00:00:08.000Today on the Charlie Kirk Show, I interview a friend of mine, 24-year-old Madison Cawthorne, who's going to be the youngest member of Congress ever elected in the history of America and the youngest member of Congress since a 22-year-old was appointed in the 1780s.
00:01:07.000His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:01:16.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:02:41.000I'll tell you, I was raised in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
00:02:45.000Incredible place to grow up, pristine mountain views.
00:02:47.000But more importantly, I was raised with an incredible family.
00:02:50.000One that taught me conservative values, one that, you know, really kind of orchestrated my Christian faith and helped me, gave me the freedom to kind of investigate religion and my faith on my own.
00:03:01.000But I created a relationship with Jesus Christ.
00:03:04.000And everything was going well in my life.
00:05:07.000The last thing I wrote down was that I still had the ability to make a difference because God decided to protect my mind and protect my ability to speak.
00:05:15.000And so I knew I still had that ability.
00:05:32.000Thankfully, I have a different opportunity to serve in a different capacity and get to serve the people on the side of the government and try and actually make the government work for the people.
00:05:41.000You know, Charlie, I know you and I have oftentimes gested that, you know, it's kind of a kingdom in D.C. where people are just trying to pass decrees and tell us what to do.
00:05:54.000And I want to create a better world to give to them than the one I received.
00:05:58.000And I don't see that we're going in that direction.
00:06:00.000Well, Madison, we're up against a break and you're staying through the half hour here.
00:06:03.000I want everyone to stay very closely attuned right now because you're listening to a 24-year-old who's going to be the youngest member of Congress since what, Madison?
00:06:11.000Tell me really quick, youngest member since what, like 1780?
00:06:15.000Since 1782, a man was appointed at 22.
00:06:25.000He just won a surprise bid to be the Republican nominee in a county that voted for Donald Trump more so than any other county in the country.
00:06:38.000Alexandria Cadillac-Cortez is the youngest member of Congress, youngest since the 1780s, where there was a 22-year-old that was allowed to sit in Congress.
00:06:46.000But now he'll be the youngest ever if he wins.
00:06:49.000And it's looking that way, but anything can happen.
00:06:50.000You have to stay humble and work hard.
00:06:57.000I mean, I believe that your goals and my goals are very aligned.
00:07:00.000We're trying to fight this culture war.
00:07:03.000For so long, I think the Republicans have been fighting this policy battle that they wanted to do behind closed doors and committee meetings.
00:07:11.000I think it's time that we raise up a new generation of patriots to fight this battle out front.
00:07:17.000You know, the Democrats have been playing checkers while the Republicans have been stuck playing chess.
00:07:22.000And I think it's vice versa, swap those.
00:07:25.000I think that the Democrats have had a very long-term strategy for the last few decades.
00:07:29.000And we're starting to see the dividends pay off for them.
00:07:32.000And so now it's time to start fighting back.
00:07:34.000So, Madison, listening to your commentary, you sound, and I know you, you're a friend of mine, as someone who really wants to make D.C. work different functionally, that cares about the country, that doesn't just want to be another politician.
00:07:46.000You know, being someone who's 24 years old, you'll get and are getting a lot of attention.
00:07:50.000Tell our audience why you're going to D.C. Why are you fighting so hard?
00:07:54.000You went through incredible tragedy, as you mentioned previously.
00:07:57.000But build out for us, if you get elected, what does success look like?
00:08:01.000What are you going to be fighting for?
00:08:05.000In that car accident, I talked about how I learned lessons of grit and perseverance, which should be expected from any trial you go through.
00:08:13.000But one thing that I did learn that I hadn't expected to was that of empathy.
00:08:17.000You know, I really learned what it's like to be looked over in a crowd or what it's like to feel disenfranchised and like the system doesn't work for you.
00:08:25.000And, you know, I really started to understand why so many Americans just, they don't even worry to go out and vote because they don't think that Republican rep the they don't think that our government represents them.
00:08:39.000We have so many career politicians that are there to enrich themselves, enrich their friends, and they do not care about the average working American, the backbone of this country and the nuclear family that makes us so strong.
00:08:51.000And so, you know, I want to go and fight for the Republican Party, but not because I want to save Republicans.
00:08:58.000I want to fight for the republic, small R republic, for our nation, for the very identity and soul of it, because I think we are the greatest force for creativity, for inclusiveness, and for good that the world has ever seen.
00:09:22.000I just have to keep on reminding our audience of that, that there's about to be a 24-year-old firebrand going to Congress, and there's good news happening in this country, and you're listening to it right here.
00:09:33.000Madison, you and I talk about the threat of social media tyranny and how big tech has so much power.
00:09:38.000Can you talk a little bit about some of the issues you're going to be talking, you know, going to Congress and speaking about first and foremost, especially those that affect the next generation?
00:09:49.000You know, coming up in this new generation, I believe that what is so imperative is that we maintain our First Amendment rights.
00:09:56.000What that is, is that we can go and we can be able to speak our mind in the town square.
00:10:03.000I mean, we saw with the Protestant Revolution in Germany when we went and nailed the theses and the New Testament onto those doors in the town square for the people to see.
00:10:16.000I have a video series I do on social media called The New Town Square, where we talk about issues that are affecting our country.
00:10:23.000And I will tell you that if we lose our ability to speak conservative ideas or speak ideas, not even conservative or liberal, but ideas that other people just don't agree with, if we lose that ability to speak that in the public forum, then we will have lost our First Amendment rights and everything else will go by the wayside.
00:10:40.000And so something I think is very imperative for us to fight, especially for this next generation, is that we fight against what I call big tech censorship.
00:10:48.000You know, we are seeing so often right now that these big tech companies are being able to operate as if they are a platform, which gives them the First Amendment protections under the Constitution.
00:10:59.000And so they can do just about anything they want.
00:11:10.000It's limiting the ability for people to have free expression, to be able to challenge ideas that are asinine and wrong, and to be able to call things out for what they are.
00:11:21.000And if we lose that, we're going to lose our freedoms very, very quickly because we'll all just be sheep who are not able to speak our minds.
00:11:28.000And so I think one of the biggest things we need to fight back against is this big tech censorship.
00:11:32.000You know, Charlie, I know you, I think, you know what section of the.
00:11:37.000Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
00:11:39.000Section 230, publisher versus platform.
00:11:52.000But I'll tell you, I think President Trump just did an executive order, which was encouraging the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC.
00:12:01.000This is another problem with all of our government.
00:12:03.000You add any three letters in the alphabet together, and it's the acronym for some ridiculous agency that tells what to do.
00:12:11.000So, anyways, he just had an executive order which is encouraging the Federal Communications Commission to rethink the scope of Section 230.
00:12:19.000And so, what that means is he wants us to be able to go in and tell these social media companies, hey, you can no longer start to selectively consider who you're going to censor and cover, whether we're talking about shadow bans or whether we're just outright banning people from social media.
00:12:36.000It's limiting the American people from being able to express free thought and free expression, and it's wrong.
00:12:42.000It is just wrong, and it's the biggest threat I think facing our generation.
00:13:29.000We were the first nation to really put into practice something that is contrary to tribalism.
00:13:35.000We don't say we want only people that look like us.
00:13:38.000We don't say we all want only people that believe like us.
00:13:41.000We are a country that wants to be a melting pot of all societies.
00:13:45.000We want to take our ethics from the Judeo-Christian cities like ancient Jerusalem.
00:13:50.000We want to take our form of government of making sure that everybody has a vote from studying places like ancient Greece and ancient Athens.
00:13:56.000We also want to take our love for the rule of law and of the superior infrastructure for places like ancient Rome.
00:14:03.000We really want to take all of these, and this is what the founders did.
00:14:06.000This group of imperfect men banded together.
00:14:09.000They studied all of this classic literature, which enlightened them to the point that they were then able to create a very nearly perfect document in our Declaration of Independence in 1776, and then at the end of the Constitutional Convention with the Constitution.
00:14:23.000These two documents, our founding documents and the Bill of Rights, have formed a country which has been the greatest force for good the world has ever known aside from Christianity.
00:14:32.000I believe that if we allow what two centuries of brave men and women have fought and died for to quietly slip into the night because of this radical leftist agenda, which by no means, I say it's radical, but then it makes it sound like it's a fringe element of the left.
00:14:48.000It is a well-funded, well-thought-out, and well-represented group that is starting to start a Marxist revolution to undo all of the good that the United States of America has been accomplishing for the last two years.
00:15:01.000I genuinely believe that America is so special.
00:15:06.000I believe that God's great providence came down and enabled this group of imperfect men, like I said, to create a nearly perfect nation, which was the very first nation, mind you, aside from Haiti, to actually fight a bloody war to free men that were not themselves.
00:15:24.000We fought the Civil War to end the act of slavery, and we really led the way on that front.
00:15:29.000We're also one of the very first nations in all of history to fight a revolution that did not seek to empower the men that fought it, but rather to empower the everyday man.
00:15:39.000And that's what we've been getting away from in our country.
00:15:43.000I know I've said it time and time again, with these career politicians that do not represent the people in both ways.
00:15:49.000We have to start electing people in both parties.
00:15:51.000There are political hacks, and they are supported by a lot of other politicians who are elected but don't want to do the dirty deeds and they don't want to fight.
00:16:00.000And then we have all these cowards who are propping up these immoral leaders who are doing wrong for our country.
00:16:06.000And so it's time for us to fight, Charlie.
00:16:07.000That's why you started TPUSA, and that's why I'm running for Congress.
00:16:11.000To all of the listeners over in Western North Carolina, the 17 westernmost counties, I'm fighting to be your weapon in Washington, D.C. You know, I'm looking forward to being your representative.
00:16:21.000If you want to get behind the campaign financially, you can donate on madisoncawthorn.com.
00:16:28.000And I believe this is what really made the difference, Charlie, in making sure that we were able to beat all this outside D.C. influencer money and big name endorsements.
00:16:37.000We had one of the most sophisticated and motivated ground games I think I've ever seen in a campaign, maybe that this nation's ever seen in all of history.
00:16:44.000And I believe that's what really turned out our votes and did great.
00:16:47.000So if any of you want to get involved, please join us.
00:16:51.000Join us here in Western North Carolina.
00:16:52.000But also to all of you all over the country, if you want to get involved in this cause, the cause for conservatism, this movement that has been boiling and is now reaching a boiling point, I encourage you to make your voice heard.
00:17:30.000My message is that if you choose the ideology of victimhood, if you want to sit back and say, oh, you know what?
00:17:38.000I can't be successful because of that group or because of that person, then that is cowardly.
00:17:44.000That is not taking the life that you have been given.
00:17:48.000And believe me, I'm so frustrated almost every time I look out, whether it's on social media, I look out into the world.
00:17:53.000Charlie, as we've talked about already, you know, my spinal cord was taken from me.
00:17:57.000My ability to have a lot of the physical freedoms I used to enjoy was taken from me.
00:18:00.000And so when I see people not using their bodies to their fullest extent, not enjoying life as much as they can, it frustrates me.
00:18:06.000But you know, I see that same problem with people in their everyday lives.
00:18:10.000You know, they don't use the God-given freedoms that they've been given by our creator, and they also don't use the freedoms that have been fought for and men and women have died for over two centuries to give them the freedom to make their voices heard in our country.
00:18:23.000And so if you buy into that victimhood mentality, you and I are not on that same page.