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- [00:00]
A
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:04]
B
Walked away for a year, year or two, I'm back. So, you know, who knows? Hopefully they do learn their lessons.
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A
We'll see.
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B
Rubber, good to talk to you. We got to get Charlie Kirk's Medal of Honor, Medal of Freedom ceremony coming. Just.
- [00:15]
A
There you go.
- [00:16]
B
Thank you, brother. All right, folks, quickly, markets all over the board. Really volatile session today. It was way down four or five years in the Dow end up 200 higher in the Dow S&P down 10, down 11. Nasdaq down 163 at one point was down 400, 500 up across the board. But a couple other good news, Gold, good news for gold up $23 an ounce, 4155 as we speak. You look at oil, here's some really, really good news here. Oil pushing a lot lower, 58 and a half dollars a barrel. You're getting some really, really good pricing going forward for oil. And then crypto still can't get out of its own way. Know what's going on with crypto? I heard some big sell. I heard some people committed suicide over the last couple of days from the big move. From the all time high, 126,000 down to 105,000 the other night, Sunday night, late night. So keep your eye on that stuff. All right, folks, buy gold and guess what? Get free silver. Free silver. That's right. For every $5,000 purchase from Birch Gold Group this month in advance of Veterans Day, they'll send you a free patriotic silver round. I'm holding one right in my hand here that commemorates the Gasden in flags. Look, gold is up over 40% since the beginning of just this year alone. And Birch Gold Group can help you own it by converting an existing IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA in physical gold. Plus they'll send you free silver honoring our veterans on qualifying purchases. And if you're current or former military, Birch Gold has a special offer just for you. They're waiving custodial fees for the first time year on investments of any amount with an A rating with the Better Business Bureau and tens of thousands of happy customers, many of which are our listeners right here at rav. We encourage you, I encourage you to diversify your savings in the gold. Text the word America to the number 989-898 for a free info kit and to claim your eligibility for free silver with qualifying purchases before the end of the month. Again, that word is America. Just text it to the number 989-898. Do it today. All right, our first guest is the literally amazing congresswoman from the great state of Florida. Always happy to have Representative Anna Paulina Luna back on the show. Welcome back, congresswoman. So we're 14 days into the. The Schumer shutdown. You know what? You were just. You talking. You and I were talking offline just a second ago. What are some of the things that they're demanding before you guys reopen government?
- [02:46]
C
I am. I almost laughed when I saw this list because I thought it was fake. So I just want to read some of these to you, Eric. We have 24.6 million to climate resilience in Honduras, 13.4 million to civic engagement in Zimbabwe. 3.9 million. Oh, this is a peach right here. LGBTQI plus democracy grants in the Balkans. 2.9 million to desert locust reduction in Africa. Oh, yeah. And 2 million to organizing for feminist Democratic principles in Africa. They are literally not wanting to pay the military. They are willing to defund the Women, Infant and children program. Thank goodness Trump had his pot of money from the reciprocal tariffs. But they want to fund this stuff, which is totally backwards and just asinine. So here we are through the shutdown. I've never bet against Trump in a negotiation, and I think he's going to win this because Russ Bo is basically going to go after their pet projects for reelections in some of these blue districts. But my goodness, talk about hypocrisy.
- [03:43]
B
Yeah, they are rife with hypocrisy. Schumer, what is it going to take? Some are speculating that he wants to wait until after the second or the third, whatever this is. No. Kings protest riot on October 18th. Your thoughts? Is Truman just trying to remain relevant?
- [04:04]
C
I think that there is legitimate concerns. The Democrats are kind of in shambles right now. They were trying to make this shutdown saying that it's because Republicans want to vote for the Jeffrey Epstein files, which, to be clear, is completely false. Right. Like, we know that they don't want to fund the clean CR and that Schumer is facing potentially a Senate primary. But ultimately, it's not even about anything that the Democrats are really trying to message on. And I think a lot of their voters, according to what we're seeing with the polling, a lot of their Democrat voters don't actually support this. So I think that this is a common occurrence where you see, you know, elected officials that are supposed to represent constituents in Washington, D.C. and then they fail to ever go home. In fact, a lot of the Democrats have been up here filming TikTok videos during the shutdown trying to show that they're working, but they're not. And they lose touch with reality and what their voters want. So I am glad that the administration is currently in power, because I think that Russ is going to have a great opportunity here. Russ, vote. To actually get rid of some of this bloated government and really rein in the spending, because Congress does have a spending problem. But ultimately, you know, when people talk about why they hate Congress and why we have such low favorability ratings, it's because of stuff like this.
- [05:14]
B
You know, I think this is. I've been through 100 of these first attempted shutdowns, threatened shutdowns, now shutdowns, and it's always both sides trying to blame the other side. But Trump has literally said, you know, this, we're not going to pay for illegal health care. We're just not going to do. We're not going to do that. And they won't. They won't.
- [05:34]
C
Or this stuff or that stuff. Right.
- [05:37]
B
We do this all the time with these nonsense, you know, lobsters on the treadmill, all like that garbage. Bloated. A government like ours has been so bloated for so long, all that stuff will continue to pop up. But to really get the deal, get the government back open and pay folks that your military, etc. Whatever, there's got to be some sort of give. The Democrats can. They cannot continue to blame Trump. I mean, you own the White House. They have the House, the Senate. You can turn the narrative. Adam. It's just. It's amazing how ugly the political machine is from this standpoint. You guys are in the midst of it. Can I. Yeah, I just talk very quickly. Mideast peace, does it hold?
- [06:13]
C
I'm hopeful. I think that a lot of it depends on who Trump names as his successor and the team that stays within the White House after Trump's time in office. Remember President Trump, thank goodness we have him for, you know, three more years. But really what ends up happening is really by, I think, the third year, really the second year, and then the third year of an administration, people start leaving and they start really shifting into reelection mode and. Or campaign efforts for the White House. And so.
- [06:42]
B
Well, sorry, go ahead. You can finish.
- [06:43]
C
Yeah, I was going to say, so you end up seeing a lot of the staff leave. And I think that there needs to be those people. I think that they need to stay because ultimately, this is a unique opportunity that we have in history to ensure that not just the United States, instead of being an aggressor is seen as the peacemaker. And I think President Trump has made his mandate of what he expects, especially from the party, to back him on. And so I'm actually really glad that you brought that up because, you know, specifically on him wanting peace with Russia and Ukraine. Well, that's not going to happen if you keep having members of Congress going over to Ukraine and advocating for war with NATO. Right. And so I actually, I do sit on foreign affairs as part of my other hat, as you know, Eric, I'm on oversight. So I'm also on the Foreign Affairs Committee. And I actually reached out and I have a meeting next week actually with the special envoy to the president of Russia to discuss some of those peace and potentially trade talks. And then also to, for the first time since the 90s, Congress will be doing a Parliament, Parliament meeting or Congress to the Duna meeting where we will be actually meeting. It's going to be bipartisan with a group of members from the Russian delegation of their, their version of parliament. And so, you know, that should, should have happened. We know that there's been fractured foreign policy because of Russiagate and we know now that that was a manufactured lie. So the Democrats, specific Democrats used it for political gain. In actuality, there was no Cold War happening.
- [08:12]
B
So very quick answer, quick answers. I watched the whole pomp and ceremony yesterday. Right. With in, in Israel, then in Egypt.
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C
Yeah.
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B
Trump was very, very supportive, elevated Marco Rubio to a level I haven't really seen him elevated prior to this. Now you're a very maggot person. We come from way long time ago. MAGA roots.
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C
Yeah.
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B
Back when Marco Rubio wasn't so maga. Right. And so I'm going, is this some sort of Trump looking at maybe possibly Marco Rubio to carry the torch further and maybe not. J.D. vance, what were your thoughts on that?
- [08:48]
C
I mean, I don't like to speculate on what the Trump. On what the Trump, on what President Trump thinks. But what I can tell you is I think, you know, especially when you are in D.C. remember, Marco came from the Tea Party era. And I think that what Marco has been really good at is he's been able to understand how Washington works and at the same time ensuring that he was able to get into a position where he could fully be what I believe is the conservative that he's always felt that he is. And if you look at him as compared to some of the other Secretary of States that we've had, he is doing an incredible job. I think such a good job that President Trump is correct that he's going to go down as truly one of the greatest secretary of states that we've ever had in U.S. history. And you can look at his peace negotiations and what he's been able to provide and support. On the flip side, you know, J.D. vance has been backing the president through all of that as well. Both J.D. vance and Marco Rubio were actually very supportive of President Trump's position on Iran. There was a lot of people freaking out about it. Obviously, both of those individuals do not want more war. And you can tell by their actions and how they've backed the president in these peace negotiations. And so I can tell you that there's a lot of people in Congress and Senate that like to talk and say that they know what's going on. But the fact is, is that especially on this foreign policy and a lot of these decisions, the only people that know are the only ones, the ones in the Situation Room. And this would be J.D. vance.
- [10:18]
B
So I applaud their efforts. Interesting dynamics setting up there. I will tell you. I got about a minute or so. Anna Paulina Luna. And we go way back. What I'm referencing is, you know, Charlie Kirk received the, the Medal of Freedom, highest honor you can give a civilian by President Trump. And you, my dear, we met in 2018 when you were the head of the Hispanic Outreach for TP usa. So your roots are long with TPUSA as well. Quick thought on Charlie receiving the Medal of Freedom.
- [10:46]
C
It's a huge honor and what I can tell you is that I really wish it was under different circumstances because as you know, Charlie's birthday is on the day that he, he was, he's receiving the honor. But you know, for me specifically, I think that, you know, as his friend, not just as an elected official, but seeing his life accomplishments, even in Those, you know, 30 plus years, he was able to accomplish more than sometimes people do that in their entire life. And so I will never forget where I came from. I always remember my Ro and I'm in Congress because of Charlie. And we're going to continue as legacy.
- [11:20]
B
And you're doing a great job. Keep doing what you're doing as a, as a citizen of the free state in the Union, Florida. Really good having you, having you here as well. And Napoleon Lo and everybody, by the way, I am Charlie Kirk. Thank you, Anna.
- [11:35]
C
Thank you.
- [11:36]
B
Look at this. This is the edge. This is amazing. Just three weeks, just over three weeks since we launched that chart right there. We're in the orange, the burnt orange that's where we are versus every single new YouTube show. Five times in views, five times the number of subscribers because of you, Most pages just crawl. Ours didn't crawl. We came out swinging. 20,000 views, already less than four weeks. That's five times the typical growth of a startup channel over almost 1600 subscribers right now because of you. You guys are doing this. Put up that other screen very quickly. Take your phone, put your camera on, face your camera at that little QR code, a little yellow thing, line comes across, just hit it. You subscribe automatically. There's no money involved. I will never hit you up for anything. Just want you involved in the content. I want you to be part of the beginning of something massive. The edge is going to be massive. Or you can hit me up at YouTube.com rickbowling the edge at the bottom right there. That's the other way to do it. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your subscription. We'll be right back. Well, take a look at that, folks. That's the shot of the Rose Garden. And just take note of that scene right there, because don't forget, Trump put that flooring in right there. And if you look at the back of the rows, you can see those pillars right there. That's the Oval Office. So that's where Trump spends the Resolute desk. And off to the right, that's the colonnade where it attaches the Oval Office to the actual White House. And this is all in support in just waiting for President Trump to come out and award posthumously Charlie Kirk the Medal of Freedom. We keep our eye on that because we will go to that immediately. Every so often, something happens that reminds us just how fragile our freedoms are. We can't afford to take our rights for granted. We must draw a line in the sand. And our friends at Patriot Mobile have been doing that for more than 12 years. The truth is, there's only one, one proven provider that boldly stands in the gap for Americans who believe freedom is worth fighting for, and that is Patriot Mobile. Not only are they leading the red economy, they're also outpacing the competition in technology. Patriot Mobile is one of the only carriers offering premium access to all three major US Networks, giving you nationwide coverage and service you can count on. They also offer unlimited data plans, mobile hotspots, international roaming, Internet backup, and more. Switching is easier than ever. Activate in minutes from your home or office. Keep your number, keep your phone, or tell you what, upgrade. Take a stand today. Go to patriotmobile.com rav or call this number, 972-972-972-PIOT. That's 972 Patriot. And use the promo code RAV for free month of service patriotmobile.com rev or call 972 Patriot. Make the switch today. Alrighty, folks, as we said, President Trump is possum. She awarding Charlie Kirk the Medal of Freedom today. His wife, Erica Kirk, will be receiving the award. But joining me now, CEO and editor in chief of Just the news, no noise. Mr. John Solomon. John, good to have you with us on this very, very important day, especially.
- [14:50]
D
For Charlie, for Turning Point, special day.
- [14:52]
B
For young people and for the real America's Voice family. John, go ahead.
- [14:56]
D
Yeah, listen, I can't think of a better name of a medal to give Charlie. Forget the fact that it's the highest civilian honor, but what Charlie lived for was to ensure freedom for another generation. He inspired millions to fight for that freedom. And he understood that there was a force creeping among this nation that was trying to eradicate the belief that we were endowed with this inalienable right to freedom, beginning with the freedom to speak and debate and talk and practice our faith. And he fought so feverishly for it. And I can't think of a greater honor that he would have been more proud of, and I certainly am proud of, to see him received today, even though it's in his passing.
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B
Yeah. Do I do this? Listen, I, I hate doing it, but, you know, it was, you know, a month ago and. Yeah, well, let's just take a look. Go ahead. Sure, Doug.
- [15:47]
D
Guys, I've got.
- [15:48]
B
We. Yeah, we. We.
- [15:50]
D
Yeah, you, you got it.
- [15:52]
B
I, I, I, I'm gonna look at our, our fearless leader, Rob Sig, who is looking at him pacing back and forth to give us. Give us. Tell us he's passed. Am I hearing this? Control room.
- [16:07]
D
It's right, it's, it's Solomon.
- [16:10]
B
Put it up there. It's on just the news. They're reporting. John Solomon's reporting on just the news that he's, he's passed. Yes. Is this what I'm hearing? Yes. Can I get here? Yes, yes, yes. Wow. Right here, Right here. We have this moment, guys. What happened was we came up on the show. Charlie had been shot. There was, there was word that he was in intensive care, but had a heartbeat till that moment right there. But give me one more. Just take a look real quick. I know, I hate to do this back to back, but, but just watch the next sound bite real quick. You're, you're reporting Charlie has passed. Tell us What? You know, John?
- [16:42]
D
Yeah. Talked to multiple officials in the United States government and two personal friends, but he passed a short while ago. Wasn't able to survive the blood loss from the wound to his neck. There'll be some announcements soon, is what I'm told, and then we'll have to sort through what happened today, who's responsible, and try to how something so senseless could occur. We need to rally around his family and his friends, who are going to be devastated. But what he started is our generation's obligation to finish, to protect free speech and free expression and free religion and to speak out until the moment we crush it. The intolerance that has led to violence and unthinkable American acts, the acts that we've seen in the last decade of censoring people, canceling people, bankrupting people, killing people because of their political views, is not American, and there's no space for it. And if the greatest honor we can give Charlie is to make sure we finish what he started by crushing that mindset, it'll be the best honor we can give him tonight at this very difficult moment for his family.
- [17:52]
B
And the reason why I want to play those, John, is because while we were reporting live, we were know what happened with trial. I saw you. I saw your face change. I saw you look down, and we were all emotional. But you went away for a minute. You confirmed it, I guess. Tell us how that went down.
- [18:09]
D
Yeah, I had two sources. I wanted to get a third and a fourth quickly. And so I'm texting back and forth, and I got the sort of level of sourcing that I KNEW I was 100% right. And so then I came back right on air. We pulled the trigger on. On the wire here at Just the News. And then we came right back on air to describe it to everyone. And it's hard. It's hard to keep your passions out when you're just trying to do the reporting of the news at that moment. But you do it because the country deserves the truth. They need to know what happened, and they need to know it's true. And we did that. And it was an honor to be on air with you when that happened and to be on with all of our great RAV colleagues, right. Rob Sig and Gina and everyone that was on the block at that moment, because I think Charlie viewed us all as friends and colleagues. I was with him just two weeks before he passed. I've said this, and I had a little bit. I have a little bit guilt now because he wanted me to Come out the end of August, just before Labor Day to Colorado. It was like a 13 hour flight on the way the hop went on a Saturday. I was kind of grumpy going out there, like, I don't really want to do this, but. But Charlie's my brother. I'm going to do it. And I got there and I realized how special a moment was not knowing what would happen to Charlie. But we just started talking. And his passion, his intellect, his view of what was going on in the world was so 30,000 foot. It was so amazing and an event that I went in kind of dreading. Like, I don't want to go on a long trip and waste the whole weekend. I left energized. And I think that was what Charlie always did. He always brought a joyful warrior out in you and he could see what was going on. So we're on stage, we're talking, and I'm talking about the war on truth and why this was an effort. You know, we're in a fight to save our country. And he corrects me on stage in a classic way. And he was so right. He said, john, we're not just in a fight to save our country. We're in a fight to save Western civilization. And his ability to see that the moment we were in was as relevant to America as it was to Great Britain or Israel or Brazil or any other country that's going through the hatred and intolerance that we now see in the world. Charlie understood that this wasn't just about saving America. It was about saving the mores that made Western civilization great, starting with freedom. And I walked away that weekend. I literally had a kick in my step when I flew out Sunday morning to come back home because Charlie invigorated me. And I think that ability to see what was at stake, what the solution was, and to never stop working to get to that solution. I'll never forget that weekend with him, and I'm grateful for it. Although I admit I kind of groused going in, but I, I left having been rewarded by him.
- [20:49]
B
You know, I spent a lot of time Fox. I literally probably the only human being to ever fill in for Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly on the same evening. Wow, that's impressive. That moment when we were together there, John was more emotional, more material to me in my career than any. And the credit to you for really kind of reporting that news and holding it together when we were all kind of like falling apart.
- [21:12]
D
Thank you.
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B
Do we have Brian Glenn? I think we have Brian Glenn at the Rose Garden. If we have him. Do we have him? Brian, do you jump in here, set the scene for us, my friend?
- [21:22]
E
Yeah. Well, hey, Eric, glad to be here in the Rose Garden. And I was just mentioning to a colleague next to mine, this is the first time I physically have stood in the Rose Garden since it's been paved. And I wish we had a good start. Matter of fact, Mason, Mason, do us a favor real quickly, pan down and let's show the ground as we stand here. Now, this, like I said, this is the first event that I've been out here with it being remodeled, but as you can see, they replaced the. The grass with this good looking surface here. Even with the drains. If you looked at what they've done. Let's look down here for a second. They have actually put the drains in the shape of an American flag, the Stars and Stripes. Just a beautiful accent here. But what a very special day to be here. Obviously, as we kind of remember where we were when we got the news of Charlie Kirk being assassinated. I was on the plane with Attorney General Pam Bondi coming back from a raid that we did at a vape plant in Chicago cracking down on Chinese vape products being here in the US So we got the news on the plane on the way back, and all of us was speechless. She was speechless. And of course, we all had to deal with the fallout of that for the rest of the day. And we still carry it to a great extent even as we speak. But today it is about honoring him, honoring his birthday and giving him pretty much the highest award that you can get from a president, and he rightfully deserves it.
- [22:54]
B
Yeah. And, Brian, any word on Erica? Kirk's going to receive the medal in Charlie's absence. Any word on Erica? And how's she doing?
- [23:03]
E
Well, you know, I have not seen her. I know there was some video earlier circulating that she was arrived just behind us on the South Lawn, but I have not personally seen her here yet, but I would imagine she would deliver what we could expect to be a very emotional, impactful speech, very much like what we heard at the. At the ceremony there in Phoenix just weeks ago.
- [23:27]
B
Okay, guys, do me a favor, if you guys can both hold, we're going to take a quick break and come back in two and a half. Love to keep you guys on screen if we can. We right back, folks, too. All right, there it is, the Rose Garden. They're waiting on the President to come out and award the postmaster the Medal of Freedom to Charlie Kirk. Actually, to Erica Kirk in Charlie's absence. And I noticed that, you know, with this, with this new floor in the Rose Garden, you get price four or five times more people in there. Let's go to John Salmon. John, you're still with us, I hope. You know, will the left finally like relent and say Charlie Kirk was everything that we know he was, or are they going to continue to look for reasons why, again, this is their words. Reasons why Charlie was assassinated? His own words.
- [24:24]
D
Yeah. You know, the left won't stop because they don't have anything to offer positive right now to America. They don't have any policies that resonate powerfully with the majority of Americans. And so they spend their time denigrating those who found connections with America in middle America. And I think Charlie, you know, I think of something that Charlie said a couple of times to me and he said it publicly many times, and that was that freedom doesn't mean anything unless you can back it up with personal responsibility. Meaning you had to personally use that freedom for good. You had to make sure in this country that you did good with it. And I think the left has used their freedom in the last few years to terrorize us, to tell us mistruths, to try to erode the truth that this country is built on. You saw Senator Tim Kaine do that the other day, saying, no, no, you don't get your rights from God. You get them from government. Which is something I think would make our founding fathers roll over in their grave. He realized that free speech came with also the responsibility to use it responsibly. And I think that the left right now is the antithesis of all that Charlie stood for, what he believed in. And the more they denigrate him, believe it or not, the more they're building him up. Everything that they do to chop him down is actually making his reach and his impact larger in America. They're literally self defeating their purpose. And I take joy in watching them fail at what they're doing.
- [25:49]
B
Yeah, we just saw Susie Wiles take her seat in the front row, screen left. So that would indicate Trump will be coming out in just a second. Yeah, I tell you the most heartwarming things about this and there's so many bad things losing Charlie, but one of the positive things is the number and it keeps rising. Somewhere around 180,000 requests for chapters around the world. Really amazing for TPUSA. This is TP USA. Is there going to be a bigger political force in America? Maybe the world, John?
- [26:21]
D
Well, I think it's going to be substantial for a long time to come. It's in good hands.
- [26:25]
B
Well, let me, let me, let me rephrase.
- [26:26]
D
Let me, let me rephrase this.
- [26:27]
B
But John Solomon, John Solomon knows just about everyone. There is no. What's going to be more powerful, what's going to be more influential, TP USA or the rnc?
- [26:38]
D
Oh, I think it's already been answered. TPUSA was far more important to Trump's win in 2024 and will continue to be because they're prospecting the next generation of voters. And the RNC is often, you know, in those second and third generation of voters deeper into their political lives. There's nothing more important than what TPSA has been doing to create connectivity between the values of the conservative movement in the interest of young people. Making it cool to be conservative again, making it okay to believe in freedom and God and your family and being a responsible man or responsible woman. They made it culturally fashionable again after two decades of the left trying to demean that viewpoint. And that is a very powerful, very powerful force, because culture is always upstream from politics. Culture sets the politics of a country. Charlie understood that, and he went to fix the culture so that politics could be fixed. And I think that legacy will live on in TP USA for a very long time. We'll be retired. It'll still be very powerful in America.
- [27:42]
B
Yeah, he'll be very proud of this day. We're here, Charlie Kirk will be proud to say, because yesterday President Trump brought at least, at least the temporary peace to the Middle East. People said it wasn't going to happen. You know, I am so ticked off at the left and actually some people on the right as well, who are creating sort of divisiveness under Charlie, whether he was pro Israel at the end or not. And they're pushing this narrative of, oh, he was getting off the Israel bandwagon. You would know better than I would, John. I mean, I'm on the honorary board of tpsa. But I have this conversation with Charlie Lee, the way you may have had. Where was he with Israel and what would he say to this peace agreement?
- [28:19]
D
I think he understood that biblically, the Israelis and the Jews are a chosen people and that he wanted to honor that. He also wanted to make sure that the use of force that Israel used didn't go beyond what was necessary to win the battle between good and evil. And I think he was looking to find where that delimiter was. I remember on the night that Trump bombed Iran, he was very concerned that this was Going to be a war. And I came out and showed him, nope, this is a limited engagement. And within a day, Charlie felt very comfortable with what the president did. He comes from a generation of conservative thinkers that doesn't think we have to bomb everything to win. And he has a president and Donald Trump that believes that most of what we achieved in the Middle east peace occurred without bloodshed and without us having to use military force. Now we use some. We had to take the nuclear weapons off the table. We had to neuter some of Iran's proxies so we could get to a point where our conversation was.
- [29:14]
A
Could occur.
- [29:15]
D
But we didn't put boots on the ground. We didn't create a long war like Afghanistan and Iraq was. And I think Charlie was beginning to appreciate that Trump could use power surgically, military power, but not get us into a war. And I think that impressed him. I think on Israel, he was just fine. And I don't think he was going to abandon Israel. But also, Charlie was never to give anyone a free pass. He would correct me if he, you know, if he saw something that he thought and he did on stage that day. And I love it. I love the fact that he saw it as something bigger than I was talking about. I think that's what made Charlie so special.
- [29:46]
B
Yeah, we just trying to catch people up. I believe I just read unconfirmed that there was Trump, the administration or the military took out another one of those narco terrorist boats they did today from Venezuela. Just, just, just briefly a little earlier. Yeah. You. You have confirmation of that, John?
- [30:06]
D
We do. It was confirmed by the Department of War a little while ago. President. President Trump also confirmed it. I think it's a sixth, fifth or sixth boat now that's been taken out. Hey, listen, these narco terrorists have been declared terrorists and they're trying to ship poison into our country that will kill our young adults. That's what they've been doing for the last 10 years. And President Trump has decided that on a surgical basis, he'll blow these boats up before the poison gets to our shore. And you look at the polling, Americans, by a majority, support what the president. So he is lockstep with the Republicans. It's not a big long war. We're not putting boots on the ground in Venezuela or in the cartels permanently. But using that surgical use of power, I think is very popular right now because people. There's hardly a person I've met in America that doesn't know someone who didn't die from the scourge of the opioid and drug crisis that these cartels have imposed on America, often with China's assistance. So I think what the president's doing, say confirming he did do it today again, is very popular. It hits right where Americans want their president to be right now.
- [31:09]
B
What do you think, John? You're so tapped in to the administration and what they're, what they're thinking because you have great sources. What do you think is the, the, I'm going to call it a game. Play a little poker game with Putin. This Zelensky, we're going to, we're going to give you a Tomahawks or maybe going to let you, you use them the way you want to use them. And by the way, we're going to share some intel on Putin's energy infrastructure in Russia. Seems, seems a little bit of a dangerous game to play. But what are your thoughts on this?
- [31:40]
D
You know, when you go to the art of the deal, President Trump always realizes you key components know what your enemy wants and know what he fears most. And I think Donald Trump knows what Putin wants. Putin wants to be welcomed back into the weld order as something other than a pariah, which right now he's not going to get. And what does he fear? He fears being humiliated and dressed down. And the president dangles something that could really humiliate Putin if he hit the mother of all sanctions and froze the central bank of Russia, which by the way, nothing moves through Russia except through the central bank. And he froze all of the oligarchs money. That really is Putin's money and the oligarchs are just hiding it. He would humiliate Putin on the world stage. Putin would have breadlines in Russia in a few days. And I think the president vacillates between those two points. The missiles are one thing. That's a Zelensky play. There is a little bit of US Targeting going in right now on some of those missiles. But at the end of the day, he knows what Putin fears most, which is being humiliated on the world stage and not having a chance to return to him. And I think he's left both doors open and he's let Putin twist in this. And I think in the last few days, Putin didn't weigh in on the Israel Hamas deal. He was very quiet, as was Iran. That is a sign that Iran and Russia, which often engage in important information warfare on events like this, they're quiet because they're reevaluating their options. I think if I'm Vladimir Putin, that's good. I think Vladimir Putin wants to make a deal. He isn't there yet, but he'll get there.
- [33:12]
B
John. John. We're going to try and squeeze in a quick break, folks. If you look to the left of the screen of that shot, you just saw Andrew Colbert, who's. Who is Charlie Kirk's executive producer, Jack Posobec there as well, attending the.
- [33:24]
D
Yeah, Betty Johnson's there.
- [33:26]
A
Good group.
- [33:26]
B
The ceremony. A good group. Good MAGA group there. Quick break. And if this starts, we will break out of the break. So we'll be right back, folks. All right, let's take a look at that shot. Take it, take it. Is this Trump? There he is, ladies and gentlemen. The business. Yep, that's Trump, right? It's hard for me to see. It's a small screen. Yeah. There is, ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States awarding Charlie Kirk possibly Medal of Freedom.
- [34:00]
A
Thank you very much, everybody, please. This is such an honor. This is the. Please be seated. This is the first time we've been at the new and improved Rose Garden, and people are loving it. They're loving it like they've not loved a lot of things. We have the Presidential Walk of Fame, which you just saw, and it just opened, and we wanted to get it open for this occasion. We're hoping we were able to get. Get outside, and the weather allowed us to. It was supposed to be terrible rainy day. I was telling Eric, and God was watching, and he didn't want that for Charlie. He just didn't want that. So it's really beautiful. Couldn't. Couldn't be more beautiful. Today, we're here to honor and remember a fearless warrior for liberty, beloved leader who galvanized the next generation like nobody I've ever seen before, and an American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest caliber, the late, great Charlie Kirk. Five weeks ago, our nation was robbed of this extraordinary champion. He was a champion in every way. I got to know him so well. He didn't like losing, and he was able to fight people that were enemies, and he didn't necessarily love those enemies so much. You know, I heard. I heard he loved his enemies. And I said, wait a minute. Is that the same Charlie that I know? I'm not sure, but I didn't want to get into it, but it was a horrible, heinous, demonic act of murder. He was assassinated in the prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America. He loved this country and that's why this afternoon, it's my privilege to posthumously award Charles James Kirk, our nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Thank you. As you know, only hours ago, I returned from a very historic trip to secure peace in the Middle East. People said that couldn't be done. Charlie felt it could be done. Charlie felt it could be done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. But I raced back halfway around the globe. I was going to call Erica and say, erica, could you maybe move it to Friday? And I didn't have the courage to call. But you know why I didn't call? Because I heard today was Charlie's birthday. And I said, you know, now we. That was a definite. And I said, we're going to have to forget about some of those very big, very rich countries that expected me to be there. And I can tell you, based on the length of that flight, I wouldn't want to go back tomorrow. But I would not have missed this moment for anything in the world. Nothing. And it's a very important time for our country, and our country is doing so well. It's never done better. We are a country with almost now $18 trillion of investment coming in. Nobody has ever seen anything like that. Previous administration had less than a trillion for four years. We have more than 18. It will be much more than 20 by the time the year. More than $20 trillion. There's never been a country in the world that had anything like that. What's happened to our country is incredible in a short period of time. Charlie was a big person for. Sir, can we close up those borders, please, a little bit? You know, they're really leaking badly. I said, charlie, I haven't gotten there yet, but, you know, it came out last four months. Literally nobody was allowed into our country. And the only people that were allowed in were people that came in legally. The borders are absolutely stone cold closed. And they reported 0, 0, 0 and 0. So that's pretty good. But he was a big believer. He wanted people in the country more than I did, frankly. He wanted them to come in legally, and he got his wish. October 14th is Charlie's birthday. And he should have been turning 32 years old. I tell you, I never. When I first met him, he was like 22. And I said, boy, he's awfully young. But I thought he was older than that. You know, he looked a little bit older than his age. That's okay. You know, that's not good when you're old, but when you're young, it's great. He had the best of all things, but he was special. But instead, Charlie is attaining a far more important milestone. We're entering his name forever into the eternal roster of true American heroes. He's a true American hero, an amazing person way, way beyond his years. And I'm honored to be joined by a woman who has endured unspeakable hardship with unbelievable strength. And that's Charlie's widow, Erica. And I just want to thank you, Erica. He loved you so much. I was with him. Please. Thank you, darling. Thank you. I was with him before I met Erica, and he told me he was going to get married. He said, you won't believe how beautiful she is. I said, well, then, now that I meet her, he's right. But then he also said, and you know what? She's like the smartest person I know. See, they do go together on occasion. Not often. Not often, but on occasion they go together. But he was. He was in love with you. He was deeply in love with you. It's great. Erica, your love and courage have been an inspiration to all of us. And we will always be here for you. And we're always going to be here for your gorgeous, beautiful children. And we'll never forget what your family has sacrificed for our country. Man loved our country. When things were going badly for our country, he was so, as you know, angry. He would get angry because he said, it doesn't have to be that way. We're also pleased to be joined by an incredible group of Charlie's friends. Very powerful friends, actually, and some not so powerful. And they're actually better people. Okay, I know. The less powerful ones. I have to tell you that all of you power guys down here, the best ones in the group are the ones that are less successful. But that happens, too. No, they're all great. And they're here. And let's start with Erica's father. Where is Erica's father? Where are you? Where are you, dad? Oh, look at him. Wow. I want to get a hat like that, too. I like that. How are you? Nice to see you again. Thanks as well to Vice President J.D. vance, who's been fantastic. JD, thank you very much. Great. Doing a great job. Did a great job on Sunday with George Slopadopoulos. Put him away. Pretty good. Second lady who's a phenomenal woman. Usha Vance. Thank you very much. Usha. Thank you very much. Great woman. President of Argentina. He wanted to be here. That's. Argentina's a serious flight, right? And he's become a superstar, and he's doing amazing things. It's. He's a MAGA person, but it's make Argentina great again. That's what he does. Right. And I want you to stand, please. Javier. Javier Milei. Doing a great job. Thank you very much. Many members of my cabinet are here. Just about all of them are here. I won't go into every single one of them, but I'll announce a few of the people that have really turned this country around and helped me. Incredible people. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Where is Mike? Mike, what a job you're doing, Mike, what a job you're doing. And I watched you this morning and you're in there trying to say, look, just let the country open. Everything will be fine. We're dealing with some radical left lunatics. And I just wish Charlie was here to fight us. I think the fight would have been over already. He would have had a march on the Capitol by people who. Whose average age is about 21, because there's nobody that had that relationship with young people. Right, Mike? So thank you, Mike, for being here. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Steve, thank you very much. Brave. A brave guy and a friend. House Majority Whip, another terrific man, Tom Emmer. Tom. Thank you, Tom. Senator, Majority Whip John Barrasso. John, thank you very much. All these senators, I'm going to get in trouble. I'm not going to read all their names. I'll be reading all day. We'll be talking about Charlie in about 45 minutes from now. We can't do that. So all of the senators, there's so many of you, thank you very much. I do want to thank Senator Thune for doing a terrific job. He's really been leading properly. Do you agree, Mike? The team, the two of these guys have been fantastic. So to Senator Thune, I want to thank you very much. Incredible job. Watched him this morning and he was out there pounding him this morning on television, too. And John Barrasso, thank you for the work you've done and congratulations on your success. But I want to thank you all and all of the Congress people that are here. And I see we have our attorney General here, so. And you are doing a fantastic job. Thank you very much. Pam. Thank you. Thank you very much. We have everybody. Wow, that's incredible. Okay, I'm not going to do any more. I'm going to be here too long. But I just want to thank. You have given him such support. But he always gave you such support. That's why you're here. And very unusual. Charles James Kirk was A visionary and one of the greatest figures of his generation. He was truly an amazing figure and growing leaps and bounds. He knew that the fight to preserve our heritage is waged not only on the battlefield and in the halls of power of which we have tremendous power here, including the head of a place called War. We call it now War. We had Defense, we had our Secretary of Defense. Now we have a Secretary of War. And somehow I think it's more emblematic and hopefully we'll never have to use war. But the fact that we're ready is very good. Peace through strength is very important, but also in the hearts of our nation's youth. That's where Charlie rode strongest. At age 18. That insight inspired Charlie to found the organization that ultimately touched the lives of millions and millions of people, and so many young people that nobody has ever seen anything like it, frankly. Turning Point, usa, It's amazing, and it's actually bigger now. It's become bigger in the last few weeks than Charlie ever thought. I think his end vision in many years from now would have been just a fraction of what it turned out to be in a couple of weeks. Right? It's amazing. With hard work and joyful spirit and endless enthusiasm and determination. And he did have great enthusiasm. You know, I always say you need enthusiasm to be successful. Enthusiastic. Charlie grew Turning Point into the largest conservative youth organization in the entire country. He forged a personal bond with countless young conservatives. He fought for free speech, religious liberty, strong borders, and a very strong and proud America. In everything he did, he put America first. He really put America first. And ultimately, Charlie, he became more than a leader of an important organization. He became the leader of historic movements all over the country. There were movements, individual movements, one movement, but it was historic. Everything he did was historic and a true evangelist for the cause of freedom and the word of Almighty God. God was very important to Charlie. He would say, you know, if you don't have religion, you're not going to have a strong country. It's true. He was so wise beyond his years. You know, I talk to him sometimes. I'd say, this guy is like a young guy. He was really a wise man. From the time Charlie worked on my presidential campaign in 2016, and he was there right from the beginning. He liked me. I don't know. I have no idea why. What the hell was he thinking? He said, you're going to win, sir. I said, you know, I'm running against 17 senators and a lot of tough people and governors. We have all these people. And he said, no, you're going to win, sir. He said, not going to be close. And he made it happen. He helped make it happen. I'll tell you that. Without him, who knows what would be. Maybe you'd have Kamala standing here today. That would not be good. I will tell you, Javier, you don't know who Kamala is. Promise it would not be good. You agree with that, Howard? He also mobilized countless citizens to go vote. It's called Go vote. Very simple. And with his help, in 2024, we won more young people than any Republican by far in the history of our country. And we won the popular vote. We won them. Remember, they said, oh, well, if Trump could win four, that would be nice. I win seven by a lot. By a landslide. But the popular vote was massive. And we won the Electoral College. Remember, they said, well, it's going to be very hard. I'd say 270. Well, we got 312 to 226. And then we won something called districts and councils and different things. But in one case, we won 2,750 to 525. That's the one where you see the map is almost entirely red, except they have a little blue line on one side and a little blue line meaning New York and a little bit Los Angeles. I have a feeling that if the vote were 100%, we would have won that, too. You want to know the truth? But he knew, and he knew very well, and he also understood honesty, and he was always concerned with honesty. He said, the only way we can lose is if the cheating gets so bad. And that's where we came up with a little phrase, too big to rig. We said, go out and vote. Just go out and vote. And we had that. Remember, we used to say that all the time because people would say, oh, they're going to win. We don't have to vote. Let's go to a movie. We'll come home and watch later. And he wasn't about that. So we had. We come up to really together. We came up with that phrase, we got to make it too big. I never made a speech where I didn't say at the end, now, look, the polls are showing good. Don't believe the polls. He said, we're going to make it, Susie. Right? Too big to rig. So if you think we're going to win by that doesn't matter. Pretend we're losing. You got to go out and vote. They voted, and at 9:02, the whole thing was over. Right. 9:02, remember, they said, oh, this could go A few days. Well, a few minutes. 902. And he knew that. And I felt it, but he knew it. He knew it. I think he knew it more than anybody. But Charlie never missed an opportunity to remind us of the Judeo Christian principles of our nation's founding or to share his deep Christian faith. In his final moments, Charlie testified to the greatness of America and to the glory of our Savior, with whom he now rests in heaven. And he is going to make heaven. I said, I'm not sure I can make it, but he's going to make it. He's there. He's looking down on us right now. It's so incredible. Look at this, how this turned out. This was supposed to be so dark and cloudy. Not dark and cloudy, is it? Look at that, how beautiful that is. There's no artist that can capture it as beautiful as it is today. Wow. It's amazing. As I said, on the day that he was assassinated, Charlie Kirk was a martyr for truth and for freedom. And from Socrates to think and to St. Peter, from Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King, those who change history the most, and he really did, have always risked their lives for causes they were put on earth to defend. He was put on earth to do exactly what he was doing. He didn't want to waste time. He would have been a top student at any college in the country. I know the college as well. He's smarter than the guys at. Harry was so smart. But he almost, I guess, didn't have the time. It was. He knew what he wanted to do. It wasn't like, I want to sit in the classroom for four years listening to people teach me liberal principles, because they were never going to teach him that anyway. But he didn't have the time. He really didn't have the time. But every time the enemies of goodness and virtue try to silence the voice of righteous and noble leaders like Charlie, they failed. They seem to fail. Ultimately, they look like they're doing well, and then they end up failing because the truth has been unrelenting over the years, over history. And people like Charlie, it's just they've got a power that others don't have and very few people will ever have. So today, like those martyrs before him, Charlie's voice, his message, and his legacy are stronger and greater than. This is an Iheart podcast.