SAVE AMERICA ACT, SHOCKING NEW POLLING, OHIO MEDICARE FRAUD EXPOSED | THE CHARLIE KIRK SHOW

Summary

Podcast Summary: Real America’s Voice | The Charlie Kirk Show

Episode: SAVE AMERICA ACT, SHOCKING NEW POLLING, OHIO MEDICARE FRAUD EXPOSED
Date: May 5, 2026

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode of The Charlie Kirk Show dives into the latest headlines on political violence, election reform, shifting American values, and the exposure of systemic Medicaid fraud in Ohio. It features analysis and commentary from the regular hosting panel, an in-depth discussion with Ari Fleischer about Senate gridlock and election impacts, explosive investigative reporting from Luke Rosiak on Medicaid scams, and a highlight on positive cultural storytelling with authors of a new children’s adventure novel. The overall tone is energetic, combative, and urgent, with panelists pushing back against mainstream narratives and calling for conservative action.

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Key Segments & Insights

1. Treatment of Cole Allen and Political Climate (00:24–04:07)

• Analysis of the federal judge’s criticism over mistreatment of Cole Allen, who attempted to assassinate President Trump.
• General discussion on increasing political violence and polarization fueled by “elite rhetoric” and “regime provocation.”
• Panel connects political climate to the treatment of dissidents and escalating tensions in the country.

"Whenever you are over the target, there will be the enemy. I mean, we're in enemy occupied territory." — Charlie Kirk [04:07]

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2. Met Gala as Symbol of Elitism & Hypocrisy (05:28–13:47)

• The Met Gala is critiqued as an annual display of "champagne socialism," waste, and virtue signaling by Hollywood elite.
• Commentary on outfits, including Cardi B and Sarah Paulson (with a dollar bill over her eyes), and discussion on performativity among celebrities.
• Noteworthy is the focus on new cultural “firsts,” including the first Black, trans, quadriplegic model at the Gala, which the hosts frame as “oppression Olympics” and “status signaling.”

"Nobody does ostentatious like libs. Nobody does elitism like Hollywood and the entertainment class." — Blake Neff [10:29]

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3. Polling on American Values & Political Cynicism (16:27–18:09)

• Hosts discuss a new poll showing a steep partisan divide on whether America is a “force for good.” 62% of Republicans agree, but only ~2% of Democrats do.
• Comments on national self-image, patriotism, and declining unity.

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4. Anniversaries: Trump’s Taco Bowl Tweet & The Save America Act (18:09–22:31)

• On the 10th anniversary of Trump’s famous “I love Hispanics” Cinco de Mayo taco bowl tweet, the panel riffs on how the media landscape has shifted, reflecting on identity politics.
• Introduction to The Save America Act and new Washington Post deep-dive showing how tightening voter ID laws (proof of citizenship) could swing states like New Mexico and Nevada from blue to red.
• Panel challenges the narrative that access to citizenship documentation is equally difficult for all voters, implying skepticism about disenfranchisement claims.

Timestamp Highlights:

"If you pass the Save America act, you could actually be putting additional states in the Republican column." — Blake Neff [19:50]
"So we're disenfranchising voters that don't have easy access to citizenship. You do the math on that one." — Blake Neff [21:13]

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5. War in Iran & Election Stakes (24:20–26:02, 40:12–45:06)

• News update from D.C. on the war in Iran: US and Iran have exchanged fire, but the White House claims the ceasefire is not broken.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio (in this alternate-universe scenario) and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth provide updates.
• Commentary on primary elections in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, with focus on Trump’s influence and ongoing GOP in-fighting.

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6. Interview: Ari Fleischer on Senate GOP Divisions & The Filibuster (27:32–37:21)

• Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary, joins to analyze why the Save America Act is stalled: lack of Senate GOP votes to eliminate the filibuster, with particular moderate defectors named (Collins, Murkowski, Tillis, McConnell).
• In-depth debate over whether Republicans should kill the filibuster to pass key reforms, exposing which GOP senators are not aligned with the platform.

"The chief use of the filibuster is not to protect the minority nearly as much. It is to protect the majority from votes they don't want to actually take." — Blake [34:06]

• Fleischer and hosts argue that inaction, driven by institutional inertia, is fueling voter cynicism and apathy, especially among the right’s base.

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7. Young Voters, War Fatigue, and Electoral Hurdles (42:28–45:06)

• Discussion of how war in Iran has turned off young voters, citing campus resistance and difficulty in messaging pro-Trump policies regarding Iran.
• Fleischer predicts Republicans will likely lose the House, harder path for the Senate; warns of shifting voter base toward Democrats among college-educated and concern over the long-term realignment.

"Tough election cycle for Republicans. I believe we're going to lose the House." — Ari Fleischer [43:43]

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8. Major Investigation: Medicaid Fraud in Ohio (52:30–70:40)

• Luke Rosiak (Daily Wire) details his investigation into billions in Medicaid payouts in Ohio, primarily benefiting Somali immigrants exploiting a personal “home care” waiver.
• The scam: Individuals are paid to provide “companionship” and chores for their own family members—effectively, taxpayers hire “free butlers for Somalis.”
• Hundreds of LLCs, mostly with Muslim names, exist only on paper yet bill millions; state oversight is minimal or non-existent.
• Rosiak reports officials, including Governor DeWine, have actually facilitated more payouts and weakened oversight. The AG admits the legal structure makes fraud easy to commit and hard to prove.
• The scheme is linked to Democrat-aligned operatives and NGOs who educate immigrants on system loopholes.
• Rosiak concludes ~99% involved are foreign-born, and warns that these scams exist across the US, especially in blue states.

Notable Quote:

"The new welfare queens aren't the… participants in poverty programs. They're the people that get paid to ostensibly serve the poor people. And those people go on to become millionaires." — Luke Rosiak [54:20]
"The shortest path to keeping our country from insolvency is to just stop allowing people to charge the government for hanging out with your own family." — Luke Rosiak [69:37]

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9. Positive Culture: Interview with Children’s Authors (75:17–92:44)

• Candice Lee and Eric Newman discuss their new adventure book, “George Goodwin, Dragon Slayer,” which aims to instill courage, virtue, and heroism in young readers.
• The story draws on the legend of St. George, emphasizing that “dragons can be slain” and all children have heroism inside them.
• Strong advocacy for alternatives to “woke” literature, encouraging family reading and the restoration of positive, adventurous storytelling for youth.

“If they know who God calls them, like, none of that other stuff sticks.” — Eric Newman [90:02]

• The hosts, including several former Scouts, praise the revival of Scouting values and the pushback against progressive dilution of traditional American institutions.

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On Political Division:
  “There will always be noise. Whenever you are over the target, there will [be] the enemy. I mean, we're in enemy occupied territory.” — Charlie Kirk [04:07]

• On Senate Dysfunction:
  "We have a zombie Senate. I mean, it's basically useless." — Blake Neff [35:19]

• On Medicaid Fraud:
  “It’s about the corporations that get rich… The new welfare queens aren’t the participants, they’re the service providers.” — Luke Rosiak [54:20]

• On Youth & Courage:
  "We want to inspire young men and women to rise up and slay [their dragons]." — Eric Newman, author [75:42]

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Section Timestamps

• Cole Allen & Political Violence: 00:24–04:07
• Met Gala & Cultural Commentary: 05:28–13:47
• Polling on American Values: 16:27–18:09
• Trump’s Taco Bowl Tweet/SAVE America Act: 18:09–22:31
• Iran Conflict & Primaries Update: 24:20–26:02, 40:12–45:06
• Ari Fleischer interview (Filibuster & Gridlock): 27:32–37:21
• Youth Voters & Election Outlook: 42:28–45:06
• Luke Rosiak on Ohio Medicaid Fraud: 52:30–70:40
• Candice Lee & Eric Newman (Children's Novel): 75:17–92:44

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Overall Tone & Takeaways

• Urgency & Cynicism: The episode conveys frustration at government gridlock, GOP timidness, and the exploitation of America’s institutions by both political and demographic opponents.
• Populist Angle: Regular emphasis on “insider elites” harming average Americans, whether through performative activism or literal fraud.
• Call to Action: Listeners are urged to publicly defend ICE and push politicians to pass the Save America Act.
• Cultural Renewal: The closing segment underscores the belief that reinvigorating American culture through positive, heroic stories for young people is both urgently needed and achievable.

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This summary captures the major news topics, controversies, and cultural critiques that define this episode, providing a comprehensive view for anyone who missed the show.

Transcript

[Charlie Kirk]

This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.

[Blake Neff]

The Charlie Kirk show starts now.

[Andrew]

Alan Back in court today and the judge says he's not being treated well. Chief Washington correspondent Mike Emanuel is in Washington with this story tonight. Good evening, Mike.

[Mike Emanuel]

Record evening. A federal judge apologized to the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Trump today for the way he's been treated by jail officials since his arrest. Magistrate Judge Zia Farquhee grilled a Washington D.C. jail official over Cole Allen being held on suicide watch in a padded lighted cell with no ability to make phone calls, read books without access to religious materials or recreation time. Faroque handled some of the January six cases and said about Allen qu he's being treated differently than anyone I've ever observed. In addition to attempted assassination, Allen also faces two firearms related charges. He faces up to life in prison if convicted. A Justice Department prosecutor said Allen told FBI agents he didn't expect to survive the assassination attempt. And in an email, Allen said he wanted to extend his appreciation to many people since he will not likely be able to talk to them again. The judge told Allen he would get him the Bible that he's been requesting. He acknowledged it is a high profile case, but claims Allen should not be in solitary confinement. The judge is demanding an update from the Department of corrections by 9am tomorrow if Allen will be moved to a more comfortable cell, perhaps with a window. He is no longer on suicide watch

[Blake Neff]

because of the political violence.

[Unknown Guest 1]

I think that the anti Semites out

[Blake Neff]

there and the people who are racist because they know that I stand up for communities of color that has spiked

[Andrew]

in the last couple of years.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah. Like threats against you and your family.

[Mike Emanuel]

Yeah.

[Blake Neff]

I mean, I don't want to overstate it, but it's true. And, and it's more than it was in years before.

[Unknown Guest 2]

The driver of that, do you think?

[Unknown Guest 1]

I think the environment, look, our leaders

[Blake Neff]

set the tone in this country. And I think that the president of the United States has set a tone where political violence is.

[Terrence Bates]

Okay.

[Blake Neff]

He's advocated it himself before. It's a terrible thing. I mean, he's experienced.

[Andrew]

That's what I'm saying.

[Blake Neff]

He's experienced the other side of that.

[Unknown Guest 2]

If you were actually trying to heal the country, if you were actually trying to bring people together, why would you act like this? This is one of the most important takeaways from the last couple of years, from Joe Biden's inaugural address to Joe Biden being president, to his declaration of war against you, flanked by two Marines read all over the place. The bad guys have Never been interested in healing the land. And instead, the regime has been participating in a relentless campaign to not just destroy you, but also provoke you. As soon as the violence against Trump happens, they will justify it. Of course they will. If Donald Trump was taken out, God forbid, forbid, MSNBC would say, well, you know, you act like Hitler. Don't be surprised to somebody. That's what they would do. A hundred percent. And they're going to. Not if they can't get to Trump. If the Secret Service continues to do their job, which I pray they do, they're just going to go after the next level down. They're going to go after some of the rank and file. The man who sowed hate, reaped what he deserved. That's what they're going to say. Oh, you know, he created this movement and f around and find out is what they're going to say. No, the level of rhetoric and narrative, it's reaching a boiling point because they're running out of options.

[Charlie Kirk]

Hearing on Charlie's legacy and there is so much noise. I know I've said this many times before, and there will always be noise. Whenever you are over the target, there will the enemy. I mean, we're in enemy occupied territory. There will always be noise, and there will always be people that will distract you. If myself or Charlie Smith spent every single second going down and responding to every accusation, responding to every insult, responding to every judgment, we would get nothing done. We just wouldn't. And at the end of, you know, Nehemiah, he basically was saying, lord, strengthen my hands. And so I feel the same way. Like, I'm not going to ask God to remove those people from my life. It just makes me stronger. So, Lord, instead of removing these people and this noise at the bottom of the hill, while I'm trying to build, just give me stronger shoulders, give me stronger, stronger hands to keep building, because that's always going to be there. That's the enemy. And that's. That's. That's life.

[Blake Neff]

Every day there's a battle for your mind. Raging information coming from every angle with the will to deceive. Fear not. You found the place for truth.

[Andrew]

The voice of a generation that still has the will to believe in the

[Blake Neff]

greatest country in the history of the world.

[Pete Hegseth]

This is the Charlie Kirk Show.

[Blake Neff]

Buckle up.

[Andrew]

Here we go.

[Blake Neff]

All right. Welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show. It's Tuesday, May 5th. We're here at the Y Refi Studios in Phoenix, Arizona. How we doing, Blake?

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

We're doing great because it's May 5th in Phoenix. Arizona, and it's 64 degrees out and raining.

[Blake Neff]

So, yeah, this continues Blake's theme that Arizona is a fake desert.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Desert rains all the time.

[Blake Neff]

Too cold and rains too much.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Probably. It's probably hotter in South Dakota right now.

[Blake Neff]

He's probably the only person I've ever heard describe Arizona this way. But that's why we keep him around.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Blake Neff]

It's not.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

It's not. It's not cooler than South Dakota right now, where it is 47 degrees.

[Blake Neff]

I was going to say we did have a spell where it was like 105 for three weeks.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

In like early March. And then it went back to raining for a while.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah. So anyways, so lots to get to today. President Trump has just blasted Leader Thune. We're gonna get to that in just a second while we pull that clip. But we wanted to start the show off in a kind of more fun and jovial way, a little light hearted way, because it's just too. It's too easy. It's too much fun. And that is the Met Gala. We knew it was happening yesterday because I saw it trending on social media, but I really could care less until you see some of the costumes, which are just too, too good not to comment on. But let's just basically first premise this, Blake, with talking about the elitist hypocrisy of the Met Gala, where tickets cost around $100,000 per person. This whole event functions as a massive tax write offs for millionaires and billionaires, by the way, because they can just write it off as a business expense. And they do these ostentatious displays of inequality and they rage against the machine and the man and capitalism and Donald Trump, all while wearing massively expensive outfits, all while massively ugly outfits, being extraordinarily rich and elitist and exclusionary in their own rights. And that's just too much fun not to comment on. Blake, you're a big Met Gala fan, right?

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Well, so I will admit, I don't think I. I feel like it didn't quite penetrate my head what the Met Gala was until last year, like, be in the news. And I was just like, okay, whatever. And then I just. We started covering it more consistently on this show with Charlie and we'd react to it. And so I guess I. I'm vaguely aware of it now. It seems like an excuse to wear dumb outfits. But I did admit I found them pretty funny this year. I liked actually. I actually joked about one last night. A Cardi B had some outfit where she looks like she's got kind of a bunch of polyps or tumors growing out of her. She.

[Blake Neff]

Do we have the card?

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Do we have it yet? She kind of looked like. She kind of looked like. If you ever saw the 80s movie Akira, where this guy is a psychic and his body starts bloating up into a giant monster that destroys Tokyo, she kind of looks like that.

[Blake Neff]

Got it. Okay. I haven't seen it yet. Hopefully the team can get it for us. But we do have B roll of the gala, so we should put that up. Put the B roll up. It's. I think that's. What's that guy's name again? The Sam something or other. He's Sam Smith. Yeah, he's the gay British singer who showed up as some sort of dark overlord or something. I don't know. It's like Maleficent. I'm not sure what it is. I guess the theme was he looks fashion as art.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

The stuff out of his head makes him look kind of like an exotic insect in a way.

[Blake Neff]

Well, that could be it. It looks like a really tough thing to walk in this person. Not sure what's going on exactly, but. Oh, this is. We do have. We do have Cardi B coming. B roll of Sam Smith. Him dressed as Satan, if you remember, blindfolded.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Okay, there we go. There's Cardi B with all of the tumor stuff around her.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah. That's interesting.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Not sure what they're going for there.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah, I'm not. I don't think it matters too awful much. It's just supposed to be, I think, over the top is. Is the goal. And so, I don't know. Send us your thoughts. What do you guys think of the Met Gala? And is it just. Are we. Are we doing the wrong thing by even giving oxygen here? That's one of the arguments. I actually think it's prime fodder for.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

There we go. That one is a Sarah Paulson. She has a dollar bill over her eyes, I think.

[Blake Neff]

So you get capitalism blind. They might remember she's worth $12 million.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

But, yeah, if they've forgotten. I believe the Met Gala is where aoc. She wore that eat the rich thing. And so similarly, here we have a person using a $100,000 ticket to wear an outfit to this fantastic display of wealth. And celebrity puts a dollar over her eyes. To be like, money is ruling us. We need to have sympathy with the poor. It's a very performative thing. It's very ridiculous.

[Blake Neff]

So actress Sarah Paulson was seen wearing a dollar bill over her face. To call out the 1% who are blinded by money. Paulson, as I mentioned, is reportedly worth over $12 million herself. So that's the kind of champagne socialism that you get at the Met Gala every year. And it's just. It's hilarious. Nobody does ostentatious like libs. Nobody does elitism like Hollywood and the entertainment class. And yet they are the ones that live behind gated communities. They're the ones that do not have to suffer under the decision making of Democrats. Democrats, socialists. Oh, and there's. Who's this gal? This is. This one made a lot of headlines. I remember yesterday. This is. I'm gonna get the name for you. This is Anna Rose, Philip. The first black transgender woman with quadriplegic cerebral palsy signed to a major modeling agency arriving at the Met Gala. Okay. So we actually debated whether or not we're gonna talk about this person. I'd never heard of her before, or him, because it's actually transgender, but that was our decision. It's actually somebody that is a trans identifying black person who's quadriplegic cerebral palsy. And they've somehow been signed to a modeling agency, which I find to be fascinating. Philip.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

It does feel like an episode from some sort of satirical program. Like, you can imagine south park running with that 15 years ago. Obviously, we won't knock on her for the disability. Of course, the stacking thing of disabled and black and trans, and, you know, the first. And it's a very performative thing.

[Blake Neff]

And then how many boxes on the Oppression Olympics can you check? Sort of thing.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

And it just gets at the status signaling aspect of all of this, because, we'll be frank, we all knock on her for the disability, but does it make sense to sign a person with quadriplegic cerebral palsy to be a model?

[Blake Neff]

No.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

I can't imagine the market for that clothing is terribly large.

[Blake Neff]

That's a really keen observation. I hope it's not as well. And yeah, I'm sorry that this person has this disability, but the whole projection and the virtue signaling of it is really. I think I saw one post that was like, breaking barriers everywhere. Glass ceiling. And I'm like, wait, glass? It's a dude. That's a man, actually. So the man breaking the glass ceiling. Anyways, none of it makes sense, but it sure is fun to comment on and make fun of, because guess what? It's all fake. And you know what the kids say, it's. It's all performative, and it's hard not to laugh at. But this Is their. This is like their super bowl for fashion. This is the fashion Super Bowl. Blake, you would fit in. Wonderful. Certainly I would pay money to see Blake react live to this.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Oh, man. You're gonna make me. You're gonna inflict that on me.

[Blake Neff]

That's actually what we should do next year.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Oh, gosh.

[Blake Neff]

We're gonna make Blake watch the red carpet and live react. That would be. That would do numbers. Email us if you want to see Blake do live reaction to red carpet experiences. That would be great.

[Andrew]

Alright.

[Blake Neff]

Strong cell time. I was sick yesterday. I'm still feeling a little bit under the weather. But strong cell has been helping, I can tell. It's powering me through. It comes with nadh, which if you know anything about the supplement world, it's all the rage. Nadh is the power source for your cells. It goes into your mitochondria, powers them, it's an enzyme. And you used to have to pay lots of money at an IV clinic to get it into your body. No longer do you have to do that. Strong cell, a cellular function booster, brain fog, chronic fatigue, chronic illness. If you struggle with any of those things, just check out strongcell.com, use promo code Charlie for 20% off and a 90 day risk free money back guarantee. It takes about four to six weeks for you to notice fully the impact of Strong cell. So that gives you plenty of time. If it doesn't work, can't imagine that happening, but you get all your money back. But if it does work, it could change your life. And I believe that's really what's going to be your experience with it. StrongCell.com promo code CHARLIE 20% off. We'll be right back. I love that track caboose plays. It gets me ready, gets me focused. All right, guys, I want to tell you guys about why Refi Investments. We are here at the why Refi studios, of course, so let me tell you about them. You've heard us talk about why Refi for a while. Endorse their products and services. They're an amazing company. But if you are an accredited investor, you can earn up to 10.25% and that interest rate is fixed. You can invest from one to five years and you can spread your investment over those terms to best suit your need. When you invest with yrefi, your interest is calculated daily. You get to see it right on your dashboard and it's paid out monthly. Then they give you the option to either take that as income, as profit or to reinvest it however you choose, you get all the optionality you could pay, possibly want, and you get maximum transparency. These are great people, by the way. Absolute great patriots. It's the 250th anniversary of our country. We want to support patriots that love this country. By the way, did you see there was this poll that was just done about do you think America is a force for good or for ill? And it was like over 60. I think 69% of Republicans consider America a force for good. And like Democrats, it was like 2%. Like by a margin of 2% believe that America is a force for evil. Oh, they have it right there. I didn't even ask them to do that. They had it ready. There you go. Yeah. Was it. I was 62%, admittedly.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

What would that look like if it was just Biden was still president?

[Blake Neff]

No, I think GOP would still have it down a little bit that we would still be positive, but maybe not as positive to your point. Maybe not as positive. Anyways, back to why Refi. For more information, call them 87780 Invest 87780 Invest. Or you can visit them online at Invest Y Refi for complete details. Make sure to review the private placement memorandum and scan that QR code right there on the screen to view the disclosures at your leisure. Y Refi Investing in America's future. Please do check that out. I mean, 10.25% fixed interest on any investment is remarkable. So please check that out. All right, so we have to say it's May 5th.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

What I said, first of all, some. We did get an email from Damon said I don't want to watch the Met Gala. I just want to watch Blake react to it. It'll two two layer react. But yes, 10 year anniversary of.

[Blake Neff]

Oh, hold on, hold on. Now you're, you're, you're throwing. I want to know, would you watch Blake Neff, Mr. Fashionista, Mr. Cultural Icon himself, live react to red carpets in general or the Met Gala and just give his honest. We'd have to pay all this like this could. Your honest reactions would get us like canceled and fired and. But it would be, it would be really entertaining. Let me just tell you. So yeah, that's as I said, would you, would you watch it? So email us freedom@charlie kirk.com freedom charlie kirk.com all right, so it is May 5, Cinco de Mayo, which means it is the 10th anniversary of the tweet heard around the world, the Taco Bell tweet from President Trump. Throw it up there it's important that you guys see this.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

May 5, 2016, candidate Donald Trump, out of the blue, jumping from the top rope posts. Happy hashtag. They still use those more in those days. Happy Cinco de Mayo. The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love his Spanish.

[Blake Neff]

That's my favorite part.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

And he's got the thumbs up and he's eating the taco bowl. For you younger people or forgetful people, this we've changed so much.

[Blake Neff]

Yes.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Because the reaction to this was apocalyptic.

[Blake Neff]

Yes. Yeah. Now he does Jesus memes, and which

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

we don't like the Jesus, but I

[Blake Neff]

mean, but that's like, that's what it takes now to get people worked up. This just destroyed the media cycle for, like, three weeks. And my favorite part about it is I love Hispanics, exclamation mark. It's so Trumpy, and it's genuinely humorous to me. The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower, girl. All right, so I think there's a fun, easy enough tie in here. So go ahead and throw up that graphic of the Washington Post and the Save America act here. So little Cinco de Mayo tie in New Mexico. All right, we're not talking about old Mexico. We're talking about New Mexico, but the Save America Act. The Washington Post did a deep dive into what would happen state by state if the Save America act was passed. And we do have that graphic, if you can get it up there, guys. But the point is, it was shocking. There are two states in particular, Nevada and New Mexico, that showed massive shifts. So New Mexico, and this is based on 2024 numbers. So we don't know what they would be today because obviously the electorate has shifted back in the Democrats favor a little bit, which tends to happen when you're in power. But it would go from a negative 4 Trump state. So Trump lost by 4 points to a Trump 3.3% percent state.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

And we should explain what's going on here. The justification for this is among its many provisions, the Save America act, it raises the requirement nationwide for. For voter id essentially to you must possess a proof of citizenship.

[Blake Neff]

You have hold qualifying citizenship documents.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Exactly.

[Blake Neff]

Which.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

So that could be a passport, it could be your birth certificate. And the argument from critics, the argument from the Washington Post is not all Americans have easy access to those documents. And so you could imagine those people are maybe going to miss this cycle because they don't have them or they don't care enough to go and get them. And their argument is, is that nationwide, it's about Even between Republicans and Democrats, who is easy access to those? They say about 90%, basically, of both

[Blake Neff]

groups of each party. But state by state, it varies.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

But they say overall, their argument is in individual states, there is a partisan split. And their claim is in these swing states of Nevada and New Mexico, that Democrat voters in those states are significantly more likely to. To not have easy access to proof of citizenship, which I know Andrew and I are raising an eyebrow here. Oh, they. They don't have easy proof of citizenship.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah. So we're disenfranchising voters that don't have easy access to citizenship. You do the math on that one.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Another fascinating one there. They're showing some other states that would shift to the right. They argue that Connecticut would go from 8 points Democrat to only about 5 points Democrat. So that's still blue. That's about as blue as New Mexico. But we know that in a big year, New Mexico could go right.

[Blake Neff]

Washington state.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Washington state, 10 points. So Super Blue to 4.7. So it's as blue as, well, again, as blue as New Mexico was.

[Blake Neff]

Yep.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

And that's a much more competitive state. That's a state where in a good wave year, you win their Senate race.

[Blake Neff]

But some red states would get even redder. Wyoming would go from R 21 to R 25.4. South Dakota 23 point. South Dakota would go from R R 15 to R 22.8. Tennessee R 14 to R 20.7. Louisiana R 11 to R 18.1. So there's a lot of people that probably shouldn't be voting in a lot of states. Point being, there was one state that stood out as maybe going a little bit left, and that was North Carolina, which to me, North Carolina is going to be the new Virginia. I'm very upset about North Carolina.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

We need to be ready and we need to be picking up states to potentially offset that one.

[Blake Neff]

That's a tough state. North Carolina and Georgia are going to be problems for us in the future. So if you can pick up a New Mexico, if you can pick up New Hampshire, if you could pick up and hold comfortably Nevada, if you hold comfortably, Arizona, these become our red wall, and that's significant. So I think we're losing time here. I wanted to get in President Trump just this morning. I'll preface it and then we'll play the clip. On the other side of this break, took a swing at Leader Thune for refusing to nuke the filibuster to pass the Save America Act. So we're gonna that with Ari Fleischer, who's coming back on the show. We haven't had him for a while, so I'm excited to have him back on. And then at the top of the next hour, we have Luke Rosiak on that massive bombshell fraud in Ohio. So much more coming up. Don't go anywhere.

[Terrence Bates]

Welcome back to this real America's Voice news break. I'm Terrence Bates. The White House will host its latest press briefing this afternoon, but without Press Secretary Caroline Levitt, who is on maternity leave. Instead, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will take the podium today, adding to his many responsibilities. Secretary Rubio can expect to be peppered with questions about the war in Iran, specifically the ongoing negotiations for an extended ceasefire or peace deal. Earlier this morning, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth along with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hosted a press briefing at the Pentagon. The duo reports that Project Freedom is moving forward successfully, having safely navigated two US Ships through the Strait of Hormuz. However, Iran has fired on at least 10American warships last 24 hours or so.

[Charlie Kirk]

Iran's fired at us.

[Candice Lee]

We fired at Iran. Just going to ask you more directly,

[Charlie Kirk]

is the ceasefire over?

[Pete Hegseth]

No, the ceasefire is not over. Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct period project. And we expected there would be some churn at the beginning, which happened. And we said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have. Iran knows that. And ultimately the president's going to make a decision whether anything were to escalate into a violation of a ceasefire. But certainly we would urge Iran to be prudent in the actions that they take to keep that underneath this threshold. This is about the straits. This is about freedom of navigation. This is about international waterways. This is about free flow of commerce, the things that happened before. And only Iran is contesting.

[Terrence Bates]

Back here in the US it's primary election day in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. Each state features some interesting political storylines on this first Tuesday of May. In Indiana, seven Republican state senators who oppose President Trump's push to redraw congressional districts in the Hoosier state now face Trump backed primary challenges. The state Senate races are typically low profile, but this cycle, President Trump and his allies have spent millions of dollars on advertising seeking to unseat those seven lawmakers. And Vivek Ramaswamy, who gained notoriety during the presidential election, highlights Ohio's election as he seeks to become that state's next governor. That's a quick check of your headline,

[Andrew]

The hardest working radio show in the

[Blake Neff]

business, the Charlie Kirk Show.

[Mike Emanuel]

All right.

[Blake Neff]

Welcome back to the Charlie Kirk show right here at the Y Refi Studios in Phoenix, Arizona. We're about to welcome Ari Fleischer back onto the show. First time in a while, excited to have him back on. But I want to tell you quickly about our friends over at Patriot Mobile. Patriot Mobile are rock stars. We love them and they're great patriots. And it's the 250th year of our country. It's our anniversary. We so support patriotic companies. What's easier than doing that with a company that literally has it in its name? Patriot Mobile literally just getting. I'm getting calls right now because the phone is so good, but you get all access, all the same access to all three major carriers. You get 100% US based customer support team. You get international roaming. You got unlimited data hotspots, all the things that you need and have become accustomed to. But you're giving your money to a company that supports this country. Your Christian conservative values that we have fought so hard for in this country. And they're in the trenches with us. They are activists just like you and I, and they're great. So support them. And you can even get two lines on one phone. Go to patriotmobile.com charlie or call 972patriot patriotmobile.com charlie or call 972patriot and use that promo code Charlie for a free month of service. Do it. Do it today. There's no reason not to. All right. Welcoming back to the show, first time in a while. Ari Fleischer. Welcome back. It's good to have you, sir.

[Andrew]

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me back. It is. It's a joy to be back.

[Blake Neff]

Thank you. Yeah, it's, it's, it's a joy for us too with, with guys like you that came on with Charlie and then you come on with us and we're honored to have you and lots to get to. I.

[Andrew]

Hey, and Andrew, if I can. You know, just as I was preparing and thinking about the show today, I went back somehow and looked through my old direct messages on Twitter and I found so many from Charlie to me, I didn't even remember they were on there. It was the sweetest feeling just to reread those messages. And Charlie initiated it. That's the kind of guy he was.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah, he was always, you know, if I may be so bold as to say, I mean, Charlie was a guy. I remember when we had you on the first time and, you know, I don't know what the current context was of it, but we were going Hard in the paint against something that was probably a little uncomfortable for, you know, guys of the Bush era and things like that. And. No, no, no, I'm not necessarily saying you or anything, but. But I remember bringing that up with Charlie going like, you know, we should have Ari on to kind of talk about this. And he was, like, so into it. He was like, you know, that's great, that's great. We're going to bring everybody together and get everybody kind of, you know. And anyways, he saw in you somebody that could kind of bridge different parts of the party and a good ally in that stuff. So thank you for coming back. So, speaking of divides in the party, there's a lot of them. We could go into them in some respect. I'm gonna start with President Trump takes a shot at Leader Thune this morning, which is something he hasn't really done yet. So I want to play that clip and get your reaction, sir. Sat 21. Are you disappointed in leadership?

[Andrew]

Yeah, no, I'm disappointed. I like John a lot, but he, you know, he has a couple of Republicans that are foolish people. A couple of them alike. A couple of them I can't stand, actually, if you want to know the truth.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah. Well, so we. This comes off the heels, by the way, of seeing this Washington Post report. I don't know if you saw it, Ari, but it showed that based on the context of certain states, based on the way certain voters have certain documentation in certain states. I'll let you read into why they don't have certain documentation in some states. But a state like Nevada would go R1 to, like, R6 point something. New Mexico would go D4 to R plus 3.3. So if you pass the Save America act, you could actually be putting additional states in the Republican column. Again, that's based on 20, 24 numbers. Why are they not getting this passed? What do you want to see happen? Do you think it's possible with our current composition?

[Andrew]

You know, I think the simple answer is they don't have the votes to. What it requires is the elimination of the filibuster. And they have 53 Republican senators, of course. So if they lose four senators on that vote, they cannot eliminate the filibuster. And I think that's Thune's math. He's looked at it, he's looked in his caucus, and he's asked who would vote for it. And he knows where the defections are right now. It was kind of the same problem the Democrats had when they had West Virginia senator and Arizona senator. And the Democrat Party say they would refuse to eliminate the filibuster. Republicans have a small group of Republicans who won't eliminate the filibuster. That's the only reason I can think of. There's no other reason not to pass the SAVE Act.

[Blake Neff]

Ari, do you think. I mean, I'm all about naming names at this point. So we've got. Let's say Thune is actually in the camp of eliminating it. We've got Thom Tillis, probably, who won't go along. That's the one people aren't thinking about. I think North Carolina, he's run sideways of the Trump admin. And so there's beef there. Got Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitch McConnell. So those four, correct? Yeah, correct. Or is that. Was that five? Let me do that.

[Andrew]

That's four. That gets. Yeah, that gets you down to 49 votes to eliminate the filibuster.

[Blake Neff]

And who knows what Rand Paul would do. I guess my question is, you know, if you're Leader Thune, could you get Attilis on board? Could you. Could. Is there. What could you do? I mean, what. Here's the problem. Thune just looks like he's happy that it's failing. If I'm calling spade a spade, it looks from the outside, he's very content to let this die on the vine and then, you know, basically face the parliamentarian reconciliation to see if he could do it in, you know, moving forward then, which remains unclear. So if you're consulting the communications of Leader Thune, Ari, what do you tell him? Because right now it just looks like he's complicit.

[Andrew]

Well, you know, what he could do is try it. He could try to put it through and let the vote fail and then prove to everybody. I tried, but I think, Andrew, you've got it right. I don't think John's heart is in eliminating the filibuster because he's kind of the traditionalist mode in the Senate. And I've had conversations with senators who want to eliminate the filibuster about this. And the counter, of course, is if we do this, the Democrats are going to do it, too. And the Democrats are going to do it for different reasons. Republicans want to do it to pass policies. Democrats want to do it to maintain or get power. Democrats want to eliminate the filibuster to create new states because they need new seats in the Senate because they can't win on their current makeup of the country. They can't win enough Senate seats. They need to create new ones. They want to change the way we have Supreme Court justices. To them, it's structural changes to get power, possibly including the elimination of or changes with the Electoral College so the popular vote wins. These are the things that Democrats want to get rid of the filibuster for. Republicans want to do things to pass policies, and that's a huge difference between why the two parties want to eliminate. So I've always been for eliminating the filibuster, by the way. My standard has been eliminate it, but you eliminate it in a way that it does not go into effect until the next Congress begins. Because I'm for fairness, and I don't like either party changing the rules in the middle of the game to grab power. Filibuster is wrong if you can only need a majority of past things, which is what I think it should be. Put it so it goes into effect when nobody knows who's going to control the Senate. Nobody knows who's going to control it starting in January of 2027, just 11 months from now or 10, nine months from now. So do it that way, and it's fair to everybody, and then whoever has power can pass things with 50%. I just don't like rigging the game in the middle, given where we are right now. If I were a senator and this came before me, I would vote to eliminate the filibuster today, though.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

You know, Ari, the biggest struggle, I think, with eliminating it now is, as you say, we are not that far from an election. And I feel, other than potentially the SAVE act, we don't necessarily have a lot of legislation that we'd like that's ready to go. And the chief accomplishment of getting rid of the filibuster might just be it does finally do something which we need, which is to expose which Republicans are lying to you about what they really want to do. Because as we've said on this show many times, the chief use of the filibuster is not to protect the minority nearly as much. It is to protect the majority from votes they don't want to actually take. So we have Republicans in the Senate right now who say, I'm tough on the border, I'm really a hawk on immigration. But they would not vote to actually restrict legal immigration. They would not vote to enable mass deportations if that vote really was going to change national policy. And you can repeat that for issue after issue, pro life issues, LGBT stuff, one issue after another. And once you get rid of the filibuster, the Senate is real again. The Senate is actually capable of passing bills that aren't just omnibus monstrosities.

[Blake Neff]

We have a zombie Senate. I mean, it's basically useless.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

And it seems like that's all we'll get. If we get rid of the filibuster now, we'll maybe get the sayback, which is good. But other than that, we don't have other big wins queued up. Whereas Democrats, they have in their think tanks, in their blogosphere, they have a lot of this stuff. They've thought about this, They've dreamed about this for over a decade at this point, as you say, policies they want to pass. For example, they want to bring back nationwide abortion. They want to make a nationwide Roe v. Wade law. That's something they would pass with no filibuster. But they also want Puerto Rico and D.C. as states. They want to pack the Supreme Court. They want to enact a whole swath of things whose intent is. They don't need to worry about the Republicans having a filibuster free Senate because their intent is no Republican will ever hold power ever again.

[Andrew]

I think you're really onto something big right there. To me, one of the greatest dangers in our country right now is inaction. If you want to have an angry populace, if you want to have a group of people who just give up on government, who say this American experiment just doesn't work anymore, this great tradition we have of sending people to Washington, so they do what is in the nation, nation's interest, but nobody can do anything because of the filibuster. So inaction is the rule of the day. Inaction is the law of the land. This breeds cynicism, this breeds resentment, and it breeds people giving up on our government. I don't ever want to be in the category of being someone who gave up on government. I will continue to cling to my ideals and there are going to be letdowns. Of course there are. But I still want Washington to work. And the filibuster is the biggest reason Washington doesn't work. There'll be years. I hate it when the Democrats have power. There'll be years. I love it when the Republicans have power. But you have to have a system that can get things done for better or worse and then throw bombs out if you don't like it. That's what empowers people. That's how we the people have a check and balance on the people we elect. This inaction is the kiss of death for national unity and for making people believe government can get anything done.

[Blake Neff]

I totally, I totally agree. I Think a lot of this cynicism and the nihilism that's set in where you get these, you know, the accelerationists that, you know, that used to be sort of right coded influencers or whatever that are now saying, hey, just vote Democrat, burn it all down and we'll remake. I mean, part of all of that stuff is coming out of a sense of inaction and a lot of this critique against President Trump where they're saying it feels just the same as it did before. It's just a different party in charge that's coming from the Senate. It's just this permanent logjam. Ari, hang right there. We've got another segment with you. I wanna tell you guys about all family pharmacy. You hear me talking about it? Listen, I am a customer. I am a absolute believer in this new system. So if you're still doing your pharmacy the old way and you're waiting at, you know, the pharmacy line and you're asking doctor for permission, stop. You don't have to do that. Just go to allfamilypharmacy.com Kirk and type in the prescription that you need. It could be antibiotics, antivirals, tamiflu, Ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, all that kind of stuff. Methylene blue, whatever you want. Or it could be more traditional stuff that you just need and you're, you know, you get from your doctor and it's just something you take every day. You can get anything, basically, at allfamilypharmacy.com Kirk Use promo code KIRK10 to save 10% off at checkout. I am a believer. This is the new way to do pharmacy. Throw out the old model. You're going to see those drying up in the next few years because this takes the cake. It's way better get prepared in advance. Allfamilypharmacy.com Kirk we'll be right back. All right, Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary and Fleischer communications dot com. Check him out. Smart guy. Has been through a lot of different seasons and twists and turns in dc. Has good context, vision and context, which is what we need right now. So, Ari, there's a lot of consternation. The Iran war has not proven to be popular. Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War, just said that the ceasefire is not broken. So they're still doing the blockade. There's some tension there, obviously. Exit strategy, how to bring it to a close? Unsure. But I will tell you, Ari, I've spoken to so many students through our Turning Point chapters And elsewhere that all of them without. I have not heard one student, Ari, not one said that they were positive on the war. All of them are negative on it. Okay. And so there's a generational divide. It's like, do you watch Fox News or do you watch. Do you get your stuff from social media? All right, there's like, that's the divide. So what do we do about it? And is there any remedying this before midterms? What are your bright lines of hope out there ahead of midterms?

[Andrew]

Well, you don't want to ever conflate war with an election. You really don't want to say we need to do this or do that because of the electoral consequences. You don't go to war if you're worried about electoral consequences. You go to war to win and get home whatever political season it is. What I hope here, and I think this is what President Trump is doing, is Operation Enduring Fury has now turned into Operation Boa Constrictor. Instead of fighting with bombs and forces we were doing before, what we're now trying to do is just squeeze their economy through the naval blockade and hope that that leads to change inside Iran. I'm not sure that this is ultimately going to work because it leaves the same people in charge of Iran. And I think the only solution, the right solution, is you can't leave Iran stronger. You can't let them prevail in any way in this current combat we're in. And Trump has to see it through. Trump's got to make sure that the Iran that comes next is a peaceful Iran. And Iran, that changes the face of the Middle East. And Iran that we for 47 years have accepted is just the terrorist on the block. That changes the Middle east, makes it the most dangerous region in the world. Why does it have to be the most dangerous reason in the world? It doesn't. It's been because of Iran. So you've got to change the leadership of Iran. It is a. Wants to be a pro Western country. That is where you talk about the young people in America. The young people in Iran are overwhelmingly pro Western. They're just trapped under a theocracy that's killing them. And so the hope is that by replacing the government, forcing them out, something else comes in and we don't have to be part of that. We can't be the ones making regime change. I learned that haven't been part of what happened in Iraq. That won't be successful. It has to come within. But we can create the environment where it comes from within. And then the Middle east can be the peaceful region with a wholly new alignment of Gulf states, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Western Europe is going to fall behind Eastern Europe. And these nations are going to be where peace and capitalism and prosperity come from in a changed world.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah, and I think you're right. I agree with that assessment. But when you talk to voters, especially young people. Right. So we saw this historic surge to the right of young people, thanks in large part to the work of Turning Point and Charlie. But I'm telling you, as soon as the Epstein stuff happened where President Trump kind of pushed it off and didn't want to deal with it at first, we saw a huge shift. First, first thing, then Operation Midnight Hammer, we saw a huge shift. Nothing we could message on was going to change that. They didn't want war, they wanted Epstein transparency. Then we get Operation Epic Fury compounded the impact. So I'm, you know, I'm kind of just trying to be a realist here. Like the messaging we do with our student, our Turning Point students are, they're telling me that they don't know how to defend what President Trump has done in Iran when they're tabling on campus. So we have to sort of bake into the pie here that young people are going to go the other way here in this election. Where do we make up the ground? What can we do? And what should the messaging be domestically, specifically? I mean, affordability, housing, whatever. What should, what do we need to do? What does President Trump need to do to try and right the ship ahead of November?

[Andrew]

Well, I've been saying this even before the military operation began in late February that Republicans are going to lose the House. I just think it's obvious when you look at the numbers, when you look at historical trends, when you look at happens in the sixth year of a two term presidency, it's hard to escape this historical pattern and particularly with a president whose job approval is what it is. The president's job approval is right around 40%. It's not horrible, but it's very low. And this is going to be the indications of a midterm that's going to be very hard for Republicans to keep the House. So I think we're going to be in an era of divided government in the next cycle and it's going to set up a wallapalooza of a 2028 presidential. And the other interesting thing about history is Republicans used to be the party that did well in the midterms because we were the party mostly of College who turn out every two years to vote. Democrats were the party of a lot more blue collar working class people who came out every four years to vote. That pattern has switched. Republicans are now much more the party of working class people and the Democrats are now the party of people with postgraduate degrees and college degrees. They turn out every two years. So tough election cycle for Republicans. I believe we're going to lose. The House Senate is right now a 50, 50 shot for Republicans to keep the Senate. And it's just set up the biggest battle you can imagine for the President.

[Blake Neff]

I think this is all shaping up for a 20, 28 absolute drag out race. It's going to be something. But I will tell you, interestingly enough, one of these X factors, there's a lot of reporting going on that John Fetterman might go independent and caucus Republican. I don't know. I don't know if I trust it because he's still very much like a Democrat, socialist economically, but he's a patriot and he's a reasonable guy. He's made a lot of reasonable comments, patriotic comments. So that's an X factor that would be really interesting to see. I don't know. Are you hearing anything within the Beltway, Ari, about this?

[Andrew]

I just, I don't believe it. I don't believe it because I take John Fetterman at his word. He's always given his word bluntly and he says he's a Democrat, he'll always be a Democrat. And as you point out, on abortion, on gay rights, on a host of issues, he is a or progressive Democrat. It's just that he's reasonable on Israel, he's reasonable on how you treat people. He's reasonable on saying you don't shut the government down. He's what a handful of Democrats used to be 10, 15, 20 years ago before they got drummed out of the party by the progressive movement. Inside the Democrat Party there used to be about a dozen Democrats who would do and say things like him vote the way he does on Israel and not shutting down the government. He's the only one left. So he just kind of stands out because he's such an aberration in a progressive Democratic party.

[Blake Neff]

I hope that you're wrong, but I suspect that you're right, Ari. So yeah, because he is a socially and economically, he's way left, you know, he always has been. So we'll see. Though I am hearing conflicting reports, so we're gonna keep watching that. It'd just be interesting if we end up losing the Senate 4,951 and then Fetterman switches over to Independent and caucuses Republican. That'd be fascinating. Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary and FleischerCommunications.com check him out there. Thank you for coming back, sir. It's great to see you, Andrew.

[Andrew]

Great to be with you guys. Thank you.

[Blake Neff]

God bless you. All right, Luke Rosiak, the big report out of Ohio, more fraud. We'll be right back with that.

[Terrence Bates]

Terrance Bates here with your Real America's Voice news break. Thanks so much for being here with us. The White House will host its latest press briefing this afternoon, but without Press Secretary Caroline Levitt, who is on maternity leave. Instead, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will take the podium today, adding to his many responsibilities. Secretary Rubio can expect to be peppered with questions about the war in Iran, specifically ongoing negotiations for an extended ceasefire or a peace deal. As Ralph Washington correspondent Neal McCabe reports, that's one of many storylines coming out of the White House this afternoon. Neil joins us live now with the very latest. Neil, let's start with Secretary Rubio taking the podium today. That in and of itself is a pretty significant story. He has got all kinds of jobs over there.

[Neal McCabe]

Is there nothing this man can't do? Over the weekend we saw video of him as a dj. And we have to remember, too, Terrence, that he is the White House national security adviser and so he controls the national security staff here at the White House. He might have 150 people on white House staff reporting to him. So he is fully integrated, not only running the State Department, but fully integrated into the national security command and control here at the White House. And obviously the questions will be about Iran and of course, Project Freedom, which was part of the Pentagon briefing this morning, Terrence.

[Terrence Bates]

Absolutely. And I suspect that one of the questions that will linger is whether the cease fire is in fact holding. The administration is saying the cease fire is yet underway still this morning also reporting that Iran had attacked at least 10 ships in the Strait of Hormuz, but still saying that that doesn't rise to the threshold. That's the word the administration used for return attack, if you will.

[Neal McCabe]

No president has accepted the constitutional validity of the War Powers Act. It was passed over Richard Nixon's Veto. It's a 60 day clock and then the president can request request another 30 days. But if you request the extra 30 days, you're, you're accepting the validity of the War powers Act. Day 30 was May 1. And on May 1, the President sent a letter to the leaders of Congress saying, by the way, your 60 day clock stopped on the April 7th ceasefire. And so they have made the political decision that this war ended on April 7. And General Kaine referred to some of these incidents or hostile back and forth or Iranian attacks, this sort of harassing fire by the Iranians. And General Kaine said that the political leadership has decided to regard this as de minimis and just harassing and nothing that threatens the ceasefire turns.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah.

[Terrence Bates]

Interesting way to look at all of this. We, of course, will continue to watch as this war seems to continue to drag on, meantime, keeping it closer to home. Several elections on the docket this morning, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan come to mind. Take your pick. There are lots of storylines in each of those elections.

[Neal McCabe]

Yeah, I would say that the seven state senators in Indiana that opposed redistricting for a more favorable map for Republicans, I think that is the real focus. I'm not saying it's the ballgame, Terrence, but the president has said he wants those seven Republican state senators defeated. I would call that fourth and short. It's critical, but not the game. And if he goes seven and oh, I think that's a huge message to Republicans down the ballot going into this midterm that they need to run with Trump, not away from Trump. Almost as an aside to the redistricting. And then of course, you have Vice President J.D. vance is in Ohio campaigning for Republicans, huge primary. John Huston is running unopposed in the primary to fill the, what, the two years left in J.D. vance's term. And that's gearing up for that rematch or not rematch, but rather the comeback attempt by Sherrod Brown, who's going to be running against Houston in the general election. Terrence?

[Terrence Bates]

Absolutely. Interesting times are afoot across the country and even across the world as the war in Iran continues to rage on. We've got several elections happening right now across the country. Neal McCabe, always good to talk to you. And I'm sure we'll be talking to you at some point in time later today following Marco Rubio's press briefing there at the White House. Thanks so much.

[Andrew]

All right.

[Neal McCabe]

Be good.

[Terrence Bates]

Absolutely. That's a great check of your headlines, folks. We appreciate you being here for us. Quick break and then we'll get you back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[Blake Neff]

All right. Welcome back, everybody. You know, Blake, there's an that old expression, it's good work if you can get it. You know, it's good work if you can get it. And you know, I think I'm gonna go, I'm gonna. I'm gonna ditch all this. This current. Current gig, and I'm gonna go into hospice care for my relatives. I'm going to get paid professionally to have conversation and companionship with my family.

[Mike Emanuel]

Yeah.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

And I think we. We've seen the numbers. It seems like you could make vastly more than you could make in any sort of media job. Millions of dollars.

[Blake Neff]

Yes.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Maybe billions of s. I could be

[Blake Neff]

a Medicaid millionaire, too. You could as well. But guess what? We're not, because we're honest citizens. But there's a whole lot of people that aren't honest citizens, that probably aren't even citizens in many respects. Maybe they're illegals. I don't even know what the rules are here, but we're gonna find out. Luke Rosiak is an investigative journalist and reporter for the Daily Wire, and he has a new story out that he's been working on for a couple months titled Medicaid how the Feds Pay Immigrants Billions To Hang Out With Their Families. So welcome to the show, Luke Rosiak.

[Luke Rosiak]

Thanks for having me. That's right. Free butlers for Somalis and Medicaid millionaires. You got it.

[Blake Neff]

Okay, so we know all about Somali fraud in Minnesota. You focused on Ohio, so let's. And what I find really interesting about this story, by the way, this is the first story you're dropping in a series, so there's more to come. Right. But what's interesting about this story is the origin of it. So, you know, Doge was much celebrated, much attacked part of the first hundred days, and then some of the Trump administration 2.0. But they left us a little Easter egg that you went looking through to find this story. So tell us about that and why Ohio.

[Luke Rosiak]

Yeah, you know, one of the criticisms people had of Doge especially on the left, is why are you guys even bothering? There's not that much spare change you can rustle up in the couch of the budget because most of it is locked away in defense or, you know, non discretionary funding. And if you look at that pie chart, a big chunk of what we spend is Medicaid. So there's like they're, they're telling us there's no ways there. I mean, you've got to eliminate programs or thing. Medicaid is just paying people to go to the doctor. Well, that's because we never, we never got to see what Medicaid was. And so Doge released data that shows who's getting paid by Medicaid, which I think is a huge deal for Transparency. It's the kind of thing Barack Obama should have done when he was always going on and on about being transparent and using technology. I mean, this doesn't reveal and invade the privacy of anybody's. Any patient's medical information. It's about the corporations that get rich. And that's what we're seeing here is the new welfare queens aren't the. The participants in poverty programs. They're the people that get paid to ostensibly serve the poor people. And those people go on to become millionaires. Now in Ohio, they have a waiver, much like Minnesota. The. The root of all the fraud, most of the fraud, everything but the daycares is these med waivers that they have in Minnesota. Ohio has the same problem. They'll pay you for what's called personal services. And that's not medical. That's why it has that weird name. It just means it's Medicaid. But it has nothing to do with the intended purpose of the program. You can just cook and clean and even provide, as you said, companionship and conversation for somebody that's like 65 years old or whatever. So that's why I call it Butlers for Somalis, because it's just like somebody to literally just do your chores for you. I mean, wouldn't it be nice if. If we could all have that? And so the real wrinkle is a lot of these Somalis started getting paid by the government to be personal servants to their own relatives. In other words, just to hang out with their family the way that everybody has done throughout all of millennia. Maybe if your parents are getting up there and they're 65 and they could use somebody to vacuum the carpet, you do that because your parents raised you. And it's a. It's a human, human decency thing to do to return the favor. But the Somalis found a way to actually get paid by the government for just doing normal stuff and hanging out with your family.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

So you say found, but in your investigation, I know with a lot of really bad government programs, there's notoriously social workers, nonprofits, who basically explain to people how to do this. Have you found any evidence of that? Like, are there. We'll just say it. Democrat operatives, either in literal form or spiritual form, do they go around and explain to these people, or is this an organic development where the communities figured out, oh, there's money to be had and no one's going to stop us. And if they do catch it, all they might do is slap you on the wrist and you can, you know, go Back to Somalia for a bit.

[Luke Rosiak]

Well, in part two of my series, which I think went up, you have a Democrat politician who actually founded a home health care company that got $11 million and then he sold it and ran for office with the Democrat endorsement for state senate. He was also involved in one of these NGOs as you mentioned, that got like $7 million from the federal government. And so there are NGOs kind of pushing people to do these things. I talked to one guy who was getting paid by the government to help refugees sign up for other government programs. So it's not enough to give the Somalis free disability and free food. You also have to pay a different Somali to encourage the first Somali to fill out that form to get the free money. And so there's definitely a sense you go through these buildings and in part two, that, that you'll see on the Daily wire. Yeah, I go to these. There's this one landlord in New Jersey and it's based in New Jersey and they own seven buildings in Columbus. Now these seven buildings have 288 home health care firms in them. And those firms have built a quarter billion dollars over the last several years. That's just one landlord. And then the landlord goes and, you know, is buying private planes and things like that. So there's good money in this at every level though. There's a whole economy now based on this. And you know, some of them are basically the ones hanging out with their family and getting paid. But then there's also a corporation that sits in the middle because the average person doesn't, they can't bill Medicaid directly. You need what's called an npi. So there are all these, all these companies, these little, they're really nothing more than an llc, but they are able to bill Medicaid and then they will pay the family member to hang out with their relatives. And you take a little cut and it really adds up to like a billion dollars a year in Ohio.

[Blake Neff]

Geez Louise. And so has Governor DeWine commented on this waiver that you're talking about that Minnesota also has? I mean, this is a Republican run state. You would think that they would, you know, plug these holes and these gaps in oversight and enforcement.

[Luke Rosiak]

Yeah, he actually raised the, the amount that these people were getting paid recently and he made some positive comments, you know, talking about how important it is to give everybody what they need or whatever. So, you know, the Attorney General of the state testified recently about how crazy the rules are. Basically there's a law that makes it Less severe to steal from Medicaid than to steal from anybody else. The attorney general can't do any investigative subpoenas to gather information to prove fraud. And they used to have a rule, supposed to have a GPS on your car. If you're one of those people who isn't hanging out with your own family members, but you're one of those people that has a, a roster of clients that you go and visit, you should have a GPS to make sure you're really visiting them. You're not just putting down the names of your friends and getting a kickback. Well, apparently they got rid of the GPS rule, which I don't know why you would do that because a GPS cost like 50 bucks and you could save like $10 million. So it's also just pretty difficult to prove in, in a court of law that you didn't go to your cousin Reed's house some Tuesday a year ago. You know, unless you have like footage on everybody's house. So, you know, it's pretty difficult to track these people. I found some crazy stories by putting a lot of investigative resources into it, but I'm skeptical that the government is really able to monitor these people at all. And certainly from what you see on the ground, there's not a lot of oversight going on.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah, I mean, this is all really depressing. And I, I saw that JD Vance quote, tweeted your report. That's promising. As obviously he's chairing the anti fraud task force. So hopefully they're gonna take it very seriously. But it's just despicable that this is happening in a conservative, in a Republican run state where they're making it easier to commit fraud. Stay right there, Luke. We're gonna continue on another segment with you. I want to tell you about blackout coffee. I'm here in the studio, so I got my full stash of blackout coffee. Whether you like morning awakening, Morning Reaper. This is the company to go to. It is a American run company, not that corporate burned coffee stuff. None of that. Right now they're going all in on coffee club. And honestly, it's the smartest way to buy coffee. You lock in a lower price, it ships to your door, on your schedule and you never run out. And here's the best part. You get 20% off your subscription for as long as you keep it. Not a one time discount for as long as you keep it. No gimmick mix, nothing. So go to blackout coffee.com Charlie. Start your subscription today. Blackout coffee.com Charlie. And lock in that 20 off for life. And stop thinking about where you're going to get your next cup ever again. Blackout coffee dot com. Charlie, we'll be right back. All right. Welcome back. Welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show. We are joined by Luke Rosiak, investigative journalist at the Daily Wire, who's uncovered a massive fraud scandal in the state of Ohio, which, unlike Minnesota, which was easy to rail against because it was run by Democrats, including Tim Waltz, Ohio is run by Republicans and they have made it easier, according to Luke, to commit this fraud. Now, Luke, you went to this one building here, which I just thought was so telling, and it was all blacked out windows. There was nobody inside. You did on the ground reporting for this show. This image, if you guys can, this, this building where all the windows seem like there's no, you can't see in. They've blocked them all off. What did you see here? And what, what, what is the significance of this building?

[Luke Rosiak]

Yeah, and if people go to Daily Wire later today, they will see a bunch of different images like that along with the lists of that have, are tenants inside. And they all have Muslim names, probably 99%. And when you go in the buildings, they're also probably 90 to 99% vacant. They have these little offices that say something Home Health Care, something else. Home Health Care llc. All these little names, but the papers are the logos and the signs are just like printed out off of somebody. A lot of them are just the same, same thing. Some of the doors, like one of the doors didn't even have a door knob. So it's like obvious that nobody's going into it. You could see mail that had post was postmarked like months prior. Like nobody's going to these buildings. There's smoke alarms chirping for batteries. There's stray cats in the parking lot. And it's really creepy. I mean, they, the hallways are very, there was like a whole street full of buildings like the one on your screen. And you walk down the hallway and down the hallway and down the hallway and it's just LLC after LLC after llc. Nobody in any of them. And you, and, and, and it was only until recently that you could now look up in federal records and be like, now we know why that little office exists because nobody's doing any work in there. But it's billing $5 million from the government. This one got $32 million from the government. This one Got 9 million from the government. And you can peer in the window and there's not even like a desk or a computer in the Office. It's just an empty room. So it was just a really creepy and I think black pilling experience, honestly.

[Blake Neff]

Is anybody doing any, like, oversight in the state of Ohio? And this is, are there people that go out and check the LLCs to see what they're doing? Is what, what, what's the enforcement mechanism here?

[Luke Rosiak]

I think they basically take their word for it. You submit an invoice that said you went to such and such person's house and you, you performed services like housekeeping or conversation for so many hours and the government pays. I mean, there's really no way you can check. Occasionally they'll do these audits that find that the companies claim to have visited people at home when they were actually in the hospital. And Medicaid knows that because the hospitals were charging Medicaid for their inpatient care. And that's really the only way they get caught is when two different entities at once try to bill Medicaid for the same person. And so what Medicaid does then is they make the home healthcare companies just refund the money for that specific day when they got caught lying. But they just keep taking their word for it that all the other thousands of times that they say they went to somebody's house, that was definitely only the one time they lied is when they were in the hospital. The other times it's probably fine. And so there's all kinds of clues that these people lie routinely. And some of them lied to me.

[Blake Neff]

So I want to underscore a point that we made in the previous segment, Luke. This was all made possible because DOGE made public what had previously been hidden from public view. And that is some of the details on Medicaid and how it was paid out. Correct. So that was a DOGE contribution, which is huge. I want to know two things. How many of these people involved in this scheme are Somalis or foreigners? What percentage would you say? And then I'm instantly thinking of states like Washington, Maine, New York, where these are booming businesses. How much of the fraud do you think in those, how much of this industry, this booming industry is fraud in those states?

[Luke Rosiak]

Yeah, so, I mean, I've seen it reported that the most common job in New York City is a home health care aid. And so once you understand that's being a free butler for a Somali or hanging out with your own family member, I mean, that's a fake job. It's basically ubiquitous. But we don't say it's ubi. If you know how to work the system, you get paid to hang out with your own family, in your own house. So it's like $15 billion or something. In New York. In New York. It's insane. But yeah, it's really bad. I think that we're going to have to look at rather than doing fraud enforcement which turns into whack a mole, you know, you bust Abdukar Muhammad and then pretty soon his brother, you know, Abdir Muhammad pops up with a bunch of assets and a new company, new company name. It's just so easy for these people just to start new LLCs anytime they need and to put to move assets around in between their family members. They can also flee the country if they need to. Like we saw in feeding our future. They can wire money abroad where we can't get it. It's very difficult to track these people because they all have the same names. And to get to your point, I mean what percent are foreign? Essentially all of them. I mean 99%. Like I was so struck by that. And I think if you could take a field trip of liberals to these places, they would be very radicalized because anybody who doesn't see the pattern here, the connection between immigration and then the exploitation at scale of these generous safety, safety net programs that hadn't really been abused in previous years is completely blind. It's important to, to make that connection because it couldn't be more blatant. It's virtually 100% foreign. And yeah, I think it's very difficult for the government to track. I mean, how do you know the difference between Muhammad Ahmed and Ahmed Mohammed? There's a guy that owns a business whose name is just Omar Omar. A lot of times their birthdays are just listed as January 1st because we don't know when they were born. They spell their names different ways, multiple ways.

[Blake Neff]

Why are we giving somebody that puts January 1st on all their like, you know, I mean, why are. That's the part that's frustrating. It's like why are we not looking into that? We're just going to write, write million dollar checks to these people and not perform any oversight or check to verify anything. I mean it's really infuriating. And what makes it even more infuriating is it's May 5, it's Cinco de Mayo today. So all the libs are all over the place talking about abolish ice, abolish ice. Meanwhile, we've got billions of dollars just flying out the window going to God knows where, probably back to Somalia to fund Al Shabaab or whatever. This is a massive, massive domestic problem. Go ahead, Blake.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Well, I wanna end on a white pill, so you have a minute here, Luke. Stuff that this is a red state. What should we be changing? What could a state, in your opinion, pretty easily do to reduce the impact of this? Even if we can't eliminate it without deporting 20 million people, I think that

[Luke Rosiak]

the Trump administration needs to rescind Medicaid waivers and restore Medicaid to what it was intended to be, like basic doctor service. Is that really fair to have certain states be able to like more services than others? Because the feds are paying for it 70%. And I think that's part of why the states don't care that much if it's wasted is because it's 70% other people's money. So it's great that JD Vance is going to have this task force. Take a look. I've got a lot of really sketchy red flags for them coming out in the Daily Wire this week. But the shortest path to keeping our country from insolvency is to just stop allowing people to charge the government for hanging out with your own family. And if you do have a mom who's getting old and could use some help once a week, do it on your own because it's the right thing to do. And that's what I think differentiates Somalis here, is they don't want to do normal family tasks unless they get paid.

[Blake Neff]

Luke Rosiak. Great work. Keep going, man. Keep keep going. Shocking. We'll be right back.

[Terrence Bates]

AMAC exists for one reason, and that's to fight for you. While organizations like the AARP grow closer to big government, AMAC is growing stronger in Washington. The goal is to defend the values that made America great. And those would be faith, family, freedom and opportunity. AMAC believes in freedom of religion and speech, the right to keep and bear arms, free enterprise and personal responsibility, Common sense solutions instead of government control. AMAC also refuses to stand by while radical policies from blue states threaten our families, our livelihoods, our safety, and our future. AMAC is no longer just an alternative to aarp. It's the leading conservative voice for seniors and patriotic Americans. With the rapidly expanding presence in Washington, AMAC is standing toe to toe with the AARP's massive lobbying machine. And we are winning. So join AMAC today and help replace failed big government policies with common sense Pro America solutions. America needs AMAC and AMAC needs you. Stand with us today. Go to amac US rav. That is amac US RAV and join today. Welcome back to this real america's Voice news break. I'm Terrence Debates Remember when President Trump was talking about making Canada the 51st state? While that may not happen, Alberta, Canada becoming the next American state feels a little bit more possible this morning. On Monday, an Alberta separatist group handed in a petition to trigger a referendum seeking to force the Canadian province to hold a vote on seceding from Canada. Almost 302,000 people signed that petition, meaning issue could be voted on as soon as October. Alberta premier, which is similar to a US Governor, says that she'll move forward on the referendum since advocates have the required or have secured, excuse me, more than the necessary signatures for the referendum. However, there are already legal challenges that will complicate getting the measure on the ballot and to a vote. Experts say if the vote is successful, Alberta wouldn't automatically get independence. It would actually require negotiations between the provincial and federal governments. That's a quick check of your headlines,

[Andrew]

Letting everyone know socialism, social media, the Charlie Kurt Show.

[Blake Neff]

Heard some cowbell in that right? Caboose. There was cowbell in there. There was cowbell.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

There was cowbell.

[Blake Neff]

That's excellent. Yeah, that's, that makes me happy. All right. So Hillsdale College, we're going to talk about learning for middle schoolers, younger kids in just a second because it's hugely important, something that we've been focused on more and more at Turning Point because you know, you got to start kids younger, you got to give them the zest of life and adventure. But if you are an adult out there or younger guy, it's fine if you didn't go to college, but you're still eager to learn or you're in high school and you're eager to learn real truth, deep truths, truths that Charlie loved to learn. Check out Hillsdale College right now. Go to CharlieFillsdale.com to enroll today. Charlie loved learning. He loved Hillsdale took over 31 courses of their free online courses. Now they're up over 40. And these are well produced courses. The video is spectacular. The visuals are spectacular. And through Hillsdale Online courses, you get to learn about the classics, American founding, the enduring truths of the Bible and scripture, the things that really make America great, that form the foundation of our values and our way of government. That's what you're going to find out at Hillsdale. And it's so important. I genuinely believe that if everybody was studying under Hillsdale that we would probably have like 80, 20 countries, country. We would be 80%.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

It would be a very different country.

[Blake Neff]

It would be an amazing country so go to charlieforhillsdale.com charlieforhillsdale.Com to enroll today. They got a new logic and rhetoric course. That's amazing, by the way. Charlieforhillsdale.com to enroll today. All right, without further ado, I want to bring in our next two guests who've written an amazing new book. These are New York Times best selling authors Candice Lee and Eric Newman. They're the authors of a new book called George George Goodwin, Dragon Slayer. I believe Bear Grylls is involved in the project. Candace and Eric, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.

[Candice Lee]

Hey, good to be here.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Thanks so much for having us.

[Blake Neff]

Nice backdrop. I love that the branding's on point. All right, so I'm convinced that we gotta get younger and younger people inspired. They need to be activated. They need to feel their own agency, the power of their own imagination. That's why I love what you guys are doing here. Tell us about it. It's a scouting legend. So I have questions about what you mean by that, but tell us about the book and why you wrote it.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Yeah, well, there's a famous quote often attributed to G.K. chesterton that really inspired us. And it's. Fairy tales exist not to tell children that dragons are real, but that they can be killed. And that really is the heart of the story, is we were inspired, yes, to tell a great story, a fun story, an exciting story that hooks readers. But we also, you know, we all know that there are dragons everywhere and we want to inspire young men and women to rise up and slay them.

[Blake Neff]

Absolutely.

[Candice Lee]

Yeah. And just storyline wise, it's about what you think it's about. It is a young guy who is faced with an impossible situation. He goes on a weekend camping trip and ends up having to save his whole town. But it really is, at its core, one of those David and Goliath stories. The kind of story that, that we wanted the COVID of the book, I'll just hold it up here. We wanted even the youngest reader to be able to look at that and know, okay, this is a story where somebody is going to defy the odds and do something that seems impossible. And so that's really our heart, is to inspire the next generation to see that you do have a hero inside you. And sometimes it might take something really scary, a dragon, to draw it out.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah, so you say it. So you know, there's a warning from Bear Grylls here. I love it by the way he goes, warning. This adventure is full of danger. It's got dragons and death, coal mines and cold Blooded killers, treasure and true love. The stuff legends are made of. But even more dangerous are the kids in this tale. They're tough, they're brave, and they're exactly the kind of heroes our world needs. And I kind of love the premise. It's like. So it's set in West Virginia and you know that coal mines are strictly forbidden to go in. But 12 year old George Goodwin knows something more. Deep underground lies a treasure that could save his town and clear his father's name. And so then he's with the scouting troops. So explain the tie in with the scouting angle here.

[Candice Lee]

Yeah, well, we love stories where kids are in the driver's seat. You know, like we think back to like Goonies and even Jurassic park where there's kids who have to make choices in impossible situations. And Eric and I were sitting around years ago working actually on another project and we were looking at a character who was a side character who was a scout. And the more we started talking about it, we're like, man, Scouts are awesome. They are young people who actually know how to do things. You could throw them in any situation and a scout could probably outperform me when it comes to survival. But they're just so broad in what they can do.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Unknown Guest 1]

And it's the rare place in society now, I mean, we talk about get out and touch grass. It's the rare place where kids have a little bit of autonomy and they can adventure on their own, learn skills on their own. And we thought, man, Ken, this would be a fun place to start a story. So we imagine this 12 year old boy. We had kind of this lightning bolt brainstorm session. A 12 year old boy. This should take place in West Virginia. We just could imagine a dragon in a coal mine. And then we thought, who would be the fellow who would be the rest of the crew that helps take this dragon down? We thought, oh, it was a scouting patrol and his best friend. So it just kind of like naturally emerged. And it's the kind of story that we happen to love.

[Luke Rosiak]

Yeah.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

And I appreciate that for sure. I'm an Eagle Scout myself. Charlie was an Eagle Scout as well. Were you in the Scouts? Nope, never.

[Blake Neff]

Oh. I came from a ranching family that like my experience was literally just like on a horse in the desert.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Sounds like a great way to be a scout, but it's appreciated because I am. I'm sure. We follow the travails of the main scouting organization, Boy Scouts, which became the, the gender non determinist scouts. But they're making, they're Making some progress.

[Blake Neff]

They're coming back.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

It's. It's certainly been a saga. It's been difficult. It's been frustrating, and I suppose I appreciate you guys for evoking the classic image of a Scout. I don't know if you describe any specific Scouting group they're in, but that. That really is a set of values that was hugely useful in America, hugely positive for boys, and I approve of evoking that. Even if we know that today the left went after it precisely because it was such a good thing.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah, but it is coming back. I mean, they partnered with Secretary warhegseth, and they're making headway. I don't know if you have insights into that, if that's part of what's going on in the background here or not, but I agree with Blake that the values of Scouting are so critically important to the next generation. That's why the left went after it, if we're being honest.

[Mike Emanuel]

Yeah.

[Candice Lee]

There's something about the. There's not very many opportunities for young people to kind of put on a specific identity that carries the values of Scouting. And, you know, my son just became a scout. He's 6 years old, and he went on his first camp out as a Lion cub, and it was interesting when he saw a picture of himself, you know, I'm doing mom milestone. He saw a picture of himself in a uniform, and he looked at himself and he goes, oh, my goodness, Mom, I look fearless. And then he came home from his first camp out, and I said, hey, I'm a little cold. He brought me the blanket and said, I'm courteous, mom, because I'm a Scout. And there is something about stepping into an identity that carries virtue, that carries these responsibilities with them. That. That's something that we did want to kind of evoke with this story that there's a young man who's not only, you know, he's a Scout, but he's stepping into this identity as a dragon slayer, and that's really broader than any one organization. That's something that all of us can aspire to.

[Unknown Guest 1]

You know, when you look at the Scout.

[Luke Rosiak]

Sorry.

[Unknown Guest 1]

When you look at the Scout.

[Blake Neff]

Go ahead.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Sorry, sorry.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Well, someone, our staff was asking, you know, George Dragonslayer, is there symbolic meaning to the name? Obviously, there's St. George as the great dragon slayer.

[Blake Neff]

George Washington. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Unknown Guest 1]

That was part of our lightning bolt inspiration 15 years ago when we first started this. We're like his name. And I remember Candice goes, it's George. It's George. Because this will be a modern day reimagining of the legend of St. George. And that just clicked with us. And so there's some St. George threads woven throughout the whole story.

[Terrence Bates]

Yeah.

[Candice Lee]

And you know, the cool thing is like saint. The legend of St. George, it's some. It's a story that exists in lots of different cultures, but over time it's kind of been lost. And I think that story speaks to how there are so many great stories. The kind of stories that move and inspire us have kind of gotten lost to this generation. And so we love the idea of being able to reimagine that because we just, we believe that the stories kind of work in this space of imagination that's ultimately the bridge between the heart and the mind. And, you know, we want to take ideas that are out there and kind of help ground them in stories so that they can move from just being ideas to becoming beliefs and convictions. And so that's just one of the things we love about storytelling.

[Blake Neff]

So you would say that this book is probably best geared for what ages?

[Unknown Guest 1]

It's technically middle grade, so you're looking at like the Percy Jackson. Right, The Percy Jackson audience. So they say like 4th to like 7th or 8th grade in that range. And that happens to be one of our favorite genres. You know, we were both raised on Goonies and we love like adventurous stories where the stakes are really high. It's life or death. But yeah, at the heart of the story is a group of kids.

[Candice Lee]

Yeah. And we really did our best. You know, we have this core group of characters that are so fun. They range from 12 to 17. But really, even the moms are awesome in the book. We kind of wanted to make it something that if a family sits around and reads it aloud, there is something that everybody can, you know, everyone can enjoy and also everyone can kind of aspire to in some ways. So yeah, it's a fun story.

[Blake Neff]

All right, so this is available like everywhere. Books are sold from Target and Walmart, Amazon, Barnes and Noble books, a million, all the places, all the things. You guys are New York Times best selling authors. What? You got one minute in this segment, Candace or Eric? Eric, real quick, your pitch to parents. Why do they need a book like this for their kids?

[Unknown Guest 1]

Oh, man. You know, this started with a vision that we want to inspire young men and women to be prepared mentally, physically, spiritually to slay lives dragons. You know, we know the world is full of dragons right now. And our heart is that this story will inspire young people to discover their God given identity, to Be a David versus a Goliath or a dragon slayer to take on whatever dragon there are in their lives.

[Candice Lee]

Yeah, there's a line from one of the characters and she says, you know, there's breath in my lungs. I'm here for something, I'm going to find out what. And we just want to connect young people to their purpose, to their destiny. And so that's why, you know, we've, you've heard the phrase pay it forward. We're asking people to just slay it forward. Think of somebody who needs a story like that because we believe that this can unlock identity and truth. And we are excited for families to discover that together.

[Blake Neff]

Candice Lee, Eric Newman. It's the story, it's called George Goodwin, Dragon slayer. And man, we have the most suicidal, drug addicted, depressed, anxiety prone generation in American history. They need to be consuming this kind of stuff, filling their mind with it. Tremendous, tremendous offering. And, and maybe it's not for you, but you know, somebody in your life that needs this book, guys that needs their kids need this, they need something that will transport them and their minds to something better, more uplifting. So give it, give it a look, see and buy it for yourselves, buy it for your friends and family and support people that are making good, positive content that really instills that American value, the Christian values. It's not overt, it's exciting and adventure. All right, Candy, Candice and Eric, stay right there. We're going to be back in just a few minutes. Don't go anywhere. All right, welcome back to the why Refi Studios. I want to tell you guys about strong cell. Strong cells. This stuff is amazing by the way. You know, so many of these supplement brands, they put in all this junk that you don't want the fillers, the artificial sweeteners and all this stuff. No, no, no, not with strongcel. You know, strongcell employs a proprietary delivery system designed to ensure the ingredients effectively get into your bloodstream where they can truly make a difference. This is crucial. As many supplements on the market as they're just pretty packaging without real benefits. This has nadh, which is the type of NAD that's most absorbent. And it's a liquid formula also really good for absorption. So check it out. StrongCell.com you need to power your cells. Bot your cells in your body gives your mitochondria the energy they need. This is a powerful breakthrough enzyme that's all the rage. It's one of Charlie's favorite supplements and it's worked wonders for me especially in the morning I will say that has been my big breakthrough with Nadia. So check it out. Over 2 million units sold. 2 million units sold. So many of them are in this audience. So thank you for supporting this great company with great patriots running it. So visit strongcell.com use promo code Charlie for 20% off your order. That's strongcell.com promo code Charlie. Give it six to eight weeks or even four to six weeks. But six to eight weeks and guess what, you get a 90 day risk free money back guarantee. So there's no reason not to try it. StrongCell.com love this stuff. Great partners of the show, great patriots and a great product. Most importantly. All right, so we are joined by Candice Lee and Eric Newman, authors of the new book called George Goodwin, Dragon Slayer. I didn't even have in front of me. I just did that. It's a good name. All right, so let's talk about woke literature for this kind of age group. What are kids up against? Like what are they reading in schools? Because it's so important that they have alternatives that are actually good. Exciting, daring, adventurous. I love that you have Bear Grylls involved in this. Who's Mr. Adventure? But what are they up against in schools?

[Unknown Guest 1]

I mean, everything, you name it. You know, when, when we first started again, as we said, we just love these kinds of stories. You know, we're Goonies at heart. But when for us, as important as the story itself is why we're telling it. And we had come across, it's, this is 14, 15 years old by now. We've come across this TED talk called the Demise of Guys. It's fascinating TED talk. You can look it up. I think there's a book and it's two psychologists and this is not from a faith perspective. This is just clinical psychologists. And they were talking about the incredible, incredibly rough trajectory of young boys becoming men and how immersive worlds of video gaming and online pornography and social media, how it's just wrecking havoc on a generation. And one of the big questions to ask is, you know, it touches on is the universal question that every young man really all of us ask is, do I have what it takes? And when we read this like just utterly sobering statistic, we were like, this is why we have to tell this story. We have to tell this story. You know, I tell it took us 15 years to get here. And one of the stories I tell often is that, you know, why, what kept you going? I took my son on a camp out, a father Son camp out when he was three. And he was. He was by far the youngest kid, but I thought, he'll be fine. And he wore diapers at night. He came out of the tent, and all these other boys saw him and started laughing at him and pointing and

[Blake Neff]

said, you're a baby. You're a baby.

[Andrew]

You're just a baby.

[Unknown Guest 1]

I was, like, devastated. I run over there to intervene, and my son is laughing, and he says, I'm not a baby. I'm a dragon slayer. And I just stood there, and I was like, oh, my gosh. All these stories I've been telling him, all the insults didn't stick, all the mockery, all that kind of stuff, none of it stuck because he knew who he was, was. And that's our heart. You know, it's like everything is thrown at kids nowadays from social media and school and who they are and who they aren't, but if they know who God calls them, like, none of that other stuff sticks.

[Blake Neff]

That is so true. I mean, life is a series of things that get in your way, that knock you down, that beat you up, call you names, accuse you of things. And it's how you respond that is ultimately going to define the person. And what is it? It's like life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you choose to react to it. And that resiliency and the courage, building that up in kids. I had a similar story with my son this weekend, actually, and he looked at me. He was scared to go on this ride, and he said, dad, I'm gonna choose to be brave. And he went and did it, and I was like, yes. You know, like, it's getting in there somewhere where I'm like, you gotta be brave, son.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

You gotta.

[Blake Neff]

And he looked at me and said, I'm sure. Choose to be brave. I'm scared, but I'm gonna choose to be brave.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Awesome.

[Blake Neff]

I'm so proud of him. And those are the lessons that we need to be getting through. Not that you're a victim. Not that there's nothing you can do about anything. Not that ultimately your fate is sealed and all is awful. That's not the American spirit either. And I think that's. Again, go back to Scouts. Scouts was about giving you agency and power over your dominion. And, yeah, I think bad things happen, but ultimately, we want young people to be the type of people that can overcome the obstacles that are thrown in their life. All right, Blake, final question to you. You're the scout. You're the Eagle Scout here.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Oh, I Guess a natural follow up. Is there going to be a sequel? Is he going to defeat other monsters?

[Candice Lee]

Yes, we are happy to say this is actually the first in a three book series. So it's the Order of the Dragon Slayer series. That's why you don't want to fall behind. You got to read the first one. But we are actually furiously writing the second one, dreaming up the third one. And we're so thrilled to be able to take families on not just one great adventure, but a whole epic.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

So.

[Blake Neff]

So it's not going to take 15 years though, right? We're going to get that next. Yeah, well, they said it took them 15 years. Yeah, we're, we're.

[Unknown Guest 1]

It'll be out the next one will be out next summer sometime.

[Blake Neff]

Great. Great. Well, congratulations on your book. I think this stuff is so important. I wanted to devote as much time as we could in the show because. Because we need stuff that feels like the 90s again. That's what I think. It's basically like go back to the way things used to be when we all had our sanity and before social media. Candice Lee, Eric Newman, congratulations. Check out the book. Get it, it's wherever books are sold. Get it for somebody in your family or a friend. God bless you both.

[Candice Lee]

Thank you so much.

[Unknown Guest 1]

So much for having us.

[Blake Neff]

All right, God bless you guys. All right, final minute here. It's Cinco de Mayo and we're gonna

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

go have tacos today.

[Blake Neff]

We're gonna go have tacos. I'm not. Because I'm still getting over this stomach bug thing. I look, you know, maybe skinnier maybe. That's the thing. I haven't eaten in like two days.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

Well, you know, if you get, you know what they say, if you need to purge a lot of stuff from your system, just get sick or get some tacos. Well, listen, get some really spicy tacos.

[Blake Neff]

Yes.

[Blake (possibly same as B, or another co-host)]

At like a really authentic Mexican place.

[Blake Neff]

That'll purge me. Yeah. So here's, here's what I want you to do today in this final 30 seconds that we have together. The Democrats are going all in, hitting ice. I want you to go public today somewhere, whatever your social preferred social platform is, and defend ice. That is your homework today. Defend the brave men and women that keep this country safe and secure. And go tell leader Thune that you want the Save America act passed. So we want New Mexico to be a Republican state. We want Nevada to be firmly in our column. So go say something nice about ice. They keep us safe and they're heroes. And I refuse to let them be defamed and maligned by these open border cabals that just want to loot our Medicaid funds. God bless you guys. We'll see you tomorrow. Until then.