Verdict with Ted Cruz - Remembering our Friend, the Great Charlie Kirk

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.660 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.260 Welcome.

00:00:05.960 It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:08.880 It's nice to have you with us wherever you are around the country.

00:00:11.960 And this is one of those just somber shows.

00:00:15.080 Senator, you and I actually have not gotten to talk

00:00:17.420 since the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk,

00:00:21.320 a dear friend of both of ours.

00:00:23.120 You've known him for over a decade like I have.

00:00:26.540 You've broken bread with Charlie.

00:00:27.980 We have actually done Verdict live at Turning Point events down in Florida.

00:00:33.320 You've spoken at other Turning Point events as I have as well.

00:00:36.740 I saw him not too long ago, and we just talked about our kids.

00:00:41.480 And I think about his kids, and I think about his wife and this tragedy,

00:00:45.920 and it makes me so sad that this is where we are in this country,

00:00:50.640 that there are people that believe that this is the way to do things.

00:00:54.780 And I want to get your reaction to that as well.

00:01:00.720 Look, I'm heartbroken.

00:01:04.660 Charlie was a good friend, as you noted.

00:01:08.240 I've known Charlie for over a decade.

00:01:11.040 I met him when he was 18 years old.

00:01:13.000 He was a young kid.

00:01:14.280 He was coming out of Chicago.

00:01:16.460 He was just starting Turning Point.

00:01:18.460 He had this vision.

00:01:19.280 And he had this vision for energizing young people.

00:01:22.440 And he was, as an 18-year-old, Charlie was impressive.

00:01:25.740 You could see how smart he was.

00:01:27.720 You could see how driven he was.

00:01:29.720 You could see the clarity of vision that he had.

00:01:37.120 He knew exactly what he wanted to do to energize young people.

00:01:40.540 And it was something that, when he first started talking about it, a lot of people disbelieved him.

00:01:45.940 I've got to say, this week was a really hard week.

00:01:49.240 It was, number one, it was the anniversary of 9-11.

00:01:52.720 And that is a national tragedy that you and I both lived through and lost friends in 9-11.

00:02:01.520 But then, this week, out of nowhere, watching, first seeing the tweet of shots fired, and then Charlie Kirk shot, and then the fog of misinformation.

00:02:16.960 I'll tell you, as soon as I saw just the tweet that he may have been shot, I pulled out my phone and texted him.

00:02:24.040 And I just said, hey, man, are you okay?

00:02:26.840 I'm praying for you right now.

00:02:28.460 And I didn't know then if he was – it's hard to tell when the first tweet goes out what the truth is and what was not.

00:02:35.060 I was obviously hoping maybe there had been a shot fired, but it had missed him.

00:02:39.000 It wasn't clear he had been hit at the time.

00:02:40.700 So I was really hoping I'd get a text back.

00:02:43.520 Yeah, I'm fine.

00:02:44.260 I'm here.

00:02:45.280 Obviously, I did not get a response to that.

00:02:48.800 You know, I talked to Charlie just a few weeks ago.

00:02:52.320 And it's – I've got to say what happened.

00:02:56.080 And it is evil.

00:02:59.120 It is wrong.

00:03:03.440 Just about everyone I know is really shaken up by it.

00:03:07.780 And I will say one of the worst parts when it happened, pretty quickly, the video got out there on X of his being shot in the throat.

00:03:18.980 And it was – I'm sure you've seen the video.

00:03:22.500 It's a graphic video.

00:03:24.920 And on X for me, it was on autoplay.

00:03:27.320 So, like, I kept seeing the same thing over and over and over again.

00:03:31.260 Like, you couldn't look at X without seeing it autoplay.

00:03:35.000 I don't think in my life I've ever seen a friend of mine be killed.

00:03:40.880 And the afternoon it happened, I watched him shot and killed over and over and over again.

00:03:49.600 And it's just screwed up.

00:03:51.200 I mean, he was extraordinary.

00:03:56.560 And he leaves a big legacy.

00:03:58.540 And on Verdict today, we're going to talk about that legacy.

00:04:00.980 We're going to talk about who Charlie Kirk was.

00:04:02.800 We're going to talk about what he meant to me, to you, what he meant to millions across the country. 0.99

00:04:09.540 And what – I've got to say, Ben, what the hell is wrong with this country that you have lunatics who say, I don't like what you're saying, I don't like your politics, and so I'm going to murder you? 0.97

00:04:26.160 I mean, this played out almost exactly like the attempted assassination of President Trump and Butler with a gunman, with a rifle on a roof. 0.99

00:04:38.160 And had President Trump – had his head been two inches to the side, he would have been killed that day.

00:04:45.780 And Charlie was.

00:04:50.480 It's beyond horrific.

00:04:51.980 Yeah, it is a moment that I wish I could never remember, but you said it the best way.

00:05:00.680 It was there.

00:05:01.360 You saw it.

00:05:02.120 You watched one of your friends get gunned down, cold-blooded murder, assassinated in this way.

00:05:07.320 And it is something that, as you said, what is wrong in this country where we can't have a grand debate of grand ideas?

00:05:13.620 And that is what Charlie's legacy was all about.

00:05:16.320 A lot of people don't understand that.

00:05:17.640 We're going to go into that more as well in a moment.

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00:07:20.480 But, Senator, I want to go back to one of the things that I think people don't understand about Charlie Kirk.

00:07:28.680 And maybe that if you didn't follow him well, his mission and goal was to bring people actually together.

00:07:35.880 If you listen to the media, they act like he was some extremist fringe guy that was trying to break people apart and pound people in these debates.

00:07:45.000 He wanted people that disagreed with him to have a conversation with him, a grand conversation.

00:07:52.400 And he started this years ago by himself with one guy recording and him sitting at a card table at university campuses.

00:08:00.460 And it turned into something where 3,000 people, for example, showed up in Utah.

00:08:04.960 It changed college campuses with turning point groups that were out there.

00:08:09.840 And that is his legacy and part of, I think, what the big lie has been is that he somehow was this aggressive, in-your-face guy.

00:08:17.380 That is literally not his mission in life at all.

00:08:20.500 Yeah, a lot of folks in the media, a lot of Democrats are trying to portray him as somehow extreme.

00:08:27.420 Look, probably the thing that most characterized Charlie was his willingness and eagerness to engage in conversation with those who disagreed with him.

00:08:37.420 And to engage using compassion, listening to them, understanding them, treating them with dignity, treating them with respect.

00:08:46.680 That's something we need a whole lot more of.

00:08:48.440 It's something we try to do on verdict, but Charlie did it every single day.

00:08:52.180 Senator, you were mentioning that the media tried to turn him into something he wasn't.

00:08:57.140 And this is an individual, a man that wanted to have a debate, and he wanted to fight for the hearts and minds of young people.

00:09:04.360 Yeah, look, Charlie was, he was brilliant.

00:09:08.040 He was bold and courageous.

00:09:10.300 It takes guts.

00:09:11.160 It takes guts to go on to college campuses with screaming leftists who would berate him, who would yell at him.

00:09:18.840 That takes real courage.

00:09:20.140 Most people are not willing to do that.

00:09:22.200 He was assaulted many times, by the way.

00:09:23.360 People don't realize that.

00:09:24.420 He had things thrown on him, drinks thrown on him, things thrown at him.

00:09:27.540 He was assaulted countless times on college campuses, and he kept going back.

00:09:31.960 He was convinced that the mission was important.

00:09:36.740 I still remember sitting in my friend's living room with that earnest 18-year-old when he talked about a vision that, you know, and this is 13 years ago, where a lot of young people at the time, it wasn't cool to be conservative.

00:09:53.380 You know, Barack Obama was president.

00:09:55.100 He was hip.

00:09:55.680 He was cool.

00:09:56.320 And Charlie had a vision that he wanted to make it cool to love liberty.

00:10:02.580 He wanted to make it cool to believe in the Constitution, to believe in the First Amendment.

00:10:06.760 He wanted to make it cool to love your country.

00:10:09.140 And that was, his vision was there from day one.

00:10:13.980 A lot of people disbelieved him.

00:10:16.020 But he also, he approached it with a winsome spirit.

00:10:23.000 Charlie was always smiling.

00:10:24.880 Yes.

00:10:25.100 He was 31 years old when he was killed.

00:10:27.940 He's a husband and a dad of two little kids.

00:10:31.520 And his wife, Erica, his kids are one and four.

00:10:35.260 And his children will never know their dad.

00:10:38.660 They will know the legacy of their dad.

00:10:40.580 They will know how extraordinary he was.

00:10:44.820 They will know that he touched and changed literally millions of people's lives.

00:10:52.200 But this deranged gunman, in one instant, made it that those children will never get to have a conversation and know their father growing up.

00:11:02.880 He leaves behind his widowed wife.

00:11:08.520 And it's, I will say, it is crushing.

00:11:12.600 I can tell you, so when we heard the news and we didn't know, we didn't know what his condition was.

00:11:20.080 And early on, Fox News was reporting that he's in the hospital.

00:11:23.380 He's in critical condition, but he's in the hospital.

00:11:25.020 So we were hoping he's all right.

00:11:27.380 I called Heidi.

00:11:28.400 So Heidi knew Charlie very well also, and I called her, and she was just stunned.

00:11:33.860 She was just sitting there staring in disbelief at the television.

00:11:38.340 And actually, the two of us called a dear friend of ours named Allie, whose living room we met Charlie.

00:11:44.540 And Allie is the one who introduced us to Charlie 13 years ago.

00:11:48.640 And Allie is a strong believer, a strong Christian.

00:11:52.300 And I'll tell you, the three of us just on the phone just began praying for our friend.

00:11:57.800 And we were in tears, and we were praying for him, and we were praying that God would save him.

00:12:04.580 And that prayer did not come to pass, but we were all just in shock and disbelief.

00:12:11.820 But I want to say this also.

00:12:14.800 When you look at all of Charlie's characteristics, one that was most extraordinary was he was a deeply believing Christian.

00:12:24.060 His faith was real.

00:12:25.840 It mattered to him.

00:12:27.880 And he was a voice for the gospel.

00:12:31.280 And Charlie is with Jesus in heaven right now.

00:12:34.920 And his role of presenting the good news of the gospel with intelligence and joy, that was a powerful legacy.

00:12:49.560 And I've got to say, there are very, very few people in particular who are doing that and spreading the gospel to young people.

00:12:56.760 You have pastors in churches, but Charlie's mission was reaching a whole lot of people who might never go to a church.

00:13:02.800 And that's a legacy.

00:13:05.520 That's a legacy.

00:13:06.620 Actually, I want to play a clip of Charlie talking about how he wants to be remembered.

00:13:15.640 Give a listen to Charlie when he's asked that question.

00:13:19.140 You want to be remembered?

00:13:20.100 If I die?

00:13:21.320 Everything just goes away.

00:13:22.340 How would you, if you could be associated with one thing, how would you want to be remembered?

00:13:26.460 I want to be remembered for courage for my faith.

00:13:30.320 That would be the most important thing.

00:13:31.660 You know, there wasn't a time, Senator, on college campuses that he wasn't talking about his faith.

00:13:37.360 In fact, I'll go back to the first time I ever had breakfast.

00:13:40.380 Charlie asked me to have breakfast with him.

00:13:42.240 We were at a CPAC event.

00:13:44.340 It was about probably 13 years ago as I was doing the math.

00:13:48.200 And we sat down and he was like, hey, I know you've done a lot of college speaking.

00:13:52.920 I feel like we've lost this generation. 0.89

00:13:55.660 I feel like that the left owns them and they're indoctrinating them on our college campuses.

00:13:59.680 I'm actually thinking about not going to college because of this mission.

00:14:04.980 And I feel like it's what God put me on earth to do.

00:14:08.340 And he said, what do you think of that?

00:14:09.920 And I looked at him and I smiled.

00:14:11.380 I was like, Charlie, I don't know you, but you can always go back to college.

00:14:15.240 You can go to college at 50 or 60 or 70.

00:14:18.900 What you're talking about doing is something that I think is more important right now than you going to college.

00:14:25.360 And he was such a faith forward person, even at 18 years old.

00:14:30.980 And it goes back to what you were talking about.

00:14:33.280 He lived it and you knew what he believed in.

00:14:36.200 Yeah, he never did graduate from college, but he touched an enormous number of college students and changed their lives.

00:14:43.400 I want you to listen to Charlie on Bill Maher talking about his faith, because this is really powerful.

00:14:48.980 Give a listen.

00:14:50.420 He is risen.

00:14:51.160 He is risen indeed, Bill.

00:14:52.380 Why do we say that in the present tense?

00:14:55.040 Because it is a constant truth in our life.

00:14:57.860 He is risen.

00:14:58.620 I always noticed that that was interesting to me.

00:15:01.380 That's a really important question, actually.

00:15:03.360 It is.

00:15:04.000 Tell me.

00:15:05.080 Well, because the fact that he has risen transcends time.

00:15:09.400 It's not just in the present sense.

00:15:11.040 It's that of all time, that promise is accessible to all of us.

00:15:15.280 And so it's a proclamation to all people.

00:15:17.360 Because if you said, hey, he was risen, it's like it's just merely a historical event.

00:15:22.300 It almost underplays the metaphysics of it.

00:15:24.160 I'm just always fascinated the way really, really fine intellectual minds employ themselves for the purpose of arguing things that are so inarguable.

00:15:38.640 It does fascinate you, though.

00:15:39.700 It does.

00:15:40.860 Because it's almost like a challenge. 0.99

00:15:44.180 Like, I'm so smart that I can make this thing, which is so stupid, seem like a real... 0.99

00:15:51.620 No, no, it's fine. 0.99

00:15:52.480 No, but you get where I'm coming from.

00:15:54.360 Like, I'm going to take something that is so anti-intellectual, even though I can argue like an intellect...

00:16:00.160 However, but you have to acknowledge even the greatest minds of history have been mesmerized by the scriptures.

00:16:06.200 Isaac Newton, Thomas Aquinas.

00:16:08.680 Well...

00:16:09.080 Isaac Newton wrote more about biblical prophecy than even physics.

00:16:11.740 And so there's something about the scriptures that are intellectual, that does push your limits.

00:16:18.280 And that's what I think is so beautiful about our faith, is it can be accessible to everyone, but also infinitely nourishing and explorish.

00:16:25.780 Charlie Kirk sprang the gospel to Bill Maher.

00:16:28.460 That's not something that many people can say.

00:16:30.980 And he did it in such a kind and respectful manner, even as Bill Maher was almost mocking his belief in God.

00:16:38.660 Yeah, look, look, I mean, it wasn't almost.

00:16:41.820 Bill was mocking it.

00:16:43.260 And you and I both know Bill Maher.

00:16:45.480 He is a brilliant man in his own right.

00:16:49.440 But Maher is not a Christian.

00:16:51.180 He's an atheist, and he proudly proclaims that he's an atheist.

00:16:54.400 And he has deep skepticism of faith across the board.

00:16:58.660 And Charlie went on his show and talked with him.

00:17:01.320 And you're right, talked with him with compassion, but also talked in a way that was accessible.

00:17:08.060 And actually, the clip we just played, the way I found it right now is when I saw it online,

00:17:16.040 I texted Charlie at the time, and I texted that clip back at him, and I just said, this was beautifully done, bravo.

00:17:23.160 And that was just another day with Charlie.

00:17:28.920 That's what he was doing every day.

00:17:32.040 He was making people think.

00:17:33.520 But he was also, look, the proposition that he was defending, the phrase, he is risen.

00:17:41.160 And Bill Maher was saying, well, why is is in the present tense?

00:17:44.900 And Charlie's message is because Jesus is in the present tense, because it is a fact today in our life.

00:17:52.280 It didn't happen just 2,000 years ago.

00:17:55.640 He is risen today.

00:17:57.140 And that message, Charlie could deliver it.

00:18:01.500 There were people who were watching Bill Maher who, again, might never go to church, might never hear the gospel,

00:18:07.400 and yet they would hear it from Charlie, and they'd hear it delivered in a way that would make an impression.

00:18:16.020 And, you know, the Bible talks about planting seeds, and some seeds fall on rocky soil,

00:18:22.200 and some seeds fall on shallow soil, but some seeds fall on good soil, and they take purpose, they take root and grow.

00:18:31.080 And that's a parable Jesus tells.

00:18:33.980 And what Charlie was doing there and what he did every day is planted seeds,

00:18:40.100 and many of those seeds landed on fertile ground and took root.

00:18:45.560 And the number of people whose lives Charlie touched, we will never know, but it is easily in the millions.

00:18:53.500 You know, one of the things that he did that was, I think, incredible was be an advocate for families,

00:18:59.660 for getting married, for having children.

00:19:02.400 I want to get into that in a moment.

00:19:03.320 For being a dad, being a good dad.

00:19:05.460 For being a good dad, being a present dad, being there for your kids.

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00:21:00.080 You know, I want to go back to one of the things also the media has just not talked about.

00:21:05.160 Charlie Kirk was a guy that was a massive advocate for getting married, being equally yoked,

00:21:10.560 marrying the love of your life, having a family, being involved in that family,

00:21:17.600 leading that family.

00:21:18.720 Being a good husband.

00:21:19.880 Being a biblically, like, leader in the household. 0.98

00:21:23.900 And he was, he would say that to college kids, like, don't add garbage to your life. 1.00

00:21:28.660 Don't be out here partying and acting a fool and doing stupid things. 1.00

00:21:32.440 Like, you can do things, great things now at 18, 19, 20, 21. 1.00

00:21:36.700 You don't have to wait until you're 40 to get it together.

00:21:39.440 Don't add baggage to your life.

00:21:40.860 And I love that that's part of his message.

00:21:43.820 Look, I want to read to you a text I got from a good friend of mine named Dan.

00:21:48.000 And he sent me a text and he said,

00:21:50.360 I first met Charlie at your Deer Valley Retreat in October 2015.

00:21:56.080 I was so impressed and taken by his vision of bringing conservative values to college campuses

00:22:03.080 that I was an early funder and introduced him to many others who had greater capacity than me.

00:22:09.100 We stayed in touch.

00:22:10.260 I mentored him until his knowledge exceeded my own.

00:22:15.100 And I saw him reshape the political balance, particularly, but not exclusively, with the under 30s.

00:22:23.980 Looking back at his evangelism, his courage to go to the very heart of the evil that afflicts and brainwashes our youth

00:22:33.500 and give those souls hope.

00:22:36.260 I am wondering this morning if he may have been a saint.

00:22:42.580 Not in the sense he was perfect, as none of us are,

00:22:46.480 but because God moved through him and he was the vehicle God chose.

00:22:52.980 Jeremiah 4,

00:22:54.520 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

00:22:57.600 Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

00:23:00.820 Before you were born, I sanctified you.

00:23:03.140 I ordained you a prophet to the nations.

00:23:05.620 Then said I,

00:23:07.260 Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.

00:23:11.600 But the Lord said to me,

00:23:13.100 Do not say, I am a youth.

00:23:15.660 For you shall go to all to whom I send you.

00:23:20.120 And whatever I command you, you shall speak.

00:23:24.280 God bless our brother in Christ, Charlie.

00:23:27.560 Thank you for bringing me into his orbit.

00:23:29.520 It's the sentiment that so many have had about him.

00:23:34.700 I said last night on Fox News Channel about him.

00:23:37.580 I said his legacy is going to be one that is going to know no bounds.

00:23:43.380 I am so thankful.

00:23:47.160 Last time I saw him, we just talked, I mentioned this earlier about his kids and my kids.

00:23:50.720 I've got three boys.

00:23:51.520 You and I know that we do that.

00:23:53.000 And I laugh because I was thinking about funny moments I've had with Charlie.

00:23:57.260 Charlie, people give me a hard time a lot because I don't really drink alcohol.

00:24:02.700 And I got hit by a drunk driver who died and we lived.

00:24:05.180 And it just had a major impact.

00:24:07.880 Well, neither did Charlie.

00:24:09.360 And so we always, when he was like 21, 22, getting a little older,

00:24:13.780 when we saw each other at parties, I would look at him like,

00:24:15.640 You want me to get you a regular on ice?

00:24:16.960 And he's like, Yes.

00:24:17.960 And that was our joke because we would drink our Diet Coke with a lime together.

00:24:22.680 And I love that he was not ever given in to the peer pressure.

00:24:28.460 He was going to be authentic in who he was.

00:24:30.640 I will say, I am so thankful that his children are going to have countless hours of video of him doing what he did.

00:24:36.560 Yeah.

00:24:37.140 Because they're going to be able to go see what their dad, who their dad was.

00:24:40.900 There's so many kids that lose parents.

00:24:42.400 They don't have videos like we have videos of Charlie, where he was out there spreading the gospel.

00:24:47.560 He was standing up for what he believed in.

00:24:49.700 He was making a difference.

00:24:50.840 And I said this last night on Fox.

00:24:52.340 I said, I truly don't believe Donald Trump would have been elected if it wasn't for Charlie Kirk and Turning Point.

00:24:58.680 And what they did to get out the vote in swing states, I think that's why he was so emotional the night that Donald Trump was reelected.

00:25:05.120 I don't think we'd have control of the House and the Senate if it wasn't for Charlie Kirk and what he did to get out the vote in swing states.

00:25:10.660 It had a massive impact in this country.

00:25:12.960 And that's the reason why the president announced his passing and lowered that flag to half-mast because I think Donald Trump knows it too.

00:25:19.540 Yeah, it's a good question.

00:25:22.640 When is the last time you can remember that somebody's death is announced by the sitting president of the United States?

00:25:29.700 It was the president that let America know that Charlie had passed.

00:25:35.340 And the president, he put out on Truth Social, quote,

00:25:38.660 And now he is no longer with us.

00:25:56.340 Melania and my sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erica and family.

00:26:02.220 Charlie, we love you.

00:26:03.400 And that, you're right, there's a very good argument that Donald Trump doesn't win, maybe not in 2016, maybe not in 2024, without Charlie Kirk's incredible hard work.

00:26:17.160 And I got to say, look, you and I have been to a lot of Turning Point conferences.

00:26:22.060 I've probably spoken at a dozen of them.

00:26:24.160 This podcast has been intertwined with Turning Point.

00:26:28.180 We have done several verdicts from Turning Point where virtually the entire podcast is us answering Q&A from the young people there.

00:26:38.840 And I got to say, the atmosphere of a Turning Point conference, it's like a rock concert.

00:26:44.260 And you have strobe lights and fires, and you'll have thousands and thousands of young people, high school kids and college kids, and there's energy.

00:26:52.860 And you come out to these rock star promos, and it was amazing.

00:26:58.280 And that was Charlie's vision.

00:26:59.360 Canadian women are looking for more, more out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them. 0.98

00:27:06.660 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:27:10.380 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:27:11.560 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:27:12.780 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.

00:27:16.540 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.

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00:27:25.280 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:27:31.560 Senator, I also want to talk about, there is a question.

00:27:36.080 I'm sure you've gotten it.

00:27:37.160 I've gotten it too.

00:27:38.080 And that is, what's next?

00:27:41.740 This is a moment where my nine-year-old asked me that I think the toughest question I've ever been asked by him.

00:27:50.240 When I put him to bed last night, he knew that Daddy's friend had died.

00:27:53.000 And he said, Daddy, is someone going to shoot you for what you do?

00:27:58.660 And I gave him the best answer I could.

00:28:01.560 I said, buddy, you know Daddy carries a gun.

00:28:03.220 You know Daddy shoots back.

00:28:05.200 And he just started crying.

00:28:07.340 And I think there are so many people right now that are worried about where we are in this divide and this feeling that the left is just wanting to take out anybody that is successful in articulating conservative or Christian views.

00:28:24.460 I do worry about where we are as a country.

00:28:27.220 I also think that you and I and so many others that do this, everybody that I've been texting and talking with, I don't think any of us are going to back down.

00:28:38.180 We maybe do things a little differently.

00:28:41.100 We may take different precautions.

00:28:43.040 But I don't think they're going to silence any of us.

00:28:46.820 I'm not backing down.

00:28:48.000 This is my mission field.

00:28:49.000 I think you feel the same way I do.

00:28:52.000 Absolutely.

00:28:53.040 And listen, I think Charlie inspired many people to speak up and to be brave, to be courageous.

00:28:59.880 I think more people will be inspired.

00:29:01.820 I will say his assassination, it wasn't just a murder.

00:29:07.060 It was an assassination.

00:29:08.260 Assassination, yeah.

00:29:08.560 He was taken out because of who he is and because of what he was saying, and he was taken out because of fear that what he was saying was so persuasive that people wanted to hear it.

00:29:24.280 Look, when he went to a college campus, he welcomed leftists to come argue with them, to present their side of the story.

00:29:29.980 But the power of the truth, he was saying, was what was dangerous.

00:29:36.500 And look, I got to say, I feel a little bit, you and I were not alive when JFK was shot or Bobby Kennedy was shot or Martin Luther King was shot.

00:29:46.460 But I do kind of wonder if that's a little bit what this, that felt like.

00:29:54.320 Just, just, I have to say, like, seeing this happen, particularly the parallel to President Trump's being shot in Butler, that it was the same thing over and over again.

00:30:06.640 And it was, it was almost a successful assassination of the president, and tragically, it was a successful assassination of Charlie.

00:30:15.100 Like, what is going on that there is this hate?

00:30:18.240 And I got to say, by the way, we have seen leftists, we saw people on MSNBC cackling.

00:30:24.380 I saw an image on Twitter of this one soulless young woman dancing and singing that Charlie Kirk had been shot in the neck. 0.99

00:30:33.500 I wanted to, it made me physically sick, the joy at his being murdered.

00:30:41.620 But rather than focus on that hate, and we could play those clips, but you don't need to hear those angry haters.

00:30:48.640 I want to focus, actually, on some people on the left that took a right message.

00:30:54.200 And one of them was Sank Ongyar, who's, I don't know him, but he's liberal and very vocal on Twitter.

00:31:01.280 He's a hardcore liberal, yeah.

00:31:03.500 He's the young Turks guy, and he got it right, by the way. 0.99

00:31:08.860 So here's what he posted on X.

00:31:10.600 He said,

00:31:11.360 A while ago, I put out these rules for the Internet.

00:31:14.180 One, when we disagree, we fight.

00:31:16.560 Two, we have a beer afterwards.

00:31:19.160 Three, when we agree, we unite.

00:31:21.320 I got a lot of flack, surprisingly, for the line about the beer.

00:31:25.140 People would ask, oh yeah, would you have a beer with Charlie Kirk?

00:31:28.560 Well, I did.

00:31:29.240 And I'm glad I did, because now I won't get to.

00:31:32.840 Yes, Charlie and I disagreed a lot about really important things.

00:31:36.900 But somehow we didn't lose our humanity.

00:31:39.520 We were still fellow Americans.

00:31:41.340 We can all choose to hate each other now.

00:31:43.460 That's a normal human reaction.

00:31:46.080 We can choose to blame each other, and I'm sure we will, endlessly.

00:31:48.880 Or we can defy the voices of division in the country and have a beer together, this time

00:31:55.280 in grief.

00:31:56.900 If you really want to strike back at whoever did this, listen to each other instead of

00:32:00.980 hating one another.

00:32:02.220 They want us to hate each other.

00:32:04.180 Treating one another as brothers and sisters, as a united America, would be an historic act

00:32:10.220 of defiance.

00:32:11.560 Since I'm on the left, I'll go first.

00:32:13.820 First, for everyone on the right, and most especially the Kirk family, I am so sorry for

00:32:19.020 your loss.

00:32:19.600 I share your grief, and I want you to know that our hearts are with you.

00:32:24.120 I appreciate saying that.

00:32:26.120 I retweeted it and just said, bravo.

00:32:28.500 Like that, I don't want to focus on the haters, on the anger, on the rage, on the evil

00:32:35.120 bile that we see, because that was not Charlie's message.

00:32:39.660 Charlie's message was one of love.

00:32:41.540 It was one of liberty.

00:32:43.240 It was one of the Constitution.

00:32:45.040 It was one of the gospel.

00:32:46.420 It was one of hope.

00:32:47.540 It was one of faith.

00:32:49.520 That's where we should focus, and I hope that that is a powerful, powerful legacy coming

00:32:58.800 out of the 31 short years that Charlie had on this earth.

00:33:04.240 You know, one of the conversations that I had was with someone that was older.

00:33:07.840 They called me, and they were like, hey, I'm just checking.

00:33:10.040 I didn't know y'all are friends.

00:33:11.280 And he said, you know, Ben, I'm older.

00:33:13.440 He said, every generation has a leader that leads them.

00:33:17.080 He said, you were lucky enough that you started with Ronald Reagan, and then you got Rush Limbaugh.

00:33:21.600 This next generation needed a leader like no one else, and they got Charlie Kirk.

00:33:26.180 Yeah.

00:33:26.240 And that is a, I think, to look at it that way and to talk in the sense of, like, who

00:33:32.180 is really influenced.

00:33:33.160 I look, without Rush Limbaugh, I don't think you would be probably doing what you're doing

00:33:37.240 right now.

00:33:37.700 I certainly wouldn't be doing what I'm doing right now.

00:33:40.000 Without the inspiration of Ronald Reagan, I wouldn't have even known what politics was.

00:33:45.760 And to fall in love with it the way that you have fallen in love with it and I have.

00:33:49.860 It's our mission field.

00:33:50.960 I say that and I mean it.

00:33:51.840 I feel like God put me on earth to do what I'm doing right now.

00:33:54.080 I have no doubt God put you on earth, Senator, to do what you're doing right now.

00:33:57.260 And God put Charlie Kirk on this earth to do what he's doing.

00:33:59.620 But I do think he is a once-in-a-generation leader, that his legacy may change this country

00:34:06.900 in ways that none of us could imagine.

00:34:11.040 And how many warriors for Christ, how many warriors for conservative values and principles,

00:34:16.780 and I think how many young people on college campuses that witnessed a real-life assassination

00:34:22.040 in HD may be inspired to say, I'm Charlie Kirk.

00:34:27.700 Amen, amen, amen.

00:34:29.620 I want to close the show today by listening to Bobby Kennedy right after Martin Luther King Jr.

00:34:36.660 was shot.

00:34:37.440 And the message of unity that he had is one that I hope and pray we all hear in the wake

00:34:43.860 of the tragic assassination of your friend and mine, the great Charlie Kirk.

00:34:48.640 Give a listen, Bobby Kennedy.

00:34:51.460 Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love.

00:34:58.480 and to justice between fellow human beings.

00:35:03.420 He died in the cause of that effort.

00:35:07.080 In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to

00:35:17.260 ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.

00:35:22.320 For those of you who are black, considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible, 0.80

00:35:32.760 you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge, we can move in that direction as a country, 0.96

00:35:45.640 and greater polarization, black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. 0.88

00:35:57.520 I would only say that I can also feel the same kind of feeling I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

00:36:10.500 But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond or go beyond these rather difficult times.

00:36:22.280 Make sure you pray for Charlie Kirk's family, for his kids, his wife, his in-laws, his parents, all the loved ones around him and his staff.

00:36:31.340 Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.

00:36:33.500 We'll see you back here on Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz all week long on the podcast.

00:36:37.860 Make sure you follow us and download it there, and we'll see you back here again real soon.

00:36:41.220 God bless.

00:36:41.720 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:36:45.740 Guaranteed Human.

Verdict with Ted Cruz - September 12, 2025

Remembering our Friend, the Great Charlie Kirk

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