Charlie Kirk is on the College Campuses! What does that say about our nation's Christian revival? What does it say about America's Christian fall? What is happening on the campuses of America's colleges and universities? Today's episode of The Charlie Kirk Show is a live recording from Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona.
00:00:42.000He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:00:48.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:01:01.000Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of The Charlie Kirk Show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals.
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00:01:46.000And we are seeing something so special on these college campuses, everybody.
00:01:50.000I'll tell you, we are traveling the country and there are thousands and thousands of young people attending.
00:01:58.000We try to prove them wrong from Scripture, from the natural law, from reason, and from conservative values.
00:02:10.000This last week, the tour has been going very well.
00:02:15.000We went to University of California, San Diego, went to Long Beach State, and yesterday, we were at San Francisco State University.
00:02:23.000And well over 1,700 students came out in the middle of the day in Nancy Pelosi's district.
00:02:31.000And we proclaimed Jesus' name in San Francisco.
00:02:35.000And I'll tell you what, I'm not like a huge believer in exorcisms, but we as evangelicals have got to get back into knowing what an exorcism is and how to call a demon out.
00:02:47.000That would have been very helpful in downtown San Francisco.
00:02:52.000What was amazing while being there and being on this campus tour is there is a legitimate move of God with younger Americans, and the data shows it.
00:03:01.000In fact, according to The Economist, The Economist says that thanks to Gen Z, America's Christian fall is actually being reversed.
00:03:13.000Younger people are coming back to church in record numbers, especially young men.
00:03:21.000And if there's one thing you remember from me tonight, it's that when you encounter an 18, 19, or 20-year-old, especially a young man, they're looking for an excuse to have a relationship with Jesus.
00:04:37.000And what is so tragic about the Harvard story is that it once was America's greatest Christian college, our oldest college, and now it is our not-so-great anti-Christian college.
00:04:46.000And despite all the money they get, They cannot answer those two questions.
00:04:53.000The answer is, well, I'm going to do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it, and I'm going to do it because I want to do it, and that's just what I want.
00:05:05.000We are the wealthiest society ever, and as you know, we've repeated it many times, despite being the wealthiest society ever to exist, we have the most depression, the most suicide, the most anxiety, the most self-harm, and the most drug addiction.
00:05:16.000Something is wrong, and it's not a lack of stuff.
00:05:18.000It's not a lack of possessions in our garage.
00:05:26.000Now people are dying because they eat too much.
00:05:29.000It's not material conditions that dictate somebody's happiness or their joy or their peace.
00:05:34.000It's something different because we have decided to accumulate riches in the West, to have a bunch of plastic, to have a bunch of nonsense that we could put all around us, to have piles of garbage imported from China as if that was going to give us meaning.
00:05:47.000But instead, we're actually unhappier than ever before because we increased our plastic dividend and we decreased how much we worship God.
00:05:53.000As we've removed God from the West and we've increased the amount of stuff, we are seeing the result.
00:05:57.000And Gen Z understands the consequences of this because they were raised in a hyper-materialistic society.
00:06:03.000The very same people that told them to wear the mask while they shower and to take the ninth booster shot, and the same person...
00:06:09.000That told them that COVID was going to kill them and all their friends, and because of that, they'd have prom and graduation taken away.
00:06:15.000They said, I don't know what I believe, but it's certainly not that.
00:06:18.000And I'm going to go find something else, and I'm going to go deep, and I'm going to go old.
00:06:22.000I'm going to go ancient, in fact, to a group of people that professes to know the truth, and they are curious.
00:06:27.000Every church, we have a lot of pastors here tonight, including this church, must configure itself to be ready for the greatest harvest awaiting us, which is the harvest of 18, 19, 20, and 21-year-olds.
00:09:05.000I was 11 years old when I said I want to be a sportscaster watching the 84 Olympics, knowing that I wouldn't play any sport past high school.
00:09:12.000I thought the second best way would be to talk about it and to be around it.
00:09:16.000And what I noticed at a young age, moving to different countries, by the time I was 11, I lived in four different countries.
00:10:59.000I take pride in it and you're absolutely right.
00:11:01.000But I just knew, knew, knew from that young age and got into it and then local TV, regional TV and actually I don't think you know this story either.
00:11:12.000I got the call I'd been waiting for from ESPN.
00:11:15.000I was working in Washington, D.C. at Comcast Sportsnet covering the Baltimore Ravens and the Washington Wizards and Maryland Terrapins and you name it.
00:11:23.000And I got the call and went up to Bristol, Connecticut for the audition.
00:11:29.000Scared to death, kind of, sort of, but I was really, really, really pregnant, like 12 months pregnant with my second kid.
00:11:36.000By the way, my first is over here in the orange shirt.
00:12:14.000So I got the call and went up for the audition and I crushed it because I had more important things.
00:12:20.000I had this baby bouncing on my bladder and so when they tried to like roll the wrong tape to see how I handle adversity, I'm like, guys, whatever, go for it.
00:12:27.000Got the offer when I got back and I talked about it with her dad, with my parents, with my agent and I prayed about it and I knew I couldn't take the job.
00:12:40.000So the dream job since I was 11 years old, I turned it down.
00:12:51.000As that Army kid growing up around the world, all I saw was the example my parents set, that family comes first.
00:12:58.000And I knew that I wanted at least one more kid.
00:13:01.000I mean, I was about to have number two, and my dear friend, the late, great Stuart Scott, who took me under his wing before I even got to ESPN, Yeah, he was my best friend at ESPN.
00:13:13.000Stuart believed in me a long time before I believed in myself.
00:13:17.000And the human being that he was, I talked to him daily.
00:13:20.000And he told me before I even got there, he said, don't come here until you're ready because you'll get eaten alive.
00:13:25.000So that's what I was thinking when I turned down the job.
00:13:28.000And they all said I was nuts and they're gonna blackball you and good luck, you're done, your career's done.
00:13:33.000Had the baby, signed another contract for three years and just thought, If this is what's meant to be, what God wants me to do to get to ESPN and fulfill that dream, then that's what he'll make happen.
00:13:45.000And three years later, I got another call.
00:13:46.000And it happened to be a better offer this time, too.
00:14:25.000I got to do things that I never dreamt of.
00:14:27.000SportsCenter was that childhood dream, but it ended up being...
00:14:30.000Hosting coverage pre-game halftime at the NBA Finals with 30 million viewers and Super Bowls and seven straight Masters tournaments and World Series.
00:14:39.000I get emotional still thinking about what I got to do.
00:15:17.000And I had to come back to Connecticut in 2017 when they were going through layoffs, said, we want to keep you, but you've got to come back.
00:15:24.000So, smart, and I loved my job, and so you leave and you go back.
00:15:28.000And I was watching how it was being handled here.
00:15:31.000And it was a lot different than the Northeast, as you know, just like California.
00:15:35.000And basically, long story short, I went on a podcast.
00:16:23.000Barbara Walters was still there when I was on, and so he brought up, that was one of the hot topics, was Barack Obama, and Barbara was upset that I didn't identify as a black woman because It was important to me to say what I am,
00:19:16.000So I fought it and fought it, and then at the end of the day, I ended up going, and I remember sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store that I had to go in and probably have someone off the street put a shot in my arm, and I just prayed and said, please, Lord, let this just go right through my body.
00:19:33.000Let it be nothing, just water that she's putting in me.
00:19:36.000And I remember sitting down, and I walked in and sat down, and she looked at me, and my eyes were red.
00:19:51.000And she looked at me and she said, this is so wrong and I'm so sorry.
00:19:57.000And then she held my hand and with her other hand, I don't know how accurate it was, put the needle in my arm.
00:20:04.000And I can honestly say, it gets me choked up to say it, something changed in me at that moment because I'd never been forced to do anything to my body.
00:20:16.000And there was like a little, I think in hindsight, some rage in me.
00:20:21.000And then it was over and I got in my car and I raced home because I had promised Jay Cutler to go on that podcast.
00:20:26.000And I had forgotten that I had a Band-Aid on my shoulder because I was shaking and berating myself for caving.
00:21:00.000I found out that it was not okay to say that, according to my employers, and I was called in within days of it dropping, well, within minutes of it dropping, days later, and basically pulled off the air.
00:21:13.000Suspended off the air for 12 days, forced to publicly apologize, or they said I'd get fired.
00:21:19.000And when I say public apology, it's a very long statement that I spoke ill of the company.
00:21:26.000And then, of course, they passed it on to the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune and every single web service to, you know, crush me, to embarrass me, and then followed it up with, while we believe in diversity of thought...
00:22:09.000Rose Parade in Pasadena and the New York City Marathon and they just kept taking things.
00:22:13.000In the meantime, my peers were allowed to go on ESPN Airwaves, not on a podcast with an old former quarterback, on ESPN Airwaves and talk about their opinions, how devastated they were when Roe vs.
00:22:25.000Wade was overturned, how angry they were about that and that girls, I guess, didn't have the right to kill their babies on a basketball show.
00:24:15.000And they've done a great job with that, and that is why they're still standing.
00:24:18.000But the problem is, I told my bosses for years, long before things went crazy in 2020 with COVID and George Floyd, please keep it separate.
00:24:28.000And we were told not to tweet or talk about politics, unless they agreed with what you were saying, if it was...
00:24:36.000Anything on the left, basically wokeism.
00:24:38.000So that's when I said enough is enough.
00:24:40.000And if you're going to allow all of my peers to talk about their politics because they align with Disney on ESPN Airwaves, and I can't go on a day off on a separate podcast separating myself from ESPN to not just talk about my opinions but my experiences as a biracial woman,
00:24:57.000a proud biracial woman, as a mother who...
00:25:01.000Just wanted to protect myself and my kids from these mandates.
00:25:04.000I can have an opinion, especially if I'm complying with your rules and I comply.
00:25:08.000So that's when I hired an attorney, the same attorney, by the way, who helped and represented Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson right now as we speak.
00:25:18.000If you get in trouble in the media, Brian Friedman's your guy, let me tell you.
00:25:22.000It was devastating to have to file that lawsuit.
00:25:26.000That was my dream job, and I was so proud of it.
00:25:28.000But for 16 months, from the moment the lawsuit was filed to the moment we settled, who sues their employer while they're still working there and on their airwaves every day?
00:25:38.000I would go in shaking, feeling sick every day, and I'll shut up after this.
00:25:42.000I would pull into the parking lot and call my mom and dad.
00:27:24.000It was gradual, Charlie, and I look back on it, and I'm just almost laughing that I went from saying, no, no, no, separate, because I believe it should be separate from our jobs, our politics, to this.
00:27:37.000I think I'm like millions of other Americans who had just been pushed a little bit too far.
00:27:44.000When I had people telling me how racist I am...
00:28:22.000I also talked to my younger daughter when she was a sophomore, and she came home talking about the litter box sitting outside of the math class because there was a girl who identified as the girl on Wednesday, a boy on Thursday, and a cat on Friday.
00:28:52.000In Scottsdale Unified School District, they have this.
00:28:55.000So when you see the craziness, and you're living it, and then you're trying to teach your children to stand up for what they believe in, what I realized was that if I stayed quiet, If I settled and did all the things and trying to build a new career from scratch,
00:29:59.000I think that was the biggest thing I learned through this whole process.
00:30:02.000As a firstborn pleaser my whole life, that goody two-shoes girl trying to make sure everybody, my mom, my dad, my brothers, my uncles, my neighbors, the people who don't know me, everybody likes me.
00:30:13.000And the most powerful thing was to be okay being disliked.
00:30:18.000And to let go of that fear of being disliked.
00:30:21.000And if I can teach that by showing this to my kids, then this is worth it.
00:30:27.000And I'll say this, the day before the lawsuit dropped.
00:30:41.000In the past, when speaking up, people had threatened my kids, threatened to rape my daughters, saying the worst things because of their mother's opinion.
00:30:51.000And so I said, guys, I'm sorry for what's coming at you.
00:32:06.000Even if I lost, I actually won because my kids saw that their mom no longer lived in fear, and that's been the biggest blessing to come from it.
00:32:21.000Last question here, then I want to do some Q&A.
00:32:25.000Did you know this whole world existed?
00:33:08.000And the algorithms made sure that if you had an alternative slash middle to right viewpoint, that you were ostracized and vilified and attacked.
00:33:21.000And so I thought that was the real world.
00:33:24.000And I began to, I remember when I lived here and I was on the road back and forth with NBA and I was at Sky Harbor and I was afraid to make eye contact with people.
00:33:35.000Because I thought, and then because of my comments about my mother and diversity of thought and biracial and all that, I thought, oh gosh, now black people aren't going to like me and the white people already don't.
00:33:46.000I remember just living in fear like I couldn't please anybody and I wouldn't make eye contact with people, Charlie, because I was told on social media that I was the worst and I believed it.
00:33:59.000So to then come through all that and stand up and Especially when I was still at ESPN fighting to tell the story.
00:34:09.000Why are we not reporting on what Riley Gaines is doing?
00:34:12.000And talking about this massive story in sports and ignoring it, I began to get rumbles and whispers from people like, thank you.
00:34:41.000I can't tell you how many times I have gotten emotional and cried and hugged strangers in airports across the country because they'll come up to me.
00:34:49.000It happened twice on the plane this morning.
00:34:51.000And I was like, oh gosh, I have a hat on and no makeup.
00:34:57.000If I just changed this, I'd totally blend in.
00:34:59.000But I have been in tears when real grown men will walk up to me, emotional, saying, I'm afraid to speak up for my daughter because I'm going to lose my job.
00:38:21.000And they still choose to be silent when, again, If one spoke up, what happens?
00:38:27.000You see it with these young women now, and slowly but surely, these girls are giving up their lifelong training to stand up.
00:38:33.000The fencer over a couple of weeks ago who took a knee, God bless her, and how scary for her that she could be throwing her career away.
00:38:40.000We're not gonna let that happen, right?
00:38:42.000There's so many good people now who are uplifting women who have that courage, but for the men out there and the fathers, it is real.
00:38:49.000The fear is real for cancellation, et cetera.
00:38:52.000However, if you band together, And again, you're reminded that you're not alone.
00:38:57.000There is power in that, and we cannot stop with this issue, because that's the 890 that are reported.
00:39:02.000But you're not talking about the girl, if you're placing one through eight, and there's a boy in third, number nine, then doesn't even get a shot.
00:39:12.000In the Riley Gaines story, the man who all of a sudden parachuted in, there were girls that their whole life goal was not to win the national championship, was to be called an All-American.
00:39:23.000And they got displaced from number 8 to number 9. And so that one doesn't get reported, but then they lose being All-American status by one slot.
00:39:31.000Their whole goal was to make that 8th spot.
00:39:52.000But I still, I don't understand, and it's just a failure for me to get this, because I'm a father of a daughter, why dads are putting up with this.
00:40:01.000I don't get it, and I get nothing but excuses like, oh, I'm going to lose my job.
00:40:06.000Okay, well, you're going to allow your daughter to be publicly humiliated like this?
00:40:24.000The men of the 1950s would have put up with this for like three seconds, and they would have handled it the way the men of the 1950s handled stuff.
00:41:02.000And this is, I mean, look, we have huge pressing issues, but if we as a country can't agree that men should not be in female private spaces and in female sports, I have nothing in common with you.
00:43:16.000But like when I watch your stuff and I feel smarter and it does take courage to repeatedly go into the lion's den like you were this week with Riley at the University of Washington.
00:45:43.000I really wanted to make sure and push that point further.
00:45:47.000So the president is signing this, but what we need to do is to make sure that if another crazy administration comes back and tries to blow Title IX up like the last administration did, what does Donald Trump and company need to do to make sure that never happens again?
00:48:43.000I was wondering, this is a question for both of you.
00:48:46.000How did you feel about the security, the death threats, like going from college to college or going to different places and all those people attacking you?
00:49:15.000I feel like it's a fair question, and it speaks to the fear that so many people have.
00:49:21.000I was watching the videos of you this week at University of San Francisco and University of Washington, and I'm so glad that you posted it because people need to realize it is still there and encouraged.
00:50:43.000They were sending all these people in.
00:50:44.000But look, I'm not trying to make you feel sorry for me.
00:50:47.000Because I'm so struck by police officers who are literally in the line of fire every day.
00:50:51.000They're not asking you to feel sorry for them, right?
00:50:54.000And so I'm just in another higher hazard job.
00:50:57.000That requires a little more security, a little more layering, a little more covering and protection.
00:51:02.000But the more important question is that there should be no, there should be, as an ideal, no compromising of your security just because you have different opinions.
00:51:12.000That is something that's worthy of actually talking about.
00:51:15.000The fact that it's dangerous is just factual.
00:52:39.000Growing up, I learned at a young age that everything was cyclical, whether it was the economy and recessions or politics went left, they went right.
00:52:47.000I think we're in a period where clearly that has changed for a longer period of time.
00:52:52.000The cycles have extended, whether it was COVID or the crazy election.
00:52:58.000I'm wondering, because I can't extrapolate out into the future with journalism.
00:56:15.000You need to apologize for what you didn't cover.
00:56:19.000The lack of coverage and intentional conspiracy, and I use that word conspiracy to not cover Joe Biden's mental decline, is one of the greatest acts of journalistic malpractice in the history of the spoken and written world.
00:57:17.000So they didn't cover the story, they covered it up.
00:57:21.000And then we can see with our own lying eyes, like, wow, he's not well.
00:57:26.000And President Trump, in all of his infinite wisdom, and I believe the hand of God is on President Trump, because even the media says he's very lucky.
00:59:44.000Because without that, I don't think the American people would have believed how bad it was.
00:59:50.000And because of that, that's why November 5th went the way it did.
00:59:56.000If you want to make sense of the change and the chaos happening around us, you're going to need God's help.
01:00:01.000That's why Alan Jackson Ministries, a friend of mine, created the Culture and Christianity Podcast, the Culture and Christianity Conference, and their weeknight news show, Alan Jackson Now.
01:00:13.000Millions of people also listen to Pastor Alan Jackson's powerful sermons each week, I do, on radio, television, satellite, and online.
01:00:20.000In today's world, there's desperate need for truth, and Alan Jackson Ministries feels a sense of urgency to deliver God's truth and a biblical perspective to anyone who will listen.
01:00:35.000Their mission is to help people become more fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, which is the most important thing, giving your life to the Lord, including here on The Charlie Kirk Show.
01:02:23.000For example, the trans athlete thing picked up huge speed at the Olympics when a biological man beat that Italian woman to a pulp and they couldn't hide it.
01:02:33.000So those are the three characteristics.
01:03:55.000And if you don't know it, I'm not trying to criticize to make you feel bad, but you are in an information cycle that is not rooted in reality.
01:04:18.000As parents, do we have resources out there?
01:04:22.000I know the leftists are quick to respond to anything, but like you were talking about with the high schools, I'd like to have a lawyer look into the high school that my son is going to that I'd like to change their mascot name.
01:05:46.000And by the way, I will say the big picture, which might seem like, you know, really far away because it is logistically Washington, D.C., but what Linda McMahon...
01:06:29.000My name's Aaron, and I go to the college at this church.
01:06:33.000Personally, you know, I had a question, you know, for like chasing your dreams, because ESPN was like your dream, and if you had any pointers, I'd appreciate it.
01:07:54.000What I always say to my kids, and I think, Quinn, you said this earlier to somebody, when you see what someone else is going through, learn from it.
01:08:03.000Like, watch us screw up and take it and do more with it and push through with that dream.
01:08:10.000But most importantly, what's your why?
01:08:21.000And I think for you and for everybody, that makes it easier to keep pushing when there is fear, when you're not making any money, when people tell you you're crazy.
01:08:39.000I appreciate you not only being here, but also standing up for truth.
01:08:44.000My question more revolves around the Jay Cutlers of sports in general.
01:08:51.000I would assume you know a lot of athletes, and Charlie, I would see that you would know a lot of athletes.
01:08:57.000And from what it seems like, they have enough to pay for security, they have all the fame they can ever need, and money to last them a lifetime.
01:09:05.000Why don't they stand up and actually say something on a conservative point of view?
01:09:11.000Why are they sitting back and watching this happen, not unifying around truth?
01:09:20.000I mean, it's not just athletes though, it's a lot of people with power and money.
01:09:49.000I have a lot of respect for Harrison Butker because...
01:09:54.000He's in a very high-pressure job, which is being a kicker for an NFL football team, and which even the slightest distraction could throw you off.
01:10:03.000And so any athlete that says, well, I don't want the distraction, I'd be like, look, Harrison Butker only gets like four chances to perform a game, if that.
01:10:11.000And the entire game is around whether he moves his toe by like a quarter of an inch.
01:10:35.000But look, I don't want to call these people cowards, but they're part of an entire cultural organization for their whole life where the incentive structure is to remain quiet and to remain silent.
01:10:47.000What I don't get, current players I can sort of understand, But I fall short of understanding.
01:10:53.000What I really don't understand is those that are retired, that have all the money in the world, that have everything imaginable, and they're the ones privately messaging me.
01:11:18.000But imagine the combined power if like Peyton Manning and Eli Manning and Dan Marino and Drew Brees and every major NFL quarterback of a generation came together in harmony and said, here's our five non-negotiables and we're going to vote this way.
01:11:35.000That could have a profound impact on culture.
01:11:38.000Instead, they kind of tap dance around it.
01:11:41.000And what's so disappointing is that those on the left...
01:11:45.000They're not afraid of speaking their political beliefs.
01:11:49.000LeBron James is talking about Kamala Harris all the time.
01:11:53.000And again, it doesn't make any difference on there, but I think it would make a difference on the right.
01:11:57.000I think if there was a mass consolidation of...
01:12:34.000I do think you can look back at Aaron Rodgers, for instance, who took so much heat for what he said in 2020.
01:12:42.000He got canceled for the first time about a month after I did.
01:12:45.000And so I'd known him for years, through ESPN stuff, and we were texting, and I'm like, I mean, I was like, oh good, Aaron's getting canceled too.
01:12:53.000And not that I'm on his level, but it was like, again, you feel like you're alone.
01:12:58.000What he was saying, and I won't, you know, reveal all of it, but it was comical to see how many people, peers of his, some of the biggest names, texting him to say, yeah, you're right, good job, got your back.
01:13:30.000There's no accountability to come back to that.
01:13:31.000I do think, finally, we do have to remember, and I have to remind myself a lot, that as much as they are rich and famous and all those things, they're still human.
01:14:52.000And then remember the camera saying, oh my gosh, are Brittany and Taylor Swift still friends now?
01:14:55.000I mean, this is what people are focusing on.
01:14:58.000I will say this, though, that a lot of NFL wives are getting radicalized by the Charlie Kirk show, and I'm sure they're bugging their husbands to speak out.
01:15:15.000I just wanted to ask a question in regard to something that was asked earlier.
01:15:20.000While I believe the government and media are filled with useful idiots, why should we believe the mainstream media is dead and isn't just taking on a new form with new faces?
01:15:30.000I worry that this is because the left plays dumb so we underestimate them.
01:15:35.000This way they can get to us in conservative media to misreport false news created by them to discredit us.
01:15:41.000For example, some of the details surrounding the murderer Carmelo Anthony.
01:15:45.000Okay, yeah, I mean, I do agree with your premise that we shouldn't declare victory preemptively.
01:15:51.000I mean, the left is always going to readjust.
01:17:23.000Our jobs, if we have a platform, is to, number one, continue to, yes, push the truth and the facts, and point out when others are not.
01:17:33.000Not to get clicks and not to crush them, but if you do it and you back it up with facts, like last weekend, two weeks ago, whenever that was the NFL draft with Shooter Sanders, football fans watching him slide, slide, slide.
01:18:15.000Does that mean that every single GM in the National Football League that is of color, and there I think were 10 last year, and then the black head coaches for not picking the black guys?