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00:00:00.160 News that rocked America. Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, shot and killed at the age

00:00:06.480 of 31 while speaking at Utah Valley University. One of the most visible young conservative voices,

00:00:12.960 leading Turning Point USA and mobilizing Gen Z conservatives across America. Loved by many,

00:00:19.280 loathed by many as well, his views on civil rights, guns, gender and immigration sparked

00:00:24.720 fierce debate. But what he did was spark fierce debate, which is where we come to conclusions

00:00:31.680 and we come to solutions. Today, we break down what happened, why it matters,

00:00:35.440 and how his legacy will be remembered. And we'll do it with TPL's very own Brian Jadon.

00:00:49.120 Well, Brian, thank you so much for joining me today to talk about this tragic

00:00:54.720 incident. Yeah, it's actually horrible. I didn't find out about it until late yesterday afternoon.

00:01:01.200 I was I was on my way home, funny enough. And I had listening to a podcast and suddenly I was flipping

00:01:09.920 through. I see Charlie Kirk shot and I thought it was I thought it was a gag for clicks. That's what

00:01:15.280 I thought it was. And I turned it on and there was Megan Kelly speaking to Glenn Beck and they were both

00:01:24.240 in absolute tears. So I continued to listen. And by the time I got in the door and turned on the news,

00:01:30.240 it was it was everywhere. And it was it's probably one of in my lifetime. And I'm not a young man.

00:01:39.440 This is the biggest tragedy I've ever come to encounter. When you think about you think about

00:01:46.720 Kennedy. That happened before I was born. Think about Reagan. I was too young to understand.

00:01:52.720 And he survived. And he survived. You think about Trump and he survived. And we forgot all about that.

00:01:58.720 And everyone let their guard down for a little while. And you had this young man who's been doing

00:02:03.360 this who's created a movement with Turning Point USA since he was 18 years old. And I remember

00:02:10.880 watching him as a kid. And I was wondering, who is this awkward looking, tall, gangly kid that

00:02:18.240 he had such an ability to articulate an opinion and a position even at that age? And I thought he was

00:02:24.480 going to go somewhere for sure. And there there he was. You follow him through his lifetime. And we

00:02:30.000 literally watched this guy grow up over the past 10 years, 13 years. Yeah, he's been doing this.

00:02:36.560 He's been very he was one of the most vocally active youth that I recall in my lifetime.

00:02:43.840 Certainly out there on topics that are tough. These are not easy topics that he would address.

00:02:49.120 And he did it with the cadence of all right. Now, if you disagree with me,

00:02:54.400 head to the front of the line, because I want to hear what you have to say.

00:02:58.320 Maybe I'm going to miss something. Your opinion matters more to me than mine. And that was a

00:03:04.800 you know, a position that not many people who are ready to debate their own philosophies or their own

00:03:10.720 theories on how a country should run and how people should behave and how society should be set up.

00:03:16.400 Those are all dangerous topics. And he did them fearlessly and still listen to the opposition.

00:03:21.520 He created discourse, something that has been lost over the past 25 years, I would say from the time

00:03:30.720 you look at when Clinton got in, suddenly it was we can't talk about this. We can't talk about that.

00:03:36.080 We can't talk about this, whether it was don't ask, don't tell, don't talk. And this has been going on

00:03:40.640 for a long time. And Charlie Kirk was the only young man that I've seen that came out with,

00:03:47.680 he had a velvety voice. And when you listen to him, he had a great delivery, a great delivery.

00:03:56.160 And he got everyone to listen. And he got everyone to question. And he questioned everybody.

00:04:01.120 Charlie Kirk wasn't the guy that went, you need to listen to me. This is what I have to say,

00:04:05.360 because I'm right, you're wrong. He didn't do that. He said, tell me why you're right. And I'll tell

00:04:09.840 you why I disagree with you. And that is lost completely. You can go to every other, I don't

00:04:15.760 want to, I hate this left and right thing, but I'm going to say it just for the way, for the

00:04:19.360 conversation now. You can go listen to the, the young Turks, for example, and you, they're yelling 1.00

00:04:24.880 and screaming at the top of their lungs. I'm right. I'm right. I'm right. Everybody's wrong.

00:04:29.360 And Charlie Kirk wanted to speak to the individuals. And that's where he connected.

00:04:34.960 That doesn't exist in a lot of realms of our society anymore. There is no, I believe this.

00:04:41.200 Well, okay. Well, tell me why. Well, I, this is what it is. Okay. Well, I don't agree with you.

00:04:46.560 And here are the reasons. And you could walk away from watching Charlie Kirk speak and go,

00:04:51.040 well, he made some good points, made some bad points. I still disagree with him. But

00:04:54.320 what a great conversation. What a great conversation. What a meaningful debate. You know,

00:04:58.720 it's so funny because he, one of the things that he said that I think really, I'll give you the

00:05:03.600 top four, if you don't mind, of things that really set a fire when he said them. The Civil Rights Act

00:05:10.480 of 1964 was a huge mistake, he said, claiming it produced permanent DEI type bureaucracy and

00:05:17.280 undermined constitutional freedoms. Now, whether you believe the sentiment or the accuracy or the

00:05:24.400 efficacy of that, it is definitely an on the edge discussion to have in society. It's not a

00:05:31.120 comfortable moment, but he had it. And you know, whether you agree or disagree with it,

00:05:37.200 it is definitely a topic that only he, as far as I know, was willing to get out there and talk about,

00:05:44.240 and took the heat required to make him really think it through. And he changed his positions on occasion

00:05:51.840 based on the opinions that came back. He said gun deaths are an acceptable cost of preserving the 0.84

00:05:58.240 Second Amendment, likening them to traffic fatalities. That I'm seeing a lot of being reminded

00:06:05.920 on Twitter and the other social medias right now. Sorry, X. He opposed gender affirming care for 0.87

00:06:11.680 transgender people. And he argued that there are only two genders, calling transgenderism lies that

00:06:17.600 hurt people and abuse kids. Everybody leapt to that one in a big way. The left became incensed over it.

00:06:27.440 He stood by it to the very end, asking people, convince me that I'm wrong with science, convince me

00:06:33.200 that I'm wrong with psychology, give me a different position. He promoted the great replacement conspiracy

00:06:40.480 theory, arguing that immigration policies and demographic changes are being used to reduce

00:06:45.120 white political power. Once again, whether you believe it or not, he would produce the data and 0.88

00:06:53.120 the extrapolations to think that through. I will tell you, almost none of these resonate with me.

00:07:00.960 However, in each of these cases, he made a compelling argument on his own behalf.

00:07:06.800 He did a fine job of it. He did it in a way that people could understand and comprehend in simple

00:07:14.720 language. He didn't hold himself above anyone else. And now the real question is, aside from all of

00:07:20.880 those topics that are often labeled conspiracy theories or whatever else, the question remains, why?

00:07:27.600 Why? Why Charlie Kirk? Why that day? Why him? There are hundreds of other people that for, I don't want to get into any,

00:07:39.520 this isn't to be negative, but there are lots of other people that could have been considered before him.

00:07:45.040 Yeah. And I think he was chosen to go down this way because he had connected with so much youth

00:07:53.360 and he was about to shape the next 20 years of America. He started at 18. If by the time he was 50,

00:08:01.040 he had mobilized his base into a voting base, he was on his way to being president.

00:08:07.280 Brian, his current prime audience, Gen Z, has risen up and taken over Nepal, is rising up in different 0.99

00:08:17.760 parts of Europe over immigration. Gen Z is a dangerous, dangerous group to these governments. 1.00

00:08:26.160 And I have to wonder if there is something to what you're saying. Do we need to take Gen Z down a 1.00

00:08:35.200 notch? Now, if that was the mission, I'm going to tell you, it did not work because both the left

00:08:40.640 and the right are in turmoil over this and Gen Z is going to start to fight with itself again,

00:08:47.600 rather than listening to debate, rather than trying to have normal discourse on topics.

00:08:54.160 And that's good for politics because you want two parties always. You don't need one party that

00:09:00.000 comes together. And by the way, that's often viewed as communism if it's run a certain way.

00:09:05.280 And so if you're going to try to stop Gen Z from participating with such fervor behind somebody

00:09:12.560 that is bringing up the Christian right, removing him is not a bad first move.

00:09:17.520 No, if that's the intention. If the intention is to overthrow the sensibilities of America and the globe

00:09:25.120 and Gen Z in general, then, yeah, somebody made a move. But I don't think that's possible. I think that 0.98

00:09:31.360 Gen Z is actually poised to start talking again. I think the sacrifice that Charlie Kirk made 0.90

00:09:40.000 will open up the debate. There are crazy people out there saying crazy things about this.

00:09:46.080 Amazing on both sides, how this became so polarizing and so horribly, horribly offensive.

00:09:51.680 The man was shot in front of his wife, Erica, and they have two children. Those people were there.

00:09:58.880 This young life was extinguished. This dad is gone. This husband is gone.

00:10:04.720 And what remains at the moment is horrible, horrible polarity over the death of a father and a husband

00:10:13.600 who was a citizen hard at work, whether you liked his politics or not.

00:10:17.760 This is a turning point, just like the name of it. And it's almost how prophetic that is and

00:10:29.440 that it would be this way. It's almost like it will add gas to the fire in this group.

00:10:37.280 I let's let's take away the gas to the fire analogy, because I don't necessarily agree with that. I think

00:10:42.640 that what what what what we have here, I'm hoping that this we have this massive fire going on right

00:10:50.640 now. We're so polarized left and right. And we see it every day. But I'm hoping that what we're going to

00:10:57.200 run into here is more more like a giant oak log in a fireplace. It starts to smolder for a little

00:11:03.040 while. And we get to watch it and we just get to watch it burn down. And everything will come to

00:11:08.880 ashes at once. And we'll finally be back on the track where we're talking about issues that matter

00:11:13.920 like, oh, I don't know, like health care. Like, why don't we talk about our taxes? Why don't we talk

00:11:19.120 about inflation? Why are we talking about all of these things that don't really matter in the grand

00:11:22.720 scheme of things to most people, the average person? Why are we always going so far to one side

00:11:30.160 to shout the other person down over things that don't matter? I don't care how you live your life.

00:11:34.000 I say this all the time, that pendulum swings way too far, way too fast back and forth from

00:11:40.240 polar north to polar south. And in the middle, the point is lost. And as you reach the pendulum peak

00:11:48.320 on either end, you hear the loudest shouting, emptiest bells. And you know, it's one of those points where

00:11:56.400 we need to find ourselves having these discussions in the middle, even if they're painful, even if

00:12:02.880 they're opposing. You and I have very different views on many things. I don't think that there's

00:12:09.840 any reason for us to lose friendship for the rest of our lives over it. And if that's the case,

00:12:15.760 it's likely the case overall. I think that polarity comes with extreme emotion. And the more that we put

00:12:23.840 into that emotion, the more we're going to swing back and forth on that pendulum.

00:12:28.240 Well, but no one's been taught how to hold their emotions. No one's been taught. It is,

00:12:34.240 we live in a world of decadence where we think we have these entitlements that we don't actually have.

00:12:40.080 I came from a family that arrived in our country with nothing. You know, my father got off a boat

00:12:46.880 at 15 and went to a coal mine, right? And he worked hard. And I was taught how to man up,

00:12:52.960 shut up, right? Be polite. Don't do this. Don't do that. Right. Remain stoic. Listen to what other 0.59

00:13:00.240 people have to say and be as happy as you can. Because if you're not happy, then nobody else is

00:13:06.080 happy. So start everyone, the whole planet, start by making yourself happy and stop trying to worry

00:13:13.360 about making everybody else in this massive group happy. People live in echo chambers of their own

00:13:21.680 pious thoughts or thoughts that they think are virtuous in their own sense. And I would urge

00:13:28.640 people, especially in the light of a Charlie Kirk incident or anything else tragic that occurs

00:13:35.440 that revolves around politics is to remember the humanity therein and not to make a tragic,

00:13:42.560 horrible, psychotic act of murder anybody's property except for the murderer and the poor victim.

00:13:50.320 Agreed. Now, can I just, I'm going to jump ahead for a second here because there's something that

00:13:54.400 dawned on me earlier today. Do you not find it interesting that Charlie Kirk was assassinated

00:14:02.560 the day before 9-11? Well, many things make me feel like this was a very targeted, professional,

00:14:11.760 execution. I have to be honest with you. My first reaction, I don't know if our producer Nick was

00:14:18.800 here when I walked in the room. The first thing I thought when I heard the news was,

00:14:23.840 wow, this sounds like an op. He got opt. That's exactly what I thought because the news that came out

00:14:32.080 was a shot from 200 yards. Okay. Well, you know what? On a good day and I'm, I love guns and I love to

00:14:40.320 shoot. On a good day, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from 200 yards. Duly noted. I'm not

00:14:46.880 going to be on the receiving end even at 200 yards when you're playing out there. And then if you look at

00:14:51.760 the shot, I was listening to someone who was in media this morning. He was a professional sniper

00:15:00.720 in the military. And he said, the shot that was taken, Charlie Kirk was wearing body armor. The

00:15:05.040 shot that was taken was aimed at his heart because any sniper knows that that's where all the wheels

00:15:12.240 are. That's the wheelhouse. And if something goes through the wheelhouse, you're done. Trying to make

00:15:16.320 a headshot is a low percentage shot. And it's been said that that bullet struck Charlie Kirk's body

00:15:21.120 armor and then ricocheted into his neck. That is a bit of the replay that we're seeing now.

00:15:26.720 It looks either like the shot came and I hate analyzing it because it makes me so sad every

00:15:32.080 time I see it, but it looks like the shot comes up and through the shoulder. So if it ricocheted up and

00:15:39.680 through his neck, that would make sense to me. But what didn't make sense was a clear shot that way

00:15:46.240 and the bullet going up. So anyway, uh, we will follow the investigation and we'll follow up on

00:15:52.880 this, but, uh, we wanted to take a couple of moments just to analyze what initially had happened

00:15:57.760 and how people are feeling. Um, you know, certainly if you have comments, we'd like to hear them, uh,

00:16:04.000 thoughts that you think from either side need to be shared. Uh, but I will caution you not to use this

00:16:10.400 as a point of discussion in favor of your beliefs, because it is a tragedy. There's just no two ways.

00:16:20.160 Everyone do your best to continue the dialogue. It'll take 10 men to replace Charlie Kirk.

00:16:27.200 That's the bottom line. It'll take 10 men and 10 women to replace Charlie Kirk. That's how many people

00:16:34.160 it's going to take to, to recreate that voice. So continue to have the conversations. Don't stop having

00:16:39.760 the conversations. Don't be scared of the conversations, but don't react to this horrible,

00:16:46.560 horrible, savage violence that we're seeing from whomever is planning it out. It is a true, true

00:16:53.600 tragedy. And I hope that your generation, Gen Z, I hope that you wake up and you start to behave like 1.00

00:17:03.760 grownups and find love and respect for one another and everything that you have, because you should

00:17:13.120 be grateful for the world that we live in. It's a very, very special place and we should guard it

00:17:17.840 with everything that we have. I'll vote for you. Thanks, Shadan. I appreciate it, man. No problem.

00:17:24.240 A tough discussion, uh, still to be had, I'm sure. And, uh, we, I will be honest with you,

00:17:30.240 our hearing from both sides with some pretty strong opinions, but, uh, on behalf of TPL media,

00:17:38.080 uh, to the family and friends of Charlie Kirk and to you, if you're grieving, uh, we are sorry. And,

00:17:45.120 uh, your condolences, uh, uh, we'll send our condolences to you and to that family. Um,

00:17:51.280 so, you know, hang strong. And, uh, as Brian points out, keep the message in the dialogue going,

00:17:57.040 even if it's just with us. All right. We'll catch you next time. It's the daily canceled TPL media,

00:18:02.560 share it with a friend, like us, hate us comment, but, uh, certainly subscribe. Thanks. See you next time.

The Tragic Death of Charlie Kirk： A Turning Point for America？

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