Democrats fail Charlie Kirk Test of Humanity; Gavin Newsom Plays Tough Guy; Kamala Book Starts War

Summary

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10 Minute Drill: Democrats Fail Charlie Kirk Test of Humanity; Gavin Newsom Plays Tough Guy; Kamala Book Starts War

Host: Matt Whitlock
Date: September 23, 2025

Episode Overview

Matt Whitlock delivers a fast-paced, pointed commentary on three major political stories:

• The response (or lack thereof) from Democrats to Charlie Kirk’s assassination and memorial.
• California Governor Gavin Newsom’s performative politics regarding ICE agents.
• Revelations from Kamala Harris’s forthcoming "burn book" memoir, and its implications for her public persona and the broader Democratic Party.

This episode dissects political rhetoric, highlights hypocrisy, and serves up behind-the-scenes anecdotes—all with a sharp conservative edge and wit.

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1. Democrats’ Response to Charlie Kirk’s Assassination

Main Segment: 00:00–06:53

Memorial Coverage & Notable Voices

• Host highlights the scale and gravity of Charlie Kirk’s memorial:
  “Over 100,000 people gathered in Arizona to pay tribute… wall to wall media coverage.” (00:36)
• J.D. Vance:
  “He loved God, and because he loved God, he wanted to understand God’s creation… the men and women made in his image.” (00:47)
• President Donald Trump:
  “The assassin failed at his quest because Charlie’s message has not been silenced. It now is bigger and better and stronger than ever before.” (01:02)
• Erica Kirk, Charlie’s widow:
  “That man, that young man, I forgive him.” (01:06)

Criticism of Democrats’ Response

• Host claims many Democrats used the occasion to criticize Kirk rather than condemn his murder, describing this as a failure of basic human decency—what he calls, “the Charlie Kirk test.”
• House vote: 58 Democrats voted against a resolution condemning the assassination.

Direct Quotes from Critics

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
  “His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated.” (02:06)
  Host adds: “And sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans.” (02:11)

• Rainn Wilson (‘Dwight Schrute’):
  “Spoke to a couple of liberal friends… they were like, ‘you won’t find me shedding any tears’… Kind of a good riddance thing.” (02:49)

• Rep. Ilhan Omar:
  “Not wanting to honor any legacy this man has left behind… That should be in the dustbin of history.” (03:06)

• Rep. Jasmine Crockett:
  “If there was any way that I was going to honor somebody who decided that they were just going to negatively talk about me and proclaim that I was somehow involved in the great white replacement, yeah, I’m not honoring that kind of stuff.” (03:19)

Analysis and Criticism

• Host draws a stark line:
  “If your first reaction is to criticize the victim… you are justifying political violence.” (02:32)
• Host critiques moderate Democrat Mikie Sherrill for, “insane” claims regarding Kirk’s political agenda and linking her language directly to that used in the assassination:
  “That is the exact kind of language that was used by this shooter and inscribed on the bullets.” (04:20)
• Host’s central point:
  “Nobody is asking these Democrats to praise Charlie… You always have the option of just shutting up. And they cannot do that.” (04:30)

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2. Mikie Sherrill and the New Jersey Energy Debate

Main Segment: 04:48–06:53

• Rep. Mikie Sherrill: Attempts to shift blame for spiking New Jersey energy costs:
  “Whether it’s President Trump rolling back some of the initiatives on Solar or adding $250 per family to your energy bill, everybody at the table is at fault… that is why I’m freezing rate hikes on the ratepayer.” (04:48)
• Host calls this “Democrat math,” blaming Democrats’ decarbonization policies for driving utility bills higher.
• Bethany Mandel’s op-ed is cited:
  “They took generation off before they brought generation on… shutdown of coal powered plants… higher prices [are] the result of a loss in electricity supply caused primarily by decarbonization policies.” (05:25)
• Host: “Democrats have attacked every reliable source of power generation and then… tried to blame everybody else in the world for those rising costs.” (06:15)

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3. House Funding and the ‘Shutdown Blame Game’

Main Segment: 06:53–08:49

• House passes a “clean continuing resolution” to fund the government:
  Vote: “The A’s are 217… The nays are 212… The bill is passed.” (06:53–06:58)

• Host: Democrats “are making a crazy list of ransom demands” for government funding, asserting this is driven by far-left pressure.

• Speaker Mike Johnson:
  “Chuck Schumer saw that he returned a counteroffer that is filled with partisan wish list and poison pills and demands.” (07:24)

• Politico is cited to underscore the shutdown narrative:
  On one side: a minority using leverage; on the other: majority resists negotiation.

• Host mocks blame-shifting:
  “Democrats said just last week, we are shutting down the government and we’re happy about it. And then now just a few days later [they are] saying Donald Trump is shutting down the government…” (08:19)

• Harry Nothing:
  “At this particular point, the Democrats are the New Orleans Saints of political parties.” (08:49)

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4. Gavin Newsom’s ‘ICE Unmask’ Stunt

Main Segment: 08:55–10:25

• Newsom tweets: “Kristi Noem is going to have a bad day today. You’re welcome, America.” (08:55)
  Host suggests this was an empty, cryptic threat unrelated to any real policy.

• Newsom holds a ceremony to sign a bill forcing ICE agents to unmask:
  Newsom: “I’ll be signing a bill, the first in the nation, saying, enough ICE unmask. What are you afraid of?” (09:21)

• Host contends ICE agents face real threats:
  “Assaults… up 1,000%, largely due to the insane rhetoric of lawmakers like Gavin Newsom… massive risk of being doxed.” (09:28)

• US Attorney Bill Asali:
  “Is this even enforceable? No, and I want to be very clear about that. The state of California has no jurisdiction over the federal government. If Gavin Newsom wants to regulate federal agents, he’s got to win a federal election.” (10:13)

• Host lampoons Newsom’s “make believe” politics:
  “Just as Gavin Newsom’s all powerful bill to stop ice isn’t real, my son isn’t actually Donkey Kong.” (10:25)

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5. Kamala Harris Burn Book—A Window Into Chaos

Main Segment: 10:30–End

• Kamala Harris’s upcoming memoir, previewed to journalists, has backfired:
  “It’s actually caused a second civil war in the Democrat Party.” (10:30)

Notable Anecdotes

• VP Selection:
  “Kamala Harris thought that Pete Buttigieg was too gay to be on a presidential ticket with her, so she picked Tim Walz.” (10:39)

• Election Night Cupcakes:
  “Harris social secretary peeled icing that read Madam President off the cupcakes that had been ordered… and sent them out to the campaign staffers along with wine.” (10:54)

  • Host: “I want to hear from the poor staffer that had to peel the icing off.” (11:14)

• Podcast Flub:
  “Kamala Harris went on a softball podcast… Dr. Mike asked, ‘Are you getting your seven to nine hours of sleep these days?’… Her staff likely thought this was going to be a very easy interview. Enter Kamala.” (11:32)

  • Harris (quoting the book): “What the f---, I said, my voice reaching a crescendo… that was a rhetorical question.” (12:02)
  • New running joke among staffers: ‘That was a rhetorical question.’ (12:19)

Host’s Take

• “It’s part Burn book, it’s part Kamala posting her Ls, but it also is a valuable window into all the things that we already knew.” (12:28)
• “She got flummoxed in a softball interview with a children’s doctor… flummoxed her with a question about if she’s getting enough sleep at night.” (12:53)

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• “If your first reaction is to criticize the victim…you are justifying political violence.”
  Host, 02:32

• “You always have the option of just shutting up. And they cannot do that.”
  Host, 04:30

• “Democrats have attacked every reliable source of power generation and then…tried to blame everybody else in the world for those rising costs.”
  Host, 06:15

• “At this particular point, the Democrats are the New Orleans Saints of political parties.”
  Harry Nothing, 08:49

• “If Gavin Newsom wants to regulate federal agents, he’s got to win a federal election.”
  US Attorney Bill Asali, 10:13

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Episode Flow & Tone

• Language: Direct, critical, laced with sarcasm and dark humor.
• Tone: Conservative, irreverent, unapologetically partisan.
• Pacing: Rapid-fire, minimal pivot time between topics, but with pointed segues.

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Suggested Listening Points

• Charlie Kirk Memorial & Democrats’ Response: 00:36–04:30
• NJ Energy Debate & Blame-Shifting: 04:48–06:53
• House Funding & Shutdown Rhetoric: 06:53–08:49
• Gavin Newsom’s ICE Bill & “Make-Believe” Politics: 08:55–10:25
• Kamala Harris Book Revelations (Major Anecdotes): 10:30–12:53

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Summary:
Matt Whitlock weaves together sharp critiques of Democratic leaders’ rhetoric and actions, laying bare political hypocrisy, especially in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination and memorial. He lampoons performative politics from California’s governor, and revels in behind-the-scenes stories from Kamala Harris’s upcoming book, arguing it exposes the flaws and fractures within the party. Each segment brims with memorable jabs, quotable moments, and the host’s conservative worldview—making this episode emblematic of the “10 Minute Drill” approach: brisk, barbed, and highly opinionated.

Transcript

[Host]

The world pays tribute to Charlie Kirk. Meanwhile, Democrats fail to condemn political violence. Gavin Newsom plays tough guy in California. And we're finally going to get a deep look at Kamala Harris. Burn book all of that and so much more today on 10 Minute Drill.

[Guest/Commentator 1]

Everybody get up. Get up.

[Host]

The story of America is the story of an adventure.

[Guest/Commentator 1]

I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free.

[Host]

On Sunday, over 100,000 people gathered in Arizona to pay tribute to Charlie Kirk in a memorial service that received wall to wall media coverage. First, here's J.D. vance.

[Guest/Commentator 1]

And that is an undeniable legacy of the great Charlie Kirk. You know, he loved God, and because he loved God, he wanted to understand God's creation. Creation and the men and women made in his image.

[Host]

Here's President Donald Trump. But the assassin failed at his quest because Charlie's message has not been silenced. It now is bigger and better and stronger than ever before. And here is Charlie's widow, Erica Kirk, with perhaps the most moving portion of the entire memorial service. That man, that young man, I forgive him. Meanwhile, at the same time this memorial was going on, a number of Democrats were on Sunday shows painting a very different picture, criticizing Charlie Kirk and in many ways justifying his murder. Which sets up the conversation that I want to talk about today, which is the Charlie Kirk test of very basic human decency that so many are failing. Last week, there was a vote in the House of Representatives to condemn the assassination of Charlie Kirk. 58 Democrats voted against it. Here is Alexandria Ocasio Cortez explaining her vote.

[Guest/Commentator 2]

His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated.

[Host]

And sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans. One thing that's been particularly jarring these last few weeks is watching Democrats struggle to condemn political violence without also needing to attach three to five paragraphs of language about why Charlie was such a terrible person. Because as we've talked about here before, when someone is murdered, if your first reaction is to criticize the victim, to spend a lot of time talking about their flaws, faults, and essentially why you believe they deserve it, you are justifying political violence. Rainn Wilson, Dwight Schrute from the office, I thought, talked about this very, very eloquently on his podcast.

[Guest/Commentator 1]

Spoke to a couple of, let's say, some liberal friends last night at an event and they were like, you won't find me shedding any tears. And someone else was like, oh, well, there was a little bit of a kind of a good riddance thing. And it's like, guys, no.

[Host]

Here's Ilhan Omar on Sunday for not.

[Guest/Commentator 1]

Wanting to honor any legacy this man has left behind. That should be in the dustpin of history and we should hopefully move on.

[Host]

And forget the hate that he spewed every single day. And here's Jasmine Crockett.

[Guest/Commentator 2]

So if there was any way that I was going to honor somebody who decided that they were just going to negatively talk about me and proclaim that I was somehow involved in the great white replacement, yeah, I'm not honoring that kind of stuff.

[Host]

So Jasmine Crockett's arguing there is that she should not be expected to condemn the murder of somebody who talked negatively about her. Which is to say if someone talks negatively about me, they deserve to be murdered. Which is a shocking standard that we're seeing from more and more Democrats. But you also had some Democrats who pretend to be moderate, like New Jersey House member, also current gubernatorial candidate Mikey Sherrill, who wrote this very, very long statement. Charlie Kirk was advocating for a Christian nationalist government and to roll back the rights of women and black people. That is an insane statement. None of it is true. But it is the exact kind of language that was used by, by this shooter and inscribed on the bullets when he shot Charlie Kirk. Now, what is important to remember here is nobody is asking these Democrats to praise Charlie. No one's asking these Democrats to lionize him. You always have the option of just shutting up. And they cannot do that. And I think that is what is so jarring here. We were taught all from childhood, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. It should be especially true when someone is murdered. In addition to justifying political violence, Mikey Sherrill in a debate on Sunday night said this.

[Guest/Commentator 2]

Whether it's President Trump rolling back some of the initiatives on Solar or adding $250 per family to your energy bill, everybody at the table is at fault and they keep dumping the costs onto the ratepayer here in New Jersey. That is why I'm freezing rate hikes on the ratepayer.

[Host]

Now this is what we call Democrat math. Democrats spent the last four years doing everything in their power to drive up the cost of energy and in turn, everyone's utility bills. Let's look at Bethany Mandel's op ed from earlier this summer. New Jersey's electric bills tripled this summer and could cost Dems the state. Now, Bethany talked to experts in the state of New Jersey about why those utility bills were so high. They took generation off before they brought generation on, one energy expert told me, pointing to the state's aggressive shutdown of coal powered plants under Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and the closure of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in 2018. The result? A shrinking energy supply at a time when demand is exploding. Dan Lockwood, a spokesperson for PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator, explained the problem plainly to the New Jersey Monitor. These higher prices are the result of a loss in electricity supply caused primarily by decarbonization policies that have led to an uptick in generator retirements, lockwood said. So as Bethany's piece is highlighting, Democrats have attacked every reliable source of power generation and then as soon as bills started going up, tried to blame everybody else in the world for those rising costs. This will be a major issue for Mikey Sherrill, who voted for every single Biden priority that helped drive those costs up and had nothing to say when her governor shut down coal plants and everything else that was making their electricity a little bit cheaper. As the House of Representatives creeps towards a September 30 deadline to avoid a government shutdown, on Friday the House of Representatives passed a clean continuing resolution to fund the government and keep it open. Now a clean continuing resolution means a bill to fund the government at current levels while they continue to debate larger budgets and spending plans.

[Guest/Commentator 1]

On this vote, the A's are 217.

[Host]

The nays are 212.

[Guest/Commentator 1]

The bill is passed.

[Host]

Last week we talked extensively about this unique strategy we're seeing from Democrats of actually taking ownership of the shutdown. They put out polling that shows that their far left base, the far left base that's driven them to the lowest approval ratings in history by demanding they do all sorts of insane things, also right now wants them to shut down the government and they're going to do it. And so in order to do it, they're making a crazy list of ransom demands. Here is Speaker Mike Johnson on that.

[Guest/Commentator 1]

Chuck Schumer saw that he returned a counteroffer that is filled with partisan wish list and poison pills and demands.

[Host]

Politico, not a conservative outlet by any means, described it as this. On one side is the minority party using what little leverage it has a looming government funding deadline to push for priorities. It can't enact otherwise. On the other side is the majority insisting a short term funding punt is no place for negotiation. So Democrats are demanding, as Speaker Johnson said, things like taxpayer funded health care for illegal immigrants that they want to restore some of the funding that Doge got rid of that goes to insane fraud, waste and abuse across the government. They know that these are non starters, but their base is spoiling for a fight with President Trump. Recognizing that they've painted themselves into a corner. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are now asking for a meeting with President Trump. Breaking Rep. Jeffries and I are demanding a meeting with real Donald Trump on his decision to shut down the federal government. So you have a little bit of a spider man pointing at himself meme here where Democrats said just last week, we are shutting down the government and we're happy about it. And then now just a few days later saying Donald Trump is shutting down the government, even though Donald Trump is supporting a clean continuing resolution, which is normally the fastest, easiest way to keep the government funded and avoid any kind of disruption. But as a reminder of who's driving the Democrats into this ditch, here's Harry Nothing.

[Guest/Commentator 1]

Because at this particular point, the Democrats are the New Orleans Saints of political parties.

[Host]

On Saturday, California Governor Gavin Newsom cryptically tweeted, kristi Noem is going to have a bad day today. You're welcome, America. Now, a lot of people pointed out that that was cryptic and sounded like a threat, but we found out later on is that it actually meant nothing at all. Because on Saturday, Gavin Newsom held a signing ceremony for California's bill to try and force ICE agents to take off their masks.

[Guest/Commentator 1]

I'll be signing a bill, the first in the nation, saying, enough ICE unmask. What are you afraid of?

[Host]

What are they afraid of? Well, for one, assaults, physical assaults on ICE agents are up 1,000%, largely due to the insane rhetoric of lawmakers like Gavin Newsom. But there's also the massive risk of being doxed. We've already seen that happen to a number of agents whose private information is revealed, putting their own families at risk, not just from horrific criminals in the United States, but also the drug cartels that Gavin Newsom has given power to run the border in the state of California, both for drug trafficking and human trafficking. So there's a lot of risk and it's very understandable why ICE agents would want to cover up their faces as they're carrying this out. But to add insult to injury for Gavin, here is U.S. attorney Bill Asali talking about this bill.

[Guest/Commentator 1]

Is this even enforceable? No, and I want to be very clear about that. The state of California has no jurisdiction over the federal government. If Gavin Newsom wants to regulate federal agents, he's got to win a federal election.

[Host]

So as the US Attorney just described there, in case you weren't already aware this bill is meaningless. It is pretend because Gavin Newsom and the California legislature don't have the ability to control what federal agents do while they're enforcing federal law. So as with so many other things Gavin Newsom is involved in, this is make believe. Here is my son playing make believe as Donkey Kong. But just as Gavin Newsom's all powerful bill to stop ice isn't real, my son isn't actually Donkey Kong. Small children. Gavin Newsom loving to play pretend for our you can't make it up segment today. It's one that I've been very excited about for quite some time. Kamala Harris has a book coming out this week and she's been previewing it and releasing copies to reporters to write glowing profiles about it. But instead, it's actually caused a second civil war in the Democrat Party. First, as Kamala rushed to pick a running mate last year, her first choice was her close friend Pete Buttigieg, but she decided that it would be too big a risk for a black woman to run with a gay man. Kamala Harris thought that Pete Buttigieg was too gay to be on a presidential ticket with her, so she picked Tim Waltz. Moving on, My second favorite excerpt that I've read so far has to do with cupcakes. But as votes were counted and Harris team struggled to workshop a Rally the troops speech that she would give to supporters at Howard University, they realized they were likely to lose. Harris social secretary peeled icing that read Madam President off the cupcakes that had been ordered for the occasion and sent them out to the campaign staffers along with wine. Oh man, of all the political jobs that people are eventually gonna write books about. I wanna hear from the poor staffer that had to peel the icing that said Madam President off the cupcakes before taking them out to those poor beleaguered staffers who had probably spent most of their time in the Harris campaign getting yelled at every day. Anyways, my third favorite anecdote is about a time when Kamala Harris went on a softball podcast with a host named Dr. Mike, who is a doctor who loves to talk about public health issues. He's also a pretty big lib, so her staff likely thought this was going to be a very easy interview. Enter Kamala. When Dr. Mike asked, Are you getting your seven to nine hours of sleep these days? I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. At the end of the interview, I sent the junior staffers out, leaving just Kirsten, Brian, Ike and Sheila. What the f Now she said. The actual word was that, I said, my voice reaching a crescendo. Brian trying to channel Jen o', Malley Dylan's thinking launched into a detailed explanation about the rationale behind doing the podcast. I raised my hand and stopped him mid sentence. Brian, I said through gritted teeth, that was a rhetorical question. Unbeknownst to me, for the next few days, anytime any of those team members asked each other anything at all, that was a rhetorical question would be the lighthearted response. What I love the most about this book is it's part Burn book, it's part Kamala posting her Ls, but it also is a valuable window into all the things that we already knew. For example, if you believed that Kamala Harris could have helped herself by doing things like going on Joe Rogan or going in some tougher interview venues, and this should correct that thought immediately. She got flummoxed in a softball interview with a children's doctor who likely spends most of his time putting Disney band aids on children's knees. Flummoxed her with a question about if she's getting enough sleep at night. That is all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining us on 10 minute drill. Please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts Spotify Like Comment Tell your friends. Have a great day. That was gonna be. That's gonna be really fun.