The Charlie Kirk Show - Welfare Will Destroy A Country with Sen. Josh Hawley

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, Tan the Charlie Kirk show.

00:00:01.000 Viva la France.

00:00:02.000 What is going on in France?

00:00:03.000 And then why is BLM able to get away with everything they've done the last couple of years?

00:00:08.000 We examine that question.

00:00:09.000 Senator Josh Hawley on TikTok, an action-packed episode.

00:00:13.000 Three big topics for you.

00:00:15.000 Get involved with Turning PointUSA today at tpusa.com.

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00:00:28.000 We are really become, we've become the life force of the conservative movement in many ways.

00:00:32.000 Go to tpusa.com, start a high school chapter, start a college chapter, see us on tour.

00:00:37.000 That is tpusa.com.

00:00:41.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:42.000 Here we go.

00:00:43.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:45.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campuses.

00:00:47.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:00:50.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:00:53.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:54.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:00:55.000 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.

00:01:04.000 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.

00:01:13.000 That's why we are here.

00:01:15.000 Brought to you by the Loan Experts I Trust, Andrew and Todd at Sierra Pacific Mortgage at andrewandTodd.com.

00:01:25.000 We are going to start the program today talking about something happening in a foreign country that should be a warning to us in America. 1.00

00:01:32.000 Shows what happens when you live above your means, when you hope your citizens will eventually be able to make the budget work.

00:01:42.000 And then you bring in a bunch of foreigners into your country to try to make the budget balanced. 1.00

00:01:46.000 What am I talking about?

00:01:47.000 Not Russia, not China, not Ukraine.

00:01:48.000 No, no, no, today we're going to talk about France.

00:01:52.000 Something very interesting happening in France.

00:01:54.000 Widespread violent protests are happening all across the country.

00:01:58.000 We have some B-roll to show here of what's happening.

00:02:01.000 Now, look, for the French, this is somewhat kind of built into their national culture.

00:02:05.000 Look, France has revolts all the time.

00:02:07.000 230 years ago, they famously beheaded their king.

00:02:11.000 150 years ago, they had a communist takeover of Paris.

00:02:14.000 In 1968, the country was paralyzed by far-left student protests.

00:02:18.000 And a few years ago, there was even a populist yellow vest protest.

00:02:22.000 So the joke goes, in France, there's a big protest going.

00:02:27.000 You throw a couple Molotov cocktails, and then you go back and you go sip wine and enjoy cheese on the lawn outside of the Eiffel Tower.

00:02:35.000 It's just kind of built into some of the daily weekend activity if they get angry about it.

00:02:39.000 And in fact, there's a hilarious video showing that buildings on fire and a bunch of Parisians.

00:02:46.000 I don't know if it was in Paris, actually, just French citizens, just kind of sitting at a diner eating and like just kind of rolling their eyes.

00:02:51.000 Kind of built in to French culture, this kind of widespread protest, arson.

00:02:56.000 You could call it domestic terrorism.

00:02:58.000 The video is hilarious.

00:02:59.000 You got to watch it.

00:03:00.000 They're just kind of so you, they're just kind of like, okay, I just passed the pass the bottle of wine, whatever.

00:03:05.000 They just kind of roll their eyes.

00:03:06.000 I mean, there's so many lessons in French history, by the way.

00:03:09.000 France used to be the center of the world.

00:03:11.000 I mean, we could do an entire show on this.

00:03:14.000 Used to be a great country.

00:03:15.000 For a thousand years, France, not Britain, was the richest and most powerful country in Europe.

00:03:20.000 For hundreds of years, the language every educated person was expected to know was French, not English.

00:03:25.000 This is a country that built great Gothic cathedrals.

00:03:28.000 They built the world's greatest palaces and made some of the greatest art.

00:03:31.000 They were leaders in science and economics and political theory.

00:03:34.000 And now France has basically just kind of become a joke for a lot of different reasons.

00:03:38.000 And I mean, I love French culture.

00:03:40.000 I think some of their authors, especially Jean-Jacques Rousseau onward, leave a lot to be, a lot to be desired.

00:03:46.000 He was more Genevan and more Swiss, but he definitely had some French roots.

00:03:50.000 But there's a lot of lessons in French history we can derive.

00:03:53.000 Example, the very people that were the Jacobins that were calling for the guillotine and the beheading of the king, Maximilian Robespierre actually was killed by the very people he was doing the revolt with.

00:04:05.000 A lot of lessons that we could derive from French history.

00:04:09.000 A lot of the current wokies here in America feel and act and believe in the same manner that the Jacobins did during the French Revolution. 0.99

00:04:18.000 But today we're going to talk about a very specific issue that applies to America and it's going to come here very soon, which is what happens when you expand your welfare state so significantly to an unsustainable way, make promises that you cannot fulfill, spend money you do not have, open your border to a bunch of foreigners to try to pay for it. 0.98

00:04:40.000 And eventually you have to make decisions that if you do not make that decision, your entire country will implode.

00:04:46.000 Well, right now, Macron, who I'm not a fan of, but he's actually doing the right thing, is trying to raise the French retirement age from 62 to 64.

00:04:55.000 Yes, that's right.

00:04:55.000 In France, people retire at 62.

00:04:58.000 Now, you can get the French really fired up about trying to say you got to work a couple extra years.

00:05:02.000 It's not a society that believes that work is fulfilling or that you can find meaning in your career or job.

00:05:10.000 Some people probably do, but largely the French society or culture is everything's an escape from work.

00:05:16.000 It is a means to an end.

00:05:18.000 I think that's a flawed way to look at life, but that's a separate issue.

00:05:21.000 Macron is not backing down.

00:05:23.000 He's saying that the country's pension system is essential and he's going to ram it through.

00:05:27.000 In some ways, it's actually pretty courageous.

00:05:30.000 I'm not a fan of Macron again.

00:05:31.000 I'll say that again.

00:05:32.000 This is polling terribly.

00:05:33.000 Any American politician would back down against protests like this.

00:05:37.000 This stuff is kind of Fleu de Palooza.

00:05:39.000 The amount of burning, the amount of arson, the amount of cars being flipped.

00:05:43.000 Look, France is a very strange country.

00:05:46.000 It's a society ruled by old people. 1.00

00:05:48.000 It's not because they control the jobs, but because they control all the money.

00:05:52.000 In France, 14% of their GDP goes towards retiree pensions.

00:05:56.000 In America, it's less than 7%.

00:05:58.000 And that's just pensions, not even including health care.

00:06:02.000 It's much harder in France for young people to get ahead, which is ironically why so many of them are angry about this pension reform.

00:06:09.000 A generous, leviathan-style welfare state for many is all they feel they have to look forward to.

00:06:15.000 And how depressing is that?

00:06:17.000 It's not, when you do not have a free economy, when you do not have a society built on liberty, all they have to look forward to is a government check once they retire.

00:06:26.000 Life is more beautiful than an entitlement state.

00:06:31.000 So today, what has France become?

00:06:32.000 It's become a museum of its past greatness.

00:06:35.000 If you go to France, what are you there to see?

00:06:36.000 You see buildings put up hundreds of years ago and you visit some winery that existed hundreds of years ago.

00:06:42.000 There's no vitality.

00:06:43.000 There's no life force.

00:06:44.000 There's nothing new and exciting that is being created.

00:06:47.000 Nobody goes to France to launch a startup or try anything new.

00:06:50.000 And that's what happens when you have a society where everything just revolves around retiring early and living the easiest life possible.

00:06:59.000 France is decaying and the country's surrounded by memories of what used to be capable of.

00:07:03.000 And look, I know a lot of people in this audience are saying, well, Charlie, what about Social Security and Medicare?

00:07:08.000 I believe you've earned those and you've paid into it.

00:07:10.000 The broader argument I'm making, though, is be careful designing a society with an overemphasis on entitlement-like policies.

00:07:18.000 I believe that free money from the government, which I do not believe those of you in this audience that get Social Security or Medicare, is free money from the government because you've actually earned it.

00:07:27.000 But in the cases where there's free money from the government, I believe that is more addictive than fentanyl and drugs.

00:07:34.000 It gets people coming back for more.

00:07:36.000 They do weird and insane things.

00:07:38.000 And the French are showing us that if you even try to make modest or prudent reforms to try to make sure the system can continue, then your society might literally start to burn. 0.92

00:07:51.000 And the lesson in America is very clear.

00:07:53.000 If you actually look at the numbers in America, no one likes talking about this.

00:07:56.000 No one likes actually saying, hey, maybe we should stop this spending spree.

00:07:59.000 In 1940 in America, there were 42 workers per retiree in America.

00:08:03.000 Today, the ratio is a little above 3 to 1.

00:08:06.000 By 2050, it's predicted that it'll be 2 to 1.

00:08:09.000 In France, it's already below 3 to 1.

00:08:11.000 And that's with hundreds of thousands of refugees and immigrants that they brought into their country to try to stabilize it.

00:08:18.000 From 1977 to 2020, in inflation-adjusted dollars, state and local government spending on public welfare in America went from $147 billion to $791 billion, a 437% increase, mostly due to the growth of Medicaid.

00:08:37.000 In 1960, total welfare spending in the U.S. was about 7% of the GDP.

00:08:41.000 In 1990, it was a bit below 15%.

00:08:43.000 Today, it's about 20%.

00:08:46.000 Overall, 57% of Americans paid on net zero income tax in 2021.

00:08:53.000 This was mostly due to COVID, but even in 2020, which covered pre-COVID earnings, the figure was 44%.

00:09:00.000 One of the main lessons we have to kind of derive here is that we went for the cheap, easy money, sugar high solution, I put in quotes, during COVID.

00:09:10.000 And you're going to start to see this happen in Western country after Western country with the banking collapses, the crypto market imploding, the lack of crisis in the American currency or the American dollar, is the cheap money, easy money overspending policies are now coming to a head.

00:09:30.000 What's happening in France right now with the unrest, with the welfare state that is not just complaining, but they are demanding that these reforms do not happen can occur here very, very quickly.

00:09:44.000 In the end, it's not only government and it's not welfare that creates prosperity, of course.

00:09:49.000 The only thing that creates prosperity is work and productivity and the creation of value.

00:09:57.000 There is no such thing as a free lunch.

00:09:59.000 And the $6 trillion that we created out of thin air and put into our economy, that all of a sudden real estate prices go up and the stock market goes up and crypto goes up.

00:10:09.000 That debt must be paid.

00:10:11.000 Reality eventually comes knocking.

00:10:14.000 The laws of nature and nature is God will eventually hit your doorstep.

00:10:18.000 And it's coming to America very soon.

00:10:22.000 Look, it is time to consider a rollover of that 401k into an IRA.

00:10:28.000 The investment world is completely different in 2023, and you cannot do the same thing as last year.

00:10:33.000 Woke companies are aggressively implementing ESG.

00:10:38.000 Interest rates are going up and inflation is still lingering.

00:10:40.000 If you have over $150,000, now is the time to move your money to a biblical responsible investing strategy with my friends at PAX Financial Group.

00:10:48.000 Here's how you can connect with PAX.

00:10:50.000 Text Charlie to the number 74868.

00:10:53.000 That's it.

00:10:53.000 Just take out your phone.

00:10:54.000 Text Charlie, C-H-A-R-L-I-E to 74868.

00:11:02.000 So take out your phone, text Charlie to the number 74868 for biblical responsible investing.

00:11:09.000 Text Charlie to 74868.

00:11:14.000 You know, the First Amendment says Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.

00:11:18.000 Now, Congress didn't do this, but during Floyd Apaloozo, which reminds me of the French protests, they remind me of each other, kind of widespread arson and nonsense.

00:11:28.000 We did have a state-run religion, a state-run American political party, BLM.

00:11:33.000 In a yearn for meaning, meaning, it's like Victor Frankl's man search for meaning, we decided to attach ourselves and attach our money, attach our meaning to the religion of anti-racism.

00:11:46.000 This happened in June, July, and August of 2020.

00:11:49.000 So many pastors in a nauseating fashion marched with BLM and talked about white fragility and all this nonsense.

00:11:56.000 And a new report shows exactly how much money did the cause of BLM receive and then also the actual organization itself receive.

00:12:06.000 The Federalists did some incredible reporting here from the Claremont Institute Center for the American Way of Life.

00:12:14.000 Black Lives Matter activists executed a shocking $83 billion shakedown of American corporations.

00:12:23.000 $83 billion.

00:12:27.000 Says here, they created the database tracking contributions and pledges made to BLM movement and related causes.

00:12:33.000 To date, the data spans more than 400 companies and $83 billion in pledges and contributions. 0.95

00:12:38.000 Let me ask you, how many of these donations are going to charter schools to help blacks read or going to public safety efforts to make sure that black kids aren't shot by black thugs in downtown Chicago? 0.90

00:12:50.000 How many of these are going to actually go rebuild the black family in Philadelphia or Atlanta? 0.98

00:12:55.000 Where is this money going exactly?

00:12:57.000 Is this money going to schools in black, you know, in Harlem, which is overwhelmingly black?

00:13:03.000 Here's what we do know: the BLM organization itself, which received about $100 million that we know of, secretly bought a $6 million house in California, all in cash in the fall of 2020.

00:13:16.000 Remember, these same riots resulted in 15 times more injured police officers, 19 times more arrests.

00:13:24.000 And these are the people that then, in return, extort all of society and get $83 billion in return.

00:13:31.000 And let me just probe something out there because for the Republican attorney generals out there and for the Republican district attorneys, as we are watching Alvin Bragg debate whether or not to indict Donald Trump, as we're watching the Fulton County do the same and the Department of Justice go after Trump, there is a question that many of you have.

00:13:49.000 Well, Charlie, who on the Democrat side should we indict?

00:13:52.000 Who should we investigate?

00:13:53.000 Let me submit a very humble recommendation, a very simple recommendation, I should say.

00:13:58.000 Why is it that Republican attorney generals are not currently criminally investigating and indicting BLM?

00:14:06.000 I heard a little bit from Louisiana and all this.

00:14:08.000 You might say, well, Charlie, what's their jurisdiction?

00:14:10.000 No, they have jurisdiction because they receive donations from people in that state.

00:14:14.000 That's charitable fraud.

00:14:16.000 All these states have charitable solicitation fraud statutes on their books.

00:14:20.000 The $6 million house in Malibu, they admitted hosting parties at it.

00:14:25.000 Quote, BLM leadership has indicated the property was intended as a type of influencer house, but reportedly very little was ever filmed there.

00:14:34.000 Maybe a few videos involving colors, including a video series called Patrice Tries, during which she attempts unfamiliar tasks, according to the New York magazine.

00:14:44.000 So they also bought a house in Canada, if I remember correctly.

00:14:47.000 Patrice Colors has this ever-growing real estate empire.

00:14:51.000 And so they raise $100 million and people from red states donate to it.

00:14:58.000 Why is it that Republican attorney generals are sitting and watching Donald Trump maybe be indicted, watching Steve Bannon get indicted, watching James O'Keefe have his apartment be raided?

00:15:10.000 They shut down the National Rifle Association.

00:15:13.000 They're using government to go after moms and dads at school boards.

00:15:17.000 That's a fact.

00:15:17.000 And we do not have Republican attorney generals or Republican district attorneys that have the backbone, the spine, or the fortitude to impanel a grand jury and say, hey, Patrice Colors, explain in front of this grand jury the charitable funds that you received from the donors of this state could be Louisiana, could be Arkansas, could be Texas, it could be Florida.

00:15:40.000 And then did you actually do the intent of charitable funds?

00:15:44.000 By the way, these sort of indictments are done all the time for other types of charities.

00:15:47.000 Charity fraud.

00:15:48.000 There's dozens of indictments that happen every single year around it.

00:15:51.000 Unfortunately, if something happens, it's happening right now with a pro-Ukrainian charity of a guy that just raised millions of dollars and he disappeared.

00:15:58.000 Why is it that Republicans are afraid to do it?

00:16:00.000 The answer is so simple, and it's a really bad answer.

00:16:02.000 It's because they do not want to indict the black organization of the left.

00:16:06.000 They don't want to be called a racist.

00:16:08.000 In fact, that's a reason, that's a really bad reason to do it, but it actually should make you lean in. 0.69

00:16:13.000 This is an anti-black effort.

00:16:15.000 This is money that was given from white liberals mainly to BLM to try to help black people, and it didn't.

00:16:22.000 Did it go to charter schools?

00:16:23.000 Did it go to food assistance and food support?

00:16:26.000 Did it go to community centers?

00:16:27.000 Did it go to anti-violence measures?

00:16:29.000 No, none of it did.

00:16:30.000 Why did you say none of it?

00:16:31.000 Almost none of it.

00:16:32.000 It said it went to weird, suspicious, inside-out payments, $6 million home in Malibu.

00:16:37.000 You want a deterrent against the Blitzkriega conservatives? 0.75

00:16:40.000 Let's start with holding the criminality of BLM accountable.

00:16:43.000 Republican DAs and AGs, it's on you.

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00:17:06.000 This is not a loan and you don't have to pay it back.

00:17:08.000 I know a lot of people that have benefited from this.

00:17:10.000 I think Congress appropriated way too much money.

00:17:13.000 This program is complicated, but nobody knows it better than the CPAs and tax experts at covidtaxrelief.org.

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00:17:52.000 Joining us now is the great senator from Missouri, Senator Josh Hawley.

00:17:56.000 Senator, welcome back to the program.

00:17:58.000 Tell us about the progress of the COVID declassification bill and what we can expect next.

00:18:04.000 Thank you for having me, Charlie.

00:18:05.000 It's great to be with you.

00:18:06.000 So the president has finally signed the bill, kicking and screaming.

00:18:11.000 I have to say, as an aside, it was really delightful to read his statement where he said, I am pleased to sign this bill after he delayed and delayed and delayed.

00:18:19.000 But now we have to hold their feet to the fire because what they've already started to say, the administration is, well, you know, we've got to be worried about the national security implications.

00:18:28.000 And as I've already said publicly, there's no national security exception in the bill.

00:18:33.000 The bill says you don't have to reveal who the source is, you know, like name our agents in the field.

00:18:37.000 But other than that, it says declassify the information.

00:18:41.000 So they're on a shot clock now, and we'll see.

00:18:44.000 But I look forward to the American people being able to read what members of Congress have been able to read for literally months and years now.

00:18:51.000 Yeah.

00:18:51.000 And so do you think there's going to be anything, you know, overly revealing?

00:18:56.000 I mean, what can the public expect here?

00:18:59.000 Or is it just going to kind of be a bunch of, you know, declassified, I mean, classified documents and things X'd out?

00:19:06.000 I mean, kind of manage our expectations here.

00:19:09.000 Well, some of that will depend on them.

00:19:11.000 But listen, I think we got a preview of it with the FBI director when he went all of a sudden decided to go do these interviews.

00:19:18.000 He sat down, I think it was Brett Baer a few weeks ago and said what the FBI has privately been saying for over a year, Charlie, which is that the FBI has assessed for a year plus now that this thing is from a lab.

00:19:31.000 So this has been the frustration.

00:19:33.000 But while we've got Fauci out there saying, no, no way, lab leak, that's a conspiracy theory.

00:19:38.000 The FBI has been saying for over a year, oh no, actually, we think it's from a lab.

00:19:44.000 This is what prompted me, to be honest with you.

00:19:46.000 First, prompted me to say, let's declassify everything because I'm hearing Fauci say this.

00:19:50.000 And then I'm reading the classified info from the FBI.

00:19:53.000 And I thought the American people deserve to be able to read that.

00:19:56.000 So I hope they'll see that.

00:19:58.000 I hope they'll see the assessments from the Department of Energy.

00:20:01.000 And here's the other value of it, Charlie, is that our other intelligence agencies like the CIA and others, and there's several of them who have different assessments of, you know, where did this thing come from?

00:20:11.000 They don't want any of this to be made public because they don't actually want to be pushed to put their dime down.

00:20:16.000 They don't want to actually have to say, here's what we think.

00:20:19.000 They want to CYA the whole thing.

00:20:20.000 You know, like, well, maybe on the one hand, on the other hand, we need to force them to tell the public what they know so that they will be pressed to fess up and then to keep to keep working.

00:20:33.000 Like, for instance, we need to know was this part of a bioweapons program?

00:20:36.000 Even if it was for Balapoli, I think it was, was it part of a bioweapons program? 0.93

00:20:40.000 See, now that's a different question, and we need to know that.

00:20:42.000 So I think there's going to be great value in this if the administration will follow the law.

00:20:47.000 Let's see what they do.

00:20:47.000 So let's see.

00:20:48.000 So, Senator, this week was kind of TikTok week on Capitol Hill.

00:20:53.000 And this is an issue that you've been leading on.

00:20:55.000 And it seems as if Congress and the kind of board CIFUS CIFIS, right?

00:21:03.000 I want to make sure I pronounce that correctly, has to make a decision whether or not to ban TikTok completely, restrict access in the app store, or demand that TikTok offloads its data through something called Project Texas to an American-based tech company.

00:21:22.000 Senator, let's just talk broadly.

00:21:24.000 How are you thinking about the TikTok issue?

00:21:27.000 Were you moved in any way yesterday by the testimony?

00:21:31.000 How important is this issue?

00:21:32.000 And how are you thinking about it personally?

00:21:35.000 I think we now know everything that we need to know, Charlie.

00:21:38.000 I think that the TikTok CEO's testimony confirmed this yesterday, which is that this is a company that's tremendously influenced by the Chinese Communist Party.

00:21:47.000 I mean, there's just no doubt about it.

00:21:48.000 When he said that, yes, the CCP does have access.

00:21:52.000 He couldn't guarantee Americans that Adam was safe.

00:21:54.000 When he couldn't even say that his own remarks hadn't been written or influenced in part by CCP officials, I mean, there you go.

00:22:01.000 I mean, we know what we need to know.

00:22:03.000 I've had whistleblowers come to me from within the company who said that Americans' personal information is absolutely being accessed by people in China.

00:22:10.000 We know that TikTok is tracking journalists and every American should be concerned about this.

00:22:15.000 If you've got that on your phone, just know it's tracking your vocation.

00:22:19.000 It's tracking your keystrokes, which means it can read what you're typing.

00:22:22.000 It's tracking your contact list, your phone list.

00:22:25.000 This just shouldn't be the case.

00:22:26.000 So, Charlie, I think we have to ban it.

00:22:27.000 I mean, I just think that that's the solution here.

00:22:29.000 We ban this thing.

00:22:30.000 We allow American companies to stand up alternatives, you know, let the marketplace have its way.

00:22:36.000 But I think as it relates to TikTok itself, the time has come to ban it.

00:22:39.000 And Congress will have to do that.

00:22:40.000 The administration can't outright ban it.

00:22:42.000 They don't have the authority to do it.

00:22:44.000 Congress needs to do it.

00:22:45.000 We should put this on the floor and vote on it.

00:22:47.000 Do you think there's an appetite to do that?

00:22:49.000 It's a strange thing, Senator, because we're seeing Democrats that actually seem to be supportive of it.

00:22:56.000 Now, my cynical interpretation is that this seems to be pushed by Google and Facebook because they see TikTok now as an emerging competitor in kind of the video market.

00:23:09.000 I know for a fact that a lot of the Google lobbyists are actually the ones pushing this against TikTok.

00:23:15.000 And I guess it makes strange bedfellows because, you know, I'm no fan of the CCP, but I think profit is driving them, not patriotism.

00:23:22.000 But Senator, do you think there's an appetite from Democrats to ban this?

00:23:25.000 Well, it's interesting.

00:23:26.000 TikTok went out and hired about a month ago, Charlie, a PR firm that is a Democrat PR firm founded by Biden administration people. 0.97

00:23:34.000 So, you know, TikTok is a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them. 0.97

00:23:37.000 They're very savvy. 0.99

00:23:38.000 They are spending a gob of money.

00:23:39.000 And that's why you heard Democrats in the last few weeks change their tune.

00:23:43.000 And by the way, the corporate media, if you turned on CNN this week, which I recommend people never ever do, but if you happen to accidentally be in an airport and have to watch it, for example, you would have heard a CNN host literally reading TikTok press release talking points, but as if they were fact.

00:24:00.000 Why is that?

00:24:01.000 Well, that's because of this Democrat PR firm.

00:24:04.000 That's why they are pumping it out.

00:24:06.000 You see the Washington Post has been rehearsing the same stuff.

00:24:09.000 And then the latest Democrat line is, well, we can't just ban TikTok.

00:24:12.000 It's racist.

00:24:13.000 We have to pass a comprehensive privacy bill.

00:24:16.000 And to your point, the people who want a quote-unquote comprehensive privacy bill are Google and Facebook because they'll write the rules, they'll benefit from it, and then everybody else, smaller competitors, will all be shut out.

00:24:27.000 So my view on this is ban TikTok, send a message to big tech that we are not afraid to act.

00:24:34.000 Send a message to China that they don't get this back door into our lives and this digital fentanyl into our kids' heads because that's what they're trying to do. 0.98

00:24:44.000 So send that message.

00:24:45.000 But that's no excuse not to deal with Google on Facebook.

00:24:48.000 We need to deal with them.

00:24:50.000 No, I agree.

00:24:51.000 I just want people to know that this TikTok being kind of a front and center issue is not all of a sudden because Congress has found a zeal to hold the CCP accountable.

00:25:01.000 It's a lot of American tech companies that are pushing this because TikTok is a competitor to them, which by the way, more power to them because I'm not a fan, obviously.

00:25:09.000 Do you think this Project Texas is a good compromise at all, Senator?

00:25:12.000 Because we're getting some emails about that.

00:25:14.000 Can you tell our audience what it is and why you don't think that's a good idea?

00:25:18.000 Yeah, I'm happy to.

00:25:19.000 Yeah, what that is, is that it would be the idea that you would store Americans' data.

00:25:23.000 So everybody in America uses TikTok.

00:25:25.000 That's like 150 million people.

00:25:26.000 It's a lot of people, which is why this is a big problem.

00:25:29.000 But you would store, they would store Americans' data in Texas.

00:25:33.000 Another company, Oracle, I believe it is, won the bid, and they would manage the data.

00:25:38.000 Here's a problem with Charlie.

00:25:39.000 It doesn't matter where physically you store the data.

00:25:41.000 This is the internet, after all.

00:25:43.000 It matters who can access it.

00:25:45.000 And the problem is that wherever you store it, Texas, Missouri, Alaska, wherever, the real question is, can you put a firewall between Beijing and the data?

00:25:58.000 And what I have been told over and over by whistleblowers within the company, by those who work on Project Texas, is the answer to that is no.

00:26:04.000 It's not designed to silo that data off from employees of the company.

00:26:10.000 It's just designed to protect it from, like, say, cyber attack from the outside.

00:26:14.000 But, you know, there's not a way.

00:26:16.000 It's not designed to prevent Chinese-based engineers from accessing American data, which they can currently do and are doing.

00:26:24.000 So I think that this is actually a talking point that TikTok is trying to use.

00:26:29.000 And I don't think it's real.

00:26:30.000 I don't think it will work.

00:26:32.000 And that's why I say, let's just ban TikTok.

00:26:35.000 Let's send that message.

00:26:36.000 Let's protect our kids. 1.00

00:26:37.000 Let's tell China, by the way, that they don't get to just have a free pass to ruin our children's lives. 1.00

00:26:42.000 I mean, you look at what is on that platform, the suicide stuff on the platform, the trans agenda craziness on that platform. 0.98

00:26:52.000 China's not our friend, and TikTok is not designed to make our lives better. 1.00

00:26:55.000 And we should do something about that.

00:26:57.000 Let's play here Cut 100.

00:26:59.000 TikTok CEO agrees the CCP has the ability to manipulate TikTok content.

00:27:04.000 Play Cut 100, please.

00:27:06.000 Do you disagree with FBI Director Ray and NSA Director Nicosone when they said that the CCP could have the capability to manipulate data and send it to the United States?

00:27:17.000 Do you disagree with their statement?

00:27:19.000 Their statement says could.

00:27:21.000 So do you disagree with that?

00:27:23.000 No, I don't disagree with that.

00:27:25.000 So, Senator, what would you have to say to just the counter argument on this topic that there might be some hesitancy to have the government just ban a company outright?

00:27:33.000 And I personally actually share a little bit of that hesitancy.

00:27:36.000 What are your thoughts on how should we think about that?

00:27:39.000 Yeah, it's a great point.

00:27:41.000 I think the key here is that TikTok is unique in the sense that it is heavily influenced by and de facto controlled by a foreign adversary, China.

00:27:51.000 That's different than we just don't like this company.

00:27:55.000 We don't like it being owned by a foreign government. 1.00

00:27:57.000 You might have First Amendment, you would certainly have First Amendment issues if the argument was, well, we don't like what's on the platform.

00:28:03.000 We don't like the speech.

00:28:04.000 That's not it at all.

00:28:05.000 It is the national security concern that is the key thing for banning it here.

00:28:09.000 And this is why, Charlie, we successfully banned it.

00:28:11.000 I say we was my bill that banned it on all federal government devices and federal contractors too, just a few months ago because of the national security concerns.

00:28:20.000 So, you know, with Google and Facebook, to take a different example, there, you know, the right solution there is competition, break them up, and stop them from illegally tracking Americans without their consent, right?

00:28:32.000 The problem is, if you tried to do that with TikTok, they just wouldn't ignore it.

00:28:36.000 They wouldn't obey our laws because ultimately they're going to answer to their Chinese parent company. 1.00

00:28:41.000 They're going to answer to Beijing.

00:28:43.000 And that's quite unique.

00:28:44.000 I just can't think of another company in the world right now, certainly not at this scale, that is in that position.

00:28:50.000 Senator Hawley, thank you for your courage and your clarity.

00:28:53.000 And this is an unbelievably important topic that I'm pleased that it's finally getting the coverage it deserves.

00:28:58.000 Senator, welcome back anytime.

00:29:00.000 Thank you so much.

00:29:01.000 Thanks for having me.

00:29:02.000 You bet.

00:29:05.000 It's interesting because I definitely sympathize with this idea of CCP, awful, evil, modern-day Nazis, digital fentanyl.

00:29:17.000 But I'm a little bit hesitant in one regard because giving the government a lot of power post-9-11, because we were very concerned about radical Islamic fundamentalists, understandably concerned, ended up creating an infrastructure that then could be used against conservatives.

00:29:36.000 And I think we've learned our lesson.

00:29:38.000 I hope you've learned our lesson that sometimes a bipartisan, prudent action against a foreign actor can set a precedent to then be used against a conservative company.

00:29:51.000 Again, I use the company Rumble.

00:29:53.000 Rumble is a growing company, R-U-M-B-L-E.com.

00:29:57.000 They're a multi-billion dollar competitor now against YouTube.

00:30:01.000 Rumble started in Canada.

00:30:04.000 Are they going to be able to use that as an excuse?

00:30:06.000 I mean, that might be a little bit of a guess too far, but do they have an investor or do they have a group of investors that could be tied in a thicket of bureaucracy for quote-unquote foreign influence?

00:30:16.000 Same with Twitter.

00:30:20.000 Are we opening up a potential opportunity for Democrats and the regime to say we can now ban free speech companies?

00:30:28.000 And TikTok is not a free speech company.

00:30:30.000 Let me be very clear.

00:30:31.000 That's not the point.

00:30:33.000 I'm just, I'm so, let's just say, moved by the lessons of how the same people that post-9-11 told us, need all these FISA courts, Patriot Act, all these different types of measures.

00:30:53.000 And then January 6th, they say that now the new terrorists are conservatives.

00:30:59.000 What I'm getting at is it seems the playbook that the Democrats have used is expand the government, get the precedent, get emergency powers to be able to have a bipartisan move against a foreign instrument, keep all of that infrastructure and that precedent in place to then do it against a conservative organization.

00:31:22.000 And that's a legitimate concern because if the Republican, if the Democrats had their way, if the regime had their way, they would ban Twitter tomorrow, banning a company.

00:31:35.000 Now, you might say, well, you know, Twitter is an American company.

00:31:38.000 Well, their owner is South African, boring. 1.00

00:31:41.000 He's an American citizen. 0.86

00:31:42.000 Rumble is from Canada.

00:31:45.000 Elon Musk got Saudi money to finance the deal.

00:31:48.000 So why wouldn't they use the TikTok precedent to then go ban Twitter?

00:31:53.000 Now, some of you might say, well, Charlie, come on, this is, you know, you're thinking too far ahead.

00:31:58.000 It's all, I don't think that's actually true.

00:32:01.000 I think that we have learned that the Democrats do not mean well when they seem to try to have bipartisan compromise.

00:32:10.000 There's always a deeper agenda.

00:32:12.000 And I just wonder if there is a censorship agenda.

00:32:16.000 That's always what they've wanted, isn't it?

00:32:18.000 They dream and they have a lust for shutting up and silencing people they disagree with.

00:32:23.000 So I have to just wonder: is there a better way than flat out banning it and setting a precedent for Democrat pro censorship forces and voices to be able to come after the companies that we believe are necessary to a free society, like Rumble, Twitter, Real America's Voice, that are totally American companies?

00:32:48.000 Someone says, here, Charlie, I sympathize with you as they say the CCP indoctrinating our children, but your caution is smart.

00:32:53.000 We need to think this through.

00:32:55.000 These same people from 9-11 took away our liberties.

00:32:57.000 What is the solution?

00:32:58.000 That's a really good question.

00:32:59.000 I don't know the solution.

00:33:00.000 I need to learn more about this Project Texas thing.

00:33:03.000 I need to learn more about kind of the other solutions at hand.

00:33:08.000 But my initial gut is ban it!

00:33:10.000 Awful.

00:33:12.000 Yeah, I'm that same way, just like my initial gut was spy on the Islamic terrorists and get the Patriot Act, and then it's used against us. 0.74

00:33:21.000 I wish I didn't have to live in a point of time where I'm so suspicious, but boy, it seems like there's always a deeper agenda, isn't there?

00:33:28.000 There probably should be.

00:33:30.000 Is there another way or a better way?

00:33:32.000 I don't know.

00:33:33.000 But the very same government power that could be used in a proper way can then be abused and set a precedent in an improper way.

00:33:42.000 And so are we willing to kind of go that far to say that a company should be banned for whatever excuse that they have or they give by an act of Congress?

00:33:52.000 They could come for talk radio.

00:33:54.000 They've tried many times.

00:33:55.000 Again, I use the Rumble example.

00:33:57.000 I use the Twitter example.

00:33:58.000 So this is something we need to think deeply about.

00:34:00.000 I'm not even sure how I feel about it, like what my final decision or if I was a senator, what my vote would be.

00:34:07.000 But I certainly know something needs to get done.

00:34:11.000 But I have a clear and present concern that if we ban a company, it could be used against our own companies very quickly.

00:34:21.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:34:23.000 Email us your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:34:26.000 Thanks so much for listening, and God bless.

00:34:31.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk dot com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - March 24, 2023

Welfare Will Destroy A Country with Sen. Josh Hawley

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