The Charlie Kirk Show - Two States' Battle Against Biden—Nevada and Florida

00:00:00.000 Hey, everybody, today on the Charlie Kirk Show, two states that are rising up for freedom.

00:00:04.000 First, we talk to Adam Laxalt from Nevada and talk about his race for Senate.

00:00:09.000 And then we talk to Fiona McFarland from Sarasota, Florida, who has an amazing data privacy bill as states start to rise up against big tech. 0.97

00:00:17.000 About time states start to wield their power to restrict the power of big tech.

00:00:23.000 Very promising movement.

00:00:25.000 I like what I am seeing.

00:00:26.000 Get involved with Turning PointUSA today at tpusa.com.

00:00:30.000 That's tpusa.com.

00:00:31.000 At Turning Point USA, we're playing offense with a sense of urgency to win the American Culture War, starting high school and college chapters all across the country at tpusa.com.

00:00:40.000 That's tpusa.com.

00:00:41.000 You can email me directly, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:00:44.000 Buckle up, here we go.

00:00:46.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:48.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

00:00:50.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:00:53.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:00:57.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:58.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:00:59.000 His 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.

00:01:07.000 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.

00:01:16.000 That's why we are here.

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00:01:28.000 Hey, everybody, welcome to this episode of the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:01:30.000 With us is a friend of mine who will be the next U.S. Senator for the great state of Nevada, Adam Laxalt.

00:01:36.000 Adam, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:01:38.000 Thanks for having me.

00:01:39.000 Adam, tell us about your race.

00:01:41.000 Well, first, thanks for having me.

00:01:43.000 Look, it's important for everybody to understand that, yes, we're living in a red wave environment, which likely means we can win the House and some governor seats, but the Senate map is incredibly small.

00:01:54.000 We cannot win the Senate without winning Georgia and Nevada.

00:01:59.000 And I can tell you, our backup is as good as we can ask for.

00:02:02.000 I'm running against Harry Reid's hand-picked successor.

00:02:06.000 Her name is Catherine Cortez-Masto.

00:02:08.000 A lot of your listeners haven't heard of her because she has not had a major impact for our state or for our country.

00:02:16.000 And look, you know, we have an ability to continue to highlight all the things that are going wrong in America.

00:02:23.000 It seems like within every single hour, we get more bad news out of our failed leadership in Washington.

00:02:30.000 And, you know, we look forward to prosecuting the case.

00:02:34.000 We've been doing that for the last many months, of course, without the help of local media, but we continue to get our message out in every other medium we possibly can.

00:02:44.000 So, Adam, some people have their doubts about a Republican winning statewide in Nevada, something you've done before.

00:02:51.000 But tell us about how you think this year it can actually be done.

00:02:54.000 I mean, Clark County, it's a beast.

00:02:56.000 There's a lot of fraud, a lot of corruption, a lot of dead voters that are still on the rolls.

00:03:00.000 Why do you feel this year you're going to be able to conquer that giant?

00:03:04.000 Yeah, first, I have one statewide.

00:03:07.000 I'm the former attorney general of the state.

00:03:09.000 We won in 2014 when we had a red environment.

00:03:13.000 And I think that people need to understand that even in these slightly blue-tilting years, this race has been, this state has been razor thin.

00:03:23.000 Trump lost Nevada by two points.

00:03:26.000 It's been well documented.

00:03:27.000 That's with them changing our election, giving us mail-in ballot, ballot harvesting, all that kind of stuff.

00:03:32.000 Senator Masto only won by two points in 2016.

00:03:37.000 Harry Reid was the majority leader in 16.

00:03:40.000 You can't imagine how much, how many chips he called in to get her into office.

00:03:44.000 And so we have the perfect opportunity in a state that has been ever so slightly blue to flip this seat.

00:03:52.000 And one last thing: the vaunted Harry Reid machine has slowly but surely been crumbling.

00:03:59.000 And the Democrat socialists, and I don't mean that as just a tagline.

00:04:03.000 They're actually self-described and self-named socialists took over the Democrat Party here in Nevada.

00:04:12.000 They invite the likes of Elon Omar to be guest speakers in our state.

00:04:18.000 All these things make it prime for us to take the message to the voters and flip Nevada in 2022. 0.77

00:04:25.000 Yeah, Harry Reid is a total crook, or he was a total crook, and he established this criminal enterprise all throughout Vegas and Clark County. 0.81

00:04:34.000 And it's too bad because Nevada is such a great state. 0.98

00:04:36.000 Tell us a little bit more about how the state of Nevada is broken up.

00:04:42.000 You have Vegas and Henderson and Clark County, but the rest of the state is ruby red.

00:04:47.000 It really is a matter of kind of not losing by as much in Summerlin, West Vegas, North Vegas, and then running up the score in the rules.

00:04:56.000 Yeah, look, I think it's important for people to understand that Trump contributed to the largest turnout in the history of our state in 2020.

00:05:05.000 And we need to make sure our people turn out. 0.98

00:05:08.000 2018, he was not on the ballot.

00:05:10.000 And we had a lot of never Trump Republicans.

00:05:13.000 Our former governor was never Trump, a lot of other Republican leaders.

00:05:17.000 And as a result, we saw what Nevada looks like without Trump voters showing up.

00:05:23.000 You know, I was the chair of the Trump campaign in 2020, endorsed me the first week I announced.

00:05:30.000 And so we have an opportunity to make sure we get our people out.

00:05:34.000 And that's for rural Nevada.

00:05:36.000 Yes, we need to maximize that.

00:05:37.000 We need to get people motivated.

00:05:39.000 But there's another great piece to this equation, and that is what President Trump did in Las Vegas.

00:05:45.000 He got Hispanics to almost 40%. 0.99

00:05:49.000 Mitt Romney back in 2012 was in the 20s.

00:05:52.000 So that's the kind of movement we got out of that community.

00:05:55.000 And of course, why wouldn't Hispanics have come over to our party in droves? 0.54

00:06:00.000 President Trump's America First policies proved that it gives them a better chance at the American dream.

00:06:06.000 Wages were increasing.

00:06:08.000 Unemployment was all-time lows.

00:06:10.000 Hispanic small businesses were booming.

00:06:13.000 And now they have this huge contrast.

00:06:15.000 They could see that law and order is an issue.

00:06:18.000 The border is an issue.

00:06:20.000 Our economy is an issue.

00:06:22.000 Everywhere you look, they know that President Biden and our Democrats, Captain Cortez-Masto, are presiding over a completely failed set of policies that they know are not working.

00:06:35.000 And so we think we have an absolute unique opportunity to speak to the Latino community, make them understand that the values that I represent are the values of the American dream.

00:06:47.000 Give them the opportunity to be successful, to prosper, to raise their children here in Nevada.

00:06:54.000 And I don't think we can have a better opportunity to do that.

00:06:57.000 We did a Latinos for Laxalt launch on Friday, and we had Steve Cortez and others come in to help crystallize.

00:07:05.000 This set of policies are what can make our valley successful.

00:07:09.000 It was a great, massive turnout.

00:07:12.000 And look, we have an opportunity to not only flip for this cycle, but to make sure we're moving towards 50-50 with Hispanics in Nevada in the long haul, which would make this a red state, not a slightly blue state. 0.80

00:07:27.000 So tell us about Senator Cortez-Masto, who took thousands of dollars from a Russian pipeline lobbyist.

00:07:35.000 The idea, the topic of energy is a huge topic.

00:07:38.000 I'd love to hear kind of what the price per gallon is in Nevada.

00:07:43.000 I'm sure it's gone up significantly, and we're just entering driving season right now.

00:07:48.000 It seems as if that Senator Cortez-Masto tries to put herself as sort of like a moderate senator, but she's anything but that.

00:07:56.000 Yeah, look, the AAA guidelines just came out.

00:07:59.000 Nevada is third behind only California and Hawaii.

00:08:03.000 And we've been fighting this Californization of Nevada for a very long time.

00:08:08.000 But guess what?

00:08:09.000 A lot of our stats look very similar to California, thanks to a Democrat governor, two Democrat legislatures, Democrat president, two Democrat houses.

00:08:20.000 And so unlike 2020, where the media helped.

00:08:24.000 to try to point the finger at any problems at President Trump.

00:08:27.000 There's nowhere to blame to shift blame now.

00:08:31.000 It lies squarely with Democrats.

00:08:33.000 Voters have to know that by now.

00:08:36.000 And yes, not only gas prices are soaring, but energy prices are soaring.

00:08:41.000 Of course, all of the inflation is hitting pocketbooks.

00:08:44.000 And Senator Masto is along with the left.

00:08:48.000 She refuses to stand for our state against President Biden, against the left.

00:08:54.000 She will look to voters and she will tell them she's a moderate.

00:08:58.000 But for example, today, she finally comes out about three hours after President Biden says she supports banning Russian oil.

00:09:08.000 Dead silent for the last many weeks.

00:09:10.000 We've been talking about this for now many weeks, but she leads from the back.

00:09:16.000 And I might add that, you know, just calling for the banning of Russian oil is not the solution.

00:09:22.000 It must come with energy independence, which she's still dead silent on because she's beholden to her super green base that wants to trade livelihood pocketbooks for this radical agenda. 1.00

00:09:38.000 I think voters aren't going to be tricked this time around.

00:09:42.000 I think that they're seeing it in real life.

00:09:44.000 And again, this issue, along with many other issues, we have a perfect opportunity to contrast with the Democrats.

00:09:52.000 And if I could go a little further on the contrast between Masto and myself, she was a former attorney general eight years.

00:09:59.000 I was a former attorney general as well.

00:10:02.000 Well, she campaigned on being the queen of anti-human trafficking. 1.00

00:10:06.000 In fact, an ad yesterday trying to tout her credentials on it.

00:10:11.000 Guess what she's not standing up for right now?

00:10:14.000 A secure border.

00:10:15.000 The border is leading to an all-time spike in human trafficking, child trafficking, drug trafficking in our state.

00:10:22.000 She knows better, but she can't speak out against your open borders base.

00:10:28.000 And we do not plan on letting her get away with it.

00:10:30.000 The same goes with BLM and a lot of these defund the police, the no bail movement.

00:10:37.000 She's been dead silent on these issues.

00:10:40.000 She's been waiting for permission from Biden to be able to start flipping as we saw in the State of the Union last week.

00:10:47.000 But voters will not be tricked.

00:10:49.000 They know that she has not stood with them for the last many years when we needed her.

00:10:56.000 Look, everybody, I know you love freedom and you want to defend it.

00:10:59.000 And I know you love the Constitution.

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00:12:18.000 Yeah, and so let's talk about the border.

00:12:20.000 Nevada is not a border state, but it might as well be because, I mean, you're only maybe 150 miles from the border at the southern tip of Nevada, and you feel the damage of illegal immigration.

00:12:32.000 I was just in Yuma, not too far from Nevada at all, and they were experiencing 50 people crossing across the border under Trump, while over a thousand people a day coming across the border.

00:12:43.000 An unprecedented invasion of our country.

00:12:46.000 If elected senator, what will you do to push for border security and really kind of make your perspective of in leadership of Nevada of Nevada as a border state?

00:12:57.000 Well, first and foremost, we must return to the policies of the Trump administration, remain in Mexico, finishing the wall.

00:13:04.000 These are quite obviously solutions that made a difference heading into the Biden administration.

00:13:11.000 But I like to zoom back a little bit when I talk to voters.

00:13:14.000 Someone that put a uniform on and served both in the Navy and in Iraq, you serve your country because nationhood means something.

00:13:22.000 You're willing to put on a uniform and fight and die for a nation that we're willing to protect and an idea that actually is worth preserving.

00:13:32.000 And the Democrats have become the party that does not like America.

00:13:37.000 They attack our sovereignty.

00:13:39.000 This is dangerous for the future of our country.

00:13:42.000 And now you see the tangible results of an open border with over a million people coming in.

00:13:47.000 It's something that our country simply can't sustain.

00:13:50.000 Our state can't sustain it.

00:13:53.000 And again, where is Senator Masto?

00:13:56.000 She likes to pitch herself as a moderate, but guess what?

00:13:58.000 She didn't join Manchin or Kristen Cinema on any of these issues where we needed her.

00:14:06.000 She stuck with her party.

00:14:08.000 She sticks with open borders.

00:14:10.000 And that's why I think that Nevadans are going to be ready for a change here in November.

00:14:14.000 So, yeah, I mean, she's nowhere to be found on the border at all.

00:14:18.000 Let's talk about some other issues as well.

00:14:20.000 The issue of education.

00:14:22.000 This issue of parents getting more and more involved in their kids' education has been something that really has created the parents' party.

00:14:30.000 I know that in Nevada, there have been a lot of, there's been a lot of commotion in the local school boards and getting people to challenge what's happening on a local and state level.

00:14:42.000 Talk about the perspective you're going to have as a U.S. Senator supporting this ever-growing and exciting movement of parents fighting for their kids' education.

00:14:51.000 Well, I've spoken at school board meetings, joining massive numbers of parents that are willing to stand up for our kids.

00:14:59.000 It's something that I'll continue to advocate for, including school choice, which I sued on.

00:15:04.000 And we were able to get an education savings account made constitutional in the state of Nevada.

00:15:10.000 But let's not forget just how radical the Democrat Party is right now.

00:15:15.000 The Department of Justice that called our parents terrorists is the same Department of Justice that just lifted the Chinese espionage program quietly a few weeks ago.

00:15:27.000 This is what we're dealing with with this administration and their priorities.

00:15:32.000 Thankfully, parents ignored it.

00:15:35.000 They continue to show up in droves.

00:15:37.000 And it's not just the fact that they're attacking parents.

00:15:41.000 It's the policies of the last few years, which kept schools closed, which kept kids in masks until just a few weeks ago.

00:15:51.000 And there was an editorial for our largest paper that talked about how there are hundreds of thousands of kids, especially in Las Vegas, that will never get this time back.

00:16:03.000 We all believe that education is your chance for opportunity.

00:16:06.000 It's a chance at a better life.

00:16:08.000 Democrats stole those two years from those kids. 0.91

00:16:12.000 They'll never get them back.

00:16:14.000 And I think parents are ready to really give the Democrats a message.

00:16:19.000 They know who's responsible now.

00:16:21.000 They can't blame Trump like they did in 2020.

00:16:24.000 It was the Democrats' policies that never needed to be.

00:16:27.000 Florida kept their schools open the last few years.

00:16:30.000 Other states kept their schools open.

00:16:33.000 Nevada went a different direction, and our parents and our students suffered because of it.

00:16:39.000 Yeah, so let's talk about some of those lockdowns.

00:16:41.000 Nevada went further than almost any other state.

00:16:43.000 You know, I visit Vegas every so often.

00:16:46.000 Outside of Vegas, great people.

00:16:48.000 I can't stand Vegas.

00:16:49.000 It's an awful place.

00:16:50.000 But, you know, I have to go there for conventions and I have to go there for all sorts of different things.

00:16:55.000 And the restrictions of the mask mandates and the enforcement of it, the lockdowns that accompanied it, Governor Sisilak really went further than almost any other state for quite some time, especially in a state that is so focused on hospitality.

00:17:11.000 Talk about that.

00:17:12.000 Look, he stood lockstep with Governor Newsom and Nevadans know it.

00:17:19.000 They know he didn't lead.

00:17:20.000 They didn't go a different direction.

00:17:22.000 He waited for Newsome.

00:17:23.000 And a few days later, whatever he did, we would get here in Nevada further evidence that the Nevada Democrats want to make us like California.

00:17:32.000 And I'll tell you, the media was absolutely terrible during COVID because they wouldn't ask the hard questions.

00:17:39.000 They wouldn't ask why casinos could be open and churches would be closed.

00:17:45.000 There is no explanation for that, but they would not ask where was the science beyond that.

00:17:50.000 And about two weeks ago, there was this big tide.

00:17:53.000 All of a sudden, Democrat governors are having a change of heart.

00:17:57.000 And Sisilak out of nowhere said, dear God, we're going to be the last state to lift these mandates.

00:18:03.000 And he quickly goes into a press conference.

00:18:06.000 And we went on Tucker Carlson to call this out.

00:18:09.000 That day when he lifted these mandates, the entire state was still in the red based on their criteria.

00:18:17.000 And the infection rate was higher that day than when he put masks back on last summer.

00:18:23.000 So there was no science to support this.

00:18:26.000 He, of course, was not called out by the media, just the political science.

00:18:30.000 But the good news is that the people are onto it.

00:18:33.000 They demanded the change.

00:18:35.000 And he had to respond to real voters, which includes independents, Democrats, the Hispanic community.

00:18:42.000 We were all fed up with it.

00:18:44.000 And it's about time.

00:18:45.000 And look, don't lose faith in Las Vegas.

00:18:48.000 It's one of the greatest cities in the country.

00:18:51.000 And we're going to get back to what it was just a few years ago as soon as we get these Democrats out of office.

00:18:57.000 Yeah, I'm not so sure about that, but I'm not going to create a political liability for you.

00:19:01.000 So yeah, tell us more about the things that you're going to be fighting for in D.C. and some other things that you're really talking about for your plan to become a senator.

00:19:12.000 Look, first and foremost, our voters across the country in Nevada, they still wake up every single day in grave fear that the left is radically transforming our nation.

00:19:25.000 And as long as they have the ability with the president, the house, and the senate to materialize that leftist worldview, we are all in danger.

00:19:34.000 The Senate could still go in tomorrow if they had the votes.

00:19:38.000 They could expand the Supreme Court.

00:19:40.000 They could give DC and Puerto Rico statehood, all the things they want to do.

00:19:44.000 They could try to federalize our election and make every single state look like California. 0.99

00:19:50.000 They could pass billback better, all these things that would radically transform our nation.

00:19:55.000 So, first and foremost, we must take back a majority.

00:19:58.000 We must stop the Biden radical agenda in its tracks.

00:20:03.000 But then, once we're in office, you know, I hope to join the group that figures out how to be on offense in the United States and how to use committees to go after the Russia collusion, find answers once and for all of what happened here.

00:20:18.000 We know we've got the Durham probe going on, but in the end of the day, voters deserve to know what happened with these terrible things.

00:20:25.000 They deserve to know what Fauci knew, what science did he really ignore as he continued to push the false COVID narratives that we dealt with over the last few years.

00:20:36.000 And so, I hope we've learned from President Trump, as well as from Governor DeSantis in Florida, how to be a fighting party, how to fight against the leftist agenda.

00:20:47.000 I know we got a long way to go there, Charlie, but I believe that I can be part of that young generation.

00:20:53.000 I'm 43 to join some of our younger leaders that understand that the left must be defeated.

00:21:00.000 We must destroy their radical ideology.

00:21:03.000 Until we do that, we don't have a chance of saving this country.

00:21:07.000 Yeah, and so that's a really important point, which is what we're going to do for investigations and to issue subpoenas and to really push forward the cause of transparency.

00:21:20.000 And I know that there is going to be a massive fight that to hold people accountable and to actually get to the bottom of so many of these crimes that have been committed, you know, from the people in power.

00:21:33.000 Fauci being totally unchecked, you know, an unelected, largely unchecked bureaucrat, and restoring constitutional governance and rights back to the states.

00:21:43.000 And so, what you're saying basically is that if you're elected senator, one of the things you're going to be given a mandate to is going to be able to use the oversight ability of the U.S. Senate to get answers that the people sorely need.

00:21:57.000 Yeah, look, I am a prosecutor.

00:21:59.000 I'm a former attorney general, and I think being able to be on judiciary and some of these committees where we can go on offense.

00:22:07.000 How about what they're doing to our military right now?

00:22:09.000 I mean, have we really scratched the surface of what they're doing to wokeify our military, what they're doing to drive out service members through those mask mandates?

00:22:21.000 This is some really, really dangerous stuff.

00:22:23.000 And with the threats we face in the world, if we can't hold our military accountable, then I don't know who's one.

00:22:30.000 I don't know who's going to sign up to be part of a military that people don't feel like they can trust the leadership.

00:22:36.000 They don't feel like they can trust the commander-in-chief.

00:22:39.000 And so, oversight is essential to get major change.

00:22:44.000 We know in the last few months that by giving voice to our side, by exposing the left, we've forced them in retreat on a number of major issues.

00:22:57.000 And so, that's what I hope to be able to do to be a loud voice.

00:23:00.000 And the United States Senate's a unique place where you can be a loud voice.

00:23:04.000 But, you know, I wouldn't stop there.

00:23:06.000 Oversight is important for a lot of the bad things that Washington are doing, but we can't lose sight of the fact that the delegation problem in Washington is still a real and present danger to our constitutional government.

00:23:21.000 And as long as our elected representatives keep giving these blank checks to these bureaucrats and these large agencies, we are going to continue to lose power.

00:23:34.000 And it's something as an AG.

00:23:36.000 I sued the Obama administration every week at trying to peel back their executive orders and their unilateral direction.

00:23:46.000 And they're using whether it was the Department of Interior or the EPA, these are their enforcement arms to try to do something beyond what they were democratically allowed to do.

00:23:57.000 And we need to get in there and hold these agencies accountable.

00:24:01.000 And hopefully, we can actually come up with an agenda that passes bills that will rein in some of these out-of-control bureaucrats. 1.00

00:24:09.000 Because my state has over 80% of our land is owned by the federal government.

00:24:15.000 And so, your listeners, when they hear that, people can't believe it.

00:24:18.000 So, you can imagine how important it is that we have oversight of these federal agencies.

00:24:23.000 And, you know, the Democrats, their policies cripple this state.

00:24:27.000 They do not allow us to grow.

00:24:29.000 And it's something I intend to fight for.

00:24:31.000 That's for sure.

00:24:33.000 So, Adam, how can people support you in closing here your website?

00:24:36.000 And how can people get behind your campaign?

00:24:38.000 Adamlaxell.com.

00:24:41.000 And I'll tell you, you know, my opponent, she likes a lot of the Democrats, they got unlimited left-wing money. 1.00

00:24:47.000 They're able to hit Act Blue and raise millions of dollars.

00:24:51.000 I need a grassroots army across my state and across America to help get us across the line.

00:24:58.000 And so I do ask for your support.

00:24:59.000 We're endorsed by President Trump, DeSantis, the great one, Mark Levin, all of our great conservatives are behind this campaign.

00:25:08.000 And I really ask your support.

00:25:10.000 Again, adamlaxall.com.

00:25:12.000 Great.

00:25:12.000 Thank you so much, Adam.

00:25:13.000 I've known you for years and we're 100% behind you, man.

00:25:15.000 So congratulations and best of luck.

00:25:17.000 And I think you're going to do really well.

00:25:18.000 Thanks so much.

00:25:19.000 Thanks, Charlie.

00:25:23.000 Hey, everybody.

00:25:23.000 People say this, and Plato actually said it first.

00:25:26.000 Ignorance is the root and the stem of all evil.

00:25:28.000 People say ignorance is bliss.

00:25:30.000 Wrong.

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00:26:25.000 That's mypatriotsupply.com.

00:26:29.000 With us is Fiona McFarland from the great state of Florida.

00:26:32.000 I'm actually in Florida right now in Sarasota, so I don't know what part of Florida you represent, but we're both in the same state here.

00:26:39.000 And Fiona is the sponsor of a very important bill that I want everyone across the country to keep their eyes on. 0.85

00:26:44.000 We love Florida.

00:26:45.000 We love Governor DeSantis.

00:26:47.000 And I love the fact that states are rising up to start to protect their voters and their citizens, especially when it comes to the issue of big tech.

00:26:55.000 So Fiona, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show and walk us through your bill.

00:26:58.000 I represent Sarasota.

00:27:00.000 So I love that you're caring about this bill.

00:27:03.000 It's an awesome bill.

00:27:05.000 Here's what the bill does.

00:27:07.000 It creates some right to privacy for consumers when they interact with businesses online.

00:27:14.000 So I'll list out the rights that we're creating with this bill.

00:27:17.000 We create the right to request what information a company has about you, the right to ask them to delete it, and then the right to opt out of your data being sold or shared without your permission.

00:27:29.000 And companies, you know, companies know us better than our friends and our family do.

00:27:34.000 And the fact that they can sell and resell our data or profit off of us, it's just gone too far.

00:27:42.000 And we're going to take a stand in the state of Florida.

00:27:45.000 I love to hear that.

00:27:46.000 And I think it's really important to protect consumers.

00:27:49.000 So I just want to kind of ask this question, which I find to be fascinating, which is, why is the Senate trying to shut down this bill in the state of Florida?

00:27:59.000 It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

00:28:01.000 And it seems as if they're pushing back against it.

00:28:03.000 There's over 330 lobbyists registered against your data privacy bill.

00:28:09.000 And I'm getting a lot of emails from our listeners that support this bill.

00:28:14.000 What's going on with this?

00:28:16.000 I think this bill is a classic example of the opposition exists in a bubble, right?

00:28:23.000 We are here in Tallahassee, in Florida's capital, and we have all of these business interests that are lobbying against the bill because every company out there uses data in some way or another.

00:28:36.000 It's ubiquitous at this point.

00:28:38.000 And the reason why there's so much opposition just in the Tallahassee political bubble is because these lobbyists have a very, very loud voice up here.

00:28:45.000 And there are companies that are willing to put up big lobbying dollars to try to defeat this bill.

00:28:50.000 As soon as I step outside the Tallahassee bubble, as soon as I go back to Sarasota, every single person wants control over their data online.

00:29:01.000 We pull this, it pulls it 96%.

00:29:04.000 Nothing pulls that high.

00:29:05.000 Not even like, you know, is the sky blue?

00:29:08.000 When we repeat the opposition's talking points of, you know, this will be burdensome for business.

00:29:15.000 It'll create a cottage industry for lawsuits, potentially passing on higher costs for goods and services.

00:29:24.000 People still want it.

00:29:26.000 People still want to have control over their private information online.

00:29:29.000 I think everyone at some point or another has felt like the way that they are spied upon is a little bit creepy.

00:29:37.000 And I want to say this, you know, like Charlie, I'm a strong Republican.

00:29:43.000 I'm a conservative.

00:29:44.000 I don't believe in telling business how to business.

00:29:48.000 But when it comes to privacy over our information, that's a different fundamental value, right?

00:29:57.000 We have two competing priorities here.

00:29:59.000 One is our right to privacy over our body and our information.

00:30:03.000 And the other is anti-regulation.

00:30:05.000 And those two principles are sort of at odds here.

00:30:09.000 On the House side, we've taken a strong stance that the right to privacy prevails here.

00:30:14.000 And I think over on the Senate side, they might be feeling the other way.

00:30:18.000 They might be feeling like that the business lobby has a stronger voice in their ear.

00:30:23.000 I've run this bill for two sessions now.

00:30:26.000 And we've got three days left in the legislative session in Tallahassee.

00:30:30.000 And unless the Senate can get their butts in gear, I don't know if we're going to be able to get this bill done.

00:30:36.000 Well, everyone needs to understand the companies that are opposed to this.

00:30:40.000 And these are the big tech companies, right?

00:30:41.000 Google and Facebook.

00:30:42.000 They don't want this sort of bill, even though other states have one very simple, have bills very similar to this.

00:30:48.000 And the reason they don't want it is that they want to be able to monetize your internet activity without your consent, without notifying you.

00:30:57.000 And these big tech companies obviously are no friends of conservatives.

00:31:00.000 They're no friends of America.

00:31:02.000 They're basically foreign companies that call themselves American companies that come in and commercialize the most private communication and activity of our citizens.

00:31:13.000 And in particular, our young people.

00:31:16.000 So tell me, what's one of the most shocking things you learned about this big tech data collection over the last two years?

00:31:23.000 It's crazy, Charlie.

00:31:24.000 I mean, I'm in my freshman term.

00:31:25.000 I've been doing this for two sessions now.

00:31:27.000 So I'm still sort of new of it.

00:31:28.000 But, you know, I filed this bill with huge support from the governor and the speaker of the Florida House.

00:31:33.000 I filed this bill and I thought I would just be hearing from the big tech companies.

00:31:37.000 But within a matter of hours of having filed this bill, I started hearing from way more.

00:31:43.000 It wasn't just big tech and telecommunication companies.

00:31:46.000 I started hearing from auto manufacturers and I started hearing from grocery chains.

00:31:51.000 I started hearing from just the businesses and industries I wouldn't have initially thought.

00:31:57.000 But as I said, it totally makes sense.

00:31:59.000 I mean, everyone deals in data right now.

00:32:02.000 The place where this bill steps in is the point at which I stop being the consumer and I start being the product.

00:32:11.000 When I buy goods and information, goods and services from a company, we transact financially because I'm receiving something from them.

00:32:19.000 But when companies then turn around and profit off of what they know about me, that's where this bill steps in and draws the line.

00:32:26.000 And we're not even saying that businesses have to stop that.

00:32:29.000 Like I think, you know, the world of online advertising, I appreciate a well-delivered, targeted ad.

00:32:36.000 It shows me things that I, you know, I forgot to stock up on diapers.

00:32:40.000 It's very helpful to get that little alert.

00:32:43.000 But I think we just need to have a say in whether we're being profited off of.

00:32:48.000 Well, yeah, it's all about consent.

00:32:50.000 Yeah, if you don't like it, just don't engage in these services.

00:32:53.000 But there is no Luddite out there who can exist in the modern day society and not be tracked in some way.

00:33:02.000 Unless you went to great lengths to like pay in cash for everything, you know, not use an AVM, walk in places that there were no cameras ever.

00:33:12.000 I don't know how you exist in the world today without having companies collect information about you in some way or another.

00:33:19.000 Yeah, that's exactly right.

00:33:21.000 And look, these tech companies, they turn you into the product.

00:33:26.000 Only addictive drugs and social media call the people who use their products users.

00:33:30.000 They're highly addictive to young people in particular.

00:33:33.000 Talk about the generational component to this of how these tech companies really prey on young people and then they monetize them for the rest of their life.

00:33:41.000 Your bill will make it much more transparent.

00:33:45.000 Yeah, I mean, you know, if anyone followed along with the Facebook whistleblower over the summer, I think we got a little peek behind the curtain into how some of these companies really like profit seek with our data.

00:33:58.000 When I interact with a company, I'm only so valuable to them, right?

00:34:03.000 Like I can only buy so many cups of coffee in a given year, but they can take what they know about me.

00:34:11.000 They can take my behavioral characteristics and say, oh, I know that this consumer is like a 30-something white female that has two small babies. 1.00

00:34:20.000 They can sell that an infinite number of times and continue to profit seek.

00:34:24.000 And they can sell it to whomever.

00:34:26.000 And they're typically selling it to whoever the highest bidder is, wherever that highest bidder may be.

00:34:31.000 And again, you know, like 90% of this is benign and it's for consumer insights and for product improvement.

00:34:38.000 But sometimes it's not.

00:34:40.000 Sometimes when you're selling insights about customers, it's really to, you know, for nefarious reasons.

00:34:50.000 You talked about kids.

00:34:53.000 Our bill goes one step further to protect children.

00:34:56.000 It says that for a child under the age of 18, they or their parent has to opt in to their data being sold or shared.

00:35:06.000 No one would bring this up in lobbying because I think it's very, it's politically untenable to say you don't support the children.

00:35:12.000 But I have a sneaking suspicion that there's a great deal of fear in turning off that spigot of insights into minors.

00:35:22.000 You mentioned it, you know, you identify these kids early on and then you've got a product that, you know, their data is a product that you can continue to profit off of for life.

00:35:31.000 Another component of our bill is that a company would have to delete information about you if you haven't interacted with them for three years or records retention.

00:35:43.000 Every year on my birthday, I probably get 20 happy birthday emails from vendors and stores that I have not shopped in for like at least 15 years.

00:35:53.000 And the fact that there are all of these companies out there that know my name, address, phone number, and birthday when I have no intention of ever shopping there again is highly unsettling to me.

00:36:06.000 Yeah, that's a terrific point.

00:36:09.000 So in closing here, what I love about this too is the states that are rising up against these tech companies, not just waiting for Washington, D.C.

00:36:16.000 A lot of people ask, what are we going to do about big tech?

00:36:19.000 How are we going to restrain them?

00:36:20.000 Well, this is one way to protect consumers, but also punish the companies that hate us, that kicked Trump off social media, that consistently restrict our ability to speak, whether it be about vaccines or anything.

00:36:32.000 So talk about the state-based component of this.

00:36:34.000 Florida is the leader in so many ways.

00:36:36.000 Florida is a free state, and it will be a disappointment if Florida's not able to get this right.

00:36:40.000 I agree.

00:36:42.000 This would be legislation better suited to the federal level, period.

00:36:46.000 There are so many companies that operate across state lines and internationally.

00:36:50.000 And I agree that it is burdensome for them to have to figure out a patchwork of regulation in different states around the country.

00:36:57.000 However, that doesn't mean I'm going to sleep on privacy for Floridians until the federal government gets their butt in gear and passes something.

00:37:03.000 That's right.

00:37:03.000 What we have now, a couple states were able to pass a version of this last year.

00:37:08.000 There's a few more of us that are on the cusp of doing it this year.

00:37:12.000 As more and more states start to step up for privacy for their residents, it puts tremendous upward pressure on the feds to get their butts in gear.

00:37:22.000 I don't ever like to compare us to California, but California passed a version of a consumer data privacy bill last year.

00:37:30.000 It was very broad and very bold and very California.

00:37:35.000 We are intending to do the same thing, a big, bold step for privacy, but with Florida flavor.

00:37:42.000 I think that if two of the three largest states in the country, one red, one blue, can pass such compelling legislation, I think that even ratchet up the pressure even more on DC to do something.

00:37:54.000 I agree.

00:37:55.000 Well, Fiona, thank you for your leadership.

00:37:57.000 And I hope this gets passed.

00:37:58.000 I hope the Senate does the right thing.

00:38:00.000 And we appreciate it.

00:38:01.000 Hope to meet you sometime soon.

00:38:02.000 Thank you.

00:38:03.000 Thanks, Charlie.

00:38:06.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:38:07.000 Email us your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com and support our show at charliekirk.com slash support.

00:38:14.000 Thanks so much for listening.

00:38:15.000 God bless.

00:38:18.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - March 09, 2022

Two States' Battle Against Biden—Nevada and Florida

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