The Michael Knowles Show - Live Reaction： Charlie Kirk, 31, Assassinated

00:00:00.000 I'm so very sorry to have to join everyone right now, unexpectedly, live.

00:00:08.060 My friend Charlie Kirk, the leader of Young Conservatives in America, founder of TPUSA,

00:00:17.080 one of the most important political voices in the country, certainly, of his generation,

00:00:22.760 probably the most important, has died. He was shot at a speaking event in Utah.

00:00:30.000 He was shot in a horrible irony at an event where he was willing to hear out everyone's point of view

00:00:38.720 and take questions and debate topics in a civil and political way, as he demonstrated better than

00:00:46.340 anybody for years at this point. The president has confirmed Charlie's death. He tweeted out,

00:00:55.080 The great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead. No one understood or had the heart of the youth in

00:01:00.880 the United States better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by all, especially me, and now he is

00:01:07.260 no longer with us. Melania and my sympathies go out to his beautiful wife, Erica, and family, Charlie,

00:01:14.060 we love you. Obviously, President Trump has a longstanding relationship with Charlie. Charlie

00:01:19.800 was a big part of how President Trump was elected in 2024 and how he was elected in 2016, for that

00:01:27.060 matter. A generational voice, the generational voice in politics. And it's on that point that,

00:01:38.960 as we're all processing this awful news, the first thing that comes to my mind, beyond the sadness for

00:01:46.900 his family, for his family, for his wife, his young kids, his millions and millions of admirers and his

00:01:52.720 many, many friends, is that Charlie Kirk would have been president. Charlie Kirk would have been

00:02:00.440 president. His friends knew it. His many, many admirers knew it. And his enemies, to whom he was always so

00:02:09.080 gracious, they knew it too. Everybody knew it. I remember from, actually, I think even before I first

00:02:18.880 met Charlie, so now we're talking many, many years ago, people would joke, they'd say, well, we're all

00:02:23.900 going to be working for Charlie Kirk someday. The first time I met Charlie was in a green room of a

00:02:29.460 cable news outlet. I think we were in LA. It was for a morning show. So this was four o'clock or five

00:02:35.600 o'clock in the morning. I lived in LA at the time. I was slumped over half asleep. Charlie, I don't

00:02:41.220 know where he was living. Charlie lived on airplanes. And he shows up bouncing off the walls, full of

00:02:47.600 energy, just wanted to talk about everything. And he, of course, was able to reach the very heights

00:02:55.100 of media, of politics, of activism, of, of, of American public life. And, and so then I think,

00:03:07.120 all right, why did we all have such confidence that Charlie would be president? Well, he looked the part

00:03:14.600 very, very tall. Uh, very, I used to joke with him that he was descended from the Nephilim,

00:03:19.900 uh, very tall, good looking guy, extraordinarily articulate. That's part of it. Uh, very, very

00:03:27.320 sharp. So sharp that he dropped out of college. That's, that's how you know that someone's very

00:03:31.760 intelligent these days. Uh, self-educated largely, but so unbelievably curious. So he would, he would

00:03:39.040 do fellowship programs. He would read, he would ask for books to read. He would, and, and I think a lot

00:03:44.280 of people think that when you, when you look at someone in politics, especially at the height that

00:03:49.560 Charlie was at, that all they ever want to do is talk about politics. And when they see, you know,

00:03:54.020 we would see each other, he'd see his other friends around the country. And that isn't true.

00:03:58.300 He was much more interested in talking about the thing that you were interested in. And he was

00:04:03.420 interested in it because he just wanted to get as much knowledge as he could from all of these experts

00:04:07.260 around him. And from all of the people who weren't expert, but just had a special interest.

00:04:11.020 And Charlie's interests were, were so varied, but, but at their core, they were not merely

00:04:18.600 political in the quotidian sense. They were deeply philosophical. And the fact that he had no formal

00:04:23.680 philosophical training is probably why he was so good at it and interested in it. And then ultimately

00:04:28.760 it was religious. So I think why, why did we all think Charlie would be president? He looked the part. 0.94

00:04:35.580 He was extremely effective at political organizing. He could raise money like nobody's a business for a

00:04:40.540 very good cause. He could persuade people through his extraordinary ability to articulate ideas.

00:04:49.180 But I think really what it comes down to is his virtue. And I think this is why everyone knew,

00:04:59.220 his friends, his admirers, and even the enemies that a life in public will engender. They all kind of knew it

00:05:05.460 because he exemplified virtue. The four cardinal virtues, prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude.

00:05:13.980 Extremely prudent. He was just the most skilled political person of his generation, of our

00:05:19.020 generation. Temperance, nobody was more temperate. I'm not sure the guy ever had a drink. I certainly

00:05:24.120 never saw him have a drink. He was so disciplined, so temperate, where he got so much of his energy

00:05:30.160 from. Justice, extremely fair to people. In fact, more than fair to people. Always, always willing to

00:05:38.840 give people what they deserve and more than they deserve. And fortitude, which is the prerequisite

00:05:46.040 of all of the other virtues. The fact that this guy would go into very hostile territory all the

00:05:51.300 time, not worry about it at all. And events that were open in the air as this event, where he was

00:05:59.620 fatally shot at a university in Utah. No big fences, no big, just crowds of people, most of them adoring

00:06:07.660 fans, some curious people willing to be persuaded, and unfortunately, a handful of enemies and some

00:06:14.860 very, very wicked people. Beyond the cardinal virtues, I think that if you know Charlie at all,

00:06:21.680 even if you don't know him personally, if you just followed him, as most Americans have over the years,

00:06:26.560 you'll see the three theological virtues. That's what he cared about. That's all he and I ever

00:06:32.340 talked about. That is sometimes on camera, often off camera. That's all he wanted to talk about.

00:06:40.940 In fact, the last text that he sent to me concerned that. Deeply, deeply religious,

00:06:48.240 deeply curious. I mean, you could get a zinger in here or there, but for an effect.

00:06:54.260 Because he really wanted to know God, and he really loved God. And I think you just see in his

00:07:01.560 demeanor, in the way he approached people, his friends and his enemies and everyone in between,

00:07:06.200 you saw an abundant faith. You saw an extraordinary degree of hope, political hope for the country,

00:07:13.240 for helping to improve people's lives here on earth, and a hope that's grounded on a fact,

00:07:18.660 which is the fact of the resurrection. A hope that derives from his confidence that his redeemer

00:07:25.040 lives. And then, of course, charity. And this, I think, inspired Charlie's friends and admirers so

00:07:33.000 much and really scared his enemies, is that in everything Charlie did, there was charity. He

00:07:38.940 wasn't afraid. There was no servile fear whatsoever. So sometimes he could seem almost politically

00:07:44.640 reckless, the way he was willing to debate any idea. But no fear whatsoever, just charity. He was

00:07:50.200 always willing to talk to people about anything. That was what this tour was about, where some of

00:07:57.440 his friends were scheduled to join him along the way. Faith, hope, and charity. Very, very scary virtues

00:08:07.300 in a materialist world, in a modern world. And so we, of course, pray for him. And for his family,

00:08:17.740 it seemed impossible when the news broke. Such a force of nature did he seem. And so confident were

00:08:27.680 we all for his future. Maybe more than he was, inasmuch as Charlie had such profound faith,

00:08:37.700 lively faith. But of course, I'm sure he knows and knew that every day is a gift and we're not

00:08:45.260 promised anything. And all we can do is the good that we have with the energy that we have in the

00:08:49.360 day that we have because we might not have tomorrow. With that, I would like to bring on

00:08:57.720 another one of our friends, Cabot Phillips, with updates about what exactly happened and what

00:09:04.320 investigators are learning now. Cabot? Thanks, Michael. That was really powerful stuff there.

00:09:13.020 I know everyone at home watching is feeling exactly what we're feeling right here, just

00:09:16.960 devastated. But we're going to try our best to get through the news, get as much of the story out

00:09:22.300 there as we can. For people just tuning in, Charlie Kirk is dead at 31 years old. We're still piecing

00:09:29.900 the story together right now, the details as they come in. But here's what we know for people just

00:09:35.200 tuning in. Charlie was speaking at Utah Valley University. He was holding one of his Prove Me Wrong

00:09:42.060 events. For those who aren't familiar, these are the sort of debate style open mic events.

00:09:46.960 Thousands of students and others are coming out. And Charlie made a point to give the microphone

00:09:51.440 to anyone who disagreed with him. That was Charlie's thing. He would talk to anybody. He

00:09:55.760 was willing to debate anybody. And one of those events was taking place. One shot rang out. Right

00:10:03.400 now, the university says that shot came from an adjacent building from about 200 yards away. It was

00:10:09.320 one single shot. He was struck in the neck. He was immediately rushed away, but ultimately did die a

00:10:18.340 short time after. Initially, there were reports that a shooter had been detained. There was video

00:10:24.960 going around of a single man being carried away by police. The university is now saying that was not

00:10:29.900 the shooter and that that person was not responsible and that right now the shooter is at large. So we

00:10:37.620 are still waiting to see who was responsible for this heinous crime. At the moment, though, right now,

00:10:43.160 there are a number of police and law enforcement vehicles conducting sweeps all around the campus.

00:10:48.120 As you can imagine, this is an extensive operation. We're going to have hundreds, if not thousands,

00:10:52.320 of law enforcement right now combing through. FBI Director Cass Patel has said that his people are already

00:10:58.720 on the ground that they are investigating. And it's obviously because of the political nature.

00:11:02.620 So there are FBI resources pulling in. The White House has said that they are deploying any resources

00:11:07.820 possible to try and get to the bottom of who is responsible for this. But again, as of the latest

00:11:13.120 reporting, the shooter is still at large. Police say, university says that the shooter fired from about

00:11:20.180 200 yards away, perched up on top of a building. President Trump confirmed the news on social media,

00:11:26.920 writing on Truth Social, quote, the great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead. No one understood

00:11:33.500 or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and

00:11:38.360 admired by all, especially me. And now he is no longer with us. Melania and my sympathy go out to

00:11:45.160 his beautiful wife, Erica, and family. Charlie, we love you. Charlie and his wife, Erica, do have two

00:11:50.580 young children as well. I know, Michael, you alluded to it. That was his pride and joy. That's what he

00:11:58.220 wanted to talk about every time you're with him. That's what he was bringing up. And President Trump

00:12:05.000 making sure to mention that fact. But again, for those just tuning in, the shooter reportedly still

00:12:11.360 on the loose. People are, there's a lot of conflicting reports coming in. So we're trying

00:12:18.000 to sift through all of this, and I'm sure our audience will bear with us there. Our editor

00:12:22.620 emeritus, Ben Shapiro, also just recently issued a statement on Twitter. This is from Ben. Like all

00:12:29.500 of you, I'm utterly stunned and heartbroken and sick to my soul today. It is unimaginable to write

00:12:35.160 these words. I met Charlie Kirk when he was 18 years old, a young man so eager and determined that I

00:12:40.680 immediately turned to a friend and said, that kid is going to be the head of the RNC one day.

00:12:45.600 Charlie became even bigger and more important than that. It was a privilege to watch this

00:12:49.740 principled man stand up for his beliefs and create the single most important conservative political

00:12:54.480 organization in America. But more importantly, Charlie was a good man, a man who believed in right

00:12:59.600 and wrong, who stood by his biblical values. All of us will miss him, and I cannot imagine the pain of

00:13:05.100 his beautiful young family, and we must all pray for them, and we must pick up the baton where Charlie

00:13:09.600 left it, fighting for the things he believed in so passionately. We must fight for a better America,

00:13:15.320 an America where good people can speak truth and debate passionately without fear of a bullet.

00:13:20.540 I weep for Charlie's family, and I weep for my country today, but most of all, I weep for Charlie.

00:13:26.200 That was the words of our editor emeritus, Ben Shapiro. Again, for those just tuning in,

00:13:32.280 Charlie Kirk speaking at his Prove Me Wrong series. This is where most people were really

00:13:38.180 introduced to Charlie. He was a guy who was willing to go into the lion's den again and again. He was

00:13:44.520 someone who said, hey, if you disagree with me, get to the front of the line, get a microphone there.

00:13:48.580 And that's why so many people loved him so much is because he was willing to talk to anyone. And his

00:13:53.380 entire mantra was based on civil debate, civil discourse. Charlie was a guy who could debate someone

00:14:01.180 who completely disagreed with him and do so with a smile. And you could tell that there was love in his

00:14:06.900 heart, love for his country, love for his God, for his family.

00:14:10.940 And Cabot, we should say, we should say he would, he would debate his friends just as vociferously.

00:14:17.520 So, you know, it wasn't even, it wasn't even that he just liked to really turn on the rhetoric for,

00:14:22.980 for his ideological opponents. In some ways, I think he went harder after his friends because

00:14:27.780 he was really interested in ideas and he was really interested in getting, getting to the truth.

00:14:32.720 And, and he had such fortitude. He had such confidence and well-earned confidence. He

00:14:38.000 started, as Ben pointed out, the preeminent conservative activist organization in America

00:14:44.800 at the age of 18, skipping out of school, learning everything on his own. So he had good reason to

00:14:49.460 be confident, but he loved it because he could be persuaded otherwise, you know, and you could change

00:14:55.380 his mind and he could. And so it, it really, it wasn't even a performance so much for him. It's

00:15:01.460 just, it's just who he was, a man who joyfully and, and doggedly wanted to pursue the truth.

00:15:09.380 That's absolutely true. And Michael, when you talk about how strong he was,

00:15:15.540 maybe this is not of interest to people, but it's one of the things I'm going to remember about him.

00:15:21.960 Uh, he was also very physically strong. We used to play basketball together.

00:15:27.560 And, uh, I remember I met Charlie back in 2015 and, um, this was right when turning point was

00:15:33.960 getting off the ground. And he found out that I like to play pickup basketball and said, Hey,

00:15:37.820 I'm in DC a lot. I'm always looking for some people to play basketball with. We should play.

00:15:42.580 And then before we actually got the chance to play together, Charlie said, you know what?

00:15:46.180 We should do a one-on-one basketball, uh, game where I was with a different organization at the

00:15:51.460 time he was a turning point. We'll say it's turning point versus your group. And we're

00:15:54.180 going to live stream it. And I thought this Charlie Kirk guy, how good could he actually

00:15:58.140 be at basketball? I'm going to mop the floor with him. This will make me look amazing.

00:16:02.460 And I showed up to play Charlie and he beat me handily was just draining three pointers,

00:16:08.440 was backing me down in the post. And, uh, he called me off guard. He took me by surprise.

00:16:14.580 And I think he did that, not just on the basketball court. He did that

00:16:17.640 constantly in so many ways. If you would have said 10 years ago, that turning point USA would be

00:16:22.920 truly influencing presidential elections. I think there's a case to be made that those

00:16:28.380 battleground States where they had a massive turnout, the vote, uh, operation, you could say

00:16:33.560 that that changed the course of American history, what Charlie did. And I think of this video on the,

00:16:38.460 on the night of the election, I think of the video of Charlie founding, finding out and breaking

00:16:42.560 down in tears when Donald Trump won the election. Yes. Yes. And he had every right to do so,

00:16:46.920 because you could say he played a bigger role than anyone. It's, it's not even just that he

00:16:50.560 helped out in an election or two elections or the rise of the president or anything like that.

00:16:55.940 Charlie Kirk was the preeminent political talent of our generation. Full stop, no ifs,

00:17:05.200 ands, or buts about it. And what is, that is, I think for a lot of people, what is so shocking about

00:17:11.620 this, uh, what is even more astounding is that he was a great guy. He was a great guy and people in

00:17:20.280 politics, even people that you sometimes like to work with, or, you know, you do an event with,

00:17:26.100 or you campaign with, you know, they're, they're good on the stage, but they're not the most moral

00:17:32.220 virtuous people. You don't, you don't really want to hang out with them after the political event.

00:17:36.400 Charlie was just a great guy who, who really as talented as he was at politics is his, uh,

00:17:46.900 good hearted a guy as he was off camera. And you just almost never see that. You almost never see

00:17:53.500 it. It's, it's, uh, he was singular. I mean, there's really no, you have to ask for the, the American

00:18:00.700 right. Who, who's the leader now? Uh, he, he created an unbelievable movement through the strength

00:18:10.780 of his character and personality and his talents. Uh, and, and there's really no number two. It,

00:18:16.820 it really was just him. And, and so, you know, people will make the comparison between him and

00:18:22.480 the president. I think that's an apt comparison. It would seem to me that the president obviously saw

00:18:26.800 a lot of himself and Charlie, uh, and, uh, and as you were just describing the way that the,

00:18:32.760 the shooting took place, it was not as was initially being reported on social media, uh, up close. It was

00:18:39.820 not just a member of the crowd. The shooter reportedly was hundreds of yards away. Uh, I, I think people are

00:18:49.000 having echoes to, to Butler, Pennsylvania. Is there any more information that's come out?

00:18:54.320 No, there's still, all we know, the university just released a statement just a few moments ago

00:19:00.560 saying that the entire campus was still on lockdown because they're not sure where the

00:19:04.640 shooter is. Police are reportedly going through the campus library, all sorts of different dorm,

00:19:10.540 uh, buildings and other facilities on campus. Um, so again, that is the, that's the big fear here.

00:19:15.680 This shooter is still on the loose. Um, in the last few minutes, we've gotten a number of statements,

00:19:20.860 everyone chiming in, um, president Biden just issued a statement. There's no place in our country for

00:19:25.640 this kind of violence. It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk's family

00:19:30.180 and loved ones. And we also got a statement from turning point USA. Uh, they're going to be closing

00:19:35.620 their offices for, uh, the next week. They said, um, they wrote to their staff. It is with a heavy

00:19:41.840 heart that we, the turning point USA leadership team, right. To notify you that early this afternoon,

00:19:46.740 Charlie went to his eternal reward with Jesus Christ in heaven. Um, and Michael, I'm so glad

00:19:53.740 that you're bringing up the very real faith that he had. Um, I was just talking with our hair and makeup

00:19:59.740 team about how, um, some of the comfort that I find knowing that Charlie is a friend really did have

00:20:09.260 a faith in Jesus Christ and he was not a performative Christian. Um, no, I don't have a doubt in my mind.

00:20:17.380 He really believed it. I do not have a doubt in my mind. And you and I both know people. We all know

00:20:23.120 people who might say one thing and live a different way. Charlie's life bore fruit. Charlie was

00:20:29.360 real in his faith. And I saw a tweet of his from earlier this week where he just wrote Jesus

00:20:39.700 defeated death. So you can live. I saw it. I saw it when he posted it. Yeah. And as heartbreaking as

00:20:46.840 his physical death here on earth is Charlie is now alive in Jesus Christ. And for all of us here at

00:20:54.060 Daily Wire, for the people watching at home right now, there is comfort in knowing that Charlie

00:20:59.340 is, um, reaping his eternal reward right now because of that fact. And, um, I know that's a

00:21:06.160 comfort to me. I'm, I'm just processing all this right now. I know that's a comfort to me. I know

00:21:10.100 it is to you as well. And I hope it is to our audience as well, that there is peace that we can

00:21:14.320 have knowing that in Jesus. Well, thank you, Cabot. Uh, please let us know, you know, as more information

00:21:19.640 comes out, uh, appreciate you being here. Appreciate, appreciate your, your perspective and your, uh,

00:21:25.540 close knowledge of Charlie. And I know everyone else appreciates that too. Returning now to another

00:21:31.340 friend of Charlie's and a friend of ours, uh, Daily Wire's very own Isabel Brown. Isabel, uh, for,

00:21:38.220 for the audience that doesn't know, Isabel's spent a lot of time around TPUSA. Uh, that's where we all

00:21:43.140 first were introduced to Isabel. Uh, your thoughts.

00:21:46.980 Yeah, uh, Michael, truthfully, and I hope I can get through this with you all, but I hope you share

00:21:51.380 my heartbreak actively as we continue to process this information, as it comes out in real time.

00:21:58.020 Uh, you know, in truth, Michael, I was so incredibly privileged over the past eight years or so,

00:22:03.860 not just to know Charlie as the influential figure that he was and the voice that he was for the

00:22:09.560 conservative movement, the change maker that he was for our country, but to have an incredibly intimate

00:22:15.540 behind the scenes relationship with Charlie and to see the impact that he made

00:22:19.620 on people's individual lives in such powerful ways. Uh, I met Charlie for the first time in

00:22:25.060 2017 at the Young Women's Leadership Summit with Turning Point USA. My first introduction to the

00:22:31.840 conservative movement, to this fight that he was so passionate about and dedicated his entire life

00:22:37.120 to, every fiber of his being to, every day, day in and day out, and, uh, was very closely mentored by

00:22:43.280 Charlie over the years that followed. One of his, uh, first major speaking events was while I was a

00:22:48.980 student activist at Colorado State University in which he visited our campus, and we got right in

00:22:54.820 there with the riffraff and ruckus of the protests with the rise of Antifa, the backlash that he often

00:23:00.340 got from the left, but he had a smile on his face through every single second, even in the midst of

00:23:05.380 what can only be described as insane mind-altering controversy from the heart of America's college campuses.

00:23:11.700 And over the years, I have been so unbelievably privileged to learn from Charlie. As a content

00:23:17.540 creator, he gave me really my first start as a creator and helped foster me in that regard, uh,

00:23:22.740 in traditional media. I had the privilege of co-hosting his radio show with him for a few months there

00:23:28.020 and, uh, doing some live stream coverage of the 2020 election for weeks on end up till 3, 4 in the morning,

00:23:34.820 and even just as recently as last Tuesday, getting to share the stage with Charlie, who undoubtedly is

00:23:40.660 the most rooted in moral clarity voice I can imagine for this young generation, where we addressed some

00:23:47.220 of the pro-life supporters of that movement in California, central California, urging for a return

00:23:54.260 to morality as our society and the basis of our common shared humanity. But what people don't see about

00:24:00.260 Charlie when they see his radio show, or they see him on TV, or they see his speeches to the masses

00:24:06.260 on college campuses is the Charlie that you and I have been so privileged to know over the past few

00:24:11.540 years. The guy I spent an hour and a half with last week debating the ins and outs of theological

00:24:16.820 conversations and talking about heaven and purgatory and the mother of our Lord, Mary, you know, we had such

00:24:22.900 a powerful conversation just about a week ago together and, uh, to share the stage and to be encouraging this

00:24:29.540 next generation to embrace our cross, to pick it up and carry it, and to know that there are eternal

00:24:35.860 rewards for this fight that we're fighting. Charlie really believed with every fiber of his being that

00:24:41.140 this wasn't a political race. This wasn't about installing the next president of the United States

00:24:45.940 that shared your personal policy prescriptions for how to save America. This was, uh, a spiritual battle.

00:24:51.940 This was our obligation to pick up our cross for our society and for our generation to reinstate what is 0.52

00:24:58.020 good and true and beautiful. Consequences be damned, and I will forever be inspired by him.

00:25:03.940 I truly owe my life to Charlie. I met my husband at a Turning Point USA conference because we were

00:25:09.220 both working at TPUSA. My daughter exists because of that chance encounter with my now husband, uh,

00:25:15.780 and truly my entire worldview has been shaped more by Charlie Kirk than any other voice in the world.

00:25:21.620 We are hurting desperately for the loss of our great friend, and I ask that everyone watching this

00:25:27.540 today pray for his beautiful family, his wife and his children. Pray for the loss that we will experience

00:25:33.940 as a movement because of this, uh, but also pray in thanksgiving because I truly do believe, especially

00:25:39.380 based on the very theological conversation we just had the other day, that Charlie is indeed more alive than

00:25:45.060 you and I are today. Uh, and I, I thank God for that. I thank God for the fact that he is rejoicing

00:25:50.980 in heaven and unity with our God and our savior, and to know that he will continue inspiring so many

00:25:56.500 more people and the direction of this great country for, for generations to come.

00:26:00.980 You know, I, I love that you mentioned that you were going back and forth on theology with Charlie,

00:26:05.940 because over the years, I mean, this going back many, many years at this point,

00:26:11.060 we would talk about all sorts of things privately and in public, uh, politics or what, you know,

00:26:16.420 whatever the conservative movement, but it would mostly what he wanted to talk about was religion

00:26:21.460 and politics. And, you know, often we would really kind of give it to each other on camera,

00:26:26.180 you know, you kind of, uh, you know, razz each other a little bit. And some people,

00:26:31.140 I think get this impression that, that, uh, the way he was thinking about religion or would,

00:26:36.580 would talk about religion was, um, I don't know, to, uh,

00:26:41.140 full of slogans or something, you know, he'd just be, because, because he would have fun with his

00:26:44.260 friends about this. Uh, but to those people I say, and I know you can attest to this,

00:26:49.220 if you thought he was good talking about religion on camera, you should have heard him off camera.

00:26:52.580 You should have heard how we would talk about religion off camera. It was even more impressive.

00:26:55.380 It was even, it was even, uh, well, yes, it does. It does inspire confidence for, for people,

00:27:01.860 many, many, many people who are grieving today. Uh, Isabel, thank you so much. We're going to have Ben

00:27:06.020 coming on, uh, and, and Isabel, I'm sure as more comes out, you know, we'll be seeing you and

00:27:10.340 chatting with you in the coming days. Thank you again. Uh, we're going to have Ben coming on, uh,

00:27:16.020 later on show he'll be coming on shortly. Uh, for, for those who are just tuning in,

00:27:21.620 and I know this is a live stream and a lot of information has been flying around all day.

00:27:26.420 Uh, uh, Charlie Kirk is dead. Uh, the, the generational political talent, uh, the most

00:27:35.060 important young voice in American politics was shot at a campus event. Uh, one of the many campus

00:27:42.820 events that he does where he was always willing to hear out the other side, graciously debate ideas.

00:27:51.620 Uh, we have basically no information about the shooter. Uh, the, the federal government

00:27:58.020 is, um, obviously actively investigating the president of the United States. For those who

00:28:05.460 missed it, it says the great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead. No one understood or had

00:28:11.740 the heart of the youth of the United States better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by all,

00:28:17.080 especially me. And now he is no longer with us. Melania and my, and my sympathies go out to his

00:28:23.680 beautiful wife, Erica and his family. Charlie, we love you. Joining us now is the Daily Wire's very

00:28:30.600 own Megan Basham. Megan, your thoughts. You know, I'm struggling Michael between feeling angry and feeling

00:28:38.440 a lot of rage about what's happened today, but, um, also looking at Charlie's model of what he showed

00:28:46.960 us that what changes hearts and minds is conversation is debate is not violence. And that's what Charlie

00:28:55.100 was about. And as I look at the legacy he left, particularly with TPUSA faith, you know, that's

00:29:00.360 how I really came to know him and, um, came to be involved with the TPUSA organization. I, um, I was

00:29:08.900 speaking to him just a couple of days ago. Uh, we were talking about, um, the violent outbreak in

00:29:14.860 Charlotte and the violence that we've seen here. And, you know, he just always encouraged more and

00:29:19.020 more conversation. And a friend immediately texted me today, as soon as it was confirmed that we had

00:29:25.040 lost him. And she said, she's a pastor's wife and, you know, her pastor with her both texted me and

00:29:32.140 said, Charlie died a martyr and we should be encouraged and inspired by his boldness and by

00:29:41.200 the courage that he showed. And it brought to mind, you know, that famous maxim that the blood of the

00:29:46.280 martyrs is the seat of the church. And the church had become so important to him in recent years. And

00:29:51.940 that's why he would debate it so much with friends. Um, now Charlie and I were on the same page,

00:29:56.080 Protestant evangelical. So we were obviously in the right, but, but I, I look at what he clearly

00:30:04.500 came to understand in a, in a depth that you maybe wouldn't have guessed at when he first burst onto the

00:30:11.300 scene as, you know, this 18 year old fiery, you know, political demagogue. And then he would go on

00:30:18.800 to show this spiritual depth that as he grew, realized there was more to the political conversations

00:30:25.820 that we were having than simply free markets. There was a spiritual battle happening and that

00:30:31.300 to really recover the greatness of America, we had to recover our biblical values. We had to recover,

00:30:38.500 um, the, the moral grounding, the Christian biblical grounding that we started with. And that's what

00:30:44.640 TPUSA faith was so much about. And when you heard him speak, what absolutely fired me up was not just

00:30:52.640 his fearlessness, but his graciousness. You never heard Charlie talk about the left, the way they

00:30:58.520 talk about him. Never. You would never hear him celebrating someone else's pain or violence inflicted

00:31:06.960 upon them. And as I look at some of the commentary that's already swirling, like, again, I, you know,

00:31:14.060 you're tempted to just want to indulge a fury that is not the answer right now. And I, I'm really looking

00:31:23.240 to what he did, which was continue discussion and debate fearlessly. And look, he certainly was

00:31:28.380 someone who knew that every time he went out and spoke publicly, that he was at risk and he did it

00:31:34.600 anyway, because that's how important the truth was to him. And so when I look at that, that can't help

00:31:41.040 but inspire me to keep speaking, to keep talking, to keep carrying that message of the biblical values

00:31:46.960 that our nation needs, even for those who hated him, who hate him now, they still need that message.

00:31:53.440 And that's why it's important that we keep talking.

00:31:55.880 You know, I, I keep coming back to, this happens whenever anyone dies. You, you have this grief,

00:32:04.480 not only for the person, but for the future that you had imagined for that person. You say, well,

00:32:09.300 so-and-so can't have died because we were going to go skiing next week. It can't, but you weren't,

00:32:13.140 weren't really. You just, you had that idea, but that, you know, you, you don't, you're not promised

00:32:17.440 tomorrow. And with Charlie, people were just so confident in his future. The man was just going to

00:32:26.180 be president. He just was. And I, I remember some years ago now, I had completed the, the Lincoln

00:32:34.560 Fellowship at the Claremont Institute, which is one of these conservative fellowships, very interesting.

00:32:40.080 It offers you an, an education that usually you don't get these days on college campuses. And I had,

00:32:47.420 I was talking to some friends and I said, you know, Charlie would be good for this. Charlie, at the time,

00:32:52.200 I don't know, he was still young. Uh, obviously he started his political career at once 18 and

00:32:57.940 someone said, ah, would Charlie be interested in that? You know, I don't know. I mean, he's like,

00:33:02.200 uh, he dropped out of school and I don't know if he's really, I said, no, no, what are you talking

00:33:05.440 about? So this guy has the most impressive political skill of any one of his generation.

00:33:12.340 He's got the most impressive political drive of any one of his generation. He didn't go to college

00:33:17.320 because college is generally usually often a waste of time and money these days. But you, I said,

00:33:23.420 you've got this unbelievably talented, skill driven person. He's the perfect candidate. Well,

00:33:29.300 you know, of course, cause that's, that was one of the, you know, one of the few things that he was

00:33:33.220 missing is some book learning. And then he dives in and of course, you know, he, he goes in deeper

00:33:38.700 than, than virtually everybody. Uh, you know, he just, he just would devour knowledge, devour skill.

00:33:45.000 Charlie was so unbelievably enthusiastic. I'm not that much older than, than Charlie was. And

00:33:50.220 Charlie, Charlie was 31 years old and I don't, he started, you know, uh, running Republican politics

00:33:57.400 about age three, I think, but he really launched at age 18, launched TPSA and it just grew and grew

00:34:04.220 and grew. I remember the last time I saw it, I was supposed to see him in 12 days. And the last time

00:34:10.280 that I saw him, it wasn't that long ago, TPSA event. And, and I said, every time I go to one

00:34:16.520 of these, it started out, there were 500 people. Then there were a thousand people. Then there were

00:34:19.760 2000 people. Then there were 7,000 people. It just seemed like the sky was the limit. And one of the

00:34:24.520 feelings of injustice that, that one feels, I think, is that we don't even know what, what,

00:34:31.840 what would Charlie have looked like a year from now, two years from now, three years from now,

00:34:34.900 his, his rise. And I don't just mean his popularity. I mean, his personal development,

00:34:40.000 his personal maturity, his growth in virtue, his growth in knowledge was so rapid. You just think,

00:34:46.040 man, you just robbed us of what that guy could have been five years from now, already so impressive,

00:34:51.400 what he could have been five years, 10 years from now. Uh, but of course, you know,

00:34:56.980 with $10,000, Michael, I mean, he started with $10,000 at 18 years old, and we now have what,

00:35:03.240 3,500 chapters of TPUSA all over the country on college campuses, on high school campuses.

00:35:10.040 That was, you know, a little over 10 years he accomplished that much. So absolutely. What

00:35:15.380 would he have done with 20, 30 more years, 40 more years, 50 more years? Um, so I think that is

00:35:22.020 probably a lot where the anger comes from that you go, there was so much that Charlie could have done.

00:35:27.300 And yet we know that the Lord in his providence allowed him to do how much he did in that short

00:35:33.520 time, that he enabled him and gifted him with these incredible talents that he had to be able to

00:35:38.460 persuade people, to be able to inspire people, and to do that much inspiring in such a short period of

00:35:45.120 time.

00:35:45.400 Yes, there is a sense, you know, you only see the story in reverse. You only see the story in the

00:35:51.980 rear view mirror. Things sometimes don't feel as though they make sense at the moment. It's only

00:35:57.940 when you look back at the narrative of a life that you see them all start to make sense. And one of

00:36:03.460 Charlie's many, many accolades, of course, he had many, many, but one of them that I know is very dear

00:36:08.940 to him was that he, he was parodied on South Park. And I remember the minute I saw it and not just,

00:36:15.580 it was the main, the great character on South Park was Charlie, you know, had Charlie's haircut and

00:36:19.900 everything. I remember the second I saw it, I said, man, that kid has transcended. He has,

00:36:25.380 he has made it now. He is truly the generational political figure. And no one, of course, could have

00:36:33.840 predicted. No one, no one, no one did predict that, that anything like this could have, could have

00:36:38.960 happened. And I, I, I suppose providence of it all is a great consolation. And I feel that, and I,

00:36:45.520 I trust God in everything. And I, I am reminded to ask myself, where were you when I laid the

00:36:51.640 foundations of the earth? But there, there is something that I recoil against. And I know we're

00:36:56.340 going to hear a lot of it in coming days, which is, you know, well, we should actually be happy

00:37:01.320 because, you know, Charlie had religion and a living faith and he's with his redeemer now.

00:37:07.260 So we should really be happy. We shouldn't be sad. No, we should be sad. We should be sad.

00:37:12.100 This is a very sad thing. Death is a very bad thing. And Jesus wept when his friend died before

00:37:16.500 he raised his friend from the dead. This is, this is bad. This is bad and evil, just terrible.

00:37:24.800 And it's not the end of the story. Obviously that's, that's not the end of the story,

00:37:29.580 but it, you know, on the Catholic side of things, which I'm sure, uh, we're Charlie here. We'd have

00:37:35.840 a great, great deal of fun talking about. There was a, a, a canonization of the first millennial

00:37:41.260 saint. Amazing timing. Uh, a few days ago, Carlo Acutis, St. Carlo Acutis. And it's, because he was

00:37:49.140 so young, his parents were there. So it's kind of strange. Your parents could be there at the

00:37:52.740 canonization and, and they looked kind of sad. And people said, why are they sad? Is it their kids

00:37:57.780 being named a saint? And you said, I don't know if they're sad or not, but I'll tell you

00:38:00.460 one thing. It would be perfectly fine for them to be sad because death is bad. Death is bad. And

00:38:06.840 the, the, the, the religion that we all have, the, the religion that Charlie felt very, very

00:38:11.580 deeply and believed very, very deeply is, is a religion that doesn't contradict the world,

00:38:17.040 doesn't contradict reason, doesn't contradict nature, that it actually acknowledges reality

00:38:22.520 and that, that, uh, prays for grace and looks toward the God who perfects nature. Uh, you

00:38:27.980 know, that, that, that, that, the grace that lifts us above nature. Not, and, and so it's

00:38:33.120 okay. It's okay to, to, to mourn and to grieve and to be sad, even as one can have, and even

00:38:39.760 as one feels a theological confidence that, uh, all, all will be well and all will work out

00:38:46.140 in the long run. Yeah. And what I'm really sad for is not just the loss of Charlie, but

00:38:53.260 what it means for the nation that he fought so hard for. Yes. Because as I look at the

00:38:57.800 landscape and I look at the rhetoric and what it contributed to this, um, you know, two days

00:39:02.420 ago, CNN had a panel in which they were, um, extremely dishonestly framing him as a racist

00:39:11.220 for correctly delineating what happened here in Charlotte. And so, you know, there's a

00:39:17.220 moment here, even as a Christian, where you sit here and go, this is violence compounded

00:39:21.540 upon violence, Lord. And it's jarring to see what's happening to political opponents who

00:39:28.540 at one point we would at least go, look, we see the world the same. We at least have

00:39:32.660 the same general value system, even if we don't agree with how that should work itself

00:39:38.720 out. And I think it's really hard for me right now. I actually had to log off because some

00:39:44.180 of the, uh, responses already being thrown around on MSNBC coming in the wake of what

00:39:50.280 was said on CNN about Charlie, um, was just so dispiriting doesn't even begin to capture

00:39:57.400 the feeling, but it, it makes me hurt for my nation that this is their response and that

00:40:03.920 they couldn't appreciate that half of the country at least was not appreciating the, the

00:40:09.020 patriotism, the love of country, the, the spiritual grounding of someone like a Charlie

00:40:17.600 Kirk. Like it's a, it's appalling that you have people who are at the pinnacle of our

00:40:21.880 media platforms, not recognizing what he contributed to this nation. And so that's the part that's

00:40:28.000 maybe most hurtful to me is that I look at this and go, this is a very bad place for our

00:40:32.860 nation. And what I really do hope is that it does represent a turning point that, um, that

00:40:38.100 maybe I should have more faith in the left right now than I do, that they stop and take

00:40:43.260 a look at the kind of rhetoric they're using and how they're describing people who have different

00:40:48.240 views than they do and how they react to the violence done to people who have different

00:40:54.780 views than they do. Because we saw this with president Trump and we see it now with Charlie

00:40:59.040 Kirk. And I really hope that it will cause some reflection deep in the soul of some of

00:41:04.900 the people who have said untrue and really deeply irresponsible things about him in the

00:41:11.940 last few days. And even today.

00:41:14.920 I wouldn't hold your breath, Megan. I hate to, I hate to be that guy, but I wouldn't hold

00:41:20.160 your breath given the, the reaction that we've seen, as you said, I don't, I don't even want

00:41:23.880 to give it attention, but the reaction after Charlie was shot by mainstream left-wing outlets

00:41:31.520 is so unconscionable. I'm not even going to say what, what they said. Uh, I, I share your

00:41:38.560 sense of, um, dispiritedness by, by, by that fact, because it, it's, it reminds me of the

00:41:45.720 John Dunn poem, you know, no man is an island entire under himself. You know, each man's death

00:41:50.640 diminishes me because I'm a man. And, and the, one would hope that our countrymen, people

00:41:59.340 who are in our political community would feel that about basically anyone, certainly any

00:42:05.380 innocent person who was killed and especially about a figure as important, as, as significant,

00:42:13.720 as, as such a wonderful force in the culture as, as Charlie Kirk. And the, the, the fact that

00:42:19.280 some people on the left don't, don't feel that way and have already articulated that they don't

00:42:26.060 feel that way. I guess there's a kind of a dual sadness that sets in on the one hand, because of

00:42:32.160 the injustice to Charlie and to his family and to his friends. And on the other hand, because of what

00:42:37.720 it says about our political community or, or lack thereof, I guess it leaves open a question. Do,

00:42:44.620 do we still have a political community? I hope we do.

00:42:50.240 And he was building that. And I think that's what we need to remember about Charlie is that he changed

00:42:53.900 a lot of minds. And that's why, um, he was, let's say feared by some on the left, because he was

00:43:00.820 somebody who had the talent and the persuasiveness and the intellect, and most importantly, the wisdom,

00:43:07.560 the spiritual wisdom to communicate the truth in such a way that it changed hearts and minds.

00:43:13.540 And that is what earned him some of those political enemies that he had was because he was a force to

00:43:18.200 be reckoned with. And so, you know, that's something that I also take comfort in that I I'm going to

00:43:23.160 look at his legacy and go, how do I emulate what Charlie Kirk was accomplishing there? And I think he

00:43:28.500 accomplished it, um, better than anyone else in his generation. Certainly.

00:43:33.900 What happens now to that movement? I mean, you, as you mentioned, he was building this movement that

00:43:39.220 was, it was certainly a conservative movement. It was a right-wing movement, but to some degree,

00:43:43.860 it transcended a traditional left-right in as much as he was building a new coalition,

00:43:50.520 a broader coalition. He was extraordinarily influential in President Trump's re-election

00:43:56.140 and President Trump won the popular vote as a Republican for the first time in 20 years. So I

00:44:00.520 think, uh, there is no overstatement at all to say that Charlie was, was really building something

00:44:05.960 broader than, than the old kind of desiccated right wing. Uh, and he was the guy, he was the guy for 0.95

00:44:12.600 that. And so I guess my, my question is, where does it go from here?

00:44:17.400 Well, you know, you, you can't replace a talent like Charlie Kirk. I think there's a reason that

00:44:24.260 we don't often see figures arise on the scene the way that he did, because we don't typically

00:44:30.360 see people with that level of skill and ability. But what he did do was impart those skills and

00:44:36.920 abilities and that talent to some degree, to so many people who loved him and followed him.

00:44:41.040 And so I think that what we're going to see is a continuation of that because look, the people who

00:44:46.180 came into TPUSA faith, who came into TPUSA, that energy, that love of country is still there. And

00:44:53.740 they're going to want to carry out that mission. And in fact, what I think is that you're going to

00:44:57.700 see a redoubling of that mission. And I, I, I hope and pray actually that this incident, and I know

00:45:04.820 that Charlie would hope and pray this opens some eyes to what the reality of our political

00:45:10.840 and spiritual battle is. And I think that it will, I think there will be a lot of people

00:45:14.300 who will suddenly hopefully be arrested and realize this is what the rhetoric of the left does. This

00:45:22.580 is what this man was fighting against. He wanted a unified country, a peaceful country where people

00:45:29.900 like him, other people with, you know, families and young children could thrive where they could pursue

00:45:36.520 their dreams. And I think that you're going to see a young generation now that looks to him

00:45:41.780 as the model of that. So, you know, in that bizarre way, I'm also hopeful that I think maybe I'm a

00:45:48.380 more hopeful than you are, Michael, but I do hope and pray that this opens up some eyes. And I think

00:45:54.480 it will. And I think those who were already in the TPUSA family who already went to the conferences,

00:45:59.420 I think they're going to continue to redouble their efforts. And I really do believe that

00:46:03.940 this is going to convince some people that, gosh, I don't want to be a part of a movement or a

00:46:10.660 political party or an ideology that doesn't recognize the goodness of someone who was a

00:46:17.720 patriot, who loved the Lord and was working hard to ensure that we all had access to the kind of

00:46:24.360 success that he achieved. Yes. And I want to be clear, what we're discussing is the reaction in some

00:46:31.740 quarters from people who didn't like Charlie. And, you know, that is being particularly dispiriting.

00:46:38.240 But what remains an open question is how this happened. Because I know there was a lot of

00:46:44.860 misinformation flying around social media. Last I checked, authorities have still not apprehended

00:46:51.500 the shooter. The shooter is still at large. The shooter was not in the immediate vicinity of the

00:46:57.040 event, but was reportedly some 200 yards away. Are you hearing any new information about him,

00:47:06.680 any potential arrests or any explanation? No, not yet. And, you know, in the time that we've been

00:47:14.180 here on the air, I haven't had a chance to check. But the last I heard was the gentleman that we saw

00:47:18.820 arrested who was down on the ground. An older gentleman looked maybe about 60, balding with white hair

00:47:25.480 that he was is not currently the suspect. And so we don't know who did this. So all I can look to

00:47:32.940 is, as I said, some of the rhetoric that I've heard in the last few days. And I'm actually praying

00:47:41.360 for people like Van Jones and people at MSNBC who have been saying these things that that was not a

00:47:46.440 factor, because I wouldn't want that on my conscience if it was. But I think at the very least,

00:47:51.180 we can say that kind of irresponsible rhetoric needs to be dealt with. They need to look in the

00:47:55.960 mirror and realize that what Charlie Kirk stood for was vigorous debate and discussion and certainly

00:48:02.760 not dishonestly tagging his political opponents with labels that they did not deserve and certainly had

00:48:11.080 never earned. Yes. So, you know, that's all I can hope for at this point is that it causes some

00:48:17.560 self-reflection. Meg, thanks so much for coming on. Wonderful to hear your thoughts on this.

00:48:23.020 We are going to turn back now to Cabot, who has some updates on the situation. Cabot?

00:48:31.740 Do we have Cabot yet? We don't have Cabot yet. For those of you who are just tuning in,

00:48:37.560 you've probably heard the news already. Our friend Charlie Kirk has died. He was shot at a campus event

00:48:44.620 at a university in Utah. His shooter is still on the run, last we checked. The president has

00:48:54.660 confirmed his death. He wrote, the great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead. No one understood

00:49:00.300 or had the heart of the youth of the United States better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by all,

00:49:05.140 especially me. And now he is no longer with us. Melania and my sympathies go out to his beautiful

00:49:10.280 wife, Erica, and family. Charlie, we love you. We turn now to Cabot. Cabot, any updates?

00:49:20.160 I don't have you, Cabot. I see your mouth moving, but I don't hear you.

00:49:26.700 I still don't hear you. They'll work on the technical side and hopefully be able to bring Cabot in

00:49:31.800 with an evolving situation. The reports first came out some hours ago that Charlie had been shot at a

00:49:39.240 campus event. He regularly holds these events on campuses, ironically, to have an open discussion

00:49:46.900 and to hear out people's ideas. And there is where someone wanted to silence Charlie and has

00:49:54.060 silenced Charlie for now. The part of this that I think is really jarring to a lot of us and is

00:50:03.920 causing an unyielding anger, is that there are a lot of hucksters in politics. There are a lot of

00:50:11.040 people who take cheap shots. There are a lot of people who treat politics merely as a game of points

00:50:18.980 to be scored. And there's always point scoring in politics. But Charlie, consistently, from the

00:50:25.380 beginning on down, was so gracious to his opponents. He was so generous to his opponents. Didn't try to

00:50:35.520 get the cheap shot. Didn't try to misrepresent what the other person said. Charlie would win debates

00:50:40.980 on campuses and beyond all around the United States by clarifying what the other person would

00:50:47.980 say. By trying to drill down to the heart of what his opponents really believed and to win a debate

00:50:55.160 with the truth. Another aspect of Charlie's public life is that he wasn't just a talking head.

00:51:05.980 And he wasn't just a politician. And he wasn't just a scholar or an academic or something. He had a

00:51:14.080 little bit of all of that. He was intellectually very curious. He was a voracious reader. He was

00:51:21.880 quite articulate and had a massive mainstream media appeal and access. But he was a fighter. He was a

00:51:29.380 real fighter. He wanted to get things done. He understood that prudence is the chief political 1.00

00:51:35.280 virtue. And you got to do stuff. That politics is a practical science and a practical art. And when it

00:51:42.060 comes to practical sciences and arts, you can measure it. You can test it. In the last election

00:51:47.960 cycle, Charlie was given a lot of responsibility to get out the vote. And there were plenty of people

00:51:53.880 who doubted that he can do it, just as he's faced doubters for his entire career, going back to the

00:51:58.480 time that he was a teenager. And what happened? The same thing that happened at every other point when

00:52:04.300 people doubted him in his career, he delivered. He over-delivered. He practically speaking proved

00:52:10.560 his vision correct and his abilities in politics. He was just so more than any other political figure

00:52:19.680 I can think of, certainly from this generation and even in the country, other than I suppose the 0.98

00:52:24.020 president himself. He was so lively. He was so politically lively, in person, in the flesh, moving,

00:52:33.500 doing, shaping, building. We are joined now, I believe, with technical proficiency by Cabot Phillips.

00:52:41.920 Cabot, any updates? Yeah, we're still combing through all the latest reports from the university.

00:52:48.900 Like you mentioned earlier, initially it appeared that the shooter was apprehended. We now know the

00:52:55.320 shooter is at large. Police say they have not recovered the weapon that was used. They still

00:52:59.640 do not know who the shooter is. But right now we are getting footage posted online that appears to

00:53:07.020 show the shooter on the roof of an adjacent building. The university had said this is the

00:53:11.500 building where it happened. We have not confirmed the veracity of this video, but you can see for

00:53:15.460 yourself right there on the screen. There does appear to be a figure up on that roof. Again, we

00:53:23.120 have not confirmed the authenticity of this video, but it is being widely circulated right now online.

00:53:30.020 There is a separate video that has been posted. I don't know if we have access to that one right now.

00:53:34.160 It's only about three or four seconds long, but it's filmed looking from Charlie's vantage point out

00:53:39.500 into the crowd. Right as you see a bullet ring out, you see the crowd begin to scatter. And off in the

00:53:45.640 distance on that same building, you can see a figure running along the roof. That's this video

00:53:49.360 right here, right at the top there. I don't know if we can slow it down in any way, but in that video,

00:53:55.720 you can see what appears to be a shooter or an individual running on the roof. Again, we are still

00:54:00.220 working to confirm those videos and their authenticity, but that is what we're seeing right now.

00:54:07.240 Again, you can't help but think of Butler, Pennsylvania, where you see an individual

00:54:11.560 on a roof overlooking an event like this. You can see the similarities there. Right now,

00:54:17.980 police are still issuing warnings to students, reminding them that the shooter is not in fact

00:54:22.780 in custody. I think a lot of people there were relieved initially to think that they had the

00:54:27.320 suspect. They do not. The suspect is very much at large. The university issued a statement warning

00:54:33.480 students to stay where they are, but if they had not yet evacuated campus and they were trying to

00:54:38.160 get out of campus, quote, police will come and escort you out of the building. So they are clearly

00:54:43.720 very concerned, wanting to make sure that students are not walking around campus. There could still be

00:54:47.880 a threat very present right there. We're getting reports now that there are hundreds, if not thousands,

00:54:53.280 of law enforcement combing through buildings on campus, combing through streets and nearby areas

00:54:59.600 there. But this is, as you can imagine, going to be a nationwide manhunt. President Trump recently

00:55:03.940 also just issued a statement ordering all American flags flown at half mast in honor of Charlie. So

00:55:13.120 President Trump continuing to weigh in there as well. But again, the big news right now, searching for

00:55:18.000 this shooter. It looks like we have video of them, have not verified it, but it looks like we have video

00:55:22.540 of where they were. Where are they now, though? To look at that video, first of all, one asks,

00:55:30.080 assuming the video is legitimate, one has to ask, okay, was the video taken before or after the

00:55:37.200 shooting? If it was taken before, one has to wonder why some security measure wasn't taken. If someone

00:55:43.560 sees a guy lying prone on a roof, why wouldn't someone report this? Was it reported? What occurred?

00:55:49.800 If it was taken afterward, what was that person doing there? When did he run off? I know, Cabot,

00:55:56.520 you're saying this is potentially still a dangerous situation for the students, for the attendees,

00:56:01.220 and obviously it must be treated as such. But I don't think anyone believes that that shooter on the

00:56:08.100 roof poses a threat to anyone. It seems clear enough to me that the person was aiming for Charlie.

00:56:15.200 This wasn't a mass shooting event. This was extraordinarily targeted. It's even more chilling

00:56:23.540 than the assassination of Charlie Kirk would be in any case. It raises so, so many questions

00:56:32.180 about what was behind this, how this could happen. You mentioned, Cabot, that the president has just

00:56:38.340 issued a proclamation honoring the memory of Charlie Kirk. I have it here.

00:56:43.700 However, as a mark of respect, this is obviously from the White House, as a mark of respect for

00:56:48.420 the memory of Charlie Kirk by the authority vested in me as president of the United States by the

00:56:52.100 Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the

00:56:56.020 United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds,

00:57:01.420 at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the federal government in the

00:57:06.020 District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its territories until sunset September 14,

00:57:10.880 to 2025. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all

00:57:17.000 United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all

00:57:24.060 military facilities and naval vessels and stations. In witness hereof, I have hereunto set my hand this

00:57:30.280 10th day of September in the period, in the year of our Lord, 2025, and of the independence of the

00:57:34.960 United States of America, the 250th. This is, of course, in the immeasurable grief that Charlie's

00:57:44.200 family and friends and admirers are feeling. This is an amazing honor that every federal United States

00:57:53.420 flag on planet Earth will be flown at half-staff in his memory and in his honor, and it's a due honor

00:58:00.000 indeed. It absolutely is. We also saw a statement from President Biden come in, President Obama also

00:58:08.680 issuing a statement offering his condolences, saying that, you know, we're still not sure yet

00:58:13.040 what the motivation was for this crime, but we, you know, offer our support. I just lost the full

00:58:19.080 statement, but President Obama chiming in as well. As you can imagine, we have also seen a number of

00:58:25.640 Democratic lawmakers and Democratic folks in the media beginning to weigh in on the gun control

00:58:31.320 side of this. I'll let other people look at that. We're not even going to dignify that right now,

00:58:35.720 but people are getting that angle in as well. But Michael, I think it's, I've loved listening to

00:58:42.060 what you're saying as someone who was also a friend of Charlie. The fact that you talk about

00:58:48.280 his optimism, his just insatiable drive to build what he did, I think a lot of people, especially

00:58:56.480 young people right now, college students, and you spoke to many Turning Point chapters, I've spoken

00:59:01.500 to many Turning Point chapters, the way that the students looked up to him. A lot of them said, yeah,

00:59:05.580 I've been following Charlie since I was in high school, and he's just always been there. But we know

00:59:12.300 Charlie, it wasn't always that way. Ten years ago, he was grinding to build this organization. He

00:59:17.720 was fighting tooth and nail to provide young conservatives with a voice to embolden them.

00:59:24.600 I can't tell you how many college students I met who told me, yeah, the reason I'm involved in all

00:59:29.780 of this, the reason I even feel secure in speaking out about being conservative is because of Charlie

00:59:33.540 Kirk, making it feel socially acceptable. And the number of young people who got to campus and

00:59:40.180 thought, is there anyone else who agrees with me? Can I even be bold enough to speak out? And the number

00:59:45.480 of those young people who looked around, they saw a Turning Point chapter on their campus or Charlie

00:59:49.740 came to their campus and spoke. And then those students said, I can do this. There's other young

00:59:54.420 people like me. I'm going to have the courage to do it. I think that is a legacy that Charlie is going

00:59:59.880 to leave. And I think of some of the early years. Now, I went to virtually every single Turning Point,

01:00:06.360 their big annual conference every year since 2015. The 2015 event was in a little tiny ballroom

01:00:11.060 at a Sheraton. There were maybe a hundred students there. And I went up to Charlie and

01:00:15.320 I said, this is so cool. You filled up a whole room with students. What an amazing accomplishment.

01:00:20.380 And he said, we're just getting started.

01:00:22.940 Yes. Yes. The last time I saw him, I said, wow, how many people is this this time? And you

01:00:28.700 just think the sky in everyone's mind, the sky was the limit. Cabot, thank you very much. We have

01:00:33.640 our friend Ben Shapiro, another friend of Charlie's on now. So Cabot, we'll catch back up with you

01:00:40.240 as there are updates that come in. Ben, your thoughts on a terrible day.

01:00:48.340 Yeah, I can't. I mean, there's legit nothing to say. I mean, it's rare that, you know, there's

01:00:56.000 nothing to say, but there's truly nothing to say. I mean, unthinkable, absolutely unthinkable.

01:01:01.480 I mean, I've known Charlie Kirk since Charlie was 18 years old. And I met Charlie when I was a

01:01:08.200 significantly younger man. I was 13 years ago. So I was in my late 20s. And I was working at

01:01:14.140 the David Horowitz Freedom Center. I met Charlie Kirk when he was a fresh-faced,

01:01:20.000 bushy-tailed youngster who started Turning Point USA legitimately right out of high school. And he'd

01:01:24.520 already found a couple of seed founders, but he's kind of walking around the David Horowitz Freedom

01:01:29.080 Center event looking for donors. And I started introducing him around to donors. And I remember

01:01:32.420 turning to Jeremy Boring, co-founder here at Daily Wire, and turning to him at the time because we

01:01:38.340 both worked there and saying, that kid is going to be the head of the RNC. And I was wrong. He

01:01:42.700 wasn't the head of the RNC. He created his own organization that was significantly more important

01:01:46.620 than the RNC, the most important conservative organization in the country. And Charlie was

01:01:52.180 unendingly energetic, optimistic, a coalition builder. Somebody got better at everything that

01:01:58.700 he did. Truly. I mean, I watched him from his youngest days. He got better at speaking. He got

01:02:02.540 better at debating. He got better at fundraising. He was great at all of these things. But the thing

01:02:08.140 that there's so many kind of layers of horror here, so many layers, where obviously just as a human

01:02:14.500 being, Charlie's a 31-year-old man who believed in God. As a Christian, he believed in Christ.

01:02:22.440 He's with God now. He had a wife and two children, two very, very young children who will now grow up

01:02:28.500 without a father. And when he was a young, single guy, right? I mean, now he's a full-grown adult

01:02:35.680 man with family preaching in favor of marriage and family and religion and all the things that

01:02:40.700 actually matter to all of us. And what does it mean for our country? Truly, what does it mean for our

01:02:47.000 country? When for the crime of speaking freely, having normal debates in public, Charlie lost his

01:02:55.360 life. Charlie was an unending well of energy, just endless energy, bundle of energy, like exhausting

01:03:01.040 levels of energy, actually. And yet, what stopped Charlie Kirk is a murderer's bullet, is an assassin's

01:03:09.940 bullet. We don't know who the assassin is yet. We don't know what the cause of the assassin was yet.

01:03:14.500 I'm sure it will be political because it would be unthinkable for it not to be. But something has

01:03:20.080 happened in our country that is so massively and unbelievably horrifying and dangerous, the murder

01:03:27.360 of a young, beautiful person for the crime of speaking freely and passionately about the topics

01:03:32.460 that matter, is just, it's beyond me. It's beyond, I think, all of us. And it's a symptom of a broader

01:03:40.460 ill in American society, an ill that says that politics are bloodsport, that if you challenge ideas

01:03:49.140 that you're challenging somebody's existence, and therefore you are fair game to be murdered

01:03:54.520 in cold blood, in public, in front of everyone. And we've seen so many instances of violence being

01:04:01.260 excused and looked away, particularly by the political left these days. And it is, I fear that

01:04:08.400 it's not going to end. I fear that it only gets worse from here. That's my fear. It's a moment for,

01:04:13.060 I think, where we could, as a country, say no more of this. We've had periods in American history like

01:04:18.340 this before, the 1960s and 70s being one. And at a certain point, Americans said, no, we're not

01:04:23.140 doing this anymore. But I wonder if the American body politic has the immune response necessary to 1.00

01:04:28.780 stop this massive evil from ever happening again in our country. But then after I have all those

01:04:35.540 sort of political thoughts and all that and kind of meander my way around, what I come back to is

01:04:39.960 poor Charlie. That's really what I come back to. And I understand he's with God now. And I

01:04:43.720 understand that for Christians, that's a cause for celebration. But I just have to say that in my own

01:04:49.620 view of Charlie Kirk, he's a person who deserved 90 more years of life. He deserved to make a

01:04:57.360 difference on this planet in favor of the country that he loved for decades more. He deserved to sit

01:05:02.660 and raise his family. He deserved to be able to bounce his children on his knee and hug them and kiss

01:05:07.800 them goodnight. And whoever is responsible for this, there are no words for the evil that this

01:05:14.800 person has just inflicted on not only Charlie's family, but on the country and made he made the

01:05:20.560 world a significantly worse place today. You know, Charlie, as you point out, was very good at many

01:05:28.540 things and kept getting better and better and better at all of those things, at organizing,

01:05:33.560 at getting out the vote, at fundraising, at messaging, at persuading, at reading, at every,

01:05:39.520 just in everything, at understanding faith, at everything, everything. And the thing, one of the

01:05:45.620 things that he had absolutely been dominating on, had become synonymous with, was open debate with

01:05:53.400 your ideological opponents. Gracious, charitable, open debate anywhere with your ideological opponents.

01:05:59.720 He, a lot of people have done that over the years, but he was the man for that in this moment in, in our

01:06:07.560 time. And one has this sinking feeling. If he did that and he did it so well and they killed that guy, what

01:06:19.440 comes next?

01:06:20.000 Yeah, I mean, I've had this thought myself a lot. Obviously, you know, some of us have been doing

01:06:26.540 that on campuses for a very long time, right? And, and I've been in a lot of situations that felt,

01:06:32.920 you know, not particularly safe. I mean, when I spoke at Berkeley years ago, they, they required

01:06:36.640 something like 500 police officers to quote unquote, ensure my safety. And I always thought it was

01:06:40.540 overkill. I really did. I mean, I had been wearing bulletproof vests at these events for years,

01:06:44.960 specifically because security told me that it wasn't overkill, but I always thought it was overkill. I

01:06:48.700 always thought, you know, this is a great country. This is not a country where people get murdered

01:06:51.900 for just speaking freely about political issues of the day. I had faith in, in America that I grew

01:06:58.280 up in that didn't do this sort of thing that would never tolerate this. Certainly would never celebrate

01:07:02.020 this sort of thing. Certainly would never go on TV and talk about the justification, the emotional

01:07:06.360 justification for, for this sort of thing or go on TV is what we're actually seeing hosts today do

01:07:11.000 and try to, or make excuses or suggest that, that because Charlie had the wrong views that somehow he

01:07:16.220 had, he had contributed to this or this sort of monstrous response. And that's not the country

01:07:21.240 that I grew up in. And so, you know, Michael, you've done it too. Every time you go to a college

01:07:25.020 campus, you'll have friends and family who will say things like, well, don't you feel unsafe? And my

01:07:28.120 answer was always, no, I never felt unsafe. Yeah. Even if I had security, I said, I'm the safest guy in

01:07:32.160 the building. I've got security. I've got a vest. Like, okay. And even when people would, you know,

01:07:36.020 there have been a few instances where someone throws a, an explosive or when someone busts open a door

01:07:40.920 something like that. And, and even then, I guess there's this sense of, well, look, it could never

01:07:45.860 really go South. It couldn't, come on, you know, we're just debating ideas. Come on. We're just

01:07:49.840 giving a college lecture or something. I mean, it's why I, even at this moment, I I'm having trouble

01:07:55.680 accepting processing this. It's impossible to process. It's impossible to process. That's right.

01:08:01.720 Yes. And, and, and now, and now I will say that just on a, on a public policy basis, we just,

01:08:06.960 this is the end of all outdoor public events. Like they're done. I mean, in terms of political

01:08:12.140 events, it's over. And we, we saw the president of the United States almost shot in the head

01:08:15.940 during an outdoor public event. We saw Charlie Kirk murdered in front of all of us at an outdoor

01:08:21.140 public event that that's over. And, and we're going to lose something with that. And we're going to lose

01:08:25.360 something in losing debate. We're going to like something, something is broken in this country,

01:08:29.720 deeply, deeply broken in this country for somebody like Charlie Kirk to just be assassinated again for the

01:08:35.260 great crime of speaking. What used to just be known as sort of traditional conservative values

01:08:42.440 that, that is, that is normal. It's a political assassination. I mean, it's not just a murder.

01:08:47.720 It's a political assassination. It's the worst political assassination in half a century in this

01:08:50.780 country. It really is. I mean, there have been assassination attempts on presidents. Obviously

01:08:55.160 Ronald Reagan was shot. There's an attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Both of them lived.

01:08:58.500 The actual full-scale murder of a 31-year-old superstar like Charlie. Future president.

01:09:05.700 For the, for the great crime of, of saying things on college campuses that people didn't want to hear.

01:09:12.180 Something needs to, something needs to change. Something needs to change. And, and the people

01:09:18.220 who lead that change cannot be people who agreed with Charlie. It needs to be the people who disagreed

01:09:24.020 with Charlie, because I promise you that when the political motivation of the person who did this

01:09:27.320 comes out, it's not going to be somebody who agreed with Charlie. It's not going to be somebody who,

01:09:31.380 who is, who is warm to Charlie's message. It's, it's going to be somebody who is of the belief

01:09:35.960 that because Charlie spoke words, words are a form of, of violence and an erasure of identity. And

01:09:40.520 therefore Charlie has to be silenced. It's, it's, it's horrifying. Nobody should believe that in a free

01:09:46.500 republic. The foundations of the republic, I don't really believe I'm exaggerating when I say this

01:09:51.800 shakes the foundations of the country. Because if we cannot, if we cannot trust each other to have

01:09:56.720 normal conversations in public about basic issues of governance and policy and values,

01:10:03.440 how the hell are we supposed to have a country together? How? It's not possible.

01:10:07.740 That's right. I agree. Ben, I'm going to leave the stream to you. Uh, and I know a lot of people are

01:10:12.720 going to, uh, tune in and be processing this all together. And I'm sure all of us will be praying.

01:10:19.060 Good to see you, pal.

01:10:20.860 Okay.

The Michael Knowles Show - September 11, 2025

Live Reaction： Charlie Kirk, 31, Assassinated

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