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- [00:00]
A
This is an iHeart podcast.
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B
Assassination attempt on Charlie Kirk. This is coming from a Fox News report. We'll. We'll wait for more confirmation. It's an old white guy. Is the picture here that I'm looking at? Michael Manlinson, a member of the Democrat Party, Utah, suspected of the assassination attempt on Charlie Kirk. What will our dear Democrat friends say to that? Bowling.
- [00:29]
C
I'm waiting for them to start blaming the gun. Be honest with you, Steve. It's just minutes after Charlie's, you know, attempted assassination. We don't know his condition. Attempted assassination. Insane, Steve. Yeah, I, I saw the video of that guy too. Just, it doesn't. He didn't look the part. But if you put a D after his name, maybe he does actually earn the part. I'm not really sure. See, I don't want to speculate on if that, if Fox is right or wrong on that. But I'll tell you what, if you want to stick around, you're welcome to stick around. We got a full hour. We're going to cover this thing wall to wall. Allow us to roll an animation very quickly so we can reset things in just a couple of seconds. Go ahead, guys. Roll the animation, please.
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B
Breaking news from Real America's Voice.
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C
All right, folks, you've heard the terrible, terrible news that Charlie Kirk has been shot. Utah Valley University is where he was while he was holding a Turning Point USA event having a Q and A with students. Thought he say he was shot in the neck. Dr. Gina Louden from America Sunrise is in studio with me. Dr. Gina will come right over to you. The Rav family here in West Palm beach is just in shock. Charlie being a big part of that family. Tell us what your initial reaction when you heard he was shot to that was in your right over here in the office when we all heard it.
- [01:43]
D
I think probably almost like everyone. Total complete disbelief. My first thoughts and my prayers and. And I sent a prayer immediate to his wife Erica, because all you can think about is his family immediately. I am so. I don't know. There's something about this that is pivotal for us. I think Eric and John alluded, Steve alluded. But it feels like open season on certain groups of people in this country right now. And I don't think that we should take that lightly because maybe we've taken it too lightly for too long. And maybe this is an indication of that. While the people who were supposed to be keeping us safe, Eric. Were chasing down church ladies speaking up for life were chasing down J6ers, chasing down innocent People based on their politics. This guy who did this to Charlie Kirk were not being pursued.
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C
Gina, pivotal, you say? And is it good? Because Charlie, he's bringing young people in. He's the life. He's the next generation of the conservative movement. And maybe that is very scary to them, whoever these people are.
- [02:58]
D
Yeah, I mean, I've known Charlie since he was literally just a little guy. I think since he was 14, I've known him. He grew up with my children in politics. And this is just so unbelievable. From every perspective, this is unbelievable. And I think we just have to pray. And I think that was my first reaction, is just pray. Everyone that sent me a text immediately, my first words were just pray. And I think we still continue to pray. We pray and we continue to pray no matter what. God has this family in his hands. He has our family, our Rav family, our patriot family in his hands. And that's where our hearts need to stay, at the throne of God, on our knees.
- [03:40]
C
All right, Gina, stay there. Let's bring in. Bring Steve Gruber back in if we can, guys. And also Ling, bring Rev host Law and Border host Ben Berkman. Ben, you. You're very friendly with Charlie, as we all are. You know, I saw a video of first responders getting Charlie. I couldn't see Charlie, but six of them carrying him to an SUV and got him out of there fast. I don't. We don't know his condition at the moment, but God bless, God willing, if he survives. We have to hat tip these first responders, but go ahead, Ben, tell us, tell us your. Your reaction to Charlie being shot.
- [04:14]
E
I mean, it's horrific. And I'm a dad. He's a dad. He's a young guy. I started doing my stuff about the same time Charlie did. And I look at a guy who's had such an impact on our culture, and, you know, there's a reason why the enemy. There's a reason why the devil goes after the effective people because he doesn't have to go after the unaffective, the ineffective people. And you look at somebody like Charlie, who is so effective, called by God for such a time as this in our nation's history, to stand up for righteousness and for light and to raise his children and be an example as a husband and as a father, as a strong man, and you think about the darkness that we're living in, and it's a darkness that's been allowed to grow. I mean, there's a lot of cliches out there, but if men don't stand. If righteous men don't stand, evil grows. And that is what we see today. And my prayer in all of this, the beauty first off is Charlie knows where his ultimate hope lies. Charlie knows that Jesus is his hope. Charlie knows where he's going in the end. And that's my hope. And my prayer for everybody, not just watching this, but across this nation, for the tpusa family, for Charlie's family, and for the people that are living in darkness, is that they would find Jesus. That's our only hope. And you look at why we're in the situation we're in today and it's because we've turned our back. We've allowed evil to take the place of Jesus. And you see the outgrowth of that. In the end, I know where Charlie's hope is and that's, that's comfort. But it also, it's. It's just the beginning of a big fight that we have to bring light back into this nation. And I'm praying for his family and praying for his kids. First thing I did was text my wife because you think about the stuff we do.
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D
Yeah.
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E
And I just told her I love her and I love the kids, girls, so much because that's what it's about. So. Yeah, dude, I love you too, Eric. And I love this network and I love everybody who's involved with it. And I love the people that stand up and fearlessly stand with light in the darkness. And if you're, if anything, this should, this should get us to stand more.
- [07:06]
C
This is, this is an important point here. This is an important point. You know, tragedy like this happens. It's shocking. The emotions are visceral. You can see it. I'm moving into this anger period right now. And it may be too soon, but I'm, I'm pretty pissed. I'm pretty pissed that, that they're doing this and they're getting away with it. Gruber, what about you, brother? I mean, you're emotional before. Is it still there? Is it turning into something more like we. Ben makes a great point. We cannot let them win. We have to stand in, in that we have to take your best shot because we're gonna, we're gonna be here after you're done, when you're, when you're out of bullets. We're not out of people.
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B
Yeah, here's the deal.
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E
That's right.
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B
We cannot let them win. We must shine light into that darkness. How do I feel about it? I have children. My, my 20 year old daughter. Huge fan of Charlie Kirk, devastated. My wife, devastated by this. My daughter sent me a text here a short time ago saying, dad, maybe it's time to retire, because this scares the hell out of her. Why wouldn't it? People being targeted, people being doxed from the baseball game where Republicans were gunned down to Butler, Pennsylvania, to the country music festival in Las Vegas, to all of these events that we've seen happen, targeting people that are conservative. And I asked this question with all honesty and sincerity, are we free game now? We being the voice of, of conservatism, of America first, of Donald Trump, people that are supporters of the president, are we free game now? In this madness created by these people on the left who think it's, well, you just hit them hard. We just go after them. We'll call them names, we'll call them racist, we'll call them misogynist, we'll call them anti American. We'll call them every name in the book and we'll say, hey, they're free game.
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F
Are we?
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C
Gina feels that way a little bit, doesn't it, Gina? What Steve is pointing out is probably on the minds of all four of us in the next eight people who are on the show. Coming up, conservatives, are we free game?
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D
We're free game. We're free game. And when you have, and I'm sorry to go here because it's so ugly, we have irresponsible, reprehensible networks like MSNBC saying things like, we don't know that it wasn't a supporter just shooting off his gun in celebration at Charlie's event. You have anchor Katie Tur calling him as she's introducing the story that he's just been shot, calling him a divisive figure who's polarizing, a lightning rod, whatever. You want to use these. This.
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C
May I add to that Gene, if I don't mean.
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D
Sure.
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C
Matthew Dowd, lunatic, literally on msnbc, basically blaming Charlie for being shot, saying, and I'm quoting, Matthew Doubt. He's consistently sort of pushing this sort of hate speech aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to hateful thoughts head to hateful words, which often then to hateful actions. Basically saying if you don't agree, if you don't say things that we like, you're at risk of being shot. Matthew Dowd on abc. That guy should be not only censored, he should be. I don't investigate that. That is hate speak. Firing him is too easy. Just get rid of. Why cancel someone. Cancel that lunatic. I'm sorry. Go.
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B
Can you believe.
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C
Go Ahead scruber.
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B
They exercise, they are suggesting with what you just said there from doubt, exercising your God given inalienable rights of free speech is reason enough for you to be shot in America. The first one in the United States Constitution is the envy of the world. So we can have a robust exchange of ideas, freedom of speech and religion, freedom of the press, the freedom to gather all of these things. And that guy has the nerve to say well if you say things we don't like, you're going to get yourself shot.
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C
I apologize.
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B
They don't care about the promise of America.
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C
This is video of the alleged shooter, the 60 something year old man they say is member of the Utah Democrat Party. This is the, the person they believe is the shooter. Again, we don't know that for sure but that's, that's what they believe. Ben Burkham they ask you. So you're, you're in the field a lot. You, you're rubbing up against. In fact I saw a video just a couple of days of some people getting pretty mad at you just for being there and being conservative. Just change your, your thought pattern at all.
- [11:42]
E
You know, I don't know if the studio has it but I started my fight back well before this. But in 2017 I was out in the fights out in California in the battles of Berkeley and I got stitches in Berkeley and I had a sign I was holding up that said stop liberal intolerance and I had blood running down my face. I went home that weekend. I had a six year old daughter, Chloe. At the time my wife was eight months pregnant with our second daughter Olivia. And now we have a third daughter Lillian. And I went home that weekend and I thought is this worth it? Is it worth putting my life at risk to stand up and do what I feel called to do? And my takeaway was just going back to my point. I'm trying not to get emotional. It's just, it's really, really tough. If I don't do it, my daughter, my daughters are gonna have to do it. If I don't do it, my wife's gonna have to do it. So it doesn't matter. To your point, it doesn't matter what they do. This will not stop me and it will not stop the patriots, the God fearing patriots of this nation. And in fact if anything it should solidify our resolve. This is the enemy or what we're up against. But even back to that point though, Eric, at that time I had these demons that call themselves antifa and blm and now you've Got Hamas and all of these different transgenders and it's just all one evil. But I had them shouting at me. Speech is violence. Speech is violence. And so they believe that they have a right to respond with violence to speech they don't like. And there is a. To go back to your question, are we open season? There's no doubt about it. There is a proportion of our society that wants everyone who thinks like we think dead and they believe that they have a right to do it and we have an obligation. There's a reason why we have warriors that protect this nation. There's a reason why we have those men and women on the front lines who aren't sure if they're coming home at night when they go out to protect their communities. And there's a reason why we have a second amendment. We need to pray first. But we as the leaders of our households and our nation need to be ready to stand up. And there is a time for that. And I think back to the black robe regiment. We are divided as a nation. My first prayer is that Jesus comes back, that we shine the light. But there also needs to be justice. We cannot allow this to continue. This restorative justice, this nonsense that the left pedals, this idea that mentally ill, demonic people have a right to live in society amongst honorable, God fearing people that respect life. There's something drastic, many drastic things need to happen and we can't be afraid to do it. And first, and the most important thing is we can't be afraid to say the truth into these liars faces that call what you believe evil while they're actually living evil. It's just, it's, it's beyond time that we stand up and just say, I'm not afraid of you. I'm going to continue to shine the light and I'm going to defeat you.
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C
Yeah, that's it. That's, that's where the shock turns into anger you get. It's, it's, it's a stage of grief really. I want. First of all, Fox is reporting Charlie in critical condition. Fox reporting Charlie in critical condition again. We don't know that. We don't have that. Just telling you what's being put out there on the airwaves. Can you show the truth? Truth post that Trump posted about Charlie Kirk. I'll let Gina jump in on this. We must all pray for Charlie Kirk who's been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. God bless him on truth. Gina. Also, JD Vance tweeted as well. The administration's got Their eyes on this. And I'm positive. Aren't you?
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D
Yeah, absolutely. President Trump has been such a strong leader against crime from the very beginning, and I think that might mean all of us are in a lot more danger than we thought. And, you know, this doesn't just happen to prominent speakers in the conservative movement or presidents. My husband, a former senator from Missouri, had on a Blue Lives Matter bracelet, walked into a pizza joint, was beaten beyond recognition, almost killed by just a savage gang of people who wanted the police defunded. You know, and so. So this happens, and I can't help but feel like this is.
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C
You know, can I. Can I. I'm gonna jump here, guys. I've got. We. Yeah, we.
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F
We. Yeah, you.
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B
You got it.
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C
I. I'm going to 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.
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B
It's right.
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F
It's. It's. It's.
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B
Solomon. Put it up. It's on just the news.
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C
They're reporting. John Solomon's reporting on just the news that he. He's passed. Yes. Is this what I'm hearing? Yes. Can I get here? I mean, yes, yes, yes. Wow. Right here, Right here we have this moment, guys. Let's go around the horn. Geno, you know, you continue on the horrendous news that Charlie Kirk has passed.
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D
Well, my prayers are for Erica, for her children, for his family. This is beyond devastating. Eric. I've known Charlie, as I said, since he was a child, running around, coming to conservative events. Pray.
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C
Yeah, yeah, go ahead, Ben.
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E
Yeah.
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C
Ben, your thoughts?
- [17:43]
E
Pray for his wife, his kids that aren't going to have a father. I pray that all of the people that he's touched would be. Would be comforted by the Lord right now. I pray that his parents would feel that presence of the Lord that only the Lord can fill, that emptiness that only the Lord can fill. And I pray that what the enemy means for evil, yes, God uses for good.
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C
Yeah. Yeah. You know, I. I'm gonna pray that all the people that Charlie has touched, the literally millions of young people who've found Charlie as a hope, a light, they continue. They continue and know that Charlie would want them to continue. Steve Gruber.
- [18:49]
B
I come back to the. It's devastating. My daughter and wife both walked into the studio at the same time. We were seeing this from Justin News and John Solomon that Charlie Kirk has died at 31, having been assassinated in Utah, and they're both here with tears streaming on their face. But there's also this anger that we cannot let this moment be wasted. We cannot let all the great things that Charlie Kirk did be wasted because of some act of violence. We must be steeled. We must be steadfast in the Lord, and we must move forward to save this nation, because that is what Charlie Kirk would demand of us. And I agree that we cannot allow this to take away our hearts. I will not let them win. I will not surrender to people that are so hateful that they would murder a young father and a young husband because they don't like his point of view. Yeah. Bowling. The anger is coming now. Yeah.
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C
Yeah.
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B
And it's coming fast and furious. I'll try to watch my tongue here. But this is a devastating loss for his family. So let us hold up Charlie Kirk in prayer and honor. Be thankful for the work that he did and the. And the organization that he created for young people. If they thought killing Charlie Kirk would stop the movement of young people, More young people in churches today, More young people that are conservative today. Charlie Kirk was a catalyst for that. I will remember that today. We will carry that forward. I will not surrender.
- [21:03]
C
Well put. Well put. Steve Ruber. Can we bring in John Solomon? John, is he with us? Are you with us, John? Yeah. You're. You're reporting Charlie has passed. Tell us what you know, John.
- [21:16]
F
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 understand how something so senseless could occur. I was just with him a couple weeks ago. Our good friend Rob Sig asked me to go out and spend some time at Charlie's event in Colorado. And I'm so glad I did. I always had an excuse not to travel, but I did it. And Charlie blessed me with the conversations we had that night in Colorado, the resilience that he had, the excitement he had that maybe the country was turning into better direction, that young people were able to stand shoulder to shoulder and say, I believe in liberty or I believe in God or I believe in life, and not be bowed anymore. And I don't think from the conversation I had with him that night two weeks ago that he would want any of us to think that this is a moment to stop the fight he began, but rather a moment to continue it, obviously 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. This is 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. It is a very difficult moment for his family. But we have a lot to still learn about this. We don't know much about the shooter, the shooting, what was used. We'll keep reporting as unemotionally as we can and get the best facts to the American people and hopefully we'll know some more. In the next couple hours, I would expect a briefing from the FBI or Justice Department. I'm sure President Trump is going to weigh in shortly and we're going to have to come to grips that it doesn't matter what aisle or side of the aisle you are in politics today, America is worse off for what happened just a few moments ago and we need to find a way. Like Steve said in the last show, 9 11, we repudiated the hatred that occurred that day. We got to repudiate this in a way that's so powerful that someone else isn't tempted to follow in the footsteps of this cold blooded killer.
- [24:06]
C
John, you put this very eloquently and you, I don't know if I'm overreacting, but I had seen you on Gruber show towards the end and there was a change in tone. I was almost wondering if you had heard something.
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F
I did, yeah. I could see it getting texted.
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C
I could see it. I could see it. Yeah. Yeah. I, I have a question for you, John, so there'll be time to point fingers. I'm not looking to do that. I am just absolutely appalled that MSNBC has this guy, Matthew Dowd, used to be on abc, but he's a big political operative who essentially blamed Charlie Kirk before he knew he had passed blame Charlie Kirk for his own attempted assassination saying, and I'm quoting, he's consistently sort of pushing this sort of hate speech aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to hateful thoughts lead to hateful words which often then lead to hateful actions. How dare he say that when there's a young conservative man fighting for his own life on the ground? And it's not true, too. Yeah, go ahead.
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F
Yeah, listen. MSNBC is a. As a center point of hatred and intolerance and disinformation. And those who watch it do so at their own peril. Those who lend their name to it, Microsoft and NBC, should be ashamed of the conduct today. But they're also some of the same people that were involved in the cancel culture and the censorship and the intolerance that led to the period in the Biden years where we saw people canceled or bankrupted or thrown off air for just what they believed. And Charlie understood that. That's why he stood up and fought against it. He didn't hate people. He didn't even hate liberals. He just hated intolerance. And it is a painful irony that he may have died at the hands of some intolerant person, though we don't know yet exactly the motive. But I think some people will make that assumption pretty quickly. But I do think the best way we honor him, the best way we. We carry on the fight, the best way we make America better. Which is what motivated Charlie. I have a hundred times, Jolie Charlie, when we were in. In Colorado, he joked a couple times, you know, that people think I hate liberals. I don't. I love to debate them. I feel like it's good for the country. And he didn't hate people. He was a devout Christian, and he hated some of the philosophies. He hated some of the intolerance in this country. But people he never hated. And he never, ever, in my presence or anytime I saw him, ever tried to dehumanize a person. And I want to back to something that keeps resonating in my mind. It's actually resonated in my mind since the moment Melania Trump wrote the letter, that the reason people felt comfortable taking a shot at President Trump is that we've dehumanized people. And I think those who own MSNBC or operate MSNBC or any other outlet like it, have to step back for a second and say, is this the best use of our corporate dollars to create a moment in a moment of tragedy where you dehumanize a person even as they're dying, or you try to legitimize a person who took a person's life for no reason? And I do think that corporate America is in for a reckoning now. And I think MSNBC and others who perpetrate this hate, they've got to look themselves in the eye and say, is this what we're in business for? Is this what Americans pay ad dollars for? And I think that we have to have that debate. And it doesn't have to be a mean spirited debate. It has to be a cerebral debate. But we're at a crossing roads in America. We see what Great Britain has become. They're arresting people for thought crimes. We're at the precipice of a group of people wanting control to do that here. And this is our moment to hold the stand. Just like In World War II, people went to war to fight against an evil, just like people went to war after 9, 11 to fight an evil. There's a cancer called intolerance that has been embedded in our country, and we better darn fight it now and answer the bell that other generations answered, or we're going to hand off a much worse country to the next generation. And that will be a failure of our generation. So I hope whatever has transpired today, we make some good of it. As hard as it is for those of us who worked with him are going to be heartbroken for a long time, but for the rest of the country, we should be heartbroken for what it says about our country and the state that we're in right now.
- [28:39]
C
Indeed. Indeed. Let's bring in Dr. Gina and Ben Berkram if we can. Guys, bring it around the horn and I'm going to throw this out here and you guys debate it with me. Charlie Kirk died because he was too good. He was too effective. He was hitting the right tones to bring young conservative people into the fold to get involved in their country and do it from a patriotic side versus the, the liberal side, which is we don't even know where they are. They're out in the wilderness right now. And he's, because of his effectiveness, he became dangerous to them. We'll bring it around. Gina, you want to take that and we'll pass it on to Ben.
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F
After you.
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D
Well, I think it goes right back to what you were saying, what John was saying about the horrid rhetoric of the left trying to equate free speech with assault or bodily harm or murder. Those are not the same things. And in fact, free speech is what distinguishes us from animals. Right? When animals are angry at the way someone is acting, they kill the other. The enemy. Right. Of their food source or whatever it is. We are supposed to as humans, be above that. So when you tribalize, when you dehumanize as John mentioned, when you attack the very thing that distinguishes us as human beings, that we can have a debate like Charlie so loved to do and did so well, then you set up a scenario where. Whereby the only answer is the animal approach, which is what we've just witnessed. And that is what I think John points to, that we need to cerebrally address in our upcoming discussions about this. But I also want to say to those out there, you know, my background is in mental health and psychology. I want to say it's okay to be really, really angry. It's okay. I mean, and people need to be able to reconcile that within themselves. The texts I'm getting right now, I'm sure all of you are, too. People are already feeling real anger. Anger requires action. Prayer paves the way. Action possesses the land. That's a quote from Beverly LaHaye that I always try to remember. And that's. That's where we need to go. This needs to result in more patriots rising up like Charlie. I think that's what we'll see.
- [30:59]
C
Ben, your thoughts?
- [31:02]
E
Yeah, yeah. To your point, he was the most effective I've ever seen. What Turning Point USA has been able to accomplish through Charlie Kirk, a vision of a young guy that. That dropped out of college because he realized college was failing him to go back to college.
- [31:23]
C
Go ahead, Ben, let's. It's just some ambient noise we got going.
- [31:26]
E
Yeah, I just. Yeah, I just. I just heard that from John. But to say everybody that he has impacted. I was just thinking about this. I've been in my own life every day now. Instead of getting up angry, I get up and I try to be thankful to the Lord. I thank the Lord for all of the blessings in my life. I thank the Lord for the good things and the bad things. I thank the Lord for the air that I breathe. I thank the Lord for my family, for this network, for my friends, for all the struggles I've had in my life. I thank the Lord. And I was just sitting here thinking about all the seeds that Charlie planted across this nation with the young people. And I look at this nation and I think of the young people. The darkness in the eyes of so many of the young people. But I think of the seeds that Charlie planted and that God is now watering and that are going to raise up into a crop of righteousness. And I thank the Lord. I thank the Lord for Charlie. I thank the Lord for his life. I thank the Lord for what it meant to so many people. I just thank the Lord and I pray that Everything points to the Lord in this moment.
- [32:37]
C
John, talk to us about the movement that Charlie created, the young people. I mean, he stepped out where there was a void. You know, famously, I dropped my son off at College. He was 18 years old, university of Colorado. Immediately, Democrat people, Hillary, people ran up to him and tried to get him to sign up for the Democrat Party. They had ground movement. Charlie countered it. He's one man who countered their whole movement tapping into that young vote. It was amazing, right?
- [33:06]
F
John, he was wise beyond his years. He understood what he was doing. He also understood what Gen Z needed that millennials never got, which was a support system. He said to me, just in Colorado, there wasn't much ingenious about what I did. I just realized that young people needed to have positive peer pressure, I think that's what he called it, to be who they were taught to be. If they were Christian and they believed in life and they believed in liberty and free speech, they didn't need to be bowed down at college. And the way to fight that bullyism was to create a movement that would just say, it's okay to be what your values tell you are. It's okay to be. To believe in faith in God and freedom and the goodness of America and not have to buy the garbage that was being shoved down young people's throats. And the millennials didn't have that. By the time Charlie got started, he was able to capture the zoomers, the Z generation. And I think his legacy is he allowed a generation to go back to its natural tendency. America has always been a slightly center right country. And Charlie created a place where a new generation of Americans would not be bullied into belief systems that they didn't believe, but because their teachers and their peers and their employers and their churches and others were trying to bully him into it, they were going to bow to it. He realized by just creating shoulder to shoulder friends, campus by campus, school by school, that he could counter that. And it's so ingenious and it's so remarkably intellectually brilliant. And yet, as he said to me, it was pretty simple, John. It wasn't that big, it wasn't that complex a strategy. I found that remarkable. And you know, you look at the times he would debate in Cambridge or anywhere, and he had unbelievable intellect and sharpness. And yet, I want to reiterate for all those on the left, some who I know well who are saying he was a hater, he was not a hater. He would have stopped in a second to help a person, regardless of Their political beliefs, if they needed help or they were hurt on the side of the road. He was not a hater. He just believed in confronting intolerance and making a better argument for it. And those who dishonor him today with these false stories of hatred, they are the true intolerant misinformers of our generation. He never hated a person. I had moments with him where he said something that he thought offended people beyond what was allowed, and he wanted to talk about it. And one time I connected him with a minister and we had this great conversation. And Charlie was so reflective. And he never wanted to hurt people. He just wanted to hurt intolerance and defeat it in its place. And we have an incredible opportunity to carry that legacy on, not to let this gunman, whoever it is, have extinguished an extraordinary movement. And I don't think it will be extinguished. I think it will be put on steroids. Now, I accidentally left myself unmuted when I was talking to my newsroom here, but law enforcement is telling me they do not have a suspect in custody right now. They arrest somebody.
- [36:14]
C
That was the question I was going to ask you. We see, we saw video of them of law enforcement holding someone down, but we don't know for a fact that's. That's the alleged shooter right now. Is that right?
- [36:23]
F
That's right. And right now they're saying they do not have a suspect in custody. There is some concern that this was carried out in sort of a sniper way. I think they're still sweeping the campus. Many students are still told to lock down to that campus. So we're watching closely to see what's going on. I think you're seeing right now a tactical team of police officers being deployed on campus. A grid by grid search is a normal thing. Building by building search till they find the location and the shooter. But this is a story that is a long way from being finished and we'll get more as time goes on, but that's the very latest I have.
- [37:02]
C
John, do you have any further. I know you're very, very close to the FBI and some of those folks, Cash and Dan, have they indicated to you anything, any information that they have with their other, you know, moving, moving assets in place?
- [37:17]
F
Now, FBI is deployed their best in Utah. Obviously this is a more distant location. It's not in a major urban area, so there's a lot to still be reckoned with. But they are, there'll be all sorts of assets deployed here, particularly because with a shooter at loose, you don't know if there Are more targets ahead? And, and so there is a legitimate safety issue until you get that shooter or shooters in custody. So, again, very tragic stuff. We don't know if this is an American, a foreigner. We don't know much yet.
- [37:51]
C
I will tell you, I'm. I'm no expert. I have handguns, I got rifles. But seeing the video that looked like a shot from far away with a. With a high caliber round.
- [38:03]
F
I think that's right. That's what the experts are telling me. I think you're right, Eric. But we'll. We'll get the facts and we'll get them to our great audience and we'll try to answer as many questions as we can over the next.
- [38:12]
C
Can I just get our guys to two, change that Charlie Kirk. Pass it. Agent, please, please don't say that he was assassinated. Please, please, let's. Let's do it the right way. Can we bring in Lara Logan? Is Laura. Is she. Stand by. Is she. Laura, do we have you, my dear? Laura Logan? Are you here?
- [38:27]
A
Yes, I'm here.
- [38:28]
C
Since we last spoke, my good friend, we have the horrendous news to report that Charlie Kirk has died from the assassin's bullet that we were talking about earlier. Your initial reaction post. Post mortem.
- [38:44]
A
Well, you know, like a lot of the people that you've had on the show already, Eric, I sort of feel this combination of heartache and sadness. Like this just deep, unbelievable sadness and shock. But then on the other hand, this slow, burning anger. And, you know, I think it's really important in this moment to think about Charlie as a. As a husband and a father, because his wife and children were so important to him. And Charlie said over and over again on air, and if you knew him, he would say it to you in person, that his children were everything to him. And he was fighting not just for his own young children, but for all of our children. I remember the time when Charlie first started turning Point usa, and there was nowhere for conservative kids on college campuses to turn. There was no one who had their backs. They were, you know, they. They were really just trapped. And they had to lie about who they were. They had to hide themselves. They had to pretend to be something that they weren't. And so you know what Charlie did? I mean, he won a scholarship to. I don't know if he won a scholarship, but he was accepted to Brown University. He could have gone to Brown University, and he chose not to. He instead looked at the situation on campuses and he decided that he was going to dedicate his life to correcting this grave injustice. And it wasn't just about standing up for free speech. It was about standing up to a decades long indoctrination system that had been put in place by Marxists and their globalist allies at campuses all across the United States. And I'm, you know, I'm reminded of the many articles that wrote about Hillary Clinton when she was running for office in 2016 that wrote that it was her destiny, you know, to become president. And one of the things that they cited was this speech she made at her own convocation, at her own graduation. She gave the convocation speech, which was unusual at the time. And one of the things she said was that our colleges are not yet in line with our way of thinking, but they will be. And that's the point at which Charlie Kirk enters, right when the, where the colleges are in line with that line of thinking, they've become, you know, propaganda indoctrination operations where that were really have been truly harmful to the United States of America. There are families all across this country who have been torn apart because when their kids went off to college, they were subject to this indoctrination. And so Charlie Kerr gave hope to all of these people. He gave hope to people whose kids weren't even born yet that they didn't have to go into that kind of environment that they could see stand up for God. They could be Christians, they could be against abortion, they could, you know, they could be in, in favor of Donald Trump without having to be maligned and thrown off campus or, or, you know, failed grades because college professors could take it out on them. I mean, Charlie Cook represented hope. He was also sort of staggeringly effective.
- [42:00]
C
I mean, Charlie really was, Laura, and that is exactly the point. First, allow me reset, folks. We are reporting Charlie Kirk has been assassinated. I know other news services are saying critical condition. Charlie was a host at here Real America's Voice. And we've been told by John Solomon, sources inside the administration that Charlie has passed. Also that the suspect a lot of people were believing was the shooter. There's some video of someone being arrested. John also says that he that is not the suspect. They don't have a suspect at the moment. So that's where we are. That's why we're showing video of the campus. It's in lockdown and we're showing swat, police, likely others, FBI, other law enforcement entering some of the buildings on campus looking for the potential shooter. So just a quick reset. But Laura, I didn't mean to cut you off. I Just wanted. Do you think Charlie is now has been assassinated because of how effective he actually was in bringing out young people to vote for the team that they don't, that the bad guys didn't like.
- [43:06]
A
He did an enormous amount to bring out young people to vote, but, you know, that was just a part of it, Eric. I mean, that's what's extraordinary about Charlie. He was just incredibly effective. I mean, he would hold, you know, meetings every year for his donors. They would gather for days and then they would meet. And his fundraisers just brought in millions of dollars. People of every age group had a lot of faith in him. You know, he was very organized and efficient and precise. He knew exactly what he was talking about. He has was grounded in his faith and his principles, his character and his integrity were, you know, undeniable, right. When you knew Charlie.
- [43:49]
C
I apologize. I apologize, if I may break. John. Donald Trump just posted on X. The great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead. No one understood or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by all, especially me. And now he's no longer with us, Melania. And my sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erica and family. Charlie, we love you. Donald Trump posting that on X just moments ago. Go ahead, Laura, apologize.
- [44:22]
A
Well, I just, you know, I just. There were, There aren't always real leaders, right, in every generation. I mean, Charlie was a real leader. And I'm not saying that about him because he was assassinated. If you'd asked me that yesterday, I would have told you the same thing. He, he represented the power of what one young person can do. When he started out, he didn't have millions of dollars and all these powerful people backing him. You, he traveled all the way from across the country to a little town in Texas to come and speak to people at Hondo's Restaurant, a local place here that I go to a lot, which friends of ours own. And he spoke to people. And one of the things he did was show what banned words there were on campuses, words that you weren't allowed to use on college campuses in the United States of America, including in the state of Texas, where people think you're somehow inoculated from this radical Marxist, you know, doctrine. And, and, and Charlie showed that it wasn't true. And from there, he built an entire organization and a movement. And he was consistent in everything that he did. He was consistent in his views and his principles and, and he was not afraid. I mean, this is a man, you know, John Solomon was saying that, that Charlie loved people. And he's. He was right. Charlie loved people. He was willing to sit down with Gavin Newsom. I mean, who's just a disgusting, vile human being who's. Is also culpable in this because he's one of the people that is responsible for pushing lies upon the American people. I mean, it's time for these things now to stop. Eric, We. We can't let this just, you know, go by the wayside. This isn't just some tragedy, okay? This is part of a much larger operation which is designed to dismantle this country and all the things that Charlie Kirk stood for. This isn't just because Charlie Kirk spoke up. This is because those ideals for which Charlie Kirk stood are under attack right now. This is because this country is under attack right now. And Charlie Cook recognized that, and he didn't hesitate. He threw himself into the fight. He built everything from the ground up. You know, he deserves full credit for everything that he did. And now he's been martyred. I mean, that's the reality here. He was assassinated. And he will be a martyr for anyone who believes in freedom, who believes in God, who believes in justice, who believes in accountability. I mean, I just. We, in our lifetimes haven't experienced a moment like this and let it. Let the record stand. All of those people who have accused Donald Trump of exaggerating his assassination attempt or manufacturing the assassination attempt or faking the assassination attempt, all of those people, this would have been the result of Donald Trump hadn't turned his head at that rally in Pennsylvania. These assassination attempts are real, and there wasn't just one. There's been multiple against Donald Trump, and they still would take him out if they could. So let the record now reflect the reality, the truth, which is that the left is not the party of peace. Right? It's no longer. We have lived with these lies for long enough. The left, as much as anybody else, is the party of violence and murder. And they need. All of these people need to be held accountable. It wasn't enough to try and kill Steve Scalise. I mean, remember, you know, Antifa goes out there and burns down buildings and they put all across. You know, remember when CNN and Cuomo were comparing Antifa to the Allies landing on the beaches of Normandy, holding them up as heroic figures who were somehow fighting against fascism. The left are fascists and tyrants. And it's not just the left. It's all of the traitors and the rhinos on the right who are working hand in hand with them.
- [48:40]
C
The ones that remain silent. The ones that remain silent, we're not going to get off Charlie. But the people who are sitting in that. In that light rail train car with Irina and just sat there, you're complicit. You're complete. If you watch some of this stuff happening. Let me bring this around, if I may, Gina, we'll start with you. How do you coexist. How do you coexist with literally half the population? Some of them are radical enough to rather see you dead than express your own opinions about the country.
- [49:11]
D
Well, you speak truth, and you speak it endlessly. You speak it no matter what. And I think this will result in that. I mean, you know, I think somebody in the chat said, homeschool, Mom, I believe it was. I was just looking at the chat comments, said, you know, we're all very angry, but the real anger is going to be with the youth movement, with all of Charlie's supporters. They are going to be so angry. And we have to. Those of us who are adults in this situation have to continue to be adults and lead them in the right direction. The right direction is. Is, Eric. It's back to the cross. It's where our prayers and our anger and our. All of the things, our sadness, our grief, our disbelief, we need to pour it out there because we're going to have to be here for them because they lost their leader right now. And I think that's something very real now that doesn't take anything away, of course, from certainly what Laura said about Charlie's beautiful wife, Erica, his amazing children. She would send me pictures of them. What a great family they were, what a beautiful. What a great family they are, and they remain to be. And what a burden all of us have to rightfully take up the mantle of what Charlie already represented. I was one of those college students, Eric. You may know that my PhD was my first master's degree, rather, was withheld from me because of my political views. And I didn't have anybody like Charlie to come speak on my campus and to fight for me and for my rights there. So what a blessing he has been and what a blessing his. You know, I think of Andrew right now on his staff. I think of so many who just loved him every single day of his life and knew him best. And in his quietest moments, this had to be a fear, right? This had to be a concern of his. I think it is for all of us, like many of us have discussed. It's our responsibility to be there and be strong for them now. And it's our responsibility. For those of us who are watching from the sidelines, this is your clarion call. This is your moment to engage and use whatever talents God has given you, like Charlie did.
- [51:25]
C
Ben, the same question to you. How do we coexist with a group of people, some of them radicalized to the point where they rather see the other side, people like us dead, then voice our opinions?
- [51:39]
E
Yeah. Well, again, Dr. Gina just said it. Jesus is the answer. The only hope for joy and hope in our life, for this generation. But we also have rules and laws and consequences. And I think about what President Trump has done in this nation. I think about the fact that President Trump is in office today because of Charlie Kirk and the work he did on college campuses. This has to be a pivot point in our nation where we say, what has been accepted is not accepted anymore. What has been allowed is not allowed anymore. I think, you know, immediately we're going to think, listen to the left, and they're going to say, well, the guns, it's the guns. It's the guns. It's not the guns. And Charlie would be the first to say, it's not the guns. It's the evil that we have allowed to grow, fester, and metastasize in this nation. And the only way that this stops is if you kill that cancer. And that means, in some cases, that means justice for the people that want to do this harm. In some cases, that means turning people around. But it starts with standing up and unapologetically, as Charlie Kirk has done from the moment I knew him, standing up and saying what you know to be true, without fear. And if it hurts somebody's feelings, so be it. That's on them. You have to stand for what you believe in. And going back to my last point about the seeds that Charlie Kirk planted in all of those people, I thank God for Charlie Kirk. I thank God for the young man that he was the father and the husband, that he was the light that he was and the seeds that he planted in this nation. And I thank God for the fruit that's going to grow out of that. And it's our job, it's our duty to carry that mantle on.
- [53:27]
C
John Solomon. Same to you, sir. Oh, do we have John? We don't have. Okay, we lost John. Laura, how do we coexist? How do we coexist with. With a group of, you know, radicalized lunatics? Among amongst them, not all of them, but amongst them who are willing to perpetrate violence on on the other side, just for being effective like Charlie Kirk was.
- [53:48]
A
You do the right thing for the right reason. That's what you focus on. You know, Erica, remember the old Irish prayer, right? God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. If you worry about your house, you worry that you're doing the right thing for the right reasons, and then God will just take care of the rest. And I don't mean sit back. I don't mean, you know, just take care of yourself and your family and not worry about anything else. I mean that you do the right thing for the right reasons. You stand up for the truth, because the truth comes directly from God. And, you know, there's. There's a lot. It's very obvious that deception walks in darkness, right? So when people deceive and when they lie to you, these things crumble over time, but the truth stands. And Charlie Kirk, his words will stand over the test. You know, they'll. They'll endure over time, they'll endure over generations, because what Charlie said was true and the things he fought for were real, and the things he stood for are real. And there is no doubt in my mind that the one thing he would have wanted more than anything else to come out of his assassination was to light a fire under people who have been afraid, afraid to act. To light a fire under people who are worried about what they may or may not have lost or what people might think of them. That's what Charlie would want more than anything. He would want people to take this as. As Dr. Gina Louden said there as a clarion call, right? Don't. Don't retreat. Don't retreat inwards and let them win. Don't surrender. Don't take a knee. Don't give in to your fear. Don't let this. Don't let everything he stood for and fought for be in vain. In fact, let this motivate you. If anything, this should be. You know, this just crystallizes things for. For all of us. We can now see the lie that the left is the party of peace that can now be put to rest. People like MSNBC should have their licenses revoked. You should not be able to say in this moment that. That people like, you know, it could be one of Charlie Kirk's supporters, and he deserved this, and. And he brought this on, you know, and all this kind of stuff. This is not, you know, this is. This is the kind of language, this. That is designed to Incite hatred and incite violence and all of that. When I look at it, what would be the outcome, Eric? What would they love more than anything else? They would love race wars and riots across this country that prevent Donald Trump and Pam Bondi and the rest of them from. From bringing indictments and arrests, exercising their powers under the Constitution and holding people accountable for treason and sedition. Well, and that cannot be allowed.
- [56:43]
C
Yesterday said point a finger at Charlie Kirk about. About the shooting, about the murder of Irina in. In Charlotte. He said that Charlie Kirk was inciting race violence because he accused it of being a. A race crime. When the shooter. I'm sorry, the guy who stabbed the poor arena came out of that thing, threw his knife on the ground, said, I got the white girl. I mean, people are going to have to start watching their rhetoric right now. Charlie Kirk is dead the day after Van Jones says. So I'm. We got about a minute if. Does anyone think that there's no relationship at all? I'm not saying it's a direct relationship.
- [57:21]
D
It's open season. It's open season.
- [57:23]
C
Eric, I am so, so mad. I can't do Christian right now. I'm mad.
- [57:29]
D
No, I'm not saying you can't. I understand that. I'm saying if you are a Christian, if you are a white person, if you are a conservative, if you are a maga, if you are, it is open season.
- [57:39]
C
Your target.
- [57:40]
A
It's open season because people are not held accountable. That's why if you have accountability, all of this will stop. So that's the frustrating part is let's stop focusing, you know, on the racial side of it and let's focus on the accountability side of it.
- [57:56]
C
Yeah. Ben, final thought.
- [57:57]
E
Yeah. Protect your family. Stand up. When you see somebody acting in a way that is unacceptable in our society, stand up against it. And there are people that are in our society that cannot function in our society. There's a reason we had insane asylums in the past. We're going to have to bring things like that back, but it's turn that anger into motivation to stand up and save this nation.
- [58:22]
C
Okay, Gina, final thought real quick, if you don't mind.
- [58:25]
D
Yeah, I just. God bless the Kirk family. I just want to focus on Charlie for now. We'll get to all the rest, but I just want to focus on that right now and just say, God bless them. Please continue to pray for them hard. They're going to need it.
- [58:37]
C
And Laura.
- [58:39]
E
Yeah.
- [58:40]
A
You know, this is a historic moment. I mean, look at the assassinations that have defined this country in history. Charlie Kirk's assassination will go along in the annals of history with Martin Luther King and with jfk. And I would just urge. I would urge the President not to let the same situation arise where they pin it all in one lone wolf, you know, gunman, and they. And they make up a story and they deny us full accountability for all of the co conspirators who were involved in this. Because I don't believe for one single second that this was a single shooter who just did his own thing. Nonsense.
- [59:20]
D
And who's next?
- [59:21]
C
I don't.
- [59:22]
A
And who's next? That's right.
- [59:23]
C
I don't think so either. I don't. I. I agree with you the most. They'll go after the most effective conservatives they possibly can. Say thank you to Ben Berkram. Thank you to Gina Louden. Always thank you to Lara Logan, my good friend who is standing by at the right time. Boy, really, really need you. John Solomon reported Charlie Kirk has been assassinated. 31 years old, per John Solomon's sources. Also. No. No suspect yet in custody. They're on the lookout for that. Folks, it's a tough day around here at rav. We're gonna miss him. God rest his soul. Charlie Kirk passed, age 31, assassinated. Folks, Orem's up next. Continued coverage of the past.
- [60:00]
A
This is an I Heart podcast.