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Foreign. Hey, what's up? What's up, guys? Thanks for watching. I appreciate it. This is been a wild, wild day and, you know, I guess almost 24 hours. A little less than 24 hours now. So if you guys. Some of you guys may have not. So we. We recorded an episod yesterday. And, you know, like, the way we typically do it is we. We record. We go live to the website partoftheprom.com and then the episode comes out that. That night, like on YouTube and across all over other platforms. And I just texted Natalie yesterday after this all went down just to not post the episode. It seemed too, like, crazy and kind of wrong to post an episode that wasn't addressing what had. Had just happened, which is really quite something. I'm. I just, I, you know, forgive me on this one. I don't, I don't know how long this episode's going to be. I'm just going to kind of talk and give my thoughts on this. I'm not really sure how much time that'll end up taking up, but I'll just kind of say what I have to say. I'm gonna try my best to kind of give my thoughts on what is a. An enormous event, like culturally and politically. But it's. I, you know, I gotta just admit off the top here that I'm really rattled by this. I mean, really. This really fucked me up. And, you know, I was. I was literally just tweeting that I'm gonna go do an episode now and it'll be out soon. And. And I just wrote, you know, I'll be giving my thoughts on the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And even writing. It was just a. You know, I don't know. It's so. It's weird because that does not feel real, man. Like, none of this feels real to me. It's just really. It's hard to describe. And of course it's, you know, it's a bit of a. It's a bit of a challenge to like, try to analyze something and break it down and give your thoughts on it while. When you're personally kind of rattled by the whole situation. So. But I'll try. And, you know, maybe I would start by saying this because I bet, you know, it's. It's like I'm talking about my perspective on it, but I bet this is the truth for a lot of people listening. You know, I get all the time. I get people who, like when I meet people, like, after comedy shows or just out, like in life, and I'll you know, meet people who are. Who are fans of the show. And one of the things that I hear people say all the time and which. It's a funny thing. And, I mean, I get this so much, but people will come up to me and they'll be like, this is kind of weird because, like, I feel like I know you, you know, and that's you, you know? So, like, what I always say to them when they say that is, like, well, yeah, you do. You know, people ask me all the time. Another question I get all the time is people will just say, like, what's. What's Joe Rogan really like? Or what's Tucker Carlson really like? I always say to them, you already know. You know. You already know who they are. So it's like, when people come up and go, oh, I feel like I know you, I often tell them that I know exactly how you feel. Because, like, I've met people whose shows I listened to for many years, and I felt like I knew them. And in many cases, then I got to actually know them, and I realized I did know them. I did know them the whole time. Because you get to know somebody, especially when people aren't being duplicitous. Like, you get to know somebody if you listen to them for hours and hours and hours. And so, you know, like, somebody who's listened to, like, you know, a thousand episodes of this show does know me at least pretty well, you know, as. Anyway, I say all of that to say that, like, you know, I'm kind of affected by this because, like, I know Charlie. I knew Charlie. I was just with him as a really weird feeling. It's a weird thing to see someone you just. No, get, you know, just, like, murdered in cold blood like that. And. But anyway, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I think for a lot of you, it's kind of the same feeling like it is someone you know. Anyway, it's for, you know, as on the last episode, I was talking about how. How jarring and that the video of the Charlotte stabbing was and how much I was affected by it. And I really meant that. And I did not realize I was going to get off that show and be even, you know, substantially more jarred by another disturbing video. But I don't know. I mean, of course, it's partially because, you know, I was just with the guy, like, not that long ago. We were just hanging out and, you know, it's someone you know. It's also someone who does, you know, he doesn't do exactly the same thing as me, but like, it's not that far off. And so, you know, obviously, like, there's just a lot that's really jarring about that. But anyway, you know, I think that's, I guess my point was just that I think that's the case for, for a lot, a lot of people. And you know, I didn't, I'm not like, I, I was not like very close with Charlie Kirk. We weren't like close friends or anything like that. I would have, I, I would have called him a friend. We, you know, like we texted back and forth. He texted me a bunch of times just to say nice to me over the last couple years. And then I did his like show, his radio show or podcast or whatever. Like, I did that I think a couple times. And then of course he had me at his, you know, he hosted me at this big event that he just had recently and, and moderated a debate that I did. And you know, I mean, like, like in all of our interactions, all of our interactions, Charlie was always just the nicest guy. He's just a really sweet guy. And he just, it always just came off as very genuine to me. I think that like, I think Charlie was the type of guy who, like, if you were like an intern at Turning Points or if you were like some kid who attended a Turning Point event who caught Charlie Kirk outside for a few minutes, you just get the. That like everyone would have had the story that like, oh, he was just the nicest guy in the world. To me it was like whatever's anything else, you know, which is a funny thing because like, that actually means so much more to me than what someone's politics are, you know, Like I've like, kindness and manners means so much more to me than politics, you know, Like I, I've had like, I don't know, like say like just like an example, you know. Like there are some people who are really shitty to like servers. Like, they're shitty to like waitresses and waiters and stuff like that. They'll be shitty to people who are like serving on them. Like, that is so much more important than what your politics are. Like, if you're like, if you agree with me on everything, but you're like a dickhead to like some fudgeing 22 year old who's like bringing you food. I prefer a communist who's kind to that person. Anyway, so Charlie was just, in my experience, just a really, really nice guy. And I know that he's, you know, he Leaves behind a wife and two little K. And that's just like, goddamn heart wrenching, man. It's really, really just horrible. You know, I got. I got a wife and two little kids myself, and that just. That absolutely, like, crushes my soul. That. That they have to, you know, they have to have their family destroyed, you know, and anyway, it was. You know, I think. I don't know what else you can say about it. It's. I. You know, man, I really. Between. Just like. I mean that. It was like I had a. When I saw the video, I mean, you know, I first. You know, my whole thing. I hesitate to even say this out loud because this is so out of character for me. God, I would just never say something like this, but it is true, and God damn it, I am fucking obligated to tell you people the truth. But, okay, so this is just true. This is really what happened. I was on the phone with my wife, and she goes, hold on. I got a call coming on the other line. She was in the car. I was at home. And I've. I'm never like this. I'm so not this person. But I just got this feeling that she was getting terrible news on that phone. On the other end of the phone call, like, I just got like. Like a womanly premonition that something bad was happening. And I was shaken by. And then. So I'm sitting there waiting on Holta, getting a little nervous, and then she comes back on the other line, and I go, hey, who was that? And it was like, nothing. She was like, what? Home Depot called me about, like, something, like, it was nothing. And then I was like, oh, that was stupid. And so anyway, we got off the phone and she calls me right back, and she goes. She goes, why is everyone saying, pray for Charlie Kirk? And I go, what? And I opened my Twitter, and the first thing my algorithm showed me was Candace Owens saying, stop everything you're doing right now and pray for Charlie Kirk. And then I, you know, then I saw that he had gotten shot. Then I saw the. The, like, zoomed out video of all of it. And then I, at some point saw, you know, the. The video where they had zoomed in and you could just see the blood gushing out of his neck. And, man, I mean, it's just like the zoomed in one is the one that just like, really, really affected me. And then, I don't know, between that and then having seen this poor girl get stabbed to death on the subway the day before added in with two plus years of all the videos of Gaza, like, I don't know, I think I might just a little from just seeing soul crushing, awful things. I gotta cleanse a little bit and not try to not watch some of that stuff for a little while because it is, it is not good for your soul. And at a certain point I think I'm pretty good at dealing with it in general. But yeah, so anyway, you know, it's, you know, it's just terrible, man. It's just terrible on a human level. And I think a lot of people are feeling that, especially because Charlie was, you know, a phenomenon. He was guy with who's, you know, like 12 years younger than me and was like, had millions and millions of followers and had really made like such an impact on the culture. And obviously, you know, he's just touched a lot of people. A lot of people really loved him. And it's horrible to see something like that happen. Just, you know. So, I mean, I guess that's the, that's the primary thought that I have is just the personal of it and, and how terrible it is. It's, it's a, a weird feeling, you know, like to have just, you know, just, I don't know, was just hanging out with him pretty recently. And it's, it's, you know, death has this, this, you know, it's like this weird thing where it's very hard, it's hard to like grapple with the permanence of death. I think that, you know, like, it's, it's hard for us to grapple with the concept that someone's here and then they're just gone. And so it ends up feeling like kind of surreal, like, and you're like, wait a minute, that can't be. That can't be right. Anyway, but it is real. And you know, I guess anyway that those are kind of my feelings, what I'm going through. But there's no question, I mean, this is a massive, massive event culturally. And you know what this means, like what, what comes out of this is, you know, I believe something that's not predetermined. You know, it's. It's kind of all of us getting to choose in some way. So I kind of want to talk about that a little bit. But you know, there's something weird like Donald Trump, obviously he got shot last year, but there's something, I guess there's, there's two factors that really make it a lot different and you know, the obvious one. But in addition to the obvious one, you know, there also is. There is just something a little bit different when it's a, a presidential candidate or a former president running to be president. Once again, like, I'm not saying it's okay to assassinate presidents, but like, there is something where, like that is, that is in the realm of possibilities of like, like already in your pre imagined universe, like the presidents get assassinated sometimes. Now, okay, it's. We haven't lived through a president getting assassinated, but like we know it's happened in the past. And of course around the world, political leaders have been assassinated. Like that is a thing that happens. And you kind of. But just like it just happened into a guy. And of course, Charlie Kirk's like an influential guy, but still he's not the elected president or something like that. That, and particularly with what he does is different. And then of course, like the, you know, the obvious one is that, you know, when you know that bullet goes off and it nicks your ear, it still kind of feels like a video game. But man, when that thing nicks your jugular, it feels like real life real quick, you know? And you're like, you, you kind of realize the gravity of it, but there is like, I guess you just can't get away from like the symbol of the whole thing, right? Like, like on its very face. Here's Charlie Kirk is doing this, you know, like he's doing what he always does, I assume. I haven't seen video from the thing, but he's doing the, like, change my mind. Or I guess that was Steven Crowder's thing, but he. Essentially the same thing, right? I will sit here and at this institution of higher learning, we will have an exchange of ideas and achieve the truth through debate. And if you disagree with me, you come up here and challenge me and then I'll respond to you. And it's like this exercise in free speech and then getting sniped out like that, like what a just powerful and like profoundly disturbing little like snapshot of where you're at as a society. And you know, it's. It's pretty black and goddamn white, you know, to see some of the people who are like equivocating between the thing. It's like, no, that's pretty damn black and white. Actually. Actually, the person who's going, let's have a battle of ideas and I will answer all challenging questions is the good guy. And the person who, who murders the husband and father in cold blood for the crime of discussing ideas is the bad piece of who needs to be taken care of. And like, godamn it if you don't have that level of moral clarity, then what the hell else are we ever talking about? So there's that. And, you know, it's kind of. It's amazing. It's like the most simple of tests. Like, the most basic simple of tests. You know, like, it's like if you were. Like, if you were with somebody and you were considering, you know, settling down and starting a family, you. You might. You know, you're like, I think we're gonna do. We're gonna get married and we're gonna have some kids. And then, like, the test was. I don't know, like, do we both agree that we should not violently abuse our kids? You know, you'd be like, this is like the most basic. Like. Like, you should. You cannot even entertain any more about this conversation unless we're both on the same page about this very simple aspect. And it's like, when something like this happens, the test is really simple. Like, is your reaction just like, oh, my God, this is horrible, and we can't have this in our society, or do you have anything at all else to say? Anything? And I don't care. That includes just going like, now, while I don't agree with Charlie Kirk on his issues, you know, like, I don't care. There should be no qualifier. No qualifier whatsoever. Goddamn psychotic barbarians. Like, who the fuck thinks this is okay? And who. And then. And then to get into, like, well, he wasn't for gun control or, well, he wasn't for this. It's like, okay, we're not having a political conversation right now. We're having a spiritual conversation, and you're possessed by the devil. You are evil. This is not a political debate anymore anyway, you know, I'm. I'm not on this podcast. And perhaps, you know, almost certainly down the road, we'll start talking about theories about what the hell could have happened here. You know, there's just way too little information right now, and there's way more information that's going to come out one way or the other. And I'm just like, what the hell's the point in trying to put the pieces together right now? You know, obviously we know what we know, and we don't know a whole lot of other stuff. I will get into this in a way because essentially, just what I want to. What I want to just talk about today is just like. Well, one. What I just said, like, kind of just give you my thoughts, which are just really like, that this is. You know, this was really. That this is just gutting and that, you know, I give my deepest condolences to his family, of course. But then I just talk about the moment that this is, and then kind of just say like, look, there are, there are some groups of people who are reacting in these ways and here's how I, I feel about all of that. But it's not for me to give like, my theory of what happened. I mean, what really do we know at this point? And the FBI just said there's a person on their wanted list. There's been reports that there was like some type of trans ideology stuff left on the, the weapon. They did, the feds did recover what they believe is the murder weapon. But aside from that, we basically know that he was sniped. The guy was able to escape all of that. I mean, that's, that's it. Basically at this point, there's really just not that much. We will get more information as this, as this develops. But so I would say that. Okay, well, here, let's. Maybe I'll just do this first. Okay. So, you know, being in the position I'm in right now, this very weird position where like, I knew the guy who this just happened to, you know, there's all types of people speculating over what's going on. I mean, half my Twitter feed seems to think that it's because of me, it's because he. Not that it's my fault, but that it's because he platformed me at his last event and defended them and that's why Israel took them out or something like that. But not really, not really on board with that theory. Doesn't seem to be very likely to me. But I'll say this. When you see that video of Charlie, you know, and you see how real this gets, the thing that we should come together on, and the thing that we do still have somewhat of a choice in here is that like, we do not want to go down this path. This is a very, very dark path and there's a real danger of escalation after this here, man. You can't just do this and think that like, you know, the other side is, is incapable of responding in kind and like, this is a really dangerous path. But like, I would just say, like, as, as to the extent that I have any influence over people. Like, my only message after something like this is like, calm down, everybody, take a breath and don't do anything stupid. And don't do something stupid and senseless and violent in response to this. That only is going to lead to more. And that's Only going to make the situation much, much worse. I hope you know that that's kind of like the message that most people have. You know, I already see some of these, you know, some of the kind of right wing accounts, like, kind of, you know, you know, just people doing stuff, which I understand, believe me, I understand. Like, let me. I'll try my best to make this clear, but, like, I get the temptation. You know, I saw people like Sharon, the Andrew Breitbart video, that badass video where he's like, war. And, you know, then the music kicks in and stuff and it's like, all right, I get the temptation, but like, let's think about that, because I don't think that's the message that we want to send out to people right now. Like, obviously we want justice for whoever did this. We want to figure out what the hell happened here. We want all the answers, but, like, nothing's going to bring Charlie Kirk back or fix, you know, his destroyed family right now. So, like, that's not actually the route that you want to go. And, you know, I remember and I kind of feel this way. I mean, I'm not saying I feel the exact same way in these situations. I'm saying I feel right now like there's this. There's a temptation to sink into what I. I believe really is kind of like a dark force. I. So anyway, so I remember literally the. The hardest thing I've ever been through in my life by far was. Was my. My son, some of you know, who are listening to this, who's doing quite. He's doing great right now, but my son had a congenital heart defect and he had to have open heart surgery when he was three days old. And, you know, it's just an enormously difficult situation, you know, one that I would not wish on my worst enemy. And I mean that I've never met anybody who I would. I would wish that on. It's, you know, like, you know, I don't know. There's people out there who have lost kids, man, and I've never lost a kid. I can't imagine what that's like. But I do know. I do know what it's like to mentally prepare yourself for the possibility of that. And it is horrible, dude. Like, oh my God. It's just like. You can't even describe the feeling. Like, it feels like the, like if, like, if like burning garbage was like the smell of that was a feeling. It's like it just like this intense, like, horrible feeling. And so I remember. So, like There was this period where, like, we found out when my wife was pregnant that he had this heart condition and that we were going to need this surgery and what the risks were and where all of this. It was like this extended period of time. You know, it was. It was months and months and months of preparing for this and then going through it and then nursing them back to health. It's like this whole long thing. And like, I remember when. When I was in it, I remember feeling like, it like this temptation to fall into, like, destructive feelings. Like, like. And the feeling very clearly was like feeling sorry for yourself. Like, it's like just being mad at the world. Like, how unfair this is. Being furious at God, being like, what you. Like how. You know, there's just like. And it's not like, when I say that it's like, tempting to. It's so tempting, like a freaking. Like a cartoon where the pie smoke, like, starts, you know, gets in the. The dog's nose and carries him out. Like, it's the most tempting feeling ever. It's. It's like a drug that you're addicted to. Like, you just. You want it so much because there's something, like. There's something rewarding in a weird way. It makes you feel better, like, briefly in some moment to be like, you know, you God and you world, and how can you do this to me? And this is so unfair. And like, I have to suffer through this. Like, that this very human temptation to like, want to feel bad for yourself. Well, like, nothing is. First off, when you got a real sick little baby who's like, never done anything wrong and needs to go through this whole thing and in his start to life and, you know, it's just first, it's really, really easy to fall into that. You feel really, really bad. And it really, really is unfair. So it's just very. Like, it would be like if you. It's as easy as, like if you didn't sleep for five nights in a row. You got absolutely no sleep. And then you laid down on the most comfortable bed ever. It. It's how easy it would be to fall asleep is like how easy it is to f. But then, like on some other level, you just also know that that is the devil, you know, like, that it is like. I'm not saying literally, like maybe just a metaphor, but kind of literally also that this is like a dark force that is a trap. Like, nothing good comes from that, you know that. Like, oh, like you fall into that and great, now what? I'm in a Mountain of self pity and feeling bad for myself. And how the does that help my wife who's still got to go through this whole thing? How does that help my two and a half year old daughter I had at the time, who still needs her mom and dad? Like, that doesn't help anyone if I do that. But if I fight that, if I fight that and I just stay awake, even though I'm exhausted and in the most comfortable bed ever, but I stay awake and I just go, no, I. Instead of me feeling bad for myself, I go, this is going to be fine. And I take on the burden of other people then like, maybe that can be positive. Maybe something better could come of that. And you know, in this case, like, you know, I'm grateful to God every day, but in this case it did work out and everything was okay anyway. I say all of that to just say that. I think there's like, there's a similar type of thing when something like this happens. There's like this temptation to get angry. And man, is it easy to get angry. Is it easy to get angry? I mean, you look at like, you know, you. All you got to do because like, anyway, just like to complete the thought here is like from the beginning to now, it's like, I'm saying, like, you did know Charlie Kirk too. To many of you guys who loved him, like, that is somebody who you loved and who you knew and who you just watched like publicly executed in cold blood when he never did anything, you know, like, with being guilty of no crime. And. And then like you see a video of like some left winger celebrating it, as I'm sure so many of you have seen. And it is so easy to like, fall into that darkness, man. And I understand why some people do, because it's so easy to. It's so easy to go like, yo, they, they kill someone you love. And then they're sitting there celebrating it. Like, what. I mean, what's the right response to that? And it's very easy when you start going down that path to start coming up with what you think the right response to that is. But again, it's just like with the other stuff. But there's nothing but destruction behind that path. Like, no matter how tempting it may be or no matter how good it might feel, we all know on some level, then, then the darkness wins. Nothing good can come from that. And you know, I mean, not that any of them are ever listening to me, but, you know, if the, you know, like, if I had a message to like those you Know, like the left wingers on, on Tik to or whatever who are like celebrating Charlie Kirk's death. I guess, like, I guess my message would be like twofold. So like, number one, the first thing I would say to all those people is that, you know, I've seen like, you know, a bunch of these because people have been posting them and you know, I understand where they are. But I also would like kind of caution people with big audiences for posting that shit. Like you're working up anger and that really may not be the best thing. I don't think that's what Charlie would have wanted either. By the way. He was real against all, all that. He always wanted like things to calm down and not escalate to like violence. But anyway, the theme for all these videos that I've seen so far, you know, more or less like, very loosely speaking, the theme is either like, you know, a bunch of left wingers reacting to Charlie Kirk and they're, they're either saying like, you know, I'm not, I'm not sad or I'm quite happy. You know, like that's basically what they're saying. I'm not sad that Charlie Kirk died, or I'm quite happy that Charlie Kirk died. And then, you know, in some other, in their own, you know, unique way. But like, if the message is like, you guys, you left wingers, the left wingers who are crazy enough to, to jump on Tick Tock and make a video about how you're not sad or, or you're happy, my response would just be like, that's not true. You know, you, none of you are happy. You're all incredibly sad. You're all incredibly sad. Those are your real feelings. You are not a happy person. You're actually an incredibly sad person. In fact, Europe, you're so goddamn sad and up that you can't even, you can't even exist in this world with your emotions. You got to be medicated to even get day to day through your mise miserable life. So like, you know, obviously you're a genuinely, you know, just disgusting, horrible person if you, if you make a video like that, celebrating things. But just I guess my, you know, I'm trying not to fall into that kind of anger myself. So the, you know, my message would be that you're wrong on both counts. You are sad and you're not happy. Then there's the left, then there's like the liberals in the media who, wow, it is really, I mean, it is just unbelievable that because, you know, now I'm talking, I'm not talking lefties anymore. I'm talking, you know, liberals, neoliberals, you know, in the, in the corporate media. And it's like they are, they are. It's, it's unbelievable. It's some type of, like, whatever their cultist religion is of, like, neoliberal woke, corporate progressivism. It's like they are, they're incapable of passing the test that I laid out before. Like, they cannot just go, this was horrible. What a senseless act of violence. You know, they can't do that. They have to every time go, the, the provocative Charlie Kirk, who, you know, whatever, had some wild views about all these things and offended the trans community. Like, they have to find a way to try to blame him. And it really is, you know, obviously it's, it's despicable. At the same time, you know, it's just one more piece of evidence of why those people have completely lost all of their influence and why all of you guys on Morning Joe and CBS and CNN and all these goddamn networks, why you are all, you are nothing but the butt of all the rest of our jokes at this point. You don't even kind of move the needle. Little podcasts a third of the size of mine move the needle more than any of your goddamn network. This point. Like, screw you. You guys tried to be like the, the ones who morally lectured the rest of us, but you can't even bring yourself to not attempt to politicize, like a horrible death of a husband and father. Like, okay, that's why the whole thing is flipped. And I don't ever want to hear anything about how you judge all we, we judge all of you and morally condemn you to hell. So, like, fuck off. And this is why you're not, you know, I should go back. That's my message basically, to the corporate media. I should go back. There was one more message I had for the lefties, the lefties who are making the TikTok videos. And I understand, they're like, look, these are all like, you know, they're. They're all low iq, mentally unstable, you know, disgusting people. But I would just say the message of these, it's like, you know, you sit there, fuck. First of all, I guess to all of them, to the corporate media and to the lefties, all of them. First of all, you fucking dolts who don't know anything about anything and have never read a book about anything and don't fucking pay attention to any of the goddamn trends. And I mean, this about the people on tv Too, like they don't fucking know shit. None of them. It's shocking. Dude, I'm a goddamn dummy comedian and I fucking run circles around the fucking professional people on news because I've read books about stuff. That's my secret weapon, by the way. That's how I'm able to all these guys up. I've read a couple books about things and I know what I'm talking about. And none of them have, so it gives me a huge advantage. But to all of you, goddamn. Charlie Kirk was the moderate. He was the fucking reasonable guy in the room, you dummy. Wasn't a far right activist. Are you kidding me? Have any idea what's out there? You think that was like the radical position? Charlie Kirk was the most moderate human being. He was a plumb line Republican, a plumbline Republican, as everybody who knows anything about anything knows, is 1cm to the right of a plumb line Democrat. He was right just in the middle. He just supported Israel like the Democrats and Republicans do. He was more, you know, like a little bit more on the, the side of restrictive immigration policy. You know, that was his big radical policy, was he was with 80% of the American people on immigration. It's not. So you sit there and what do you think? You think this is a victory, like for you? You think, oh, you, you took out. You let me think this through here with all of my wisdom. I want to win a culture war. So what I did was I violently murdered the most high profile, moderate voice on the other side. Hey, geniuses. But you know, summon all your wisdom together and tell me, do you think that is likely to calm things down? Or might that lead to more radicalization and what the fuck these dumbass lefties celebrating? Like, what exactly are you trying to start here, you pussies? Like, Jesus Christ, man. I mean, go live your weird lives and with your pink hair and your 70 genders or whatever, but don't sit, sit here and pretend you're ready for a fight. Like, what are you doing? Do you know? Do you know it's like such a weird dynamic they have here, right, where like, broadly speaking, in the country, there's like this culture war, right? And like the left wingers are almost always the ones who are out on the streets, you know, they're the ones protesting. I mean, yeah, you could point to January 6th, but it's like the one exception. It's the exception that proves the rule. But who is out in, you know, the Ferguson, Missouri, you know, protests and riots or, or the Trayvon Martin protests and riots, or the George Floyd protests and riots, or there's the march, or there's the immigration march, or there's the campus. Campus activism over the last, you know, 15 years. It's like the leftists take to the street. They're the first ones to go, we're gonna go out here and do a thing. It's much harder to get the right wingers out on the streets because they have families and jobs and church to go to. But the right wing is so much tougher. So much tougher. Like, if this ever came down to a fight, the fight is right wingers mowing down gender studies majors. Like, what are we talking about here? You ever see one of those videos where like Antifa would actually get into a fight and then you'd realize that, like, it's actually really funny? I mean, like, it was kind of jarring and a little weird, but like, there'd be all these videos where there'd be like, you know, the black block guys, like, like seven kids in hoodies with like, one of them's got a pipe and, you know, they got the, the masks on. So you're almost like, oh, these are like kind of tough looking guys. And then one of them swings, like the girliest swing of a pipe and completely misses. And then a man punches him in the face. And you hear the guy go, hey. And you're like, oh, oh, you're not tough. You're just like role playing as, like, what do you guys think? But you're trying to provoke this other side who will annihilate you. There are real deal militias in this country. There are real deal gun enthusiasts in this country. You do not want to pop shit off with them. Of course, we also have a giant police force and a giant military, which we all know is made up of left wingers, right? It's all, it's all made up of trans activists in, in those organizations. Like, what are you guys thinking, man? Everybody needs to calm down. Everybody needs to chill out. You know, like, hopefully this like, horrible moment can be something that like pulls, you know, pulls people back a little bit, you know, like, you know, just like, you go like, wow, this is horrible. We don't want to go down this path. Like, let's move to something better, man. This is like, it's fundamentally, again, like I said, you have a guy like doing free speech stuff for free speech reasons in the free speech locations. Who gets shot assassinated for doing that, for the crime of doing that. This isn't just like, you know, there's something really profound here. This is, I hate using terms like this. I'm not a collectivist, I'm an individualist. But like, this is like national soul type. Like what you're telling me that like the foundational principle of the nation is free speech. He's exercising free speech and gets murdered for it. You know, maybe that could be a moment like where everybody goes, whoa, hold on. No, that's not who we are. I mean, we get to determine who we are. It's like, let's, let's decide that it's not that. And, and that if there is to be even like the kind of just retribution, let that be like, okay, let's find out who's responsible for this. Let's make sure that person is held accountable. If there's a conspiracy or something like that, let's get to the bottom of it. But let's not, you know, given to the, the evil spirits, man. Like, I'm not saying, I'm not even saying you shouldn't hate those people. I'm not saying you shouldn't hate anyone in the corporate media or, or the left is making those videos. I'm not, that's not my message. I'm saying like, like it's probably appropriate to hate them. I'm just like really pleading with you to not fall into like an all consuming hatred, like, to not fall into like that dark force that in some way I think we all know is kind of always there with us in life. You know, it's like you can, you can conceive of these things as, you know, in like through metaphors or through scripture or through a lot of, or you know, just the cartoon. Like there's the angel and the devil on your shoulder, right? Like, why is that a running fit? That's the way human beings think of things. Because that kind of is the human condition in a lot of ways. However you, you could get there from a secular atheist point of view or a religious point of view, but there's like the high and the low, dark and the light, and there is like, there's. All I'm saying is just try to stay away from that bad force. And I should say, you know, one more thing that I just. Because I, you know, of, of whatever. I don't even want to like, get into the politics of any of it. But I did see, you know, Ian Carroll, and I'm not trying to like personally blast him or anything like that. I'm not starting any feuds or nothing like that. You know, I've said nice things about Ian in the past. I know he said nice things about me, but I see him out there and like, and I've seen a bunch of other people doing this, but it's just like, if you want to go look through it, I mean, it's just crazy. But like, he just, he had this post about how Israel did this. Israel just murdered Charlie Kirk. And you know me, I'm. I don't know. I'm biggest fan of Israel, but I literally just replied and I went, what evidence do we have that Israel was involved with this at all? And I mean, man, if you want to be disturbed, like, go look through the replies to that. It is unbelievable how people put together theory. You know, they're like, what evidence you have, by the way? The answer is none. We have absolutely no evidence. There is absolutely no reason to even suspect that is the case, let alone to determine that it's a fact. And all the things people are posing, it's just like, like, guys, Jesus Christ, man. I'm sorry. I just don't go for sloppy, kooky theories. Like, if you got some evidence, bring it to me and I'll be the first one to, to look into it. But then people going like, he was waking up to Israel, like, dude, he said, release the Epstein files. And he, you know, he once on an interview said, like, you know, the pro Israel people are getting a little too crazy when they're accusing even me of being anti Israel, but that's about it. And, and like, you know, to his credit, he defended, like, having me at the thing and having T and. And Megan there and stuff. But, like, you've just got no real theory here and it just makes no sense at all. Like, they telling me the government of Israel took out their number one guy who still had influence amongst young people. I just, I don't know. I don't know. It just doesn't make any sense to me at all. And I don't think it's like, I, I don't think it's like, I don't know. I, I think honestly, in a way, I think a lot of those guys might have fallen into their own dark force where they're just so wrapped up in blaming Israel and blame for, for everything that you try to. You start to see it, or you, you, you kind of desire that conclusion before you've even reached it. But I think, like, anyone, like, let's just fucking breathe on this for a little bit. Let's get a. Like, I'm not. I. Again, as I say, all the time. I'm not against a conspiracy theory. I love a good conspiracy theory. Lots of them are true. But like, you gotta like have a case to make. You gotta have evidence, a coherent narrative, a through line different, you know, things that back up your assertions can't just be this like, you know, just, I don't know, we'll just say that, we'll say it was them. Who cares? Like, I hate that. I, you know, I should say I'll probably wrap up here in a, in a sec because I think I pretty much said what I wanted to. I will say, you know, they're. Don't. One of the things, that's one of the reasons say, well, you don't want to fall into those dark forces that I was talking about. Like why you don't want to fall into this like all encompassing hate or rage or whatever, despair. Any of like the bad things that you don't want to fall into is because it becomes blinding, you know, as the same, same thing I'm saying almost there. Like you could really, really hate the government of Israel. Like you could, you could even hate Israel, you could even hate Jewish people or whatever. And like, if you, if you still are concerned with getting things right, getting to the truth of things, then you don't want to fall into the thing where you're always immediately blaming them first. Because like, obviously there are other factors in the world too. There are other forces. And you know, and if you're, if you're falling into that, right, you could see where the problem is, that you're missing what really happened. You're going with the conclusion you want and so you're not seeing the truth. And that's kind of the problem with all these things. It's the problem with like all encompassing hatred too, because it's real easy to like fall into, you know, fall into, you know, like, oh my God, you look at some of these left wingers on Tik Tok celebrating Charlie Kirk died, War. I'm angry, I'm this. But then you kind of miss the fact that like, hey, look at all these other guys who are actually saying the right thing. And I saw, I saw there was this one video that had, you know, I, I must have lost it in the timeline, but it was like a left wing looking type person who was a tick tock video that was going super viral, had like millions and millions of views on it and they were going like, yeah, what's wrong with all you guys? Like a human being just got killed. He's got A family, like, I don't know, you disagree with his ideas. Like, he was there to debate the ideas. What's wrong? And so there were a ton of people agreeing with him too. So like, you know, just like, keep that in mind too. There's also the beauty in the world and there's also people kind of doing the right things. And you know, you don't want to, you don't want to miss that because that's kind of, you know, that's our, that's the hope for. That's what makes life worth living. That's the thing that is like, gives us possibilities of a, of a better outcome. And, and I will say that there are, you know, if I'm giving to people who kind of didn't pass that test, and I say like the, the basic, my basic test is just like. And I think this is not that unreasonable. I think it's like a very, it's a pretty low bar to be able to, to get over. And I think the test is just that, like, when something like this happens, you're appropriately horrified. You just go, that is awful. This is inexcusable. I feel horrible for the family and all that. You don't start like hate mongering and getting everybody worked up and furious about the other side. It's a thing that people do online. It's great for clicks and it's great for, you know what I mean? Like, and it's, and it feels good in a way too. I'm sure a lot of people genuinely believe it. It's easy to genuinely believe it in a moment like this. But like, you don't do that. You don't start jumping to wild theories and stating them as if they're fact when, you know, you can't even, you can't even build a coherent theory yet alone know this for a fact. You don't start doing that and you don't start like, you know, equivocating about who was really wrong or who wasn't. It's like just be that, just like, it's the most basic of tests. And I do have to say, man, that, you know, I was really, I was really, I was really pleasantly. No, I wouldn't say surprised, but I was very happy to see that like, Nick Fuentes really passed that test with flying colors. I, I just saw on Twitter that he, he like, you know, he just basically said the exact right thing and then he cancels his show last night and was like, I'm just not going to do that. In light of these events. And I don't know, I just thought like that that's, it's weird. Of course, in this world we live in, it's like Nick Fuentes is the one in this moment who like actually has the appropriate kind of adult reaction. That's where, that's, that's where we're at in the. I don't mean that as a shot at Nick. This is purely a compliment to him. I'm just kind of making fun of the way he's caricatured versus the reality of it. But, you know, and, and I'm just particularly giving him credit just because, you know, again, like, the way he's caricatured versus like how actually so many of these supposed grown ups in the room are, are acting. But there were a lot, a lot of people who I thought really did that and I, I do really appreciate that. I think like, in these moments, like for whatever the we're doing, living in this world with people who follow us on, watch our shows and follow our social media accounts, for the people who have like somewhat of a following, you know, it's just like if we're not doing anything else, it's like it, it's a, it's a kind of like easy line for me to see, like, who are the good guys and the bad guys kind of based on how they handle things like this. All right, I'm gonna wrap up there. I mean, I don't know, you know, what else to say. It's clearly just like, you know, truly a truly horrifying event that I really can't think of a parallel to this in my life. Like, you know, and there were things where like congressmen, congresswomen were shot at or got shot still, just like, not quite the same. Not quite the same as someone being cold blooded, executed this way and you know, obviously all the, the other personal stuff. So I, you know, I'm gonna continue as I'm sure a lot of people are, to continue kind of processing this and you know, and I'm sure, I'm sure I'll have more to say about it to you guys anyway, I'll always kind of tell you guys, you know, give you my honest opinions and try to tell you the truth as I see it. That's, you know, I, I'm being completely honest today. I kind of did, I did not feel like doing this. I did not want to have this episode. I just knew. I'm very upset about it. I knew there was a good chance I might get emotional during it. I did pulled it together a little bit, but I did. But I. I just didn't feel like doing this. I'm the kind of guy in this situation. I. I don't. I actually don't like to talk about it, despite how much I like to talk in general, in life, subjects like this. I don't. But I just kind of had this feeling like, I don't know, I have to. That's my obligation to you. I got to come here and tell you how I feel. This is what. This is the deal. And. But I don't know, I actually. I kind of feel, you know, like this was somewhat helpful for me to just kind of get some of this off my chest to you. So thanks for listening, and talk again soon. Peace.
Host: Dave Smith
Date: September 11, 2025
Episode Theme:
Dave Smith reacts candidly and emotionally to the shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk, reflecting on its cultural and personal impact, the societal and individual responses, and the dangers of political escalation and ideological extremism. The episode is an immediate, unscripted outpouring following the event.
Dave pauses his usual programming to address the assassination of Charlie Kirk, someone he personally knew and recently spent time with. The central thread is Smith working through his own visceral response and encouraging listeners to resist destructive instincts — both conspiratorial and violent — that might arise in such moments.
Emotional Shock:
"I'm really rattled by this. I mean, really. This really fucked me up." [02:02]
Recounting The Moment:
"I think I might just need a little break from just seeing soul-crushing, awful things." [26:50]
On Charlie Kirk’s Character:
"He just always came off as very genuine to me… kindness and manners mean so much more to me than politics.” [11:50]
“He leaves behind a wife and two little kids, and that just… crushes my soul.” [15:04]
Processing The Permanence of Death:
“It’s hard for us to grapple with the concept that someone's here and then they're just gone. And so it ends up feeling like kind of surreal.” [22:35]
Cultural Impact:
“There's just something a little bit different when it's a presidential candidate… but this is just a guy… getting sniped for discussion and debate.” [32:50]
The Free Speech Dimension:
“A guy doing free speech stuff gets assassinated for it—this is a profoundly disturbing snapshot of where we’re at as a society.” [36:20]
“The person who's going, ‘let's have a battle of ideas’ … is the good guy. And the person who murders the husband and father… is the bad piece of shit who needs to be taken care of.” [38:34]
Danger of Escalation:
"There's a real danger of escalation after this, man… you can't just do this and think that the other side is incapable of responding in kind.” [46:30]
Personal Experience With Tragedy:
"It's as easy as, like, if you didn't sleep for five nights... It's how easy it would be to fall asleep is like how easy it is to fall into that darkness." [55:50]
Appealing to Listeners:
“I'm just like really pleading with you to not fall into… that dark force that in some way I think we all know is kind of always there with us in life.” [1:19:55]
On Left-Wing Social Media Responses:
“None of you are happy. You're all incredibly sad. In fact, you're so goddamn sad… you can't even exist in this world with your emotions.” [1:03:30]
Corporate Media (“Liberals”):
“You can't even bring yourself to not attempt to politicize the horrible death of a husband and father.” [1:07:00]
On Conspiracy Theories:
"If you got some evidence, bring it to me… You gotta have a case to make, a coherent narrative." [1:17:04]
Destructive Drives in Crisis:
“There's a temptation to get angry. And man, is it easy to get angry.” [1:00:03]
Basic Moral Test:
"When something like this happens, you're appropriately horrified… You don't start hate mongering… or jumping to wild theories and stating them as if they're fact.” [1:23:10]
On the moral clarity of the moment:
“Goddamn it, if you don’t have that level of moral clarity, then what the hell else are we ever talking about?” [38:49]
On free speech and national identity:
“The foundational principle of the nation is free speech. He's exercising free speech and gets murdered for it. Maybe that could be a moment where everybody goes — whoa, hold on. No, that's not who we are.” [1:16:00]
On media decline:
“Little podcasts a third of the size of mine move the needle more than any of your goddamn networks at this point.” [1:06:50]
On conspiracy claims:
“There is absolutely no reason to even suspect [Israeli involvement], let alone to determine it's a fact.” [1:16:44]
On summoning restraint:
“Just try to stay away from that bad force… there's the angel and the devil on your shoulder… all I'm saying is just try to stay away from that bad force.” [1:20:40]
On decency in response:
“I was very happy to see Nick Fuentes really passed that test with flying colors... In this world we live in, it's like Nick Fuentes is the one in this moment who actually has the appropriate kind of adult reaction.” [1:25:06]
Dave Smith’s episode is a raw reflection on political violence, the complicated reactions it evokes, and the importance of resisting calls to hate and escalate. He urges listeners — and public figures — to process the tragedy with moral clarity, compassion, and emotional restraint, holding up decency above partisanship, theorizing, or vengeance.
Episode curated for those seeking both the facts and the deep emotional, moral, and cultural context behind the assassination of Charlie Kirk, as seen through the lens of Dave Smith.