The Charlie Kirk Show, January 08, 2026

Summary

The Charlie Kirk Show – Real America’s Voice: January 8, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of The Charlie Kirk Show dives deep into the fallout from a deadly Minneapolis shooting involving an ICE agent and a protester, escalating tensions between federal and local law enforcement, polarized public opinion, and broader immigration policies. The hosts also cover Venezuela’s oil crisis and policy, differences in American state energy strategies, radical tenant organizing in NYC, and higher education’s ideological shifts. Throughout, the lens remains fixed on defending law enforcement, scrutinizing progressive rhetoric, and championing "America First" policies.

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Major Topics and Key Segments

1. Minneapolis Shooting and ICE Operations

[00:27–05:24, 19:10–29:56, 80:10–82:45, 95:46–99:02]

• Incident Recap:
  An ICE operation in Minneapolis resulted in a fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman who activists claim was protesting, while officials contend she was attempting to run over an ICE officer.

  • Michelle Tandler: “An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot to protect himself and the people around him. This goes to show the assaults that our ICE officers and law enforcement are under every single day. These vehicle rammings are domestic acts of terrorism.” [00:34]
  • “ICE alone is facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats.” [02:45]
  • “I hope maybe we're at the McCarthy moment. Do you have no decency?” [03:26]

• Host and Guest Reactions:

  • Charlie Kirk repeatedly blames escalating tensions on progressive rhetoric: “That recklessness costs someone their life.” [01:23]
  • Andrew Colvett notes, “Long term, Minneapolis residents…are being terrorized. And now somebody is dead. That's on you.” [02:07–02:15]
  • Discussion about local officials demanding ICE leave the city and Governor Walz’s threats to involve the National Guard.

• Law Enforcement Defense:

  • DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s remarks: “I’m encouraging all elected leaders to work together so that we can be cooperative in getting dangerous criminals off of our streets. Remind you tomorrow is Law Enforcement Day. Please take the time to thank a law enforcement officer who’s out there keeping us…safe.” [24:11], [81:02]
  • President Trump’s reaction on Truth Social urging support for law enforcement. [24:28], [81:19]

• Senator Eric Schmidt Interview on Legal Ramifications:

  • Schmidt calls claims about citizenship and ICE authority “the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” [30:36]
  • “If the officer fears for his life or significant bodily harm, he can defend himself, which is what was happening there.” [31:47]
  • Schmidt blames “demonization” by the left and calls for federal prosecution of those who encourage attacks on law enforcement. [32:52]
  • Proposes “SCAM Act” to denaturalize naturalized citizens found guilty of major fraud or violent felonies, particularly addressing fraud in Somali communities. [37:35]

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2. Energy Policy & Venezuela Focus

[05:33–18:59]

• Interview with Energy Secretary Chris Wright:

  • Venezuela as a case study for Trump’s “prosperity at home, peace abroad” strategy.
    • “Venezuela…collapsed under a socialist, communist, top-down, corrupt dictatorship that just ruined the country.” [07:07]
    • “We’re using the leverage over energy sales to get the existing interim authorities in Venezuela to work with the United States…” [08:34]
  • Clarifies Venezuela’s oil reserves are real, but extracting them depends on “technology, capital, and rule of law—that’s what America’s aiming to bring back.” [10:05]
  • Explains oil sale revenues go into US-controlled accounts to pressure the Venezuelan regime toward reforms. [11:41]
  • Discussion on restoring American company involvement if rule-of-law returns: “Both sides win. If the oil companies make money, they’re going to produce more oil…” [13:38]

• Contrast: Red vs. Blue State Energy Policies:

  • “Blue states are over 50% higher electricity prices. Those are just political choices…” [15:26]
  • “When they made energy more expensive, they just exported their industry…sent all their industry to China and elsewhere in Asia.” [16:57]

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3. Media, Political and Social Rhetoric

[27:51–29:56, 95:46–99:02]

• Montage of Left-Wing Rhetoric Against ICE:

  • Clips show activists and elected Democrats calling ICE “slave patrols,” “thugs,” “terrorists,” and comparing them to “Gestapo” and “SS.” [28:39–29:37]
  • “The left wanted something like this to happen. Their strategy is designed to produce something like this.” — Blake Neff [22:36]

• J.D. Vance Press Conference:

  • Vance criticizes media: “I’ve never seen a case so misrepresented and misreported when you have a guy who was defending himself…” [95:46]
  • “The way to take down the temperature is to stop it. Have your debates about policy…Don’t attack our law enforcement officers. They are trying to do the job the American people demanded that they do.” [97:45]

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4. NYC Housing Activism Exposé

[61:55–79:55]

• Michelle Tandler on Sia Weaver (NYC Tenant Organizer/Advocate):

  • Weaver’s deleted social media exposed—she espouses radical, anti-landlord, anti-private property views:

    • “There is no such thing as a good gentrifier, only people who are actively working on projects to dismantle white supremacy and capitalism and people who aren’t.” [66:41]
    • “Impoverish the white middle class.” [66:20]
    • “Public housing for everyone. Rent control and public housing for everyone. Massive government interventions to solve gentrification.” [67:00]
    • “Treating property as a collective good and towards a model of shared equity will require that we think about it differently…and will mean that families, especially white families…but some POC families who are homeowners as well, are going to have a different relationship to property.” [70:13]
    • “People like homeownership because they like control. And that’s been perverted by deep racism and deep classism in our society.” [73:46]

  • Discussion points:

    • Weaver’s appointment signals a move left for NYC housing policy.
    • Hosts and guest warn her views exemplify a growing radical, collectivist trend threatening American constitutional values.
    • Tandler: “If she's against the free market…I think she should show solidarity with her constituents and move into a public housing unit.” [78:45]

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5. Higher Education and Ideological Drift

[82:45–95:46, 99:02–103:50]

• Dr. Kent Engel Interview (“College Without Communism”):
  • “The original intent of higher education is focused on spiritual and moral development…But what’s sad is we see so many universities…that have drifted. They’ve traded truth for ideology…”
  • Asserts universities have swapped wisdom for indoctrination, “patriotism as naive,” and “moral clarity is fluid.”
  • Harvard’s recent apology for allowing faculty activism cited as evidence of the problem. [88:20]
  • Engel’s experience in post-communist Romania used as a cautionary tale for what full-blown socialism and loss of human dignity can bring. [99:32]
  • “They have realized that…the way you shape the world…is by starting in the classroom. If you can shape the student, they will go out and shape the culture.” [101:55]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Charlie Kirk:
  • “Do not allow them to deploy federal troops…Do not allow them to invoke the Insurrection Act. Do not allow them to declare martial law.” [04:03]
• Chris Wright (Energy Sec):
  • “Venezuela was a giant oil producer…And then they’ve collapsed under a socialist, communist, top down, corrupt dictatorship that just ruined the country.” [07:07]
• Senator Eric Schmidt:
  • “What it appears from what I saw…she was impeding efforts by ICE agents…She was given direction to sort of stop doing that. And then this ICE officer was struck…appears to be, from everything that I’ve seen, justified.” [30:36–31:47]
• Michelle Tandler (about Sia Weaver):
  • “She seems to have a very, very defined view of landlords as being evil, which I just think is shortsighted and wrong.” [65:20]
  • “This is a belief system. It’s anti–I would say it’s anti-American. It’s definitely anti the Constitution to say we want, you know, the state to manage housing for everybody.” [76:30]
• JD Vance:
  • “I’ve never seen a case so misrepresented and misreported…They are not policy. They are enforcing the law. They should be treated with a modicum of dignity and respect.” [95:46–97:45]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Minneapolis ICE Shooting Recap & Fallout: [00:34–05:24], [19:10–29:56], [80:10–82:45], [95:46–99:02]
• Senator Eric Schmidt Interview: [29:56–38:41]
• Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Venezuela: [05:33–18:59]
• Blue vs. Red State Energy Policy: [15:26–18:08]
• Montage of Anti-ICE Rhetoric/Discussion: [27:51–29:56]
• Michelle Tandler Exposes Sia Weaver: [61:55–79:55]
• Dr. Kent Engel on Higher Education: [82:45–95:46], [99:02–103:50]

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Tone and Style

The episode is energetic, combative, and polemical, combining news commentary, conservative advocacy, and detailed policy discussion. There is a marked emphasis on defending law enforcement, calling out perceived excesses of the political left, and stressing the ideological shift in American institutions.

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Summary

This episode navigates the fraught political and social climate after a deadly ICE operation in Minneapolis—making law enforcement’s case while critiquing local pushback and progressive activism. The show also surveys US engagement in Venezuelan oil, contrasts energy policies by state, exposes radical tenant activism in NYC, and confronts the ongoing ideological transformation of higher education. Through expert interview and roundtable segments, The Charlie Kirk Show ties all these threads into a common narrative of defending tradition, constitutional order, and American prosperity against what it sees as a coordinated left-wing push for chaos and collectivism.

Transcript

[Charlie Kirk]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. The charlie kirk show starts now.

[Terrence Bates]

No, no. Shame.

[Michelle Tandler]

Sh.

[Charlie Kirk]

Oh, my.

[Michelle Tandler]

You asked about a shooting that we just had in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was an act of domestic terrorism. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot to protect himself and the people around him. This goes to show the assaults that our ICE officers and our law enforcement are under every single day. These vehicle rammings are domestic acts of terrorism. We're working with the Department of Justice to prosecute them. As such, we will continue to protect our ICE officers and in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies as well.

We have been warning for weeks that.

[Charlie Kirk]

The Trump administration's dangerous, sensationalized operations are a threat to our public safety, that.

[Michelle Tandler]

Someone was going to get hurt. What we're seeing is the consequences of.

[Charlie Kirk]

Governance designed to generate fear, headlines, and conflict. It's governing by reality tv, and today.

[Michelle Tandler]

That recklessness costs someone their life.

[Charlie Kirk]

And the police tape is up right now. As you can see, it's a several block area behind me that is tied off. The tear gas has already been used because each time you get one of these ICE events or a Border Patrol scene, you get the protesters who descend on it. That has already happened here. I have a message for ICE.

[Michelle Tandler]

To.

[Charlie Kirk]

Ice, get out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this.

[Blake Neff]

City is to create some kind of.

[Charlie Kirk]

Safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite. People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart.

[Blake Neff]

Long term, Minneapolis residents that have contributed.

[Charlie Kirk]

So greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy are being terrorized.

[Blake Neff]

And now somebody is dead.

[Charlie Kirk]

That's on you.

[Blake Neff]

And it's also on you to leave.

[Charlie Kirk]

It's on you to make sure that.

[Blake Neff]

Further damage, further loss of life and injury is not.

[Charlie Kirk]

Jacob Fry is now demanding that all ice, all federal agents leave the city of Minneapolis. He says they are causing chaos. And the quote is, they stand rock solid with the immigrant and refugee communities. So all the information right now, Harris, is preliminary. That's what we're working with.

[Michelle Tandler]

One person shot today alone in this country. There have been four different domestic terrorist attacks on federal officers by the ramming of vehicles. Three of them happened here in Minneapolis. We've seen over 100 of these vehicle rammings happen in just recent weeks. And this must stop. ICE alone is facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats against all of them. In fact, the very same officer who was attacked today had previously been dragged by an anti ICE rioter who had Rammed him with a car and drug him back in June. He sustained injuries at that time as well. I don't know.

I hope maybe we're at the McCarthy moment.

[Charlie Kirk]

Do you have no decency? Do you have no decency?

[Michelle Tandler]

We have someone dead in their car for no reason whatsoever.

[Terrence Bates]

And.

[Charlie Kirk]

And I bet. I don't. I don't want to be right about this, but I said if they do this, they're going to create a chaotic situation where someone innocent is going to get killed.

[Andrew Colvett]

Killed.

[Charlie Kirk]

And they did it.

[Michelle Tandler]

And. And now we hear more political rhetoric.

[Terrence Bates]

Enough.

[Michelle Tandler]

Enough is enough.

[Charlie Kirk]

And so to Minnesotans, don't take the bait.

[Michelle Tandler]

Do not take the bait. Do not allow them to deploy federal troops into here.

[Charlie Kirk]

Do not allow them to invoke the Insurrection Act. Do not allow them to declare martial law. Do not allow them to lie about.

[Michelle Tandler]

The security and the decency of this state.

[Charlie Kirk]

And let's let this investigation play itself out. Let's make sure we protect our neighbors. I encourage you to use your First.

[Michelle Tandler]

Amendment rights and all of your constitutional.

[Charlie Kirk]

Rights, but do so in a peaceful.

[Michelle Tandler]

Manner, regardless of who your mayor or who your governor is. President Trump promised every single American that he would make America safe again. And let me remind you why we're all here in this city today and why we've been here in communities across this country and here in Minneapolis for years. Under President Biden, tens of millions of dangerous, criminal, illegal aliens, terrorists, and suspected terrorists were allowed to invade our country over our southern border. They were allowed to steal, to defraud, and to perpetuate violence against American citizens.

[Terrence Bates]

Every day there's a battle for your mind.

[Charlie Kirk]

Raging information coming from every angle with.

[Terrence Bates]

The will to deceive.

[Andrew Colvett]

Fear not.

[Charlie Kirk]

You found the place for truth.

[Terrence Bates]

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

[Charlie Kirk]

Greatest country in the history of the world. This is the Charlie Kirk Show. Buckle up. Here we go.

[Andrew Colvett]

All right. Good morning. Welcome to the Charlie Kirk show. It is January 8th. I guess it's afternoon now on the East Coast. 12 o'. Clock. Andrew Colvett, executive producer of this show, joined by Blake Neff, per usual. And we are honored to be joined right at the top here by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who is a man that is in the middle of a lot of the news that's happening, especially when it comes to Venezuela. Sludgy, crude. A new term that I learned this morning preparing for this interview. Secretary Wright, welcome to the show.

[Chris Wright]

Andrew, thanks for having me. An honor to be on the Charlie Kirk Show.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, it's an Honor. I got to meet you recently in person on a visit to D.C. so it's an honor to have you here. I was struck by the way when we met, just your enthusiasm and your energy, I mean, no pun intended, but just for this topic and all the great work that you're doing on the domestic side. And so I was not shocked because you strike me as a guy that has pretty much boundless enthusiasm, energy and bandwidth. And so I was not shocked when I saw that President Trump put you added to your portfolio the issue of Venezuelan oil. So a lot of people, there's a lot of confusion about how much they produce, how much they can produce, what is America's role. And now that you're in charge of kind of overseeing this project, please give us the breadth and depth of this situation. Situation as it stands.

[Chris Wright]

You bet. Look, it's an honor. I think this issue of Venezuela, it's sort of a perfect illustration of President Trump's broader agenda, which is prosperity at home here in America and peace abroad, because they always tied together, and in this case, they're deeply tied together. Venezuela was a giant oil producer 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. American companies, American investment, American technology. And then they've collapsed under a socialist, communist, top down, corrupt dictatorship that just ruined the country. And let's come back to Venezuela in a second. But for the United States, that shrinking oil going out means less oil on the market. On balance, it means higher oil prices. It means more refugees forced out of the country. It means they've gone into drug dealing and arms dealing and human trafficking to make money and fund their government, all of which has brought grave negative consequences to the United States and the whole Western Hemisphere. So President Trump looks at this and says, we gotta stop this immigration of drugs and people and guns and support for the adversaries of the United States, Iran and Russia, and other terrorist organizations in Venezuela. This is hurting America. We've got to fix that problem. But it's not troops on the ground. We're not invading Venezuela. But the last 25 years of pressure as Venezuela has just gone down the tube haven't worked. President Trump was creative and thoughtful. How do we do this? How do we use energy and commerce to reform the state of Venezuela? So I'm thrilled with what he's done. Arresting someone that President Biden had a $15 million bounty on the head of Nicolas Maduro. It is not controversial. This guy has run a narco terrorist state. That guy is now in custody with his wife facing trial. And we're using the leverage over energy sales to get the existing interim authorities in Venezuela to work with the United States to pivot that country in a better direction. A better direction reduces crime, reduces drug dealing, reduces stressors on the American economy and ultimately can bring prosperity, which is what capitalism, freedom brings back to Venezuela and it can bring lower energy prices and enormous business opportunities for Americans.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, and I think we definitely agree with you on the opportunity. I see the opportunity. I have so many questions though. There's questions about, you know, how much oil is there in Venezuela. Right. There's allegations that those, that was great.

[Blake Neff]

It was people pointed out that they're saying is it the most oil in the world? But then that goes back to OPEC and OPEC goes on national estimates and in theory Venezuela was exaggerating.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah.

[Blake Neff]

Do we have any hard knowledge on that, Secretary?

[Chris Wright]

Oh, we do. Look, American companies have been on the ground in Venezuela for over 100 years. So that 300 billion barrels of proved reserve, it's actually a credible number. But when you hear these numbers, understand all of them are wild underestimates of the actual oil in the ground. The United States reserves today are about 50 billion barrels of oil, so only a sixth of Venezuela, but we produce 20 times as much crude oil and United States reserves today are, are the highest they've ever been. So if it really was your total underground, well, we've been producing oil for 150 years. Why isn't our number going down, our numbers going up? So you know, it's a narrow measure of, with today's technology and at today's price, how much oil could you lift out of the ground that we know about right now? So Venezuela's reserves are immense. That is very real. But you can't that oil underground doesn't mean anything. You need technology, capital and rule a law to get it out. But that's what America's aiming to bring back.

[Andrew Colvett]

So I read that you've met with ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Exxon Mobil. Now these were oil fields, infrastructure that were owned by American companies previously. They were expropriated by Hugo Chavez and Maduro. I've also read that the revenue from oil sales will go into American controlled accounts. How does that work? So you sell some oil from Venezuela, you, you got a buyer, the money goes into an account. What happens then?

[Chris Wright]

See, normally before they ship tankers around the world, even though we had sanctions on them, the Biden administration and too many others don't enforce those sanctions. So that oil goes out, it was mostly going to China. Mostly going to China and Cuba and other not crystal, not class A actors in the world. And then that money was flowing into Venezuela. Some of it was going to the government, some of it was going to corrupt people. You know, there was. That corruption is centered around the raising of that money. What's happening Then we put a blockade around, said, you can't sell oil to the world. Well, Venezuela can't survive long without selling oil to the world. Drug Enforcement Agency, with the help of the Department of War, extracted Venezuela, I mean, Maduro and his wife out of the country. And we just began a dialogue with them. Do you want to sell oil? Well, of course they want to sell oil. We said, well, look, this is how we're going to sell oil. We're going to let the tankers go out, we'll market that oil. We'll actually get a better price and more secure payment, much more than they could. And we'll put that money into an account and we'll bring that money back to Venezuela. But it gives us the leverage to change their behavior, to stop their destructive activity for America and Americans and steer their policies in a better direction, with the ultimate goal to lead to a representative government in Venezuela, restore freedom, democracy and prosperity.

[Andrew Colvett]

So it is a giant geopolitical chessboard here that we're moving around. And so the question is, does that money then get shared directly with the Venezuelan companies, or are American companies gonna come back in and they're gonna be profit sharing? That's the question. And then are they ready to make that investment once again? Mr. Secretary?

[Chris Wright]

So, look, Chevron is still in the country, and there's little changes we can make that can allow Chevron to expand their production. But what will bring American oil companies back, and believe me, there are tons of them that are very anxious to come back, is just to believe that the rule of law will be respected and that the commercial agreements they can make are in the best interest of their country. Venezuelan government owes lots of them, billions of dollars. So, yes, there's an ugly history here. But our belief is, and I think these companies share that belief, is that with President Trump's leadership and the leverage we have today, we can move things forward in Venezuela. So it's once again, it's once again a profitable place for American businesses to go because, of course, both sides win. If the oil companies make money, they're going to produce more oil. A lot of the revenue from that oil production goes into the government of Venezuela, but it also goes into the paychecks and economies of the country. As a whole, Venezuela 50 years ago was one of the wealthiest per capita nations in the world and they've just collapsed.

[Andrew Colvett]

Let's go for a few more minutes. In just one second. I've got to take a quick break. More with Secretary Wright in just a sec. Mr. Secretary, we, we were just making the comment in the break that, you know, the industrial revolution was sparked. Blake made an apt observation. Buy access to cheaper and better energy sources. You have done a breakdown between red states and blue states. And I know we're getting a little off the Venezuela oil topic here, but how stark is the difference in energy policy and then prices between red states and blue states?

[Chris Wright]

Yeah, so I don't know how many people would love a little more than 50% increase in their electricity prices. But that's the difference between blue states. If you average across all the blue states and you average across all the red states, blue states are over 50% higher electricity prices. And that's not bad luck. Those are just political choices. Back to this energy thing. Restrictive policies that make energy more expensive. Somehow blue states think that's virtuous, but in reality it's just impoverishing for citizens and it's just a dissuasion for businesses to want to locate there. Which is why there's continual migration from blue high energy price states to red low energy price pro freedom states.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah, I'm looking at a chart right here. So they measure power costs in kilowatt hours and it's kind of like a common measure of energy. And Texas, 12 cents per kilowatt hour. Florida 13 cents per kilowatt hour. California 30 cents per kilowatt hour. So that's three times as much electricity that affects, yeah, your home power bill. But imagine you're running a factory. Imagine you are making something. Those can take a ton of energy businesses. And it's even worse in Europe. The reason factories are leaving Europe, UK can't make anything. Germany's unable to make things anymore is they've made their electricity prices too high. And you can't run a power plant.

[Charlie Kirk]

You can't run a plant.

[Andrew Colvett]

I'm certain the Secretary has strong opinions on this. Cuz I've seen some of the reporting on your critiques of European energy policy, Mr. Secretary.

[Chris Wright]

No, you're right on. If you, if you make energy more expensive. They did it saying they were fighting climate change. If you look at the data on emissions, they didn't do anything in that regard. But when they made energy more expensive, they just exported their industry. All these factories. Germany and United Kingdom. These are the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. They just sent all their industry to China and elsewhere in Asia. And if you look at after the financial crisis, that's when there was a huge pivot in energy policy. So 15 years ago, Europe said, we're going to decrease.

[Andrew Colvett]

Looks like we.

[Charlie Kirk]

Oh, no, we.

[Blake Neff]

We lost him.

[Andrew Colvett]

Well, let's see if we can get him back. Studio. It could have just been a. A blip. All right, he's still. He's still frozen.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah. No, but it's so important, that energy stuff. It's amazing when you look at the chart where it's just every big leap forward, it almost can make civilization deterministic. Where they'll look at like, oh, why did you know, why did Rome fall or something? Or why did this Chinese dynasty fall? And they'll say, well, it actually just seems that the price of energy and the primitive forms they use got too high and they couldn't maintain civilization anymore.

[Andrew Colvett]

It's crazy foundational. Like the. The energy policy of this Trump administration versus the Biden administration versus Europeans. It couldn't be more stark. And it actually is the foundational choice, the first choice in a series of dominoes that falls after, or whether you're going to be pro growth or anti growth. It's really that. That foundational. And I was going to ask the secretary to bring it back full circle to Venezuela. How does this help us domestically? Because, again, the base, Trump voters, America first, they're skeptical about foreign interventions. But this is Western Hemisphere. It's oil, it's energy. It's also kicking out our adversaries out of the Western Hemisphere to meddle around in our business. But there will be downstream positive impacts, not only for American companies, but American consumers. So, yes, Caleb is watching. He said somebody cut the power to the energy secretary.

[Blake Neff]

Oh, no, I agree.

[Andrew Colvett]

It was probably stuck in a blue jurisdiction, probably the Chinese. Blake, let's go ahead and pivot, though. The main story of the day, obviously, is Minneapolis.

[Charlie Kirk]

Oh, yes, exactly.

[Andrew Colvett]

Why don't you set the table for us? What happened in Minneapolis?

[Blake Neff]

This was happening during the show yesterday. We didn't have the chance to react to it.

[Michelle Tandler]

We.

[Blake Neff]

Let me make sure I've got the stuff for it. We didn't have a chance to react to it, but it was breaking at the time, and we got videos right after the show. So what happens is ICE has surged into Minneapolis. They're doing raids, and by extension, we're getting all the things that the left has trained people to do against ICE in last year, you have people following them. You have people harassing them. You have people trying to clog up traffic. And unfortunately yesterday it did result in a fatal shooting. And I guess we may as well just play it. So this occurred yesterday in somewhere in Minneapolis. Let's play 275.

[Chris Wright]

Okay.

[Blake Neff]

There's no audio on this one. But they're approaching and they're saying get out of the car. Get out of the car. She backs up and then she accelerates away. And what happens is there was an ICE agent behind the one you could see approaching the sidewalk who was directly.

[Andrew Colvett]

In front of the car.

[Blake Neff]

And he was in front of a car. And. And she sort of turns away from. But she brushes against his leg. And he'd already I believe drawn his weapon at that point. And I think in the split second he reached the conclusion she was possibly trying to run him over. And he shot through the front window and killed her instantly.

[Andrew Colvett]

And then you can see it in slow motion right there. There's a second angle which clearly shows that the ice agent was actually hit and clipped. And there's. You can also see her wheels are spinning out because it was icy. It's cold. Her wheels spin out. She's that when the shot is fired. If you freeze frame it. Her wheels are actually turned towards the ice officer. I suspect that the wheels only turn to the right once the officer drew his. His firearm. I looked at this clip by clip last night. Here's 300 clip. 300. This is with sound. Make sure we don't have any swear words in this clip. 300.

[Charlie Kirk]

No.

[Terrence Bates]

No. Shame.

[Michelle Tandler]

Shit.

[Charlie Kirk]

Oh my God.

[Michelle Tandler]

What the.

[Charlie Kirk]

What the. You just. What the did you do?

[Andrew Colvett]

So here's what's interesting though. This 37 year old woman. Apparently she has a female partner. The kid. First question. I don't know what a 37 year old woman is with a kid is doing out there. Going head to head with ICE agents doing some sort of like citizen vigilante. You know. Observing. That's not observing. She was obstructing. And here's a witness that actually basically defines this lady as the main car leading the protest.

[Michelle Tandler]

281 they clearly wanted her out of there because she was the main car leading the the protest is my understanding. I talked to another guy who was driving behind her. But she was. She was very. She was very successful in blocking traffic. She was doing what she was. What she was set out to do. And so they wanted to get her.

[Charlie Kirk]

The hell out of there.

[Michelle Tandler]

Yeah.

So it looked like she was impeding ICE vehicles Definitely.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah.

[Michelle Tandler]

That was her goal.

[Andrew Colvett]

That was her goal.

[Blake Neff]

That was her goal. Well, so I think my read on it is I don't believe she was attempting to run anyone over. I think in actually I'll have longer thoughts on this, so I'll want a strong reaction to that. But I think this was a tragic accident. But the most important takeaway is it's a tragic incident that's been caused by the left strategy to harass ICE to intimidate ice. And ultimately the left wanted something like this to happen. Their strategy is designed to produce something like this. And I can elaborate on that thousand percent.

[Andrew Colvett]

We'll be right back. Senator Eric Schmidt joins the show next.

[Terrence Bates]

Welcome back to this Real America's Voice news break. I'm Terrence Bates. The deadly Minneapolis shooting involving an ICE agent and a woman he claims was trying to run him over with a car is still all the buzz this morning. ICE is backing the agent, saying that the shooting itself was in self defense. This is video of the situation right here. You can see it all unfold for yourself. We know that the 37 year old woman was shot in the head after that agent said she tried to pull off and run him over again. You see it happening here in the shots fired. The car ultimately crashes about 15 minutes ago or so. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in New York on another addressing this particular shooting and offering her condolences not only to the officer, but also to the victim's family. Also challenging lawmakers and other people in charge to be responsible with their words.

[Michelle Tandler]

I'm encouraging all elected leaders to work together so that we can be cooperative in getting dangerous criminals off of our streets. Remind you tomorrow is law enforcement day. Please take the time to thank a law enforcement officer who's out there keeping us and our families safe.

[Terrence Bates]

Meantime, the fallout from Wednesday's shooting continues as schools in the area are closed today as a safety precaution. Neighbors are also being encouraged to remain calm. State and local officials are demanding that ICE leave the state, though Wednesday night a vigil was held for the woman who was killed and demonstrators also used that event, as well as the hours leading up to it to protest against the ongoing ICE operation in the city. President Trump posting on Truth Social that the officer who fired the shot is recovering in the hospital. The commander in chief going on to write, the reason these incidents are happening is because the radical left is threatening, assaulting and targeting our law enforcement officers and ICE agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of making America safe. We need to stand by and protect our law enforcement officers from this radical left movement of violence and hate, he writes. And the events of the last 24 hours in Minneapolis could set the stage for a face off between the state's National Guard and federal agents. Minnesota Governor Tim Wall saying he is prepared to deploy the National Guard if necessary. He's also expressing outrage over the shooting. And the mayor of Minneapolis is pushing back against the Department of Homeland Security's narrative that the incident was self defense, Relentless in spirit. You're listening to the Charlie Kirk Show.

[Andrew Colvett]

All right. We have, you know, it's the 250th anniversary of America this year and that means 250 years of good ranching. Listen Good Ranchers, great partner of the show. We love these guys. And 250 years of America conversations around American culture will be front and center, center all year long. The script of this year is going to be about how great our country is, how great the people that made it are. As America turns 250 this year, let's remember the people who built it. And that's America's Ranchers. Good Ranchers honors that legacy. Good Ranchers only sources their cuts from local American farms and ranches. They are a hundred percent dedicated to this country, to America. From the pasture to the final seal on every box, every our. Their entire packaging and fulfillment process takes place right here in the good old US of A. And if you ever have any questions, their customer service. Yep. Also based here in America. I'm a subscriber. I love this product. We were with them from the very beginning and their product just keeps getting better because as the company grows, they get to control more of the, the fulfillment and the, the selection of the beef. So it is top, top, top quality. Subscribe and save up to 5, $500 a year. That's right. You'll also get an additional 25% off your first order with promo code Kirk. K I R K. Mention your promo code at checkout either if you're calling them or if you're logging on. Good ranchers.com K I R K Close the So here's the deal. Good ranchers.com promo code Kirk. $500 off a year. $25 off your first order with promo code Kirk. Check it out today. Studio, how are we looking on the senator? All right. We're still working on a technical difficulty. We have Eric, Senator Schmidt standing, standing by. Blake, you were building out this idea that this is ultimately the Democrats fault.

[Blake Neff]

What happened this Minneapolis shooting? Well, let's tee it Up. So a thing that's built up to this is just this violent. There's been a growth of violent rhetoric against ICE intended to delegitimize it as an institution. I know we have some clips related to that. So most recently we had Democrat Representative Joe Morell says there is no, no violent rhetoric against ice. He hasn't seen that.

[Andrew Colvett]

There's no anywhere.

[Blake Neff]

He said there was none. We'll show that clip279 frankly, what's really.

[Terrence Bates]

Frustrating about this, I saw Speaker Johnson's comments who immediately says that there's been this effort to encourage people to engage.

[Michelle Tandler]

In violence with law enforcement officers.

[Terrence Bates]

That's not true.

[Charlie Kirk]

I haven't seen that anywhere. Okay, well, that's not true.

[Blake Neff]

Our team whipped up a montage of some stuff. Let's play clip 280.

[Charlie Kirk]

I see ice.

[Andrew Colvett]

I see slave patrols picked up by.

[Charlie Kirk]

You know, hooded thugs in the street.

[Terrence Bates]

The ice.

[Michelle Tandler]

You know, thugs.

[Charlie Kirk]

Nondescript thugs like vigilantes. ICE is a terrorist organization. And kidnapping and disappearing people. Stealing and guessing.

[Michelle Tandler]

Kidnapping people.

[Charlie Kirk]

The vice mayor allegedly calling on gang.

[Andrew Colvett]

Members to defend the city from these immigration raids.

[Charlie Kirk]

I want to know where all the cholos are at in Los Angeles. Stop masked ICE agents from deporting our neighbor. Every single one of them, no matter what it takes, no matter how long.

[Michelle Tandler]

It takes, will of course be identified.

[Chris Wright]

Our police do not cooperate with ice.

[Charlie Kirk]

Our local police department, it will not ever cooperate with ice.

[Andrew Colvett]

Democrats told to get shot for the anti Trump resistance. There needs to be blood to grab.

[Charlie Kirk]

The attention of the press and the public.

[Blake Neff]

That last one is the really revealing one. And like. And you can find more. You can find articles that call them the American Gestapo. You can find tweets and blue sky. Whatever they call a Blue sky post like the American ss. Oh, we have him.

[Andrew Colvett]

Ah.

[Blake Neff]

I'll have to complete this after. Afterwards with the senator.

[Andrew Colvett]

That's all right.

[Blake Neff]

Let's jump to the senator right now.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah. Senator Eric Schmidt, welcome to the show. Sorry about the technical faux pas. Complicated business, as they say. You are a former state AG of the great state of Missouri and you're a lawyer. You know, there is this whole back and forth Online. Vice President J.D. vance chimed in. I thought this was. I literally did not realize this would be a contentious point. One of the points that the left is making is that this shooting was unjustified because this woman's a U.S. citizen. And this ICE agent is not a cop. It's an ICE agent. So U.S. citizens don't have to obey orders from an ICE agent.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, I don't. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yes.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

First of all, what it appears from what I saw on the couple of angles on the video is that she was impeding efforts by ICE agents to do their jobs. You're not supposed to be able to do that. She was given direction to sort of stop doing that. And then this ICE officer was struck. And when you put that in the context of vehicular assaults up over 1000% across the country on ICE agents and in the demonization that's happened over the course of the last year by the left against ICE agents, it's created a powder keg. Guys, like I was in a committee hearing and talked about this. The Democrats rhetoric on this is insane. But as far as this goes, specifically, if the officer fears for his life or significant body bodily harm, he can defend himself, which is what was happening there. Right. I mean, the angle of, you know, by the way, you notice the tires sort of skid out too, which also reveals that the car was a little bit out of sort of control, but appears to be, from everything that I've seen, justified. It's a tragic situation. I mean, anytime you have a loss of life, it's a tragic situation. But what's really strange about all this is that the Democrats, I'm surprised this hadn't happened sooner, but they continue to sort of create these conditions for confrontations with ICE agents who are supposed to do their jobs. And one last point, like, deportations are nothing new. Like Bill Clinton deported millions of people. What's different now is the Democrats actually in the left, they don't actually believe in borders. They don't actually believe that. That anybody should ever have to go home, that once you're here, you should stay here in perpetuity. And they've created the villains, these ICE agents who are fathers and sons and daughters and aunts and uncles who are just doing their jobs. And what you'll never hear the left say, you'll never hear him say, this guys, is, you know what? Step away and let the ICE agents do their jobs. Because they don't want them to. They don't want them to. So it's.

[Terrence Bates]

It's.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

It's a terrible situation. But, yes, an American citizen has to obey orders from ICE agents when they're impeding the progress of what the ICE agents are trying to. You certainly don't have the right to try to run them over.

[Blake Neff]

Senator, do you think there's any potential. We just. There's so much deliberate will to get people to go out there to harass ice, target ice. We've had car, like, why did this happen? This happened because we've already had car ramming attacks on ICE agents. We've seen people encouraged to use cars as a weapon. This is directly encouraged by a lot of lawmakers. I feel at some point there's got to be room for prosecuting someone in that they are basically developing a conspiracy to sabotage federal law enforcement in their city or in their state.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, well, I do think that, yeah, federal prosecutors should be very aggressive in this regard to send a very clear message. But the Democrats in the lab, they've. They're seizing on this. And I have to say, just from a. Stepping away from a pure political perspective here now, they can't help themselves. This is such a part of their DNA now. It reminds me a lot of the kind of beginnings of the. To fund the police movement that then became to define their party. This is them not wanting law enforcement to do their jobs. They're willing to dox these people. They're willing to, you know, try to run over them. And then that's the, you know, then you have the antifa element, which are sort of the foot soldiers of all this, who deliberately, you know, throw firecrackers to lure ICE agents out of federal facilities so they can be assaulted. They have safe houses. So you have a more organized effort with antifa, for sure. Which is why we were successful in petitioning with Marco Rubio to not only have them be declared a domestic terrorist organization, but also a foreign terrorist organization to get after their funding and shut these people down internationally. That's all part of this. But it's very coordinated. There's no doubt they share tactics. And you create dangerous situations like the one you had in Minnesota.

[Andrew Colvett]

These are. They call them citizens observers, and they end up being, you know, harassers, stalkers of ICE agents, dhs, Border patrol. And they are sophisticated. They have lawyers standing by that are paid for by a network of NGOs that are financed by God knows who. And this is increasing. This tactic of ramming and harassing ICE agents is increasing. Let's hear from Secretary NOEM directly on this.

[Michelle Tandler]

299 today alone in this country, there have been four different domestic terrorist attacks on federal officers by the ramming of vehicles. Three of them happened here in Minneapolis. We've seen over 100 of these vehicle rammings happen in just recent weeks. And this must stop. ICE alone is facing a 1300% increase in assaults against them and an 8000% increase in death threats against all of them. In fact, the very same officer who was attacked today had previously been dragged by an anti ice rioter who had rammed him with a car and drug him back in June. He sustained injuries at that time as well.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, this is. So it's increasing, obviously. Here's my question for you. Slightly off topic of that, though. You have local officials, the local police chief says he will arrest this person if he gets an order from a judge. You have city council members that are saying this person needs to be arrested. Lieutenant governor is saying that it's absolutely a possibility. So if he faces state charges, but federally, everybody's saying he's fine, what then happens next?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, well, first of all, let me just point out, and I was in the Oval Office actually yesterday afternoon when this kind of news broke and was with the president and learned about even then, as Secretary Noem mentioned, that this officer in particular had been dragged just a few months ago. Right. So, like, this person in particular had been involved in another one of these incidents. But to answer your sort of legal question, what will happen if that. And I, Keith Ellison is a clown. So I would imagine that the temptation for him not to show the restraint that you're supposed to as an attorney general, I mean, I, I wrote a book, the Last Line of Defense, on all the stuff I did as attorney general, you could write another book on all the things you didn't do because you want people in those positions that have some regard for the law. Right. Because it's a very powerful position. So if he does charge the officer, what will happen then is that case, because of their federal agents, would likely be removed to federal court. So because of supremacy clause issues, that would likely be removed and then he would have all the defenses available. He would in the federal court system. So I don't think there's any chance that this would stay in state court, quite frankly, but that might be the move that Ellison wants. We'll see.

[Andrew Colvett]

This whole incident takes place obviously upon this Somali backdrop, the fraud rings. You are introducing legislation to be able to denaturalize people that become citizens. Tell us about it.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, it's called the Scam Act. And I think what we've seen in Minneapolis and by the way, I think is probably just the tip of the iceberg, but particularly in the Somali strongholds across the country have seen this kind of abuse with this really kind of pathological. There ought to be a response, and the response should be swift. So, one, we should move forward with stricter fraud controls as A condition for being able to accept money. There needs to be greater verification of who's actually getting the money. Right, that's. That seems very obvious to like a normal person, but it isn't actually baked in, in a lot of these blue states because governors don't want to do that. We should insist that as federal dollars go out the door. Secondly, there ought to be real prosecutions like at doj, like make this a priority and send a very important message to these immigrant communities who think they can fleece taxpayers. But what my bill does specifically, it says that if you're part of one of these efforts or you're involved in a violent felony or you're involved in, you know, other kinds of felonies that we list in this, in the legislation we're filing this week, you will be denaturalized. If it's proven that you did that, naturalized and it's a 15 year look back. Right. There isn't currently anything on the books.

[Andrew Colvett]

That will allow this. Hang right there, Senator. We'll be right back.

[Terrence Bates]

Okay.

[Andrew Colvett]

Blake, how much private student loan debt exists in the United states?

[Blake Neff]

Is it 44 billion? 46 billion?

[Andrew Colvett]

I didn't ask how much was distressed.

[Blake Neff]

How much is there total? Is there 300 billion?

[Andrew Colvett]

That's $300 billion. Private student loan debt in the United states totals about 300 billion. You're better at history than listening to my address. About 45 billion of that is labeled as distressed. Why? Refi refinances distressed or defaulted private student loans that others will not touch. There is nobody else that's going to work with you on some of these private student loans. They provide you with a custom loan payment based on your ability to pay. Why? Refi is not a debt settlement company and they work with each borrower individually and that's what makes them better than everybody else. So they're going to tailor a solution that works with your individual situation. And actually what makes them better than everybody else is their patriots. And they love the country and they love students and they love parents that are trying to support their students that get into these situations. So they want to provide you with a solution. They don't care what your credit score is. They will actually give you a 3 minute rate check without any credit impact. If you have a co borrower, they can help you get them off the loan and you can even skip a payment every six months up to 12 times without penalty. And they are doing gangbusters. I will tell you, this company is crushing it because so many of you out there have trusted them with that. Your financial situation that, that can be tough. It can be depressing. So visit them right now yrefi.com yrefy.com or call them 888-yrefi34. That's again why refi.com or 888 y refi34 may not be available in all 50 states, but if it's available where you are at, you are going to want to take it. So we have the Economic Club of Minnesota going on. It's an event that Scott Bessant, Treasury Secretary, is leading. Let's go ahead and throw to what they're doing over there at the Economic Club with Scott Besson.

[Charlie Kirk]

Our moderator, Michelle Caruso Cabrera. Michelle is a distinguished journalist and a.

[Michelle Tandler]

Prominent voice in the world of finance.

[Charlie Kirk]

And economics and widely recognized for insightful reporting and her ability to make complex global economic issues logical and digestible.

[Michelle Tandler]

Michelle brings 30 years of experience in.

[Charlie Kirk]

The intersection of finance, economic development, global communications. She is the CEO of MCC Global Enterprises and was the first Latina anchor at cnbc, where she also served as the network's first chief International correspondent for over a decade. During more than 20 years at CNBC, she covered major economic crisis in global.

[Michelle Tandler]

Markets, reporting from countries around the world.

[Charlie Kirk]

And interviewing presidents, prime ministers and CEOs. An Emmy Award winning journalist, she is also an experienced corporate director, currently serving.

[Andrew Colvett]

As on the board of Wendy's company.

[Charlie Kirk]

Ms. Caruso Cabrera holds a BA in Economics from Velliseri College and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of New York.

[Chris Wright]

Good.

[Michelle Tandler]

Thank you. To begin, I'd like to express my appreciation to the Minneapolis Federal Reserve President and CEO Neel Kashkari and members of the Economic Club for hosting us today. It's good to be in Minnesota again. They call it the North Star State for a reason. For decades, Minnesota led the Midwest as a hub for culture, business and innovation. But in recent years, the leadership in Minnesota has knocked this great state and its people off course. Failed experiments with big government overregulation and the second highest corporate tax rate in the country have hurt job creators like all of you, leading to net outbound migration. But it doesn't have to be this way. President Trump's hope, and ultimately his invitation is that Minnesota becomes the North Star State again. That's why I'm here today. The same challenges that have beleaguered you have beleaguered many of your fellow Americans. These challenges include a glaring, absent absence of political leadership from the previous administration, the damaging impacts of Illegal immigration, rampant fraud, and the unchecked power of government. President Trump inherited these very problems when he took office last January, and he has since fixed them one by one. In just one short year, President Trump has delivered a historic economic turnaround to put our country back on the path to prosperity. And news alert. The numbers today are starting to show it. The trade balance was the best since 2009 and the layoff intentions are the lowest since 2024. So we are back on track in 2025. The President laid the foundation for powerful economic growth with the historic passage of the one big beautiful bill, which is actually the Working Families Tax Cut Act. Trade deals that rewrote decades of government misalignment and an ambitious deregulation agenda that empowered American entrepreneurs and business. Now, in 2026, we will reap the rewards of President Trump's America first agenda. President Trump's economic turnaround is especially impressive given the severity of the situation he inherited from his predecessors. Minnesotans are acutely aware that the Biden administration made life impossibly expensive through a toxic mix of what I call the three eyes immigration, interest rates and inflation. Hard working families in this great state and across the country experience the burden of buying's America, Biden's America last policies suffering from higher rents, higher prices, higher borrowing costs, suppressed wages and elevated crime. President Trump has led a 12 month transformation of our economy which delivered roughly 4% GDP growth in his first two full quarters in office and nearly 3% GDP growth in the fourth quarter even amid a Democratic led government shutdown. This growth is just a harbinger of what's to come. Through the three Ls of immigration, interest rates and inflation. Biden inflicted tremendous harm on our economy. But President Trump is creating prosperity and long term opportunity for all Americans through three eyes of his own investment, innovation and income. First, investment Biden damaged our country's investment environment through weak trade policies, heavy taxes and burdensome regulations that made it more attractive for companies to do business offshore rather than in the U.S. thankfully, President Trump has fixed that. When President Trump took office last January, he promised to rebalance global trade to the benefit of American workers and companies, including the many manufacturers, companies and workers based here in Minnesota. And he has delivered on that promise in every way. The President's strategic use of tariffs has encouraged corporations both at home and abroad to invest directly in the United States. His message is simple. Hire your workers here, build your factories here, make your products here. And business leaders are answering the call. The upshot of President Trump's trade agenda is trillions of dollars in new investment across a broad section of industries from automotive manufacturing and semiconductors to tech and pharmaceuticals. This includes multi billion dollar investment agreements from companies with large footprints right here in Minnesota. Amazon, for example, invested 120 billion in the last fiscal year. And Minnesota based companies like Medtronic, 3M and General Mills have collectively invested over 3.4 billion in the last fiscal year. Investments like these translate to more jobs and more opportunity for workers in Minnesota and across the country. Keeping US Agriculture on top is critical to the state's farmers and great Minnesota companies like Cargill, the largest private employer in the nation. That's why the President has also leveraged trade to improve the position of American producers in the global commercial landscape. In every negotiation, the President without fail, drives home two messages to our trade partners. First, open your markets to U.S. agriculture. Second, increase your agricultural purchases. That's how he scored a victory for Minnesota soybean farmers when China agreed to reopen its market to US Agricultural exports. Under this framework, China will purchase at least at least 25 million metric tons of soybeans annually from the United States for the next three years. To add to the good news, the high probability of an emerging La Nina weather pattern in the Southern Hemisphere next year will likely result in higher prices and volumes for American crops. In addition to trade, President Trump has incentivized historic investments in both American individuals and industries through the working Families tax cut, which is stimulating long term investment in the productive capacity of the American economy. By allowing full expensing for factories, equipment and farm structures, the bill lowers the cost of capital and makes it cheaper to build in America. This has spurred a capex comeback with a 12% surge in business investment through the first three quarters of 2025, the largest non pandemic increase in over a decade. More investment means more supply and more supply means lower prices for the consumer goods families rely on. Beyond the many benefits for workers and industries in the President's tax bill, one of its most innovative provisions for families is Trump Accounts. Here I need to emphasize just how significant Trump Accounts will be in revolutionizing the US Investing landscape. Through Trump Accounts, the President is creating an ownership economy where all citizens become shareholders in America's wealth. Today, 38% of American adults do not own stocks, but with Trump Accounts over time we can get that number to zero. Trump Accounts aim to achieve this by offering every newborn citizen a 1000 treasury contribution to be invested in an index fund. A single $1,000 deposit into a Trump account at birth should grow to at least Half a million dollars by the age of retirement. The President has called on business leaders all over the country to match the $1,000 treasury donation to Trump accounts for the children of all their employees. And I'm calling on the men and women in this room to do the same. You all can allocate directly to the children of Minnesota, Minneapolis, or any zip code of your choice, any school of your choice. With your patronage, we can ensure a strong financial future for America's children. President Trump has left no stone unturned in his effort to spur investment in the American economy, from reordering the global trade landscape to creating an entirely new investment vehicle for newborn Americans. But the White House can only do so much. At a certain point, the Federal Reserve must also do its point its part to spur investment. I believe Federal Reserve needs to merely have an open mind. The open mind, maestro. Former Fed chair Alan Greenspan resisted premature rate hikes during the technology boom in the 1990s. And history proved him right. Innovation is the second eye, designed to boost businesses and improve quality of life for American families. Under President Trump, the Biden administration displayed outright hostility to America's innovators and entrepreneurs. An endless stream of regulations, increased compliance costs and heavy taxes made it more expensive than ever to do business. But President Trump has fixed that on the tax front. The working families tax cut encourages heavy investments in innovation. By restoring immediate expensing of R and D costs, businesses can now fully deduct domestic research and developmental outlays in the year incurred. Instead of having to spread these costs over several years, this new tax provision empowers companies to secure larger tax benefits sooner, allowing them to invest more of their capital into R and D. It also encourages the build out of high precision manufacturing here at home, which will lead to high paying construction jobs that migrate into factory jobs. Beyond creating an R and D friendly tax environment, President Trump has reduced the regulatory burden on American companies to let them innovate again. Thanks to his efforts on deregulation, community banks can now lend more readily to working families, small businesses and farmers. This is in stark contrast to the regulatory regime that crushed small banks under previous administrations. Since 2010, nearly half of all community banks disappeared. The unintended consequence of too big to fail was too small to succeed. And so President Trump has taken executive action to empower small banks to compete on a more level playing field with larger competitors. Our president is also reducing regulatory burdens on entrepreneurs to keep our nation at the bleeding edge of global tech. With new innovations in technology, some economists worry about the labor market decoupling from GDP growth, but they are missing the forest for the trees. As my friend, mentor and former NAC director Dr. Lawrence Lindsay recently observed, there is a simple word to describe the difference between output growth and the growth of labor inputs productivity. And while corporations may capture higher productivity at first, higher real wages for America's workers won't be far behind. The third eye concerns what your employees care about the most. Real take home incomes. Incomes shrunk sharply under President Biden. Real Weekly wages decreased by 2% during his presidency. All the while embedded inflation made it almost impossible for Americans to catch up. But President Trump and this administration are fixing that too. Thanks to the President's pro worker, pro growth policies, real wages have climbed more than 1% just since he took office. With blue collar wages increasing at one of the fastest rates in decades. This is just one step in the President's plan to raise incomes for all Americans. The President's bill prevented a 4.5 trillion trillion with a T tax hike allowing the average American to keep up to $7,200 more in annual real wages and the average family of four keep up to $10,900 more in take home pay. For millions of families, such savings are the difference between making a mortgage payment, buying a car or sending a child to college. The President's bill raised and made permanent the Working Families Child Tax Credit. It delivers for seniors by giving 88% of retired Americans a new deduction that eliminates tax on Social Security benefits. And it codifies no tax on tips, no tax on overtime so workers on Main street can keep more of their hard earned income. Something the Grinch who stole prosperity in the governor's mansion in St. Paul has not done in the Minnesota tax code, thanks to the President's forward thinking reform.

[Terrence Bates]

Welcome back to this real America's Voice news break. I'm Terrence Bates. Why not start this new year off with total health? There's a good chance that one of your New Year's resolutions is to either lose weight or to live a healthier lifestyle. Well, why not try something new this year so that you can actually see your resolution through my 555 challenge? Well, that may be just the thing for you.

[Charlie Kirk]

We lost weight that first week. I've gone down five notches on my belt.

[Chris Wright]

If you just follow the program, it works.

[Charlie Kirk]

I mean this is so simple and so doable and, and so I just thank y'.

[Chris Wright]

All.

[Michelle Tandler]

I have no more body aches.

[Charlie Kirk]

My mind is clear. My endurance is up.

[Michelle Tandler]

My heart is just fuller.

[Terrence Bates]

I'm Able to give more and be more present.

[Chris Wright]

It's changed our marriage, it's changed our.

[Charlie Kirk]

Relationship, and it's so sustainable.

[Terrence Bates]

Let's bring in John Jubilee. He's the founder of Energized Health and the man behind the My555 challenge. Johnny J. Always good to see you. Happy New Year.

[Charlie Kirk]

Happy New Year.

[Terrence Bates]

So, look, the reality is it is a new year. Everybody's pretty much making these New Year's resolutions. Mine typically, is out the door less than 24 minutes, 24 hours after I make it. How do you sustain these New Year's resolutions, particularly when it comes to health? Well, Terrence, I can tell you how to do it. And the reason I can, Terence, is because for 10 years, for 10 years, I just was like everyone else out here. I'd make my New Year's resolution. And guess what, Terrence? And it never was sustainable. It never was sustainable. I just couldn't do it. I was like everyone else 14 to 21 days in because it didn't work. It didn't work, Terrence, and it was not a sustainable solution. But I can tell you guys, when I found this, when I found this energized health protocol, this has been sustainable for 28 years. Now, how many of you would say 28 years now that's working if it sustained you for 28 years? So I've been the same shape and size for 28 years. Now, how many of you would like to have that story and not one medical doctor Visit Terrence, for 28 years? Because it's really hard to make a healthy cell sick. But the great news is, is this really is sustainable. This can be your last New Year's resolution. Who would like to do your last New Year's resolution that you ever do? Because, guys, you know, I make it simple for you. You could lose one of these in a week. This week. By the way, you guys can come and join Chelsea and I today. Today. You can sign up today. And Terrence, we'll spend about 45 minutes each day for the next five days. And, guys, you're going to lose this in five days. I'm sorry to cut you off, but there are people looking at this and saying, okay, looks like a big foam blob. What does that represent? Let's be clear. This is five pounds of fat. This is five pounds of fat. What your fat really looks like in your body. That's just five pounds of fat, by the way. So just think, if you got 20, that's four. You know, you got four of these.

[Charlie Kirk]

To lose or more.

[Terrence Bates]

But the good news is, is once you lose one in a week, you realize, well, hey, if I could do that every week, it won't take me long to achieve my goal. And then you realize each week that you're doing this, you realize, well, this is so sustainable. Of course I could do this for the rest of my life. John, let's get to the nitty gritty, then let's lose that £5 a week. How do you start? Yeah, guys, it's super simple. Just go log on today to my555challenge.com it costs you $5 to sign up. If you want to join the VIP group, it's $99. And with that, we'll FedEx you a medical grade scale that'll measure your hydration, your visceral fat, your metabolic age. You can get all your measurements and you get some extra one on one with Chelsea and I. So, you know, make a $99 investment for yourself, guys. It'll be the best investment you ever.

[Charlie Kirk]

Make in your life.

[Terrence Bates]

But get signed up today because, guys, it's the next five days. We only do these a few times a year, but no better time than the first of the year. So make an investment in yourself today and come and join us. It's themy555challenge.com all right, there you go. Join them today. Five bucks is the initial payment for a lifetime of health. My555challenge.com the information is there at the bottom of your screen. Log on, get all the information you need. But more importantly, this is your opportunity to sign up and start this new year off on the right foot. Well, that's going to do it for us. As always, we appreciate you being here with us. Now let's get you back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[Andrew Colvett]

All right, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show. Hour two is underway. We have Scott Bessant at the Economic Club of Minnesota, Soda giving a speech about a lot of the domestic policies that President Trump is delivering on. And I think there's a lot of wins to celebrate, certainly, and we're gonna keep monitoring that. But in the meantime, I wanted to bring on Michelle Tandler. She had a tweet that went extraordinarily viral about Mamdani's new tenant director in New York City. She is now the head. Her name is Sia Weaver and she is, boy, is she a peach. Blake, she is an absolute peach. And to help us unpack just what a peach she is, wanted to bring in Michelle Tandler. She has, her website is Notes from the front dot com. She is based in New York City. She's fighting the good fight. Michelle, welcome to the show.

[Michelle Tandler]

Hi. Thank you for having me.

[Andrew Colvett]

Absolutely. Very, very good to have you. Your tweet was illuminative. It was illuminating and it was crazy because she scrubbed her social media accounts and her crazy tweets, but you grabbed these and screenshotted them and made sure the world still had access to them. And, Blake, why don't you just set the table for why that, why this is important? Because there's two real competing visions right now.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah, yeah. So we want to talk about this. Obviously, it's especially big news yesterday. So yesterday, President Trump announces he's going to take steps to stop very large institutional investors. BlackRock is the meme one, but there's others from owning single family homes. And this was a hobby horse of Charlie's. He talked about the need. You need ownership. You need people to own a stake in society. So we talked a lot about young families owning homes, getting access to those things. Now, housing affordability is also a topic on the left. Both sides talk about it, and Charlie would talk about that choice. Mamdani ism versus maga. And so I think President Trump's actions are hopefully, you know, the MAGA version of this. But we are seeing Mamdani is sort of the avatar for what the left is considering to do on housing. And he has this new advocate for tenants or whatever her office is, Sia Weaver, and she has some very radical takes of her own that I think are a good insight into. What's.

[Andrew Colvett]

Oh, it's an insight. Peering into the leftist mind. Scary way.

[Blake Neff]

So, Michelle, why don't you just take this away from us?

[Andrew Colvett]

What?

[Blake Neff]

You logged a bunch of her statements.

[Terrence Bates]

You.

[Blake Neff]

You were very clever. You logged all the things she'd said before they got any attention, before they could get deleted. What were you able to find?

[Michelle Tandler]

Yeah, I wish I had captured more. I took these back in September, actually, when she first was. Sort of first came across her. Her as a person, her Twitter account, and just saw a lot of stuff that was pretty concerning. So I took some screenshots. Back in September. I was planning to write a thread on her views on housing since she was the housing advisor for his campaign, which I thought was pretty relevant. Housing in New York City is one of the most important topics politically. We have a huge housing shortage. I believe the vacancy rate is something like 1.4%. The cost of housing is astronomical here. And I have for a long time believed that the reason the cost of housing is so high here is because of progressive housing policies, things like rent control, rent stabilization, zoning restrictions, a lot of bureaucracy and red tape on building. It's not a very developer friendly city. I don't have enough knowledge to be able to speak to how friendly it is towards landlords, but I can certainly say, see, a Weaver does not seem friendly towards landlords. She seems to have a very, very defined view of landlords as being evil, which I just think is shortsighted and wrong. You know, I don't. These housing units don't just like fall from the sky. Prefab, pre. Made for people to inhabit. Like it takes a lot of people to create a housing unit and a lot of people to keep a housing unit operating. And a lot of her beliefs are pretty destructive in my opinion. So I screenshot a bunch of her stuff. Also just some of her other views that were pretty offensive. She has a lot of really offensive things to say about people of different racial categories, etc. And they just. Yeah, when she was announced in a.

[Blake Neff]

Position of power, I got one of them here. Impoverish the white middle class. She said that in 2018.

[Andrew Colvett]

That was just like a definitive statement. Like impoverish them.

[Blake Neff]

Impoverish the white middle class. Home ownership is racist, slash failed public policy.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, she hates gentrification too. I mean, what's. So give us. Read one of. One of the. One of your favorites here, Michelle.

[Michelle Tandler]

Yeah, you know, we can just start. That one's perfect. That's the one I started my thread with. There is no such thing as a good gentrifier, only people who are actively working on projects to dismantle white supremacy and capitalism and people who aren't. I found that fascinating. First of all, she lives in a gentrifying neighborhood. And for people who aren't familiar with the word gentrifying, it usually refers to people who move into neighborhoods that are historically poorer or more filled with people of color. So it's, you know, a term that use. Use to describe whiter, richer people moving into those neighborhoods. I mean, from what I understand, Sia Weaver lives in Crown Heights, which is historically a working class, mostly Jewish and black neighborhood in Brooklyn. Yeah. So she lives there. I think she's written that going to the suburbs is wrong, moving into the city is wrong. And she seems to believe. I don't. I'd be curious to know her views on what kind of housing is okay in her mind. I guess public housing. She has a lot written about how she wants all of us to live in public housing. I can share some of those. She says, you know, public housing for everyone. Rent control and public housing for everyone. Massive government interventions to solve gentrification. Yeah, look at this image against the private market.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, this is one from 2017. So I'll make sure the team has it here. This is a really amazing one that you pulled. This country built wealth for white people through genocide, slavery, stolen land, and labor. Labor, White supremacy built the north and the South. So deep thoughts from Sia Weaver, who we also found out is her mom lives in a $1.4 million craftsman. And the Daily Mail apparently tried to confront her about this, partly because of your tweet going so viral. Michelle, I think you really helped shine a light on Sia Weaver and some of the crazy things. And she burst into tears and ran away, and there's all these things, these images of her. I think. I think she's never really had the spotlight put on her. And yet Mamdani is standing by her in this newly revitalized office for, I guess, tenant rights.

[Terrence Bates]

What.

[Andrew Colvett]

What new powers? Yeah, what. What new powers has he bestowed upon this office? You say it's revitalized. What. What. What is she actually in charge of? What power does she have?

[Michelle Tandler]

Unclear. I think that's actually going to be the most interesting thing to be looking at over the next couple of years, is how much power does the New York City Mayor's office have? There's a lot of unknown there about checks and balances, from what I can tell. I think she'll be focused on the topics that she's been writing about a lot. So hearing organizing tenants, basically. And, you know, if you. Look, I don't know if you have the clips up of her videos, but she's pretty explicit. She basically says, I don't know. Know if you're able to get to it now, but she basically says, what we want to do is have. We want to drive down the value of housing, so we want to have lawsuits against the landlords, we want to have organizing, we want to have complaints, we want to have rent control. Like, she has sort of a list of, yeah, you could say, yeah, we've got a couple down the value of real estate.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, we've. We, we. And this is. This echoes something that Mamadani said in his when he was sworn into office, where he says, we're going to get rid of rugged individualism and we're going to replace it with collectivism. 314. This is her take on it.

[Charlie Kirk]

I think the reality is, is that for centuries, we've really treated property as an individualized good and not a collective good. And we are going to transitioning to.

[Michelle Tandler]

Treating it as a collective good and towards a model of shared equity will require that we think about it differently. And it will mean that families, especially white families, but some POC families who are homeowners as well, are going to.

[Charlie Kirk]

Have a different relationship to property than.

[Michelle Tandler]

The one that we currently have.

[Andrew Colvett]

So she's going to seize property from white families.

[Michelle Tandler]

The part that I found so fascinating about that clip is it starts with for centuries, for many centuries, we've. It's like, yes, for many centuries we've.

[Charlie Kirk]

Had private property, actually.

[Michelle Tandler]

Yeah, like, that's what our modern world is based on. Like the, that's what built the brownstone she lives in. It didn't like, it's not. This is not like they just grow out of the ground.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

That's the truth about it.

[Andrew Colvett]

We got to take a quick break. More with Michelle Chandler exposing Sia Weaver, Mamdani's new tenant rights director or whatever. We'll be right back.

[Michelle Tandler]

All right.

[Andrew Colvett]

Welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show. When the payment on your distressed or defaulted private student loan is so big that you can never get ahead in your finances, why refi is your best option? You finally take control of your student loan situation with a plan that works for your monthly budget. Because of private student loan debt, many Americans feel stuck and helpless and they've even lost hope. You don't have to be that way. You don't have to live that way. Why refi gives you a light at the end of the tunnel. They refinance distressed and default to private student loans, which are different than federal loans. Blake, that's the whole point. They're different than federal loans. We should always kept it private. By the way, that was part of the whole college caused a big bubble. It caused a huge bubble. But there are a lot of folks that still carry private student loans. It still makes up a huge chunk of the student loan pie in the United States. So can you imagine being debt free and not living under the burden anymore? The first step is contacting Y refi. So Visit yrefy y refi.com or call them at 888 y refi 34. Check them out. May not be available in all 50 states. That's the the caveat I have to give legally. But if it's available in your state, they are surely going to be the best option for you. If you have private student loan debt that you are getting behind on, that's the key. So again, visit them 888. Give them a call 888 Y refi 34 or log on to yrefi.com that's yrefy.com check them out today. They are great patriots, great people. And I couldn't say enough good things. So more with Michelle. Michelle Tandler. You are a New York resident. You have a website that is notes from the front because you're fighting the good fight in a very blue, very dystopian new world with Mamdani as your, as your mayor. And you've got absolute communists that are now appointed to really powerful positions. We're sort of trying to figure out how powerful SEO Weaver is going to be. Let's play one more clip from this. This peach of a lady. Just an awful, awful way of looking at the world.

[Charlie Kirk]

316 people like homeownership because they like control. And that's been perverted by like deep.

[Michelle Tandler]

Racism and deep classism in our society.

[Charlie Kirk]

So like we have to not have a racist in class of society. And so that's like something we need.

[Michelle Tandler]

To think about, like deeply.

[Charlie Kirk]

But you know, we, it's about, to me, it's about control. And why rent control is really important is because rent control alters the dynamic.

[Michelle Tandler]

The power dynamic between renters and who.

[Charlie Kirk]

Who owns the building.

[Andrew Colvett]

So it's all about control. Apparently people like having.

[Blake Neff]

Well, so what it is here, I was starting on this and then we hit the break is this is clearly a woman with just a giant, just a giant ball of resentment. That, that is, that's really what motivates her. I mean, some of the stuff, I don't even think we've gotten a chance to read it yet, but she has stuff where she's like, oh, I wish. Oh yeah, really needing to repress the desire for revenge right now. I wish I believed in God so I could believe that all men who take credit for women's work and all white men who take credit for the work of women of color would one day burn. Like, that is not a emotionally well calibrated individual. She's a, she's a ball of resentment. She grew up in a completely normal family in a relatively nice neighborhood. She's had a huge amount of opportunity. She has an incredibly comfortable life offered to her by the bounty of civilization and let's be frank, the bounty of free markets. Because if she was stuck in an actual legit communist country, she'd be hosed. Her life would be terrible. And Delta should kick all white people in Christmas outfits off Planes. She's just. She's spent years posting depressive resentment against her neighborhood, her community, people who are white, like herself, implicitly against her parents, whatever she may feel about them. And she just. She's now manifesting all of her personal resentments as a political platform. And that's actually a lot of the modern left is. It's taking personal gripes and grievances and justifying them on the grounds of, actually, I have a revolutionary political platform. That's how it functions here.

[Andrew Colvett]

Michelle. I totally agree, by the way. And there's a whole spiritual dynamic. I think that tweet you pulled is, like, very telling because the left oftentimes tries to replace God with some sort of, you know, mission here on earth that. To fill the gaping void in their hearts. But, Michelle, on the ground in New York, what is it like? I mean, are people talking about this, this person a lot? Is she. Is her profile raising because of how extreme some of her views are?

[Michelle Tandler]

Yeah, and by the way, I completely agree there's a spiritual element. We don't know what's in her heart or mind, but it's certainly. I don't. I've never met someone who has, like, a deep sense of peace writing that they want to see people burn. The. Yes, people are talking about this. It went viral beyond what I could have ever expected. People are nervous and scared. I mean, I don't have many friends who are Mamdani fans. Most people. People are scared for a number of reasons. People are scared about what's gonna happen in public safety. You know, Mamdani has a long record of saying very, very negative things about the cops. I think people are very nervous. We're going to see a huge walkout and a lot of cops, like, retiring early or quitting, which could impact public safety. People are nervous about just his general lack of job experience. I don't think he really worked for his first six years after college. He's had, like, a bunch of different stints. But people are nervous about his ability to run the complexity of the city. Things like sanitation, transportation. Obviously, landlords are nervous. Like, the. What's concerning is I think Mayor Mamdani agrees with Sia. If you go to the last tweet in the thread, it shows Mamdani saying, back in 2020, people often ask what socialists mean when we say we want to decommodify housing. Basically, we want to move away from a situation where most people access housing by purchasing it on the market and toward a situation where the state guarantees high quality housing to all so, you know, people are wondering, why isn't he firing her after all these tweets have come out? I think the reason is because he agrees. I mean, she. That was, I think, how I originally came across her. I don't know. I saw that she was retweeting this. But anyway, so this is, this is a belief system. It's anti, I would say it's anti American. It's definitely anti the Constitution to say we want, you know, the state to manage housing for everybody. I don't think anybody wants to live in state owned housing. And there are actually a lot of people who do live in state managed housing here in New York City. We have, I think, 178,000 units of NYCHA, New York City Housing Authority. They have a reputation for being in horrible disrepair. There are tens of billions of dollars of unfixed repairs at stake right now. I would love to see the mayor and SIA focus on nycha. In fact, I actually think SIA should move over to nycha. I don't think she should be living in a free market unit if she's against the free market. I think she should show solidarity with her constituents and move into a public housing unit. She'd have a lot more credibility if she did.

[Andrew Colvett]

You should tweet that. And I will retweet it, but that, I mean, absolutely. I think that the fact that there already is this sort of socialist government run housing vertical within the New York City government and it's being run poorly, it sounds like notoriously bad shows that this is going to end in a very bad position. Michelle Chandler, thank you for capturing these tweets. Thank you for joining us. I think this is just a fascinating insight into a really radical person that represents, I think Blake's right, sort of a larger swath of the left than we really care to believe. But I think it's true. There's a lot of these crazies out there and now they're getting into positions of power, which is terrifying. Michelle, thank you for joining us.

[Michelle Tandler]

Thank you for having me.

[Andrew Colvett]

We'll be right back. Don't go anywhere.

[Terrence Bates]

Welcome back to this Real America's Voice news break. I'm Terrence Bates. The deadly Minneapolis shooting involving an ICE agent and a woman he claims was trying to run him over with a car is still all the buzz this morning. ICE is backing the agent, saying that the shooting itself was in self defense. This is video of the situation right here. You can see it all unfold for yourself. We know that the 37 year old woman was shot in the head. After that agent said she tried to pull off and run him over again. You see it happening here in the shots fired. The car ultimately crashes about 15 minutes ago or so. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in New York on another issue, addressing this particular shooting and offering her condolences not only to the officer but also to the victim's family. Also challenging lawmakers and other people in charge to be responsible with their words.

[Michelle Tandler]

I'm encouraging all elected leaders to work together so that we can be cooperative in getting dangerous criminals off of our streets. Remind you tomorrow as Law Enforcement Day, please take the time to thank a law enforcement officer who's out there keeping us and our family safe.

[Terrence Bates]

Meantime, the fallout from Wednesday's shooting continues as schools in the area are closed today as a safety precaution. Neighbors are also being encouraged to remain calm. State and local officials are demanding that ICE leave the state, though Wednesday night a vigil was held for the woman who was killed and demonstrators were also used that event, as well as the hours leading up to it to protest against the ongoing ICE operation in the city. President Trump posting on Truth Social that the officer who fired the shot is recovering in the hospital. The commander in chief going on to write, the reason these incidents are happening is because the radical left is threatening, assaulting and targeting our law enforcement officers and ICE agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of making America safe. We need to stand by and protect our law enforcement officers from this radical left movement of violence and hate, he writes. And the events of the last 24 hours in Minneapolis could set the stage for a face off between the state's National Guard and federal agents. Minnesota Governor Tim Wall saying he is prepared to deploy the National Guard if necessary. He's also expressing outrage over the shooting. And the mayor of Minneapolis is pushing back against the Department of Homeland Security's narrative that the incident was self defense. Listening to the sound of freedom.

[Charlie Kirk]

It's the Charlie Kirk Show.

[Michelle Tandler]

All right.

[Andrew Colvett]

Welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show. We are monitoring the press conference with Vice President J.D. vance and Caroline Levitt. It is ongoing. Right now they're talking about the Minnesota stories, ice, all of those good things. But right now in studio we have Dr. Kent Engel, who has a book out that came out in October, college Without Communism. You can see it right here. Let me move it over. And if you can't probably see it on your screen, but right up here, it's actually got an endorsement from Charlie. He sent it in on September 8th. His endorsement, which is two days, obviously, before September 10th, when we lost him. So that. That says something right there. He says about the book. College education has become rotten to its core, but it doesn't have to be. Higher education began as a Christian endeavor and in college without communism. Dr. Kent Engel and Joshua Lisak explain how we can undo the damage and restore college as it is meant to be. Well said to Charlie there. Yeah, we have the endorsement as well, zoomed in for you all if you want to see that. And so, Dr. Engel, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.

[Terrence Bates]

Well, thank you. What a privilege to be here. So thank you for your kind invitation.

[Andrew Colvett]

You are. Pleasure to have you. You are the president of Southeastern University, based out of Lakeland, Florida. You got 13,000 students on that campus alone.

[Terrence Bates]

Not that. Not that campus. About 4,000 students on that campus alone.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, but you have satellite campuses and you have one right here in Phoenix. So tell us about this book. I mean, you obviously know something about this. You're creating a network of universities and college campuses that partner with local churches often that doesn't have communism in it, which is a. Has become a radical idea.

[Terrence Bates]

Right, Absolutely.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah. Tell us about.

[Terrence Bates]

Yeah. Well, first of all, as a. As a president who is on the front lines of having the privilege to invest in a generation that we believe God is raising up to make a difference in this world, to come alongside their life, the original intent of higher education is focused on spiritual and moral development. When you get the chance to be able to pursue truth and able to pursue character development and shape virtuous leaders, all in the purpose of helping these students discover their divine design, the way God made them, the way God created them. We're reminded in Ephesians 2:10, you are a masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do good things, which he prepared long ago. Well, how long ago? We know in Psalm 139, before you took your first breath, God was creating you and making you in your mother's womb, and you would be able to go on. And we tell every student that comes our way, you're a solution to an issue, to a challenge to a people group in this world. And we get the privilege to pour education into your life so that you can be a good steward of that. But what's sad is we see so many universities and colleges, and of course, as of late, we. We see that in a lot of the Ivy League colleges, but that have drifted from this original understanding of how education started. It was all about formation, all about discipleship, all about the integration of truth Faith and, and learning. And they have drifted. What they've done is they've. They've traded truth for ideology and they've traded wisdom for indoctrination and for freedom of thought to, to conformity. And, and so we need to create a new framework that helps us to make sure that we get education back on track, doing the very thing that we're supposed to do. Provide stewardship for these amazing students that God sends our way. And we're delighted to do that. And, and not only do we get it back to its original purpose, but here's the deal. We also have to hit the three most important issues in higher education today. How are we providing great access? How are we providing affordability? And how are we providing experiential education so that actually what they're learning in the classroom, they actually get to, to do it right at the same time and get out into the workforce and do things that will make a difference. A difference and have an impact in their communities.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, a lot of people. One of Charlie's favorite things to say was that the root word of education means to lead forth, to bring about something which is potentially present in that student. And so much of education has turned into a conversation. What do you feel? What do you think to put in or to like, figure out what they already think. I mean, and really, you need to have leadership leading students towards something that is defined, that is clear. And I feel like so much of modern education has become aimless, you know, secular rot, brain rot. And, you know, I was looking it up. So of the Ivies, you mentioned it, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Congregationalist, Puritan. They were started as institutions by those denominations. Princeton was Presbyterian Congregationalist, Brown Baptist, and Columbia Anglican, Penn and Cornell were nonsectarian.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah, that's a very pen thing to do. Yeah.

[Andrew Colvett]

But still deeply influenced by Protestant culture at the time. Blake went to one of the Ivies. So we won't hold that again.

[Blake Neff]

Yeah, whatever.

[Andrew Colvett]

So give us some examples of how you said college without communism, how Christians can reclaim truth in higher education. Give us some examples of how communism has infiltrated higher education that maybe they're not aware of, maybe our audience would not be aware of.

[Terrence Bates]

Yeah, well, what they do is they begin. And I see it so often. I've seen so many stories. Students from our local church and from our community that have chosen to, to go to a state college or to a private college that doesn't focus on the foundational issues. And what happens is they're. They're told truth is relative, that faith Is, you know, not part of what we really believe shapes our lives. They, they look at patriotism as naive and, and then they, they look at this whole idea that moral clarity is fluid and it's all opinion and what's shaping these students at these, these classes. In fact, what's crazy to me is, is the, the president of Harvard, President Garber just came out just a few days ago and said we were wrong. We went, yeah, we went too far. We should not have allowed faculty activism in the classroom. And for them to be in, to form political thought that was more conformative rather than being able to reason together. And that's what I loved about Charlie, and that's what we resonated in. And Charlie had the privilege to visit with Charlie on our campus, our traditional campus there in Lakeland about three years ago, and we talked about these very issues. And I love that he understood his divine design. He understood what God called him to do, to come alongside this next generation, to help form them so they could live out truth. They could live out what it means to have a call of God upon their lives, to make a difference in this world and to get education that would simply be become stewardship for their life. And, and I love how he chose the greatest place to do that, the university. Why? Because that's the place where they are forming character. They are pursuing truth. You have the ability to dialogue and reason together and, and talk about thoughtful engagement that will hopefully give you the, the tools that will connect you to truth. And, and of course, true education is connecting to truth that we understand is a person. And that's Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth and the life. And if you abide in my word, and we know the word is Christ because first John, chapter one talks about the Word became flesh, lived among us, full of truth. And so if we can connect students to truth and declare that truth in their lives, they're going to be able to live lives of purpose and lives that fulfill destiny that God has for them and to make a difference in these communities. That's why we're also about going into communities nationwide. We also know that students can't necessarily come to our traditional campus, but why can't we go to them and help shape their lives with truth and character development and formation and all the things that are important to be a good steward of God's call upon your life.

[Blake Neff]

About the traditional campus. So as college has spiraled out in cost and it's, you know, you started to see the backlash to it more People not going or curtailing it to save money. There have been people who have said this is an anachronism that you can learn as well online, you can maybe learn using AI. You can self teach yourself a lot of things. And that going to a campus in person, it's almost like a luxury consumer good. All these campuses, they just built a bunch of fun stuff here. Check out our gym, check out our theater, check out our big dorms and they just made it a big consumer good. You go there, you party and have a fun time for four years and if you can afford that, great. But most a lot of people can't and they're just going into debt for this. What's the case to be made for an in person traditional college campus shorn of those things? Like what's the value that that does still provide in a good in a true college?

[Terrence Bates]

Yeah, well, first and foremost I think a traditional campus offers things that obviously other types of delivery models can't. And I think an in person opportunity is to create community. What does, what's it like to live in community that can pursue what higher education is all about together? And there's something about being face to face in a way where you can reason with each other, dialogue with each other, learn with each other. If it's done with that original commitment of what higher education should be, that formation process. And then you have all aspects of life because it's about a holistic development. It's about physical, mental, emotional, all those kinds of things. Those things can happen on a residential, traditional way if it's guided and it's committed to what the original purpose is all about. So I think that's what makes it unique. But again we want to be able to provide, which is an important issue in higher ed today is accessibility. And I think that's why we have seen the tremendous growth that we've had. When I first came to Southeastern University almost 15 years ago, the school student body was about 2,000. But we started to look at what are the issues in higher ed and that is accessibility. How are we, are we first of all offering the need oriented educational programs the workforce is calling forth and we constantly are changing and updating that. And then look at the accessibility of delivery. How are we delivering education? There are those that want that traditional experience. There are, maybe they're athletes, they want that co curricular development and the sports programs, things like that. And then, but, but you also want students to, to be able to have access in other ways too. So how do you deliver that so we provide online learning. We go out into communities and create campuses and communities and serve. And we partner with a lot of churches because churches are on the front lines of shaping culture. And we want to come alongside and provide educational. So I think, again, access to education is important to students. And if we recognize that, then we can also hit the affordability issue. And that's the problem with, and I love Charlie talking about it all the time about the scam of education. You know, you look at, first of all, the drift from truth, but then they saddle students with all this debt. How do you go about providing a way that students can actually graduate debt free? And that's what we've done with our campuses across the nation. We actually can go into communities like right here we have SCU Arizona. It's housed at Dream City Church, and it is a flourishing college there. But we can cut the cost of that educational program by two thirds.

[Andrew Colvett]

Got to take a quick break here. More on college Without Communism with Dr. Kent Engel in just a few minutes. Stand by. Vice president is going off right now in this press conference. Let's go ahead and throwback to that for just a moment. And Then more with Dr. Kent Engel when we return.

[Charlie Kirk]

What's not reasonable is for so many of you to plaster all over the media that this was an innocent woman and that the ICE agent committed murder, which is what many of you have said explicitly and some of you have said implicitly. That's what I have an objection to. The idea that this was not justified is absurd. And I think everybody knows it in their heart. Yeah. In the green jacket taking down the.

[Michelle Tandler]

Temperature, it seems like political violence is ratcheting up and riots could be around the corner. What steps does the administration have planned to try to unite America? Average people on both political sides are so tired of fighting with each other. And I think all the journalists in this room could agree with me that we want to be part of the problem. Do you have any words to unite America?

[Charlie Kirk]

You know, I know you don't want to be a part of the problem. And I think that true of a lot of you. I'm not sure it's true for everybody because the reporting over this has been one of the biggest scandals I've ever seen in media. I've never seen a case so misrepresented and misreported when you have a guy who was defending himself and is now being treated as some sort of federal assassin by so many of the people in this room. First of all, let me say about Crime. You mentioned violence. One of the things we're proudest about is that you saw violent crime over the last year now dropped by 20%. Why is that dropped by 20%? Is it because we're attacking our law enforcement officers? Or is it because we in the administration are empowering our law enforcement officers to enforce the law? I think that's one of the ways you take down the temperature is you make people feel more secure and safe in their person and property. That's why we care so much about protecting our law enforcement, because it accrues to the benefit of the entire national community. I think that we can absolutely talk about the ways in which, you know, we can try to. We can lower the temperature by discussing differences in a reasonable and rational way. Again, I'm happy to talk with any congressional Democrat or any of you about our immigration policy, about why I think it's necessary, about why I think it's in the best interest of the country about why the President of the United States was elected to actually enforce the border for the first time in at least four years. So here's the problem. That's not the debate so many people are having. They are actively covering for people who are committing acts of violence against federal law enforcement. It is preposterous. The way to take down the temperature is to stop it. Have your debates about policy. Attack me, attack the President of the United States. Don't attack our law enforcement officers. They are trying to do the job the American people demanded that they do. They are not policy. They are enforcing the law. They should be treated with a modicum of dignity and respect. And the fact that they're not is why incidents like yesterday happened. The one final point I'll make about this is, look, there's a part of me that feels very, very sad for this woman, not just because she lost her life, but because I think she is a victim of left wing ideology. What young mother shows up and decides they're going to throw this car in front of ICE officers who are enforcing legitimate law? You've got to be a little brainwashed to get to that point to where you're willing not just to protest. That's fine, not peacefully protest, but throw your vehicle in front of legitimate law enforcement officers and drive your car into them. To get to that point, you have to be, I think, radicalized in a very, very.

[Andrew Colvett]

All right, welcome back. Just had to take a little bit of that. JD Vance Presser, because he was going off on the White House press corps for painting ISIS some sort of federal Vigilantes, Gestapo. And they totally have it coming, by the way. I mean, it's just insane how this whole situation is being framed. Anyways, back to the issue at hand. You were just telling me a story about your visit post communist Romania. Yeah, Romania. And tell us about how that impacted the writing of this book.

[Terrence Bates]

Yeah, well, yeah, this. This book, I share the story of why I'm so passionate about this issue. My wife and I had the privilege in the early 90s to. Right after Ceausescu government had fallen. So they were reeling from the effects of the devastation of communism in the nation of Romania. And we had the privilege to go there to adopt three of our three children. And I remember going there, and I was just shocked at what I saw. I saw a nation that was impoverished and. And oppressed and spiritually bankrupt. And we went to all these orphanages around the country and thousands upon thousands of children there. And several of these orphanages, we would walk in room after room, and there would be 30, 40 babies lying on a cold floor, underfed, uncared for. And what was wild is. Is the eeriness of it being silent. You would think with all of those babies, there'd be crying and all that, but. And. And you would look and there would be this distant stare, even at that infant, because there was a lack of love and care. And I'll tell you, it's not because the parents who abandoned them didn't love them, they couldn't afford them. Because, of course, communism comes in rooted in Marxism. And you add, socialism comes in promising, you know, opportunity and equality. But what happens is the state takes control, and you're left with control, and you're left with an impoverished state, stripped away from the very freedom that allows you to flourish and have hope. And we were able to. We talk about this all the time with our three children. You know, we had the privilege to rescue them and bring them to America and our home, become their home. And what a privilege it has been to come alongside them and help. Helping them to fulfill what God designed them to be.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, well, and it sounds like your. Your children have gone on to do pretty good things, too.

[Terrence Bates]

Yes.

[Andrew Colvett]

So we'll. We'll leave that for another conversation. I did quickly here. We've got two minutes left here. You say in chapter three, you asked the question, what happens when conservative students get a liberal education? This was a massive question that Charlie confronted. What. What do you explain in your book?

[Terrence Bates]

Yeah, well, here's what happens. I've seen these. These students, these good, strong conservative students that go to a place like this and, and after just a short period of time, their faith, they start questioning their faith, they start questioning their values that, you know, they were raised in their home. And, and again, it's because of this intentional design to, to, to, to lead them off the path of truth, that truth is just a relative thing and that, that your faith is really outdated and you should question that. And so they get this indoctrination and it starts to lead them away and they want to give up. When what we get to do at a faith based university is quite the opposite of that. We get to help them really get in tune with truth and reality and character and morality and all the things that are important to live a life that will give them joy, that will give them peace, that will give them that sense that I am significant in what God designed me to do and accomplish. And that's what's so great. And I look at these, these universities that, that had, have come in and this hasn't been by accident. They, they have realized that the way you shape the world, the way you shape a nation is by starting in the classroom. If you can shape the student, they will go out and shape the culture. And that's why this issue is so important that we make sure we're getting a hold of these amazing students, letting them know that God has a plan and a purpose for their life and we can provide that educational Stewardship.

[Andrew Colvett]

Well said, Dr. Kent. Engel College without Communism. With an endorsement from Charlie Kirk. It's an honor to have you here. Thank you for coming. God bless you.

[Charlie Kirk]

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