.
00:25:22.000It was so important for people to have the opportunity to grieve and mourn together and to get it out, right?
00:25:56.000Go ahead and throw up the uh New York Post cover.
00:26:01.000I forgive him, and that's Erica being embraced, putting her head on the chest of the president as he consoles her.
00:26:07.000This powerful moment where she said what for many Benny is the unthinkable.
00:26:15.000I forgive this man who just robbed the world of a great hero and a titan of a man, our friend, but I I'm very aware well, I'm very well aware that yes, he was my you know, dear personal friend.
00:26:28.000We spent so much time together, but yet he belongs to the world, he belongs to history, and here Erica is was doing this not out of a personal relationship, you know, with her husband, but really like because she understands that she is an instrument for God right now.
00:26:45.000Yes, and so she dug so deep and did this beautiful thing, and it's created a a lot of chatter online, and I want to get into it now.
00:27:41.000Um I I agree, Benny, that that was she's given two of the most powerful speeches that I've ever heard, if not the top two.
00:27:49.000I don't know what even comes close, actually, in this moment.
00:27:53.000And that moment in particular, I tweeted at the same at the time.
00:27:57.000I said, this is one of the most truly uh important and profound moments in American history, perhaps world history, and she had such courage to do it.
00:28:08.000Blake, take us behind the scenes, because you were you were kind of that you were bouncing ideas off her with the language of this speech.
00:28:16.000Yeah, you know, we were uh you know, I helped her in.
00:28:20.000I helped her ahead of time with the speech.
00:28:44.000And I won't say everything that went into it.
00:28:46.000A lot of that was very private, but two things I think I can say is first of all, it was you know, one of us almost threw out idly, you know, so what would Charlie do?
00:28:55.000And that actually, you know, impacted her a great deal.
00:28:58.000She she did as she said up there, it is what Charlie would do.
00:29:01.000And the other thing she said uh ahead of it that it impacted me so much at the time.
00:29:08.000She said, I have to do it because I I can't let there be anything that would stand between me and seeing Charlie again if I were to die.
00:29:23.000And that was so incredible in that moment.
00:29:26.000I I think that it is it inspired a lot of people, especially the ones that I was sitting around, because you know, you watched that video and how gruesome and how angry it made me watching that video, and you know, this is Charlie's wife.
00:29:38.000And she was able to actually go up on stage and say in front of millions of people that she forgives him.
00:29:43.000I mean, that the the power that's behind that, it's uh something that we'll remember for a long time.
00:29:49.000So backstage, she was she was le Erica was leaving.
00:29:52.000It's wild to tell you the the importance of this moment for Erica.
00:29:56.000And first off, I I mean I said this during the break, but I think that that speech ranks among the top three most powerful speeches ever given in modern history.
00:30:16.000She also did it standing right here before this chair.
00:30:18.000She was it was right where you're sitting.
00:30:20.000And I'm not sure I'd even call that a speech.
00:30:21.000I think I'd call that like a wife's private eulogy that she was able to share with all of us because of how important Charlie was to the world.
00:30:30.000That was like less of a speech and more of like God speaking through her.
00:30:34.000I don't I again I've known Erica and Charlie for a long time.
00:30:37.000I was at the wedding, we were all at their wedding.
00:31:30.000And and and dank memes, uh, which is a first, but that was the most Christ-like thing that happened on stage.
00:31:36.000I think everyone will agree with that.
00:31:38.000The forgive the of course the forgiveness of the unforgivable, right?
00:31:42.000And Erica shared Christ to one of the largest audiences maybe ever gathered in human and did the most Christ-like thing, and that again, the most apostolic event in human history was that.
00:31:56.000And I think that I'll I I if if you will allow me, a lot of people are saying, well, how dare Trump wall w you know, saunter on stage afterwards and say, No, I hate my enemies, I'm gonna kill my enemies like I hate them, I want them to burn.
00:32:12.000Right, because Trump went on and did that, right?
00:32:14.000In his own way, Trump bravado and said, Oh, I hate my enemies.
00:32:20.000I want to take an opportunity to just say from a Christian perspective, and look at this from a biblical perspective.
00:32:26.000Because what was demonstrated in both those speeches, represented by obviously Erica, but then represented by Stephen Miller did a great job at this.
00:32:34.000Secretary Ward did a great job of this, is the personification of Romans 13.
00:32:39.000Romans 13, the Apostle Paul, who's very familiar with martyrdom, was there at the martyrdom of Stephen, that actually brought him to Christ, writes about a properly instituted government set up by God, and that the government is there to institute safety and security for the good and moral people of the nations, that God has set up the leaders of our land in order to do that.
00:33:04.000And so God set up Trump and his administration to allow for security and family flourishing and for the prospering of good and moral people, and that God gives the sword to the leaders of our principalities in order to enact these are the exact words, terror within evil men, to bring terror upon evil men.
00:33:27.000And he and and that was what the Trump administration represented.
00:33:33.000That is fundamental Christian doctrine about the establishment of the government so that the good may flourish.
00:33:39.000Now, on a personal level, what Erica showed was what we must do in our hearts in order to absolve ourselves and to follow in the Christ-like method of forgiveness in order to ensure that we are unburdened, actually, by evil.
00:33:56.000Evil happens to us, we must unburden ourselves by following through with the power of Christ.
00:34:00.000Erica shows that perfectly balanced, absolutely, in perfect harmony by President Trump and his administration, saying that it is now incumbent upon us, the rulers of this land, to institute justice.
00:34:17.000We must enact justice, swift and severe justice upon evil men, so that they are in terror, and that is perfectly fundamentally harmonious in the Christian worldview.
00:34:27.000Yeah, uh Allie Stuckey actually said something that uh and she's actually gonna be hosting the show with me tomorrow, so that's exciting.
00:34:34.000But she said there's a big contrast between Erica's forgiveness speech and Stephen Miller's destroy our enemies speech, and that was in quote.
00:34:41.000I don't think he's you know I don't I can't remember exactly.
00:35:11.000And I mean, you saw that in very very vivid detail on that stage yesterday, because to your point, personally, that was an inexcusable evil that has been perpetrated against the world, certainly, but against Erica specifically.
00:35:30.000She said, I will not live with this hate.
00:35:32.000I will not live with this thing in my spirit.
00:35:37.000I am I am going to forgive as Christ forgave me, because I will not let it get in the way of me being with Charlie in heaven, and I will not let it get in the way of me running turning point USA and being the new leader of this movement.
00:35:50.000And I I just commend her for that because yes, I even when I heard that, my flesh, I felt my flesh like crawling because I didn't want her to forgive.
00:36:00.000I wanted her to like get that fierce look in her eyes, you know, that she has, which is just amazing, by the way.
00:36:06.000And I wanted her to look right in the camera and be like, we are going, you know, give me one of the bullets in the because Utah still has, you know, what is it?
00:36:24.000And but my spirit knew that the power you talked about, if you don't give people a way to grieve in this pop uh positive way in a way that uplifts Jesus, then it can turn dark.
00:36:36.000And what she did is she took all of that energy and she flipped it on Satan's head and said, You are not going to win this one.
00:36:44.000We are going to choose Christ, and God's love will be unleashed on this country.
00:36:49.000Can we talk for just a moment about how this is how you begin this is how civil wars and secretarian violence actually spirals into that failed state.
00:36:58.000You have these moments of political violence.
00:37:00.000You don't give anyone the capacity to grieve.
00:37:13.000But but just another massive shout out to the team at Turning Point of the team at the Carly Charlie Kirk show and Charlie's uh core here at giving the country an ability to grieve in a peaceful and in a productive way.
00:37:27.000Because what happened there yesterday was people saw that this isn't just pain and loss that can carve a hole in your heart and make you into a dark person.
00:37:35.000This is something that can be uplifting, actually, and can bring the movement forward and can consolidate a movement, and that's healing for a nation.
00:37:59.000Be a part of something bigger than yourself.
00:38:01.000And what you saw was that Charlie is a man that invited people into something bigger than even himself, even in death.
00:38:08.000And you know, it's Benny, I'm thinking about something you you were saying, and you you kind of alluded to it earlier.
00:38:12.000That my brother actually flew down to and my dad, which was an amazing honor.
00:38:18.000I've never seen my dad quite like this, which will be something that I keep with me from this experience.
00:38:26.000But they met it made a comment that, you know, I've never been to a big event like this with see a a sea of people coming in and not have to not have to deal with the riffraff, didn't have some weird exchange with some random person.
00:39:03.000Well, I mean, that was one of the things that really ticked off the left yesterday.
00:39:06.000I was monitoring this stuff online to see that the the this reaction to you know, everybody worshiping and the tens of thousands of people singing and yeah, and and that that really pissed off the left in this country.
00:39:17.000And and they even tried to pull this stunt.
00:39:18.000I texted you about it, where they were trying they they were making it go viral, saying, Oh, nope, sorry, doors are closed now, stadium's full.
00:39:41.000I mean it got seen millions and millions of times, and because people were sharing it because they knew what was going on.
00:39:45.000You know, the left saw these images that we were putting out, uh, like the drone footage and you know, the video that you just showed here of these endless lines of people, and they're like, Oh, this is bad.
00:39:56.000Because, you know, they're in total, they're in a spiral at this point.
00:40:00.000Uh, because you know, a lot of people, as I said, been woken up.
00:40:02.000Uh, they have seen what the left has been doing over the past week, uh, celebrating the the the death of somebody as wholesome and and good and well-intentioned as Charlie Kirk, uh, that they don't know what to do at this point.
00:40:14.000So they're gonna continue trying to demonize us.
00:40:16.000They they wanted this to be, they wanted to be able to show pictures of a crap ton of empty seats and say, you know, ah, this was a failure.
00:40:23.000I guess people really didn't care that much.
00:40:31.000Can I uh since we're sitting here with so much of the Charlie brain truss and not enough, I mean, frankly, not enough credit goes to ever the people who really make it all possible, made like this Charlie Kirk moment possible.
00:40:46.000Blake, Andrew, and the entire team here, also Tyler.
00:40:50.000You know, on occasion, there's screen time there, but like just not enough credit is given to the infrastructure and architecture that makes a Charlie even possible, right?
00:40:58.000Because there's such a huge machine behind it.
00:41:00.000Many of many were on stage, which is a beautiful thing that you did yesterday.
00:41:03.000Could I ask you guys a question, just live here, not to put you on the spot.
00:41:07.000Why don't we do one every year in Charlie's honor?
00:41:10.000Like a memorial like why don't we do like a revival style event?
00:41:14.000Make this like the new America Fest, or make this something that is um countervailing in like a spirit that is more like a turning point faith event that is more like faith-driven.
00:41:24.000Yeah, I've gotten a lot of people saying, you know, you guys should do tent revivals now.
00:41:29.000People are like TPSA Faith should go around and we should just start preaching.
00:41:38.000A single nexus point in a stadium and like to show people the magnanimity and then also just the majestic power of a hundred thousand people here to sing and praise and worship and to do so in a way that is positive for the nation.
00:41:52.000Something that I think a lot of church, there are mega churches, but they never talk politics, right?
00:41:56.000And they never talk about like the direction a moral nation should go.
00:42:00.000I will tell you, I spoke and uh overheard some conversations, I should be more exact, because uh with some of the worship leaders, and you know, we're talking Grammy award-winning artists, these are the best of the best, and they were blown away.
00:42:16.000They had never seen the spirit move like that.
00:42:18.000Honor to be with you guys on a tr uh truly historic occasion.
00:42:24.000The Monday after bidding farewell to our friend, but really saying hello and welcoming this new move of the spirit that has been unleashed on the country.
00:42:34.000Yeah, and we were just talking about that.
00:42:36.000So there are so many people that want to feel something that want to like say, This is why I meant the MAGA rally works, because there's power in saying we agree on these like core principles, and we can gather together and show our power.
00:42:51.000And the right has been, of course, historically terrible at this, but Donald Trump changed that.
00:42:56.000Charlie Kirk changed that, and be very and and and to do to do a Charlie Kirk style memorial event that maybe goes from a Charlie Kirk memorial into more of a spiritual reawakening and revival style event.
00:43:10.000I love it in his honor to bring people together for a moral projection of like where the country and nation should go, inviting our leaders to almost give sermons, right?
00:43:21.000To almost like share their faith to make it more about that, because that's what they all did naturally.
00:43:26.000I doubt that you could told anyone what to say.
00:43:56.000And every one of them naturally shared their faith.
00:43:58.000And by the way, JD told me behind stage, so I was I I had a perch behind stage where I could see the teleprompter and the script.
00:44:07.000And JD made this amazing comment where he said, I've talked about Jesus more in the last two weeks than I've talked about the entire my entire public career.
00:44:51.000But maybe you create the Nexus event where it is appropriate, actually, for the leaders of our land, or would be want to be leaders of our land to share their to share Their faith to a large arena like this.
00:45:02.000A lot of this stuff, if someone tries to do it, it's very stadium.
00:45:17.000And it'd be nice to do one where people can come, they can feel the spirit, they can get like that that energy, that revival energy that everyone wants to feel that everyone felt yesterday.
00:45:26.000And then give a platform for leaders to come into the city.
00:45:30.000We could do it on the anniversary of the memorial.
00:45:44.000And it it's a you know, like we need another event to produce around here, like we need a hole in the head.
00:45:49.000But the uh the it was it was I mean, I agree with the idea that it you we gave people a platform to preach Jesus, and they did.
00:45:57.000And there was a a tweet I saw from Mark Driscoll, who's a local pastor around here, and he was like, These elected leaders are preaching the gospel better than the professionals.
00:47:12.000And we're probably gonna have to get a new venue because I don't think the Phoenix Phoenix Convention Center will hold the number that we've we've got.
00:47:54.000As I think about Charlie's life and how much of the support he was of Angel.
00:47:58.000It's hard not to feel so grateful for what he did.
00:48:01.000He supported us in our darkest days and in our brightest hours as a company.
00:48:06.000Jeff and I and Charlie were doing lunch together.
00:48:08.000We asked him, we said, Are you are you at all worried about one of these college campuses?
00:48:12.000And he just said with so much peace in his his eyes and so much peace in his heart.
00:48:17.000If that's how God takes me, then that's how I'm supposed to go.
00:48:20.000But I feel like that was a clear message that Charlie's life is a testimony to Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior, and his relationship with him was the most important thing that he would want the world to remember about his legacy.
00:48:34.000Man, are we grateful to have gotten to be a little connection in the multitude of connections that he made throughout his life because it was so impactful to us.
00:49:36.000So I can't help but laugh at it because it's just it's just so Charlie.
00:49:40.000But anyways, we are beginning hour two on the Monday after the memorial, the historical memorial, where the Holy Spirit was humming like a tuning fork at the State Farms Stadium here in Glendale, Arizona.
00:50:00.000Honored to have you, my friend, and Cliff Maloney, who Cliff uh has the has the amazing honor of having his voice overlaid on one of the most viral Charlie Kirk clips of all time.
00:50:14.000And so I I don't know if we want to start there or somewhere else, but I'm gonna play that clip at some point.
00:52:14.000Uh, and then the weirdest thing, you know, to be in the tribute from the White House, that clip, um, and just obviously under horrific after this horrific event, you know, seeing it make another round out there.
00:52:28.000Um, when I have people that have not talked to me in 15 years, you know, high school friends or things that are they're not political, they don't follow anything, and they're randomly sending me uh a reel on Instagram.
00:54:34.000Those closest to Charlie must understand something.
00:54:38.000That all of our actions, those who worked with Charlie and those who built with Charlie, all of our actions are inspired by knowing that Charlie is in heaven, looking down and would judge us ever so harshly if we were blubbering weaklings right now.
00:54:57.000Now, this is a moment that of course Charlie's crying because he's happy.
00:55:00.000There was a moment that I lived through with Charlie where he was he should have been crying because he was sad, and that was the 2020 election.
00:55:08.000And everybody knows what a nightmare that was.
00:55:10.000There's no reason to relitigate it now, but it was a nightmare, and it meant very bad things, obviously, for turning point.
00:55:16.000Clearly, Turning Point was then under investigation.
00:55:53.000I know what Charlie said to me, and it rings in my ears every single day when you know, when you're like, man, this is tough, like getting getting through this.
00:56:11.000He would not want us blubbering, he would not want us crying, he would not want us fearful in this moment.
00:56:16.000He would want us to go 50 times harder to continue that mission.
00:56:19.000And I think that's why that moment of him crying and breaking down is so profound.
00:56:23.000Because we never saw Charlie like that.
00:56:25.000Not even somebody who was a father figure to Charlie, which was President Trump, you know, and and and and Trump sitting there one like in wonder about it on stage was really something because I, you know, everyone's processed that, and those closest to Charlie understood what the mission is now, and Andrew, there's a massive compliment to you.
00:56:43.000You have really like forcefully carried forward what Charlie would have wanted to have had happen right now, which is no, we hold the side up, we we s we stand upright as men, and we go 50 times harder.
00:56:59.000And Charlie's last interview that he gave.
00:57:00.000It was in Utah, just Salt Lake City, an hour before he went to the campus.
00:57:05.000I think it was the last question he was asked is about a one of his favorite quotes.
00:57:09.000And and what I remember him saying was this too shall pass.
00:57:14.000And that kind of applies to the moment we're in now, but also to that moment where you were narrating over the victory, because Charlie was was saying that not only in that times of sorrow are going to pass, but to also keep you humble at the times of your greatest success.
00:57:31.000And because that symposium there was really about entrepreneurship, primarily in the restaurant industry.
00:57:37.000There may not have been a lot of people who are familiar with Charlie or politically involved who have seen it, but it is absolutely worth a watch if you want to see something about how Charlie viewed his role in this organization.
00:58:48.000We boys, we are living through a moment.
00:58:51.000Well, this is this is what Erica and I have joked because we both you know.
00:58:55.000I think it started with Erica and Charlie.
00:58:57.000They would say this to each other, and then somehow it it filtered out, and Charlie and I would start saying it to each other and just be like, this is not normal.
00:59:04.000You know, when Charlie got on South Park, I was just like, This is not normal, man.
00:59:16.000And you know, Eric and I have had more than one chuckle, like through the tears, you know, you where we just look you know, like that's you know, I there was texted it to Charlie.
00:59:35.000I mean, people, this is cultural power.
00:59:38.000You know, there's a cultural power that you've always fought for that's always been at the core back before Turning Point even owned a building on this campus when they were renting, like Charlie, when it was like seven people here.
00:59:50.000Well, like Charlie was c talking about cult but talk about how important culture is.
00:59:54.000That's because he loved Andrew Breitbart.
00:59:56.000Andrew Breitbart would constantly tell Charlie in particular, but all of us, that politics is downstream of culture.
01:00:02.000Well, so you know what's crazy about this, and I've said this before.
01:00:06.000Charlie was so Charlie had never met Andrew, and but he was so in he followed him and he was so inspired when he died that he started Turning Point USA.
01:00:20.000He that's and he told Larry O'Connor this because there was a C Pack panel with Matt Boyle and Larry O'Connor, and I think Alex Marlowe, all of all of which worked for Andrew Breitbart.
01:00:32.000And so Larry was kind of like, Why are you here, Charlie?
01:00:35.000And Charlie's like, I can't wait to tell you about it.
01:00:39.000And Charlie said to Larry, I followed him so closely, and when he died, I was devastated.
01:00:44.000And I knew that I had to start something.
01:00:46.000And so that is those those little seeds that get planted in these moments.
01:00:50.000And so you can draw a direct line between Andrew Breitbart's death, the beginning of turning point, and now with Charlie's death, you have to ask yourself yourself how many are going to be inspired to rise up and to push back against the darkness and the against the lies and save this country and spread the gospel.
01:01:08.000I think it's going to be I think the harvest from Charlie's death is going to be multitudes, magnitudes larger than what we saw with Andrew Breitbart.
01:01:17.000And I I just don't see how there's any, I mean, there's there's just not an option where that's not true.
01:01:22.000But I, you know, for what it's worth, Charlie loved Andrew Breitbart.
01:01:26.000He always talked about culture, and you, Benny Johnson, you played a central role in this Kimmel thing.
01:01:33.000And we can we can wait for radio, but but you I was so proud of you, and I know there was some consternation about you know, Brendan Carr and should the government be directly involved.
01:01:42.000I think there's you know, I had a tweet on it.
01:01:47.000But the point is that this was this is cultural power because we're finally saying it's this is not anti-free speech, by the way.
01:01:55.000Jimmy Kimmel is not a victim, he's a liar, and he tried to pin this assassination on MAGA, which is a vile thing to do.
01:02:04.000And by the way, when you are on an on a network, you get extraordinary benefits, taxpayer funded benefits and privileges to uphold the public good.
01:02:13.000Lying to the public about who committed this atrocity is not in the public good.
01:02:18.000And so ultimately, this is the consumers and the affiliates and the network using their free speech to say no.
01:02:26.000And you played a central role in in building that energy, and so hat tip to you, Benny Johnson.
01:02:33.000Well, this is exactly what Charlie would have wanted.
01:02:35.000I mean, I tell people this, and the the easiest way to explain it is Charlie took Cartman and made him his Twitter profile photo.
01:02:44.000Charlie loved being able to reach into culture and affect it because he understood that core Breitbart tenant.
01:02:52.000Now doing now with Jimmy Kimmel, it's the exact same thing.
01:02:56.000What we are doing is holding accountable, flexing cultural power in a place where we had none.
01:03:02.000I mean, it's un again inconceivable for us to think that Cartman would become Charlie Kirk for those of us who've known him for a while.
01:03:32.000Yeah, instead of being I totally agree.
01:03:35.000Totally incomplete weaklings and babies and doing what they always do, which is like treat me nice, pet me like a dog, I'll be your little doggy.
01:03:51.000I pinch myself often knowing that this person I spent so much time with now belongs to history.
01:04:00.000He's not he's not ours, he's not anybody's.
01:04:04.000I mean, save Erica's, but and and the children, but he is he will live in it for eternity in the hearts and minds and the memories of humanity on earth.
01:04:40.000Yeah, and let me let me echo real quick what the vice president said.
01:04:43.000You guys talked about it in the previous hour, but you know, him going off the cuff and saying he's talked more about Jesus in the last two weeks than he has in his entire time in public life.
01:04:56.000You know, this is something I mean, Charlie would text me certain things, you know, some of the Bible verses, different things from time to time.
01:05:01.000I am a Christian, but and appreciated what you said.
01:05:32.000And to be in that room yesterday, I think for all of us, you know, especially me as somebody who, you know, traveling all the time, struggled to get to church, uh, as an excuse.
01:05:41.000But to to be in that room for the worship and the fellowship, um, it was such highs and lows of emotion.
01:05:50.000You know, seeing Charlie with all the, you know, the the different banners that they had up, uh, the different videos, but then to join so many people and worshiping from all over the country.
01:06:02.000I mean, that was probably the wildest part to me, is you had people coming in.
01:06:05.000I mean, and here's here's this is something that's weird for us to say.
01:06:08.000There were so many people we didn't know.
01:06:18.000We've we've worked, we've interacted with so many activists.
01:06:22.000I didn't know so many of the people that were there yesterday.
01:06:25.000You would run into these random folks, and they were they were they didn't have a hotel room.
01:06:29.000They would drove six six hours and just stay overnight and no plans.
01:06:33.000It was amazing, everybody felt like a family though.
01:06:35.000And Brick, you you are a keen observer of kind of that confluence between the online and the IRL, right?
01:06:42.000You you are I I see you you are monitoring everything online, but yet you are a person that puts yourself in these real moments and you're always at these events.
01:07:14.000Um but yeah, I I went there the night before just to check it out.
01:07:19.000Uh Nick in the per first hour talked about how many people were there, and they just they just they wanted to be there for Charlie.
01:07:27.000And this event was unlike Any other event that I've been to, unlike Trump rallies, unlike the Madison Square Garden rally, unlike Coachella, unlike even Tulsa, where I camped out on the sidewalk with a bunch of other people for four days before.
01:10:33.000In the seconds after Charlie Kirk's assassination, a a Democrat voter, his name's uh George Zinn, uh, shouted that he was the shooter in order to let the actual shooter escape.
01:10:45.000Now he's been charged with a felony for this.
01:10:48.000Uh, he also had a ton of uh child pornography on his phone.
01:10:53.000Okay, so yeah whatever the hell that was, that's like the first act of the left, all right, was to try and assist in Charlie's assassin, okay, in getting away.
01:11:03.000Then the in the next 12 hours, a Fox News truck has a bomb placed on it by two Democrat voters and donors, and the bomb is lit.
01:11:20.000Uh since then, we've had four or five different charges of assault for people destroying, desecrating, or attacking people at Charlie Kirk Memorials.
01:11:30.000Right out here in the one right outside.
01:11:43.000Uh other time other MSNBC contributors are among those numbers.
01:11:48.000You've had Brett Kavanaugh's uh would-be assassin come out as trans, RFK Jr. bomb bomb threat at RFK Jr.'s house uh in Washington, DC, and you've Had just grotesque commentary from the left effectively either lying about Charlie Kirk's assassination or uh or refusing to vote against it in Congress with 58 members of the Democrat Party refusing to disavow political violence.
01:12:16.000So that has been their response to an assassination from their side.
01:12:22.000And so I am calling a the the from space the largest BS on this despicable narrative that it is a both sides problem.
01:12:38.000And the reaction to this avoid event shows definitively and demonstrably for all time that it is not a both sides problem, and it hasn't been for a very long time, if ever.
01:12:52.000We are the side of morality, strength, and compunction and composure in a moment like civility, and they are the side of anarchy.
01:13:02.000And so let this be an opportunity to display the differences and to own to own them.
01:13:37.000That's not what I'm saying, but I am saying that, yes, I put the onus of the culpability, obviously, on the shooter, but to your point, this is not a both sides issue.
01:13:49.000There's some f uh, you just talk about no stats support it.
01:13:52.000They keep pointing to some ADL study, but like that is that that is the most grotesque presentation of data that that is known to man.
01:14:02.000I mean, it's completely garbage, but they created this environment.
01:14:06.000I will blame the left for creating an environment.
01:14:08.000When you tell people that Trump is Hitler continuously, and then you tell people that Charlie Kirk helped get Hitler elected to the presidency of the United States.
01:14:22.000I can't I can't tell you how many times Turning Point's been called Hitler youth.
01:14:26.000I just want to amend a like append it with just one thought, though, that is fast.
01:14:31.000It strikes me that Charlie Kirk's legacy and the the harvest spiritually and both in our country that we are seeing from this around the world has been so extraordinarily huge, it strikes me how little I've thought of the shooter.
01:15:26.000They must take the being of someone else...
01:15:30.000The energy of someone else, uh, and and that the assassin, the assassin, the the the those with being, when they are assassinated, uh grow stronger and the assassin dies.
01:15:43.000And I'm uh my team, I know that we can get the actual exact quote here.
01:15:48.000I think it's worth actually saying it, or perhaps there's the clip of Larry Arne saying it.
01:15:51.000His comments were only like two minutes long.
01:16:33.000But in uh just proportion to the to each side's size, it is far larger on the left.
01:16:41.000I think everybody knows that intuitively.
01:16:43.000I think what we're seeing based on the reaction, all you have to do is look at the difference between what happened after George Floyd and what happened after Charlie Kirk.
01:16:53.000I mean, there is no you cannot show me a statistic that will convince me, I don't care how doctored up it is, I don't care what the ADL puts it out 20 times.
01:17:06.000Your eyes have seen the truth that we are not reacting that way because we know Jesus.
01:17:12.000We know that we will have we will be held accountable upon our death for the evil things that we do unless we confess and we repent.
01:17:20.000And secondly, we are on the side of civilization building, creating.
01:17:25.000And, you know, the the anarchists, they're nihilists, they don't care about those things.
01:17:30.000We're trying to build a country for our children to inherit that will be safe and beautiful and good.
01:17:36.000And so if we would have taken this energy and turned it into an anarchy moment into a revenge moment, that would have spelled doom for our nation.
01:17:46.000And our nation, our our side loves this nation.
01:17:49.000And that, full circle, is why what Erica Kirk did on that stage last night was so profoundly important, and why I tweeted in the moment that that is one of the pro most profound and important moments in American history because it means America has a chance.
01:18:05.000It means that the gospel will continue to go forth.
01:18:08.000It means that we have given license to the Holy Spirit to fill more hearts and minds.
01:18:17.000When she said those words and announced that she was going to forgive this radical unhinged man, it the ten seconds before it, in my head, I I didn't know the speech, you know, I didn't know of the speech beforehand or what was going to happen.
01:18:30.000But in my head, I was thinking, there's no way.
01:18:33.000Like when you when you started to see her kind of drift in that direction in the speech that she was going to forgive this person.
01:18:39.000But it was like the whole room kind of came to a realization as she was building up to it.
01:18:45.000And we all, I mean, at least you know the people around me, we were there's no way she's gonna say this.
01:19:34.000That that man, that young man, I forgive him.
01:19:37.000And what she said before that, by the way, Benny, and I know because you've been in the foxhole with us along so many of these years, that is exactly the type of young man that we have pulled like out of this nihilism over the years.
01:19:54.000And these men would come into, instead of getting buried in some internet rabbit hole where they just want to burn it all down and you know, never contribute to anything positive, they would come in to turning point and realize they had a place in the movement, that the movement gets stronger when you join it.
01:20:11.000And they would find friends and they would find meaning and purpose, be a part of something bigger than yourself.
01:20:17.000And when she led in with that, I just I was so struck because I was like, yes, this is these are these young men that have been so villainized.
01:20:26.000She spoke directly to them, and she said, You do not have to be, you know, you do not have to cower at the prospect of life.
01:20:35.000You do not have to cower that our elites have robbed this generation of so much wealth and opportunity and and it for the incumbent older generation.
01:20:44.000You have agency, be a part of something bigger than yourself.
01:20:47.000I just keep thinking of that refrain in my heart because that was the through line, because we are going to miss some, and there will be some men that are left on the sidelines, but God, I pray we can get so many of them, especially after this moment.
01:21:00.000Yeah, and you know, Andrew, that you were a father, and this was something that Charlie, upon my wedding, was constantly texting when you're gonna become a dad, when you're gonna become a dad, when you're gonna become a father?
01:21:10.000And the reason why he was constantly texting me that is because nothing will drive purpose more in your life as a young man than holding your newborn child.
01:21:18.000If you want to witness an actual miracle in life, and it can only be witnessed by you.
01:21:23.000The amazing thing about fatherhood and about parenthood is that only you see the miracle.
01:21:28.000There's some miracles that are seen by all.
01:21:29.000Wow, look at all this bread on this hillside.
01:21:43.000Not even the people in the hospital share with it, really, like because they've seen it a million times.
01:21:46.000No, it's this like moment the whole world closes in, and every father knows what I'm talking about here.
01:21:51.000And Charlie was constantly driving toward that and constantly delivering for more fathers, more men to fall in love, get married, have children, seize their American dream, and Christ center their life.
01:22:07.000Well, you talk about like the the destructive nihilism of eternal online, uh, eternal online rabbit holes and and and and and gaming and just the night the nihilist feedback loop, right?
01:22:23.000Like a little kid, like a baby that wants to play with you, like your son or daughter that wants to see you and says dad dad and grabs your phone and pulls it down and says, like, pay attention to me.
01:22:33.000Like my eight-month old did this morning.
01:23:29.000And you just and that is like such an it's God gave it, right?
01:23:33.000God's God's design, but Charlie understood this so preternaturally that that was the way to unlock unlock in men purpose and meaning and fulfillment in life.
01:23:52.000I I will say, this is I I felt this way, Khan, to be honest, when they were showing the footage of the last event, like those last moments as he was driving up to the last event.
01:24:02.000It's like it's hard personally to for me to think about that.
01:24:07.000But I Blake and I were exchanging texts with Charlie about say like 25, 30 minutes before it happened.
01:24:15.000And we were talking about you know, because he was in he was in Utah.
01:24:20.000Uh, we were predicting that there was gonna be some questions about maybe monogamy versus polygamy.
01:24:25.000And I I looked at that again, that that text exchange, and Blake likes to call it, you know, really advanced societal technology, monogamy.
01:24:35.000And and we were putting all these talking points, and Charlie was like, Yes, good, good, good.
01:24:40.000And it's interesting because what you're talking about is it there is this thing where you love one woman and she loves you and you're faithful to each other, and you you build this family and this legacy, and how that unleashes this energy that is so positive in a man because now you have to, it's like in, you know, men are like trucks, they'll sort of squirrely until you put a load on the in the back, right?
01:25:04.000And then they drive straight as an arrow.
01:25:06.000And it's like when you give them a family and kids, we become like trucks with a load in the back, and we have to drive straight as an arrow because we got we got precious cargo and we're gonna take care of our kids, we're gonna take care of our families, we're gonna work harder at our jobs, we're gonna try and earn more money, we're gonna try and have more of an impact.
01:25:24.000We're gonna try and make sure that the world our kids inherit is beautiful and good And safe, and that is a powerful, powerful force to unleash.
01:25:35.000You're the perfect person to answer this question because you're gonna I know you're gonna ring it like a bell.
01:25:42.000There was a time when Charlie was just like a meme, right?
01:25:44.000And it was like, you know, he was building and everyone was just making fun of him, and everyone dogging on Charlie, right?
01:25:49.000Yeah, there was a you know, everyone like those of us who have been around long enough knew Charlie in the in the early build before Erica.
01:25:56.000And my wife and I talked about this, and I want you to answer this because you were so close to him.
01:26:00.000There was a flip that switched in that man.
01:26:06.000There when he met Erica, and I knew Charlie before Erica, right?
01:26:09.000A lot of people, you know, some people did around here.
01:26:12.000And and there was a f he when Charlie was a single man, okay.
01:26:16.000Not that he was some kind of like uh vi you know, degenerate or anything, but like when Charlie was a single man, he was a different person wholly and completely than when he was a husband and had children to come home to.
01:26:28.000There was a f there was a nuclear fusionorphosis, yes, that happened, and we all saw this hockey stick that happened to his career, his life, and there's this lie that it's like having kids and getting married will oh it'll sap your energy, bro, and you'll have no more alpha energy, and you know, you just gotta let it rip Nah, dude.
01:27:04.000And it couldn't have been more dramatic.
01:27:08.000I mean, he went from like baggy suit, dude, with everything, nothing fit right, and he was you know bad haircut, bad haircut, finally got a haircut that worked, yeah.
01:27:27.000He got really into you know, he got really into like biohacking, getting the most out of his body because the time management skills that it took to run Charlie's life was dramatic.
01:27:38.000And I wish I could bring up all of his the assistance.
01:27:41.000We called him force multipliers, to advance every next stop to make sure there was a car, there was a hotel, there was uh travel arrangements, that there was people to greet the security, everything was had to be so exacting just to get him from point A to point B to point C to point D in a given day sometimes.
01:28:00.000And you know, people would ask for interviews with Charlie, and I'd be like, I don't know how we fit anything else into this time, and I'm sorry I'm not trying to be rude.
01:28:08.000Anyways, that that whole metamorphosis where he became we where he grew shoulders broad enough to show to to you know handle the burden of his just his time and his energy on him.
01:28:21.000He realized it was a a great burden, and it all went back to Erica because Erica was the vault, the safe place, the refuge, and he knew and he just loved going home to her.
01:28:33.000She was never the nagging wife, she never gave him a hard time about being gone or on the road, and he couldn't wait to get home.
01:28:41.000And I always told it Erica while Charlie was alive, and I told her again since since his passing, you were the real MVP.
01:28:48.000And I know this because you know, and you saw it with the athleisure wear when he would go out, you know, to the campus all of a sudden he and I remember there was this episode on PBD, I think it was Adam on PBD, uh, one of the hosts.
01:29:02.000And he was like, Charlie Kirk's got that Riz.
01:29:42.000I love that she said in her speech, you know, that she wanted him to want to come home and that she supported the fact.
01:29:49.000I mean, the guy, I don't think people understand.
01:29:52.000I know we talk about his schedule, and you know, you're managing a lot of it, obviously, with the show, but it's like think about what you have to do to run an organization like Turning Point.
01:30:02.000You're talking hundreds of days on the road to raise money, right?
01:30:06.000Nobody ever wants to talk about that because it's like, oh, raising money.
01:30:59.000And I'm I'm watching these, and a couple people sent it to me, and it's just like wait, is he like they were saying, and they're showing like these videos, you know, him playing basketball or whatever.
01:31:08.000And you could definitely see the Riz post Erica.
01:31:11.000So we we do have to give her credit for all that.
01:31:13.000It was uh guys, I want to uh end with really the major theme of yesterday, and that was the Holy Spirit and Jesus.
01:31:20.000So I'm gonna go around the table, rapid fire.
01:31:24.000If you had to sum up just the proclamation of the gospel, the presentation of it from Tucker to Don Jr. to VP Vance to Erica.
01:32:16.000I mean, okay, because can we just say everyone say, like I've already said Erica is one of the all top time three most powerful speeches ever given.
01:32:24.000So if you're asking me something beyond that, then I've got to say Don Jr.
01:33:46.000I had jokes written yesterday that I wanted to use that I thought were inappropriate.
01:33:49.000Like, for instance, um, you know, Jimmy Kimmel's show deserved to be canceled because it gets less viewers than Chris Christie's only fans.
01:33:58.000That's a joke that I wanted to use yesterday, but I didn't because it would have been totally and wholly inappropriate.
01:34:04.000Uh, I wanted to say that the whole of the federal government is represented here.
01:34:08.000Um, and what I mean by that is Marco Rubio's here uh today.
01:34:11.000And that that Marco Rubio actually has a brand new position to fill, and that's Jimmy Kimmel's show.
01:35:42.000You know, I'm Irish, so we like to bury things and not not deal with them.
01:35:47.000Um that was the first moment where I, you know, I really started to hit me, you know, make it real.
01:35:53.000And then obviously, um, I just lost it when Erica came out.
01:35:57.000I mean, when she came out, it was I don't want to say it was closure.
01:36:01.000Um, but it was just it was full circle that that not only is this real, but all of the fear and everything that I worried about with Charlie being gone with all of you with turning point with the movement, she just reassured me that we're gonna be okay.
01:36:16.000And to have her be that strong, both standing here and at the event, uh, it just filled me with emotion, but it also just reassured me we're we're headed in the right direction.
01:36:25.000To extend an analogy I started last week.
01:36:27.000If Charlie's death was like the death of Jesus and we were the disciples, and we were scattered and we were afraid, Erica's speech on that Friday was like Pentecost, and it filled us all with courage.
01:36:38.000And the memorial yesterday was almost like the start of the book of Acts, and now it's all the disciples' job to take it and run with it.
01:36:44.000Benny Johnson, brick suit, Cliff Maloney, thank you guys.