The Charlie Kirk Show - Why Some Republicans Want To Betray Hegseth

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, this is a very important episode that reveals the fault line behind the signal chat.

00:00:04.000 People are saying this is one of the most important shows out there right now.

00:00:07.000 I really encourage you to listen to it.

00:00:09.000 I think you're going to learn a lot.

00:00:11.000 Email me as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:00:13.000 This reveals why all of a sudden the knives are out.

00:00:15.000 For Pete Hegseth, what's going on here exactly?

00:00:18.000 I explain.

00:00:19.000 Email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

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00:00:38.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:39.000 Here we go.

00:00:40.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:41.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

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00:00:48.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:51.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:00:52.000 His spirit, his love of this country.

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00:01:39.000 We have a very important show here today.

00:01:42.000 The signal situation is continuing, and I would love to no longer talk about this.

00:01:46.000 It is my preference to go talk about other issues that are occurring right now.

00:01:50.000 There's a lot of good things happening.

00:01:52.000 Our southern border is secure.

00:01:53.000 Governor Kristi Noem is going to, and she's visiting El Salvadorian prisons.

00:01:57.000 But this is a very, very important story.

00:01:59.000 And let me tell you why.

00:02:00.000 Because it is revealing a fault line of actually what divides the Republican Party.

00:02:04.000 The Republican Party is not divided based on domestic policy.

00:02:08.000 We're actually largely in agreement.

00:02:10.000 We want low taxes.

00:02:11.000 We want economic freedom.

00:02:13.000 Even deportations.

00:02:14.000 You're not going to find a lot of fight amongst rank-and-file Republican senators about this.

00:02:18.000 Instead, the fault line, the dividing line in the Republican Party is foreign policy.

00:02:23.000 It is foreign policy.

00:02:25.000 It's whether or not you want to continue the great American empire, if you want to invade more sovereign countries, if you believe the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War were a success or a mistake.

00:02:35.000 The J.D. Vance, America First Force, That President Trump has been pushing forward, the President Trump J.D. Vance force, I should say, is one of America first.

00:02:45.000 Not America only, but America first. 0.87

00:02:47.000 Where the other side of the Republican Party is America everywhere, all the time, regardless of the cost, the consequences, or the issues that we might intentionally or unintentionally make happen.

00:03:00.000 The fallout from the signal chat is revealing this fault line.

00:03:04.000 It is revealing the fault line because on one side you have the neoconservatives.

00:03:08.000 And on the other side, you have the realists.

00:03:10.000 You have the America First Patriots.

00:03:12.000 And they are trying to use this as an opportunity, the neoconservatives on Capitol Hill, the neoconservatives within our deep state of government, to remove the good guys in our administration.

00:03:24.000 So you have two teams here.

00:03:25.000 I'm going to break it through.

00:03:26.000 No one else is making this analysis right now because I happen to be in the weeds on this.

00:03:29.000 I'm telling you exactly what's occurring.

00:03:31.000 Number one, there is a coordinated hit.

00:03:34.000 There is a concerted attack.

00:03:36.000 There is a collaborative strike against Pete Hegseth.

00:03:41.000 Front page of the Wall Street Journal.

00:03:43.000 Hegseth faces rising scrutiny over security breach on chat.

00:03:47.000 Front page of the New York Times, right here.

00:03:51.000 Leaked signal chat.

00:03:52.000 Excerpts in the signal chat published Wednesday.

00:03:54.000 It's all about Pete Hegseth.

00:03:57.000 Now understand, whose job is it to make sure that established order is followed in military communications?

00:04:05.000 First and foremost, it's actually the National Security Advisor's job.

00:04:09.000 It is Mike Waltz and his team to even say, hey Pete, we should not be having this conversation here.

00:04:14.000 Who set up the chat?

00:04:16.000 Did Pete Hegseth set up the group chat?

00:04:18.000 No, no, no.

00:04:18.000 Mike Waltz and Alex Wong set up the group chat.

00:04:22.000 Not Pete Hegseth.

00:04:24.000 Pete Hegseth merely participated in it.

00:04:26.000 Should he have done that?

00:04:27.000 Maybe. Maybe not.

00:04:29.000 Signals an approved device.

00:04:31.000 Said it wasn't classified information.

00:04:34.000 But what you're seeing all of a sudden, as a response, is someone who is not responsible for this under any fair analysis is getting all of the media scrutiny.

00:04:47.000 It's a coordinated attack on...

00:04:50.000 Our friend of this program, Pete Hegseth, and we are not going to put up with this.

00:04:54.000 They are trying to, they being the neoconservatives on Capitol Hill, I'm going to tell you who they are name by name, to now go remove Pete Hegseth.

00:05:01.000 And remember how hard we had to fight to get Pete Hegseth across the finish line?

00:05:05.000 We had the whole Joni Ernst situation.

00:05:07.000 Mitch McConnell voted against him.

00:05:08.000 We had to go to 50 votes, and J.D. Vance had to break the tie.

00:05:11.000 And they are now trying to remove Pete Hegseth because Pete Hegseth is not a warmonger.

00:05:16.000 What bothered them the most throughout the signal chat is not the fact that they were using Signal to discuss quote-unquote attack plans or war plans.

00:05:23.000 What bothered them is Pete Hegseth and J.D. Vance are simpatico in a prudent use of American force and a cautious foreign policy perspective.

00:05:36.000 Not a belligerent one.

00:05:38.000 Not a aggressive one.

00:05:40.000 Not a George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Bolton view of American foreign policy that gave us the failures over the last 20-30 years.

00:05:50.000 What bothered the people on Capitol Hill is the fact that J.D. Vance and Pete Hegseth have a much more nuanced worldview to put America and Americans first.

00:06:00.000 So the hit is underway against Pete Hegseth, but it's not just Pete Hegseth.

00:06:04.000 Also, there was an article this morning in the Jewish Insider citing seven U.S. senators attacking J.D. Vance for what he was saying in the group chat this morning, and those seven U.S. senators were all anonymous.

00:06:19.000 The seven U.S. senators refused to even go on the record.

00:06:22.000 This is revealing the fault line of the actual divide in the Republican Party.

00:06:27.000 And it is foreign policy.

00:06:30.000 You know who else shares Cheney and George W. Bush views?

00:06:34.000 It's Jeffrey Goldberg.

00:06:36.000 He was a fake news hack used to stoke the Iraq War. 0.71

00:06:42.000 Coincidence? Maybe.

00:06:43.000 So what's really going on here is a fight for the soul of our Republican Party.

00:06:49.000 It's not about signal group chats.

00:06:51.000 It's not about security.

00:06:53.000 It's not about any of that hocus-pocus stuff.

00:06:56.000 It's not about Roger Wicker, who's sending this ridiculous letter from Mississippi saying, well, we need to have a Department of Defense IG investigation.

00:07:04.000 Do you notice that none of them on Capitol Hill, from Tom Cotton to Roger Wicker, are drawing any fire on the person that actually created this group chat?

00:07:15.000 Or his Lieutenant Alex Wong?

00:07:18.000 Do you notice that they're not criticizing Mike Waltz at all?

00:07:23.000 That they're not going after Alex Wong, his deputy, who's the one that was responsible for putting this all together?

00:07:29.000 No, instead, out of nowhere, it's Pete Hegseth's fault?

00:07:33.000 What is that all about?

00:07:34.000 It's because they want to remove Pete Hegseth regardless of this entire situation.

00:07:40.000 Oh, and it gets even richer than this.

00:07:42.000 So Alex Wong is...

00:07:45.000 The Deputy National Security Advisor under Mike Waltz.

00:07:49.000 Alex Wong, discovered by Laura Loomer, his wife, Candace Chu Wong, worked under the Obama administration and the Biden administration as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office.

00:08:02.000 Oh. She was involved in the prosecution of many January Sixers. 0.87

00:08:06.000 This guy is married to someone that was locking up our patriots.

00:08:11.000 Mike Waltz, according to reporting that I've heard, Mike Waltz still has a ton of Biden holdovers in the Trump National Security Office.

00:08:19.000 A ton.

00:08:20.000 People that have donated to Kamala Harris, they're still working in the National Security Agency right now in the Trump White House.

00:08:27.000 Mike Waltz has defended them.

00:08:30.000 So why is it that Pete Hegseth gets all the criticism, but Mike Waltz and Alex Wong are just kind of skating by?

00:08:36.000 They're not on the front page of the New York Times.

00:08:39.000 They're not on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

00:08:41.000 It's a little bizarre, isn't it?

00:08:43.000 It's because Waltz can be replaced easily.

00:08:46.000 It's barely a win.

00:08:47.000 And also, Mike Waltz is friends with all of these neoconservatives.

00:08:51.000 Let me show it to you.

00:08:52.000 Out of nowhere, Tom Cotton, the chief warmonger on Capitol Hill, the head of the Senate Intel Committee, tweets out this morning a defense of Alex Wong.

00:09:05.000 Remember, Tom Cotton has been behind trying to stop Elbridge Colby.

00:09:10.000 Tom Cotton was the one that was pushing against Tulsi Gabbard.

00:09:14.000 And they're back for revenge.

00:09:16.000 The military-industrial complex via the neoconservatives on the Senate Hill are back for revenge against our America First movement, and they are all after Pete Hegseth.

00:09:25.000 This simultaneous strike against Pete Hegseth is not a mistake.

00:09:29.000 It is a coordinated plan.

00:09:32.000 It is a unified, synchronized attack.

00:09:36.000 It is orchestrated.

00:09:37.000 So Tom Cotton tweets out this morning, and no one asked Tom Cotton his opinion on this.

00:09:42.000 Alex Wong and his wife Candace are complete and total patriots.

00:09:45.000 Oh, so Tom Cotton thinks Candace is a total patriot, even though she was the one that was locking up January 6th protesters.

00:09:52.000 Really, Tom Cotton?

00:09:54.000 100% MAGA warriors who always put America first.

00:09:57.000 That's quite a statement.

00:09:59.000 For three years, Alex worked hard for me until President Trump smartly hired him away.

00:10:04.000 Oh, he worked for you to go try to have war plans against every sovereign country that we shouldn't invade.

00:10:10.000 Interesting. Remember, Tom Cotton is like the chief cheerleader to send more money to Ukraine and Thank you for your service, Alex.

00:10:21.000 What a weird flex, Tom Cotton.

00:10:24.000 We didn't ask you for your opinions on Alex Wong.

00:10:26.000 And do you think this actually helps the case?

00:10:28.000 The fact you're defending Alex Wong makes us very suspicious because you are Chief Warmonger USA. 0.66

00:10:34.000 You are number one.

00:10:36.000 You are the new Dick Cheney of the Republican Party.

00:10:38.000 It's obvious we see it.

00:10:39.000 We know it.

00:10:40.000 The lady doth protest too much, methinks. 1.00

00:10:43.000 And let me tell you right now, our movement will awaken from its slumber if you dare lay a hand on Pete Hegseth or the America First Patriots that are in this cabinet to try to defend Alex Wong and the Warmonger This cabal that you guys want to keep on having in this administration.

00:10:59.000 We would have been happy to move on from this story.

00:11:01.000 I didn't want to talk about the Signal story.

00:11:03.000 I'm sick of it.

00:11:04.000 It's over.

00:11:04.000 Whatever. You made a mistake.

00:11:06.000 But all of a sudden, I wake up to both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and we have Pete Hegseth receiving all this fire, and we got Roger Wicker sending, oh, we need a DOD, independent investigator investigation.

00:11:17.000 No, no, no.

00:11:17.000 We see what's happening here.

00:11:19.000 This is an op.

00:11:20.000 This is an op where you are trying to take out...

00:11:23.000 A big, big scalp.

00:11:24.000 Someone that you never wanted to be a DOD secretary.

00:11:27.000 And guess who wanted to be DOD secretary himself?

00:11:29.000 Tom Cotton wanted to be head of the DOD.

00:11:31.000 And he didn't get it.

00:11:32.000 And he's bitter and spiteful.

00:11:34.000 That's really what's going on.

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00:12:40.000 So we have to see the forest from the trees on all this.

00:12:43.000 We have to take a step back and realize, wait a second.

00:12:45.000 Why is it that Hakeem Jeffries and Pete Buttigieg, like who asked him, and the DNC chair and Jason Crow and the National Review, that's right, the National Review, are all saying that Pete Hegseth should be fired or resigned.

00:13:02.000 So let's put this one up.

00:13:03.000 Let's start with the National Review because they pretend to be on the right.

00:13:06.000 So they put this up, the National Review.

00:13:09.000 Trump should fire Pete Hegseth.

00:13:13.000 It's weird.

00:13:14.000 Did you say we should fire Mike Waltz?

00:13:18.000 Or Alex Wong?

00:13:19.000 The person who brought Jeffrey Goldberg into the chat?

00:13:24.000 The person who created this?

00:13:28.000 Oh, but no, Pete Hegseth, really?

00:13:31.000 Oh, you mean you wanted to get rid of Pete anyway, even though Pete had nothing to do with this controversy?

00:13:39.000 Nothing. And then Senator Mark Kelly's coming out?

00:13:42.000 And then the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, they're beating this drum.

00:13:46.000 All about Hegseth.

00:13:48.000 And this should be a little disorienting to you because it has nothing to do with Pete Hegseth.

00:13:54.000 There were 17 or 18 people on this chat.

00:13:58.000 John Ratcliffe was on the chat.

00:14:01.000 Stephen Miller was on the chat.

00:14:03.000 Tulsi Gabbard was on the chat.

00:14:04.000 Maybe there's something else going on here.

00:14:07.000 Maybe the Roger Wickers and the Tom Cottons don't care for Pete very much.

00:14:13.000 Are they defending him?

00:14:14.000 Has anybody in the media that is not on the right called for the resignation of Mike Waltz?

00:14:20.000 If not, that's awfully strange.

00:14:22.000 I'm not even calling for the resignation of Mike Waltz.

00:14:24.000 I'm not saying that.

00:14:25.000 But I'm saying if all of a sudden you're going to bizarrely pick one out of the 18 Pete Hegseth, explain yourself exactly.

00:14:33.000 Why is it that you're picking Pete?

00:14:36.000 It's because you don't want Pete to be in charge of the U.S. military because he's doing stuff you don't like.

00:14:41.000 He's de-wokifying it.

00:14:43.000 He's challenging government contracts.

00:14:44.000 He's pushing back against the hyper-aggressive posture in Russia and Ukraine.

00:14:50.000 If anyone should resign, maybe it's the people that created the group chat and invited Jeffrey Goldberg.

00:14:56.000 Pete Hegseth did not invite Jeffrey Goldberg.

00:14:59.000 At the most, you could say Pete Hegseth should not have been participating in the group chat.

00:15:03.000 Fine. He's new on the job.

00:15:05.000 It's a government-approved device.

00:15:07.000 It's a government-approved messaging platform.

00:15:09.000 That is a completely different threshold of the person who invited the editor and the chief of The Atlantic.

00:15:14.000 And are any of them being going to be held accountable?

00:15:17.000 Or all of a sudden we have to now be hypnotized to believe that Pete Hegseth is the problem?

00:15:20.000 Now look, let me tell you this.

00:15:21.000 President Trump is awesome.

00:15:22.000 The chances of anything happening to Pete Hegseth is very little.

00:15:25.000 That's not the point.

00:15:26.000 The point is who's calling for it.

00:15:28.000 Roger Wicker this morning, we should put this up, Roger Wicker sent out...

00:15:33.000 A letter trying to now tie up Pete Hegseth.

00:15:37.000 Why do we need Democrats if we have Republicans like this?

00:15:41.000 This morning, Roger Wicker sent a letter to the Department of Defense Inspector General demanding the IG to now go investigate Pete Hegseth.

00:15:51.000 Hmm. That's interesting.

00:15:56.000 So they write a letter to the Department of Defense.

00:16:01.000 Saying the IG should now tie up Pete Heggs at the time looking into this text message.

00:16:06.000 Has anybody on Capitol Hill called for an investigation to Mike Waltz?

00:16:10.000 Why not?

00:16:12.000 Has Hakeem Jeffries or any of these Democrats called for Mike Waltz to resign?

00:16:17.000 Here's just one of many.

00:16:18.000 264. Ultimately, the buck stops with the President of the United States of America, which is why I made clear to President Trump yesterday in my correspondence that the Secretary of Defense should be fired.

00:16:29.000 immediately if he's not man enough to own up to his mistakes and resign in disgrace.

00:16:36.000 That's strange, Hakeem.

00:16:38.000 Did you not call for the resignation of Mike Waltz?

00:16:40.000 Why not?

00:16:41.000 Because he's not a threat to you guys.

00:16:44.000 Because he might be leaking to the Atlantic?

00:16:46.000 We don't know.

00:16:47.000 Maybe Mike Waltz is back-channeling to all you guys.

00:16:49.000 I don't know.

00:16:50.000 But Pete Hegseth certainly isn't.

00:16:53.000 Republicans got strong-armed into approving the nomination of Pete Hegseth.

00:16:58.000 They would love to undo that vote however they can.

00:17:04.000 But they were too cowardly to do it in public because they knew in this audience you guys would not put up with it. 1.00

00:17:09.000 These are cowards. 0.98

00:17:11.000 The same people that did this Jewish insider piece this morning where they say, well, all seven of us disapprove of J.D. Vance's approach in the private group chat. 0.95

00:17:20.000 None of them are willing to go on the record.

00:17:23.000 So now they're anonymously trying to go after J.D. Vance.

00:17:28.000 But not any one of them are going after Ratcliffe or Mike Waltz.

00:17:32.000 What is going on here?

00:17:33.000 We know exactly what's going on here.

00:17:35.000 This is a fault line of a worldview in the Republican Party.

00:17:40.000 That's all this is.

00:17:41.000 What you are seeing is the bubbling up of something that's been below the surface for quite a while.

00:17:46.000 And we hoped that it wouldn't have to come to this.

00:17:49.000 But the neoconservatives are forcing the hand of the actual base of the Republican Party.

00:17:55.000 And it's a red line.

00:17:56.000 It is a...

00:17:58.000 Hard, bright red line that you're not going to get after Pete.

00:18:01.000 And by the way, if we're going after anybody, then we deserve answers from Alex Wong and Michael Waltz.

00:18:07.000 How did Jeffrey Goldberg end up in this group chat?

00:18:09.000 You want an investigation?

00:18:10.000 I don't think you're going to like that investigation.

00:18:12.000 We see it all the time when I visit college campuses.

00:18:17.000 Young adults demonize the concept of free markets and think government is the solution to every problem.

00:18:22.000 How do we change this?

00:18:23.000 By teaching our kids the foundational principles to counter what they are taught in public school.

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00:19:16.000 Joining us now is great American patriot and friend of the program and someone who went very viral on election evening and he's wearing the obligatory 47 hat, Cliff Maloney.

00:19:28.000 Now we're going to go through some not great news here in this segment, but that's why I love that you're wearing the hat, Cliff.

00:19:33.000 Even though it might not be great news, we still won the White House.

00:19:35.000 Cliff, how are you doing?

00:19:36.000 Great to see you.

00:19:37.000 It's great to be here, Charlie.

00:19:38.000 I love how fired up you were for that first half, man.

00:19:40.000 We've got a lot going on.

00:19:41.000 I feel like every hour we've got something new, but we've got our country back, which is great.

00:19:45.000 Well, look, as you know, I have a special disdain for neoconservatives who pretend to be America first to their voters.

00:19:54.000 If you want to go be a neoconservative, happy-go-lucky, invade Iran, colonize Venezuela, and go bomb every country that you can't pronounce, at least tell your voters that's who you are.

00:20:05.000 Don't go send mailers and say, oh, I'm America first.

00:20:08.000 By the way, let's go to war against Iran. 1.00

00:20:09.000 It's repulsive. 0.99

00:20:10.000 It's dishonest.

00:20:11.000 It's deceitful.

00:20:12.000 Cliff, tell us what happened last evening, I believe, or at least a couple days ago in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

00:20:18.000 Yeah, so in Pennsylvania, we had two special elections. 0.62

00:20:21.000 The first was a state house special out in the Pittsburgh area.

00:20:25.000 This is a Democrat seat, 75-25.

00:20:28.000 No way to win that seat.

00:20:30.000 And so obviously the Democrats kept that, which kept the majority in the House.

00:20:34.000 But the major shocker, Charlie, was there was a special Senate election.

00:20:38.000 This is Senate District 36. This is Lancaster, PA.

00:20:41.000 This is a district that Trump won by 15 percentage points.

00:20:46.000 It's actually an R plus 23 when you look at Democrat to Republican registrations.

00:20:51.000 Republicans are up by 23%.

00:20:53.000 If you look on the screen here, you can see this was a shock result.

00:20:58.000 Democrats ran up the score.

00:20:59.000 You see there the mail-in voting, 8,000 mail-in votes to Republicans, 3,000.

00:21:05.000 And we ended up losing the race by about 500 votes.

00:21:08.000 And Charlie, the most frustrating thing for me is we offered to run our PHA's program, and we were told by the consultant class, hey, don't worry.

00:21:16.000 It's a waste of money.

00:21:17.000 We've got it.

00:21:18.000 We're going to get the mail ballots in.

00:21:20.000 And now we're finding out they didn't chase one mail-in ballot with no paid ballot chasers.

00:21:26.000 There was no program whatsoever.

00:21:28.000 And so it's just frustrating for us to lose a seat like this.

00:21:32.000 In a time where we're supposed to be mobilizing in the off year.

00:21:35.000 I thought that 2024 was going to be the time when groups like Turning Point, groups like Citizens Alliance, we went out and proved to folks, listen, all you have to do is take these Trump supporters and make them Trump voters.

00:21:49.000 That's a great line of yours that's true.

00:21:50.000 But the consultant class has yet to figure it out, Charlie.

00:21:54.000 I'll take the blame for this.

00:21:56.000 You know, I believed them that it was going to be a cakewalk, that it was going to be some sort of...

00:22:00.000 Just easy win.

00:22:02.000 And because we rested on our laurels, the Democrats have now shifted a Senate seat, and we cannot let that happen again.

00:22:08.000 So I'm committing on your show that no more will I listen to the consultant class and these corrupt folks in Harrisburg.

00:22:15.000 We're just going to go do our program.

00:22:17.000 And we cannot listen to these people who don't understand the power of chasing ballots.

00:22:22.000 So I'm going to ask a provocative question.

00:22:25.000 Do they really care that much?

00:22:31.000 Well, look, I actually think it's a little worse than that.

00:22:38.000 I think we were pushed out because, you know, people want to be able to take full credit.

00:22:42.000 The nice thing about 2024 is we all work together, right?

00:22:45.000 We all say, look, we don't care who gets credit.

00:22:47.000 We just want to win.

00:22:48.000 And so we took the different tactics.

00:22:51.000 We took the different assignments for certain states and certain, you know, ways that we were going to reach voters, and we all just owned it.

00:22:57.000 And so what I find is, yeah, Charlie, I'm looking at the reports here.

00:23:00.000 These folks are lining their pockets.

00:23:02.000 They're not understanding how to communicate with voters.

00:23:05.000 And it's every single excuse that we hear from the Ron and McDaniel types, from the previous GOP leaders, it's candidate quality.

00:23:13.000 It's too extreme of a message.

00:23:16.000 They're too MAGA.

00:23:17.000 They're too America first. 0.68

00:23:18.000 This is all the Monday morning quarterbacking you're hearing now because the consultants just don't get it.

00:23:24.000 So yes, they're lining their pockets.

00:23:26.000 But I also think they just don't understand.

00:23:28.000 We're not the party of Karl Rove anymore.

00:23:30.000 The rules don't allow us to just spend millions on TV ads and then wonder why we didn't win.

00:23:36.000 It's an election month.

00:23:38.000 It is not an election week.

00:23:40.000 It is not an election day in Pennsylvania.

00:23:42.000 And it's time we actually adapt.

00:23:44.000 I think the silver lining here, Charlie, is that these consultants have been so embarrassed that even the most, you know, I would call them establishment-type voters are like...

00:23:54.000 How in the world did you lose a Trump plus 15 seat?

00:23:57.000 Maybe this chasing of ballots is what we should focus on.

00:24:01.000 So I'm hoping this is the wake-up call for all of the patriots across PA to say we cannot miss an election.

00:24:07.000 We have to chase ballots in every election in Pennsylvania.

00:24:12.000 So Cliff, here's the good news.

00:24:14.000 The good news is that we know it can work in a general election.

00:24:18.000 You did it.

00:24:19.000 We helped a little bit, but you were the pioneer.

00:24:21.000 You were the vanguard, especially to get Dave McCormick to be a U.S. Senator.

00:24:25.000 We have a special election problem.

00:24:28.000 Right now, Randy Fine is in a big fight right now in the Florida 6th Congressional District.

00:24:33.000 There's a new story breaking today that Elise Stefanik might not end up resigning to become U.N. Ambassador because it might put the margins a little bit in jeopardy now. 0.97

00:24:46.000 I think that if Josh Parker became the nominee, it wouldn't be a problem, but that's a separate issue for another time.

00:24:51.000 What do we need to do to change the mindset of our base, our funders, that these special elections matter?

00:25:00.000 Yeah, well, I'm with you.

00:25:01.000 I think if it gets to be pretty close, you know, we like Elise, but I think the power of having the majority is extremely important, so I would double down on that.

00:25:10.000 But I think, Charlie, it's what we've preached for the last year and a half.

00:25:13.000 Which is, look, in a lot of these areas, look at Randy Fine's district.

00:25:17.000 You know, look at Jimmy Petronas in this district, Florida 1. They have the voters.

00:25:21.000 Okay, we're not talking about swing districts where, hey, you know, maybe we have to work on registration or maybe we have to do persuasion or maybe we have to message correctly.

00:25:30.000 No, we just have to do the ground game to turn out our voters.

00:25:33.000 So, yes, do they need to run traditional advertising?

00:25:36.000 Sure. But I think the shift in mindset, the shift in the culture.

00:25:41.000 Within Republican strategic circles has to be taking the model from 2024 and making it permanent infrastructure.

00:25:48.000 Right? I mean, that's what we're doing in PA.

00:25:50.000 We're doing 500,000 doors every year.

00:25:53.000 And I think the folks in Florida and the folks in New York, if it does come up for an election, we have to understand, if you have the voters, and you said this, you're the first person I heard ever say this, take Trump supporters and make them Trump voters.

00:26:07.000 Meaning we have the people.

00:26:08.000 We have the energy.

00:26:10.000 But we need to double down on the ground game the same way the Democrats do.

00:26:14.000 And by the way, this race in PA, Josh Shapiro had 105 full-time people on the ground.

00:26:20.000 He gets it.

00:26:21.000 They might be in disarray nationally.

00:26:23.000 They might not have a leader.

00:26:24.000 But politics is business to them, and they take it seriously.

00:26:27.000 We as Republicans have to start understanding and taking it serious that we are going to double down, work the doors, chase the ballots, and exploit the rules legally.

00:26:38.000 The way the Democrats do.

00:26:41.000 It's a major mentality issue.

00:26:44.000 And also comment on Wisconsin.

00:26:45.000 Right now we have this Wisconsin Supreme Court seat.

00:26:49.000 We're working our tail off.

00:26:50.000 We're driving turnout in the Wow counties.

00:26:52.000 The problem is that the Democrats, they have more full-time bodies.

00:26:56.000 If it wasn't for Turning Point Action, it would be a little bit of a nightmare on the ground there.

00:27:01.000 We're doing everything we can to squeeze out.

00:27:04.000 But every day, let me tell you, we are knocking on doors in Wisconsin, and the team's doing a great job.

00:27:08.000 Tyler and Brett, they're working their tail off at Turning Point Action.

00:27:12.000 But every day we're knocking on doors, and someone will say, what election are you talking about?

00:27:16.000 This is a problem, Cliff.

00:27:22.000 We have to change the entire philosophy.

00:27:25.000 Of a Republican-based voter when it comes to these special and one-off elections.

00:27:30.000 Yeah, and I think the message, you know, at the door, I'm sure, you know, you guys are getting the same feedback that we get in PA, is we have to figure out a way to tie this to something that is, if you want to continue the Trump agenda.

00:27:40.000 And Charlie, the best part is, I mean, look at the approval ratings, right?

00:27:43.000 If we can tie these candidates to Trump, that's a huge net positive, despite what the Roe and the Romney-type folks are going to tell you.

00:27:50.000 People want the message.

00:27:52.000 They want MAGA.

00:27:52.000 They want America first.

00:27:54.000 They want the golden age.

00:27:55.000 And I think you're right.

00:27:56.000 It's an institutional, it's a cultural shift.

00:27:59.000 But I think the nice thing is we still have Trump to at least try to attach on to.

00:28:04.000 And obviously he's not on the ballot, which makes it difficult.

00:28:07.000 But with Elon in the White House doing what he's doing, with Trump continuing hour by hour to create massive reform to save this republic, that's the challenge for us, is how do we connect whatever election it is, if it's Brad for Supreme Court in Wisconsin, if it's these specials in Florida, connecting that our candidate must win.

00:28:27.000 It is vital that you vote.

00:28:29.000 It's not an easy task, right?

00:28:35.000 It's a challenge because people aren't as motivated without Trump on the ballot.

00:28:39.000 But I think that's our excuse.

00:28:41.000 That's our hurdle to have to get over.

00:28:42.000 And I think we're doing the legwork to hopefully deliver some strong results.

00:28:47.000 What is on the docket of other races that we should be aware of beyond Wisconsin in this year?

00:28:54.000 Look, everybody, we're going to be in a midterm cycle by Christmas.

00:28:57.000 By Christmas, we are in a midterm election.

00:29:00.000 We're just months away from being well within a midterm cycle.

00:29:03.000 Cliff, tell us.

00:29:04.000 Yeah, well, I think you've got, you know, big races.

00:29:06.000 Obviously, New Hampshire, in terms of the Senate seat, I think is going to be huge.

00:29:10.000 That's a state that we play in.

00:29:12.000 Hoping you guys go out there and help us out.

00:29:14.000 We've got some big talks there with Tyler.

00:29:16.000 But look, let me come back to PA, which is my bread and butter, because we do have some crucial races.

00:29:20.000 If we're talking 2026, we've got three congressional swing districts.

00:29:24.000 We won all three of those in 2024.

00:29:27.000 We don't win those.

00:29:28.000 We don't have the majority right now.

00:29:29.000 So there are going to be three defenses now that we're going to have to win.

00:29:33.000 We're going to have to do the typical chase program.

00:29:35.000 But, Charlie, let's just look at 2025, right?

00:29:39.000 Obviously, Wisconsin and these Florida races are going to be huge. 0.99

00:29:42.000 Greatly appreciate what you guys are doing in Wisconsin.

00:29:44.000 If it wasn't for you guys, we'd have no shot to win that race.

00:29:48.000 2025 in Pennsylvania, there's something very interesting.

00:29:51.000 The people that control the elections in terms of the election day decisions, these are called judge of elections in Pennsylvania.

00:29:58.000 We are actually trying to go out and elect 1,000 of those, and that's why we're doubling down this PHA's program.

00:30:04.000 And here's why it's important.

00:30:06.000 If you want J.D. Vance in 2028, if you want fair elections in 2026, the people who get elected for judge of elections in Pennsylvania, the largest swing state, in 2025, They control the election day decisions for 2026 through 2029.

00:30:23.000 And so my push to you and what we're doing is we want to make sure that we have this entire grassroots army that get to make those decisions.

00:30:30.000 And Charlie, you reported on all the crazy, wacky stuff that comes out a lot of these counties with just the possible thing.

00:30:38.000 But yeah, really, really focused on judge of elections.

00:30:40.000 Cliff, great work.

00:30:41.000 We have your back 100%.

00:30:42.000 Thanks so much, Cliff.

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00:31:47.000 Y-R-E-F-Y.com. Music Right now we are living under an attempted judicial coup.

00:31:56.000 attempted judicial supremacy.

00:31:58.000 As we've said many times on this program, the last 100 years, the power in America has largely concentrated in unelected bureaucracy and unelected judiciary.

00:32:06.000 We can look to other countries to see where...

00:32:11.000 This goes.

00:32:12.000 Right now, in the country of Brazil, there is a shocking and a horrifying development happening.

00:32:20.000 Remember, back in 2022, Bolsonaro lost by a razor-thin margin.

00:32:26.000 As you might remember, he won every part of the country, except the poorest, the most crime-ridden, and the most corrupt corner of the country, the Northeast.

00:32:34.000 Where left-wing candidate Lula da Silva won.

00:32:38.000 There was a ton of agitation.

00:32:41.000 They had their own January 6th-like moment where they rallied in support of Bolsonaro and it went way too far.

00:32:46.000 And ever since then, there's been a gigantic Joe Biden-style lawfare crackdown.

00:32:53.000 Judges in Brazil have exerted far more power than even in the United States.

00:32:58.000 Judges and counties' attorneys general, equivalent, have imposed sweeping speech controls on X. And other speech platforms.

00:33:08.000 Now, Bolsonaro is going to be put on trial for supposedly plotting a coup.

00:33:13.000 President Lula said today that it's Bolsonaro's duty to, quote, prove his innocence.

00:33:21.000 It's not innocent until proven guilty.

00:33:23.000 It's guilty until proven innocent.

00:33:26.000 This is in a country of Brazil that we allegedly call an ally.

00:33:32.000 If Russia were to do this, We would sanction them.

00:33:35.000 If Brazil does it, why are we putting up with it?

00:33:37.000 And the answer is we shouldn't.

00:33:39.000 The U.S. State Department, Marco Rubio, and President Trump should issue tariffs and, if necessary, sanctions on Brazil for this kind of reckless, immoral behavior.

00:33:50.000 But even more than that, this is a warning sign.

00:33:52.000 This is what judicial despotism looks like.

00:33:56.000 This is the type of behavior that should have no place in the Western modern world.

00:34:02.000 They are going to try to put Bolsonaro in prison to have him die in jail as a martyr.

00:34:08.000 The left believes in democracy, allegedly.

00:34:12.000 But do you know what they mean by democracy?

00:34:14.000 They think democracy is judges making themselves dictators.

00:34:19.000 The judge is an avatar of democracy.

00:34:22.000 They don't believe in voting.

00:34:24.000 They don't believe in the will of the people.

00:34:25.000 They don't believe in the sovereign.

00:34:28.000 Democracy for a left-winger isn't elections or rights or constitutions.

00:34:33.000 It's just being a liberal.

00:34:36.000 It is a judicial oligarchy.

00:34:39.000 These are all warnings to us.

00:34:42.000 As we now have judge after judge stopping President Trump from doing what he wants to do, we can look to Brazil and Israel to a lesser extent to see how the will of the sovereign is undermined on a daily basis.

00:34:55.000 And praise the Lord, because when we dodged that bullet as a civilization on July 13th, this is where we were headed under a Kamala Harris presidency.

00:35:04.000 This is where we were headed under a Joe Biden regime.

00:35:08.000 If Donald Trump would have been shot and killed there, there is no guarantee that we would have won the presidential election in November.

00:35:14.000 No guarantee if the country would still exist. 0.93

00:35:17.000 They would have locked all of us in jail.

00:35:19.000 They would have raided our homes.

00:35:20.000 And what they are doing to Bolsonaro is exactly what they would have liked to do to President Donald Trump.

00:35:26.000 And Brazil is a canary in the coal mine, a harbinger of things to come, a warning that if we do not stay vigilant, that if we do not take the midterm seriously and chase ballots and register voters, that we can lose all the gains that we have because it is in a remarkably fragile state.

00:35:45.000 That right now a good man and a once duly elected president of Brazil, Bolsonaro, has to prove his innocence and is destined to die in jail.

00:35:55.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:35:56.000 Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - March 27, 2025

Why Some Republicans Want To Betray Hegseth

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