The Glenn Beck Program - September 12, 2025


Best of the Program ｜ Guests： Max Lucado & John Solomon ｜ 9⧸12⧸25


Episode Stats

Length

41 minutes

Words per Minute

149.20448

Word Count

6,255

Sentence Count

524

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary

On this episode of the Glenn Beck Show, Glenn talks about the assassination of civil rights leader Charlie Kirk and how we should remember him. Also, John Solomon brings us the latest news on the capture of the shooter.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Today, we still remember and honor our good friend, civil rights leader, Charlie Kirk.
00:00:10.140 I talk about that and the importance of why we address him as that now.
00:00:15.020 And we make that very clear on what he did and what he died for.
00:00:21.240 We talked to Max Lucado about that and so much more of what, how do we deal with, process all of this.
00:00:27.640 Also, John Solomon brings us the latest news on the capture of the shooter.
00:00:33.080 What do we know? What do we still not know?
00:00:36.040 Are there anybody else involved?
00:00:38.760 It looks like there may, there's a possibility this may go deeper than just this one person, but we're not sure.
00:00:45.860 And the families.
00:00:48.420 Not only did we start a fund for the family of Charlie Kirk, as a personal thank you to his family.
00:00:59.620 You can find it at give, send, go dot com slash 912 project.
00:01:05.160 But I make a case that we need to help that family and the family of Turning Point USA, but also what some might say is a very controversial message.
00:01:18.540 I thought about the parents of the shooter for everything we've heard so far.
00:01:25.660 It's a good family that tried to do the right thing.
00:01:28.600 And I wanted you to imagine their situation because I think it's what Charlie Kirk was preaching.
00:01:36.580 And for us to truly change the world, I want to show you how thinking small and choosing your thoughts and choosing a right path can make all of the difference in the world.
00:01:49.560 All of that on today's podcast.
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00:03:04.300 Hello, America.
00:03:05.480 You know we've been fighting every single day.
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00:03:48.480 Now let's get to work.
00:03:49.440 You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program.
00:04:02.360 I'm going to play a couple of pieces of video here.
00:04:07.760 Cut nine, please.
00:04:08.880 This is Erica Kirk and our second lady, Vice President Vance's wife, holding hands coming off of Air Force Two as they land in Phoenix.
00:04:25.780 She is, see, she's coming out.
00:04:28.940 There's Erica coming out at the top of the stairs and she's holding Mrs. Vance's hand.
00:04:44.940 You see, Charlie's wife just looks like she's just, you know, like a widow who, you know, like Jackie O looked when she arrived back home in Washington, D.C.
00:04:57.200 They cut 10, they're loading Charlie's body into a hearse yesterday to bring it home.
00:05:07.080 And you see one of the pallbearers is J.D. Vance.
00:05:20.900 And I, I, again, I find myself saying this all the time.
00:05:26.420 I, this is something I've never seen before in my life.
00:05:29.640 I have never seen, uh, life, I've never seen an assassination.
00:05:35.160 I've seen an assassination attempt twice in my life, but I've never seen an assassination of anyone in my life in America.
00:05:41.140 And, uh, and then I don't remember this from the history books, you know, having our vice president or our president, um, involved at this level, moving the, the body back, um, home.
00:05:56.480 Uh, the Vance's are, I think they're remarkable people.
00:06:00.540 I think he's going to be an incredible president.
00:06:02.580 Um, but we, we, we, uh, you know, with the Vance's, you know, usually a society gets what it's deserves.
00:06:17.260 I'm not sure we deserve the, the Vance family, uh, at this point.
00:06:24.800 Here is, when the plane touched down, Air Force Two, when the plane touched down, here's the welcome home from the tower.
00:06:33.040 Listen.
00:06:36.860 Welcome home, Charlie.
00:06:38.140 You didn't deserve it.
00:06:38.960 May God bless your family.
00:06:39.920 Okay.
00:06:47.260 I will not cry.
00:06:59.400 President Trump said, uh, later this month, um, the funeral will be held and he is planning on attending.
00:07:07.700 Um, and I'm assuming that that will be in, uh, Phoenix, uh, where they will lay him to rest.
00:07:16.260 Um, you know, I, I think we need to stop calling Charlie Kirk an activist or anything else.
00:07:24.480 I, I don't, a political figure.
00:07:26.580 It is time to, it's time to call him what he really was.
00:07:32.880 Because of what he died doing, Charlie Kirk is a civil rights icon.
00:07:40.300 Charlie Kirk was a civil rights leader that was martyred standing up for civil rights.
00:07:50.140 And it is time that our side declares that and stands on that and claims that territory.
00:07:59.980 These so-called civil rights leaders that have been around for the last 30 years are jokes.
00:08:07.640 They're money hustlers.
00:08:09.520 They're, uh, dividers.
00:08:11.480 And they have nothing, nothing to do with civil rights.
00:08:15.400 Martin Luther King was a civil rights leader.
00:08:18.400 Martin Luther King was that man.
00:08:20.540 RFK Jr.
00:08:22.140 Could even be called a civil rights leader.
00:08:25.220 JFK could be called a civil rights leader.
00:08:28.000 They led, they led the way.
00:08:31.380 Everyone else was just playing it for cash and for power.
00:08:35.540 And I'm sick of it.
00:08:38.200 Charlie Kirk died standing up and trying to show people how to exercise your civil right in a civilized manner.
00:08:49.400 And they gunned him down before him, because of it.
00:08:55.120 It's time to start calling him Charlie Kirk, the civil rights leader.
00:09:00.380 You have John on?
00:09:03.160 Yeah, John, how are you?
00:09:04.620 Thank you for coming on today.
00:09:05.880 I'm well, Glenn.
00:09:06.700 I'm well, thank you.
00:09:07.680 I couldn't agree more with what you just said.
00:09:09.380 You're right on the money.
00:09:10.100 So, John, John Stossel, or John Solomon, sorry, John Solomon from Just the News.
00:09:18.440 John, we have apparently the guy in custody.
00:09:22.580 What do we know about this?
00:09:24.740 So, we believe he's a man that looks just like the photo.
00:09:27.340 We believe that after the FBI put out the photos and had some other information they were pursuing about friends and affiliates of this shooter, that the father and minister apparently played a role in getting this man to surrender.
00:09:43.520 We don't know much more than that.
00:09:45.360 Hold on.
00:09:45.720 Hold on just a sec, John.
00:09:47.520 Would you do me a favor and would you check?
00:09:49.360 Because everybody's using the word minister.
00:09:51.000 And in Utah, the word would be bishop.
00:09:53.980 If he was an LDS member, it would have been bishop.
00:09:57.880 And I'm interested to know if it was.
00:10:00.420 I don't have that level of detail.
00:10:02.140 I've been asking, obviously, because it is Utah and you think that way.
00:10:05.560 But we don't know.
00:10:07.060 It's only been described by law enforcement to me as a minister or a clergy person.
00:10:12.740 So, we don't know more than that.
00:10:14.200 Hopefully, we'll know more soon.
00:10:15.440 But you're right.
00:10:15.880 It's the right question to ask.
00:10:16.760 We've been asking it.
00:10:18.540 Okay, good.
00:10:19.820 And they're still interrogating.
00:10:21.280 They're still doing search warrants and other things.
00:10:24.620 But they feel pretty confident based on the way this came through.
00:10:28.100 And I think the question now becomes, in what circle was this young man working?
00:10:33.580 And what ideology was he lured into?
00:10:36.800 It sounds like he comes from a good family.
00:10:38.980 Obviously, a family.
00:10:39.980 If the actor is about the father's cooperation, even doing the right thing at a painful moment like this.
00:10:45.920 But in what circle was he walking?
00:10:47.920 And where was he getting radicalized?
00:10:49.420 And what was the ideology driving this?
00:10:51.800 And I think we're going to learn a lot about some entities and groups in Utah that will maybe give us some sense of what was festering right below our noses.
00:11:01.160 This is a problem on social media.
00:11:04.000 Particularly in the last five years, we've allowed a lot of different ideologies and groups to fester.
00:11:09.380 And they're picking off our children, even children that come in good homes.
00:11:12.400 And we'll have to just wait and see.
00:11:14.420 But that's the early assessment I've gotten from law enforcement.
00:11:17.020 A lot of parts to be filled in.
00:11:20.820 But they feel very confident they have the man and that the dangers of the public has diminished.
00:11:26.320 That doesn't bring much solace to Charlie Kirk's family.
00:11:29.340 But knowing the guys in custody, I think, is good for the entire country.
00:11:34.120 I have been informed, and without revealing any specifics, but I have been informed that they are looking into groups that may have been involved.
00:11:51.920 You know, this is kind of like, where was it, in Texas, the shooters, where they had people that were helping.
00:11:59.020 It was coordinated.
00:12:00.660 And have you heard anything about a possible coordination?
00:12:05.920 That it wasn't just, you know, duping some kid and brainwashing some kid, but there was actual coordination and possibly foreign coordination?
00:12:17.820 They're looking at some things.
00:12:19.360 I don't think they've come to an assessment yet.
00:12:21.320 I was familiar yesterday about a look at a couple of groups that they were looking at, and I don't think they've made a full assessment.
00:12:29.560 I think that's why the debriefing and getting his phone, getting his computer, getting his video gaming connections, anything, that's the part of the phase that they're in now.
00:12:38.860 There was some leads that they were looking at that pointed to, as I said on TV the last couple days, some possible.
00:12:44.860 There was a tip from a foreign country about some operating entities in this area of Utah that might have been involved.
00:12:53.640 It was just a tip.
00:12:54.840 I think they're trying to put those pieces together.
00:12:56.700 We'll find out more in the day or so, but they're open to that possibility.
00:13:00.540 I don't think they've closed down a certain certitude to it yet.
00:13:03.520 Tell me what you know about, what's his name, Sky Valaldez?
00:13:11.520 He is the guy who apparently had a SoundCloud account, and on August 7th, he posted something, Charlie Kirk dead at 31, and he's had a couple of other things like that that he has posted in the last few months.
00:13:33.520 Do we know anything about this guy?
00:13:35.580 No, I don't yet.
00:13:37.860 I'm aware of the reports.
00:13:39.380 I know that the FBI is aware of the reports.
00:13:41.660 I don't know whether they have found any relevancy to that or whether it's just a provocateur.
00:13:45.840 We just don't know.
00:13:46.700 I've not been able to reach this gentleman.
00:13:48.720 We're trying to do due diligence.
00:13:50.360 But I know of no reason at this moment of a connection other than these reports and the SoundCloud.
00:13:56.380 We understand that.
00:13:57.120 I know the FBI was aware of it, but there's chatter all the day.
00:14:01.640 One of the great challenges in the world we live in today was so many people wanting to be provocateurs, so many people wanting to express hatred.
00:14:09.760 We've mainstreamed hatred.
00:14:11.160 We've made it fashionable in certain circles of young people.
00:14:13.840 It's almost shocking to me, but you're sorting through.
00:14:16.840 And when you're the FBI and you've got 1,000 leads, some are provocateurs.
00:14:20.880 You've got a provocateur.
00:14:22.120 Is that the guy about to commit the next murder?
00:14:23.740 You don't know.
00:14:24.960 And I think that's one of the things.
00:14:26.120 I think the bigger lesson from this is we've allowed a culture of hatred and intolerance to literally boil over to the idea now that people don't have any prohibition talking about wanting to kill someone in an open space.
00:14:39.600 I mean, most murderers are secretive.
00:14:41.320 People are talking about those ambitions.
00:14:43.360 Look at the gentleman that was rolled up in North Carolina a couple days ago talking on YouTube.
00:14:48.980 I'm going to kill a bunch of kids in a school.
00:14:51.320 We've allowed this culture to boil into a place where it is very dangerous.
00:14:57.200 Any person could be a stick of dynamite lit, and I think that's what's the danger.
00:15:01.140 Those who like this culture deserve to be held accountable.
00:15:04.120 We've got to start holding those who are boiling the water accountable.
00:15:07.340 And I have to tell you, the biggest group that I have seen, I mean, I've been, thank God for the ladies at The View.
00:15:15.480 There's been a lot of people that have come out with good statements, et cetera, et cetera, and condemned all of this.
00:15:20.960 But the biggest group of people that seem to be celebrating are teachers.
00:15:26.820 And I find it interesting that the president of UVU, President Timounas, has not made a statement at all.
00:15:35.440 The university did.
00:15:36.960 But the university president didn't make any statement on this.
00:15:41.820 And I think that's an abomination.
00:15:43.600 And I would like to know why.
00:15:45.960 What are her feelings?
00:15:48.600 Yeah, those are important questions.
00:15:50.400 And you're right.
00:15:51.480 Academia has been a big part of the radicalization of the last two generations, millennial and Gen Z.
00:15:57.800 Gen Z is trending more conservative in general.
00:16:00.080 But there are segments of it that are getting poisoned.
00:16:03.120 And there's this romanticism of righteous revolution, which is basically sanctioning hatred and sanctioning violence.
00:16:12.340 And sanctioning and justify the means.
00:16:15.060 And I believe in free speech.
00:16:16.600 Even if you're stupid, you're entitled to your free speech.
00:16:19.200 But we have to find that line where we protect people from the exercise of free speech when it targets a vulnerable person who's capable of being turned into a weapon.
00:16:28.620 And we don't know enough about this case to make that assessment yet.
00:16:32.760 But we do know many painful cases before Charlie Kirk's assassination where that is the impreterian footprint.
00:16:39.140 And I think everyone that's in the business of education, everyone that's in the business of media, those who showed such bad taste on news shows.
00:16:48.340 I'd never thought in my life I would live to a time to see journalists exhibit some of the behavior I saw on news shows in the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk's assassination.
00:16:57.880 We all have a responsibility to clean this up if we're going to keep kids from going down the cliff.
00:17:03.980 And we're not having a serious enough conversation about it.
00:17:06.680 We do it for a day or two and then we move on.
00:17:08.560 But it's still festering.
00:17:10.160 And our enemies, China, Iran, Russia, they're helping boil it.
00:17:14.920 I was watching in real time as we were doing our work on Charlie Kirk and trying to break stories and keep people informed,
00:17:22.260 watching a bot farm, numerous bot farms, foreign bot farms, trying to inflame our dialogue.
00:17:28.940 And so our enemies, though, we're vulnerable to it and they're adding to the rates.
00:17:32.420 And then we got a tough situation.
00:17:34.660 I have a lot of confidence that we're at a moment of clarity.
00:17:38.340 And I think there'll be a lot of responsibility in the next few days.
00:17:41.560 And maybe this suspect's story will shake us all to the ground enough to start coming up with solutions.
00:17:46.920 Because we started talking about it with the Virginia Tech and Columbine shootings.
00:17:50.800 We haven't come to grips with what's happening in the social media era.
00:17:54.920 But we'll get there.
00:17:55.560 I have confidence that Americans are going to get the right thing done.
00:17:58.400 So, John, would you, just this is a personal request.
00:18:02.160 Because I trust you and I've watched you, read you, and listened to you for a very long time.
00:18:07.880 And I think you are really a truly an honorable American.
00:18:11.320 Thank you.
00:18:11.760 I am concerned the last time we went through something like this, we came up with the Patriot Act.
00:18:16.540 And that was a really bad thing.
00:18:18.840 And would you, I would ask that if you see anything brewing like that from either side, their side, our side, anybody's side,
00:18:29.600 that you would alert me and alert America as soon as and early as you see any kind of inklings arising of that.
00:18:38.220 We cannot go too far the other way.
00:18:41.320 No, listen, you know where this is going to start?
00:18:44.340 It's going to start in our homes and our churches and our communities.
00:18:46.960 That's where it's rightfully fixed.
00:18:48.700 It's where we all got, it's where we all got.
00:18:51.440 I mean, COVID kind of woke us up.
00:18:52.980 Like, what's going on in our schools?
00:18:54.420 I know.
00:18:54.960 We have to fix this.
00:18:56.120 We have, government's not going to fix this.
00:18:57.720 We have to fix it as a people.
00:18:59.100 And hopefully this is a moment of clarity for all of us.
00:19:01.920 But we'll see.
00:19:02.560 It's terrible that we had to lose Charlie to get to this moment.
00:19:06.940 But I know he'd want us fighting for the solution, Phil.
00:19:10.060 I know he would, too.
00:19:11.260 John Sullivan, thank you so much.
00:19:12.800 Just the News CEO and editor-in-chief of Just the News.
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00:20:28.960 Now back to the podcast.
00:20:30.620 This is the best of the Glenn Beck Program.
00:20:36.180 My good friend and just a man who has brought so much light to the world, Max Lucado.
00:20:41.840 Hello, Max.
00:20:42.460 How are you?
00:20:44.200 Glenn, I'm like you.
00:20:45.400 I'm just sad.
00:20:46.220 I feel a heaviness in my heart.
00:20:49.380 We knew the week was going to be somber because of 9-11.
00:20:54.680 But we went to just a different shadow, a different level of sadness at this assassination of a good man.
00:21:03.840 I'm sorry for you.
00:21:04.820 I know that you have a personal connection, and I know that you treasure the wonderful state of Utah.
00:21:15.380 And what a heartbreak for this to happen in that wonderful state.
00:21:20.100 So there's just a variety of emotions that I'm feeling.
00:21:23.140 I stand shoulder to shoulder with you, though, in acknowledging that this is a very, very dark day.
00:21:29.840 Max, we're airing the podcast.
00:21:35.580 It's out for Blaze TV subscribers today.
00:21:37.920 Tomorrow it'll go everywhere.
00:21:39.680 And I think, honestly, I've been thinking about it every day since we recorded it.
00:21:43.740 And I think it's one of the more important podcasts that I've ever done.
00:21:46.400 Your words are so, so important and so clarifying, especially now.
00:21:52.760 But we recorded it before Charlie was killed.
00:21:56.320 And I wanted to give you the opportunity to add an addendum to what we talk about.
00:22:03.220 Can you give us any thoughts on how to process all of this and what the job is for those of us going forward?
00:22:13.160 And how we can guard ourselves from going dark?
00:22:17.720 Yes, yes.
00:22:18.480 Thank you so much for that opportunity.
00:22:21.120 I'll do my best to just offer a few, you know, abbreviated ideas.
00:22:27.140 Let's acknowledge, first of all, this for what it is.
00:22:29.980 It's tragic.
00:22:31.240 It's just tragic.
00:22:33.200 It's the death of a good man.
00:22:35.680 But it and that's enough.
00:22:38.480 But if there's even more, it's the fear that this fragile treasure that we call free speech is going to be taken away.
00:22:51.120 We treasure this idea of free speech and we must monitor, must be good curators of it.
00:22:58.640 And so what we're experiencing, what we're experiencing this week is a sadness and a fear, a sadness that something we treasure is lost, a fear that we'll never recover.
00:23:09.900 And in the topic, the podcast you and I have, which was a wonderful conversation, we talked about how an untruth tends to lead to a false narrative that leads to an overreaction.
00:23:23.320 And I tease, I say that again, but an untruth, untruth leads to a false narrative that always leads to an overreaction.
00:23:34.420 An untruth in this case, in this case could be, you know, the world is going over the edge.
00:23:40.420 Our country is lost.
00:23:41.760 That's an untruth.
00:23:42.480 That's not true.
00:23:43.440 That's not true.
00:23:44.060 We can rise above this, or we can be better than this, or we can call each other to be better citizens than this, but there is an untruth that's going to surface that's going to cause somebody to say it's too late.
00:23:57.380 We've gone too far.
00:23:58.500 That'll lead to a false narrative.
00:24:00.140 They may try to treat this pain inappropriately with violence themselves or violence against themselves, and that leads to an overreaction.
00:24:10.320 An overreaction is going to be an angry outburst.
00:24:13.180 It's going to be increased violence.
00:24:14.860 It's going to be isolation.
00:24:16.720 So we've got to stand against that and speak truth.
00:24:20.640 Here's the truth, Glenn.
00:24:22.080 The truth is we have a beautiful country.
00:24:25.100 We are treasured.
00:24:26.460 We are privileged to live in the greatest country in the history of the world.
00:24:33.000 That's the truth.
00:24:34.640 And the right narrative is we can rise up above this.
00:24:38.400 I would call upon those in my generation.
00:24:41.520 I'm 70.
00:24:42.820 Speak to your children.
00:24:44.240 Speak to your grandchildren.
00:24:45.560 Tell them that we got through this in the 60s and the 70s.
00:24:49.160 It's tragic.
00:24:50.060 It's horrible.
00:24:50.600 But we're going to be better because of that.
00:24:52.980 And let that lead to a good reaction, a reaction in which I personally make a decision.
00:24:58.920 I'm going to be more respectful of those with whom I disagree.
00:25:02.640 I'm going to put the golden rule to practice as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
00:25:09.400 I'm going to be a better neighbor.
00:25:11.000 So we can be better because of this.
00:25:14.100 And that's my prayer.
00:25:15.360 I think that's the decision.
00:25:16.800 I don't know how this is going to impact the entire nation, but I do know it can impact me.
00:25:22.520 And I'm resolved, and I hope all of our listeners today are resolved, to be a better person because of it.
00:25:28.520 You know, Max, I've talked about God on the air when it was really uncomfortable.
00:25:33.080 In fact, one of the reasons I left Fox was I was told by Roger Ailes, stop talking about God.
00:25:38.540 And I was in his office, and I said, okay, okay.
00:25:41.420 And he called me back a month after that, and he said, do you know how many times you've said, do you remember this conversation we had?
00:25:47.280 And I said, yes.
00:25:47.880 And he said, do you know how many times?
00:25:49.100 And I said, no.
00:25:49.840 And he said, I think you counted.
00:25:51.660 And I think it was like 92 times.
00:25:53.480 You mentioned, you said the word God 92 times in the last month.
00:25:55.980 And I'm like, yeah, well, I'm sorry, but that's what I believe.
00:26:00.000 And now, when I was doing it back then, I knew how dangerous it was in a way because people were not willing to share the gospel.
00:26:13.520 They weren't willing to talk about God in public.
00:26:16.900 Charlie, one of the things that he did was he has made this, he and others, have made God an open conversation.
00:26:25.240 God is back in a big way for millions of Americans.
00:26:30.240 And I really think, I've seen so many posts on X and Facebook this week.
00:26:36.140 I read one yesterday on the air that just said, I don't know what this is, but I just feel like going to church and giving my life to Jesus.
00:26:44.080 I think this could be the beginning, just as though, the way I feel, the assassinations in the 60s helped lead to that Jesus revival in the 1970s.
00:26:59.360 I think there's a revival coming.
00:27:02.980 Amen.
00:27:03.600 And we're seeing that.
00:27:04.600 You know, we're seeing young Gen Z lead the way in church attendance.
00:27:12.160 It's up by 27% of young people are saying they want to attend church, and that is being led by males.
00:27:21.360 Typically, you know, we're always being critical of the guys because they don't go to church.
00:27:26.340 In this case, it's the guys who are leading the way.
00:27:29.940 And so that's super encouraging.
00:27:31.660 Charlie Kirk embraced a Christian worldview.
00:27:36.380 That is to say that we were created to live in a perfect relationship with God, with each other, with nature.
00:27:44.520 We're living in a fallen world right now because of sin.
00:27:48.460 Interestingly, the first fruit of that fall of Adam and Eve was an act of violence.
00:27:54.480 One brother killed the other.
00:27:56.720 When we're distant from God, we get distant from each other.
00:28:00.860 When we're at peace with God, we can be at peace with each other.
00:28:04.720 But Charlie acknowledged that we're in a season in the long, eternal history of our relationship with God in which many people reject Him.
00:28:14.640 And the consequence of that is anger and sin and rebellion and distortion and hurt.
00:28:19.380 But the day is coming in which the goodness of God will be made plentiful on the earth, and we will reign and rule with Him in peace.
00:28:30.480 That's the Christian worldview.
00:28:32.440 And Charlie embraced this.
00:28:35.380 It's essential.
00:28:36.600 I think secularism sucks the soul out of a person.
00:28:41.200 It turns them into an empty, self-centered person.
00:28:44.420 I believe the Christian faith, rightly accepted, causes us to set our focus on our maker.
00:28:50.500 And that's how we were intended to live.
00:28:52.560 You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck Podcast.
00:28:56.520 Hear more of this interview and others with the full show podcast.
00:28:59.920 Available wherever you get podcasts.
00:29:02.620 Do you know how we change the world?
00:29:06.980 We don't change it through big moments.
00:29:11.500 The world changes because of big moments.
00:29:16.040 But if we want to change the world ourselves, we have to change ourselves first.
00:29:24.140 And we have to be great examples.
00:29:27.660 You know, I've been struck all week because I've been listening to my friends and their podcasts.
00:29:33.200 And I've talked to my friends on their podcasts and off the air.
00:29:36.880 And I've had so many conversations this week with the people that you listen to all the time.
00:29:42.040 And we're all in the same place.
00:29:44.320 And we're all saddened, deeply saddened.
00:29:47.320 Some are very worried.
00:29:51.680 And we all have done shows and said things on and off the air that I don't know if the left would do.
00:30:06.200 I've been listening to people on the air.
00:30:08.520 And I've taken calls today.
00:30:09.900 And nobody is screaming for blood.
00:30:13.720 And I am so proud of us.
00:30:16.820 It gives me such profound hope.
00:30:20.720 Because the tone would be extraordinarily different if it was happening the other way around.
00:30:29.220 And you know it.
00:30:29.940 But let me take you to an uncomfortable place.
00:30:37.160 Let me tell you a story that we just don't even think of.
00:30:42.420 We have the shooter in custody now.
00:30:53.500 And by all accounts, he was a good kid and went to college and then just was all screwed up.
00:31:00.520 And I want you to think about that family for a minute.
00:31:02.920 We've been thinking about Charlie's family.
00:31:06.260 We've been thinking about his children as his right.
00:31:08.780 And we must.
00:31:09.780 And we have a duty to take care of them.
00:31:12.040 But I want you to think about the family of the one that pulled the trigger.
00:31:18.520 I want you to pause for a second and imagine for a minute.
00:31:24.960 A mom just like you were a mom.
00:31:28.100 You know, holding her baby boy and whispering prayers over the crib just like you did.
00:31:33.340 A dad who worked long days believing if you just keep food on the table and discipline in the home
00:31:39.020 and you try to do the right thing, your son is going to grow up strong and he's going to do good.
00:31:45.120 Brothers, sisters, cousins, all of them now watching in horror
00:31:51.360 as the name that they all share is now cursed.
00:31:57.340 As their mailbox fills not with condolence but with hatred.
00:32:02.360 Imagine being that family in a few days going to the grocery store.
00:32:06.960 How afraid you would be.
00:32:09.020 Just not even that somebody would do something but just going through the gauntlet of stairs.
00:32:17.920 The people that are questioning you and you imagine how alone you would feel at that moment.
00:32:28.320 You would just want to crawl into a hole.
00:32:31.120 You would be questioning and tearing yourself apart.
00:32:33.260 What did I do wrong as a parent that my kid did this?
00:32:36.580 What did I do wrong?
00:32:39.020 You'd already have that and then you'd have no one, no one outside of the family that would be with you.
00:32:46.580 The neighbors across the street that you've known forever and have known you.
00:32:51.140 Friends that fall silent.
00:32:52.720 You're no longer a friend.
00:32:54.460 Maybe the church pew that you go to, the one next to you sits empty now.
00:32:58.460 Nobody's sitting next to you.
00:32:59.640 What would it do for them to see just one neighbor?
00:33:09.760 Maybe somebody they barely even know.
00:33:11.580 Maybe somebody they don't even know.
00:33:13.340 They're in the grocery store and they're expecting all of these glares.
00:33:18.380 And they pass somebody that offers them not a glare, but just a glance of kindness, not approval, not excuse, but just a small recognition that the tragedy has claimed their family as well.
00:33:34.700 I don't know if I could have done this if I hadn't have raised my children and made so many mistakes that I have made.
00:33:45.460 And, you know, I'm learning some ugly truths about myself in this last year and things that I have a lot of work to do.
00:33:56.960 And, you know, when I got into radio when I was 13 years old and this, this is my best friend.
00:34:04.520 This has never rejected me.
00:34:06.560 This is, I can tell it anything.
00:34:13.800 And my kids have noticed that I, I spend so much time with you.
00:34:19.340 When I go out in public, I love talking to you.
00:34:22.720 And I've realized recently to my shame that my relationship with you may be the only relationship I'm good at.
00:34:35.120 I don't know how to do other relationships.
00:34:37.820 And I tried to be a good dad and I've tried to do just like you have.
00:34:42.480 We all have.
00:34:43.520 We all have.
00:34:44.580 But raising a kid is the hardest calling on earth.
00:34:49.360 If you are a parent, you know it, especially today.
00:34:52.360 You don't have any idea what you're doing.
00:34:54.480 You have no idea.
00:34:56.560 Everything has changed.
00:34:57.840 Nothing with our kids is like it was.
00:34:59.900 We can't, I can't even relate to it.
00:35:01.620 I feel horrible for the kids of today because I don't know how to help them.
00:35:08.440 And we can pour ourselves out.
00:35:10.400 We can be there.
00:35:11.280 I really have tried to be there for my kids every step of the way.
00:35:15.360 We've tried to teach them the scriptures.
00:35:17.320 We've tried to pray without ceasing.
00:35:19.460 You can sacrifice as a parent until there's nothing left to sacrifice.
00:35:24.960 And still, you can lose them because the world is waiting.
00:35:34.520 Bad friends, social media, dark influences, the illness of the body or the mind or, frankly,
00:35:42.980 the poisonous philosophies at the schools and universities that now train our young men and women,
00:35:49.440 not in the light of God and good and yearn to be better, but in grievance and shadow.
00:35:58.800 And any one of those influences can reach out and grab and snatch one of our children that we have loved beyond measure.
00:36:06.620 And we can do everything right and they can still be snatched.
00:36:14.760 And then we're left saying, Lord, what did I miss?
00:36:21.460 What did I fail to do?
00:36:23.160 What could I have done different?
00:36:36.340 I urge all of us to see this family of the shooter.
00:36:40.660 We're not seeing monsters.
00:36:42.600 We are not.
00:36:43.700 We are seeing what any one of us could have become.
00:36:47.240 Should fate or frailty just twist the lives of those we love.
00:36:53.160 What sets us apart is the commandment from Christ to love our enemies.
00:37:05.340 You know, character doesn't count when you're not under pressure.
00:37:11.860 It doesn't count.
00:37:14.000 You can be the nicest person in the world, but when you're under extreme pressure,
00:37:19.240 that true character comes out on who you really are.
00:37:23.160 We are under extreme pressure.
00:37:27.380 So who are we really?
00:37:29.500 Are we like those we stand against?
00:37:34.380 Are we like or do we love our enemies?
00:37:36.420 Do we actually put that into practice?
00:37:38.380 Do we pray for those who persecute and hate us?
00:37:48.180 You know, when Jesus said all this stuff, he wasn't naive.
00:37:50.580 He more than anybody else knew the pain of betrayal and the sting of an unjust death.
00:37:59.300 And yet, while they drove nails into his hands and wrists, into his feet,
00:38:06.780 while they pushed a crown of thorns deep into his head,
00:38:13.040 he offered mercy to the thief on the cross, forgiveness to those who were driving nails.
00:38:23.920 The last couple of days, we've done everything we can to honor Charlie's life.
00:38:34.080 And in the coming days, we need to honor Charlie's life again by picking up the torch
00:38:40.200 and picking it up where he left off to defend freedom and civil rights.
00:38:45.800 But more than anything else, the reason why Charlie Kirk was a true civil rights leader
00:38:55.400 is because he was a Christian first.
00:38:59.700 He was a God-fearing man first.
00:39:03.100 He could love his enemies.
00:39:05.020 He could speak to his enemies with a civility that is beyond most of us.
00:39:10.660 If we want to honor his memory truly, then that's the torch we should pick up.
00:39:19.600 To be a better disciple of Christ, to be so much better as individuals than the world would expect us to be.
00:39:29.380 Because that's what will change everything.
00:39:32.700 When we are so much better than what the world would expect us to be,
00:39:36.740 that it's almost breathtaking.
00:39:38.000 The Amish, the Amish, when they forgave the mother and comforted the mother
00:39:45.220 before they even had all of the bodies out of the school
00:39:48.980 where the shooter had killed their children,
00:39:52.000 they worried about the mother of that shooter and went to comfort her.
00:39:57.120 And they went to her home and surrounded her.
00:39:59.900 She was terrified when she saw out her window that there are all these Amish people
00:40:04.100 and she knew her son had just killed all their children.
00:40:06.380 And you should hear her testimony.
00:40:08.500 She was terrified to open the door.
00:40:10.220 She opened the door and they started to weep.
00:40:12.440 And they said, sister, you're not alone.
00:40:14.620 We lost a child and you lost a child.
00:40:17.480 And they made her promise, you will never move from our community.
00:40:22.100 You are now one of us.
00:40:24.360 You are not an outsider.
00:40:25.640 You're one of us.
00:40:26.620 We grieve together.
00:40:27.720 That's breathtaking.
00:40:35.540 That's hard.
00:40:37.600 Showing rage is so much easier.
00:40:40.260 Being mad is so much easier.
00:40:42.220 But saying kind thoughts, doing, showing compassion is so hard.
00:40:47.800 To lift our gaze above the abyss of vengeance
00:40:54.380 and instead see this one broken family
00:40:59.160 who, like us, only wanted to raise a child to the light.
00:41:04.760 This is what I mean by what I've been saying lately.
00:41:17.320 Think small.
00:41:18.960 Dream big.
00:41:20.640 I want to heal the world.
00:41:23.300 I don't know how to do that.
00:41:24.860 But if I think small, I realize the greatest act of civil courage
00:41:33.640 is not shouted in the streets.
00:41:37.020 It's whispered in each of our hearts.
00:41:40.200 Lord, heal them too.
00:41:47.340 Let me be more compassionate.
00:41:51.080 More empathetic.
00:41:52.380 Let me be more like you.