The Charlie Kirk Show - The RNC Bombshell Reporter Speaks Out with Jennifer Van Laar and Blake Masters

00:00:00.000 Hey, everybody.

00:00:00.000 Today in the Charlie Kirk Show, Jennifer Van Law, who published the RNC story, joins us.

00:00:04.000 We talk about that.

00:00:05.000 Then Blake Masters and Tyler Boyer join me to talk about President Kirsten Cinema and more.

00:00:11.000 Email me directly, freedom at charliekirk.com, and get your tickets to AmericaFest today at amfest.com.

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00:00:32.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:33.000 Here we go.

00:00:34.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:36.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

00:00:38.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:00:41.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:00:45.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:46.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:00:47.000 His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created.

00:00:54.000 Turning point USA. 0.65

00:00:55.000 We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.

00:01:04.000 That's why we are here.

00:01:07.000 Brought to you by the Loan Experts I Trust, Andrew and Todd at Sierra Pacific Mortgage at andrewandTodd.com.

00:01:16.000 It's one of my favorite emails I've received in some time.

00:01:18.000 Charlie, I'm enjoying you going through the RNC expenditures, but I shouldn't really say enjoying.

00:01:24.000 It's making me so angry.

00:01:25.000 I'm one of those donors that gave $20 here and there because I thought it would make a difference.

00:01:30.000 $100,000 on hair and makeup.

00:01:33.000 By the way, Charlie, I could tell you don't spend $100,000 on hair and makeup.

00:01:37.000 I'll take it.

00:01:38.000 And you're right.

00:01:39.000 I don't.

00:01:41.000 I can tell.

00:01:42.000 Okay, fine.

00:01:42.000 I have a face for radio.

00:01:44.000 I totally appreciate it.

00:01:45.000 And you know what?

00:01:45.000 I don't spend that on hair and makeup.

00:01:48.000 I think it's insane actually to spend, I don't know, not exactly a fan of that.

00:01:52.000 So joining us now is the person who broke the story, Jennifer Van Laar, exclusive analysis of RNC spending since 2017.

00:02:00.000 Jennifer, welcome to the program.

00:02:01.000 Thank you.

00:02:02.000 I did also did not spend $100,000 on hair and makeup, and that is why I am on the phone today.

00:02:09.000 That's okay.

00:02:12.000 I would fire everybody if they were spending $10,000 on hair and makeup for me or for anybody else.

00:02:18.000 I think it's totally insane.

00:02:19.000 So, Jennifer, I'm just going to allow you to walk us through this piece.

00:02:23.000 I think some of this is super substantive and important.

00:02:26.000 Some of it, I think, can be taken by people for their own political purposes.

00:02:31.000 Some of this is just absolutely outrageous.

00:02:32.000 You did the research.

00:02:33.000 It's all public disclosure.

00:02:35.000 Walk us through the piece.

00:02:37.000 Right.

00:02:38.000 So you're right.

00:02:39.000 It's all public information on the FEC website.

00:02:44.000 I downloaded all of their expenditures since 2017 and analyzed that.

00:02:50.000 There were multiple things that were misclassified.

00:02:53.000 So it took quite a bit of time to try to get a handle on what was being spent.

00:02:58.000 So for example, you might not be aware because it's kind of a girl thing, but there's the place called Lululemon.

00:03:04.000 Oh, I know about Lululemon.

00:03:05.000 $100.

00:03:05.000 No, no, no.

00:03:06.000 They have great, I think they call them ABC pants.

00:03:09.000 I'll be very honest.

00:03:10.000 They're terrific.

00:03:11.000 Even though they're a bunch of communists, that product is exceptional.

00:03:15.000 Yes, luxury yoga pants, and they're over $100 each.

00:03:20.000 So there was $5,000 spent at Lululemon in the third quarter of 2022.

00:03:26.000 So right now, that was classified as office expenses.

00:03:30.000 So imagine $5,000.

00:03:32.000 Buy for your office for $5,000 at Lululemon.

00:03:35.000 Yeah, but I mean, let me just take a pause here, Jennifer.

00:03:37.000 I mean, we run a pretty sizable organization here, and we have a very strict finance department where if it's not down to receipt, business purpose, it doesn't get expensed.

00:03:49.000 How is this possible?

00:03:50.000 I mean, who's approving this?

00:03:52.000 That's what I was wondering.

00:03:53.000 So I spoke to six of the national committee members and some staffers.

00:03:57.000 Do you have?

00:03:58.000 I asked, do you guys have a manual I can look at, some kind of policy and procedure thing?

00:04:03.000 Because I work for Salem that owns Red State.

00:04:07.000 I have a very strict policy that I, of what I can expense and what has to be turned in.

00:04:13.000 And they said there's no policy book that they could give me, that everything the RNC members didn't even have this detail unless they look at the FEC filings because it all goes through Ronna McDaniel's office.

00:04:27.000 Okay, so what were some, what were some of the other, let's just say, eye-opening revelations that you discovered in your research?

00:04:36.000 Right.

00:04:36.000 So the one that was the most eye-opening to me as far as the dollar amount was $17 million on donor mementos.

00:04:45.000 I mean, so their response, so the RNC's response is, well, the White House wanted this and we paid for it, which my response is, tell them hell no.

00:04:54.000 You're running the Republican Party.

00:04:56.000 I mean, you're not some sort of gift shop subsidy for visitors to the White House.

00:05:00.000 What the hell is going on here?

00:05:02.000 Right.

00:05:02.000 And why is a soul cycle expense categorized as a donor memento?

00:05:07.000 Wait, hold on.

00:05:07.000 I'm sorry.

00:05:07.000 Wait, hold on.

00:05:08.000 Okay.

00:05:08.000 Now you're really starting to get into things that I shouldn't admit I know anything about.

00:05:14.000 I don't go to Soul Cycle, nor do I have plans to, but how is that a business expense?

00:05:18.000 Soul Cycle is this kind of like strange new age like place where people kind of like ride on bikes and rise the bikes.

00:05:28.000 Yeah.

00:05:29.000 In super loud rooms.

00:05:31.000 Like, why is that an expense for the Republican Party?

00:05:34.000 Right.

00:05:34.000 And why is Orange Theory?

00:05:36.000 That one was classified as an employee benefit.

00:05:39.000 But what is Orange Theory?

00:05:41.000 Orange Theory is another exercise place.

00:05:44.000 Okay.

00:05:45.000 Then, you know, $750,000 on floral arrangements.

00:05:49.000 And so I do need to clarify: none of these expenditures within my report are for fundraising events because there's a separate category for the expenses for, because you know, Attorney Point does events.

00:06:02.000 Yeah.

00:06:03.000 How can you even have an accurate breakdown of the success of your event if you don't have all of your expenses listed?

00:06:09.000 So if these are indeed supposed to be from donor events or fundraisers, the fact that they're misclassified just shows terrible business management and no way to have any accountability of any of the event planners or anything.

00:06:23.000 I mean, okay, so let's just go to the flower.

00:06:24.000 The flower thing, I think it's the smoking gun, like the flower gate.

00:06:28.000 I mean, $750,000 in flowers since 2017, $321,000 with flowers during an election cycle.

00:06:36.000 Democrats spent $1,500 on flowers.

00:06:39.000 We spent $321,000 on flowers.

00:06:42.000 Jennifer, let's pretend we are the spokespeople for the RNC, which, by the way, in their response to your article, they conveniently didn't mention the flowers at all.

00:06:53.000 Like at all.

00:06:54.000 They just or any of the expenses, really.

00:06:56.000 Yeah, I mean, some of it they danced around, but the flowers they didn't acknowledge.

00:07:00.000 What would be the best, most reasonable argument you and I could make if we were criminal defense attorneys for the RNC to spend $321,000 on flowers?

00:07:11.000 That they were buying it for the party's funeral?

00:07:14.000 I don't know.

00:07:15.000 Okay.

00:07:16.000 That's rather, that's rather cruel, but accurate.

00:07:18.000 So, yeah, I mean, maybe they would say they're sending them to donors that passed away, of which my response is you shouldn't do that, send them a card, maybe go to the funeral, but party money shouldn't be spent on flowers.

00:07:32.000 Was this money spent on flower arrangements at the office?

00:07:38.000 It could have been.

00:07:39.000 There were multiple Washington, D.C. area florists.

00:07:43.000 There's a lot of 1-800 flowers.

00:07:45.000 So no way to really tell unless they open up the books and show everything, which I think everyone kind of wants to see at this point.

00:07:53.000 I mean, because they also had $80,000 in alcohol-related expenditures, and some of that was Drizzly, which is a delivery service for alcohol.

00:08:01.000 Why?

00:08:02.000 It doesn't say if it was going to the office or where, and a bunch of liquor stores around Capitol Hill.

00:08:09.000 So, are we paying for the staffers to drink at the office?

00:08:15.000 Yeah, I mean, it would definitely be part of the stereotype that a lot of people have about what goes on around there.

00:08:22.000 So, but then, Jennifer, the broader picture here, and your reporting is really thorough.

00:08:28.000 Like some of this here, some, you know, some people are saying, oh, they spent XYZ on private jets.

00:08:32.000 I'm going to put that one aside.

00:08:33.000 If you aren't a productive organization and you got to do things, I understand that.

00:08:37.000 I really do.

00:08:38.000 I think it might be a little high, but I'm not even going to focus on that one.

00:08:41.000 But here's another one: $150,000 on non-essential office expenses, $7,000 on candles and diffusers.

00:08:49.000 What the heck is that?

00:08:51.000 Right.

00:08:51.000 And you know, I had to look up a lot of these places because if I buy candles, it's generally Yankee candle or Bath and Body Works.

00:08:59.000 So I don't know what all of these fancy candle places are, but there is numerous just really fancy candle and diffuser places.

00:09:08.000 And I'm thinking, do people have BO there?

00:09:10.000 Do they not shower?

00:09:11.000 Like, why do you need all of this in your office?

00:09:15.000 $25,000 on Commonwealth Joe coffee, which could be very good.

00:09:20.000 But from what I've heard from people that go in and out of the RNC building, when they go into a break room, there's a Keurig and K-cups and plastic or you know, foam coffee cups.

00:09:30.000 So they're wondering where this is going.

00:09:33.000 They spent thousands, tens of thousands of dollars at REI classified as office expenses.

00:09:40.000 I don't know how you spend tens of thousands of dollars at REI.

00:09:43.000 By definition, REI is a recreational outdoors store.

00:09:47.000 Right.

00:09:48.000 Right.

00:09:50.000 So do they have a climbing wall at the RNC?

00:09:53.000 I mean, I can understand where that might be necessary.

00:09:57.000 And Carhartt, I mean, are they trying to be veterman with five, six, seven thousand dollars at Carhartt?

00:10:05.000 I mean, thirty thousand dollars at a place called Roeback, which is also sporting goods exercise.

00:10:11.000 This is really important.

00:10:12.000 The RNC must be held to a higher standard, everybody, because the RNC can do things that no other organization can do.

00:10:18.000 They can coordinate donors, messaging, data, strategy, work with state parties and committees.

00:10:24.000 They are the hub.

00:10:25.000 Every dollar that goes to the RNC needs to be preciously spent.

00:10:29.000 When Carl Rove ran the RNC, he got mad when he saw any flowers and he only catered Chick-fil-A and very, very low-cost expenditure, like very just kind of reasonable expenditures.

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00:12:00.000 By the way, shout out to Cade, who I believe is going to the Air Force.

00:12:04.000 Is that right?

00:12:05.000 He's been terrific.

00:12:06.000 And we'll miss you, man.

00:12:07.000 So serve our country great and come on back in a little bit, maybe in a decade once you've defeated all the bad guys.

00:12:15.000 God bless.

00:12:16.000 He's been an amazing team member.

00:12:17.000 He's terrific.

00:12:18.000 I'm not going to say his last name on air.

00:12:20.000 Cade.

00:12:21.000 He's a great guy.

00:12:22.000 So 18 years old.

00:12:24.000 Not a thing we've thrown at him that he hasn't been able to handle.

00:12:26.000 He's excellent.

00:12:27.000 So maybe he's 19, 18.

00:12:30.000 He's terrific.

00:12:31.000 All right, Jennifer, let's continue here.

00:12:33.000 Is it accurate to say that 40% of all RNC expenditures are on fundraising expenses?

00:12:41.000 That's actually going to be in part two of my story.

00:12:44.000 So I don't want to stake out any exact numbers right now.

00:12:47.000 I'm speaking to people about the fundraising expenses and the fundraising contracts and some other insider contracts.

00:12:55.000 So are we in the ballpark?

00:12:57.000 So I don't want to obviously ruin your story here, but are we in the ballpark of an extraordinary figure for fundraising expenses?

00:12:57.000 I mean, I'm okay.

00:13:06.000 Yes, we are.

00:13:07.000 Okay, got it.

00:13:08.000 So here's part of the RNC's statement.

00:13:11.000 They say this.

00:13:12.000 A client of Harmeet Dylan decided to publish a hit piece in the middle of the night without making a serious attempt to engage with the RNC committee woman Daniel's team.

00:13:21.000 This blog post is as blatantly false as the lie she's been spreading about the RNC members are being bribed for their votes.

00:13:27.000 If critics want to misrepresent and push false narratives of the RNC spending this past cycle, they should do the math and realize it only adds up to 8.8% of the total amount the chairwoman raised.

00:13:38.000 Like, hold on a second.

00:13:39.000 So raised versus spent are two different figures because they spent, for example, at Turning Point USA, 6% of our money is on fundraising expenses.

00:13:51.000 6%.

00:13:52.000 If I told my team to spend 25%, I could raise three times as much money.

00:13:57.000 Now, but the margin wouldn't make any sense.

00:13:59.000 And it would also not be in our best interest because we want to spend our money on programming at Turning Point USA.

00:14:04.000 I'd rather spend our money on starting chapters, hosting events, training pastors, Turning Point Academy, curriculum, all this sort of stuff, not just being a fundraising operation, right?

00:14:14.000 So what do you have to say to the RNC's statement here?

00:14:18.000 Well, I mean, first, they're also a client of Harmeet Dylan.

00:14:23.000 And I had noted that in the piece from the start that Harmeet Dylan has represented me when Katie Hill sued me and that I have endorsed Harmeet within that race.

00:14:34.000 That doesn't change the numbers.

00:14:36.000 I can't change the numbers by my support.

00:14:40.000 Well, that's exactly right.

00:14:41.000 This is such a, I'd have to defend you, Jennifer. 0.99

00:14:43.000 I think it's such a silly, slanderous, sloppy smear attack. 0.96

00:14:46.000 Like, oh, she's friends with Harmeet. 0.96

00:14:48.000 Okay, the numbers are the numbers.

00:14:49.000 Okay.

00:14:50.000 Like, are these reports legit?

00:14:52.000 Like, did you spend $700,000 on flowers?

00:14:55.000 Like, that's a very simple question.

00:14:57.000 Right.

00:14:58.000 Which they obviously don't want to answer.

00:15:00.000 She said, well, first, then it's so insulting in so many ways.

00:15:03.000 This blog post.

00:15:06.000 Yeah.

00:15:06.000 All right.

00:15:07.000 Wait, hold on.

00:15:07.000 Hold on.

00:15:08.000 You mean the person, Jennifer, who took down Katie Hill, one of the more effective journalists on the planet?

00:15:15.000 And you get smeared by the RNC.

00:15:17.000 This is so typical, honestly. 0.98

00:15:19.000 This is uniparty garbage is what this is. 0.98

00:15:22.000 Like, just own it. 0.97

00:15:23.000 Tell us why you spent $700,000 on flowers.

00:15:26.000 Right.

00:15:27.000 Tell us why you took all of your senior staff and their plus ones first class to Vegas and back and rented a private box at an NFL game for $30,000, paid for all their lodging, food, alcohol.

00:15:42.000 The alcohol sticks out to me because, I mean, we all know that people drink when you, especially if you go on a business trip, but Salem doesn't pay for our alcohol ever, ever.

00:15:53.000 Yeah, I mean, we I'm pretty hawkish about that around here.

00:15:58.000 At turning point, let's, but I mean, it's, it's the RNC, so I mean, they have a reputation uphold as far as how much they drink.

00:16:05.000 So, I mean, look, but let's just say, I'm going to just, I really want to just focus on some of the top line figures here because I mean, like, some of the stuff, you know, you have a whistleblower, right, on some of this.

00:16:19.000 They say that the Vegas trip was wasteful and all that stuff.

00:16:22.000 But, I mean, I do not understand where the spin could come from of $381,000 for furniture expenses.

00:16:31.000 I mean, this money.

00:16:32.000 And this is so important.

00:16:33.000 Like, it's one thing if you are an institution.

00:16:37.000 Let's just say if we were to go to the financials of an organization that I appreciate or I enjoy, that's like a college, like Hillsdale College.

00:16:45.000 Okay, but they're an institution.

00:16:46.000 They're not the RNC, right?

00:16:49.000 Meaning that the RNC has to act with urgency and with precision.

00:16:54.000 And they are the only organization that is allowed to share data, that's allowed to represent the party, that could coordinate with campaigns.

00:17:01.000 With this $6 million of wasteful spending that I identified just in this piece, we probably could have won the Nevada Senate seat.

00:17:10.000 And how massive would that have been?

00:17:12.000 So I'm just extremely disappointed in how this, our money is being handled by the RNC.

00:17:17.000 Look, we run a big organization.

00:17:19.000 I understand at times you got to do retreats, you got to do staff training.

00:17:23.000 There is no explanation to spend nearly a million dollars on flowers and $17 million on donor gifts that could have been spent to win us the Senate.

00:17:34.000 The end of the year is right around the corner, and it's time for you to consider a change in your investment plan.

00:17:39.000 This is Charlie Kirk, and I strongly recommend you go right now and see my friends at PAX to review your investments.

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00:18:31.000 They're a great operation.

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00:18:36.000 Tyler Boyer, you're one of the 168.

00:18:39.000 Charlie.

00:18:39.000 You also really were the pioneer of building turning point and doing all that.

00:18:44.000 Could you understand a university would spend $700,000 in flowers?

00:18:48.000 So I read this and because another member sent it to me last night, you know, that obviously is a big Harmeat fan and a big, you know, a big change maker.

00:18:59.000 And I read this and I said to you very quickly and I was like, hey, how much have we ever spent on private planes?

00:19:08.000 Very little.

00:19:10.000 How much have we spent on flowers?

00:19:11.000 Very little.

00:19:12.000 I mean, we raise a lot of money.

00:19:13.000 I mean, we've been very blessed at turning point.

00:19:16.000 But our fundraising expenditure is 6% of revenues.

00:19:19.000 RNC is 40%.

00:19:21.000 Yeah.

00:19:21.000 And that's true because I've sat in a budget meeting and I was like, I remember texting you that day, too.

00:19:26.000 And I was like, hey, I already know because I know the inside of what we do.

00:19:30.000 But I was like, this is crazy, right?

00:19:33.000 Like, I'm like, this is insane.

00:19:35.000 Almost 40% of your budget going out the door just for fundraising.

00:19:38.000 That's basically having an operation that you're just raising money to spend it.

00:19:42.000 Yeah.

00:19:43.000 And the private jet thing aside, if you're doing a lot of work and you're traveling and you got to, you know, have long days, there could be an argument for that.

00:19:48.000 So you put, I haven't even focused on that.

00:19:50.000 Or like a donor might come to you and say, hey, we have to, we want to provide this for you.

00:19:54.000 It's hard to slap, like, knock a gift horse in the mouth.

00:19:56.000 Or it's like, hey, I got like three events I got to do and I'm going to raise $5 million and I have to go to Malibu.

00:20:01.000 I got to go to San Francisco and Seattle.

00:20:03.000 You're not going to fly Alaskan Airlines.

00:20:05.000 You can't break it.

00:20:05.000 It's just not going to happen.

00:20:06.000 So I get that, but I do not get $64,000 in clothes.

00:20:11.000 There's a lot of things that are really concerning here.

00:20:15.000 And, you know, one of them that was brought up was the alcohol.

00:20:18.000 And it's not, and again.

00:20:20.000 I thought it was low for their reputation.

00:20:22.000 Not that, I mean, the number should be zero.

00:20:24.000 I mean, for the reputation of the RNC.

00:20:27.000 It is $80,000 over the course of just this last year and a half, two years, whatever it was.

00:20:31.000 And the average expenditure was $300.

00:20:33.000 So basically, it's buying, like the entire office booze every, and that's again.

00:20:41.000 The point is not the, even the dollar amount.

00:20:44.000 The point is a culture thing right, which is like you have to have.

00:20:47.000 The culture has to be at the R C. In my opinion and this is I brought this up with chairman chairwoman Mcdaniel too, was that I didn't.

00:20:55.000 I don't feel like the culture at the, at the R AND C, is where it could be, and I say that to you all the time about attorney, i'm constantly focused on we've got to make sure that we work together, that we we do, we you build a relationship, you build a family, but that you're operating so that donors trust that every dollar that you're spending is the most effective dollar, that you've ever spent.

00:21:16.000 17 million dollars in donor mementos that that's like mind-blowing to me.

00:21:20.000 You know we got an email today from from one of the members who's on the budget committee, saying, you look, a lot of this money was spent.

00:21:29.000 You know White House stuff, yeah.

00:21:30.000 So we read their statement, I think, and then you tell them no and you say no yeah, how about you go have the Super PACK, go pay for it, because they can do unlimited donations and they can't coordinate well, this is the point that's made in the story that Jennifer makes and I know she was on earlier but um, is that the comparison between what the RNC has spent on these things versus what the DNC has spent is is astronomically.

00:21:51.000 It's a wide gap between.

00:21:53.000 So they they increased a Senate seat in a year that should have been a red wave spend significant less.

00:21:57.000 So the DNC spent 1 500 on flowers this last year and the RNC spent three hundred and twenty one thousand dollars on flowers.

00:22:05.000 Yeah it's, it's mind mind-numbing, to be honest with you, and they had a more successful Senate cycle than we did.

00:22:11.000 I mean, I will tell you this again, I go to the RNC functions.

00:22:15.000 You know we pay for out of pocket.

00:22:17.000 We do all that um, because members of the RNC and again I want to make this very clear, the members my colleagues on the RNC are are not the enemy right, this is, these are individuals who pay out of pocket to go do these things in most cases.

00:22:31.000 But does that mean that we can't be better?

00:22:34.000 Certainly, it certainly can, and and that's why I think changing leadership every once in a while is okay, it's good, it's healthy, mixing this up, this is not a trajectory that is going to be successful for the Republican National Committee to to continue, and Michael Steele, when he was chair, Was accused of a lot of this stuff, right?

00:22:53.000 Of using the RNC for private plane travel, for black car service, for all these things.

00:22:59.000 And this stuff is happening and it just shouldn't, you know?

00:23:02.000 And so I actually think that the chairwoman should take some ownership here and say, look, you know, some of the stuff is not okay.

00:23:11.000 And we got to change it.

00:23:12.000 We got to fix it.

00:23:13.000 I would love to see that.

00:23:14.000 I don't think that's going to happen.

00:23:16.000 And so for that reason, it's really important for the grassroots to know who are your members of the RNC in your state.

00:23:23.000 Have conversations about this.

00:23:26.000 I can tell you right now, and I think, Charlie, this is what you're saying, and I'm echoing it.

00:23:31.000 As a person who has helped run an organization here that is a caretaker of donor money and is spending it effectively, there's not a lot of excuses for these things.

00:23:42.000 No, there isn't.

00:23:43.000 I mean, and when you have $7,000 on cupcakes, $7,000 on candles and diffusers, $381,000 on furniture.

00:23:51.000 But this is the last point.

00:23:52.000 Then I want to bring Blake Masters in.

00:23:54.000 A little bit longer than I planned on this, but the RNC has to be so preciously careful with their money because the RNC can't raise unlimited $750 per person.

00:24:03.000 So it maxes out top donors.

00:24:05.000 And the RNC is the hub of the data, and they can coordinate with campaigns and committees.

00:24:11.000 So by definition, every dollar needs to be tracked and hawked even more.

00:24:15.000 Because if it's a super PAC wasting money, okay, but they can't do what only the RNC can do.

00:24:15.000 Even more.

00:24:21.000 Totally.

00:24:22.000 Totally.

00:24:22.000 The RNC is the, and this is where at the end of the day, people are like, ah, whatever.

00:24:26.000 Forget the Republican Party.

00:24:28.000 The RNC is the function, if it's used correctly, is the difference maker in a lot of these races and a lot of the in our success.

00:24:37.000 And the Democrats have figured this out.

00:24:39.000 And again, if we don't take it very seriously, then you're going to end up in a scenario where we kind of currently are, which is we're not doing everything that we should be doing with donor money.

00:24:49.000 And by the way, donors right now are looking at this.

00:24:52.000 They're reading this.

00:24:53.000 They're going, I'm not going to give.

00:24:54.000 Like, even if there's a question in the emails I received from donors today, they are livid, livid with this.

00:25:00.000 40% spent on fundraising.

00:25:01.000 Okay, I want to welcome Blake Masters here, who should be going to the Senate in January.

00:25:05.000 Blake, could you have used $17 million that was otherwise spent on ornaments that people lost or threw away or discarded in your Senate race against Mark Kelly?

00:25:14.000 I would have loved $17 more million dollars, but I agree with what a lot of Tyler is saying.

00:25:19.000 I think we should all be able to agree, right, that every dollar spent is spent in the most efficacious way possible.

00:25:28.000 I think donors have questions.

00:25:29.000 I think a lot of the committee members are going to have questions.

00:25:33.000 And, you know, Rana should be up for talking about them.

00:25:36.000 I know and like Harmeet, I know and like Rana.

00:25:39.000 And I think we can all agree that no matter who's in leadership, we have to maybe do some belt tightening and we have to make sure that when donors give money, right, it goes into the field.

00:25:51.000 I'm okay with whatever strategy maximizes the amount of money that we're actually putting into field, that we're putting into campaigns.

00:25:57.000 But I think we got to be fair-minded about it.

00:25:59.000 Sometimes you guys know this, sometimes it does take money to raise money.

00:26:03.000 Shouldn't be 40%.

00:26:04.000 And so I, you know, questions, and I think we can look into that.

00:26:08.000 I mean, were they giving flowers to every swing voter in Georgia or something?

00:26:11.000 That would have been smart.

00:26:13.000 The pushback, of course, is like, you know, how much does it cost to feed 500 people when you go to the four seasons?

00:26:20.000 You know, and hey, maybe it's worth having a donor retreat at the four seasons because they don't want to go to Motel Six.

00:26:24.000 I totally agree.

00:26:25.000 I want to be open-minded.

00:26:26.000 I want to be reasonable about it.

00:26:27.000 That's not even the criticism.

00:26:29.000 I mean, I get that.

00:26:29.000 We do events at nice places and we raise money there, but it's also the question of why is it that you then spent $17 million on donor mementos?

00:26:39.000 And are you a fundraising operation or are you here to win elections?

00:26:43.000 Because they and to Tyler's point, I think, you know, everybody can agree we need a culture change.

00:26:50.000 And I think people should be interviewing Rana about this.

00:26:52.000 And I think Harmeet's job is it's incumbent on her to get out there and say, here's how I would change the culture, right?

00:26:58.000 And so I just want to make myself available and help do that because I agree with you.

00:27:02.000 This party needs to get more grassroots.

00:27:04.000 We need donors to know that their money is being well spent and we need to start winning elections.

00:27:09.000 That's just clear as day.

00:27:11.000 Yeah.

00:27:11.000 I mean, no matter what, if Rana gets re-elected as chairwoman, she's going to see a massive decrease in small dollar donations.

00:27:18.000 She will enter into a heavily bruised environment, right, Tyler?

00:27:22.000 Because people are saying, I'm not going to give any more money, period.

00:27:25.000 Yeah.

00:27:26.000 I mean, look, here's what we have to do within the Republican Party in general.

00:27:31.000 And this is at the state level.

00:27:32.000 This is at the local level, but this is also at the national level.

00:27:36.000 We have to have leadership that people can believe in and trust.

00:27:39.000 And what I loved about Blake's run here in Arizona and why it was so refreshing to have Blake as our nominee for Senate here was it was totally different, totally new face.

00:27:50.000 It wasn't the same old revolving door, same old, same old politician.

00:27:55.000 It was, you know, here's a young dad who cares about his state, who's from here.

00:28:00.000 You know, and I think there's some the genuine feel nature of that is really what's really important to the Republican Party.

00:28:07.000 I think that's smart.

00:28:08.000 So, Blake, let me just ask you: you know, what do you think are the biggest takeaways from your race that we can apply immediately towards victory in 24?

00:28:17.000 You were abandoned by the turtle.

00:28:18.000 You know, you didn't have the outside money that you needed or deserved.

00:28:22.000 Well, one, yeah, I mean, we needed more money.

00:28:24.000 You know, I worked my tail off.

00:28:26.000 We raised 11 million, I think, hard dollars.

00:28:29.000 It wasn't enough, but it was really hard.

00:28:31.000 You know, next time if I run, I'll raise more, but we need outside money.

00:28:34.000 And I needed one of two things, maybe both.

00:28:37.000 We needed either a red wave to take out an incumbent astronaut, right? 0.61

00:28:41.000 We didn't get the red wave, or I needed establishment support.

00:28:44.000 And we didn't get that from the Senate leadership fund and from Mitch McConnell.

00:28:48.000 And, you know, that I think, I think we fought hard in a tough year, but ultimately, Mark Kelly spent six or seven times the hard dollars that I spent.

00:28:59.000 And he just made me unlikable by nuking me on TV, right?

00:29:02.000 So we got to solve our fundraising problem.

00:29:04.000 We also, I knew that we were in trouble statewide as soon as I think 8 p.m. Tuesday night, election day, as soon as we saw the early voting results, right?

00:29:12.000 The Democrats get banked about 50% more votes than our models suggested.

00:29:17.000 They've perfected this art of early voting, of ballot harvesting.

00:29:21.000 And again, ballot harvesting is technically illegal in Arizona.

00:29:25.000 I think they probably still do it a lot.

00:29:27.000 We need to go right up to that line and be aggressive.

00:29:30.000 We won't do anything illegal, but we need to become the party of technology and the party of early voting.

00:29:34.000 I think we solve that and our fundraising gap will start winning elections.

00:29:37.000 Look, I'm not trying to rein on too much of the parade, but you know who was telling us those models?

00:29:42.000 It was the RNC data center.

00:29:44.000 The RNC data center was so confident.

00:29:46.000 Like, oh, don't worry, we got this thing in the bag.

00:29:48.000 I actually know all your data was wrong.

00:29:49.000 Maybe you guys should have spent more money on that than flowers that pair.

00:29:53.000 We need to be a more technological party.

00:29:56.000 This is something I'm going to help with no matter who's in leadership.

00:29:58.000 I come from tech.

00:29:59.000 We need to trounce the Democrats on tech, but we're a couple of years behind, to be honest.

00:30:04.000 Well, you're going to be the next CEO of Twitter if I have anything to say about it.

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00:31:10.000 All right, Blake, I'll start with you.

00:31:11.000 What is your take on the cinema news?

00:31:15.000 I'm not shocked, but the timing was surprising, right?

00:31:17.000 You never expect to wake up to that news.

00:31:20.000 I sort of think that Schumer and Cinema either have or will make a deal and that they will box out a Democrat like Ruben Gallego from running, and Schumer will support cinema.

00:31:31.000 That to me is still the most plausible thing because I don't think they want to throw away a Senate seat.

00:31:37.000 And if you get Gallego in there, I mean, I'm hoping Gallego challenges cinema and we have a three-way Senate race and we'll win that Senate race.

00:31:43.000 Republicans, you know, maybe I'll run for that.

00:31:45.000 I don't know, but I think the Republican candidate would win that Senate race in 2024.

00:31:50.000 But cinema is also pretty smart.

00:31:52.000 I don't think she wants to run in a three-way race. 1.00

00:31:55.000 And I agree with Tyler.

00:31:56.000 Maybe she's just going to run for president, vacate the Senate seat, run for president, settle for vice president. 1.00

00:32:00.000 Tyler, that's equally plausible.

00:32:02.000 I mean, there is some like really house of cards-y stuff that's going around DC that they're expecting Kamala to step down and that Kamala will get replaced by somebody else in anticipation that Biden, who's the who's the president, is respected enough where it's his decision whether or not he wants to run again.

00:32:22.000 And every conversation is he doesn't want to run again, but nobody wants Kamala to run.

00:32:27.000 And she would automatically be put in the best position.

00:32:29.000 So the Democrat establishment is saying, we got to figure out a solution here because the country has not been benefited by your leadership.

00:32:38.000 So you're going to step down.

00:32:39.000 We're going to honor you.

00:32:40.000 You're going to step down.

00:32:41.000 We're going to replace you with someone else.

00:32:43.000 And hey, Kamala, if you want to run for president because Biden decides not to, that's fine.

00:32:46.000 But we want someone else to have the benefit of the vice presidency. 0.59

00:32:50.000 And if it was a three-way race, Blake, in a strange way, it would actually de-emphasize Maricopa County and it would actually overly emphasize Yava Pie and some of the rules, wouldn't it?

00:33:01.000 Not that Maricopa wouldn't matter, but I mean, Gallego and Cinema theoretically would be battling for downtown Phoenix, Chandler, and Mesa.

00:33:11.000 It would become Maricopa County would become blue, cinema ring, and then the red ring around, right?

00:33:19.000 And then you run up the score.

00:33:21.000 And we would win and we would win.

00:33:22.000 And then you just, and you're right.

00:33:23.000 The rurals would become much more important.

00:33:25.000 And in a presidential year, the rurals show up in greater numbers than they do in midterms, especially if Trump is on the ballot.

00:33:31.000 I mean, cinema, I just don't believe.

00:33:31.000 Yeah.

00:33:34.000 I'm like, I'm with Blake.

00:33:35.000 I think cinema is a pretty smart lady.

00:33:38.000 I know her.

00:33:39.000 I've met her many times.

00:33:41.000 I've watched her closely for a long time.

00:33:43.000 She's too smart to want to run in a three-way race. 1.00

00:33:46.000 She's just too smart. 0.93

00:33:47.000 It's too risky.

00:33:48.000 Or she wants to run for president of the United States. 0.64

00:33:50.000 I think that's more likely.

00:33:50.000 Yeah.

00:33:51.000 Or vice president.

00:33:52.000 I think they look at her as the Obama in a skirt. 0.99

00:33:56.000 Look, I got to tell you, when she was going straight to camera saying, I think a lot of Americans don't fit in a political box, some consultant is really helping her there because she's reading the room really well.

00:34:06.000 I think that's right.

00:34:06.000 And if cinema does want to run in a three-way race, it must mean she's lined up ungodly amounts of sort of centrist billionaire money like Bloomberg or Howard Schultz or whatever.

00:34:18.000 I think Americans don't feel like they fit in a political box right now, but the opportunity that we have is to rebuild the Republican Party, right?

00:34:25.000 Become the party of the working class, the party of the middle class, the party of the family.

00:34:29.000 For so long, the Republican Party has not been that.

00:34:32.000 For maybe just as long, the Democratic Party has not been that, right?

00:34:35.000 So I think it's there for the taking.

00:34:37.000 I know that's the work that you're interested in doing.

00:34:38.000 That's the work I'm interested in doing.

00:34:40.000 The question is, can we get it done?

00:34:41.000 I don't think the Democrats are even trying.

00:34:43.000 And I'm pretty optimistic about our chances.

00:34:45.000 So we just have to stay in the fight and make it happen.

00:34:47.000 I think we can have a great 2024.

00:34:49.000 Blake, we're excited to see you at AmericaFest.

00:34:51.000 Thanks, man.

00:34:52.000 Appreciate it.

00:34:53.000 See you soon.

00:34:56.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:34:57.000 Email me your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:35:01.000 Thank you so much for listening, and God bless.

00:35:06.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk dot com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - December 16, 2022

The RNC Bombshell Reporter Speaks Out with Jennifer Van Laar and Blake Masters

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