Former Western Standard Opinion Editor Nigel Hannaford, Senior Alberta Columnist Corey Morgan, and BC Columnist Elise Mills join me to discuss the death of Turning Point's founder, Charlie Kirk, and his impact on the conservative movement.
00:03:59.740People feel very strongly, you know, whatever I say is not, never may do an equivocate or in any of this, but, you know, at least one, both sides of America, I think,
00:04:16.120feel that they're under mortal threat uh republican america uh sees itself as a mortal threat
00:04:23.960from global threats mass migration replacing itself uh and liberal america sees it under
00:04:31.400threat from trump uh but he is you know a dictator and uh all sorts of isms and phobes etc and
00:04:41.800And people, at least some people now, feel justified in the use of political violence.
00:04:50.500Elise, you know, I think you've met Kurt before, right?
00:13:21.880So but we're making a broad assumption that is probably at least in some measure likely correct.
00:13:28.280You know, Charlie Kirk was very strong on pro-life issues.
00:13:31.380You know, he could have any number of things.
00:13:35.920But, you know, presuming that this was someone on the other side, how do you think, you know, liberal and leftist America should be reflecting and thinking about what's happened right now? How should you be reacting?
00:13:48.740Well, of course, they most definitely should condemn this as harshly as possible to make it clear that this is just not an acceptable approach in a modern democratic world.
00:14:01.280I mean, torqued rhetoric, you know, we should try and say that we want to have less torqued rhetoric that works up somebody who's unhinged to go out and do something.
00:14:38.680There is more for the people who really truly are the word fringe and extreme, I think is abused, but there really are people who are fringe and they are on the extremes. And there's more access, I guess, to the type of material or the type of discourse to set somebody off the edge.
00:14:58.660I mean, whether it was the person who took a shot at Trump or in this case with this,
00:15:04.960I, you know, just as for how the left can react, I mean, again, we don't know the motivation of
00:15:09.480the shooter himself. They should just, again, watch for their own extreme because there's
00:15:14.520going to be people dancing on the grave. We know that. We see that every time this happens.
00:15:18.900And they best tamp it down. I worry. I mean, the United States is,
00:15:24.560I don't see an open civil war coming out, but people are getting pressured.
00:15:28.660and and i could see more people going off the edge um we're seeing some lesser known
00:15:39.780online news outlets saying he's confirmed dead but uh no one major yet uh knowing that i would
00:15:45.940have trust you should trust the mainstream media but i mean if you if they're reporting it it's
00:15:51.540life through a little higher likelihood yeah um i just picked up something here from the uh
00:16:02.420governor of illinois prisker just said this is all i've been able to find nearly an hour after the
00:16:08.980attack of left-wing response to this and he says uh the attack on charlie kirk is horrifying
00:16:15.860political violence has no place in this country and should never become the norm
00:16:20.100i'm sending my sympathies to his family and friends at this time he said the right thing
00:16:25.060so far he's the only one i see saying it i i expect we'll see fraud condemnation of it
00:16:31.380from all sides and they'll probably be the odd nutter who who says something that's going to
00:16:37.620get them in trouble um yeah i you know i i don't think uh it'd be fair to paint you know one side
00:25:22.260They'd just be threats of attack and whatnot.
00:25:24.260But I applied. I didn't want a security detail. It costs taxpayers a bunch of money and it intrudes on your privacy.
00:25:33.280So I applied with the RCMP for a concealed carry permit. They denied me.
00:25:39.040So, no, I wasn't allowed to carry. But I thought that was a very reasonable thing.
00:25:46.800And it shouldn't be just the politicians allowed to carry.
00:25:49.060Right. Everyone who's got a clean criminal record and is trained in the use of firearms, doesn't have, you know, psychological issues going on, should be allowed to carry and protect themselves.
00:25:59.740But in this circumstance, I think Charlie Kirk could have been carrying and it would not have saved him.
00:26:05.120He this looks like it was a sniper. I mean, if you've seen it zoomed out, I guess it was a very large gathering.
00:26:12.560It looks like thousands of people around and someone it was a sniper shot.
00:26:19.060There's very little defense from that.
00:26:21.240Even President Trump, you know, that was a sniper shot.
00:26:27.420And that was what the Secret Service ran.
00:26:29.140Although I have a feeling that was not the Secret Service at its very best.
00:26:34.900Sorry, Derek, can I just add that Charlie had very limited security.
00:26:42.380I think even those who haven't seen him in person can see from the videos that it's very limited.
00:26:47.540And the whole point that Charlie, what Charlie was committed to was face-to-face verbal combat, right?
00:26:56.340I don't know if I could say it like that on a day like today, but he wanted you to see him.
00:27:00.860He would even say those who were wearing masks or trying to hide their identity under the guise of COVID, he'd say, drop the mask.
00:28:19.340Every time somebody doesn't disagree with, you know, or doesn't agree with me, the social media rhetoric from people, from some pundits, from others, as you said, that person is literally Hitler or that person, the environment, you're all going to die.
00:28:30.220Because if we don't change that, we're all dead.
00:28:32.580And if this doesn't happen, we're all dead.
00:28:34.100And it's a genocide in schools because trans kids can't play in other sports.
00:28:38.560It's like every single subject is being framed as something that's going to cause death and misery.
00:28:45.180And again, still, most sane people will never pick up a firearm and take it out on somebody.
00:28:52.480But the ones who are sitting on the edge and when they're constantly barraged with that, but I don't know what's going to stop that.
00:28:58.220That's the environment of discourse these days.
00:29:01.540And we've got social media platforms where, unfortunately, the most unhinged and, you know, inflammatory of people can really get their messaging out there.
00:29:10.720We've been seeing this on colleges for a long time where the radical mob storms the lecture theater and prevents the visiting speaker who they don't like from speaking.
00:29:29.460So the damage is not only to, but it's also to free speech and the idea that we have a society where you can actually hash things out and make a good decision.
00:29:41.420That's not what people who shoot speakers are all about.
00:29:46.120No, and as Derek was saying, you can't help but have a little bit of chill.
00:29:49.900I mean, you know, we do a lot of public events.
00:29:51.940We do a lot of places where we're speaking in front of a crowd.
00:29:54.300we stir up some some pretty crazy people at times you can't help but have that thought maybe in the
00:30:01.020back of your head a little if you're standing on that stage and who's that over in the background
00:30:05.340over there who's doing that and for some people they might just say you know what i'm just not
00:30:09.500going to do those anymore and that's that's tragic so you know in terms of we have to be careful not
00:30:16.300to overly incite people and i mean we're in the news business and you want to get people engaged
00:30:22.860in the issues that you care about and sometimes an issue might be existential i mean the left
00:30:29.340genuinely believes the global warming is existential we will all die i disagree with
00:30:35.100them but many of them believe that genuinely in their hearts and it is an existential issue to
00:30:41.020them and so you know they might use some existential rhetoric and most people will not
00:30:47.100who are receptive to that rhetoric, are not going to engage in violence,
00:30:51.600but maybe someone will go out and knock off the head of an oil company, etc.
00:30:55.840But on the other side, there are issues that I believe are existential.
00:31:02.100I think immigration, particularly in Europe, is an existential issue.
00:31:09.260Most people on our side are not going to engage in political violence over that,
00:31:13.120But, you know, someone, someone might. People do.
00:31:17.960A really good example of this is you'll think of Greta Thunberg heaving with tears, crying.
00:31:27.720And then you think about the report that was issued today.
00:31:31.460I believe it's by doctors and nurses and First Nations leaders where they're they're targeting oil and gas companies saying that they're going to be the cause of death.
00:31:42.340or the cause of your cancer in very recent years to come.
00:31:47.680Then again, there was another report today by another environmental organization.
00:31:51.960And remember that all of these groups, including Greta and her crazy flotilla,
00:31:56.960all require a level of torque to be able to make the hundreds of thousands
00:34:06.680We're in there writing to say, here's how much your MP is eligible for, because we wanted to put the political pressure on the individuals to force reform.
00:44:21.180It's just being, you know, seeing the story of the father in Vaughn that, was it Vaughn, that defended his family and to actually see family, just his home videos.
00:48:30.760unless they're prepared to do it, they can't win
00:48:33.760so uh anyway uh so cory nigel at least thank you for uh being a part of this cheery episode
00:48:44.500um please invite me back for this ever another one i'm joking yeah i can i just say that i think
00:48:53.200we all agree it's very unlikely charlie will survive this so i just want to say this charlie
00:48:58.900Charlie was in a galaxy to his own in the world of pun entry, debate, litigating, as we were talking about the combat, the verbal combat that went back and forth.
00:49:09.580He was a champion. He was respectful. And again, I didn't always agree with him.
00:49:14.980But if you saw him in person, if you do what we do or come from the world of punitry like I have, you will, as we as we all have, you will see how extraordinary his skill set was.
00:49:29.360He could call facts up and he was so polite and careful with those he was debating.
00:49:36.040I saw him hug many people at the end of it.
00:49:38.740Those who came in as adversaries left with a handshake or a hug.
00:49:43.620and the media is never going to tell that story but it's all there on youtube to see so thank you
00:49:49.580for letting me just say that because it has this has really shocked me today um so we're not going
00:49:55.720to do regular parting shots today uh don't seem to be in poor taste um but i'm going to put nigel
00:50:03.600on the spot and ask you uh maybe just to say a brief prayer very good and that's how we'll close
00:50:10.500today happy to do it we often talk about thoughts and prayers heavenly father dear lord we do love
00:50:15.500you and we we come to you in shock and horror at the at that the attack on this decent man
00:50:23.500father even if he was not a decent man we would still be shocked and horrified by the attack and
00:50:30.240so we we pray first for him you don't know he's dead yet we pray for his survival we pray also
00:50:36.260for his uh his wife and his children who are going to be devastated but above all we pray that there
00:50:43.060will be a revival of respect for life and for for liberty but for life and for your name in this
00:50:53.860country because people who who are truly committed to following the ways of jesus don't do things
00:51:01.140like this lord we just pray that that spirit would come across that land and this land in the name of
00:51:08.100christ amen amen amen well guys i hope that we see each other under better circumstances next week
00:51:16.100thank you for letting letting me join you again this week okay okay thank you well thank you