00:00:26.000Get involved with Turning PointUSA today at tpusa.com.
00:00:30.000Start a high school chapter, start a college chapter today.
00:00:33.000And if you're a parent that is listening and you have a high school student, encourage them to start a Turning Point USA high school chapter.
00:01:04.000His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:01:12.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:03:08.000And so again, I think we shouldn't be bummed about this.
00:03:12.000Like you said, we haven't even begun to fight.
00:03:14.000And right now, I think actually the most important thing, because people are asking, okay, what should the agenda be?
00:03:19.000The agenda should be making sure that people like Kevin McCarthy and Ronnie McDaniel, who are currently facing challenges, McCarthy more so internally, actually face consequences for what they've done.
00:03:30.000That should be the number one priority right now.
00:03:50.000McConnell looks, of all the people that deserve to be held accountable, McConnell, unfortunately, looks like he's going to survive.
00:03:58.000And you can already kind of see that he is doing things almost as if to remind people that it was a mistake to even challenge him because McConnell did face a historic challenge.
00:04:10.000Rick Scott was the first person in something like 15 years that's actually mounted like a challenge to McConnell.
00:04:54.000I don't think we should compromise with McCarthy.
00:04:56.000You cannot look at what McCarthy did in the lead up to midterm elections, undermining guys like Joe Kent in Washington and Anthony Sabatini in Florida, basically saying after we win, we're just going to continue doing the same dumb stuff that we've been doing.
00:05:09.000In other words, he doesn't care about his voters.
00:05:11.000He just thinks that they're dumb, wants to take their votes and their money.
00:05:14.000I don't think we should compromise with him.
00:06:19.000What is the path forward in that regard?
00:06:21.000Yeah, I think a lot of the activity, a lot of the most interesting activities actually happening in the states.
00:06:27.000When you look at Florida, there's always interesting stuff going on there, whether it's the education bills that have been passed recently or the fact that the Florida government, I mean, this was totally missed.
00:06:37.000But in the lead up to the midterm elections, the government of Florida responded to the Biden administration saying that we're going to send civil rights, basically civil rights people from the DOJ to make sure that your elections are not suppressing minorities.
00:06:53.000And the Florida State Department sent a letter back to the DOJ saying no one from the federal government is inside, allowed inside of places where ballots are counted.
00:07:02.000Kind of suggesting that if Biden tries to send federal election monitors into Florida and they try to get access to these sensitive areas, we're going to detain them.
00:07:11.000I mean, that was the implication here, right?
00:07:14.000And so I think the takeaway from that is states have a tremendous amount of power to safeguard, because we're all talking about, you know, ballot harvesting.
00:07:21.000We're all talking about how do we do better next time.
00:07:24.000A lot of this stuff happens in the states.
00:07:55.000And we don't necessarily need to wait for Congress, but I think the most important thing Congress could do, like ideally, would be to have another church committee to hold the intelligence community accountable for its abuses and meddling in our elections.
00:08:08.000And despite that, theyorkis doesn't just deny it.
00:08:14.000So, Pedro, yesterday, as if they really don't care about their voters, of course, they did this after the election, right?
00:08:19.000Because they know that actually voters would hate this.
00:08:23.00011 Republicans voted for this gay marriage bill.
00:08:29.000I mean, I want to read the list here because it's important for our listeners to know this.
00:08:33.000And then, Pedro, can you walk our audience through actually what is in this bill?
00:08:36.000Blunt from Missouri, Burr from North Carolina, Shelley Moore Capito from West Virginia, Susan Collins from Maine, Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming, Rob Portman from Ohio, Mitt Romney from Utah, Dan Sullivan from Alaska, Tom Tillis from North Carolina, Joni Ernst from Iowa, Senator Young from Indiana, and Murkowski from Alaska.
00:09:06.000Marriage would ultimately be whatever the states define it as, whether it's between a man and a man or a man and his horse.
00:09:13.000I mean, this is the funny thing, right?
00:09:15.000Is the religious right was always made fun of for basically pointing to the slippery slope and saying we're about to go sliding all the way down to the bottom of that thing.
00:09:25.000But I mean, it's hard to argue that the slippery slope is a logical fallacy.
00:09:31.000We're on the precipice of the normalization of minor attracted people as a protected category.
00:09:39.000So, I mean, the implications of this are really, really bad.
00:09:44.000Again, if it passes, I'm not convinced that we can't ultimately do something about it in the future.
00:09:50.000But if you look at the Republicans that are supporting it, oh, and I should add that the olive branch to the base is that we won't infringe upon your religious liberty, which is a complete joke.
00:10:01.000It's kind of like they're creating like a little corral for people who actually are Christian and have traditional beliefs and kind of saying like, you're going to be able to play in your little space over there.
00:10:17.000That worked really great with the Civil Rights Act.
00:10:19.000Yeah, they always stay in their corner.
00:10:21.000They never weaponize anything against you.
00:10:23.000Pedro, as a tangent here, we're getting a lot of emails of people saying they're going to give up and they're never going to be involved or engaged again.
00:11:32.000What I actually frankly dislike deeply is when people say there's no point in trying, but then continue to participate in the discussion to kind of discourage other people.
00:11:42.000Yeah, it's this evangelistic nihilism.
00:11:55.000And there's not enough talk about duty.
00:11:58.000This nation was built by duty and actually not caring as much about your own pleasures or licentiousness or your own desires, but what is good for your children and good for other people?
00:12:08.000That's actually a Christian way of viewing the world.
00:12:11.000So, Pedro, then let's look at a little bit gaming this out.
00:12:14.000You were at Donald Trump's 2024 announcement speech.
00:12:19.000I was a little surprised to hear you were there because I know you have at times nuanced takes on Trump.
00:12:24.000I don't mean that negatively, but you know, you're in both, you know, you see things fairly, I think.
00:12:36.000His obviously, what struck a lot of people was the tone.
00:12:42.000His critics were calling it low energy, but I think it was Trump's attempt to sound disciplined and presidential because, after all, he is gearing up for another run at the White House to be president.
00:12:51.000So, it makes sense that he wouldn't just kind of go off the cuff and launch barbs left and right at potential rivals and things like that.
00:12:59.000He seemed to be kind of forward-facing, but I guess the concern that I heard from people, and I heard this in a speech, was kind of did we actually get all the things that we wanted to do?
00:13:12.000Did we actually get all those things done?
00:13:13.000Like in his speech, he said he built the wall.
00:13:18.000And so, basically, I guess the issue is, is has Trump learned from the mistakes of the past?
00:13:24.000And also, in terms of, above all, personnel, right?
00:13:27.000Basically, the people that were in charge of getting things done, like building the wall, weren't very confident last time around.
00:13:34.000And I think the setting aside all of the questions about whether or not he can actually become the nominee or whatever, because he has all these former allies who are now turning against him, setting all that stuff aside, we're assuming that he ends up back in the White House or whatever.
00:13:49.000Have we learned from the mistakes in the past?
00:13:52.000Because I think the challenges that he would face this time would make the challenges he faced last time seem like a picnic.
00:13:59.000And I think that's really the question: Is Donald Trump really ready for not just doing it again, but facing far worse?
00:14:07.000And I think we're waiting for more indicators for him to show us that he's ready for that.
00:14:13.000I think that was the thing that was a lingering thought for me.
00:14:18.000Let me ask you, Pedro, we only have a minute remaining, and I'm going to be direct in how I ask this.
00:14:22.000Do you think he is the best person to continue the MAGA movement he started?
00:14:28.000And I say that as someone who's supporting him in 2024.
00:14:31.000Does that make sense, the question I'm asking?
00:14:32.000Because he started this populist nationalist movement.
00:14:35.000Is he the best to continue it in your objective analysis?
00:14:39.000Well, I'm not going to obey the question, but I'm going to tell you that I think that right now I can't see anybody else.
00:14:44.000I know everyone's talking about DeSantis, and if you follow me, you know that I've said nice things about him as well.
00:14:51.000But basically, I think there is so much support for Trump that basically, if someone tried to challenge him and rip the MAGA banner out of his hand right now, like the same right now at this juncture in 2024, it would probably split the right and end up hurting the movement more than it helps it because it would trigger insane infighting.
00:15:10.000So, the question of best, I'm not sure.
00:15:13.000Does he seem to me to be the only one that could do it at this moment?
00:15:19.000I can't give you a yes, Trump, or no, Trump answer because there are so many moving parts to this.
00:15:26.000And my main concern right now is that we don't actually just engage in infighting because it's going to overshadow all these other things.
00:15:32.000I mean, like the question of GOP leadership.
00:15:35.000People are focused so much on Trump or DeSantis that they miss the fact that if we don't do something about this, it won't matter because you're going to have people like Kevin McCarthy and Ronnie McDaniel who are ultimately operating the machinery of the political party.
00:15:48.000So, who's in the White House doesn't matter a whole much.
00:15:50.000Pedro, Chronicles Magazine, great job as always.
00:16:08.000You see, the most common type of magnesium is actually used as a laxative.
00:16:12.000So if you're taking it, you're probably, let's just say, depositing it in a place you shouldn't be.
00:16:18.000With 80% of Americans who are actually magnesium deficient, what if I told you you could be making that deficiency worse by actually taking the wrong kind of magnesium?
00:17:54.000And my recommendation is now that the dust is settling and now that we're not going to be tracking polls every show here, we're going to keep on going through hopefully a series of programs in the coming weeks and months.
00:18:06.000And I actually enjoy this even more: what does it mean to be a conservative?
00:18:11.000What is the good, the true, and the beautiful?
00:18:14.000What is the threat of authoritarianism and totalitarianism?
00:18:18.000You want to know what we're fighting for?
00:18:19.000Turn off your phone and go read the Federalist Papers.
00:18:22.000Turn off your phone and go read The Ethics by Aristotle.
00:18:25.000You want to know what we're fighting for?
00:18:29.000You should know what you're fighting for.
00:18:30.000The Republican Party is nothing more than a temporary political instrument to fight for ancient, beautiful ideas.
00:18:38.000Not just ideas, but the reality of your children and a duty to them, to your nation.
00:18:43.000And that's why we got so worked up over the midterms.
00:18:46.000We got so worked up over the midterms because we looked at it as a moment in time to be able to use the energy of the people to fight for the things that are always true.
00:20:41.000And with that majority comes the full oversight powers of Congress.
00:20:45.000That means the ability to bring in administration officials to question them.
00:20:50.000It comes with the subpoena power, and it comes with the ability to do investigations where appropriate.
00:20:55.000And so it's really going to be the job of the House to hold this administration accountable, which we know has not been done for the last two years.
00:21:03.000Yeah, so some people are very wary of exactly what is going to be done.
00:21:08.000And I tell people about the IRS agents, the Merrick Garland, all the different things that you guys are going to be overseeing.
00:21:15.000Where do you see your kind of specialty or kind of your niche when it comes to all the looming oversight that needs to be done?
00:21:23.000Well, I mean, it's hard to know even where to start just because there's so many things that have gone awry with this administration.
00:21:29.000I mean, I know that several members of the conference wrote a letter to Homeland Security yesterday, to Secretary Mayorkis, sort of detailing the stonewalling that has been done over the course of the last two years in response to myriad letters requesting documents, requesting testimony that have simply been ignored.
00:21:48.000And sort of the gist of the letter was that ends on January 3rd.
00:21:52.000Once Republicans get the gavels, we're actually going to have some accountability.
00:21:56.000And so please be ready to provide the requested documents and everything else right off the bat.
00:22:01.000But I think that, you know, you just gave a perfect example with the IRS agents.
00:22:05.000We want to know what these folks are actually up to.
00:22:07.000We know they're not just going to be out there auditing billionaires.
00:22:10.000There aren't that many billionaires out there to occupy a doubling of the IRS workforce.
00:22:14.000And so I think it's going to be important in that in any number of issue areas with DOJ to be sure to get the facts about what's actually going on so that by the time the next election comes around, Americans will have full view of the facts and be able to make an informed decision about the direction of the country.
00:22:30.000Yeah, I mean, look, I think that's right.
00:22:32.000And I mean, you look at the overreach of Merrick Garland and of Mayorkis and the southern border as well.
00:22:39.000You know, so by the way, there's a leadership fight happening right now in the House conference.
00:22:47.000Well, I don't know how much of a fight there is.
00:22:49.000I mean, the conference nominated Kevin McCarthy as our nominee for speaker.
00:22:53.000And I fully expect that when this comes to the floor of the House on January 3rd, that he will be elected speaker of the House.
00:23:01.000So there's the question of also just kind of fulfilling the mandate of our voters, right?
00:23:07.000And so there's a lot of people, and I have a piece of tape here that I want to play about, you know, some of these looming issues of what's happening on the border and just the gross and widespread negligence of the Biden administration to not do their job.
00:23:23.000And, you know, part of it is it's going to be more than just pressuring the Biden administration.
00:23:27.000It's going to be using the reconciliation process and also the budgetary process to actually use some of the chips we have available.
00:23:40.000I mean, there's any number of must-pass bills that are needed in order to keep the government running, to have a budget.
00:23:47.000And those bills need to pass both the Senate and the House.
00:23:50.000And so that brings with it an extraordinary amount of leverage in order to assure that the bills that are passed have the right priorities and cut back on spending, which has been absolutely out of control for the last couple of years.
00:24:03.000Everyone knows this is what led to the enormous inflation that we have.
00:24:06.000In fact, it was predicted by none other than Larry Summers, Barack Obama's top economic advisor, that if you spent $4 trillion, then you'd have inflation.
00:24:14.000You don't need a Nobel Prize winning economist to tell you that, though.
00:24:18.000And yet the Pelosi-Schumer Congress decided to do it anyway.
00:24:22.000And so Republicans now have the ability to put a stop to all of that, to say that we're not going to pass a budget that continues to increase the size of government inordinately.
00:24:31.000And we're going to make sure that we're funding what needs to be funded and that we're going to take away funding from those things that need to be defunded.
00:24:38.000So in closing here, Kevin, I want to talk about ballot harvesting is legal in California.
00:24:42.000And some of the more creative pastors and churches and activists have decided to adopt this sort of ballot gathering strategy.
00:24:52.000You won in California as a Republican.
00:24:54.000Again, I will say this for all of our national listeners, and especially those of you listening on KRLA, the big blowtorch radio station in Los Angeles and KTIE down in San Bernardino and the Inland Empire.
00:25:06.000If it was not for the Patriots in California, Pelosi would still be Speaker.
00:25:13.000If it was not for you, Kevin, if it was not for Michelle Steele, if it was not for Young Kim, if it was not for all the amazing people and the activists that got you guys into office and the voters that got you into office, Pelosi is still speaker.
00:25:26.000Can you talk about the ballot harvesting issue?
00:25:29.000And how have Republicans used it to actually catch up to some of the Democrats' momentum?
00:25:35.000Yeah, so the irony of this is that when we first started doing this, when you had ballot drop boxes put at churches, basically utilizing the ballot harvesting laws, Gavin Newsom, Javier Becerra, Alex Padilla went berserk.
00:25:58.000And then it went to court and the court said, nope, these are perfectly legal.
00:26:01.000This is your own law that they're utilizing.
00:26:04.000So I do think that we need to understand sort of what is permitted by law, even if it's a bad law, and then figure out, you know, how we can make sure that we're not unduly harmed by it.
00:26:16.000So that, you know, by utilizing it ourselves where we can.
00:26:19.000So the churches, what they're doing is a great example of that.
00:26:22.000But just the whole idea that we now have a month to vote and that a lot of the votes are cast early.
00:26:27.000In California, we're sort of very habituated to this.
00:26:31.000But campaigns really need to adapt, I think, to that.
00:26:34.000If we're in the places where those are the laws and make sure that we're not getting early votes that are coming in heavily Democrats, then it's impossible for us to catch up on election day.
00:26:44.000And you saw in California at the risk of that.
00:27:04.000In-person early voting needs to be the mass push.
00:27:07.000I'm telling you right here in Arizona and other states, I personally have learned and regret that we did not do a month-long push for in-person early voting because these cockroaches and these criminals, what they did with the tabulators here, I'm sure, Kevin, you saw some of the news.
00:27:48.000If you want to know what the left's real plan is for your kids, just look at how they react to the wonderful company of Patriot Mobile.
00:27:56.000I use Patriot Mobile, and you should too.
00:27:58.000Patriot Mobile is America's only Christian conservative cell phone provider.
00:28:02.000This is because they take a portion of your bill and fund conservative causes and candidates who believe in sanctity of life, freedom of speech, the Second Amendment, and they're winning.
00:29:19.000Charlie, in the states that allow ballot harvesting, Trump should have multiple rallies in those states and collect ballots, especially in California.
00:29:33.000And Tyler Boyer, who's going to be joining us for the entire third hour, has the same piece of advice as well, which is going to a rally is not doing something.
00:29:49.000But something I would have loved to have seen is every single one of these rallies.
00:29:53.000What if we would have given clipboards to every attendee to say, here's 10 doors to go knock on, here's 10 voters in your neighborhood.
00:30:00.000Go download this application and here's 20 people you guys can go talk to.
00:30:06.000Rallies play a role, public displays of support, massively energizing the base.
00:30:12.000And so in states that allow ballot harvesting, I have this amazing visual of Donald Trump doing a rally in, let's say, Nevada that allows ballot harvesting.
00:30:30.000I have this visual of everybody holding up their ballot at a Trump rally and just the media at once all of a sudden writing these articles saying the dangers of mail-in voting.
00:30:46.000We are going to create an aggressive ballot harvesting operation in the states where it's legal.
00:30:50.000Now, we have time, we have these emails of people that say this is happening at Arizona State University, where entire sororities and fraternities are turning in their ballots because they claim they're all housemates.
00:31:00.000I guarantee you that if that's investigated, there's some of these young ladies and young men that are turning in their ballots and they actually live not actually at the house.
00:32:53.000The game is now get as many ballots as you possibly can in a period of time that is longer than Ramadan.
00:33:01.000Every Trump rally in Pennsylvania, because they allow ballot harvesting.
00:33:08.000Every rally in central Pennsylvania should have this massive box with slits at the top.
00:33:14.000It should be MAGA, MAGA, with a couple of security guards standing there, and just encourage every person that shows up to the MAGA rally to put them in the box.
00:33:27.000I don't know if that's legal in Pennsylvania.
00:33:28.000Not every state has it as open as they do in California.
00:33:33.000So you got to find some workarounds or you have to just follow the law to the letter.
00:33:37.000The point is, we have to use the enthusiasm that we have in our movement to maximize the votes themselves.
00:33:43.000And just imagine, I could see a visual marching in with boxes of ballots straight into the county recorder's office, and there's nothing they could do about it.
00:33:53.000Thanks so much for listening, everybody.
00:33:54.000Email me your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.