📄 Extracted Text (23,143 words)
[00:00:00] was willing to hear out everyone's point
[00:00:02] of view and take questions and debate
[00:00:05] topics in a civil and political way as
[00:00:08] he demonstrated better than anybody for
[00:00:11] years at this point.
[00:00:15] The president has confirmed Charlie's
[00:00:17] death. He tweeted out, "The great and
[00:00:19] even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead. No
[00:00:22] one understood or had the heart of the
[00:00:24] youth in the United States better than
[00:00:26] Charlie. He was loved and admired by
[00:00:28] all, especially me. And now he is no
[00:00:31] longer with us. Melania and my
[00:00:33] sympathies go out to his beautiful wife
[00:00:35] Erica and family. Charlie, we love you.
[00:00:39] Obviously, President Trump has a
[00:00:40] long-standing relationship with Charlie.
[00:00:43] Charlie was a big part of how President
[00:00:45] Trump was elected in 2024 and how he was
[00:00:48] elected in 2016 for that matter.
[00:00:52] uh
[00:00:54] a generational voice, the generational
[00:00:56] voice uh in in politics.
[00:01:00] And it's on that point that uh as we're
[00:01:03] all processing this awful news, the the
[00:01:06] first thing that comes to my mind beyond
[00:01:09] the the sadness for his family, for his
[00:01:11] wife, his young kids, his millions and
[00:01:14] millions of admirers, and his many many
[00:01:16] friends is that Charlie Kirk would have
[00:01:20] been president.
[00:01:22] Charlie Kirk would have been president.
[00:01:25] His friends knew it. His many, many
[00:01:28] admirers knew it.
[00:01:30] and his enemies to whom he was always so
[00:01:32] gracious, they knew it, too. Everybody
[00:01:36] knew it. I remember from actually I
[00:01:41] think even before I first met Charlie,
[00:01:43] so now we're talking many, many years
[00:01:44] ago, people would joke, they'd say,
[00:01:47] "Well, we're all going to be working for
[00:01:48] Charlie Kirk someday." The first time I
[00:01:51] met Charlie was in a green room of a
[00:01:53] cable news outlet. I think we were in
[00:01:55] LA. It was for a morning show. So, this
[00:01:58] was 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. I'm I
[00:02:01] lived in LA at the time. I was slumped
[00:02:03] over, half asleep. Charlie, I don't know
[00:02:04] where he was living. Charlie lived on
[00:02:06] airplanes. And he shows up bouncing off
[00:02:10] the walls, full of energy, just wanted
[00:02:12] to talk about everything. uh and uh he
[00:02:16] he of course was able to reach the very
[00:02:18] heights of media, of politics, of
[00:02:21] activism, of of of
[00:02:26] American public life.
[00:02:28] And and so then I think, all right, why
[00:02:32] did we all have such confidence that
[00:02:35] Charlie would be president? Well, he
[00:02:37] looked apart, very very tall. Uh very I
[00:02:41] I used to joke with him that he was
[00:02:42] descended from the Nephilim. Uh very
[00:02:45] tall, good-looking guy, extraordinarily
[00:02:47] articulate. That's part of it. Uh very
[00:02:50] very sharp. So sharp that he dropped out
[00:02:53] of college. That's that's how you know
[00:02:54] that someone's very intelligent these
[00:02:56] days. Uh self-educated largely, but so
[00:02:59] unbelievably curious. So he would he
[00:03:02] would do fellowship programs. He would
[00:03:04] read book. He would ask for books to
[00:03:05] read. he would and and I think a lot of
[00:03:08] people think that when you when you look
[00:03:10] at someone in politics, especially at
[00:03:12] the height that Charlie was at, that all
[00:03:14] they ever want to do is talk about
[00:03:15] politics and when they see, you know, we
[00:03:17] would see each other, he'd see his other
[00:03:19] friends around the country. And that
[00:03:20] isn't true. He was much more interested
[00:03:23] in talking about the thing that you were
[00:03:25] interested in. And he was interested in
[00:03:27] it because he just wanted to get as much
[00:03:29] knowledge as he could from all of these
[00:03:30] experts around him and from all of the
[00:03:32] people who weren't expert but just had a
[00:03:34] special interest. and Charlie's
[00:03:35] interests were were so varied but but
[00:03:39] at at their core they were not merely
[00:03:42] political in the quotidian sense they
[00:03:44] were deeply philosophical and the fact
[00:03:46] that he had no formal philosophical
[00:03:47] training is probably why he was so good
[00:03:49] at it and interested in it and then
[00:03:52] ultimately it was religious so I think
[00:03:54] why why did we all think Charlie would
[00:03:57] be president he looked the part he was
[00:03:59] extremely effective at political
[00:04:00] organizing he could raise money like
[00:04:02] nobody's business for a very good cause.
[00:04:04] He could persuade people through his
[00:04:08] extraordinary uh ability to articulate
[00:04:11] ideas.
[00:04:13] But I think really
[00:04:16] what it comes down to is his virtue.
[00:04:19] And I think this is why everyone knew
[00:04:22] his friends, his admirers, and even the
[00:04:25] enemies that a life in public will
[00:04:27] engender. They all kind of knew it
[00:04:29] because he he exemplified virtue. the
[00:04:32] the four cardinal virtues, prudence,
[00:04:34] temperance, justice, and fortitude.
[00:04:37] Extremely prudent. He was just the most
[00:04:39] skilled political person of his
[00:04:41] generation, of our generation.
[00:04:44] Temperance. Nobody was more temperate.
[00:04:45] I'm not sure the guy ever had a drink. I
[00:04:47] I certainly never saw him have a drink.
[00:04:49] Was so disciplined, so temperate, where
[00:04:52] he got so much of his energy from.
[00:04:55] Justice, extremely fair to people. In
[00:04:57] fact, more than fair to people. uh
[00:05:00] always always uh willing to give people
[00:05:02] what they deserve and and more than they
[00:05:04] deserve.
[00:05:07] And fortitude, which is the prerequisite
[00:05:09] of all of the other virtues, the fact
[00:05:11] that this guy would go into very hostile
[00:05:13] territory all the time, not worry about
[00:05:16] it at all.
[00:05:19] in events that were open in the air as
[00:05:21] this event where he was fatally shot at
[00:05:25] a university in Utah. No big fences, no
[00:05:28] big just crowds of people, most of them
[00:05:30] adoring fans, some curious people
[00:05:33] willing to be persuaded and
[00:05:35] unfortunately a handful of of enemies
[00:05:38] and some very very wicked people. Beyond
[00:05:41] the cardinal virtues,
[00:05:43] I think that if you know Charlie at all,
[00:05:45] even if you don't know him personally,
[00:05:46] if you just followed him, as as most
[00:05:48] Americans have over the years, you'll
[00:05:51] see the the three theological virtues.
[00:05:53] That's what he cared about. That's all
[00:05:55] he and I ever talked about. That is
[00:05:57] sometimes on camera, often off camera.
[00:06:00] That's all he wanted to talk about.
[00:06:04] The in fact the last text that he sent
[00:06:06] to me concerned that
[00:06:10] deeply deeply religious, deeply curious.
[00:06:13] I mean, you could get a zinger in here
[00:06:14] or there, but but uh for for an effect
[00:06:19] because he really wanted to know God and
[00:06:21] he really loved God. And I think you
[00:06:24] just see in his demeanor, in the way he
[00:06:26] approached people, his friends and his
[00:06:28] enemies and everyone in between, you saw
[00:06:30] an abundant faith. you saw an
[00:06:33] extraordinary degree of hope, political
[00:06:35] hope for the country, for helping to
[00:06:37] improve people's lives here on earth and
[00:06:39] and a hope that's grounded on a fact
[00:06:42] which is the fact of the resurrection. A
[00:06:44] hope that derives from his confidence
[00:06:47] that his redeemer lives and then of
[00:06:50] course charity.
[00:06:52] And this this I think uh inspired
[00:06:55] Charlie's friends and admirers so much
[00:06:57] and really scared his enemies is that in
[00:06:59] everything Charlie did there was
[00:07:01] charity. He wasn't afraid. There was no
[00:07:03] survile fear whatsoever. So sometimes he
[00:07:07] he could seem almost politically
[00:07:08] reckless the way he was willing to
[00:07:10] debate any idea but no fear whatsoever.
[00:07:12] Just charity. He was always willing to
[00:07:14] talk to people about anything.
[00:07:17] That was what this tour was about where
[00:07:20] some of his friends were were scheduled
[00:07:22] to join him along the way.
[00:07:26] Faith, hope, and charity, very very
[00:07:30] scary virtues in a in a materialist
[00:07:32] world, in a modern world.
[00:07:36] And so we of course pray for him
[00:07:39] uh and and for his family. It's it it it
[00:07:42] seemed impossible when the news broke.
[00:07:46] Such a force of nature did he seem? And
[00:07:49] and so confident were we all for his
[00:07:52] future m maybe more than he was in as
[00:07:55] much as
[00:07:57] Charlie had such profound faith, lively
[00:08:01] faith that of course I'm I'm sure he
[00:08:05] knows and knew that that uh every day is
[00:08:08] a gift and we're not promised anything
[00:08:09] and all we can do is the good that we
[00:08:11] have with the energy that we have in the
[00:08:13] day that we have because we might not
[00:08:14] have tomorrow.
[00:08:19] With that, I would like to bring on uh
[00:08:22] another one of our friends, Kabat
[00:08:24] Phillips, with updates about what
[00:08:26] exactly happened and what what
[00:08:28] investigators are learning now. Kat,
[00:08:32] >> thanks, Michael. That was um really
[00:08:35] powerful stuff there. Um I know everyone
[00:08:37] at home watching is feeling exactly what
[00:08:39] we're feeling right here, just
[00:08:41] devastated. Um, but we're going to try
[00:08:43] our best to get through the news, get as
[00:08:45] much of the story out there as we can.
[00:08:47] For people just tuning in, Charlie Kirk,
[00:08:49] um, is dead at 31 years old. Um, we're
[00:08:53] still piecing the story together right
[00:08:55] now, the details as they come in. But
[00:08:57] here's what we know. For people just
[00:08:58] tuning in, Charlie was speaking at Utah
[00:09:01] Valley University. He was holding one of
[00:09:04] his Prove Me Wrong events. For those who
[00:09:07] aren't familiar, these are the sort of
[00:09:08] debate style open mic events where
[00:09:10] thousands of students and and others are
[00:09:12] coming out. And Charlie made a point to
[00:09:14] give the microphone to anyone who
[00:09:15] disagreed with him. That was Charlie's
[00:09:18] thing. He would talk to anybody. He was
[00:09:19] willing to debate anybody. And one of
[00:09:21] those events was taking place. One shot
[00:09:25] rang out. Um right now the university
[00:09:28] says that shot came from an adjacent
[00:09:30] building from about 200 yards away. It
[00:09:32] was one single shot. Um he was struck in
[00:09:36] the neck. Um he was immediately rushed
[00:09:39] away um but ultimately did die a short
[00:09:42] time after. Um initially there were
[00:09:45] reports that a shooter had been
[00:09:47] detained. There was video going around
[00:09:49] of a single man being carried away by
[00:09:51] police. The university is now saying
[00:09:52] that was not the shooter and that that
[00:09:55] person was not responsible and that
[00:09:57] right now the shooter is at large. So,
[00:10:01] we are still waiting to see who was
[00:10:03] responsible for this heinous crime. At
[00:10:05] the moment though, right now, there are
[00:10:07] a number of police and law enforcement
[00:10:09] vehicles conducting sweeps all around
[00:10:11] the campus. As you can imagine, this is
[00:10:12] an extensive operation. You're going to
[00:10:14] have hundreds, if not thousands of law
[00:10:16] enforcement right now combing through.
[00:10:18] Uh FBI director Cass Patel has said that
[00:10:20] his uh people are already on the ground,
[00:10:22] that they are investigating this.
[00:10:24] Obviously, because of the political
[00:10:25] nature, um so there are FBI resources
[00:10:27] pulling in. The White House has said
[00:10:29] that they are deploying any resources
[00:10:31] possible to try and get to the bottom of
[00:10:33] who is responsible for this. But again,
[00:10:35] as of the latest reporting, the shooter
[00:10:38] is still at large. Police say the
[00:10:41] university says that the shooter fired
[00:10:43] from about 200 yards away perched up on
[00:10:46] top of a building. Uh, President Trump
[00:10:48] confirmed the news on social media,
[00:10:51] writing on Truth Social, quote, "The
[00:10:53] great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is
[00:10:55] dead. No one understood or had the heart
[00:10:57] of the youth in the United States of
[00:10:59] America better than Charlie. He was
[00:11:01] loved and admired by all, especially me.
[00:11:04] And now he is no longer with us. Melania
[00:11:07] and my sympathy go out to his beautiful
[00:11:09] wife Erica and family. Charlie, we love
[00:11:11] you. Uh Charlie and his wife Erica do
[00:11:13] have two young children as well. I know
[00:11:16] Michael, you alluded to it. That was
[00:11:20] uh his just pride and joy. That's what
[00:11:21] he wanted to talk about. every time um
[00:11:24] every time you're with him. That's
[00:11:25] that's what he was that's what he was
[00:11:26] bringing up. Um and President Trump
[00:11:28] making sure to mention that fact. Um but
[00:11:31] again, for those just tuning in, the
[00:11:33] shooter reportedly still on the loose.
[00:11:36] Um people are uh there's a lot of
[00:11:40] conflicting reports coming in. So, we're
[00:11:41] trying to sift through all of this and
[00:11:42] I'm sure our audience will bear with us
[00:11:44] there. Um our editor, Ben Shapiro, also
[00:11:47] just recently issued a statement um on
[00:11:50] Twitter. This is from Ben. Like all of
[00:11:53] you, I'm utterly stunned and heartbroken
[00:11:55] and sick to my soul today. It is
[00:11:57] unimaginable to write these words. I met
[00:12:00] Charlie Kirk when he was 18 years old. A
[00:12:02] young man so eager and determined that I
[00:12:04] immediately turned to a friend and said,
[00:12:06] "That kid is going to be the head of the
[00:12:07] RNC one day." Charlie became even bigger
[00:12:10] and more important than that. It was a
[00:12:12] privilege to watch this principled man
[00:12:14] stand up for his beliefs and create the
[00:12:16] single most important conservative
[00:12:17] political organization in America. But
[00:12:20] more importantly, Charlie was a good
[00:12:21] man. A man who believed in right and
[00:12:23] wrong, who stood by his biblical values.
[00:12:25] All of us will miss him. And I cannot
[00:12:27] imagine the pain of his beautiful young
[00:12:29] family. And we must all pray for them.
[00:12:31] And we must pick up the baton where
[00:12:33] Charlie left it. Fighting for the things
[00:12:35] he believed in so passionately. We must
[00:12:37] fight for a better America. An America
[00:12:39] where good people can speak truth and
[00:12:41] debate passionately without fear of a
[00:12:43] bullet. I weep for Charlie's family and
[00:12:46] I weep for my country today. But most of
[00:12:47] all, I weep for Charlie. That was the
[00:12:50] words of our editor Meredus Ben Shapiro.
[00:12:53] Um again, for those just tuning in,
[00:12:55] Charlie Kirk speaking at his um Prove Me
[00:12:59] Wrong series. This is where most people
[00:13:01] were really introduced to Charlie. Um he
[00:13:04] was a guy who was willing to go into the
[00:13:05] lion's den again and again. He was
[00:13:08] someone who' said, "Hey, if you disagree
[00:13:09] with me, get to the front of the line,
[00:13:11] get a microphone there." And that's why
[00:13:12] so many people loved him so much is
[00:13:14] because he was willing to talk to
[00:13:16] anyone. and his entire mantra was based
[00:13:19] on civil debate, civil discourse.
[00:13:22] Charlie was a guy who could debate
[00:13:24] someone who completely disagreed with
[00:13:26] him and do so with a smile and you could
[00:13:29] tell that there was love in his heart,
[00:13:31] love for his country, love for his god,
[00:13:33] for his family.
[00:13:34] >> And cabb we should say, we should say he
[00:13:37] would
[00:13:37] >> he would debate his friends just as
[00:13:40] viferously. So, you know, it wasn't even
[00:13:42] it wasn't even that he just liked to
[00:13:44] really turn on the rhetoric for for his
[00:13:47] ideological opponents. In in some ways,
[00:13:49] I think he went harder after his friends
[00:13:51] because he was really interested in
[00:13:53] ideas and he was really interested in
[00:13:54] getting getting to the truth and and he
[00:13:57] he had such fortitude. He had such
[00:13:59] confidence and well-earned confidence.
[00:14:01] He started, as Ben pointed out, the the
[00:14:04] preeminent uh conservative activist
[00:14:07] organization in America at the age of
[00:14:09] 18, skipping out of school, learning
[00:14:11] everything on his own. So, he had good
[00:14:12] reason to be confident. But he he loved
[00:14:14] it because he he could be persuaded
[00:14:17] otherwise, you know, and you could
[00:14:18] change his mind and he could and and so
[00:14:21] it it really it wasn't even a a
[00:14:23] performance so much for him. It's just
[00:14:25] it's just who he was. A man who joyfully
[00:14:28] uh and and doggedly wanted to pursue the
[00:14:30] truth.
[00:14:33] >> That's absolutely true. And Michael,
[00:14:35] when you talk about um how strong he
[00:14:38] was,
[00:14:40] maybe this is uh not of interest to
[00:14:42] people, but it's one of the things I'm
[00:14:44] going to remember about him. Uh he was
[00:14:46] also very physically strong.
[00:14:49] >> We used to play basketball together. And
[00:14:51] uh I remember I met Charlie back in 2015
[00:14:54] and um this was right when Turning Point
[00:14:57] was getting off the ground and he found
[00:14:59] out that I like to play pickup
[00:15:00] basketball and said, "Hey, I'm in DC a
[00:15:02] lot. I'm always looking for some people
[00:15:03] to to play basketball with. We should
[00:15:05] play." And then before we actually got
[00:15:07] the chance to play together, Charlie
[00:15:08] said, "You know what? We should do a
[00:15:10] one-on-one basketball uh game where I
[00:15:14] was with a different organization at the
[00:15:15] time. He was a Turning Point. We'll say
[00:15:16] it's Turning Point versus your group and
[00:15:17] we're going to live stream it." And I
[00:15:19] thought, this Charlie Kirk guy, how good
[00:15:21] could he actually be at basketball? I'm
[00:15:22] going to mop the floor with him. This
[00:15:24] will make me look amazing. And I showed
[00:15:26] up to play Charlie and he beat me
[00:15:29] handily. Was just draining
[00:15:31] three-pointers, was backing me down in
[00:15:33] the post. And uh he caught me off guard.
[00:15:36] He took me by surprise. And I think he
[00:15:38] did that not just on the basketball
[00:15:40] court. He did that
[00:15:42] >> constantly
[00:15:42] >> in so many ways. If you would have said
[00:15:44] 10 years ago that Turning Point USA
[00:15:46] would be truly influencing presidential
[00:15:49] elections, I think there's a case to be
[00:15:51] made that those battleground states
[00:15:52] where they had a massive turnout to vote
[00:15:56] operation. You could say that that
[00:15:57] changed the course of American history
[00:15:58] what Charlie did.
[00:16:00] >> And I think of this video on the on the
[00:16:02] night of the election. I think of the
[00:16:03] video of Charlie found finding out and
[00:16:06] breaking down in tears when Donald Trump
[00:16:07] won the election.
[00:16:08] >> Yes.
[00:16:09] >> Yes.
[00:16:09] >> And he had every right to do so because
[00:16:10] you could say he played a bigger role
[00:16:11] than anyone. It's it's not even just
[00:16:13] that he helped out in an election or two
[00:16:15] elections or the rise of the president
[00:16:17] or or anything like that. Charlie Kirk
[00:16:20] was the preeminent political talent of
[00:16:25] our generation. Full stop. No ifs, ands,
[00:16:29] or buts about it. And what is
[00:16:32] that is, I think, for a lot of people
[00:16:34] what is so shocking about this. Uh what
[00:16:37] is even more astounding is that he was a
[00:16:40] great guy. He was a great guy. And
[00:16:43] people in politics, even people that you
[00:16:46] sometimes like to work with or, you
[00:16:48] know, you do an event with or you
[00:16:50] campaign with, you know, they're they're
[00:16:52] good on the stage, but they're not the
[00:16:55] most moral, virtuous people. You don't
[00:16:57] you don't really want to hang out with
[00:16:58] them after the political event. Charlie
[00:17:01] was just a great guy who who really
[00:17:06] as talented as he was at politics is as
[00:17:10] good-hearted a guy as he was off camera
[00:17:13] and you just almost never see that. You
[00:17:16] almost never see it. It's it's uh he he
[00:17:19] was singular. I mean there's really no
[00:17:21] you you have to ask for the the American
[00:17:24] right
[00:17:27] who who's the leader now. He he
[00:17:31] created an unbelievable movement through
[00:17:33] the strength of his character and
[00:17:35] personality and his talents. Uh and and
[00:17:38] there's really no number two. It it
[00:17:40] really was just him. And and so, you
[00:17:43] know, people will make the comparison
[00:17:45] between him and the president. I think
[00:17:46] that's an apt comparison. It would seem
[00:17:48] to me that the president obviously saw a
[00:17:50] lot of himself in Charlie. Uh and uh and
[00:17:54] as you were just describing the way that
[00:17:56] the the shooting took place, it was not
[00:17:59] as was initially being reported on
[00:18:01] social media uh up close. It was not
[00:18:03] just a member of the crowd. The shooter
[00:18:06] reportedly was hundreds of yards away.
[00:18:10] Uh I I think people are having echoes to
[00:18:13] to Butler, Pennsylvania. Is there any
[00:18:16] more information that's come out?
[00:18:20] No, there's still all we know the
[00:18:22] university just released a statement
[00:18:23] just a few moments ago saying that the
[00:18:25] entire campus was still on lockdown
[00:18:26] because they're not sure where the
[00:18:28] shooter is. Police are reportedly going
[00:18:30] through the campus library, all sorts of
[00:18:33] different dorm uh buildings and other
[00:18:35] facilities on campus. Um so again, that
[00:18:38] is the that's the big fear here. This
[00:18:39] shooter is still on the loose. Um in the
[00:18:42] last few minutes, we've gotten a number
[00:18:44] of statements, everyone chiming in. Um
[00:18:46] President Biden just issued a statement.
[00:18:48] There's no place in our country for this
[00:18:49] kind of violence. It must end now. Jill
[00:18:52] and I are praying for Charlie Kirk's
[00:18:53] family and loved ones. And we also got a
[00:18:56] statement from TurningPoint USA. Uh
[00:18:58] they're going to be closing their
[00:19:00] offices for uh the next week. They said,
[00:19:02] um they wrote to their staff, "It is
[00:19:05] with a heavy heart that we, the Turning
[00:19:06] Point USA leadership team, write to
[00:19:08] notify you that early this afternoon,
[00:19:10] Charlie went to his eternal reward with
[00:19:13] Jesus Christ in heaven." Um, and
[00:19:16] Michael, I'm so glad that you're
[00:19:17] bringing up the very real faith that he
[00:19:21] had. Um, I was just talking with our
[00:19:23] hair and makeup team
[00:19:26] about how um, some of the comfort that I
[00:19:28] find knowing that Charlie as a friend
[00:19:32] really did have a faith in Jesus Christ
[00:19:34] and he was not a performative Christian.
[00:19:38] Um,
[00:19:39] >> I don't have a doubt in my mind.
[00:19:41] >> He really believed it. I do not have a
[00:19:42] doubt in my mind. And you and I both
[00:19:46] know people, we all know people who
[00:19:47] might say one thing and live a different
[00:19:49] way. Charlie's life bore fruit. Charlie
[00:19:52] was
[00:19:55] real in his faith. And I I saw a tweet
[00:19:59] of his from earlier this week where he
[00:20:02] just wrote, "Jesus defeated death so you
[00:20:05] can live."
[00:20:06] >> I saw it. I saw it when he posted it.
[00:20:08] >> Yeah. And as heartbreaking as his
[00:20:11] physical death here on earth is, Charlie
[00:20:13] is now alive in Jesus Christ. And for
[00:20:17] all of us here at Daily Wire, for the
[00:20:19] people watching at home right now, there
[00:20:20] is comfort in knowing that Charlie is um
[00:20:24] reaping his eternal reward right now
[00:20:26] because of that fact. And um I know
[00:20:29] that's a comfort to me. I'm I'm just
[00:20:31] processing all this right now. I know
[00:20:32] that's a comfort to me. I know it is to
[00:20:34] you as well. And I hope it is to our
[00:20:35] audience as well that there is peace
[00:20:37] that we can have knowing that in Jesus.
[00:20:39] >> Well, thank you, Kitt. Uh please let us
[00:20:41] know, you know, as more information
[00:20:43] comes out. Uh appreciate you being here.
[00:20:45] Appreciate appreciate
[00:20:47] >> your your perspective and your uh close
[00:20:50] knowledge of Charlie and I know everyone
[00:20:51] else appreciates that too. We're turning
[00:20:54] now to another friend of Charlie's and a
[00:20:56] friend of ours, uh Daily Wire's very own
[00:20:59] Isabelle Brown. Isabelle, uh, for for
[00:21:02] the audience that doesn't know,
[00:21:02] Isabelle's spent a lot of time around
[00:21:04] TPUSA. Uh, that's where we all first
[00:21:07] were introduced to Isabelle. Uh, your
[00:21:09] thoughts.
[00:21:10] >> Yeah. Uh, Michael, truthfully, and I
[00:21:12] hope I can get through this with you
[00:21:14] all, but I hope you share my heartbreak
[00:21:15] actively as we continue to process this
[00:21:18] information as it comes out in real
[00:21:20] time. Uh, you know, in truth, Michael, I
[00:21:24] was so incredibly privileged over the
[00:21:26] past eight years or so, not just to know
[00:21:28] Charlie as the influential figure that
[00:21:31] he was and the voice that he was for the
[00:21:33] conservative movement, the change maker
[00:21:35] that he was for our country, but to have
[00:21:37] an incredibly intimate behind-the-scenes
[00:21:40] relationship with Charlie and to see the
[00:21:42] impact that he made on people's
[00:21:44] individual lives in such powerful ways.
[00:21:46] Uh, I met Charlie for the first time in
[00:21:49] 2017 at the Young Women's Leadership
[00:21:52] Summit with Turning Point USA. My first
[00:21:54] introduction to the conservative
[00:21:56] movement, to this fight that he was so
[00:21:58] passionate about and dedicated his
[00:22:00] entire life to, every fiber of his being
[00:22:02] to every day, day in and day out, and uh
[00:22:05] was very closely mentored by Charlie
[00:22:07] over the years that followed. One of his
[00:22:10] uh first major speaking events was while
[00:22:12] I was a student activist at Colorado
[00:22:14] State University in which he visited our
[00:22:16] campus and we got right in there with
[00:22:18] the riffraff and ruckus of the protests
[00:22:21] with the rise of Antifa, the backlash
[00:22:23] that he often got from the left. But he
[00:22:25] had a smile on his face through every
[00:22:27] single second, even in the midst of what
[00:22:29] can only be described as insane
[00:22:31] mindaltering controversy from the heart
[00:22:33] of America's college campuses. and over
[00:22:36] the years have been so unbelievably
[00:22:38] privileged to learn from Charlie as a
[00:22:41] content creator. He gave me really my
[00:22:42] first start as a creator and helped
[00:22:44] foster me in that regard uh in
[00:22:46] traditional media. I had the privilege
[00:22:48] of co-hosting his radio show with him
[00:22:50] for a few months there and uh doing some
[00:22:52] live stream coverage of the 2020
[00:22:54] election for weeks on end up till 3:00 4
[00:22:57] in the morning and even just as recently
[00:22:59] as last Tuesday getting to share the
[00:23:02] stage with Charlie who undoubtedly is
[00:23:04] the most rooted in moral clarity voice I
[00:23:07] can imagine for this young generation
[00:23:09] where we addressed some of the pro-life
[00:23:11] supporters uh of that movement in
[00:23:14] California, central California urging
[00:23:16] for a return to morality as our society
[00:23:20] and the basis of our common shared
[00:23:21] humanity. But what people don't see
[00:23:23] about Charlie when they see his radio
[00:23:26] show or they see him on TV or they see
[00:23:28] his speeches to the masses on college
[00:23:30] campuses is the Charlie that you and I
[00:23:32] have been so privileged to know over the
[00:23:34] past few years. The guy I spent an hour
[00:23:36] and a half with last week debating the
[00:23:38] ins and outs of theological
[00:23:40] conversations and talking about heaven
[00:23:43] and purgatory and the mother of our Lord
[00:23:45] Mary. You know, we had such a powerful
[00:23:47] conversation just about a week ago
[00:23:49] together and uh to share the stage and
[00:23:51] to be encouraging this next generation
[00:23:54] to embrace our cross, to pick it up and
[00:23:56] carry it and to know that there are
[00:23:59] eternal rewards for this fight that
[00:24:00] we're fighting. Charlie really believed
[00:24:03] with every fiber of his being that this
[00:24:05] wasn't a political race. This wasn't
[00:24:06] about installing the next president of
[00:24:09] the United States that shared your
[00:24:10] personal policy prescriptions for how to
[00:24:12] save America. This was uh a spiritual
[00:24:15] battle. This was our obligation to pick
[00:24:17] up our cross for our society and for our
[00:24:20] generation to reinstate what is good and
[00:24:22] true and beautiful. Consequences be
[00:24:24] damned. And I will forever be inspired
[00:24:26] by him. I truly owe my life to Charlie.
[00:24:29] I met my husband at a Turning Point USA
[00:24:31] conference because we were both working
[00:24:33] at TPUSA. My daughter exists because of
[00:24:36] that chance encounter with my now
[00:24:38] husband. Uh, and truly my entire
[00:24:40] worldview has been shaped more by
[00:24:42] Charlie Kirk than any other voice in the
[00:24:45] world. We are hurting desperately for
[00:24:47] the loss of our great friend. And I ask
[00:24:49] that everyone watching this today pray
[00:24:52] for his beautiful family, his wife, and
[00:24:54] his children. Pray for the loss that we
[00:24:57] will experience as a movement because of
[00:24:58] this. Uh but also pray in thanksgiving
[00:25:01] because I truly do believe especially
[00:25:03] based on the very theological
[00:25:05] conversation we just had the other day
[00:25:06] that Charlie is indeed more alive than
[00:25:08] you and I are today. Uh and I I thank
[00:25:11] God for that. I thank God for the fact
[00:25:13] that he is rejoicing in heaven in unity
[00:25:15] with our God and our savior. And to know
[00:25:18] that he will continue inspiring so many
[00:25:20] more people and the direction of this
[00:25:22] great country for for generations to
[00:25:24] come. You know, I I love that you
[00:25:26] mentioned that you were going back and
[00:25:28] forth on theology with Charlie because o
[00:25:30] over the years, I mean, this is going
[00:25:32] back many many years at this point, we
[00:25:35] would talk about all sorts of things
[00:25:36] privately and in public uh politics or
[00:25:39] what you know, whatever the conservative
[00:25:41] movement, but it mostly what he wanted
[00:25:43] to talk about was religion and politics.
[00:25:46] And you know, often we would really kind
[00:25:47] of give it to each other on camera. you
[00:25:50] know, you kind of uh, you know, raz each
[00:25:52] other a little bit. And some people, I
[00:25:55] think, get this impression that that uh
[00:25:58] the way he was thinking about religion
[00:25:59] or would would talk about religion was
[00:26:02] um I don't know to uh full of slogans or
[00:26:05] something, you know, he'd just be
[00:26:06] because because he would have fun with
[00:26:07] his friends about this. But to those
[00:26:10] people, I say, and I know you can attest
[00:26:11] to this, if you thought he was good
[00:26:13] talking about religion on camera, you
[00:26:15] should have heard him off camera. You
[00:26:16] should have heard how he would talk
[00:26:17] about religion off camera. It was even
[00:26:18] more impressive. It was even it was even
[00:26:20] uh well yes it does it does inspire
[00:26:23] confidence for for people the many many
[00:26:25] many people who are grieving today. Uh
[00:26:28] Isabelle thank you so much. We're going
[00:26:29] to have Ben coming on uh and and
[00:26:31] Isabelle I'm sure as more comes out. You
[00:26:33] know we'll be seeing you and chatting
[00:26:34] with you in the coming days. Thank you
[00:26:35] again.
[00:26:36] >> Uh we're going to have Ben coming on uh
[00:26:39] later on. He'll be coming on shortly. Uh
[00:26:44] for those who are just tuning in, I know
[00:26:45] this is a live stream and a lot of
[00:26:47] information's been flying around all
[00:26:49] day. Uh Charlie Kirk is dead.
[00:26:53] uh the the generational political talent
[00:26:58] uh the most important young voice in
[00:27:00] American politics was shot at a campus
[00:27:04] event at one of the many campus events
[00:27:06] that he does where he was always willing
[00:27:08] to hear out the other side graciously
[00:27:13] debate ideas.
[00:27:15] Uh we have basically no information
[00:27:18] about the shooter. Uh the federal
[00:27:21] government is um obviously actively
[00:27:25] investigating the president of the
[00:27:27] United States. For those who missed it,
[00:27:29] it says
[00:27:31] the great and even legendary Charlie
[00:27:33] Kirk is dead. No one understood or had
[00:27:35] the heart of the youth of the United
[00:27:36] States better than Charlie. He was loved
[00:27:39] and admired by all, especially me. And
[00:27:42] now he is no longer with us. Melania and
[00:27:44] my and my sympathies go out to his
[00:27:47] beautiful wife Erica and his family.
[00:27:50] Charlie, we love you. Joining us now is
[00:27:53] the Daily Wire's very own Megan Bash.
[00:27:55] And Megan, your thoughts?
[00:27:58] >> You know, I'm struggling, Michael,
[00:27:59] between feeling angry and feeling a lot
[00:28:02] of rage about what happened today. But,
[00:28:05] um, also looking at Charlie's
[00:28:09] model of what he showed us, that what
[00:28:12] changes hearts and minds is
[00:28:14] conversation, is debate, is not
[00:28:16] violence. And that's what Charlie was
[00:28:19] about. A and as I look at the legacy he
[00:28:21] left particularly with TPUSA faith, you
[00:28:23] know, that's how I really came to know
[00:28:25] him and um came to be involved with the
[00:28:28] TPUSA organization.
[00:28:31] I um I was speaking to him just a couple
[00:28:33] of days ago. Uh we were talking about um
[00:28:36] the violent outbreak in Charlotte and
[00:28:39] the violence that we've seen here. And
[00:28:40] you know, he just always encouraged more
[00:28:42] and more conversation. And a friend
[00:28:44] immediately texted me today as soon as
[00:28:47] it was confirmed that we had lost him.
[00:28:49] And she said, she's a pastor's wife, and
[00:28:52] you know, her pastor with her both
[00:28:55] texted me and said, "Charlie died a
[00:28:57] murder." And we should be encouraged and
[00:29:00] inspired by his boldness and by the
[00:29:05] courage that he showed. And it brought
[00:29:07] to mind, you know, that famous maxim
[00:29:09] that the blood of the martyrs is the
[00:29:10] seed of the church. and the church had
[00:29:13] become so important to him in recent
[00:29:15] years and that's why he would debate it
[00:29:16] so much with friends. Um, now Charlie
[00:29:18] and I were on the same page, Protestant
[00:29:20] evangelical, so we were obviously in the
[00:29:21] right, but but I I look at what he
[00:29:27] clearly came to understand in a in a
[00:29:31] depth that you maybe wouldn't have
[00:29:33] guessed at when he first burst onto the
[00:29:35] scene as, you know, this 18-year-old
[00:29:38] fiery, you know, political demagogue.
[00:29:41] And then he would go on to show this
[00:29:43] spiritual depth that as he grew realized
[00:29:47] there was more to the political
[00:29:48] conversations that we were having than
[00:29:50] simply free markets. There was a
[00:29:52] spiritual battle happening and that to
[00:29:55] really recover the greatness of America,
[00:29:58] we had to recover our biblical values.
[00:30:01] We had to recover um the the moral
[00:30:04] grounding, the Christian biblical
[00:30:06] grounding that we started with. And
[00:30:07] that's what TPOSA faith was so much
[00:30:10] about. And when you heard him speak,
[00:30:13] what absolutely fired me up was not just
[00:30:16] his fearlessness, but his graciousness.
[00:30:18] You never heard Charlie talk about the
[00:30:21] left the way they talk about him.
[00:30:23] >> Never.
[00:30:23] >> You would never hear him
[00:30:26] >> celebrating someone else's
[00:30:28] >> pain or violence inflicted upon them.
[00:30:32] And as I look at some of the commentary
[00:30:34] that's already swirling, like again, I
[00:30:37] you know, you're tempted to just want to
[00:30:39] indulge a fury that
[00:30:43] is not the answer right now. And I I'm
[00:30:46] really looking to what he did, which was
[00:30:48] continue discussion and debate
[00:30:50] fearlessly. And look, he certainly was
[00:30:52] someone who knew that every time he went
[00:30:54] out and spoke publicly that he was at
[00:30:56] risk. And he did it anyway because
[00:30:59] that's how important the truth was to
[00:31:01] him. And so when I look at that, that
[00:31:04] can't help but inspire me to keep
[00:31:06] speaking, to keep talking, to keep
[00:31:08] carrying that message of the biblical
[00:31:10] values that our nation needs. Even for
[00:31:12] those who hated him, who hate him now,
[00:31:15] they still need that message. And that's
[00:31:17] why it's important that we keep talking.
[00:31:19] >> You know, I I
[00:31:21] keep coming back to this happens
[00:31:24] whenever anyone dies. You you have this
[00:31:27] grief not only for the person but for
[00:31:30] the future that you had imagined for
[00:31:32] that person. You say, "Well, so and so
[00:31:33] can't have died because we were going to
[00:31:34] go skiing next week. It can't." But you
[00:31:36] weren't weren't really. You just you had
[00:31:38] that idea, but that you know, you you
[00:31:40] don't you're not promised tomorrow. And
[00:31:42] with Charlie, people were just so
[00:31:46] confident in his future. The man was
[00:31:49] just going to be president. He just was.
[00:31:52] And I I I remember some years ago now uh
[00:31:56] I had completed the the Lincoln
[00:31:58] Fellowship at the Claremont Institute
[00:32:00] which is one of these conservative
[00:32:02] fellowships very interesting. It offers
[00:32:04] you an an education that usually you
[00:32:06] don't get these days on college campuses
[00:32:09] and I had was talking to some friends
[00:32:12] and I said you know Charlie would be
[00:32:14] good for this. Char at the time, I don't
[00:32:16] know, he was still young. Uh obviously
[00:32:18] started his political career at what's
[00:32:20] 18. And someone said, "Oh, would Charlie
[00:32:23] be interested in that?" You know, I
[00:32:24] don't know. I mean, he's like uh he
[00:32:26] dropped out of school and I don't know
[00:32:27] if he's really I said, "No, no, what are
[00:32:28] you talking about?" Said, "This guy has
[00:32:31] the the most impressive political skill
[00:32:34] of anyone of his generation. He's got
[00:32:36] the most impressive political drive of
[00:32:38] anyone of his generation. He didn't go
[00:32:40] to college because college is generally
[00:32:43] usually often a waste of time and money
[00:32:45] these days. But you I said you got this
[00:32:47] unbelievably talented skill-driven
[00:32:50] person. He's the perfect candidate. What
[00:32:52] you you know of course cuz that's that
[00:32:54] was one of the you one of the few things
[00:32:56] that he was missing some book learning
[00:32:58] and then he dives in and of course you
[00:33:01] know he he goes in deeper than than
[00:33:03] virtually everybody. Uh you know he just
[00:33:05] he was just would devour knowledge,
[00:33:07] devour skill. He was so unbelievably
[00:33:10] enthusiastic. I'm not that much older
[00:33:12] than than Charlie was. You Charlie
[00:33:14] Charlie was 31 years old and I he
[00:33:17] started, you know, uh running Republican
[00:33:20] politics about age three, I think. But
[00:33:23] he really launched at at age 18,
[00:33:25] launched TPUSA and it just grew and grew
[00:33:27] and grew. I remember the la the last
[00:33:29] time I saw I was supposed to see him in
[00:33:30] in 12 days and the the last time that I
[00:33:34] saw him wasn't that long ago TPSA event
[00:33:37] and and I said every time I go to one of
[00:33:40] these it started out there were 500
[00:33:41] people then there were a thousand people
[00:33:43] then there were 2,000 people then there
[00:33:44] were 7,000 people it just seemed like
[00:33:45] the sky was the limit and and one of the
[00:33:48] feelings of injustice that that one
[00:33:50] feels I think is that we don't even know
[00:33:54] what what what would Charlie have looked
[00:33:56] like a year from now 2 years from three
[00:33:58] years from you. His his rise and I don't
[00:34:00] just mean his popularity. I mean his
[00:34:02] personal development, his personal
[00:34:04] maturity, his growth in virtue, his
[00:34:06] growth in knowledge was so rapid. You
[00:34:09] just think, man, you just robbed us of
[00:34:12] what that guy could have been 5 years
[00:34:13] from now. Already so impressive what he
[00:34:15] could have been 5 years, 10 years from
[00:34:16] now. Uh but of course,
[00:34:20] you know,
[00:34:21] >> $10,000, Michael. I mean, he started
[00:34:23] with $10,000 at 18 years old and we now
[00:34:26] have what, 3,500 chapters of TPUSA all
[00:34:29] over the country on college campuses, on
[00:34:32] high school campuses. That was, you
[00:34:34] know, a little over 10 years he
[00:34:36] accomplished that much. So, absolutely,
[00:34:38] what would he have done with 20, 30 more
[00:34:41] years, 40 more years, 50 more years? Um,
[00:34:44] so I I think that is probably a lot
[00:34:46] where the anger comes from that you go
[00:34:48] there was so much that Charlie could
[00:34:50] have done and yet we know that the Lord
[00:34:52] in his providence allowed him to do how
[00:34:55] much he did in that short time that he
[00:34:58] enabled him and gifted him with these
[00:34:59] incredible talents that he had to be
[00:35:01] able to persuade people to be able to
[00:35:04] inspire people and to do that much
[00:35:06] inspiring in such a short period of
[00:35:08] time. Yes, there is a sense, you know,
[00:35:12] you you only see the story in reverse.
[00:35:14] You only see the story in the rearview
[00:35:16] mirror. Things sometimes don't feel as
[00:35:19] though they make sense at the moment.
[00:35:21] It's only when you look back at the
[00:35:22] narrative of a life that you see them
[00:35:24] all start to start to make sense. And
[00:35:26] and one of Charlie's many many
[00:35:28] accolades, of course, he had many many,
[00:35:30] but but one of them that I know was very
[00:35:32] dear to him was that he he was parodyied
[00:35:35] on South Park. And I remember the minute
[00:35:37] I saw it and not it was the main the
[00:35:40] great character on South Park was
[00:35:42] Charlie, you know, had Charlie's haircut
[00:35:43] and everything. I remember the second I
[00:35:45] saw it, I said, "Man, that kid has
[00:35:47] transcended. He has he has made it now.
[00:35:51] He is truly the generational political
[00:35:54] figure." And no one of course could have
[00:35:57] predicted no one no one did predict uh
[00:36:00] that that anything like this could have
[00:36:02] could have happened. And I I I suppose
[00:36:06] providence of it all is is a great
[00:36:07] consolation and I feel that and I I
[00:36:09] trust God in everything and uh I I am
[00:36:13] reminded to ask myself where were you
[00:36:14] when I laid the foundations of the
[00:36:16] earth. But there there is something that
[00:36:18] I recoil against and I know we're going
[00:36:20] to hear a lot of it in coming days which
[00:36:23] is you know well we should actually be
[00:36:24] happy because you know Charlie had
[00:36:27] religion and living faith and he's with
[00:36:30] his redeemer now so we should really be
[00:36:31] happy. We shouldn't be sad. No, we
[00:36:33] should be sad. We should be sad. This is
[00:36:36] a very sad thing. Death is a very bad
[00:36:38] thing. And Jesus wept when his friend
[00:36:39] died before he raised his friend from
[00:36:41] the dead.
[00:36:41] >> This is this is bad. This is bad and
[00:36:45] evil and just terrible. And and that's
[00:36:49] not the end of the story. That's
[00:36:51] obviously that's that's not the end of
[00:36:52] the story. But, you know, on the
[00:36:56] Catholic side of things, which I'm sure
[00:36:58] uh we're shortly here, we'd have a great
[00:37:00] great deal of fun talking about, there
[00:37:02] was a a a canonization of the first
[00:37:04] millennial saint. Amazing timing. A few
[00:37:07] days ago, Bless Carlo Audus, St. Carlo
[00:37:10] Audis, and his because he was so young,
[00:37:13] his parents were there. So, it's kind of
[00:37:15] strange. Your parents could be there at
[00:37:16] the canonization. And and they looked
[00:37:18] kind of sad. And people say, "Why are
[00:37:20] they sad? Their kids being named a
[00:37:22] saint?" you. So, I don't know if they're
[00:37:23] sad or not, but I'll tell you one thing.
[00:37:25] It would be perfectly fine for them to
[00:37:27] be sad because death is bad. Death is
[00:37:30] bad. And the the the religion that we
[00:37:32] all have, the the religion that Charlie
[00:37:34] felt very very deeply and believed very
[00:37:36] very deeply is is a religion that
[00:37:38] doesn't contradict the world, doesn't
[00:37:41] contradict reason, doesn't contradict
[00:37:43] nature, that it actually acknowledges
[00:37:45] reality, and that that uh prays for
[00:37:48] grace and looks toward the God who
[00:37:50] perfects nature. uh you know that that
[00:37:52] the the grace that lifts us above
[00:37:54] nature. Not and and so it's okay it's
[00:37:57] okay to to to mourn and to grieve and to
[00:37:59] be sad even as one can have and even as
[00:38:03] one feels a theological confidence that
[00:38:07] uh all all will be well and all will
[00:38:09] work out in the long run.
[00:38:12] >> Yeah. And what I'm really sad for is not
[00:38:15] just the loss of Charlie but what it
[00:38:17] means for the nation that he fought so
[00:38:19] hard for.
[00:38:19] >> Yes. Because as I look at the landscape
[00:38:22] and I look at the rhetoric and what it
[00:38:23] contributed to this um you know two days
[00:38:26] ago CNN had a panel in which they were
[00:38:30] um extremely dishonestly framing him as
[00:38:34] a racist for correctly delineating what
[00:38:38] happened here in Charlotte. And so you
[00:38:40] know there's a moment here even as a
[00:38:42] Christian where you sit here and go this
[00:38:44] is violence compounded upon violence
[00:38:46] Lord. And it's jarring to see what's
[00:38:49] happening to political opponents who at
[00:38:52] one point we would at least go look we
[00:38:54] see the world the same. We at least have
[00:38:56] the same
[00:38:58] general value system even if we don't
[00:39:00] agree with how that should work itself
[00:39:02] out. And I think it's really hard for me
[00:39:05] right now. I I actually had to log off
[00:39:07] because some of the uh responses already
[00:39:10] being thrown around on MSNBC coming in
[00:39:13] the wake of what was said on CNN about
[00:39:15] Charlie. um was just so dispiriting
[00:39:19] doesn't even begin to capture the
[00:39:21] feeling. But it it makes me hurt for my
[00:39:24] nation that this is their response and
[00:39:27] that they couldn't appreciate that half
[00:39:28] of the country at least was not
[00:39:30] appreciating the the patriotism, the
[00:39:34] love of country,
[00:39:36] the the
[00:39:39] spiritual grounding of someone like a
[00:39:41] Charlie Kirk. like it's a it's appalling
[00:39:43] that you have people who are at the
[00:39:44] pinnacle of our media platforms not
[00:39:47] recognizing what he contributed to this
[00:39:49] nation. And so that's the part that's
[00:39:51] maybe most hurtful to me is that I look
[00:39:53] at this and go this is a very bad place
[00:39:56] for our nation. And what I really do
[00:39:57] hope is that it does represent a turning
[00:39:59] point. That um that maybe I should have
[00:40:02] more faith in the left right now than I
[00:40:05] do. That they stop and take a look at
[00:40:07] the kind of rhetoric they're using and
[00:40:09] how they're describing people who have
[00:40:11] different views than they do and how
[00:40:14] they react to the violence done to
[00:40:17] people who have different views than
[00:40:18] they do because we saw this with
[00:40:20] President Trump and we see it now with
[00:40:22] Charlie Kirk. And I really hope that it
[00:40:25] will cause some reflection deep in the
[00:40:27] soul of some of the people who have said
[00:40:30] untrue and really deeply irresponsible
[00:40:34] things about him in the last few days
[00:40:36] and even today.
[00:40:38] >> I wouldn't hold your breath, Megan. I
[00:40:40] hate to I hate to be that guy, but I I
[00:40:43] wouldn't hold your breath given the the
[00:40:45] reaction that we've seen. as you say, I
[00:40:46] don't I don't even want to give it
[00:40:47] attention, but the reaction after
[00:40:50] Charlie was shot by mainstream
[00:40:54] left-wing outlets is so unconscionable.
[00:40:56] I'm not even going to say what what they
[00:40:59] said. Uh I I share your sense of um
[00:41:04] dispiritedness by by by that fact
[00:41:06] because it it's it reminds me of the
[00:41:09] John Dunn poem, you know, no no man is
[00:41:11] an island entire unto himself. You know,
[00:41:13] each man's death diminishes me because
[00:41:15] I'm a man. And and the one would hope
[00:41:20] that our countrymen, people who are in
[00:41:23] our political community, would feel that
[00:41:26] about basically anyone, certainly any
[00:41:29] innocent person who was killed and
[00:41:31] especially about a figure as important
[00:41:35] as as significant as as such a wonderful
[00:41:38] force in the culture as as Charlie Kirk.
[00:41:41] And the the the fact that
[00:41:44] pe some people on the left don't don't
[00:41:47] feel that way and have already
[00:41:48] articulated that they don't feel that
[00:41:50] way. I guess there's a kind of a dual
[00:41:52] sadness that sets in. On the one hand
[00:41:55] because of the injustice to Charlie and
[00:41:58] to his family and to his friends and on
[00:42:00] the other hand because of what it says
[00:42:01] about our political community or or lack
[00:42:04] thereof. I guess it leaves open a
[00:42:07] question. Do do we still have a
[00:42:09] political community? I hope we do.
[00:42:14] >> And he was building that. And I think
[00:42:15] that's what we need to remember about
[00:42:16] Charlie is that he changed a lot of
[00:42:18] minds. And that's why um he was, let's
[00:42:21] say, feared by some on the left because
[00:42:24] he was somebody who had the talent and
[00:42:26] the persuasiveness and the intellect and
[00:42:29] most importantly the wisdom, the
[00:42:31] spiritual wisdom to communicate the
[00:42:34] truth in such a way that it changed
[00:42:36] hearts and minds. And that is what
[00:42:38] earned him some of those political
[00:42:39] enemies that he had was because he was a
[00:42:41] force to be reckoned with. And so, you
[00:42:43] know, that's something that I also take
[00:42:45] comfort in that I I'm going to look at
[00:42:47] his legacy and go, how do I emulate what
[00:42:50] Charlie Kirk was accomplishing there?
[00:42:51] And I think he accomplished it um better
[00:42:55] than anyone else in his generation.
[00:42:56] Certainly.
[00:42:58] >> What happens now to that movement? I
[00:43:00] mean, you as you mentioned, he was
[00:43:01] building this movement that was it it
[00:43:04] was certainly a conservative movement.
[00:43:05] It was a right-wing movement, but to
[00:43:07] some degree it transcended a traditional
[00:43:09] left right in as much as he was building
[00:43:13] a new coalition, a broader coalition. He
[00:43:15] was extraordinarily influential in
[00:43:18] President Trump's re-election. And
[00:43:20] President Trump won the popular vote as
[00:43:22] a Republican for the first time in 20
[00:43:23] years. So, I I think there's no
[00:43:26] overstatement at all to say that Charlie
[00:43:27] was was really building something
[00:43:29] broader than than the old kind of
[00:43:31] desiccated rightwing. Uh, and he was the
[00:43:35] guy. He was the guy for that. And And so
[00:43:37] I guess my my question is where does it
[00:43:40] go from here?
[00:43:43] >> Well, you know, you you can't replace a
[00:43:44] talent like Charlie Kirk. I I I think
[00:43:47] there's a reason that we don't often see
[00:43:49] figures arise on the scene the way that
[00:43:52] he did because we don't typically see
[00:43:54] people with that level of skill and
[00:43:56] ability. But what he did do was impart
[00:43:59] those skills and abilities and that
[00:44:01] talent to some degree to so many people
[00:44:03] who loved him and followed him. And so I
[00:44:06] think that what we're going to see is a
[00:44:08] continuation of that because look, the
[00:44:09] people who came into TPUSA faith, who
[00:44:12] came into TPUSA, that energy, that love
[00:44:15] of country is still there and they're
[00:44:17] going to want to carry out that mission.
[00:44:19] And in fact, what I think is that you're
[00:44:21] going to see a redoubling of that
[00:44:23] mission. And I I hope and pray actually
[00:44:26] that this incident and I know that
[00:44:28] Charlie would hope and pray this opens
[00:44:30] some eyes to what the reality of our
[00:44:34] political and spiritual battle is. And I
[00:44:36] think that it will. I think there will
[00:44:37] be a lot of people who will suddenly
[00:44:39] hopefully be arrested and realize
[00:44:43] this is what the rhetoric of the left
[00:44:45] does. This is what this man was fighting
[00:44:48] against. He wanted a unified country, a
[00:44:51] peaceful country where people like him,
[00:44:54] other people with, you know, families
[00:44:56] and young children could thrive, where
[00:44:59] they could pursue their dreams. And I
[00:45:01] think that you're going to see a young
[00:45:03] generation now that looks to him as the
[00:45:06] model of that. So, you know, in that
[00:45:08] bizarre way, I'm also hopeful that I
[00:45:10] think maybe I'm a more hopeful than you
[00:45:13] are, Michael. But I I do hope and pray
[00:45:16] that this opens up some eyes, and I
[00:45:18] think it will. And I think those who
[00:45:19] were already in the TPUSA family, who
[00:45:21] already went to the conferences, I think
[00:45:23] they're going to continue to redouble
[00:45:25] their efforts. And I really do believe
[00:45:27] that this is going to convince some
[00:45:29] people that gosh, I don't want to be a
[00:45:31] part of a movement or a political party
[00:45:35] or an ideology that doesn't recognize
[00:45:39] the goodness of someone who was a
[00:45:41] patriot who loved the Lord and was
[00:45:44] working hard to ensure that we all had
[00:45:46] access to the kind of success that he
[00:45:48] achieved.
[00:45:49] >> Yes. And I I want to be clear, what
[00:45:52] we're discussing is the the reaction in
[00:45:55] some quarters from people who didn't
[00:45:56] like Charlie and and you know that as
[00:45:59] being particularly dispiriting. But what
[00:46:02] remains an open question is how this
[00:46:05] happened because I know there was a lot
[00:46:08] of misinformation flying around social
[00:46:10] media.
[00:46:12] Last I checked, authorities have still
[00:46:14] not apprehended the shooter. The shooter
[00:46:16] is still at large. The shooter was not
[00:46:19] in the immediate vicinity of the event,
[00:46:21] but was reportedly some 200 yards away.
[00:46:25] Are you hearing any new information
[00:46:28] about about him, any potential arrests
[00:46:31] or any explanation?
[00:46:34] >> No, not yet. Um, and you know, in the
[00:46:37] time that we've been here on the air, I
[00:46:38] haven't had a chance to check, but the
[00:46:40] last I heard was the gentleman that we
[00:46:42] saw arrested who was down on the ground,
[00:46:44] um, an older gentleman looked maybe
[00:46:46] about 60, uh, balding with white hair,
[00:46:49] that he was is is not currently the
[00:46:52] suspect. And so, we don't know who did
[00:46:54] this. Um, so all I can look to is, as I
[00:46:57] said, some of the rhetoric that I've
[00:46:59] heard in the last few days. Um, and I
[00:47:03] I'm actually praying for people like Van
[00:47:06] Jones and people at MSNBC who have been
[00:47:08] saying these things that that was not a
[00:47:10] factor because I wouldn't want that on
[00:47:11] my conscience if it was. Um, but I I
[00:47:14] think at the very least we can say that
[00:47:15] kind of irresponsible rhetoric needs to
[00:47:18] be dealt with. They need to look in the
[00:47:19] mirror and realize that what Charlie
[00:47:22] Kirk stood for was vigorous debate and
[00:47:25] discussion and certainly not um
[00:47:28] dishonestly tagging his political
[00:47:31] opponents with labels that they did not
[00:47:33] deserve and certainly had never earned.
[00:47:35] >> Yes.
[00:47:36] >> So, you know, that's all I can hope for
[00:47:38] at this point is that it causes some
[00:47:41] self-reflection.
[00:47:42] >> Meg, thanks so much for coming on. Uh
[00:47:44] wonderful to hear your thoughts on this.
[00:47:46] We are going to turn back now to Kat who
[00:47:50] has some updates on the situation. Kat,
[00:47:55] do we have Kat yet? We don't have Kat
[00:47:58] yet. For th for those of you who are
[00:47:59] just tuning in, uh you've probably heard
[00:48:02] the news already. Our friend Charlie
[00:48:04] Kirk has died. He was shot at a campus
[00:48:08] event at University A University in
[00:48:11] Utah. He his shooter is still on the
[00:48:15] run. Last we checked, uh, the president
[00:48:18] has confirmed his death. He wrote, "The
[00:48:19] great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is
[00:48:22] dead. No one understood or had the heart
[00:48:24] of the youth of the United States better
[00:48:26] than Charlie. He was loved and admired
[00:48:28] by all, especially me. And now he is no
[00:48:30] longer with us." Melania, and my
[00:48:32] sympathies go out to his beautiful wife,
[00:48:34] Erica, and family. Charlie, we love you.
[00:48:37] We turn now to Kat. Kitt, any updates?
[00:48:44] I don't have you, Kat. see your mouth
[00:48:46] moving, but I don't hear you.
[00:48:50] I still don't hear you. They'll work on
[00:48:52] the technical side and hopefully be able
[00:48:54] to bring cabb in with a an evolving
[00:48:57] situation. The reports first came out
[00:48:59] some hours ago that uh Charlie had been
[00:49:02] shot at a campus event. You know, he he
[00:49:04] uh regularly holds these events on
[00:49:06] campus campuses, ironically, to have an
[00:49:10] open discussion and to hear out people's
[00:49:12] ideas. And uh there is where someone
[00:49:15] wanted to sh silence Charlie and has
[00:49:17] silenced Charlie for now. Uh the the
[00:49:23] the part of this that I think is is
[00:49:25] really jarring to a lot of us and is is
[00:49:27] causing a an unyielding anger is that
[00:49:31] there are a lot of huers in politics.
[00:49:34] There are a lot of people who take cheap
[00:49:36] shots. There are a lot of people who uh
[00:49:40] treat politics merely as a game of
[00:49:42] points to be scored and there's always
[00:49:44] point scoring in politics. But Charlie
[00:49:47] consistently from the beginning on down
[00:49:52] was so gracious to his opponents, was so
[00:49:55] generous to his opponents. Didn't didn't
[00:49:58] try to get the cheap shot. Didn't try to
[00:50:00] misrepresent what the other person said.
[00:50:03] Charlie would win debates on campuses
[00:50:06] and beyond all around the United States
[00:50:09] by clarifying what the other person
[00:50:11] would say by trying to drill down to the
[00:50:13] heart of what his opponents really
[00:50:16] believed and to to win a debate with the
[00:50:19] truth. Uh another another aspect of
[00:50:23] Charlie's public life is that he he
[00:50:27] wasn't just a talking head and he wasn't
[00:50:30] just a politician.
[00:50:32] And he wasn't just a scholar or an
[00:50:36] academic or something. He had a little
[00:50:37] bit of all of that. He was he was
[00:50:39] intellectually very curious. He was a
[00:50:42] voracious reader. Uh he uh was quite
[00:50:45] articulate and had a massive mainstream
[00:50:48] media appeal and access.
[00:50:51] But he was a fighter. He was a real
[00:50:53] fighter. He wanted to get things done.
[00:50:56] He understood that prudence is the chief
[00:50:58] political virtue and you got to do stuff
[00:51:01] that politics is a practical science and
[00:51:03] a practical art. And when it comes to
[00:51:06] practical sciences and arts, you you can
[00:51:08] measure it, you can test it. Uh in the
[00:51:10] the last election cycle, Charlie was
[00:51:12] given a lot of responsibility to get out
[00:51:15] the vote. And there were plenty of
[00:51:17] people who doubted that he can do it
[00:51:18] just as he's faced doubters for his
[00:51:20] entire career going back to the time
[00:51:22] that he was a teenager. And what
[00:51:25] happened? The same thing that happened
[00:51:26] at every other point when people doubted
[00:51:28] him in his career. He delivered. He
[00:51:30] overd delivered. He practically speaking
[00:51:33] proved his vision correct and his
[00:51:36] abilities in politics. He was just so
[00:51:41] more than any other political figure I
[00:51:43] can think of certainly from this
[00:51:44] generation and even in the country other
[00:51:46] than I suppose the president himself.
[00:51:50] He was so lively. He was so politically
[00:51:53] lively in person, in the flesh, moving,
[00:51:57] doing, shaping, building. We are joined
[00:52:00] now, I believe, with uh technical
[00:52:03] proficiency by Cabbat Phillips. Kabitt,
[00:52:06] any updates?
[00:52:09] >> Yeah, we're still combing through all
[00:52:11] the latest reports from the university.
[00:52:13] Um, like you'd mentioned earlier,
[00:52:14] initially it appeared that the shooter
[00:52:16] was apprehended. We now know the shooter
[00:52:19] is at large. Police say they have not
[00:52:21] recovered the weapon that was used. They
[00:52:23] still do not know who the shooter is,
[00:52:25] but right now we are getting footage
[00:52:28] posted online that appears to show the
[00:52:31] shooter on the roof of an adjacent
[00:52:33] building. The university had said this
[00:52:34] is the building where it happened. We
[00:52:36] have not confirmed the veracity of this
[00:52:38] video, but you can see for yourself
[00:52:39] right there on the screen.
[00:52:41] There does appear to be a figure up on
[00:52:44] that roof.
[00:52:46] Again, we have not confirmed the
[00:52:48] authenticity of this video, but it is
[00:52:51] being widely circulated right now
[00:52:53] online. There is a separate video that
[00:52:54] has been posted. I don't know if we have
[00:52:56] access to that one right now. It's only
[00:52:58] about 3 or 4 seconds long, but it's
[00:53:00] filmed looking from Charlie's vantage
[00:53:02] point out into the crowd. Right as you
[00:53:04] see a bullet ring out, you see the crowd
[00:53:07] begin to scatter. And off in the
[00:53:09] distance on that same building, you can
[00:53:10] see a figure running along the roof.
[00:53:12] That's this video right here,
[00:53:15] right at the top there. I don't know if
[00:53:17] we can slow it down in any way, but in
[00:53:18] that video, you can see what appears to
[00:53:20] be a shooter or an individual running on
[00:53:23] the roof. Again, we are still working to
[00:53:24] confirm uh those videos and their
[00:53:26] authenticity, but that is what we're
[00:53:30] seeing right now. Again, you can't help
[00:53:32] but think of Butler, Pennsylvania, where
[00:53:34] you see an individual on a roof uh
[00:53:37] overlooking an event like this. Uh you
[00:53:39] can see the similarities there. Right
[00:53:41] now, police are still issuing warnings
[00:53:43] to students, reminding them that the
[00:53:45] shooter is not in fact in custody. I
[00:53:47] think a lot of people there were
[00:53:48] relieved initially to think that they
[00:53:50] had the suspect. They do not. The
[00:53:52] suspect is very much at large. The
[00:53:55] university issued a statement warning
[00:53:57] students to stay where they are, but if
[00:53:59] they had not yet evacuated campus and
[00:54:01] they were trying to get out of campus,
[00:54:02] quote, "Police will come and escort you
[00:54:05] out of the building." So, they are
[00:54:07] clearly very concerned wanting to make
[00:54:08] sure that students are not walking
[00:54:09] around campus. there could still be a
[00:54:11] threat very present right there. Um
[00:54:14] we're getting reports now that there are
[00:54:15] hundreds if not thousands of law
[00:54:17] enforcement combing through buildings on
[00:54:19] campus um combing through streets and
[00:54:22] nearby areas there. But this is, as you
[00:54:24] can imagine, going to be a nationwide
[00:54:26] manhunt. President Trump recently also
[00:54:28] uh just issued a statement ordering all
[00:54:31] American flags flown at half mast in
[00:54:34] honor of Charlie. So, President Trump
[00:54:37] continuing to weigh in there as well.
[00:54:39] But again, the big news right now,
[00:54:41] searching for this shooter. It looks
[00:54:43] like we have video of them. Have not
[00:54:44] verified it, but it looks like we have
[00:54:46] video of where they were. Where are they
[00:54:48] now, though?
[00:54:49] >> To look at that video, first of all, one
[00:54:52] one asks, assuming the video is is
[00:54:55] legitimate, one one has to ask, okay,
[00:54:58] was it was the video taken before or
[00:55:00] after the shooting? If it was taken
[00:55:02] before,
[00:55:04] one has to wonder why some security
[00:55:06] measure wasn't. If someone sees a guy
[00:55:07] lying prone on a roof, why wouldn't u
[00:55:10] someone report this? Was it reported?
[00:55:12] What what occurred? Uh if if it was
[00:55:14] taken afterward, uh what was that person
[00:55:18] doing there? When did he run off? I I
[00:55:19] know Kat, you're saying this is
[00:55:20] potentially still a dangerous situation
[00:55:23] for the students, for the attendees, and
[00:55:25] obviously it must be treated as such.
[00:55:28] But I I don't think anyone believes that
[00:55:30] that shooter on the roof poses a threat
[00:55:32] to anyone. It was it it seems clear
[00:55:34] enough to me that the person was aiming
[00:55:38] for Charlie. This wasn't a mass shooting
[00:55:40] event. This wasn't this this was
[00:55:43] extraordinarily targeted. Uh it's it's
[00:55:46] even more chilling than than uh the
[00:55:48] assassination of Charlie Kirk would be
[00:55:51] in any case. Uh it raises so so many
[00:55:55] questions about what was behind this,
[00:55:58] how how this could happen. You mentioned
[00:56:00] Kat that the president has just issued
[00:56:03] uh a proclamation honoring the memory of
[00:56:06] Charlie Kirk. I have it here. As a mark
[00:56:08] of respect, this is this is obviously
[00:56:10] from the White House. As a mark of
[00:56:11] respect for the memory of Charlie Kirk,
[00:56:13] by the authority vested in me as
[00:56:14] president of the United States by the
[00:56:15] Constitution and the laws of the United
[00:56:17] States of America, I hereby order that
[00:56:19] the flag of the United States shall be
[00:56:20] flown at half staff at the White House
[00:56:22] and upon all public buildings and
[00:56:24] grounds, at all military posts and naval
[00:56:26] stations, and on all naval vessels of
[00:56:28] the federal government, in the District
[00:56:29] of Columbia, and throughout the United
[00:56:31] States, and its territories, until
[00:56:33] sunset, September 14th, 2025. I also
[00:56:36] direct that the flag shall be flown at
[00:56:38] half staff for the same length of time
[00:56:40] at all United States embassies,
[00:56:42] legations,
[00:56:43] consular offices, and other facilities
[00:56:46] abroad, including all military
[00:56:48] facilities and naval vessels and
[00:56:49] stations. In witness hereof, I have here
[00:56:52] unto set my hand this 10th day of
[00:56:54] September, in the period in the year of
[00:56:56] our Lord, 2025, and of the independence
[00:56:58] of the United States of America, the
[00:57:00] 250th.
[00:57:02] Uh this is of course in the im im
[00:57:05] immeasurable grief that uh Charlie's
[00:57:08] family and friends and admirers are
[00:57:10] feeling. This is an amazing honor that
[00:57:13] uh every federal United States flag on
[00:57:18] planet Earth will be flown at half staff
[00:57:20] in his memory and and in his honor. And
[00:57:22] it's a a due honor indeed.
[00:57:26] >> It absolutely is. Um, we also saw a
[00:57:28] statement from President Biden come in,
[00:57:31] President Obama also issuing a statement
[00:57:33] offering his condolences, saying that,
[00:57:35] you know, we're still not sure yet what
[00:57:37] the motivation was for this crime, but
[00:57:39] we, you know, offer our support. I I I
[00:57:41] just lost the the full statement, but
[00:57:43] uh, President Obama chiming in as well.
[00:57:45] Um, as you can imagine, we have also
[00:57:48] seen a number of Democratic lawmakers
[00:57:50] and Democratic folks in the media
[00:57:53] beginning to weigh in on the the gun
[00:57:54] control side of this. Um, I'll let other
[00:57:56] people look at that. We're not even
[00:57:57] going to dignify that right now. But
[00:57:59] people are getting that angle in as
[00:58:01] well. But Michael, I I think it's I've
[00:58:05] loved listening to what you're saying as
[00:58:07] someone who was also a friend of
[00:58:09] Charlie, the the fact that you talk
[00:58:11] about his optimism, his just insatiable
[00:58:16] drive to build what he did. I I think a
[00:58:19] lot of people, especially young people
[00:58:20] right now, college students, um, and you
[00:58:23] spoke to many Turning Point chapters.
[00:58:24] I've spoken in many turning point
[00:58:25] chapters. The way that the students
[00:58:27] looked up to him,
[00:58:28] >> a lot of them said, "Yeah, I've been
[00:58:30] following Charlie since I was in high
[00:58:31] school and he's just always been there."
[00:58:34] >> But we know Charlie, it wasn't always
[00:58:37] that way. 10 years ago, he was grinding
[00:58:39] to build this organization. He was
[00:58:42] fighting tooth and nail to provide young
[00:58:45] conservatives with a voice to embolden
[00:58:47] them. I can't tell you how many college
[00:58:50] students I met who told me, "Yeah, the
[00:58:52] reason I'm involved in all of this, the
[00:58:53] reason I even feel secure in speaking
[00:58:55] out about being conservative is because
[00:58:56] of Charlie Kirk making it feel socially
[00:58:58] acceptable."
[00:58:59] >> And the number of young people
[00:59:01] >> who got to campus and thought, is there
[00:59:05] anyone else who agrees with me? Can I
[00:59:06] even be bold enough to speak out? And
[00:59:08] the number of those young people who
[00:59:10] looked around, they saw a turning point
[00:59:12] chapter on their campus or Charlie came
[00:59:13] to their campus and spoke and then those
[00:59:16] students said, "I can do this. there's
[00:59:17] other young people like me. I'm going to
[00:59:20] have the courage to do it. I think that
[00:59:21] is a legacy that Charlie is going to
[00:59:23] leave. And I think of some of the early
[00:59:25] years now. I I went to virtually every
[00:59:28] single Turning Point, their big annual
[00:59:30] conference every year since 2015. The
[00:59:32] 2015 event was in a little tiny ballroom
[00:59:34] at a Sherin. There were maybe 100
[00:59:36] students there.
[00:59:38] >> And I went up to Charlie and I said,
[00:59:39] "This is so cool. You filled up a whole
[00:59:41] room with students. What an amazing
[00:59:42] accomplishment."
[00:59:44] >> And he said, you know,
[00:59:45] >> we're just getting started.
[00:59:46] >> Yes. Yes, I the the last time the last
[00:59:49] time I saw him, I said, "Wow, how how
[00:59:50] many people is this this time?" And and
[00:59:52] you just think the sky in in everyone's
[00:59:54] mind, the sky was the limit. Kat, thank
[00:59:56] you very much. We have our friend Ben
[00:59:58] Shapiro, another friend of Charlie's on
[01:00:00] now. Uh so Kat, we'll catch back up with
[01:00:03] you as there are updates that come in.
[01:00:06] Ben,
[01:00:08] your thoughts on a terrible day?
[01:00:12] Yeah, I I can't I mean there's legit
[01:00:16] nothing to say. I mean it's it's rare
[01:00:17] that that you know there's nothing to
[01:00:20] say, but there's truly nothing to say. I
[01:00:21] mean unthinkable. Absolutely
[01:00:23] unthinkable. I mean I I've known Charlie
[01:00:27] Kirk since Charlie was 18 years old. I
[01:00:29] met Charlie when I was a significantly
[01:00:33] younger man. I was 13 years ago. So I
[01:00:36] was in my late 20s and I was working at
[01:00:37] the David Horwood Freedom Center. I met
[01:00:39] Charlie Kirk when he was a fresh-faced,
[01:00:43] bushytailed youngster who started
[01:00:45] Turning Point USA legitimately right out
[01:00:47] of high school. And he'd already found a
[01:00:48] couple of seed founders, but he was kind
[01:00:50] of walking around the the David Horses
[01:00:52] Freedom Center event looking for for
[01:00:53] donors. And I started introducing him
[01:00:55] around to donors. And I remember turning
[01:00:56] to Jeremy Boring, our co-founder here at
[01:00:59] Daily Wire, and turning to him at the
[01:01:01] time because we both worked there, and
[01:01:02] saying, "That kid is going to be the
[01:01:03] head of the RNC."
[01:01:04] >> Yeah.
[01:01:05] >> And I was wrong. He wasn't the head of
[01:01:07] the RNC. He created his own organization
[01:01:09] that was significantly more important
[01:01:10] than the RNC, the most important
[01:01:12] conservative organization in the
[01:01:14] country. And and Charlie was unendingly
[01:01:16] energetic,
[01:01:18] uh, optimistic, a coalition builder,
[01:01:21] somebody who got better at everything
[01:01:22] that he did.
[01:01:23] >> Truly, I mean, I watched him from his
[01:01:24] youngest days. He got better at
[01:01:25] speaking. He got better at debating. He
[01:01:27] he got better at fundraising. He was he
[01:01:29] was great at all of these things. But
[01:01:31] the thing that that there's so many, you
[01:01:33] know, kind of layers of of horror here.
[01:01:36] So many layers of horror. Obviously,
[01:01:37] just as a human being, child is a 31-y
[01:01:40] old man who believed in God. As a
[01:01:44] Christian, he believed in Christ. He's
[01:01:46] with God now. He he he had a wife and
[01:01:49] two children. Two very, very young
[01:01:51] children who will now grow up without a
[01:01:52] father. Um, and when he's a young single
[01:01:55] guy, right? I mean, now he's a full-g
[01:01:58] grown adult man with family, preaching
[01:02:01] in favor of marriage and family and
[01:02:03] religion and all the things that
[01:02:04] actually matter to all of us. And what
[01:02:07] does it mean for for our country? Truly,
[01:02:10] what does it mean for our country when
[01:02:12] for the crime of speaking freely, having
[01:02:15] normal debates in public,
[01:02:18] Charlie lost his life? Charlie was an
[01:02:20] unending well of energy. just endless
[01:02:22] energy, bundle of energy, like
[01:02:24] exhausting levels of energy actually.
[01:02:26] And yet
[01:02:28] you and what stopped Charlie Kirk is a
[01:02:31] murderer's bullet is an assassin's
[01:02:33] bullet. We don't know who the assassin
[01:02:35] is yet. We don't know what the cause of
[01:02:36] the assassin was yet. I'm sure it will
[01:02:38] be political because it would be
[01:02:40] unthinkable for it not to be. But
[01:02:43] something has happened in our country
[01:02:44] that is so massively and unbelievably
[01:02:47] horrifying and dangerous. and the the
[01:02:50] just the the the murder of a young
[01:02:52] beautiful person for the crime of
[01:02:54] speaking freely and passionately about
[01:02:55] the topics that matter is just it's
[01:02:58] beyond it's beyond me. It's beyond I
[01:03:00] think all of us. And it's it's a symptom
[01:03:03] of a broader ill in American society. An
[01:03:06] ill that says that politics are blood
[01:03:08] sport. that the that if you challenge
[01:03:12] ideas that that you're challenging
[01:03:14] somebody's existence and therefore you
[01:03:16] you are fair game to be murdered in cold
[01:03:19] blood in public in front of everyone. Uh
[01:03:22] and we've seen so many instances of
[01:03:24] violence being excused and and looked
[01:03:26] away particularly by the political left
[01:03:28] these days.
[01:03:29] >> And it is it I fear that it's not going
[01:03:32] to end. I fear that it only gets worse
[01:03:34] from here. That that's that's my fear.
[01:03:35] It's it's a moment for for I think where
[01:03:38] where we could as a country say no more
[01:03:40] of this. We've had periods in American
[01:03:41] history like this before, the 1960s and
[01:03:43] 70s being one. And at a certain point,
[01:03:45] Americans said no, we're not doing this
[01:03:47] anymore. But I wonder if the American
[01:03:49] body politic has the immune response
[01:03:51] necessary to stop this this massive evil
[01:03:55] from from ever happening again in our
[01:03:56] country. But, you know, then after I
[01:03:58] have all those sort of political
[01:04:00] thoughts and and all that and kind of
[01:04:01] meander my way around, what I come back
[01:04:03] to is poor Charlie. That's really what I
[01:04:05] come back to and I understand he's with
[01:04:06] God now and I understand that that for
[01:04:08] for Christians that's a cause for
[01:04:10] celebration but but I I just have to say
[01:04:12] that in my own view of Charlie Kirk is a
[01:04:14] person who who deserved
[01:04:19] 90 more years of life. He deserved to
[01:04:20] make a difference on this planet in
[01:04:22] favor of the country that he loved for
[01:04:23] for decades more. He deserved to sit and
[01:04:26] raise his family. He deserved to be able
[01:04:29] to bounce his children on his knee and
[01:04:30] hug them and kiss them good night. And
[01:04:33] whoever is responsible for this,
[01:04:36] there are no words for the evil that
[01:04:38] this person has just inflicted on not
[01:04:40] only Charlie's family but on the country
[01:04:42] and and made he made the world a
[01:04:44] significantly worse place today.
[01:04:47] >> You know, he Charlie, as you point out,
[01:04:50] was very good at many things and kept
[01:04:53] getting better and better and better at
[01:04:55] all of those things. at organizing, at
[01:04:57] getting out the vote, at fundraising, at
[01:04:59] messaging, at persuading, at at reading,
[01:05:02] at every just in everything, at
[01:05:04] understanding faith, at everything,
[01:05:06] everything. And and the thing, one of
[01:05:09] the things that he had had absolutely
[01:05:11] been dominating on had become synonymous
[01:05:13] with was open debate with your
[01:05:17] ideological opponents. Gracious,
[01:05:19] charitable, open debate anywhere with
[01:05:22] your ideological opponents. He a lot of
[01:05:25] people have done that over the years,
[01:05:26] but he was the man for that in this
[01:05:30] moment in in our time and one has this
[01:05:34] sinking feeling
[01:05:37] if he did that and he did it so well and
[01:05:40] they killed that guy,
[01:05:42] what comes next?
[01:05:45] >> Yeah. I mean, I I've had this thought
[01:05:47] myself a lot. Obviously, you know, some
[01:05:49] of us have been doing that on campuses
[01:05:50] for a very long time, right? And um and
[01:05:53] I've been in a lot of situations that
[01:05:55] that felt, you know, not particularly
[01:05:57] safe. I mean, I when I spoke at Berkeley
[01:05:59] years ago, they they required something
[01:06:00] like 500 police officers to quoteunquote
[01:06:02] ensure my safety. And I always thought
[01:06:04] it was overkill. I really did. I mean, I
[01:06:05] I had been wearing bulletproof vests at
[01:06:07] these events for years, specifically
[01:06:09] because security told me that it wasn't
[01:06:10] overkill, but I always thought it was
[01:06:12] overkill. I always thought, you know,
[01:06:12] this is a great country. This is not a
[01:06:14] country where people get murdered for
[01:06:16] just speaking freely about political
[01:06:18] issues of the day. I I had faith in in
[01:06:21] America that I grew up in that didn't do
[01:06:22] this sort of thing, that would never
[01:06:24] tolerate this. Certainly would never
[01:06:25] celebrate this sort of thing, certainly
[01:06:26] would never go on TV and talk about the
[01:06:28] justification, the emotional
[01:06:30] justification for for this sort of thing
[01:06:32] or go on TV as we're actually seeing
[01:06:33] hosts today do and try to or make
[01:06:36] excuses or suggest that that because
[01:06:38] Charlie had the wrong views that somehow
[01:06:39] he had he had contributed to this or
[01:06:41] this sort of monstrous response. And
[01:06:44] that that's not the country that I grew
[01:06:45] up in. And so, you know, Michael, you've
[01:06:47] done it, too. Every time you go to a
[01:06:48] college campus, you'll have friends and
[01:06:49] family who will say things like, "Well,
[01:06:50] don't you feel unsafe?" And my answer
[01:06:52] was always, "No, I never felt unsafe."
[01:06:53] >> Yeah.
[01:06:54] >> Even if I had someone, I said, "I'm the
[01:06:55] safest guy in the building. I've got
[01:06:56] security. I've got a vest." Like,
[01:06:58] >> and even when people would, you know,
[01:06:59] there have been a few instances where
[01:07:01] someone throws a an explosive or when
[01:07:03] someone busts open a door, something
[01:07:05] like that. And and even then there I
[01:07:07] guess there's this sense of well, look,
[01:07:09] it could never really go south. It
[01:07:10] couldn't come on, you know, we're just
[01:07:12] debating ideas. Come on, we're just
[01:07:13] giving a a college lecture or something.
[01:07:15] I mean, it's why I even at this moment I
[01:07:18] I'm having trouble uh accepting
[01:07:21] >> processing this. It's impossible to
[01:07:23] process. It's impossible to process.
[01:07:24] That's right.
[01:07:25] >> Yes. And and and now and now I I will
[01:07:28] say that just on a on a public policy
[01:07:29] basis, we just this is the end of all
[01:07:32] outdoor public events, like they're
[01:07:34] done. I mean, in terms of political
[01:07:35] events, it's over.
[01:07:37] >> And we we saw the president of the
[01:07:38] United States almost shot in the head
[01:07:40] during an outdoor public event. We saw
[01:07:42] Charlie Kirk murdered in front of all of
[01:07:43] us at an outdoor public event. That
[01:07:46] that's over and and we're going to lose
[01:07:47] something with that. And we're going to
[01:07:48] lose something in losing debate. We're
[01:07:50] going to like something something is
[01:07:52] broken in this country. Deeply deeply
[01:07:54] broken in this country for somebody like
[01:07:56] Charlie Kirk to just be assassinated
[01:07:58] again for the great crime of speaking
[01:08:01] what used to just be known as sort of
[01:08:03] traditional conservative values. That
[01:08:06] that is that normal just a political
[01:08:10] assassination. It's not just a murder.
[01:08:11] It's a political assassination. It's the
[01:08:12] worst political assassination in half
[01:08:14] century in this country. It really is. I
[01:08:16] mean, there have been assassination
[01:08:17] attempts on presidents. Obviously,
[01:08:18] Ronald Reagan was shot. There was an
[01:08:20] attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
[01:08:21] Both of them lived. The the actual
[01:08:23] full-scale murder of a 31-year-old
[01:08:27] superstar like Charlie,
[01:08:28] >> future president,
[01:08:29] >> for the for the great crime of of saying
[01:08:31] things on college campuses that people
[01:08:33] didn't want to hear.
[01:08:36] Something needs to Something needs to
[01:08:38] change. Something needs to change. And
[01:08:41] and the people who lead that change
[01:08:43] cannot be people who agreed with
[01:08:46] Charlie. It needs to be the people who
[01:08:47] disagreed with Charlie. Because I
[01:08:48] promise you that when the political
[01:08:49] motivation of the person who did this
[01:08:51] comes out, it's not going to be somebody
[01:08:52] who agreed with Charlie. It's not going
[01:08:54] to be somebody who who was who was warm
[01:08:55] to Charlie's message. It's it's going to
[01:08:58] be somebody who is of the belief that
[01:08:59] because Charlie spoke words, words are a
[01:09:01] form of of violence and an eraser of
[01:09:03] identity and and therefore Charlie has
[01:09:05] to be silenced. It's it's it's
[01:09:07] horrifying. Nobody should believe that
[01:09:09] in a free republic the foundations of
[01:09:12] the republic. I I I don't really believe
[01:09:14] I'm exaggerating when I say this shakes
[01:09:16] the foundations of the country because
[01:09:18] if we cannot if we cannot trust each
[01:09:19] other to have normal conversations in
[01:09:22] public about basic issues of governance
[01:09:24] and policy and values,
[01:09:27] how the hell are we supposed to have a
[01:09:28] country together? Hell, it's not
[01:09:29] possible.
[01:09:31] >> That's right. I agree. Ben, I'm going to
[01:09:33] leave the stream to you. Uh, and I know
[01:09:35] a lot of people are going to um tune in
[01:09:38] and be processing this all together and
[01:09:41] I'm sure all of us will be praying. Good
[01:09:44] to see, Bill.
[01:09:45] >> Yeah. Well, we all need to be praying.
[01:09:47] We need to keep praying for for Charlie,
[01:09:49] for his family, and for for the country
[01:09:50] most of all. I appreciate it, Michael.
[01:09:53] All righty, folks. So, if you're just
[01:09:54] joining us right now, the reason that we
[01:09:56] are broadcasting right now is because
[01:09:58] one of the most tragic things in modern
[01:09:59] American history has now befallen the
[01:10:01] country. One of the greatest acts of
[01:10:02] evil in modern American history has now
[01:10:04] befallen the country. The assassination
[01:10:07] of my friend and a truly great human
[01:10:11] being, Charlie Kirk. Charlie was shot to
[01:10:13] death a little bit earlier today. He was
[01:10:17] shot to death in Utah. He was speaking
[01:10:21] at a college campus. He was doing one of
[01:10:23] his usual sort of tetatets with a
[01:10:25] variety of students where he would have
[01:10:26] sort of an open setting and people would
[01:10:28] come up and they would ask him questions
[01:10:30] and they would go at him and he'd go
[01:10:31] back at them and then there'd be a viral
[01:10:33] clip. All in good fun. All an element of
[01:10:35] sort of the the political debate that
[01:10:39] happens in the country just as a matter
[01:10:40] of course and has been the legacy of
[01:10:42] this country different than than
[01:10:43] virtually all other countries in the
[01:10:44] history of the world. Well, Charlie was
[01:10:47] doing that when suddenly a shot rang
[01:10:49] out. Apparently, the shot was fired from
[01:10:51] approximately 200 yards away from on top
[01:10:53] of a building and the bullet struck
[01:10:55] Charlie in the neck and by the footage,
[01:10:59] which I certainly do not recommend
[01:11:00] watching. I I hope that people stop
[01:11:02] trafficking the footage because it is it
[01:11:03] is horrifying in every way. And Charlie
[01:11:06] should not be remembered like that. He
[01:11:07] should be remembered for what he was,
[01:11:08] which was a a political superstar. And
[01:11:10] we'll get to to my feelings for Charlie
[01:11:12] in a second and my experiences with
[01:11:14] Charlie and who Charlie was. The shot
[01:11:16] rang out from about 200 yards away and
[01:11:18] it looks like effectively Charlie he
[01:11:21] survived until he got to the hospital
[01:11:22] but he was it looks like he was almost
[01:11:23] instantaneously killed. Uh it's it's one
[01:11:26] of the most horrifying things I have
[01:11:28] ever seen in my entire life. Uh I've
[01:11:31] known Charlie Kirk since he was 18 years
[01:11:33] old which means that I would have been
[01:11:35] about 28 about 10 years older than
[01:11:37] Charlie. Uh, I was working at the time
[01:11:39] at the David Horwitz Freedom Center
[01:11:40] where I was the editor-in chief of a
[01:11:42] website called Truth Revolt. And Charlie
[01:11:44] showed up at the Breakers, which is kind
[01:11:45] of a ritzy hotel in Palm Beach. And he
[01:11:48] was fundraising. He was he had just
[01:11:49] started an organization that he was
[01:11:51] introducing around as Turning Point USA.
[01:11:54] Nobody ever heard of it. Nobody ever
[01:11:55] heard of him. I met Charlie. Charlie was
[01:11:57] an unending ball of energy at 18 years
[01:11:59] old. And one of the things that I've
[01:12:00] said around the company before is you
[01:12:02] cannot teach grit. It's a thing that
[01:12:03] cannot be taught. You either have it or
[01:12:04] you don't. There was no person with more
[01:12:07] grit, more gecko, more gumption, more
[01:12:09] enthusiasm and energy than Charlie Gir.
[01:12:11] Didn't exist. It was almost exhausting.
[01:12:15] When when Charlie was at the breakers
[01:12:16] and met Charlie and he was going around
[01:12:18] introducing just moving around the room,
[01:12:19] introducing himself to everybody, saying
[01:12:21] he wanted to start a conservative
[01:12:22] activist organization that was going to
[01:12:24] transform how young people thought about
[01:12:25] politics. I I remember turning to Jeremy
[01:12:28] Boring, who was also at David Hor
[01:12:30] Freedom Center at the time, and saying
[01:12:31] to Jeremy, "That kid is going to be the
[01:12:32] head of the RNC one day." And we agreed
[01:12:35] on that at the time and I've been saying
[01:12:37] it for for years. And it turns out that
[01:12:39] Charlie was significantly more than
[01:12:41] that. And it turns out that Charlie
[01:12:42] ended up founding the single most
[01:12:43] important political conservative
[01:12:45] organization of our era in Turning Point
[01:12:47] USA. Driving hundreds of thousands of
[01:12:49] people, if not millions of people, to
[01:12:50] the polls, registering voters,
[01:12:53] putting up these enormous events that
[01:12:54] that drew together tens of thousands of
[01:12:56] conservatives at one time, helping to
[01:12:59] lead the debates on on the critical
[01:13:01] issues, going to college campuses.
[01:13:03] Again, all of this was because Charlie
[01:13:05] just never stopped moving. Just never
[01:13:07] ever stopped moving. And I watched
[01:13:09] Charlie grow from the outside.
[01:13:10] Obviously, Charlie and I are friends,
[01:13:12] but you know, Charlie had closer friends
[01:13:14] than than than I was with Charlie. He
[01:13:16] had family, obviously, but watching
[01:13:18] Charlie over the course of his career
[01:13:20] from a fairly decent vantage point.
[01:13:22] Charlie was dedicated to making the
[01:13:25] country better and to making himself
[01:13:28] better at things. I remember when
[01:13:29] Charlie first started, he wasn't an
[01:13:31] amazing speaker. By the time he
[01:13:32] finished, he was a terrific speaker.
[01:13:33] Charlie didn't start off as somebody who
[01:13:35] was fluent in debate. By the time he
[01:13:36] finished, he was terrific at debate.
[01:13:38] Charlie started off as a pretty good
[01:13:39] fundraiser. handed as an amazing
[01:13:41] fundraiser. Charlie Kirk was a coalition
[01:13:43] builder. He was somebody who's focused
[01:13:45] on the idea that in order to win power,
[01:13:46] you actually to effectuate change, you
[01:13:49] actually do have to build coalitions.
[01:13:50] And that means talking to wide varieties
[01:13:51] of people, many of whom disagree with
[01:13:53] one another. And that's a that's a
[01:13:55] difficult business. It's dirty business.
[01:13:56] It means that you're talking with bunch
[01:13:58] of people you don't agree with nearly
[01:13:59] all the time. And Charlie mastered that
[01:14:02] art on a on a personal level. Charlie, I
[01:14:05] watched him grow from a very young man.
[01:14:08] I mean, 18 years old to become a father
[01:14:12] of two, become a husband.
[01:14:15] I watched Charlie grow in his religious
[01:14:17] belief. I mean, if you watch tapes of
[01:14:20] Charlie over the course of the last
[01:14:21] year, he he almost invariably talks
[01:14:25] about God, talks about the Bible, talks
[01:14:26] about his belief in Christ.
[01:14:29] And Charlie was murdered for the great
[01:14:31] crime of speaking publicly about
[01:14:33] controversial issues with people in a
[01:14:35] normal conversation, in a normal debate
[01:14:36] and discussion setting. That that that
[01:14:38] is why he was murdered. We don't know
[01:14:39] yet the identity of the person who
[01:14:42] murdered Charlie Kirk, who assassinated
[01:14:44] Charlie Kirk. We don't we don't know who
[01:14:45] that person was. The presidents of the
[01:14:48] United States has ordered all flags
[01:14:51] across the country lowered to half staff
[01:14:52] in honor of Charlie Kirk. Again, it's
[01:14:54] just I can't even believe these are
[01:14:56] words that are coming out of my mouth. I
[01:14:57] just I I cannot even believe it because
[01:15:00] Charlie was 31 years old. He was 31
[01:15:04] years old. Absolutely just horrifying.
[01:15:08] And you know, I know that on a religious
[01:15:11] level, obviously, he's with God now. And
[01:15:14] for many people that that you know, are
[01:15:17] religious, that's a cause for rejoicing,
[01:15:19] not not for not for despair. For me, on
[01:15:21] behalf of the country, I don't I don't
[01:15:23] despair on Charlie's behalf. I I also
[01:15:25] believe that Charlie's with God. Um, but
[01:15:27] I I I despair on behalf of my country. I
[01:15:30] I you know feel horrific for his his
[01:15:33] family. I just think to myself,
[01:15:35] Charlie's sitting there and he's
[01:15:36] debating politics and the next moment
[01:15:37] the bullet is passing through his neck.
[01:15:39] And I just think poor Charlie, my my
[01:15:41] friend, person I knew, person I knew
[01:15:44] pretty well and from from time he's
[01:15:46] again very very young.
[01:15:50] It's just devastating in every way is
[01:15:52] possible for it to be devastating. Just
[01:15:56] every every way is possible for it to be
[01:15:58] devastating. The president of the United
[01:16:00] States put out a statement on Truth
[01:16:02] Social
[01:16:04] lamenting and mourning the death of of
[01:16:05] Charlie Kirk.
[01:16:10] He said, "The great and even legendary
[01:16:11] Charlie Kirk is dead. No one understood
[01:16:13] or had the heart of the youth in the
[01:16:14] United States of America better than
[01:16:16] Charlie. He was loved and admired by
[01:16:17] all, especially me. and now he's no
[01:16:19] longer with us. Melania and my
[01:16:20] sympathies go out to his beautiful wife
[01:16:22] Erica and family, Charlie, we love you.
[01:16:25] I don't know what this means for the
[01:16:27] country. I do not know what this means
[01:16:28] for America truly when political figures
[01:16:32] who just are out to discuss and debate
[01:16:35] in public are gunned down in cold blood.
[01:16:38] I do not know what we can expect next on
[01:16:41] a personal level. Obviously, I spent an
[01:16:42] awful lot of time on college campuses
[01:16:44] doing the same sort of stuff, debating,
[01:16:45] being out there, talking to people,
[01:16:48] and I've had, you know, significant
[01:16:50] security concerns before. Obviously,
[01:16:52] when I was at Berkeley, for example,
[01:16:53] they they required something like 500
[01:16:55] police officers. And I always thought it
[01:16:56] was overkill. I really did. I thought,
[01:16:58] yeah, security team is saying you should
[01:16:59] put on a bulletproof vest. Okay, fine.
[01:17:00] I'll do it, but I think it's overkill.
[01:17:02] Do I need this many police officers?
[01:17:04] Nah, I mean, it's overkill. People would
[01:17:06] ask me about I'm sure Charlie had
[01:17:08] exactly the same feeling. In fact, I
[01:17:09] know Charlie had the same feeling
[01:17:10] because we'd had that conversation that
[01:17:12] that that you feel like, okay, well, you
[01:17:14] know, is it really that big? Okay, so
[01:17:15] somebody might take a swing or somebody
[01:17:17] might yell at you. Is it really that big
[01:17:18] a deal? This is America. In America, you
[01:17:20] don't hurt people for having different
[01:17:22] political opinions. You don't kill
[01:17:24] people for having different political
[01:17:26] opinions. This is not what America is.
[01:17:28] It is the opposite of what America is.
[01:17:30] And then gradually it seems that in this
[01:17:32] country we have come to the conclusion
[01:17:34] that if somebody disagrees with you
[01:17:37] strenuously enough politically that
[01:17:39] violence is now a necessity that if the
[01:17:43] systems don't align with what you wish
[01:17:45] they were were then murder is on the
[01:17:49] table. that if a person is murdered and
[01:17:52] you're a member of the media that your
[01:17:54] first reaction should be to if they had
[01:17:56] the wrong political views imply or say
[01:17:58] openly that perhaps it was their
[01:18:00] political views that that brought this
[01:18:01] on them.
[01:18:03] It is
[01:18:05] it is a terrible terrible moment and I
[01:18:08] don't know to be honest with you how we
[01:18:10] pull out of it other than to just say
[01:18:12] utter intolerance for political violence
[01:18:14] of any way shape or form. Utter
[01:18:18] intolerance of it. It is. It is just
[01:18:23] awful. I mean, I keep saying the same
[01:18:24] things over and over, but what do you
[01:18:25] say when somebody that you knew pretty
[01:18:27] well and somebody in the same line of
[01:18:29] work as you and somebody who was doing
[01:18:30] many of the things that that you admired
[01:18:33] is just shot and killed.
[01:18:38] You know, the
[01:18:40] I'm I'm hesitant to show the footage of
[01:18:41] the shooting, so I'm not going to
[01:18:42] because I don't think I don't think
[01:18:43] there really is a purpose to to showing
[01:18:45] the actual footage. It's it's
[01:18:46] horrifying. Uh, and again, I don't think
[01:18:48] that there is a a reason for that.
[01:18:51] Apparently, there's going to be a press
[01:18:53] conference starting fairly soon here
[01:18:55] from the White House about all of this.
[01:18:59] Um, it we'll obviously go to that when
[01:19:02] when that happens. Uh, there there is
[01:19:04] footage of Charlie interacting with the
[01:19:05] crowd at the Utah event. This just
[01:19:07] moments before he was shot. as clip two
[01:19:16] as it's Charlie pulling shirts to the
[01:19:18] crowd.
[01:19:20] Unbelievable.
[01:19:22] MAGA hats and all the rest. He sits down
[01:19:26] and um a few minutes later he was shot
[01:19:29] to death. You can see in the distance
[01:19:30] some of the buildings presumably one of
[01:19:32] those was used as the overlook from
[01:19:33] which he was murdered.
[01:19:37] Uh Charlie obviously is a family man.
[01:19:40] The footage I can't even watch the
[01:19:41] footage with these kids. It's just terri
[01:19:42] It's just the worst thing. Here's but
[01:19:44] but we should watch that footage
[01:19:46] together because this is what happens
[01:19:47] when you let the evils of the human
[01:19:50] heart overcome you. You take people like
[01:19:52] Charlie Kirk with young kids out of the
[01:19:54] world for no reason other than you don't
[01:19:56] like his politics. Here's Charlie Kirk
[01:19:58] with his daughter on the Fox set. This
[01:20:00] clip five.
[01:20:03] [Music]
[01:20:23] Apparently, uh Charlie was rushed to the
[01:20:25] hospital by security. We know that he
[01:20:27] was still barely alive, apparently in
[01:20:29] the car. I believe he died at the actual
[01:20:30] hospital. There was some news that had
[01:20:32] broken that he was in critical
[01:20:33] condition. There was a brief hope that
[01:20:34] he might be able to survive, but
[01:20:36] obviously if you've watched the original
[01:20:37] tape of the shooting, I think that that
[01:20:39] pretty much everybody knew even from the
[01:20:40] original tape that that was that would
[01:20:41] have taken an extraordinary miracle. The
[01:20:44] miracle is that that somebody like
[01:20:45] Charlie who was a high school graduate,
[01:20:48] who never went to college, who built
[01:20:50] this thing out of nothing, was able to
[01:20:52] do that in this country. That is a
[01:20:54] miracle. And that's the miracle of the
[01:20:56] country. And I I wonder whether that
[01:20:57] miracle is duplicable in a country where
[01:21:00] people are snuffed out at the age of 31
[01:21:03] because people disagree with with
[01:21:05] Charlie Kirk. The the mainstream media,
[01:21:08] Legacy Media, some of some of them have
[01:21:10] been predictably awful. MSNBC's Matt Dow
[01:21:13] had one of the worst comments of the
[01:21:14] day. And I think we should point this
[01:21:16] out because people should understand
[01:21:18] that if this is the attack you choose to
[01:21:19] take, you are facilitating violence.
[01:21:21] Truly, if you if you take the tag that
[01:21:25] if you say awful things in America, then
[01:21:27] the violence simply descends upon you or
[01:21:29] deserves to descend upon you because you
[01:21:31] are so threatening. That implication
[01:21:33] creates a permission structure for
[01:21:34] violence. You're not responsible for the
[01:21:36] shooter, but you are responsible for
[01:21:37] raising the temperature. I've said this
[01:21:38] 1 million times over the course of the
[01:21:40] last couple of years. Here's Matt Dad.
[01:21:43] Couldn't help himself. Couldn't help
[01:21:44] himself as Charlie's body was not yet
[01:21:46] cold. Here's what Matt Dowad had to say
[01:21:48] over MSNBC.
[01:21:50] But following up what what was just
[01:21:52] said, he's been one of the most
[01:21:53] divisive, especially divisive younger
[01:21:56] figures in this who is constantly sort
[01:21:59] of pushing this sort of hate speech or
[01:22:02] sort of aimed at certain groups. And I
[01:22:04] always go back to hateful thoughts lead
[01:22:08] to hateful words which then lead to
[01:22:11] hateful actions. And I think that's the
[01:22:13] environment we're in that that people
[01:22:15] just you can't stop with these sort of
[01:22:18] awful thoughts you have and then saying
[01:22:19] these awful words and not expect awful
[01:22:22] actions to take place. And that's the
[01:22:24] unfortunate environment we're in.
[01:22:27] >> What an utter complete piece of I
[01:22:30] mean truly like to to say that on the
[01:22:32] day that somebody is is murdered that
[01:22:34] that's your takeaway. The New York Times
[01:22:35] obituary issuing similar critiques in
[01:22:38] the obituary. quote, "He was so vocal in
[01:22:40] his willingness to spread unsupported
[01:22:41] claims and outright lies. He said the
[01:22:43] drug hydroxychloroquin was 100%
[01:22:45] effective in treating the virus, which
[01:22:46] it is not, that Twitter temporarily
[01:22:48] barred him in early March 2020, but that
[01:22:50] move only added to his notoriety and
[01:22:51] seemed to support his claim that he was
[01:22:52] being muzzled by a liberal elite." Yes,
[01:22:55] that's that's the takeaway. that
[01:22:57] obviously when when you're remembering
[01:22:58] the life of a 31-year-old who is slain
[01:23:00] for his politics, that is that is where
[01:23:02] um
[01:23:04] well um
[01:23:06] you I lack the words. MSNBC's Katie Tur
[01:23:09] doing something similar. She suggested
[01:23:11] that the big worry here is that the
[01:23:12] Trump administration will use this all
[01:23:14] as a justification for some further
[01:23:15] action that they don't like
[01:23:18] >> because um as we were just talking about
[01:23:21] a moment ago with with Allen after one
[01:23:25] of the Doge uh employees was allegedly
[01:23:28] attacked in Washington DC. That's what
[01:23:30] Donald Trump used as a justification to
[01:23:33] send in
[01:23:34] federal troops into Washington DC to to
[01:23:37] get things under control. the carjacking
[01:23:39] situation. He used that and I I know
[01:23:42] it's hard to predict the future, Mark,
[01:23:43] but you can imagine the administration
[01:23:45] using this as a justification for
[01:23:47] something.
[01:23:49] >> I I must admit I'm I'm I'm at a loss to
[01:23:52] guess as to what happens next.
[01:23:55] >> Unbelievable. Well, Cash Patel or the
[01:23:58] FBI apparently is announcing they have
[01:23:59] caught the shooter. We'll bring you
[01:24:01] details as soon as we know. There's also
[01:24:02] supposed to be I was mistaken earlier.
[01:24:04] The press conference is not from the
[01:24:05] White House. That press conference is
[01:24:06] apparently going to come from local
[01:24:07] authorities. So, we will have more
[01:24:08] information. Then, joining me on the
[01:24:10] line is my friend Andrew Clayven. Drew,
[01:24:12] I don't even know what to to ask you or
[01:24:14] what to say. I'm not sure there is
[01:24:16] anything to say. And, you know, it's our
[01:24:18] job to sort of fill the air time. So,
[01:24:20] what what
[01:24:21] >> Yeah. Uh, you know, I was listening to
[01:24:23] you and so many of the things you said
[01:24:25] were things that have been going through
[01:24:26] my mind. Uh, I met Charlie also when,
[01:24:28] you know, he must have been 18, 19 years
[01:24:31] old. Uh, I I felt I I did not have your
[01:24:34] uh your far-sightedness. I looked at him
[01:24:36] and thought a nice guy. He's obviously
[01:24:38] very intelligent but a little bit callow
[01:24:40] as as he was then. Uh and I remarked to
[01:24:43] you I think not many months ago that I
[01:24:46] was really really impressed with what he
[01:24:48] had turned himself into uh that he
[01:24:51] reminded me in fact of you because you
[01:24:53] were kind of call when I met you too and
[01:24:55] yet you have turned yourself into
[01:24:57] something uh far far more uh important
[01:25:00] than you you would have been if you had
[01:25:02] just not wanted to get better. That's
[01:25:04] what makes these people rise up is that
[01:25:07] urge to make of to take the gifts that
[01:25:09] God gave them and make them something
[01:25:10] else. And I have to say and and there's
[01:25:13] a little bit of well there's a lot of
[01:25:15] acid in my heart right now and I want to
[01:25:17] avoid you know making the kind of big
[01:25:19] angry statements that you make at
[01:25:21] moments like this but when I was
[01:25:22] listening to Matthew Dow what I couldn't
[01:25:24] help but think was that unlike what he
[01:25:27] was saying that Charlie was doing the
[01:25:29] opposite of murder. What Charlie was
[01:25:31] doing was the opposite of murder. The
[01:25:32] opposite of murder is not joining hands
[01:25:34] and singing kumbaya. It's discussing
[01:25:37] things with people that you deeply
[01:25:38] deeply disagree with on an intellectual
[01:25:41] idea based level and uh with respect
[01:25:43] which Charlie did all the time. I do not
[01:25:45] think I cannot remember a hateful word
[01:25:48] ever coming out of his mouth. Uh I
[01:25:50] remember his stalwart disagreement, his
[01:25:52] stren strong disagreement, his strong uh
[01:25:55] Christian faith and the Christian uh
[01:25:56] ethos that went with it. But I never
[01:25:58] remember him saying uh some of the
[01:26:00] things that are we're all tempted to
[01:26:03] snap into in moments of confrontation. I
[01:26:06] always remember him engaging on the
[01:26:07] level of ideas. Um and I just think that
[01:26:11] that's the amazing uh difference I think
[01:26:14] that we're dealing with. And I have to
[01:26:16] tell you that right this moment and I
[01:26:18] hope this will pass. I trust it will
[01:26:20] pass. Uh right this moment I also with
[01:26:22] you have a very dark feeling about this
[01:26:25] country. uh you know when we started the
[01:26:27] Daily Wire I remember sitting around
[01:26:29] with you guys and you're saying somebody
[01:26:32] saying that this is the most divided
[01:26:33] time ever and and my saying it's really
[01:26:35] not because when I grew up people were
[01:26:37] being assassinated right and left but
[01:26:39] the difference is the the difference is
[01:26:41] that then the people in authority the
[01:26:45] people in the media did not join in in
[01:26:48] the kind of rhetoric that makes it
[01:26:51] impossible for us to talk with one
[01:26:52] another if everyone who disagrees with
[01:26:54] you is Hitler. I mean, we live in a
[01:26:56] place where the New York Times, once the
[01:26:57] paper of record will call someone like
[01:27:00] Barry Weiss, a middle-of the road
[01:27:02] liberal, Hitler, they'll compare her to
[01:27:04] Hitler. How on earth, where on earth are
[01:27:06] the people supposed to go uh to let
[01:27:09] their anger cool off, to get more
[01:27:11] information uh and to remember who we
[01:27:13] are and who we're supposed to be?
[01:27:15] Charlie did that every time he stepped
[01:27:17] out on stage. every time he stepped out
[01:27:18] on stage, he not only argued for his
[01:27:20] side, but he reminded us of who all of
[01:27:23] us are supposed to be as as a people.
[01:27:26] And to say that that is what brings
[01:27:28] violence down on you is to say
[01:27:30] essentially what the left has been
[01:27:32] saying for so long that that the America
[01:27:35] is worthy of violence, is worthy of
[01:27:36] suffering uh violence and hatred. Uh
[01:27:39] this
[01:27:40] >> true I just I'm with you. I'm I'm not
[01:27:42] sure where we go from here. I mean, the
[01:27:44] the thing the thing that that keeps
[01:27:45] flashing through my mind is that we've
[01:27:46] seen over the course of the last several
[01:27:48] years an increasing justification that
[01:27:51] is being laid up by relatively
[01:27:52] mainstream people on the left for
[01:27:54] violence. When Luigi Manion shot a
[01:27:56] United Healthcare CEO because the
[01:27:58] healthcare system was bad and suddenly
[01:28:00] there was an upsurge of sentiment in
[01:28:01] favor of Luigi Manion or or when there
[01:28:04] was a a person who was mentally ill who
[01:28:06] went and shot somebody who was working
[01:28:08] for a hedge fund in New York, there's an
[01:28:09] upsurge of of sympathy for that person.
[01:28:12] when when somebody tried to assassinate
[01:28:13] the president, not once but twice, that
[01:28:15] there was a a significant percentage of
[01:28:17] people who sort of suggested, well, you
[01:28:18] know, Trump either brought it on himself
[01:28:20] or who were making jokes about it. The
[01:28:22] that all of that felt amateur hour even
[01:28:25] compared to what we have just seen here.
[01:28:28] Not that their deaths mean any less, but
[01:28:30] but Charlie's literal job was just to do
[01:28:32] first amendment things. That's what he
[01:28:34] did for a living. What he did was raise
[01:28:37] his kids and take care of his wife and
[01:28:40] do free speech. That is what he did. He
[01:28:42] did first amendment things like what the
[01:28:44] bas of the first amendment is to be. And
[01:28:46] as you say, you know, it would be
[01:28:47] unjustifiable no matter what his
[01:28:49] political views, but his views happen to
[01:28:50] be particularly mainstream conservative.
[01:28:52] Like right down the line, mainstream
[01:28:54] conservative. And for that, Charlie was
[01:28:57] shot to death. And and I don't know if
[01:28:59] if if our country cannot if the left
[01:29:02] cannot stop claiming that its opponents
[01:29:06] are enemies, like true enemies that that
[01:29:09] need to be destroyed, I I just don't
[01:29:10] know where we go from here that can
[01:29:12] maintain anything like a functional
[01:29:13] republic.
[01:29:15] >> Well, I think that we have to I mean, if
[01:29:17] we're going to have faith in anything
[01:29:19] besides God, first we have to have faith
[01:29:20] in God because uh he has always been
[01:29:23] providential towards this country and
[01:29:25] always led us forward. But we also have
[01:29:27] to have faith in our fellow Americans.
[01:29:30] Now that uh people like us have broken
[01:29:33] the strangle hold that the left had on
[01:29:36] communications and on the media and on
[01:29:38] history. Uh now that we have broken
[01:29:40] that, it is really time for us to make
[01:29:42] sure that as we go forward, we're saying
[01:29:44] the things that I think the majority of
[01:29:46] Americans want to hear about freedom,
[01:29:48] about decency, about morality. Uh these
[01:29:51] are things that I don't think are uh
[01:29:53] fringe issues. I think that we have seen
[01:29:56] in these last uh months since Trump was
[01:29:59] elected, we have seen just how far to
[01:30:01] the fringe our opponents are. Uh these
[01:30:04] are people who support, you know, child
[01:30:07] molesters and criminals and gang
[01:30:10] members, don't want us to treat them too
[01:30:12] harshly, don't even want some of them to
[01:30:13] go to jail, uh are let leaving them out
[01:30:16] on the streets that they will
[01:30:18] manufacture a an outrage over the death
[01:30:21] of a black man in an anomalous
[01:30:23] situation. But in the death of a white
[01:30:25] man in a normal typical situation or the
[01:30:28] death of a white woman uh the death of
[01:30:30] black people uh at the hands of other
[01:30:32] black people this they don't want to
[01:30:33] talk about at all. And I think
[01:30:35] ultimately we have to have faith that if
[01:30:37] we speak the words if we get the news
[01:30:39] out if we get the facts out as Charlie
[01:30:41] was doing every time he stood on stage.
[01:30:43] If we put it out there with the kind of
[01:30:44] respect that he showed to people. If we
[01:30:46] put it out there with a kind of uh
[01:30:47] reliance on reason and on not and not
[01:30:50] just on reason but on warmth and
[01:30:52] kindness and respect for other people uh
[01:30:55] ultimately we will win the day in a
[01:30:56] country that lives uh and dies by the
[01:31:00] voice of the people. Right this minute
[01:31:02] I'm with you Ben right this minute. It
[01:31:04] is really hard for me to imagine getting
[01:31:06] back to that place. But I I do believe
[01:31:09] that there is still a great great strain
[01:31:11] of decency in this country and a great
[01:31:13] great power of God watching over uh
[01:31:16] people who want to be free. People want
[01:31:17] to be free everywhere, not just here,
[01:31:19] but maybe especially here because we've
[01:31:21] led the way. But I think that God is a
[01:31:23] very big fan of freedom. And I think he
[01:31:25] stands up for it when people uh have the
[01:31:27] courage to put it forward. This is an
[01:31:29] awful day, Ben. It's just an awful,
[01:31:30] awful day. And I think that we have to
[01:31:32] remember that there will be better days
[01:31:34] uh and that uh in those days we'll see
[01:31:36] things clearly and hopefully see a way
[01:31:38] forward because right now, like I said,
[01:31:40] I'm with you. It's hard not to despair.
[01:31:43] >> I appreciate it, Drew. And and hang in
[01:31:44] there. I mean, obviously,
[01:31:46] >> we're both praying for for Charlie and
[01:31:48] his family and for and for the country.
[01:31:50] >> Family.
[01:31:51] >> And meanwhile, we're joined on the line
[01:31:52] by editor-inchief of the Daily Wire,
[01:31:54] Brent Sher. He's going to give us some
[01:31:55] updates uh in in just a moment. Uh,
[01:31:59] apparently there's sort of a clash
[01:32:00] between what we are hearing from local
[01:32:01] authorities who are saying he's at large
[01:32:03] and Cash Patel saying the shooter has
[01:32:05] been caught. Brent will come on to
[01:32:07] explain what precisely is going on.
[01:32:09] Again, you know, I I I'm I'm with Drew.
[01:32:12] I think that there will come a point
[01:32:13] here where where I'm optimistic again
[01:32:14] about the country. I just don't feel
[01:32:16] that in in this moment. I I think it'd
[01:32:17] be very difficult to feel that in in
[01:32:19] this moment about where we are. But
[01:32:20] Charlie was an optimist about the
[01:32:21] country and I don't think that he was
[01:32:23] unjustified in that optimism. I I do
[01:32:25] think that the vast majority vast vast
[01:32:27] vast majority of Americans look at this
[01:32:29] day for the horrifyingly
[01:32:32] horrific tragedy that it that it truly
[01:32:34] is and that it is a small fringe. But I
[01:32:37] think that we should recognize that
[01:32:38] small fringes can make very large
[01:32:40] differences if if they are not stopped
[01:32:42] and stopped cold. And that means that
[01:32:43] the people who justify violence, the
[01:32:45] people who wink and nod at the argument
[01:32:47] that political opposition is tantamount
[01:32:49] to murder or speech is violence and
[01:32:51] therefore should be met with violence.
[01:32:53] If that is not stopped, it's going to
[01:32:54] metastasize because bad ideas are like
[01:32:57] cancer and they can be seated anywhere
[01:32:58] and they have deadly effect. It's again
[01:33:02] extremely difficult to talk about all of
[01:33:04] this obviously and I'm sure it's very
[01:33:06] difficult for you to listen to it as
[01:33:08] well. The the the sort of bizarre
[01:33:11] controversy that broke out in con in
[01:33:13] Congress today is is kind of amazing.
[01:33:14] So, Speaker Johnson held a moment of
[01:33:16] silence for Charlie and at a certain
[01:33:19] point, Representative Lauren Boowbert of
[01:33:21] Colorado called for a verbal prayer. She
[01:33:23] said, "I believe silent prayer gets
[01:33:24] silent results." And this somehow
[01:33:26] prompted a bunch of Democrats to
[01:33:29] actually protest,
[01:33:31] saying that school shootings go
[01:33:32] unagnowledged. And here is how it broke
[01:33:35] down. An ugly scene in the middle of a
[01:33:38] truly
[01:33:39] just unspeakably bad day. Here is the
[01:33:42] the speaker of the house and and and how
[01:33:44] went down in Congress. This is clip 13.
[01:33:49] >> The chair would ask that all members
[01:33:50] present in the chamber and those in the
[01:33:52] gallery please rise for a moment of
[01:33:54] prayer for Charlie Kirk and his family.
[01:34:24] They did have a moment of silence, but
[01:34:25] then controversy broke out when uh
[01:34:27] Representative Boowbert asked for a a a
[01:34:29] verbal prayer as well.
[01:34:39] For what purposes, a gentle lady from
[01:34:40] Colorado rise?
[01:34:58] [Music]
[01:35:03] Let's let's let's wait a minute. Wait a
[01:35:06] minute. The house will be in order. The
[01:35:08] house will be in order.
[01:35:12] The house will be in order.
[01:35:18] >> What absolutely senseless nonsense.
[01:35:20] Shouting no or protesting in a verbal
[01:35:22] prayer for a man who was just shot in
[01:35:24] the neck and and was at that moment
[01:35:27] dying. I mean, just
[01:35:30] I the best you can say about that is
[01:35:32] politically idiotic. The the worst you
[01:35:33] can say about it is deeply immoral.
[01:35:36] Meanwhile, the FBI director, Cash Patel,
[01:35:37] has put out an X. Thank you to the local
[01:35:39] and state authorities in Utah for your
[01:35:41] partnership with the FBI. He says that
[01:35:44] there is a suspect in custody. We don't
[01:35:45] know more than that at this point.
[01:35:47] Obviously, we will bring you all of the
[01:35:49] news as it emerges. It's um
[01:35:53] just just awful. Um again, it's not hard
[01:35:58] to find
[01:36:00] people on the internet who are willing
[01:36:03] to say the world's worst things. And so
[01:36:05] I would urge you, particularly in times
[01:36:06] of tragedy, to get off the internet and
[01:36:08] go be with human beings.
[01:36:11] Don't go to Blue Sky, whatever you do,
[01:36:13] and and find the psychotic leftists who
[01:36:15] today are celebrating Charlie's murder.
[01:36:18] Don't wallow in in that sort of stuff
[01:36:19] because it is bad for the soul and it is
[01:36:21] bad for the country and people really
[01:36:23] need to get out of the bubble that is
[01:36:26] the online space where you can say
[01:36:27] whatever you want anonymously without
[01:36:29] any fear of repercussion and and say
[01:36:31] awful awful things. I'm I'm going to try
[01:36:33] not to do that today because it's not
[01:36:36] hard to find people who are anonymous to
[01:36:37] say terrible things. It's one thing to
[01:36:39] call out public figures who are on
[01:36:41] legacy news networks saying awful
[01:36:43] things, but I don't think that it
[01:36:44] deserves the attention of the public,
[01:36:46] nor should we glorify people who say
[01:36:47] awful things for the attention by giving
[01:36:49] them the attention in in the first
[01:36:51] place. Brent Sher, the editor-inchief of
[01:36:54] the Daily Wire is joining us now. Brent,
[01:36:56] what do we have any updates on on what
[01:36:57] what is going on with the suspect at
[01:36:59] this point?
[01:37:01] >> You know, it's actually a really fluid
[01:37:03] situation and a bit confusing. FBI
[01:37:06] Director Cash Patel tweeted out that
[01:37:08] they have a suspected their suspected
[01:37:10] assassin in custody, but then right now
[01:37:13] as we speak, there's a law enforcement
[01:37:16] press conference where they said that
[01:37:18] the suspected assassin is still at
[01:37:21] large. Now, I don't really know what's
[01:37:23] going on here. It's impossible to tell.
[01:37:25] It's possible that as they walked out to
[01:37:27] that press conference, they didn't get
[01:37:29] the update that the guy is in custody.
[01:37:32] And as we're talking, maybe they've
[01:37:33] updated it. But right now we are getting
[01:37:35] a different story from the FBI than
[01:37:38] local law enforcement in Utah is
[01:37:40] telling.
[01:37:43] >> So Brent, obviously we've seen a fair
[01:37:46] bit of consternation across the nation.
[01:37:49] Uh on the House floor there there is a
[01:37:51] bit of a tetat that we just played on
[01:37:53] the show. Overall um most of the most of
[01:37:56] the politicians have come out and and
[01:37:58] sort of suggested the obvious which is
[01:38:00] that violence is bad. What what have you
[01:38:03] been seeing?
[01:38:05] >> Yeah, I mean, I'll say first one I saw
[01:38:07] was Gavin Newsome, who I think it was a
[01:38:10] big moment for Charlie Kirk this year.
[01:38:12] Gavin Newsome, a frontr runner for 2028,
[01:38:15] went on with Charlie Kirk on his
[01:38:17] podcast. It was the first episode of
[01:38:19] Gavin Newsome's podcast and he chose to
[01:38:21] do it with Charlie Kirk and they had a
[01:38:23] pretty open conversation about all the
[01:38:26] issues and Charlie kind of ribbed him
[01:38:28] and Gavin Newsome ribbed him and they
[01:38:30] went back and forth and it was a great
[01:38:32] moment for Gavin Newsome and that's kind
[01:38:34] of what Charlie Kirk was known for. He
[01:38:36] gave Democrats a platform. He was
[01:38:38] willing to talk to them and amazingly
[01:38:41] always had the right answers. Like it
[01:38:43] was just so amazing to see from Charlie
[01:38:45] Kirk when he'd be at this college events
[01:38:47] or talking to any politician. I never
[01:38:50] saw Charlie get flatfooted or caught off
[01:38:53] guard by some question. People would
[01:38:56] call him out on some obscure Bible verse
[01:38:59] and Charlie Kirk knew exactly what they
[01:39:01] were uh getting at and would always know
[01:39:04] how to uh kind of shoot it right back at
[01:39:07] them. So I mean he did that with Gavin
[01:39:10] Newsome. you'd seen some uh other people
[01:39:12] have spoken out in support and sending
[01:39:15] their prayers. Uh Barack Obama has, Kla
[01:39:18] Harris has. Um it's a tragic moment and
[01:39:22] I think any Democrat who doesn't
[01:39:24] recognize that is making a big political
[01:39:27] mistake.
[01:39:29] >> Well, Brent, we appreciate the time and
[01:39:31] obviously as we get some more of the of
[01:39:34] the information, I'm sure that we will
[01:39:36] we'll learn more. Apparently, Utah's
[01:39:37] governor, Spencer Cox, is calling
[01:39:38] Charlie Kirk's murder a political
[01:39:40] assassination, which clearly it is. I
[01:39:41] mean, when when somebody's in the middle
[01:39:43] of giving a political event, debating
[01:39:45] things like mass shootings and trans
[01:39:47] politics and they're murdered, that's
[01:39:49] obviously a political assassination.
[01:39:51] Just to put this in historic context, as
[01:39:53] I've said before, I think this is
[01:39:54] probably the most important political
[01:39:55] assassination of the last 50 years.
[01:39:58] You'd probably have to go back all the
[01:39:59] way to the late 1960s when there was a
[01:40:01] spate of assassinations ranging from
[01:40:03] Martin Luther King Jr. to Malcolm X to
[01:40:05] RFK to to come up with with anything
[01:40:08] remotely similar. There was an attempted
[01:40:10] assassination obviously the presidents
[01:40:11] of the United States last year. It was
[01:40:13] an attempted it did not succeed. But we
[01:40:16] are seeing I think it would be very
[01:40:17] difficult to argue that we're not seeing
[01:40:19] a radical increase in the amount of
[01:40:20] political violence particularly from the
[01:40:22] left side of the aisle uh these days.
[01:40:24] And and it would be it would be
[01:40:26] inaccurate to say there's no violence
[01:40:28] from the right side of the aisle. There
[01:40:29] is. It would also be inaccurate to say
[01:40:30] that the the amount of political
[01:40:32] violence we're seeing from the right
[01:40:33] side of the aisle is is matched in
[01:40:36] degree by the amount of political
[01:40:38] assassination attempted violence that we
[01:40:41] are seeing from the left side of the
[01:40:42] aisle. It's just it would be it would be
[01:40:43] false to say that.
[01:40:46] >> Yeah. I mean I think that's absolutely
[01:40:48] correct. And I mean, you even see it in
[01:40:51] the rhetoric in the response to this and
[01:40:53] you see it in the rhetoric from the left
[01:40:55] on the response to I would count as a
[01:40:57] leftist assassination, the assassination
[01:41:00] of a CEO in New York City. I believe it
[01:41:02] was earlier this year. That was by
[01:41:05] political far-left extremists who are
[01:41:07] anti- capitalist. Um, and that was
[01:41:11] widely cheered on the left. You had, you
[01:41:14] know, well-known authors like Taylor
[01:41:15] Loren talking about how this is a good
[01:41:17] thing. and you understand why it
[01:41:19] happened. And I imagine sadly and I
[01:41:22] we're going to see a lot of that of
[01:41:24] people like, well, Charlie Kirk talked
[01:41:26] about these issues that, you know, we
[01:41:29] really shouldn't be talking about, but
[01:41:31] that's what Charlie Kirk did and nothing
[01:41:33] excuses this. And I I mean, I pray that
[01:41:36] we don't hear that, but we will.
[01:41:39] >> Yes, Brent, I appreciate and I I
[01:41:42] certainly agree with you. I do want to
[01:41:44] take a moment to say what is very
[01:41:45] frequently said at Jewish funerals, but
[01:41:47] obviously belongs to the Christian
[01:41:48] tradition as well as Psalm 23. The Lord
[01:41:50] is my shepherd, I shall not want. He
[01:41:52] maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
[01:41:54] He leadth me beside the still waters. He
[01:41:56] restoreth my soul. He leadth me in the
[01:41:58] paths of righteousness for his name's
[01:42:00] sake. Yay, though I walk through the
[01:42:01] valley of the shadow of death, I will
[01:42:03] fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy
[01:42:05] rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou
[01:42:07] preparest a table before me in the
[01:42:08] presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest
[01:42:10] my head with oil. My cup runth over.
[01:42:12] Surely goodness and mercy shall follow
[01:42:14] me all the days of my life and I will
[01:42:16] dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
[01:42:18] Charlie will dwell in the house of the
[01:42:21] Lord. Charlie belongs to history now.
[01:42:23] The president of the United States has
[01:42:24] announced that all flags will be flown
[01:42:27] at half staff throughout the country.
[01:42:33] There is um there is not much to say.
[01:42:37] There's not much to say. Cassie Akiva is
[01:42:39] joining us momentarily to give us her
[01:42:41] latest news updates and a recap on on
[01:42:43] what's been happening across the
[01:42:45] country. Cassie, thanks so much for
[01:42:47] taking the time. What are you hearing
[01:42:49] out there?
[01:42:51] So, I think one of the most disturbing
[01:42:53] things I'm seeing right now on Twitter,
[01:42:54] and I don't know if this is confirmed
[01:42:57] yet, is that his wife and children were
[01:42:59] in attendance. Um, I really hope that's
[01:43:01] not true. That's really traumatic. His
[01:43:03] his children are aged one and three. Um,
[01:43:07] and even if they weren't, there's videos
[01:43:09] all over the internet and I, you know,
[01:43:11] I'm on maternity leave right now and I'm
[01:43:12] holding my newborn baby and I just get a
[01:43:14] video of my friend Charlie being killed.
[01:43:17] And so I think people need to remember
[01:43:20] that Charlie had taken a lot of heat for
[01:43:24] being so out there and challenging
[01:43:26] people who were on his side, people who
[01:43:27] are not on his side. Um, and one of my
[01:43:30] last conversations with Charlie, which
[01:43:31] was just a few weeks ago, he was telling
[01:43:33] me that the noise on the internet was
[01:43:34] really getting to him. Um, and you know,
[01:43:37] people like me and you and Charlie in
[01:43:39] the position, we get a lot of hate. And
[01:43:41] the way we we get through that is we
[01:43:43] have our friends in real life and you
[01:43:45] know, we realize Twitter is not real
[01:43:46] life. Well, this is a a case where
[01:43:48] Twitter did become real life. Um, and
[01:43:50] you had hateful people come and and hurt
[01:43:52] him. Um, and what Charlie said to me was
[01:43:54] he was just trying to tune out the
[01:43:56] noise. And it's just really upsetting
[01:43:58] that this happened. Um, and it's, you
[01:44:02] know, I first met Charlie when I was a
[01:44:03] college student. He was one of the first
[01:44:05] people who I interacted with when I was
[01:44:07] getting into conservative politics. And
[01:44:09] there's so many people in my position
[01:44:10] that can say that exact same thing. Um,
[01:44:12] so it's just, you know, it's one of our
[01:44:14] own of the conservative movement this
[01:44:16] happening to, and it's it's really quite
[01:44:17] frightening.
[01:44:20] >> Yeah. Cassie, you mentioned the fact
[01:44:22] that, you know, Charlie went into these
[01:44:25] spaces and obviously a lot of us have
[01:44:27] spent time in these spaces. Uh I I think
[01:44:29] that that day may be coming to a close.
[01:44:31] It's going to be very difficult for
[01:44:32] these sorts of debates to ever happen in
[01:44:33] public again. Uh they can they can
[01:44:35] certainly happen, you know, in screened
[01:44:38] areas where everybody knows who
[01:44:39] everybody is, but these sort of open
[01:44:41] debates, it's going to be very difficult
[01:44:42] to to have those things happen. Again,
[01:44:45] you also mentioned the fact that that
[01:44:47] Charlie, you know, spent an inordinate
[01:44:49] amount of time having those discussions,
[01:44:51] having those debates, and it is for that
[01:44:54] reason that that he is dead today. That
[01:44:56] that that is his great crime, his great
[01:44:58] and one of the points that you make
[01:44:59] there that I think is really important,
[01:45:00] I mentioned it a little bit earlier
[01:45:01] before you came on, is the bleed over
[01:45:03] from the online world to the real world
[01:45:04] is quite real. It is a thing that
[01:45:05] happens. And so, we'll say, you know, go
[01:45:07] out and touch grass, ignore it's
[01:45:08] happening online. And Charlie was
[01:45:09] attempting to do that. I think for our
[01:45:11] own mental health, we should all attempt
[01:45:12] to do that. But you know the the reality
[01:45:14] is that fringes become real. Violent
[01:45:18] rhetoric online can turn into violence
[01:45:20] in real life. People who are threatening
[01:45:22] online that that becomes a real thing.
[01:45:24] When people find common cause, when
[01:45:25] people find supporters, when people find
[01:45:28] a home for their hatred online and then
[01:45:31] they proceed to take that out into the
[01:45:33] real world, it has deadly consequences.
[01:45:35] And and obviously the murder of our
[01:45:37] friend Charlie is is just a great
[01:45:40] example of that. Yeah, I wish I could
[01:45:42] say something more uplifting on this
[01:45:43] day, but there's nothing upl honestly I
[01:45:45] I can find nothing uplifting to say on
[01:45:46] this day. Lit literally nothing other
[01:45:48] than to just remember my friend and and
[01:45:50] a person who made a huge difference to
[01:45:51] the country, but I just I it's
[01:45:53] >> may maybe there will be something
[01:45:55] uplifting to say tomorrow, but not in
[01:45:57] the moment.
[01:45:59] >> One of the things that has really upset
[01:46:00] me in the last few months is Charlie has
[01:46:03] been one of the biggest offenders of
[01:46:04] Jewish people who's and he's not a
[01:46:06] Jewish person, right? he has these
[01:46:08] debates and they're quite aggressive in
[01:46:10] on a lot of these videos. And as a
[01:46:11] Jewish person, I was very distressed
[01:46:14] that people were giving him a lot of
[01:46:15] crap online like Jewish people were um
[01:46:18] for hosting various debates and all
[01:46:19] that. And I just, you know, I texted
[01:46:21] Charlie and I was like, Charlie, thank
[01:46:22] you for, you know, holding these debates
[01:46:24] and like just know that I appreciate you
[01:46:27] and so many people appreciate you. And
[01:46:29] he he was like, yeah, I know. I get a
[01:46:31] lot of hate for this. Um and I just want
[01:46:33] to feel like, you know, I have the
[01:46:34] Jewish people's back. I want them to
[01:46:35] have my back. And this is such a hard
[01:46:38] thing to do because, you know, he was
[01:46:40] challenging. He could have done the easy
[01:46:41] thing and tackled on to Israel and went
[01:46:44] through all these conspiracy theories,
[01:46:46] but he didn't. He pushed back on people
[01:46:47] on the right who are getting a lot of
[01:46:49] platforming by saying that Israel is
[01:46:52] evil and all of this, right? So, that
[01:46:53] was one of the things he went out and he
[01:46:55] stayed with his morals. And I really
[01:46:56] think Charlie um that was something that
[01:46:59] was really important to him. I mean, the
[01:47:00] things that Charlie was saying in 2016,
[01:47:02] 2017 are not much different from what
[01:47:04] he's been saying recently. So I think
[01:47:07] for him being so morally consistent,
[01:47:08] especially as you know, his star has
[01:47:10] just risen. When I knew him, he had like
[01:47:12] this tiny organization with a couple
[01:47:14] hundred college students and now he
[01:47:16] definitely became one of the most
[01:47:17] important political voices. So it's just
[01:47:20] it's it's really upsetting. Like I'm I'm
[01:47:23] I'm freaked out. Like my I got my career
[01:47:25] started going to these these tense
[01:47:27] places, going into these protests. I I
[01:47:29] don't want to go to protests anymore.
[01:47:30] Like this is really scary that people
[01:47:32] would come out and use violence in this
[01:47:34] manner. It's just it's shocking.
[01:47:37] >> Well, Cassie, I I really appreciate the
[01:47:39] time. Obviously, you know, we're all
[01:47:42] praying together for for Charlie's
[01:47:43] family and hang in there.
[01:47:46] >> Thanks. You, too, Ben.
[01:47:50] >> Well, joining us on the line in just a
[01:47:51] moment is our friend Reagan, who is
[01:47:54] going to stop by and tell us what he
[01:47:56] meant to young conservatives.
[01:47:59] She'll she'll be by in just a little bit
[01:48:00] because obviously, you know, what's
[01:48:01] what's sort of amazing having watched
[01:48:03] Charlie for so long is that, you know,
[01:48:05] Charlie's in this business for a very
[01:48:07] long time. Kind of I I have a lot of
[01:48:09] kinship with with Charlie career-wise. I
[01:48:11] started when I was 17. He started when
[01:48:13] he was about the same age. Uh he was one
[01:48:15] of the most accomplished people in the
[01:48:17] country politically at the age of 31.
[01:48:18] And that means an entire generation of
[01:48:20] people grew up with him. Uh, and so
[01:48:22] we'll be joined in just a moment by
[01:48:26] Reagan to to tell us what it was like
[01:48:28] with Reagan Conrad, what it was like as
[01:48:30] a young person looking up to to Charlie.
[01:48:32] But, you know, what I will come back to
[01:48:34] is this. There there there are so many
[01:48:36] layers here. There's the layer of free
[01:48:37] speech under threat. There is the layer
[01:48:39] of of a left that that truly believes
[01:48:41] that opposing arguments a far left, not
[01:48:44] everybody on the left. I know I have a
[01:48:45] lot of friends on the left, but people
[01:48:46] who who truly believe that that opposing
[01:48:48] speech is to be met with violence. There
[01:48:50] there's the layer of what do we do about
[01:48:52] a a country in which public debate can
[01:48:55] be met with violence? How do we even
[01:48:57] hold those debates anymore? How can how
[01:49:00] can we go out in public if if we're
[01:49:01] speaking publicly about about these
[01:49:03] issues? And then there's just what I
[01:49:04] keep coming back to, which is Charlie
[01:49:06] Kirk as a human being, a father, as a
[01:49:10] husband, murdered in the prime of his
[01:49:12] life at the age of 31.
[01:49:15] Charlie,
[01:49:17] he had, as you say, As I said at the
[01:49:20] beginning,
[01:49:22] decades to contribute, decades more to
[01:49:25] contribute, ripped out of this world by
[01:49:28] a malicious piece of human debris.
[01:49:32] It's
[01:49:34] just it's unthinkable. It's absolutely
[01:49:37] unthinkable.
[01:49:39] And now that the unthinkable is reality.
[01:49:41] And so if we as a country don't
[01:49:46] figure out a way to crack down on this
[01:49:49] infectious insanity
[01:49:52] that has run roughshot over a huge
[01:49:54] percentage of our politics,
[01:49:57] then I I I don't I don't know that I I
[01:50:00] truly don't know that the rep the best
[01:50:02] of our republic is a rejection of this.
[01:50:03] The best of our republic is a rejection
[01:50:05] of what just happened today. Is a
[01:50:07] forcable rejection of it.
[01:50:10] It's just
[01:50:12] it's beyond it's unspeakable. It is
[01:50:15] beyond it is beyond words. Now there
[01:50:16] there going to be I promise you you know
[01:50:18] again I have a hard time going to the
[01:50:20] optimistic place on this day. There are
[01:50:21] too many people who are going to pick up
[01:50:23] Charlie's baton where it lies in his
[01:50:25] blood. There going to be so many people
[01:50:28] who pick it up and run with it. So many
[01:50:30] people who see what Charlie was fighting
[01:50:33] for. things like traditional family and
[01:50:35] faith and liberty and free markets and
[01:50:41] the constitution and they say I will run
[01:50:43] with that because Charlie can't run with
[01:50:44] that anymore and Charlie
[01:50:47] spent his entire life building up
[01:50:50] certainly his adult life building up an
[01:50:52] organization of people who can pick up
[01:50:53] that baton and run with it and it's up
[01:50:55] to everyone to to do that now that
[01:50:59] doesn't stop the breaking of the the
[01:51:01] American heart right now it It doesn't
[01:51:03] stop any of the pain. It is we can look
[01:51:06] forward to tomorrow when when his body
[01:51:08] is cold. Um
[01:51:10] in the moment all we can do
[01:51:14] is mourn and say that whoever is
[01:51:17] responsible for this needs to pay the
[01:51:19] greatest price that it is possible for
[01:51:21] that person to pay.
[01:51:23] And those who defend that action, those
[01:51:25] who make excuses or permission
[01:51:27] structures for that action need to be
[01:51:28] run out of public life on a rail. truly
[01:51:32] not through violence, through the way
[01:51:34] that we do things in this country,
[01:51:36] through discourse and through debate. If
[01:51:38] you commit a crime, through criminal
[01:51:40] law,
[01:51:41] the fact that we've even come to this in
[01:51:43] America in 2025
[01:51:46] is
[01:51:47] devastating beyond belief. And again,
[01:51:49] I'll just go back to I don't like
[01:51:50] talking about my own personal feelings.
[01:51:52] You know, I'm not a feelings person, but
[01:51:53] um
[01:51:55] I don't have a tough time expressing
[01:51:56] myself on a lot of things when it comes
[01:51:58] to my personal feelings. I sometimes do.
[01:52:00] uh and uh and today all I can say is
[01:52:03] that for a person for all of us whose
[01:52:06] job it is to produce words in the moment
[01:52:08] there are no words to describe the
[01:52:10] horror the pain the soul sickness that I
[01:52:13] think so many of us are feeling today
[01:52:17] Phillips is joining us on the line to
[01:52:18] give us an update on the communications
[01:52:21] in the FBI local law enforcement cabin
[01:52:23] what's the latest here
[01:52:25] >> yeah there's been sort of a fog of war
[01:52:28] back and forth so far today. Uh,
[01:52:29] initially there was an individual who
[01:52:31] was seen arrested at the university
[01:52:34] shortly after those shots were fired.
[01:52:36] The university said initially that they
[01:52:38] believe this was the shooter. That man's
[01:52:40] name was George Zinn. He was apparently
[01:52:42] known to local police um beforehand and
[01:52:45] had in the past had some run-ins with
[01:52:47] the law. Uh I believe it was allegedly
[01:52:49] making terroristic threats. So they
[01:52:51] thought they had their guy, but it turns
[01:52:53] out George Zen was not the person that
[01:52:56] they believe committed this act. So they
[01:52:57] revoked that statement saying the
[01:52:58] shooter is still at large. But then
[01:53:00] within the past hour, FBI director Cash
[01:53:03] Patel posted online that the subject was
[01:53:06] in custody. So that led everyone to
[01:53:09] believe that the shooter, you know, had
[01:53:10] been apprehended. But then just minutes
[01:53:13] after that, there was a press conference
[01:53:15] that took place where local officials
[01:53:17] said that they did not necessarily have
[01:53:20] the alleged shooter in custody. Uh, so
[01:53:22] there was this interesting moment where
[01:53:24] some local reporters pressed one of the
[01:53:27] spokespeople there saying, "Who's right?
[01:53:29] Is it the FBI or is it you?" And the
[01:53:31] local officials there said that they had
[01:53:34] a person of interest in custody that was
[01:53:36] not George Zen. So, this is a separate
[01:53:38] individual. They did not give any other
[01:53:40] information beyond that. They did not
[01:53:41] even use the word suspect. They said
[01:53:43] person of interest. So, right now, the
[01:53:46] general public still not really sure.
[01:53:47] We've been working all of our sources on
[01:53:49] the ground there, but we're still just
[01:53:51] not sure exactly who is in custody and
[01:53:53] what the ongoing threat is from the
[01:53:56] shooter.
[01:53:58] >> So, confusion continues to rain.
[01:54:01] Obviously, keep it here and we'll bring
[01:54:03] you all the updates as we continue our
[01:54:05] coverage.
[01:54:07] Appreciate it, Cabin.
[01:54:09] Well, you know, folks, honestly, um it's
[01:54:13] going to take a while for us to to
[01:54:14] process all of this. Reagan Conrad will
[01:54:18] join us momentarily to talk about what
[01:54:19] Charlie meant to young people. The fact
[01:54:20] that we're doing obituaries for a
[01:54:21] 31-year-old person uh is totally
[01:54:25] destructive. I mean just decaying of the
[01:54:29] of the soul. And the presidents of the
[01:54:31] United States of course has spoken out
[01:54:32] about this lamenting Charlie Kirk. So of
[01:54:34] all the members of the cabinet that that
[01:54:37] is not a shock. Charlie was a deeply
[01:54:39] important political figure, not just
[01:54:40] because of the debates, but because he
[01:54:41] built this enormous infrastructure that
[01:54:42] was designed at getting Republicans
[01:54:44] elected, like President Trump, for
[01:54:46] example.
[01:54:49] Again, the latest that we are hearing
[01:54:50] from the Wall Street Journal is that a
[01:54:52] suspect is in custody, but we don't know
[01:54:54] the actual details on that. Unclear at
[01:54:56] this point if that is true, if that is
[01:54:59] not true.
[01:55:01] We're still waiting.
[01:55:04] Apparently,
[01:55:06] one of the people who was the first to
[01:55:07] ask Charlie Kirk a question at
[01:55:09] Wednesday's event saw the the shooting.
[01:55:12] He he sparked a five-minute conversation
[01:55:14] with Charlie about religion. And they
[01:55:16] heard the gunshot as Kirk was answering
[01:55:18] a question from another man about
[01:55:19] transgender people being involved in
[01:55:21] mass shootings. Um, and it was clear
[01:55:25] from the first shot, it was clear from
[01:55:26] the shot that that Charlie was unlikely
[01:55:28] to survive given the amount of of
[01:55:30] bleeding from the shot. Again, we'll
[01:55:34] continue to bring you all the updates of
[01:55:36] this uh and and with regard to this,
[01:55:38] it's a moment when Americans could come
[01:55:40] together and and truly condemn all of
[01:55:41] this and and tell their own side to
[01:55:43] stand down, particularly on the left,
[01:55:44] which again has been growing
[01:55:46] increasingly violent in its approach to
[01:55:49] politics.
[01:55:52] It could be that moment. I'm hopeful for
[01:55:55] that moment.
[01:55:58] And it's um
[01:56:00] it's time for it's time for everybody to
[01:56:03] understand that if we cannot debate like
[01:56:05] Charlie debated, if we cannot engage in
[01:56:06] conversation like Charlie engaged in
[01:56:08] conversation, then then the conversation
[01:56:10] really will end. And if the conversation
[01:56:12] ends, then then the country and what the
[01:56:15] country actually means in its essence is
[01:56:17] going to end as well.
[01:56:20] And in in these moments, I think of
[01:56:22] Charlie's wife. I think of his kids.
[01:56:23] Think of his family. Think of all the
[01:56:25] people who work at TPUSA and who deal
[01:56:27] with and and hang out with and and build
[01:56:30] with Charlie every single day.
[01:56:34] It's um devastating for everyone. And
[01:56:36] just know that all of our hearts are are
[01:56:38] with yours. All of our prayers are with
[01:56:40] you and with Charlie.
[01:56:44] It's
[01:56:47] Yeah. Again, you hesitate to go silent
[01:56:49] on on when when it's legitimately your
[01:56:51] job not to.
[01:56:53] But with that said, it is difficult not
[01:56:56] to in the face of the extreme horror
[01:56:58] that we're witnessing here today.
[01:57:02] Again, we'll continue to bring you the
[01:57:04] updates throughout the day on all of
[01:57:06] this.
[01:57:08] Erica Kirk, Charlie's wife, did post a
[01:57:10] Bible verse just hours before he was
[01:57:12] shot at a Utah event, according to Fox
[01:57:13] News. That would be Psalm 46. God is our
[01:57:15] refuge and strength. the very present
[01:57:17] help in trouble.
[01:57:24] Yeah, I know a lot of people today are
[01:57:25] saying things like war and I've seen
[01:57:27] people tweeting out, you know, pictures
[01:57:29] of of and and gifs of of my friend
[01:57:31] Andrew Breitbart saying war. Well, one
[01:57:33] of the things that Andrew Breitbart and
[01:57:34] Charlie had in common, aside from their
[01:57:36] their early and tragic deaths, is their
[01:57:40] overwhelming joy at the fight and at
[01:57:43] life and at what America was. And when
[01:57:45] we declare war, we should just make sure
[01:57:47] that we are declaring war on the right
[01:57:48] people. The people who truly are willing
[01:57:51] to utilize violence in the name of their
[01:57:53] political priors, the people who are
[01:57:56] willing to excuse that violence.
[01:57:59] Now, those are the people that we need
[01:58:00] to aim the war at,
[01:58:03] not people who just disagree with us on
[01:58:04] those are the people that Charlie has
[01:58:06] discussions with on on campus.
[01:58:09] Those are those are the people that that
[01:58:11] Charlie thought he could convince and
[01:58:12] was successful in in convincing.
[01:58:16] It's
[01:58:18] the fact that there are people who who
[01:58:20] are out there who are willing to do
[01:58:22] that, who are willing to engage in the
[01:58:24] violence, create the permission
[01:58:25] structures for the violence. That is
[01:58:26] what is that that's what's truly
[01:58:28] unforgivable. Truly unforgivable.
[01:58:34] Awful in every possible way.
[01:58:37] Again, taking a look around the internet
[01:58:39] at some of the legacy media. Again, I'm
[01:58:41] trying to avoid the blue sky left
[01:58:42] because we know what they're going to
[01:58:44] say and there is legitimately
[01:58:49] no purpose to browsing the droogs and
[01:58:52] fools of the internet.
[01:58:56] But the New York Times
[01:58:58] has an obituary of of Charlie
[01:59:02] Charlie Kirk, a conservative wonderkin
[01:59:04] who through his radio books, radio show
[01:59:06] books, political organizing and speaking
[01:59:07] tours did much to shape the hardright
[01:59:08] movement that has coalesed around
[01:59:09] President Trump, becoming a close
[01:59:11] allies, close ally of his died on
[01:59:13] Wednesday in Oram, Utah after he'd been
[01:59:15] shot while speaking at a college campus
[01:59:16] event. He was 31 years old. Mr. Kirk was
[01:59:20] perhaps the leading voice among a cohort
[01:59:22] of young conservative activists who
[01:59:23] emerged during the Trump era. a little
[01:59:25] connection to or respect for the
[01:59:26] Republican establishment or for the
[01:59:27] ideas that traditionally undergurted the
[01:59:29] conservative movement. Again, it's just
[01:59:30] incredible how the New York Times gets
[01:59:31] this so wrong. That is not true at all.
[01:59:34] Charlie was very much in line with many
[01:59:35] of the ideas of traditional
[01:59:37] conservatism, which is why he was, you
[01:59:39] know, doing this when he was 18 years
[01:59:40] old. Instead, according to the New York
[01:59:43] Times, he showed a genius for using
[01:59:44] social media and campus organizing to
[01:59:45] build a following, which he then
[01:59:47] presented to donors and Trump adjacent
[01:59:48] politicians to gain more resources and
[01:59:50] access. So, according to New York Times
[01:59:52] obituary there, they're they're
[01:59:53] basically accusing Charlie being a
[01:59:54] grifter. Welcome to the New York Times.
[01:59:56] Again, trash people doing trash things.
[01:59:58] By the end of 2024, he was considered
[02:00:00] something of a king maker.
[02:00:05] Mr. Kirk never sought a position within
[02:00:06] the administration. Instead, it became
[02:00:07] clear over the last year his ambition
[02:00:09] was for something much larger, reshaping
[02:00:10] the Republican party and beyond that,
[02:00:12] American politics himself
[02:00:15] itself. Well, that part at least is is
[02:00:17] true.
[02:00:20] So, you know, devastating, devastating.
[02:00:24] Reagan Conrad joining me on the line
[02:00:26] here. Reagan is one of the young
[02:00:27] conservatives who was shaped by Charlie
[02:00:29] Kirk. Reagan, thanks for taking the
[02:00:30] time.
[02:00:32] >> Of course, Ben. Yeah, I mean, this is a
[02:00:34] a devastating day. I mean, he was he was
[02:00:36] the leader of our generation in this
[02:00:38] movement completely.
[02:00:42] >> Well, now you talk about what that meant
[02:00:44] to you.
[02:00:44] >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he
[02:00:47] he gave us he showed us how to use our
[02:00:50] voice for good and how to be bold and
[02:00:52] actually engage in conversation because
[02:00:54] he was the one doing it. You know, he's
[02:00:55] out on college campuses being that
[02:00:57] voice, showing us that debate is good,
[02:00:59] that that's healthy for for society and
[02:01:02] what we need. And I think that's what's
[02:01:04] most devastating, too, is that that that
[02:01:05] was his thing, you know. Um,
[02:01:08] yeah, he just he taught moral truth too
[02:01:11] in all respects of life. And and I think
[02:01:14] seeing a man who was so so biblically
[02:01:17] based and so um un unabashed to hold
[02:01:21] those truths and to show that my
[02:01:22] generation that it's it's cool and good
[02:01:24] and right
[02:01:28] was
[02:01:29] I I mean I yeah obviously I know that
[02:01:32] we're all kind of kind of struggling
[02:01:34] with that and understanding you know why
[02:01:37] um that a voice like this is is taken
[02:01:39] from us but he he encouraged so many
[02:01:43] students to be that on their college
[02:01:44] campuses. We've seen the ripple effect
[02:01:46] from his from his platform. And um and I
[02:01:49] think that's the most profound thing is
[02:01:51] just the impact that he's had for other
[02:01:53] students to actually voice their
[02:01:55] opinions.
[02:01:56] And um I like I said with the the moral
[02:01:58] truth and just being so biblically
[02:02:00] strong. And I think he's helped I know
[02:02:04] he's helped thousands and thousands of
[02:02:06] people. And what what I want to um I
[02:02:07] want to read something because uh we got
[02:02:09] a message from um Rob McCoy and it's
[02:02:12] Charlie's personal pastor. Um and we
[02:02:14] were cleared to share this message. So I
[02:02:16] just wanted to take a moment and read
[02:02:18] this. He said, "My friend Charlie Kirk
[02:02:20] was murdered today by a coward.
[02:02:28] His life will be remembered for many
[02:02:29] wonderful things. He built it all with
[02:02:32] power of the spoken word. He never used
[02:02:35] violence, but was threatened every day
[02:02:37] with violence by those who couldn't
[02:02:39] contend with logic and truth. And now
[02:02:41] they have done to my friend what evil
[02:02:43] always does. It takes away life. Charlie
[02:02:46] did not die, however.
[02:02:50] But instead, he has begun to truly live.
[02:02:53] His life was secured eternally by his
[02:02:55] savior, Jesus Christ. This truth allowed
[02:02:58] Charlie to face every threat with
[02:03:00] courage because he didn't fear death.
[02:03:02] All evil knows is death, and they derive
[02:03:05] their power from it. Charlie lived for
[02:03:08] life and will be remembered for this. My
[02:03:10] heart is broken for his family, his wife
[02:03:13] Erica, his two precious children. Evil
[02:03:16] has not prevailed and it will not win.
[02:03:19] And that was from Rob McCoy. And I think
[02:03:22] that that is just such a such a
[02:03:25] testament to Charlie, to his character,
[02:03:28] to what he knew to be true, and that he
[02:03:30] didn't care what that meant, what
[02:03:32] threats that meant. He was going to
[02:03:33] speak the truth unabashedly. Now he we
[02:03:36] have seen that in its truest form. And
[02:03:39] um it's really profound because we do
[02:03:42] know that death doesn't get the last
[02:03:44] laugh here. Um and that Charlie is now
[02:03:48] with Jesus Christ. and um gives us some
[02:03:51] level of comfort today. But I just
[02:03:53] wanted to share that message from his
[02:03:54] pastor.
[02:03:56] >> Well, Reagan, I I really appreciate it.
[02:03:58] Obviously, I think we're all feeling
[02:03:59] basically the same thing at this point.
[02:04:01] And um
[02:04:02] >> yeah,
[02:04:03] >> you know, we should all take some time
[02:04:04] and grieve that it's a good thing to
[02:04:07] grieve. It's also a good thing to
[02:04:09] understand what Charlie was fighting for
[02:04:10] and to redouble our efforts in pursuit
[02:04:12] of that thing. Reagan, I appreciate the
[02:04:13] time.
[02:04:15] >> Absolutely. Thanks, Bab.
[02:04:18] Well, folks, I need to take a few
[02:04:19] minutes, just to be frank with you. Um,
[02:04:21] and so I'm going to go do that. We'll
[02:04:23] have much more coverage coming up, I am
[02:04:25] sure.
[02:04:27] I'll also be here obviously tomorrow to
[02:04:29] discuss this in full. So, make sure that
[02:04:31] you're there for that. We'll bring you
[02:04:34] updates. We'll keep you posted on
[02:04:37] developments as the police presumably
[02:04:39] find whoever committed this horrendous
[02:04:41] act of evil. And, um, let's all say a
[02:04:44] prayer for Charlie's family tonight. and
[02:04:46] remember Charlie for what he was a truly
[02:04:49] great man and and more importantly a a
[02:04:51] truly good person. We'll see you
[02:04:53] tomorrow and stay tuned for more
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