The Michael Knowles Show - UNCUT： Charlie Kirk Envisions the Future of Conservatism

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00:00:37.840 Hey guys, so my pal Charlie Kirk was coming through L.A.

00:00:40.780 and I said you cannot leave L.A. before you come into my studio and hang out for at least half an hour.

00:00:46.460 So we covered everything from 2020 politics to Students for Trump to religion and everything in between.

00:00:52.700 Charlie is the founder of TPUSA.

00:00:55.340 He's the head of Students for Trump.

00:00:56.980 He is the host of The Charlie Kirk Show.

00:00:59.000 The guy does everything, and I think he lives on an airplane.

00:01:01.580 If you guys want to keep seeing more of this content, let me know,

00:01:04.220 and I'll invite more of my friends over when they come through town.

00:01:06.980 Enjoy.

00:01:14.620 What's going on, man?

00:01:15.720 Hey, Michael.

00:01:16.140 Thanks for having me.

00:01:16.780 I see you in any city that I'm in.

00:01:20.100 That's where you are.

00:01:21.100 That's correct.

00:01:21.700 You are in four cities a day, I think, and you are living on an airplane for the rest of that time.

00:01:27.520 Yes.

00:01:28.340 I've figured out the metaphysical impossibility of being in more than one place at once.

00:01:32.800 That's incredible.

00:01:33.400 You've got to let me know your secret at some point.

00:01:35.120 Yes.

00:01:36.140 Anyway, thanks for having me.

00:01:37.100 Huge fan.

00:01:37.420 I love listening to your podcast.

00:01:39.060 There's very few things I listen to.

00:01:40.700 Well, thanks, man.

00:01:41.160 I listen to Rush.

00:01:41.600 I listen to Prager.

00:01:42.760 I listen to you.

00:01:43.400 I listen to Ben.

00:01:44.240 It's Daily Wire, Rush, Prager.

00:01:46.120 That's about it.

00:01:46.380 I appreciate that.

00:01:46.920 You know, I actually, not to flatter you, but I both want to flatter you and admonish you.

00:01:53.240 Because usually, you give me a lot of hope.

00:01:55.360 You're flying all over the country.

00:01:56.800 You're spreading this great message of love of country and liberty and freedom.

00:02:01.240 I've gone to a number of TPUSA events.

00:02:03.700 I always have a great time.

00:02:05.400 And then you come out with this op-ed in Newsweek that has me very worried because you say that there are these sleeper cells of socialists who could destroy our country.

00:02:15.760 And nobody is paying sufficient attention to it.

00:02:17.840 That's correct.

00:02:18.820 So, I'm a contrarian by nature.

00:02:21.420 That's just who I am.

00:02:22.320 I suspected that.

00:02:23.540 Yeah.

00:02:23.660 I got that impression.

00:02:24.500 And so, I couldn't be a more firm supporter of the president and what he's doing.

00:02:29.300 I mean, he's saving Western civilization.

00:02:30.880 There's no doubt about it.

00:02:32.300 I mean, his policies, his worldview, he's doing unbelievably well.

00:02:37.620 I have the hat.

00:02:38.640 I don't have the hat.

00:02:39.300 Unfortunately not.

00:02:39.880 It's not on me today.

00:02:40.020 We should have both had mega hats. 0.92

00:02:40.900 We should have had the hats on today.

00:02:41.820 Terrific.

00:02:42.100 Like, he deserves to be convincingly re-elected in a 1972 or 1984 landslide.

00:02:47.620 Yeah.

00:02:48.020 Yeah, I agree.

00:02:48.360 However, he probably won't win in a landslide like that.

00:02:50.820 So, everywhere.

00:02:51.620 Because I think if the election were held today, he would win 57 states.

00:02:55.560 Okay.

00:02:56.480 But you think there's more of a threat.

00:02:59.140 I mean, 57 states.

00:03:00.380 Right.

00:03:00.500 Exactly.

00:03:00.780 Look, so everywhere I go, people are telling me that Trump's going to win.

00:03:05.220 So, when I mean everybody, from reporters to the New York Times to GOP donors, and especially

00:03:10.820 the donors, and the equation works like this is, I like Trump, what he's doing, I don't

00:03:16.000 like his style.

00:03:16.960 Everyone, right?

00:03:17.540 I don't like the tweets.

00:03:17.900 Okay, yeah, fine.

00:03:18.720 Sure.

00:03:19.300 They put that in the box. 0.81

00:03:20.780 But I really hate the Democrats.

00:03:22.820 Democrats are so radical, therefore, Trump will win re-election.

00:03:25.760 This is the A plus B.

00:03:26.780 You hear this nonstop everywhere you go, right?

00:03:29.600 And so, then I say to myself, do I believe that?

00:03:34.420 So, then I'm not just going to digest that pablum.

00:03:38.500 It might be true.

00:03:39.220 There's pablum that's true sometimes.

00:03:41.340 And so, then I say, is this correct?

00:03:44.100 And I say to myself, first of all, I think he should win, but he's up against a massive

00:03:51.460 media machine.

00:03:52.820 He's up against a social media conglomeration that will do everything they can to manipulate

00:03:57.040 the election.

00:03:59.600 And then finally, from based on what I see anecdotally and what I see in the data, I

00:04:03.920 think there are far more people that will embrace radical left-wing ideology than we

00:04:08.700 would ever believe.

00:04:10.080 And so, let's take the college kids. 0.96

00:04:12.280 You speak at a lot of college campuses.

00:04:13.660 You do it really well.

00:04:14.680 You know, this is what we do at Turning Point USA every single day.

00:04:16.620 The most of the college activists that protest you or protest me, you think they're going

00:04:22.720 to go and support Joe Biden?

00:04:24.800 I mean, some might, but they would be out in droves to support Elizabeth Warren and Bernie

00:04:30.580 Sanders.

00:04:31.080 So, I think it's fair to say that if Elizabeth Warren or Sanders gets nominated, someone of

00:04:35.540 that, look, there would be boosted turnout amongst younger voters.

00:04:39.300 Well, boosted turnout on campus throws off all the voter models.

00:04:42.180 Right.

00:04:42.440 One of the main reasons why Hillary Clinton won in 2016 is lower than usual voter turnout. 1.00

00:04:46.580 Youth voter turnout.

00:04:47.560 Right.

00:04:47.780 She had a lot of good dead voter turnout. 0.78

00:04:50.680 That's correct.

00:04:51.080 But she didn't have a ton of youth voter turnout.

00:04:52.080 So, she spiked the deceased. 1.00

00:04:54.740 She did quite well in the deceased community.

00:04:56.660 I think Epstein's going to vote for her this year, actually.

00:04:58.840 Well, I take the fifth.

00:05:00.480 So, look, I believe that there are people, like there are hidden Trump voters.

00:05:05.960 I believe there's hidden socialist voters out there.

00:05:07.740 Yeah.

00:05:07.900 I think this country is way further to the left than we ever realize.

00:05:11.240 And we want to admit, just take how many people vote for the Green Party.

00:05:13.880 If you add the Green Party plus Hillary Clinton's deficit in Wisconsin, she's president. 0.94

00:05:18.580 You know, there is this thing that Hemingway described.

00:05:22.220 He was describing...

00:05:23.060 Ernest Hemingway or Molly Hemingway?

00:05:24.260 Not...

00:05:24.660 I wish it were Molly, but this is Ernest.

00:05:27.180 I like Ernest Hemingway.

00:05:28.020 And what Ernest said is, he was describing someone going bankrupt.

00:05:31.500 And he said, it happened gradually, then suddenly.

00:05:34.520 And I think that's what's happening with radicals.

00:05:36.340 It sounds like such a Hemingway...

00:05:37.880 It's a, yeah, very pithy.

00:05:39.680 It has climax.

00:05:40.960 It has prose, and then boom.

00:05:43.260 And then it hits you.

00:05:44.200 Exactly.

00:05:44.740 This, I think, is what's happening with radicalism.

00:05:47.140 You know, you see these same polls.

00:05:49.340 More than half of young Americans identify as socialist, even though only about 30% can

00:05:53.860 define what socialism is.

00:05:56.160 Five years ago, if you had told me that a man can really be a woman, and that most Americans

00:06:04.140 would think a man can really be...

00:06:05.460 I'd laugh in your face.

00:06:06.740 Nobody would believe that.

00:06:07.640 Yes.

00:06:07.880 And yet, because of the results of a cultural revolution that's going on and on and on these

00:06:12.640 days, if you say that a man cannot be a woman, you could be kicked off of social media.

00:06:18.120 That's correct.

00:06:18.600 You could lose your job.

00:06:19.780 You could be kicked out of school.

00:06:21.160 Things happen gradually, then suddenly.

00:06:23.480 So what does this mean for 2020?

00:06:24.980 Are we at the suddenly precipice?

00:06:26.860 Well, I think it's an inflection point.

00:06:28.040 And I still think Trump is going to win, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure

00:06:31.620 he wins.

00:06:32.360 But I don't like all of a sudden taking victory laps 14 months ahead of an election, which

00:06:37.020 I figure is if that's the tone of the movement right now.

00:06:39.180 I can't go to one place without someone saying that Trump is going to win.

00:06:42.460 I can't find that gathering.

00:06:44.140 And I was like, this is not...

00:06:45.540 This is, first of all, there's no way to win, first of all.

00:06:48.380 I mean, just ask Buster Douglas, okay?

00:06:51.160 Buster Douglas, Mike Tyson, 42 to 1 odds, okay?

00:06:54.020 You think you're going to win, and all of a sudden you lose in Tokyo, okay?

00:06:56.680 And everyone, if that's above your head, good.

00:07:01.800 Okay?

00:07:02.460 I love sports.

00:07:03.180 I think sports are a great metaphor for...

00:07:04.900 I know.

00:07:05.520 The only one we don't allow on this show is soccer.

00:07:07.620 But I guess that's a conversation for another time.

00:07:09.320 Correct.

00:07:09.700 Yeah, it's let the Europeans figure out how to tie. 0.94

00:07:12.600 How could you tie in a sport?

00:07:14.000 I don't understand.

00:07:15.020 How could...

00:07:15.500 As soon as the NFL brought into tying, they also brought in kneeling.

00:07:18.840 I know.

00:07:19.500 Direct correlation.

00:07:20.740 Coincidence? I think not.

00:07:21.400 No.

00:07:21.960 Conspiracy.

00:07:23.380 Collusion.

00:07:23.740 That's right.

00:07:24.220 Collusion against the anti...

00:07:26.680 Meritocracy culture that the left is trying to create.

00:07:29.380 So look, here's the thing.

00:07:30.380 I'm trying to offer some sobriety to our movement.

00:07:32.760 First of all, I think the left is going to be more determined than ever than defeat Donald Trump.

00:07:36.540 I think there's more socialists on the fringe that are going to show up out of pure hatred to destroy this guy.

00:07:40.540 Yep.

00:07:40.660 And I think we have to win.

00:07:44.260 The Democrats don't have to lose.

00:07:46.080 That's a big difference.

00:07:47.220 If we're counting on winning because of how bad they are, we're going to lose.

00:07:51.500 We have to go for the jugular.

00:07:52.760 We have to...

00:07:54.000 And metaphorical jugular.

00:07:55.240 Okay, Antifa, Media Matters people, whatever.

00:07:57.500 I know.

00:07:57.860 They're writing the Media Matters hit piece on you.

00:08:00.340 We're qualifying it.

00:08:01.340 Okay.

00:08:01.820 Right.

00:08:02.640 Metaphor, go for the jugular. 0.97

00:08:04.040 Okay.

00:08:04.900 When Antifa literally goes for the jugular.

00:08:07.220 Okay.

00:08:08.060 That we have to say so boldly and definitively who we are as a country.

00:08:12.520 What does this country stand for?

00:08:13.960 The whole Trump doctrine.

00:08:15.460 The MAGA doctrine, if you will.

00:08:16.920 What is it?

00:08:17.380 What is the MAGA doctrine?

00:08:18.000 Yeah, and I have the book coming out in February, actually.

00:08:20.340 I can't wait to read that for us.

00:08:22.200 Yeah, that was really good.

00:08:23.600 Right there, right in the strike zone.

00:08:25.440 The MAGA doctrine is this.

00:08:26.720 Number one, you have to admit one thing.

00:08:28.760 America is the greatest country ever to exist in the history of the world.

00:08:31.260 That's number one.

00:08:31.960 You don't admit that, you've got some other doctrine.

00:08:33.780 Some Iranian doctrine or something, right? 0.99

00:08:36.440 You're either with us or against us.

00:08:37.760 Exactly.

00:08:38.080 If you believe that, you believe in something else.

00:08:40.240 But I don't know what it is, but you have to first believe that.

00:08:42.800 Number two, you have to believe America has been heading in the wrong direction generally

00:08:46.160 in the last 30 years.

00:08:47.100 It's post Ronald Reagan.

00:08:48.980 So both parties.

00:08:50.880 Both parties have been equally contributing to this.

00:08:53.640 Those are the two things.

00:08:54.780 You believe those two things, welcome to the MAGA doctrine.

00:08:56.740 Because then you have to believe that if we've been heading in the wrong direction and we

00:08:59.360 are the greatest country, then a revitalization is necessary.

00:09:02.700 Now, understanding that a revitalization is historically improbable.

00:09:06.440 Because we're taught in history class that usually there's the arc of civilizations, right?

00:09:10.180 So there's this general upward trajectory, and then you have a little dip, and then you

00:09:13.700 have a small resurgence, and then total decline.

00:09:15.540 Well, then historians would say the 80s was our resurgence, right?

00:09:18.500 Like Reagan was the great again moment.

00:09:20.800 But to have two great again moments?

00:09:22.880 Has that ever happened?

00:09:24.080 So Trump is going up against the historical impossibility to try to fight the endless

00:09:28.860 wars, the corrupt politicians.

00:09:31.160 Essentially, Cicero's Rome is really what he's-

00:09:33.320 Cultural decay, cultural malaise.

00:09:35.060 And so what is the MAGA doctrine?

00:09:37.200 It is what set of policies can I implement that have proven to be timeless in the history

00:09:41.960 of civilization to fight back the decay of civilization?

00:09:44.740 Number one, strong borders and recognition of sovereignty.

00:09:47.260 Number two, a vibrant American working class.

00:09:49.660 Number three, ending the endless wars. 0.99

00:09:51.420 Declaring war in a country that looks at us silly is the dumbest thing. 0.95

00:09:55.080 And Trump is doing this spectacularly well overseas. 0.98

00:09:58.240 What he's doing, ending the Afghanistan war.

00:09:59.860 But even he's had trouble getting out of Afghanistan, out of Syria.

00:10:03.200 Because, look, the permanent military class wants us to be in these endless wars where

00:10:07.480 there is- if you can't define victory, why are you engaged in the conflict?

00:10:11.280 If you can't define a goal, you're right.

00:10:12.980 That's right.

00:10:13.300 Then why would you go in the first one?

00:10:13.720 You ask these five-star generals, well, what does success look like?

00:10:16.380 Well, we have to fight them there so we don't fight them here. 0.99

00:10:18.320 Well, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. 0.98

00:10:20.300 I mean, no way could you create a foreign policy around fighting every enemy around the world 0.99

00:10:25.740 on their own terrain.

00:10:26.560 So anyway, the final thing is this, and this is the most important thing, is an unapologetic

00:10:30.960 defense of our cultural icons, symbols, values, and traditions.

00:10:34.840 That's how you revitalize a country.

00:10:36.600 So the MAGA doctrine is a revitalization, almost a resuscitation of a country that was

00:10:41.400 so going in the wrong direction, cultural decline, economic decline.

00:10:45.180 And so he's turned around the economy.

00:10:46.940 He's defended our core objects and symbols, our flag, our tradition, our symbol.

00:10:50.280 Absolutely.

00:10:51.020 That's probably my favorite thing that he's done, is he's actually spoken at a fundamental

00:10:56.900 and cultural level about the things that we hold dear as a country, the things that

00:11:02.420 we hold sacred together, the flag, our national history, our founding fathers, against a whole

00:11:08.540 leftist culture that tries to tear it down.

00:11:11.140 Let me tell you another thing that he holds near and dear is that we are the best, and we

00:11:14.500 should own it on our sleeve.

00:11:15.820 There's a hierarchy of nations, and we are the greatest country out there.

00:11:18.540 We're the strongest, we're the mightiest, we have the biggest army, but guess what?

00:11:22.220 We're also the most generous, the most benevolent, the most creative, most likely to send people

00:11:26.380 when there's a hurricane, a tsunami, an earthquake, or a flood, we step up.

00:11:29.500 It's not the Belgians that step up. 0.99

00:11:31.000 By the way, we're the most charitable country in the history of the world.

00:11:33.340 No doubt.

00:11:33.960 And so that's what the MAGA doctrine is.

00:11:35.860 And I think we have to talk in terms of, you know, you and I that really get into the

00:11:39.460 nuts and bolts of the philosophy and the economics of all this, I think he doesn't get

00:11:42.940 enough credit for what he's actually done philosophically and on the policy side.

00:11:47.180 So, and going into 2020, it's going to be a referendum on the idea of America.

00:11:52.400 So, a referendum on the idea of America in a sense, are we a nation of victims or a

00:11:56.340 nation of victors?

00:11:57.240 Are we thankful that we live in America?

00:11:58.940 Are we angry that we live in America?

00:12:00.420 Do we love our country?

00:12:01.540 Do we hate our country?

00:12:02.460 That's basically it.

00:12:03.740 Right.

00:12:04.040 And so if Trump frames the debate like this, he will win.

00:12:07.560 He will win, I think, decisively and assertively.

00:12:11.440 And I think, but recognizing that the country we live today is not the country of 1984, not

00:12:17.060 the Orwellian 1984, but the Reagan versus Mondale 1984.

00:12:20.360 But so the question is, what kind of election are we headed for?

00:12:22.880 The conventional wisdom in Republican circles is, boy, this feels like 1972.

00:12:27.020 We're a much different country than we were in 1972.

00:12:29.660 OK?

00:12:30.160 Right.

00:12:30.420 We have more kids going to indoctrination factories. 0.66

00:12:32.740 Demographically, we've changed tremendously.

00:12:34.560 The welfare state is much bigger.

00:12:35.760 The public schools have more of an increase.

00:12:37.000 So the idea that we're going to win a 49-state landslide and we're running against George

00:12:40.980 McGovern, who is whatever, or Walter Mondale in 84, I don't accept the premise.

00:12:45.720 Of course.

00:12:46.180 I mean, you can even look at the Supreme Court confirmations, right?

00:12:49.180 When you have Supreme Court nominees of either party being confirmed by virtually unanimous support,

00:12:55.780 right, until Robert Bork.

00:12:57.500 And then even after Robert Bork, you get a certain, you know, Antonin Scalia enjoyed.

00:13:02.040 It's such a great point.

00:13:02.860 It's such a great point.

00:13:03.760 Now, what about now?

00:13:04.400 But the left is the only one that demagogues Supreme Court nominees.

00:13:08.740 When was the last time?

00:13:09.820 I mean, Merrick Garland was the only time that a Republican stood up.

00:13:12.460 Thank goodness Mitch McConnell did what he did.

00:13:14.120 Now he's up there with Harambe. 0.51

00:13:15.520 But Mitch McConnell did the correct thing with Merrick Garland.

00:13:18.400 That's the only exception.

00:13:19.300 But Bork and Kavanaugh, I mean, boy, do they cause trouble.

00:13:23.240 Clarence Thomas.

00:13:24.100 Oh, my goodness.

00:13:24.920 They tried to publicly destroy him.

00:13:26.400 And in Clarence Thomas' own words, you know, I mean, this was a modern-day lynching.

00:13:30.720 High-tech lynching.

00:13:31.320 That's correct.

00:13:31.740 Right.

00:13:32.460 And they do it.

00:13:33.480 But President Trump, just the other day, he took aim at what we all suspected he was

00:13:39.100 taking aim at, was Sean Hannity, who's a friend of his.

00:13:42.220 But Hannity was covering for Chris Cuomo on CNN because Cuomo was accosted in public and

00:13:48.640 Hannity said, oh, you know, come on.

00:13:49.980 He was called Nero or something.

00:13:51.360 He was called, yeah, what was that word?

00:13:53.100 I forgot.

00:13:53.360 I know it's a joke.

00:13:54.160 The word, oh, Fredo.

00:13:55.380 I called him Nero as a joke because, I mean, I would say that if you're an Italian, it'd 1.00

00:13:59.660 be worse to be called Nero than Fredo.

00:14:01.220 I mean, I would be upset if someone called me Nero.

00:14:03.300 And that is literally the Italian N-word.

00:14:05.460 You just made a great point.

00:14:06.920 You're right.

00:14:07.240 That is the Italian N-word.

00:14:08.800 Oh, God.

00:14:09.020 Literally.

00:14:09.380 I mean, it's actually the Italian N-word.

00:14:10.700 But you can't say that word Nero.

00:14:11.960 That's our word, Charlie.

00:14:13.000 That's our word.

00:14:13.780 What, you Catholics or you Italians?

00:14:15.800 Yes.

00:14:16.340 Okay.

00:14:16.820 Yes.

00:14:17.280 Sure.

00:14:17.680 Now.

00:14:18.200 We own all history.

00:14:19.400 We are the Catholic Church.

00:14:20.660 Okay.

00:14:21.240 Right.

00:14:21.660 Yeah.

00:14:22.040 I know.

00:14:22.220 I love your Martin Luther thing here, by the way.

00:14:23.920 Did you?

00:14:24.220 We could have a whole theological debate here.

00:14:26.280 I know.

00:14:26.580 I love a good rebellion against a corrupt institution.

00:14:30.040 You know, I always try to be ecumenical.

00:14:32.580 I invite even Martin Luther to my set.

00:14:35.620 I'm a living embodiment of this.

00:14:37.140 You are a living embodiment of this.

00:14:39.180 I actually, I.

00:14:40.120 Are you going to communion after or before?

00:14:42.180 I actually, I even, it pains me to do it.

00:14:44.840 I want to pay a compliment to, at the expense of the Catholic Church, to the Protestants. 0.99

00:14:51.100 Okay.

00:14:51.460 In this country, the only religious group that reliably votes the right way are the evangelicals.

00:14:59.240 It's not the Catholics. 0.99

00:15:00.040 Do you know why?

00:15:00.680 Why is that?

00:15:01.120 Because they read the Bible.

00:15:03.980 They do read the Bible more.

00:15:05.300 That's true.

00:15:05.720 But you know what?

00:15:06.060 You know what I actually think?

00:15:07.160 I think half of Catholics.

00:15:07.700 I'm kidding.

00:15:08.180 Half my family's Catholic.

00:15:09.480 I have great respect for the Catholic Church and the Catholic tradition.

00:15:11.760 I really do.

00:15:12.240 You make a great point because this is my issue with the Catholics in America. 1.00

00:15:16.540 Half the Catholics in America, they say they're Catholic and yet they support abortion.

00:15:22.140 And now these days it's abortion up until the moment of birth.

00:15:24.600 The guy in New York, the governor, Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, who allowed for abortion 0.91

00:15:29.560 up until the moment of birth, nominally is a Catholic.

00:15:32.700 Now, that's because they say we're culturally Catholic, whereas you don't see a whole lot

00:15:37.120 of people who are culturally evangelical.

00:15:39.520 You kind of kind of...

00:15:40.200 I call these people chinos, Catholics in name only. 1.00

00:15:42.540 Yes.

00:15:42.920 Catholics in name only.

00:15:44.240 What do you...

00:15:44.840 I mean, you're worried about the socialist sleeper cells.

00:15:48.400 Yes.

00:15:48.500 I'm worried about even beyond the cultural level at the religious level.

00:15:53.080 Sure.

00:15:53.340 We could talk at length about this.

00:15:54.600 You've got a whole generation of young Americans who are...

00:15:58.760 They're not even atheists.

00:16:00.580 They're none.

00:16:01.400 They're religiously unaffiliated.

00:16:03.140 Well, and they've been raised in a nihilistic culture.

00:16:05.360 That's correct.

00:16:06.100 Is there any hope for America if we don't turn around that religious decline? 1.00

00:16:09.920 Well, the answer is more complicated than yes or no.

00:16:15.400 It's hard to see without a strong religious backbone how this country will continue to 0.75

00:16:20.420 succeed.

00:16:21.080 Right.

00:16:21.880 Look, this country is so unique.

00:16:23.940 We take it so for granted, but we are the most diverse country ever to exist in the history

00:16:28.180 of the world, and not just racial diversity, but religious diversity.

00:16:30.700 I mean, and this is so critically important because when...

00:16:35.700 Look, the amount of, whether it be Protestantism or Catholicism or Judaism or Islam or whatever

00:16:43.700 that you could practice in this country...

00:16:44.960 Or Marianne Williamsonism.

00:16:46.180 I don't know quite what that is.

00:16:47.280 I think I have witchcraft, but yeah.

00:16:48.660 Do you have crystals?

00:16:49.800 Do I know?

00:16:50.340 I've got my chakras all over.

00:16:52.300 Do we have a sitar music or a shaman?

00:16:55.560 I think she was a shaman in her previous life.

00:16:57.860 If you don't know what a shaman is, look it up.

00:17:01.700 Look, the church...

00:17:03.980 And look, I will pay a huge amount of compliment to the Catholic tradition because if it wasn't

00:17:08.160 for the Catholics, we obviously wouldn't have the Bible.

00:17:11.020 And two of my favorite writers, Aquinas and Augustine, obviously were in the Catholic tradition.

00:17:14.760 And I think that we could learn a lot of our foreign policy doctrine from Aquinas to

00:17:19.100 the just war theory, right?

00:17:20.440 And I think that we've strayed away from that and that we've gotten to an offensive war theory.

00:17:24.640 And I think that's a really big devolution.

00:17:26.440 But of course, you know, the binary choice of the city of God and the city of man, which

00:17:30.720 I can't if it was Augustine or Aquinas.

00:17:32.860 I can't remember which one.

00:17:33.540 The city of God is Augustine.

00:17:34.860 Was it Augustine?

00:17:35.500 Okay.

00:17:35.680 Yeah.

00:17:35.760 I got him confused.

00:17:36.760 They both started with A's.

00:17:38.260 But they were also a big fan.

00:17:40.180 One was a fan of the other because one came 800 years before the other.

00:17:43.320 But anyway, the point being is that to answer your question about America, the role of the

00:17:49.200 church and the role of religious institutions is so uniquely American because Europe has

00:17:53.720 turned their back on voluntary social construct institutions.

00:17:58.380 So instead, they go to compulsory social construct institutions, government, bureaucracy.

00:18:03.920 And so just from a charitable standpoint, as the church decreases in its role and stature

00:18:09.380 in America, it contributes to a moral decline and where the church is at its best is being

00:18:15.520 able to distill really hard cultural issues and take definitive stances on them.

00:18:20.120 And look no further in the 1980s.

00:18:22.260 I mean, people like to say the alliance of Maggie Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, but people

00:18:25.660 forget.

00:18:26.800 Hold on a second.

00:18:27.540 There was John Paul II, who was also a huge anti-communist.

00:18:31.580 And when he went to Poland, I mean, he helped sow the seeds of the end of the Soviet empire. 0.99

00:18:37.120 Open air mass, million people, and they chant, we want God.

00:18:40.660 That's right.

00:18:41.040 That was the chant.

00:18:42.060 Imagine if you had that.

00:18:43.760 He was a freedom-fighting pope and he gets no credit for it.

00:18:46.820 And importantly, too, he wrote about the evils of socialism.

00:18:51.440 He talked about...

00:18:52.260 In his catechism, he wrote about it.

00:18:53.920 And he wrote in a famous encyclical, Centesi Musanus, he wrote about free markets, open markets.

00:19:00.880 And Leo XIII, another great pope, called socialism a wicked confederacy, called them pests, said

00:19:08.100 it was inhuman, said that it must be utterly resisted.

00:19:12.220 And yet, these days, from some Catholic leaders and some other Protestant leaders, you've seen

00:19:20.100 embrace an idea that Jesus was some kind of hippie socialist.

00:19:24.400 Well, I'm so glad you brought this up.

00:19:25.840 And this is something that I'm going to take on more and more personally in a couple projects.

00:19:28.980 You and I have talked about this.

00:19:30.120 Yeah.

00:19:30.380 Which is, look, I meet more when I go to...

00:19:33.960 And I'm an evangelical, so we have church service more than an hour.

00:19:39.120 So when I go to...

00:19:40.120 Yeah, when I go to the Latin ones, those go on. 1.00

00:19:42.080 Yeah, it goes right on an hour, right?

00:19:43.840 That's you just right there.

00:19:44.980 It's like the Amelie, seven minutes.

00:19:46.640 If it goes more than seven minutes, there's an uprising.

00:19:49.140 It depends on the priest.

00:19:50.320 Some, you want it to go for two hours.

00:19:52.140 Some, like, about four minutes.

00:19:53.560 It's like too much, actually.

00:19:55.280 So maybe they bring it down to three.

00:19:57.160 It's great.

00:19:57.840 I have great respect for the Catholic tradition.

00:20:00.280 But anyway, I travel a lot, and I'll go to a lot of different Protestant churches.

00:20:04.480 But I love, for me, I'm actually contrarian.

00:20:08.880 In my church selection, go figure, I find more intimacy in mega churches.

00:20:12.800 So I like really, really big churches.

00:20:15.520 I actually find more of a connection.

00:20:17.220 It's kind of that old Gatsby thing.

00:20:18.540 The best place to feel, you know, the most lonely place in the world, the most connected

00:20:22.460 place in the world, can be in a big party.

00:20:24.340 Of course, yeah, yeah.

00:20:25.020 And so I love the lights, and I love the praise.

00:20:28.160 I love it.

00:20:28.880 What about the music?

00:20:30.320 I'm such a big fan of it.

00:20:31.520 I can't, okay.

00:20:31.760 The Hillsong music, the Bethel music, all for it.

00:20:34.500 Isn't that Hillsong guy like an atheist now or something? 0.95

00:20:37.300 That was one of the praise leaders.

00:20:38.840 He is going.

00:20:39.480 We'll pray for him.

00:20:40.300 We'll pray for him.

00:20:41.040 Fair enough.

00:20:41.440 That's the right answer.

00:20:42.080 But look, so I'll go and I'll mingle afterwards, and I'll tell you, Michael, the young churchgoers,

00:20:49.720 there's a lot of left-wingers and a lot of socialists that are amongst this evangelical

00:20:53.900 Protestant community.

00:20:55.620 And this is really, really, really concerning because it is the corruption of theology for

00:21:00.900 political means.

00:21:01.580 And so I like to say I go to, I grew up in the Presbyterian church, and I grew up in the

00:21:05.780 more leftist part.

00:21:06.920 The Presbyterian church is divided into two.

00:21:08.100 It's the FPCA and FPCUSA.

00:21:09.940 Right.

00:21:10.020 And I get them confused, but one of them's super liberal, and one of them's pretty good.

00:21:13.560 I grew up in one that's super liberal.

00:21:15.040 And so I went five years ago, and I felt like I was watching Rachel Maddow with organ music.

00:21:20.960 It was like watching MSNBC, you know, while in between scripture readings, where they would

00:21:27.180 say all political stuff, basically, you know, we have to pray for our country and this horrible

00:21:31.940 president and all this sort of stuff.

00:21:33.560 And then they would use theology and scripture to justify that.

00:21:36.420 It was really bizarre.

00:21:37.060 You know, I do have a little bit of hope on this, though, because I agree.

00:21:40.160 I was raised in the Catholic Church, which became very left-wing, openly left-wing, especially

00:21:46.040 after Vatican II.

00:21:47.420 And you had a watering down of the liturgy, and you had a lot of kind of feel-good stuff.

00:21:52.900 The theologian Reinhold Niebuhr described it as a God without wrath leading a people without

00:21:57.840 sin into a kingdom without judgment.

00:21:58.500 You love your German theologians, I guess.

00:22:00.280 So there you go.

00:22:00.680 Through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross. 0.85

00:22:04.260 And this kind of soapy religion, I think, chased a lot of people away.

00:22:08.720 Sure.

00:22:09.720 Now, when I go to church, because a lot of Catholic masses are like 45 minutes, 50 minutes.

00:22:15.000 That's what I'm saying.

00:22:15.520 It's the drive-by.

00:22:16.720 But, you know, you go to those.

00:22:18.120 And when I go into those, I find it's the blue hairs.

00:22:21.500 It's the older people. 1.00

00:22:23.320 There aren't a lot of people in there anyway.

00:22:25.180 A lot of people aren't going to the sacraments. 0.71

00:22:26.840 It's the priest is telling jokes like a ham actor.

00:22:30.600 Then I go to the Latin mess. 1.00

00:22:32.160 Latin mess. 1.00

00:22:32.780 In a language that nobody reads anymore.

00:22:34.480 It's an hour and a half long.

00:22:35.540 It's got smells and bells.

00:22:36.880 It's actually, you have to go to confession.

00:22:39.320 There's a real encouragement of the sacraments.

00:22:41.880 It's all the young people. 1.00

00:22:43.480 It's the average age is probably 25, and somehow they've all got 10 kids already.

00:22:46.760 I don't know how that, mathematically, I don't even know how that works.

00:22:49.200 This seems to me that there is, at least at a small level, this longing among young people for reality.

00:22:57.900 For order.

00:22:58.340 For order, for orthodoxy, for truth.

00:23:00.980 And, you know, you go to these college campuses, I go to college campuses.

00:23:04.900 We'll just say basic truths.

00:23:06.380 I gave a talk at University of Missouri, Kansas City.

00:23:08.700 It was called Men Are Not Women.

00:23:10.260 It's about as basic as it gets.

00:23:12.120 People filled the room.

00:23:13.760 Why did they do it?

00:23:14.440 Because in a culture that's gone mad with fantasy, with delusion, with saccharine sentiment,

00:23:21.540 people long for the simple statement of reality.

00:23:25.480 You know, I think Trump does this very well, too.

00:23:26.960 That's exactly right.

00:23:28.020 And so, to the other point about kind of the, this is something that we have to encounter head-on,

00:23:33.140 is within our own Christian ranks, and the Catholic Church has already gone through this,

00:23:36.760 and I think it's actually coming back, but the evangelical ranks, we have not lived through this yet.

00:23:40.700 And we're starting to see it through some fights in the Southern Baptist Convention.

00:23:44.440 We're seeing it through others where it's becoming left, it's becoming very leftist.

00:23:47.840 And there's open conversations like, well, Jesus was a socialist.

00:23:50.540 Hold on a second.

00:23:51.620 Jesus was not a Marxist, okay?

00:23:53.380 And you and I could talk at length about this parable of the talents.

00:23:56.300 He detested politics.

00:23:57.800 He was savior of the world.

00:23:59.080 Not running for Roman council.

00:24:00.520 Minor details.

00:24:01.140 The divine logic of the universe.

00:24:02.200 Yeah, right, right.

00:24:02.780 It's just minor theological differences in details.

00:24:05.220 But, I mean, even the scene when he chastises his followers for criticizing his having expensive perfume put on them.

00:24:16.240 That's right. 0.95

00:24:17.020 I mean, just that scene alone should dismiss this silly, modern, Marxist view of hippie socialist Jesus.

00:24:24.520 Well, he was also speaking individuals helping individuals, and the individual's pathway to the salvation.

00:24:29.180 So, what gets misconstrued, not misconstrued, I think it's actually because they intentionally misinterpret the theology because you actually go back, if you read John, for example, go back to the original Greek, there's no way you could possibly interpret it as such.

00:24:42.520 Where the left will try to say, well, Jesus was talking in terms of collective and all this.

00:24:46.880 He really wasn't.

00:24:47.860 I mean, you talk about a lot of his parables.

00:24:50.540 He was talking as you as the individual.

00:24:52.820 So, the good Samaritan, you have to go outside of your comfort zone to help somebody that you might not want to help.

00:24:59.380 Like, that's, it's not go call DHS and they're going to, you know, come and some bureaucrat's going to go do good for you.

00:25:05.660 Or, I don't, I must have missed the parable or I must have missed the part in the gospel where Jesus said, you know, go form a government bureaucracy and, you know, have a committee that meets from nine to five every day.

00:25:17.440 Pool your resources in a widely inefficient way.

00:25:20.640 I must have missed that whole thing.

00:25:22.420 You know, it occurs to me, you're speaking obviously very in religious terms and this is traditional for conservatives, especially in that post-war conservative movement.

00:25:31.840 You had the libertarians, the traditionalists, the religious right.

00:25:34.780 You had the communism hawks.

00:25:36.780 They were all against this common enemy which was the Soviet Union.

00:25:41.060 The Cold War ends.

00:25:43.540 Then what?

00:25:44.200 What does the conservative movement look like now?

00:25:47.360 Such a great question.

00:25:48.520 So, the Soviet Union kept them all together. 0.81

00:25:52.000 That's why Reagan was able to build this coalition in 1980 and take over the party that he wasn't supposed to ever be at the nominee of.

00:25:58.420 Right.

00:25:58.740 I mean, in 76, Reagan tried to overthrow sitting President Gerald Ford in 1976 and he got to the convention floor and sort of half endorsed him, didn't really endorse him.

00:26:09.040 But Reagan was a rebel and the reason why people thought Reagan was going to lose in a landslide to Jimmy Carter and he won surprisingly.

00:26:15.400 Sound familiar?

00:26:16.360 And then all of a sudden, he was the one that crushed the Soviet Union. 0.93

00:26:19.460 So, what is our Soviet Union today?

00:26:20.940 Well, it's the left in our country.

00:26:23.000 The Soviet Union is no longer headquartered in Moscow.

00:26:26.040 They're in Montana, Michigan, Mississippi, and Missouri.

00:26:28.040 They're everywhere.

00:26:28.940 And only on the university campuses.

00:26:30.760 Right.

00:26:31.020 Well, it's the epicenter of it.

00:26:32.040 And then in Hollywood and all this other.

00:26:33.740 So, look, the coalition that we have to build, though, that Reagan got correct and Trump gets correct.

00:26:40.240 And I feel that our movement gets wrong so often is we have to break, and you understand this, we have to break our shackles away from these coastal elitist universities and these think tanks that think that if you're a carpenter, a pipe fitter, or you didn't go to four-year college, you're somehow less than worthy to be engaged in the American conversation.

00:26:59.180 Right.

00:26:59.460 That's where Reagan was successful.

00:27:01.280 That's where Trump is successful.

00:27:02.640 And I feel as if there's this elitism that permeates our movement, where all of a sudden that if you didn't go to the correct university in the upper northeast corridor, any opinion you have is what?

00:27:12.400 Well, it's deplorable.

00:27:13.360 It's all this.

00:27:13.780 And the left says it.

00:27:15.520 Our people don't.

00:27:16.560 But you know what it is?

00:27:17.400 It's also an emperor has no clothes situation because having gone to one of those correct universities in the northeast corridor.

00:27:24.920 And I didn't go to one of them.

00:27:26.060 And you didn't go to one of them.

00:27:27.280 I didn't go to any of them.

00:27:28.060 You didn't go to any of them.

00:27:28.980 But you do have an honorary degree.

00:27:30.460 Yes, from Liberty University.

00:27:31.280 From Liberty.

00:27:31.940 Everybody should go to Liberty.

00:27:33.060 A great university.

00:27:33.600 Yes.

00:27:33.820 But, you know, having gone there, I can kind of see what's happened to it, what the left has done to these universities, which is to hollow them out from within.

00:27:43.580 So it's not to say that there's nothing to be gained at any of these places, but what it is to say is the institution that's hobbling around and it looks like Harvard or Yale and it talks like Harvard or Yale, it isn't what it used to be.

00:27:56.200 The left has gone on a long march through the institutions.

00:27:58.200 And so what you are getting in the end is something that's simply not as academically serious, scholarly, scholarly rigorous.

00:28:09.100 You're not getting that same quality of education.

00:28:12.440 No.

00:28:12.580 And so you have whole generations who are uneducated, uncultured, and they're so damn convinced that they're the smartest people in the world.

00:28:18.860 Yeah, but they're hyper-credentialed.

00:28:20.000 Hyper-credentialed.

00:28:21.100 So they have all the degrees, but they know nothing.

00:28:23.300 Right.

00:28:23.560 And they often have a lot of student debt.

00:28:25.120 Right.

00:28:25.620 So they're in debt, they're vulnerable, and they have degrees up the wazoo, and there's no wisdom, there's no knowledge, there's no history, no perspective.

00:28:34.080 No humility.

00:28:34.780 No.

00:28:35.060 Well, definitely not.

00:28:35.740 They're constantly wrong, but they're never in doubt.

00:28:37.760 That's exactly right.

00:28:38.560 And so you mix all this together.

00:28:40.360 So look, here's what the movement moving forward is.

00:28:42.500 Number one, we have to dominate in the libertarians.

00:28:44.500 I know you and I might not see eye to eye in all this, but that's okay.

00:28:46.340 I'm a little less libertarian.

00:28:47.620 That's okay.

00:28:47.960 But I do see the point.

00:28:49.860 Do we, I mean, this is my question to you.

00:28:51.560 Sure.

00:28:51.860 Do we need to hold together the exact same coalition?

00:28:53.940 No, we have to rebuild a new one.

00:28:55.320 Okay.

00:28:55.700 And so my coalition is, number one, I think we have to, libertarians, I think those are ours to get.

00:29:00.420 These guys hate government, personal freedom, and there's robust conversations we can have about all that sort of stuff.

00:29:06.020 There's stuff that we should not compromise on.

00:29:08.160 So, like, a pro-choice libertarian, sorry, not going to happen, right?

00:29:11.760 Yeah, not welcome.

00:29:12.740 But, like, if you want to go put some substance in your body that I've never done and I don't even know where to find, go ahead.

00:29:18.160 Like, I don't care, right?

00:29:19.080 As long as you have something to share.

00:29:20.360 Yeah, absolutely.

00:29:20.860 You know what I'm saying?

00:29:21.800 So that's one.

00:29:22.680 So libertarians, those are our people, okay?

00:29:24.460 We shouldn't lose that.

00:29:25.660 Number two is any sort of person that has religion as a core part of their day or their life.

00:29:33.720 Their identity.

00:29:34.260 These are our people, okay?

00:29:36.780 And it should be actually a four or five.

00:29:38.240 Number three, the other part of the coalition, is people that wake up before 7 a.m.

00:29:44.860 No, I'm not kidding.

00:29:46.480 Every human being in America that wakes up before 7 a.m. should be a Republican.

00:29:50.820 Well, that's good.

00:29:51.620 And then we should limit the vote to be over at about 8 a.m., and then we win.

00:29:55.520 No, I'm not kidding.

00:29:56.020 And I say that somewhat jokingly, but if you're getting up early and you've got to really muster some strength to go to work, you're one of us.

00:30:04.280 I don't care if you're a carpenter, a teacher, a pipe fitter.

00:30:07.280 You're not a leftist.

00:30:08.120 Even a hedge fund manager.

00:30:08.980 No, but, okay, of course.

00:30:10.400 But, again, there's 50 of them, okay?

00:30:12.260 That's fine.

00:30:13.020 But I'm talking about the 50,000 teachers in Missouri that we've never talked to, and they're working their tail off, right?

00:30:19.780 And, again, this comes to this hyper-elitism.

00:30:21.440 So if you're waking up early and you've got to really fight and you've got to—you're our people.

00:30:26.320 I want our party to be the hard-work nation party.

00:30:30.960 That's us.

00:30:31.620 The final thing is the doctrinaire conservatives.

00:30:33.960 And there's about 8 or 10 million of these people, and they're the ones that listen to Ben, they listen to Rush, and, you know, they're the Tea Party folks.

00:30:40.740 They buy all the books.

00:30:42.180 Those are our folks.

00:30:42.960 I love those people, right?

00:30:43.980 And that's our coalition.

00:30:44.960 Okay.

00:30:45.220 If you combine libertarians, which our generation is coming in Greece and libertarian, religious, hardworking conservatives, that's 65 million people.

00:30:54.940 You'll win any election you can with that.

00:30:56.560 Let them go after all the people that sleep until 10 and do whatever the hell they want.

00:31:01.680 Like, I don't care about those people, right?

00:31:03.000 I do care about them.

00:31:04.080 I don't care about their votes.

00:31:05.020 Like, I don't want to build a—let me make myself go.

00:31:06.820 I care about them as people.

00:31:08.060 I don't, like, I don't want to build a political party around people that sleep all day and do nothing.

00:31:12.260 Of course, yeah.

00:31:12.980 I mean, they're not really reliable when you need to go out and knock on doors and hand out bomb cards.

00:31:15.720 But you know what I'm saying.

00:31:16.420 Right, of course.

00:31:17.320 That's a movement, I think, that can have robust debate and can be one that can win the future and make our country a better place.

00:31:23.740 First, looking at 2020, it looks to me there are three big vulnerabilities.

00:31:31.440 One is that Hillary Clinton is a uniquely detestable candidate. 1.00

00:31:35.540 And so if even someone like Joe Biden, who I think is a total doofus, even he is like, I don't know, he's Elvis Presley compared to Hillary Clinton. 0.85

00:31:44.820 I mean, even he is a pretty cool guy.

00:31:46.700 You got that.

00:31:47.940 You have the prospect of economic difficulty.

00:31:51.320 I mean, we've had an incredibly long bull run.

00:31:53.640 Obviously, we're engaged in a tough trade war with China right now.

00:31:56.680 There is the prospect that the economy falters.

00:31:59.180 And three, the wall.

00:32:02.160 We were promised a big, beautiful wall.

00:32:04.280 We want the big, beautiful wall.

00:32:05.600 I want the wall.

00:32:06.240 We all want the wall.

00:32:07.500 And yet, there is not yet new border wall.

00:32:11.460 Though there may be because of that Supreme Court decision that allowed for 100 miles that might get some of it built before 2020.

00:32:17.800 But more likely not.

00:32:20.000 Are those vulnerabilities insurmountable?

00:32:23.740 No, they're not insurmountable.

00:32:24.960 You don't think any?

00:32:25.540 If the economy tanks?

00:32:27.120 Well, I'm not.

00:32:28.500 If.

00:32:28.780 I don't think it will.

00:32:29.980 But if the economy tanks, I still think Trump can win.

00:32:32.540 Okay.

00:32:32.740 But I don't think the economy will.

00:32:33.880 I mean, the fundamentals are too good.

00:32:35.620 And so, look, we have a community of economic hypochondriacs.

00:32:40.540 So, I mean.

00:32:41.280 It's a good way to put it.

00:32:42.220 Where these people are trying to convince themselves that there's a recession.

00:32:46.260 And so, you know what the problem with hypochondriacs are?

00:32:48.780 Eventually, you're going to get sick because you're trying to get sick.

00:32:51.680 You're right.

00:32:52.180 And at least, eventually, you're going to be right.

00:32:54.000 What?

00:32:54.240 I mean, right, exactly.

00:32:55.220 Mommy, I'm sick.

00:32:55.880 No, you're not.

00:32:56.300 Go to school.

00:32:56.900 Mommy, I'm sick.

00:32:57.600 No, you're not.

00:32:57.920 Go to school.

00:32:58.680 Okay.

00:32:59.060 Finally, the 95th time, you actually might have the flu.

00:33:01.860 Yeah.

00:33:02.240 But here's the thing is, the funny thing about recessions is you can talk yourself into a

00:33:05.760 recession.

00:33:06.340 I mean, remember, if you read von Mises' human action, I mean, that's all the economy is.

00:33:10.480 It's multi-trillions inputs of human action put into one thing that we call the economy.

00:33:15.080 Right?

00:33:15.240 There's no such thing.

00:33:16.140 You can't touch the economy.

00:33:17.460 Every little piece is the economy.

00:33:19.120 Right?

00:33:19.500 But all of a sudden, you have 10 million people that change their behavior.

00:33:22.560 Then all of a sudden, you can create a recession.

00:33:24.300 And that's what they're trying to do.

00:33:25.140 They're trying to propagandize the American public to create a recession ahead of this. 0.76

00:33:28.320 I mean, Bill Maher said it would be worth a recession-

00:33:30.740 That's correct.

00:33:31.380 ... to kick Trump out of a recession.

00:33:32.100 So you know what that means?

00:33:32.980 That he wants to see people suffer.

00:33:34.700 Yeah.

00:33:34.840 Because that's how much he hates Donald Trump.

00:33:36.220 Yeah.

00:33:36.360 He wants to see people that wake up over 7 a.m. in Idaho and in Illinois, he wants to see

00:33:41.120 them have a horrible Christmas.

00:33:42.880 Yeah.

00:33:43.180 So that he can make sure that he can be right at a cocktail party.

00:33:46.140 And guess what?

00:33:47.180 For Bill Maher out there, he would be fine in a recession.

00:33:49.960 Of course. 1.00

00:33:50.080 People will keep coming to his stupid comedy routine. 1.00

00:33:52.260 Mm-hmm. 1.00

00:33:52.500 People will still be watching his show.

00:33:53.840 He'll be just fine.

00:33:55.000 I mean, but guess who won't be fine?

00:33:56.580 The people that Donald Trump, who has made their lives better.

00:33:59.120 No, of course.

00:33:59.420 And so, look, I don't think- there might be an economic slowdown.

00:34:02.400 I think that's possible.

00:34:04.280 Look, I think that the bigger- I think there's, of course- I think the left is going to try

00:34:08.000 to throw some surprises.

00:34:09.280 And I think China is going to heavily try to interfere with this election.

00:34:12.100 So, look, I think China, through their proxies, through North Korea, through any sort of way

00:34:16.280 that they can jab at Trump and make him look- not in reality, but make him look wrong,

00:34:21.600 they're going to do it.

00:34:22.280 You think that Russia interfered in our election through a couple troll farms?

00:34:25.100 Just wait till you see what China is going to try to do. 1.00

00:34:26.680 And, you know, historically speaking, this is something the left doesn't understand.

00:34:30.160 Throughout the Cold War, we would play China off Russia and Russia off of China.

00:34:35.120 And so, when Russia was the big threat, we would maybe open up China, go play some ping-pong 0.93

00:34:38.840 with them, play them off of Russia.

00:34:40.440 Now, it would seem that China is the bigger threat. 0.94

00:34:42.920 We might play Russia off of China, and yet then we're told-

00:34:45.840 These people have been Russian dubs for a hundred years. 1.00

00:34:48.600 That's right.

00:34:49.280 Since the Russian Revolution.

00:34:50.320 And they've never apologized for their support of the Soviet Union.

00:34:52.420 I mean, but ever since the Russian Revolution, a hundred years ago, they've been telling us

00:34:55.780 Russia's no big deal, Soviet Union- 0.92

00:34:57.620 I've seen the future and it works.

00:34:58.880 And now the one time that Russia is actually a de-emphasized role.

00:35:02.600 Now, Russia- I mean, if you actually look at the Russian model right now, they have an 1.00

00:35:05.780 aging population.

00:35:06.860 Yeah.

00:35:07.200 They have one-third our population.

00:35:09.660 They have huge social problems.

00:35:11.580 I mean, just real big social problems.

00:35:13.620 They produce next to nothing.

00:35:15.260 I mean, they don't-

00:35:15.620 They just produce those dolls inside the little dolls inside the little dolls, I think.

00:35:18.800 And they're less of a threat than they ever have been.

00:35:21.480 Now, do I think we should be dovish on China?

00:35:23.000 No.

00:35:23.220 Russia? 0.61

00:35:23.620 I'm like, no.

00:35:24.700 But now, all of a sudden, they're the Russia hawks?

00:35:26.700 Right.

00:35:26.980 Now they're worried about Russia?

00:35:28.620 Like, Adam Schiff?

00:35:29.440 Are you serious?

00:35:30.240 Right.

00:35:30.480 Meanwhile, you have China, who is cheating on our trade deals, who's illegally subsidizing- 0.57

00:35:34.920 They're about to mow down Hong Kong protesters.

00:35:36.780 Yeah, who's on the verge of mow down Hong Kong. 0.97

00:35:38.000 They have Muslims in concentration camps.

00:35:39.820 You notice how quiet the left is when China locks up Muslims in concentration camps?

00:35:43.140 Actual concentration camps?

00:35:44.640 Yeah.

00:35:45.000 Not holding detention centers?

00:35:45.840 Well, because they're not in Arizona, so they don't-

00:35:47.040 Well, that's right.

00:35:47.720 But those aren't real concentration camps.

00:35:49.540 But the other thing that's really interesting about-

00:35:51.940 So, you kind of go through what I call-

00:35:53.740 First, they tried to say, well, it's the Russian collusion.

00:35:57.540 That didn't work.

00:35:58.100 And they tried the racism stuff, and that didn't work.

00:35:59.780 Now, they're trying the recession thing.

00:36:01.200 You know, after all the R's, right? 1.00

00:36:02.460 Yeah.

00:36:02.580 And it's going to-

00:36:04.860 The thing that is so improbable at the Trump presidency is his ability to withstand adversity.

00:36:10.120 I mean, if you and I were doing this show eight months ago, all we'd be talking about

00:36:13.820 is Bob Mueller.

00:36:14.640 That's right, Mueller.

00:36:15.840 It's Mueller time.

00:36:16.660 But, like, we just forget about it.

00:36:18.160 It's Mueller time. 0.68

00:36:18.620 I mean, all we talked about is Bob Mueller for two freaking years. 0.82

00:36:22.060 Right, more than that. 0.89

00:36:22.780 And now I can't turn on the cable news.

00:36:24.880 Rachel Maddow, what happened?

00:36:26.520 Like, all she talked about was Bob Mueller for two years.

00:36:28.720 Because they couldn't remember his own name at that congressional testimony, so now it's over.

00:36:32.340 We are so bad at this as conservatives, because we're filled with the Holy Spirit, and we

00:36:36.700 believe in mercy, forgiveness, atonement, and all these great things.

00:36:39.520 We just move on.

00:36:41.100 We should seek revenge for them for what they've done to us.

00:36:44.240 Are you kidding me?

00:36:45.280 This is the book of Charlie.

00:36:46.480 No, but, like, I'm a-

00:36:47.620 I feel you, man.

00:36:48.960 I'm a Christian.

00:36:49.900 I am, and I'm struggling.

00:36:51.220 I'm having a very serious, you know, human and divine struggle here, because I should

00:36:57.900 forgive the left, but a part of it's like, no!

00:36:59.920 Well, you know what it is.

00:37:00.500 Are you kidding me?

00:37:01.360 I'll give you a little Sicilian advice.

00:37:03.340 Revenge is a dish best served cold.

00:37:05.620 That's right.

00:37:05.980 We've got to serve it in November 2020.

00:37:07.560 Speaking of that, before I let you go-

00:37:08.900 There's going to be a horse head and somebody's-

00:37:10.220 There's going to be-

00:37:10.800 I need to know your, speaking of horses, your horse race bets on the 2020 Democrats.

00:37:19.180 Who gets it?

00:37:20.340 Who's rising?

00:37:21.680 Could any of them be-

00:37:22.360 Biden will not be the nominee.

00:37:23.480 You don't think so?

00:37:24.240 I think Warren will be the nominee.

00:37:26.060 Warren is raising a ton of money.

00:37:27.880 Ton of wampum.

00:37:28.900 Heap ton of wampum.

00:37:29.520 So you have to-

00:37:30.440 Hierarchy of what the left wants.

00:37:32.980 Number one thing they want, they want to beat Donald Trump.

00:37:34.440 That's the only reason why Biden was up in the polls.

00:37:36.600 Warren is surging because she's starting to make the argument that she can beat Donald Trump.

00:37:39.860 Yeah.

00:37:40.800 She's angry all the time, but she's good.

00:37:43.380 She's like thoughtful angry, right?

00:37:46.180 She's not like Marianne Williamson angry where she's off on some sort of extraterrestrial-

00:37:52.780 Another plane of existence.

00:37:53.680 Right.

00:37:53.960 You don't really understand what I'm saying, but if you understood it, then go to MarianneWilliamson.com

00:37:59.020 and put in your horoscope.

00:38:00.380 Harness love.

00:38:01.540 Exactly.

00:38:02.740 Harness crystal.

00:38:03.600 Yes.

00:38:03.900 You should have her on the show. 1.00

00:38:04.860 That would be great.

00:38:05.220 I would love it.

00:38:05.840 So, but the other thing is that she gets, she's more populist and has more grassroots 1.00

00:38:12.880 energy than most of the other Democrats, and I think that will prove to be very valuable.

00:38:16.760 It's amazing that a Harvard law professor, the whitest woman to ever live who pretends 1.00

00:38:21.140 to be an Indian for 30 years, she, and I agree with you, she genuinely does have a more

00:38:25.560 No, she has a following.

00:38:26.620 She legit, and I think Bernie will fade away, and I think Bernie will name her as the heir

00:38:31.040 apparent of his revolution.

00:38:32.240 She already stole all his plans.

00:38:33.240 Right, exactly.

00:38:34.020 Well, she has a plan for that too.

00:38:35.580 But I think, I don't think it'll be Biden.

00:38:38.160 He has no spirit.

00:38:38.960 He has no charisma.

00:38:39.720 He has no stamina. 0.79

00:38:41.280 He's a total gaffe machine.

00:38:43.380 Does Warren pose a threat to Trump?

00:38:45.060 I mean, instinctively I say no, but yet-

00:38:48.820 We have to take everybody seriously.

00:38:50.380 Yeah.

00:38:50.520 If they nominated Pete Boot edge edge, if they nominated Robert Francis O'Rourke, every

00:38:54.920 one of them pose a threat.

00:38:55.900 What about Eric Swalwell, though?

00:38:56.780 He's all of us.

00:38:57.460 So he's the biggest threat of all.

00:38:58.840 Yeah, he dropped out.

00:38:59.800 Yeah, he's really spectacular.

00:39:02.140 But look, you have to take all of them seriously is what I'm saying.

00:39:04.660 And I say this as probably one of the most loyal living human beings to Donald Trump.

00:39:09.460 Yeah, you're pretty out there.

00:39:09.680 Okay?

00:39:09.980 Yeah, I mean, you're pretty strong for Trump.

00:39:11.520 And I'm as loyal as it gets, but I'm also trying to be honest with the followers and the

00:39:16.120 audiences.

00:39:16.700 All of them we have to take seriously.

00:39:18.280 Yeah.

00:39:18.480 Elizabeth Warren will play for keeps. 0.99

00:39:20.760 She'll do whatever it takes.

00:39:21.860 The left will do whatever it takes.

00:39:23.000 And if we begin for a micron to underestimate the left, oh my goodness, forget about it.

00:39:27.480 Like, for instance, if we think that Elizabeth Warren gave us something, she would take it

00:39:31.540 back.

00:39:31.880 I don't remember what the term is for that, but she would do it.

00:39:34.040 She absolutely would do it.

00:39:36.240 Now, you're out there fighting hard every single day.

00:39:38.760 I always love going to TPUSA events.

00:39:40.740 Thank you.

00:39:41.120 We got a lot of warriors.

00:39:42.720 You got a lot of warriors.

00:39:43.680 You got a big one coming up in December.

00:39:45.460 It's going to be the next big one.

00:39:46.300 A couple things that I'll shamelessly plug.

00:39:47.880 Please.

00:39:48.240 That's what you do on shows like this.

00:39:50.300 First of all, everyone should buy a leftist tears mug.

00:39:52.340 So I'll plug your thing.

00:39:53.800 Number one, you can go to Charlie Kirkshaw on Apple Podcasts.

00:39:56.580 Please press subscribe if you like what you have to hear.

00:39:59.280 If you've heard, please do that.

00:40:00.660 Number two, we have our Turning Point USA event in December.

00:40:04.160 It's our Student Action Summit.

00:40:05.340 We'll have thousands and thousands of students.

00:40:06.160 It's an amazing event.

00:40:07.220 Thank you.

00:40:07.600 I had such a good time last year.

00:40:08.800 It's a blast.

00:40:09.320 Thank you.

00:40:10.300 TPUSA.com slash SAS.

00:40:12.360 And look, we're on the front lines of the culture war.

00:40:14.960 And I'm also running Students for Trump, which is a non-Turning Point USA thing.

00:40:19.000 It's a Turning Point Action thing.

00:40:21.200 501c4 organization.

00:40:22.220 So I'm going to be running that.

00:40:23.480 Look.

00:40:23.980 That was a disclaimer for all the lawyers out there.

00:40:25.420 That's what I'm saying.

00:40:26.100 For all the people, all the Media Matters trolls.

00:40:28.160 I try to say that.

00:40:28.740 I'm not careful with this stuff.

00:40:29.720 That was just for you.

00:40:30.860 But look, we got to get this president reelected.

00:40:32.960 It's the most important.

00:40:33.760 In our lifetime, there's going to be moments where, like, this is where we either saved

00:40:37.940 or we've lost the country.

00:40:39.600 And that's what one of these things are.

00:40:41.160 And remember, you hear, well, this is the most important election of our lifetime.

00:40:43.840 Do you know why you're able to say that each time?

00:40:45.620 Because we get further and further away from our founding vision.

00:40:49.720 Right.

00:40:50.020 And that's why it's so important we win this election.

00:40:52.260 And you're playing a huge role in it.

00:40:53.500 And thank you for your compliments towards our president.

00:40:56.380 Because it doesn't go unnoticed.

00:40:58.000 And we need more of it.

00:40:59.180 And this president is saving Western society.

00:41:01.520 And just together, we're going to help him every way we can.

00:41:03.980 I know.

00:41:04.220 I've worn my hat all the way out.

00:41:05.560 So I need to go buy a new hat.

00:41:07.060 Good.

00:41:07.200 Charlie.

00:41:07.580 Thanks, Michael.

00:41:07.780 You are the man.

00:41:08.660 Go check out The Charlie Kirk Show.

00:41:10.960 And I look forward.

00:41:12.180 I think I'm going to be on that soon, too.

00:41:13.260 Yeah.

00:41:13.700 So I can't wait.

00:41:14.620 We'll do this.

00:41:15.100 But I'll be sitting in the chair.

00:41:15.920 I'll be interviewing you.

00:41:16.560 But yeah, you'll be sitting.

00:41:17.440 I don't know.

00:41:17.640 You'll be on an airplane somewhere saving America.

00:41:19.740 Charlie Kirk, everybody.

00:41:31.520 This Men's Mental Health Month, CAMH is confronting a silent crisis.

00:41:36.100 Did you know men account for 75% of all suicide deaths in Canada?

00:41:39.700 Many struggle alone, held back by stigma.

00:41:42.260 But there is hope.

00:41:43.460 CAMH is on the front lines pioneering breakthroughs and expanding access to compassionate support.

00:41:48.300 Your donation fuels its vital work so no father, son, brother, or family is left behind.

00:41:52.940 To join us in building better mental health care for men across Canada, visit CAMH.ca slash support men.

00:41:59.140 That's C-A-M-H dot C-A slash support men.

The Michael Knowles Show - August 24, 2019

UNCUT： Charlie Kirk Envisions the Future of Conservatism

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