00:00:00.000Hey, everybody, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:00:02.000This is Andrew Colvett filling in once again for the great Charlie Kirk, who is out on assignment this week.
00:00:07.000We talk with the great, courageous, brave Riley Gaines, who's having a tremendous legislative impact across the country.
00:00:15.000We also get her take on some of these, let's just say, not so nice former feminists that now support men over women, like Megan Rapinoe and others.
00:01:06.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:01:46.000I want to talk about, we ended the last hour, Darren, talking about this newly released clip of Tucker Carlson, you know, behind the scenes, Media Matters for America, gets the clip.
00:01:57.000And once again, it just seems to make him stronger, make him look more likable, better.
00:02:01.000He's talking about, he's talking about pronouns in your Twitter bio, which I think our audience, based on the mountain of emails we just received, literally hundreds of emails saying, yeah, we support Tucker.
00:02:14.000We love him even more now that we've seen this clip.
00:02:45.000And why do you think this is checkmate for Tucker Carlson?
00:02:49.000Well, it's a brilliant move along a number of different dimensions.
00:02:54.000I mean, there's so much going on here from the kind of particular aspect of Tucker Carlson versus Fox News.
00:03:02.000And then there's the most important element, which is sort of Americans being exposed to the kind of information they need in order to make informed decisions about critical issues.
00:03:12.000And so these two elements really converge in Tucker potentially hosting this debate with Fox.
00:03:22.000Now, I think it's this piece from Revolver.news, which has really gone white hot.
00:03:27.000It's amazing how popular this piece is.
00:03:29.000I think because the idea itself is so perfect and really struck a nerd with people because it just ticks all the boxes that you would want.
00:03:38.000It's the ultimate way for Tucker to show Fox, I'm the guy.
00:03:46.000Because behind the scenes in all of this, and I don't want to dismiss Fox's perspective, because as cynical and loathsome as it is, it's not clear yet whether it's untrue.
00:03:59.000But I'll tell you this: Fox believes that they are the star.
00:04:32.000And that's why they think they have the leverage.
00:04:34.000And they think, well, you know, people will be upset about Tucker for a while, but ultimately they'll come around because there's a lot of political stuff happening and people just won't be able to help themselves.
00:04:46.000So Tucker can, of course, go and do his own thing.
00:04:56.000And in certain ways, I think he will have even more influence.
00:05:00.000But I think it's important to be realistic.
00:05:04.000No matter how much we want to prematurely pronounce the death of network television, there is still, for better or worse, I think worse, but we have to live in reality here.
00:05:17.000There is still, for better or worse, a special kind of magic, a special legitimacy attached to prime time network television.
00:05:27.000And I think to fully kind of analyze the special impact of what Tucker was, we have to appreciate the role of that prime time platform as a really significant force multiplier for Tucker's voice.
00:05:50.000You know, Megan is actually, I'll be honest, a lot smarter than I gave her credit for.
00:05:55.000When I hear her speaking in different types of venues, her analysis was spot on.
00:06:00.000And it wasn't, you know, just catering to, because all the masses, they want to hear the people listening to this, they want to hear, oh, cable news is dead.
00:06:11.000Now, it's way more true than it was five years ago, but it's not completely true.
00:06:17.000And Megan illustrated it in the following.
00:06:19.000She said, look, no matter how big a digital following is, Tucker Carlson's ability to get elected GOP officials and GOP hopefuls to sort of accommodate him, to want to please him, for them to be scared to death that he'll do a segment attacking him.
00:06:41.000That kind of political influence that he wielded is very hard to imagine transferring into simply the digital sphere.
00:06:49.000Even somebody like Rogan, who's probably the hottest person in media in many metrics, doesn't have the power to get politicians to bend to his will to please him in the way that Tucker had in his primetime slot.
00:07:04.000Here's why the debate is so brilliant: it recognizes this special quality and maybe the one area in which Tucker's influence might diminish, which is this critical comparative advantage of having influence over the political process.
00:07:20.000For him to host the debate preserves that level of influence and it doubles down on it.
00:07:28.000If he can get Trump, and Trump is no friend of Fox News at this point, Fox News has stabbed him in the back a million times, and they intend to do so throughout the campaign, despite the fact that he's the clear frontrunner.
00:07:42.000So if Trump says, forget this, I'm not doing a Fox debate, Tucker hosts the debate, and DeSantis is convinced that he can get a fair shake, which I think he would, you know, more than anyone.
00:08:16.000Tucker's not going in on Trump or in on DeSantis.
00:08:18.000He's preserving this kind of elevated posture of, oh, I'm just, you know, asking both sides of the questions that the American people want answered.
00:08:27.000It's such a win because people aren't going to be tuning into Fox News.
00:08:32.000People are going to Tucker Carlson for a matter of critical importance pertaining to the future of the GOP and the future of the country.
00:08:40.000So it's such a brilliant strategic move.
00:08:43.000It's such an important move in order for the American people to have the questions answered that they actually want to be answered.
00:08:51.000It just, as I said, it's one of those strategic moves that's just a checkmate.
00:09:10.000I mean, because Trump has already said he's not happy with the RNC's process.
00:09:14.000And by the way, going outside of the RNC is another power move, a big flex on all the people that are skeptical of the RNC under Rana's leadership.
00:10:17.000And keep in mind, all of the brilliant viral clips of Trump being Trump in the most brilliant and admirable sense of that term, just about all of them, if not all, have been exchanges with the left-wing media.
00:10:35.000That's one of Trump's special advantages.
00:10:38.000Darren, are you ready for a crazy nine months or what?
00:10:41.000I mean, this primary is getting out of control and it really hasn't even begun yet.
00:10:44.000Let me read you a truth from President Donald Trump.
00:10:48.000Rupert Murdoch, worst Republican speaker ever, Paul Ryan, Rhino Karl Rove, the Wall Street Globalist Journal, and the rapidly disintegrating Fox News have gone all out over the last three months, pushing and promoting Ron DeSanctimonius, a man who, without the help and endorsement of President Donald J. Trump, he's speaking of himself in the third, would now be working at McDonald's or at a minimum be far away from Tallahassee.
00:11:13.000Anyway, all of this rhino-globalist push from election undenier Murdoch has crushed DeSanctis in the polls.
00:13:00.000Well, I mean, you know, the best advice would have been not to put himself in this position in the first place.
00:13:07.000If he ultimately decides not to run, that is going to look weird and clumsy.
00:13:12.000But still, I think that's the better decision than going through with a primary process at this point.
00:13:18.000It just simply doesn't look good for him.
00:13:21.000And the sad thing is to see that all of this goodwill and political capital that he built up by being a competent and really commendable governor in Florida is just going to continue to hemorrhage that for no good reason.
00:13:39.000The people telling him and giving him this false sense of urgency that he needs to go in and step in and challenge Trump is totally ridiculous and really reflects his advisors' poor estimation of him, such that from their point of view, he's this COVID policy one-hit wonder.
00:13:59.000And if we wait another four years, COVID might not be such a big deal.
00:14:04.000It might not be present in people's minds, and DeSantis will be nothing versus, I think it's very possible he could continue to govern Florida very effectively.
00:14:13.000He could build off of his successes as a governor and be in a strong position in another four years.
00:14:19.000So I think this sense of urgency reflects an underestimation of his potential.
00:14:26.000And so far, the fact that he's heeded that poor advice and he's displayed, I think, mediocre political instincts at best and certain missteps.
00:14:39.000Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more, Darren.
00:14:41.000What happened with the Trump indictment news, with Bragg coming out slow on that, and really fumbling that initial communication with the press that day?
00:14:52.000I think that was the beginning of what we've seen in the polls, this downward trend.
00:14:57.000But so, you know, are you saying, and we've only got a minute left, Darren, I could speak with you for the whole hour.
00:15:03.000Are you saying it's too late to do this gracefully?
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00:18:57.000You know, we've had a front row seat both here on the Charlie Kirk show and at Turning Point USA to watching you really sort of rise out of obscurity.
00:19:11.000You competed against Leah Thomas, the man masquerading as a woman and really cheating a lot of other competitors such as yourself at the national championship swim meets.
00:19:38.000What is it about you, maybe your upbringing, your family, that made you stand out when so many other competitors, women that you were friends with, that you were competing against, they shared privately with you that they didn't agree with what was happening, but they stayed silent.
00:20:21.000We're just scared of different things.
00:20:23.000The people who are calling me brave, they're scared of being labeled as transphobic or homophobic or I get called racist even, even though this has nothing to do with race.
00:20:58.000I can handle any kind of personal attack anyone wants to throw at me because I'm secure with myself.
00:21:03.000And I think that is largely in part due to my faith, due to my support system, and due to the fact that I know I'm speaking for the overwhelming majority of not just female athletes, the overwhelming majority of Americans, the overwhelming majority of people across the globe understand that men and women are different in a way that makes men advantageous when it comes to anything that requires sheer athleticism or strength.
00:21:26.000And I remember from the first interview that you did with Charlie when you were lating that really terrible locker room scene during the national championships where Leah Thomas changed in front of you and that made a bunch of news.
00:21:48.000And I mean, I was watching it, feeling this visceral reaction.
00:21:51.000You mentioned your father was ready to get involved and make sure that you were protected in that moment, which is an emotion a lot of fathers feel, by the way.
00:22:00.000I want to sort of pivot and talk about some of the legislation that you've been involved in, these efforts.
00:22:46.000So at the federal level, we have people in the White House right now who are actively working to rewrite Title IX.
00:22:52.000Of course, Title IX is a federal civil rights law that is supposed to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex among college campuses and universities.
00:23:01.000They are trying to rewrite it to where it's no longer preventing discrimination on the basis of sex.
00:23:05.000It's preventing discrimination on the basis of gender identity.
00:23:08.000So what this means, men could join sororities.
00:23:11.000Men could live in dorm rooms with women and women could do absolutely nothing about it.
00:23:15.000Men would have full access to locker rooms, bathrooms, any sort of one sex protected area on campus.
00:23:22.000Men could take academic and athletic scholarships away from women.
00:23:27.000In this new rewrite, it's actually sexual harassment if you misgender a trans-identifying individual.
00:23:32.000It's not sexual harassment for them to be parading around your locker room exposing the opposite genitalia, but it is sexual harassment if you misgender them.
00:23:39.000So that's what the people, and it is insane.
00:23:43.000That's what the people who honestly once prided themselves on fighting for women in our sex-based protections.
00:23:50.000Of course, the left is the party that once embraced the idea of the original feminist movement.
00:23:55.000We're seeing this totally flopped now.
00:23:58.000It's now the Republicans who are fighting for women.
00:24:01.000We have a sitting Supreme Court justice who can't even define what a woman is.
00:24:05.000And I think that's what kind of makes this issue so special is I've been in contact and formed alliances with even lifelong liberals who would consider themselves part of that original feminist movement, who are so frustrated that these people in positions of power among the left can't even define what a woman is.
00:24:23.000How can you defend what you can't define?
00:24:26.000And so the overwhelming majority of the general public, regardless of political affiliation, understands that this whole sports debacle, men competing against women, men changing in our locker rooms, they understand that's wrong.
00:24:39.000While I think our politicians are doing a terrible job of voting accurately or representing their voters accurately.
00:24:46.000We just saw in the U.S. House of Representatives in the last few weeks, not one Democrat voted in favor of protecting women and girls.
00:25:52.000But this issue specifically grates against their common sense.
00:25:56.000It grates against what they see with their own two eyes.
00:26:00.000I think it's a complete winning issue.
00:26:02.000I think that we have to put people like yourselves out front and say that we are the party that's now standing up for women, for moms, for parents.
00:26:10.000I completely think that this will have electoral ramifications so long as they continue their insanity.
00:27:09.000I think it's so disingenuous to have someone such as Brittany Griner, Megan Rapino, someone who is athletically successful because of the women's sporting category, come out and advocate for taking that away from other women.
00:27:24.000I mean, let's go back to Megan Rapino.
00:27:27.000This is someone who once fought for equal pay for women, equal resources, equal access to these resources.
00:27:34.000And now I want to mention both Brittany Griner, Megan Rapino, the 36 other athletes, including Sue Berg and a slew of others who signed on to this letter, Billie Jean King.
00:27:45.000Of course, these athletes are at the end of their career or are done competing.
00:27:49.000And majority of them, Megan Rapino, Brittany Garner, Billie Jean King, again, they don't have daughters to defend.
00:28:14.000Of course, it's not inclusive to ask a woman to step aside and smile and allow a man to take her spot on the podium or to take her opportunity or to take her scholarship.
00:28:23.000That's exclusive to the very female athletes who Title IX was passed to protect.
00:28:28.000And I just think it's so ironic and almost comical that Brittany Griner wants to talk about crimes because if we're talking about crimes, we sure can.
00:28:37.000But and I also want to echo, I agree with what she said in terms of everyone has the right to play.
00:28:43.000Of course, everyone has the right to play.
00:28:45.000This just shows her incompetence and her ignorance on the issue because these laws that are being passed, they're not banning anyone from playing.
00:28:52.000They're not restricting anyone from the right to competing.
00:28:54.000It's just about ensuring people compete where it's fair and where it's safe.
00:28:58.000Yeah, Riley, what would you say is the right solution here then?
00:29:02.000Would you like to see, and we only have a minute.
00:29:04.000I'll keep, if you have time, I'd like to keep you on the other side of the break.
00:29:07.000But is the solution a separate league for trans athletes or should they compete in the same category as their biological sex?
00:29:18.000I think in an ideal world in terms of finances, in terms of garnering enough people to play in these trans leagues, sure, that's an option that could work.
00:29:27.000But in reality, I don't think it's something that's feasible.
00:29:30.000I think competing with your biological sex is the really best way to move forward.
00:29:37.000It ensures everyone athlete opportunity, chances for success, fairness, safety, all of those things that we strive for and support in competition.
00:29:46.000I think it's at least it creates another piece to the argument that people that are advocating for these trans athletes can sort of wrap their head around.
00:29:58.000This is Charlie Kirk, and we're saving babies at Pre-Born.
00:32:22.000I mean, at least if the Democrats had an ounce of sanity left on this issue and they gained control in one election and then lost it and gained it again or whatever, at least the country would have some stability.
00:33:46.000Are we going to get rid of that one next?
00:33:47.000And now you have somebody on TikTok, and this video started to go viral saying that it is discrimination against young people if we tell them they are too young to determine their own gender.
00:34:17.000If you have a brain, you should understand that there are certain things children should never be able to do until you reach that threshold of becoming an adult.
00:34:25.000I mean, we don't even let people get tattoos until the age of 18, but if we're going to let them irreversibly change their gender, that is the most insane, absurd thing I've ever heard.
00:34:37.000And just as you said, I want to be surprised.
00:35:20.000And so I don't want to sound like I'm some old buzzard here, but to see what our country went from, even just a mere four or five years ago, to where we are now, it just raises so many questions.
00:36:15.000Dare I say this might be, this is controversial, but the people that are targeting us right now, I'm trying to find grace for them because I know that this was, you know, planted from something else.
00:36:32.000And I can only hope that they will see the beauty and the humanity and the importance of an identity and not trying to strip that away.
00:36:41.000Grace is going to be my word of the week.