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- [00:00]
Andrew Colvett
This is an I Heart podcast. The Charlie Kirk show starts now. All the conversations about politics are ultimately futile if we don't know that there.
- [00:32]
Blake Neff
Is a God and it's not us.
- [00:34]
Andrew Colvett
When you understand that, the things of the political world which are important, they all become secondary because you realize the battlefield is not of this world.
- [00:43]
Blake Neff
It's not a political battlefield.
- [00:45]
Andrew Colvett
It's a spiritual battlefield.
- [00:46]
Blake Neff
Maybe that culture is downstream of our faith. And so, yes, culture is more important.
- [00:53]
Andrew Colvett
Than politics, but faith is what defines.
- [00:56]
Blake Neff
What kind of culture we live in. Charlie understood that, and he lived it.
- [01:00]
Andrew Colvett
My current belief, and I think it's the right way of looking, is I'm far more interested in what God wants of me than what I want from God. One word to describe Charlie Kirk. I look at him and think how powerful he is.
- [01:14]
Blake Neff
So if I could think of one.
- [01:15]
Andrew Colvett
Word, I think it's powerful, ethical, faithful, passionate. Charlie lived with passion.
- [01:23]
Blake Neff
To ascribe one word for Charlie, it.
- [01:26]
Andrew Colvett
Would be, he was a force, personal. He's a man of courage.
- [01:31]
Blake Neff
He was resilient in his faith.
- [01:32]
Andrew Colvett
He was resilient in his conviction. He was resilient in his knowledge of the word of God, his love for.
- [01:39]
Terrence Bates
The country, his knowledge of being a patriot.
- [01:42]
Andrew Colvett
Charlie was a man of honor, of character, love for God, and, of course, love for his family. And that's what I believe he'll always be known for.
- [02:00]
Terrence Bates
Well, to Charlie, I would say on this side of eternity, thank you for answering the call. And as a believer, I will see him again.
- [02:09]
Blake Neff
For many of us in this country, we'll know we'll see him again. But I want to say thank you. Thank you for what you've done for so many of our young people.
- [02:16]
Andrew Colvett
Well, first of all, I would just express enormous gratitude.
- [02:19]
Blake Neff
What you allowed God to unleash in our country. You were a really, really important vessel.
- [02:25]
Andrew Colvett
You ran hard, and it's hard to even talk about his name in the past tense. Still, it's difficult to articulate the depth.
- [02:34]
Lee Zeldin
Of gratitude that we should all hold for Charlie Kirk. Charlie would not want anyone to be silenced by that bullet that stole him from us. I feel like the message that the world is sending to Charlie Kirk right now is that his. His sacrifice certainly wasn't for naught.
- [02:58]
Andrew Colvett
When you make that covenant with the Lord on that altar, don't let that fire burn out from the altar. That love is so special and so powerful.
- [03:09]
Scott Bessant
You married your soulmate.
- [03:10]
Andrew Colvett
You married the person who God made for you. He was the perfect father. He was the perfect husband. Charlie always believed that God's design for marriage and the family was absolutely amazing. And it is. It is. And it was the greatest joy of his life. And over and over, he would tell all these young people to come and find their future spouse, become wives and husbands and parents. And the reason why is because he wanted you all to accept, experience what he had and still has. He wanted everyone to bring heaven into this earth through love and joy that comes from raising a family. It's beautiful.
- [04:20]
Terrence Bates
Sa.
- [05:06]
Andrew Colvett
What do you think makes the perfect snack? Hmm.
- [05:09]
Terrence Bates
It's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.
- [05:11]
Andrew Colvett
Could you be more specific?
- [05:13]
Terrence Bates
When it's cravinient.
- [05:14]
Blake Neff
Okay.
- [05:15]
Andrew Colvett
Like a freshly baked cookie made with.
- [05:16]
Terrence Bates
Real butter, available right down the street at am, pm. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can.
- [05:20]
Andrew Colvett
Grab in just a second at am, pm.
- [05:22]
Joe LaVorgna
I'm seeing a pattern here.
- [05:23]
Terrence Bates
Well, yeah, talking about what I crave.
- [05:25]
Joe LaVorgna
Which is anything from am, pm, what.
- [05:27]
Andrew Colvett
More could you want?
- [05:28]
Scott Bessant
Stop by AMPM where the snacks and.
- [05:30]
Terrence Bates
Drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient. That's cravenience.
- [05:34]
Andrew Colvett
Am, pm. Too much good stuff.
- [05:42]
Blake Neff
Every day there's a battle for your mind Raging information coming from every angle.
- [05:47]
Terrence Bates
With the will to deceive Fear not.
- [05:50]
Andrew Colvett
You found the place for truth the.
- [05:52]
Blake Neff
Voice of a generation that still has the will to believe in the greatest.
- [05:56]
Andrew Colvett
Country in the history of the world.
- [05:58]
Joe LaVorgna
This is the Charlie Kirk Show.
- [06:01]
Andrew Colvett
Buckle up, here we go.
- [06:06]
Lee Zeldin
All right.
- [06:07]
Andrew Colvett
Welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show. I'm Andrew Colvett, executive producer of this fine show, joined as always by producer Blake Neff. And I'm honored to say we are also joined by Secretary Scott Bessant. Thank you so much for joining us. Mr. Secretary, it is an honor to be with you, to have you join us in this beautiful room that we are in. The Cash Room.
- [06:29]
Scott Bessant
Yep. Well, gentlemen, welcome to the U.S. treasury and welcome to the Cash Room.
- [06:34]
Andrew Colvett
Yeah, I mean, this is a beautiful, beautiful space that we're in. It's historic. Apparently they used to hold the actual cash of the US Government.
- [06:43]
Scott Bessant
We did. When we had it.
- [06:45]
Andrew Colvett
Yeah.
- [06:46]
Scott Bessant
When we had more cash than debt.
- [06:48]
Andrew Colvett
Right. But Blake was commenting that we are now 37 trillion in debt. So it's empty now, but it's a beautiful room to do a show in. Nevertheless.
- [06:57]
Scott Bessant
Good and excited to have you here.
- [06:59]
Andrew Colvett
It's an honor, sir. I just want to start, you know, at the basics. You have not had a chance, at least on this show, to reflect on the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. This is, of course, would have been his 32nd birthday. We are in D.C. in order, because the President promised Erica that he was going to award Charlie the Presidential Medal of freedom on his 32nd birthday. He literally moved world events in order to race back to D.C. in order to make good on that promise to Erica. So the floor is yours, Mr. Secretary. Just expound on what Charlie meant to you, your interactions with him, and what the last month has meant to you in this country.
- [07:43]
Scott Bessant
Andrew. I was actually walking out of the Vice President, President's office when news of what happened to Charlie hit. And then the news that he had passed came after that. And what really hit me was if someone wanted to try to end the MAGA movement, the America first and the Turning Point USA ethos, obviously 10 years out, Charlie was going to be carrying the torch. And if you wanted to try to end the movement, the way to do it was to assassinate Charlie. And clearly this is what was on that person's mind. We'll see if there was a larger network involved with this. I have no reason to believe there was. I have no reason to believe there wasn't. And to me, everyone knows Charlie was a family man, he was a Christian, he was a patriot. But the Charlie I knew, too, was also an educator. And what I admired on his show was the love that he had for all of his listeners, for everyone involved in Turning Point for his country. But what he did on the show, and that's how I got to know him. And one of the reasons I'm sitting here today is that Charlie was such an aggressive and forceful advocate for me to become Secretary of the treasury because of the time we'd spent together. And his financial breadth and depth was incredible. He was an autodidact, he was self taught in finance. And he passed that knowledge on because he saw, as I saw, that what had happened to this generation, this group of young people. And it's been a tough time. There was the financial crisis in 2008, there was Covid. But he was optimistic and always talked about the future. How do we get ahead, how do we stay ahead? And Charlie, like myself, believes in the system. And if you believe the system works, which I do, which he did, you want to bring more people into the system, and it's through education. That's why I say he was such a great educator.
- [10:10]
Andrew Colvett
I think that's really well said. He, his, if you boil down his mission, his mission was about his faith. His mission was about his country and his family. But his mission was in a general sense, about bringing disaffected young people into the American dream. He wanted them to buy into America, the idea of what this country is. And you guys talked about that. You actually had, I believe it was April Alexander. You could fact check me on that. But it was Financial Literacy Month, and you honored him in the show. And we brought in a bunch of TPUSA chapters from around the country, and you talked about finance. I mean, that. But so you have shown your commitment to the same things that Charlie was committed to, bringing in the next generation and living the American dream as you have. And maybe just speak about that and the importance of bringing this next generation into the system, into believing they can make it in America, that they don't have to be disaffected young people anymore.
- [11:09]
Scott Bessant
Well, in a way, too, Charlie, when I, when I was younger, there was someone called Norman Vincent Peale. And for those of you who don't know, President Trump went to Marble Collegiate Church in New York, and the minister was Norman Vincent Peale, and he wrote a famous book called the Power of Positive Thinking. And in a way, Charlie was the Norman Vincent Peale for your generation. And it's easy to be cynical. It's easy to get down. The world is a tough place. It's moving fast, but it always has. And to look forward, what can you do to increase your resilience, resiliency? What can you do to increase your literacy? What can you do to make your odds better of success? And that was the movement he was creating, as you said, just to be part of the system, to get people on board with believing in the country. Because we are celebrating the 250th year of the country, and we got to get ready for the next 250. And it's going to be the same and it's going to be different, but it's going to be driven by young people. And we have to energize our base to believe in the country. Because, you know, what you see now? And I'm just astounded. It's almost like they're two Americas. They're. You look out. And they're the people who are full of hate and venom. And they're at these protests, like just the protest yesterday. Yesterday, I believe, was the greatest day thus far this century, with the hostages coming home, the beginning of the peace process, which no one said could be done. And President Trump did it. But there were people out there with that venom and vile behavior. And then every Saturday, you look at, there are these collegiate football games and military flyovers and people waving the flag, and it's almost like we're in a contest for America. And Charlie was determined that good was going to win, that we were going to see the light. And it was going to be through faith and education, belief and family and country and everything that got us here for the first 250 years is what's going to take us for the next 250 years.
- [13:38]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
I'm really glad you mentioned just the love Charlie had for ordinary Americans, that he really wanted to uplift them. We're getting a lot of all the happy birthday wishes are just pouring in and we're getting in. You know, everyone's saying, charlie, good afternoon. I'm starting my lunch and it's time for me to watch the show. And already tears are in my eyes. We have Happy birthday, Charlie. Something about the show today has me crying again. What a beautiful soul. We lost, but heaven gained. That's from Heather. And just so many people had this close. Even if they never met Charlie, they felt a personal connection to him, and he felt a personal connection to them as well. He, he loved this country. He really wanted to better this country, sustain this country even. You know, as, as Erica said at, at the memorial, he cared so much about even trying to help people like, like the man who killed him, allegedly.
- [14:34]
Andrew Colvett
Yeah. And, you know, this is, this is a very true thing about Charlie, that he was reaching out to help the types of people that ended up ending his life. And, and I really don't have the heart today to dwell on that too much because it's too devastating to think about. But, you know, you said something and I've got to do an ad read here real quick. But just to preface, the next thing I want to talk about with you is Charlie and you shared a vision for Main street in this country. It's a vision. President, here's. It's a vision that is not. He said Wall Street's going to do just fine. They're going to do fine, but we got to get Main street back on track. And they, they have not had their turn for a while. And I believe that really impacts the next generation specifically. So hold that thought for one second, Mr. Secretary, and we're going to keep going in just a second. I want to take a minute to thank one of our incredible ad partners here. And that's Good Ranchers. They stand for the same values that we stand for here on the Charlie Kirk Show. Charlie believed in putting faith and family first, and that's exactly what good Ranchers is all about. They're a Christian American owned company delivering 100% American beef meat, beef, chicken and seafood right to your door. No imported junk, no compromise. In a time when big corporations are bowing to woke agendas, Good Ranchers is standing strong for God, country and common sense. And we love Ben and Corly Spell and Good Ranchers are amazing people. Charlie was a proud customer. He trusted them. You should too. I trust them as well. Visit good ranchers.com and use the code Kirk K I R K. When you subscribe for an additional $40 off plus free meat for life, you're gonna have to find out what that means by going to goodranchers.com that's Kirk for $40 off plus free meat for life. Will be right back with Secretary Scott Bessant. All right, we are back with Secretary Scott Besant, the U.S. treasury Department. And we were talking about this idea of regular Americans. Charlie was a champion of the grassroots. We never lost track of that at Turning Point. We will never lose track of that at Turning Point or on this show, you like to say the muscular class, the guys who shower before and after work. Tell us about what this administration is doing to reach regular working Americans with the economic promise and prosperity that only America can offer.
- [17:08]
Scott Bessant
Andrew, as you know, it's Main street that got President Trump here. Wall street was never foreign until he won. He always, whenever we have a lot of the business leaders in the office, he'll poke at him a little, well, you're here now, but you weren't with me in 2022 during, during those dark days. But the people were with President Trump. That's what the first time I went to see the president about two years ago, told him I wanted to be part of the campaign. You were like a superstock. You go up on bad news because the people are with you. And going, going back to when we were talking about Charlie, that the five hours of tribute to him a few weeks ago, I wasn't able to make it, but I watched it all on TV and there was some incredible points made, eulogies, feelings, passion. But one thing that really stuck with me was what Stephen Miller said. They have made you immortal. They have made you immortal. So with the award today, Charlie, as I said, President Trump is a movement. Charlie was a younger version of the movement and would have carried it on. But the movement now is going to be immortal. And I think that this generation should be inspired. Whenever anyone asks me what they should do is it, look, the president is setting the table for all kinds of opportunities. We are bringing back precision manufacturing, so there are going to be factory jobs. We are reaching out to Main street through small banks. And small banks are the lenders to small business. So young people want to start businesses. I may not look like it in these clothes, but I'm also a very large farmer.
- [19:12]
Blake Neff
So.
- [19:13]
Scott Bessant
So small banks are the largest source of agricultural lending. So for your listeners in rural areas, we've seen people moving away from farms. I think farming is great business. I got into it about 10 years ago. So, you know, there are opportunities and it's going to require both financial literacy and skills based training. We have an incredible shortage in the trades in nursing that we probably overemphasize college degrees. And I'm sure there's this whole generation who got out who they've got a lot of student loan debt and degrees that don't work for them. But I think through President Trump's initiatives, we are going to see a both a Main street comeback, a working class comeback and the opportunity to accumulate the real assets over the long term.
- [20:13]
Andrew Colvett
Well, I certainly hope you're right. And people don't realize this about Charlie, but he was an autodidact. He was a self taught man when it came to economics and he was really into the Austrian school, Milton Friedman. I mean he, that was actually his start was learning the macroeconomic basics and then, and then advanced learnings as well. But he, he was rooted in fundamental economic ideas and I was, I was.
- [20:42]
Scott Bessant
In all of his knowledge. He was like as Benjamin Franklin was to electricity. He taught himself, he was to economics.
- [20:48]
Andrew Colvett
And he could, he could talk it with the best of them. And you saw that firsthand. We're going to welcome back national radio in just about five seconds. Don't go anywhere.
- [21:09]
Scott Bessant
All right.
- [21:09]
Andrew Colvett
Welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show. I am Andrew Colvitt, executive producer of this show, joined by Blake Neff and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessant on what would have been Charlie's 30 seconds birthday. So we're here remembering our friend and brother and, and you are as well in the audience. Blake, you've got an email for us.
- [21:29]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Yeah, we've been getting so many, just a wall of them during that break. But we want to read this one we got earlier today from Jennifer. She wrote, happy birthday Charlie. Here is my gift. Dear Charlie, my life has changed since yours was taken from you. And now every day is bittersweet. I have gone back to church after decades away and brought my children with me. I'm praying for my husband. I am sober over three weeks, thank God. I now wear a cross around my neck proudly. I found it amongst my old gold jewelry that I was going to have melted down into a cross as I'd never had one and I truly have no idea where it came from. It's small rose gold with a Celtic feel like me and I think it was a divine gift. Regardless of how that may sound to some, I know countless others have changed their lives in similar ways and I can't help but think that these are the best birthday gifts you could have ever hoped for. I pray for your family, feels all your love today and every day going forward. God bless Jen from Canada, your new sister in Christ.
- [22:32]
Andrew Colvett
Amen.
- [22:32]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
And we're getting so many, so many.
- [22:35]
Andrew Colvett
Emails like this free charliekirk.com keep sending them. If we don't read them on air, we're going to read them personally and they mean a lot to us, the team as well. So please rest assured about that. I want to play a clip here that's really important because you're working on a very important piece of this. I wish we had more time for this. So let's just get right into it. 1:36 Let me tell you something. I'm not sure with anybody but the last message that Charlie Kirk gave to me before he joined his creator in heaven was he said that we have the dismantle and take on the radical left organizations in this country that are fomenting violence. That was the last message that he sent me before that assassin stole him from all of us. So that is a powerful clip. Stephen Miller said something similar when JD hosted the show on the Monday after he was assassinated. And Treasury I come to find out coming to D.C. that treasury has taken an active role in an aspect of this dismantling of the financial networks that are supporting some of these radical left violent groups. Share with what you can. I know it's an ongoing process.
- [23:52]
Scott Bessant
So it's an ongoing process and I will tell you that after 911 treasury became the driving force behind tracking down the networks of terrorist organizations, how they were financed. How could this have happened on US soil with these international terrorist organizations? Where did the money come from? Who were the ultimate funders? And that was on the international side. And Andrew, I will tell you that Charlie's death is like a domestic 911 that we are going to find. It has alerted us to what Charlie knew, that these organizations are working within our borders. And look, we believe people have a right to free speech. They have a right to organize, they have a right to protest. But they have to do it peacefully. They cannot embrace violence. And we have seen it. We've seen it since the terrible day two years ago, the anti Semitism and the bias that came out after October 7, 2023. And many of these organizations have been financed by nonprofits. And it's going to stop. And we are going to, as they always say, follow, follow the money. When you see these groups where all the signs match, they have hundreds of the same umbrellas that they're using, you know, after they caused the mayhem. They have same lasers that they're using to blind our police force. You know, how are they constructed? Because this takes a lot of money. It takes a lot of organization. And we are going to do that. We have started to compile this, put together networks and there's a long record here. And we don't know how much of the support is coming in from overseas. We don't get know how much being supported by US nonprofits, C3s that give money to C4s. But this is mission critical for us. Now, just as after 9, 11 and Osama bin Laden, the ultimate culprit was captured, we are operationalizing this here at treasury and we are going to track down who is responsible for this. So Charlie's death has set this off and we are determined, we're determined not only to honor him, but to keep our country safe and to ensure freedom of speech on both sides. That we can't, as conservatives, we can't be afraid to go out and speak. You know, I know people are canceling speeches. They're having to bring down the size of the rallies. President Trump was millimeters away from death and he was not deterred. And we're not going to be deterred.
- [26:48]
Andrew Colvett
God bless you for that. I wish I had more time, but that was a powerful message. Thank you, Secretary Scott Besson. Thank you so much.
- [26:55]
Scott Bessant
Pleasure.
- [27:06]
Andrew Colvett
Foreign.
- [27:14]
Terrence Bates
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- [29:26]
Scott Bessant
All right.
- [29:27]
Andrew Colvett
Welcome back to THE Charlie Kirk show. Andrew Colvett here, executive producer of this show along with Blake Neff. And we have a new guest. I'm gonna, I'm gonna tease just for one second and I'm gonna tell you first about Hillsdale College, history, economics, the great works of literature. Did you study these things in school? Probably not. But even if you did, maybe it's time for a refresher course. Hillsdale College is offering more than 40 free online courses, including their newest course on totalitarian novels. In this free eight lecture course, you'll learn from Hillsdale College President Larry Arn, the legendary Larry Arne, as he goes in depth on four novels, 1984, Brave New World, Darkness at Noon and that Hideous Strength. Even though these novels were written in the 1930s and 40s, they are more relevant today than ever. And they show what tyrannical governments can do to human nature. Maybe you read these books long ago in school. Maybe you've heard others talk about them. But listen, Hillsdale can make them less intimidating and make sure you get the most out of them. And I honestly think it's a great birthday present to Charlie on what would have been his 32nd birthday to dive into Hillsdale. Learn, learn like he did. Be an autodidact. Let Hillsdale help you along the way. Go right now to CharlieForHillsdale.com that's CharlieForHillsdale.com no cost. It's easy to get started. C H A r l I e4hillsdale.com so Joe LaVorgna is the counselor to the secretary of Treasury, Scott Besson. So you, you have been on this show before, you were on with Charlie and we were talking about it with the, the secretary that one of Charlie's passions was economics. People don't, I don't think always associate Charlie with economics, but he, the way he got into politics was studying the Austrian school, studying Milton Friedman. He got really passionate about these macroeconomic trends. He got really passionate about the debt and the currency valuations and things like this. And so you are one of the guys that goes out into the media and talks about what the good work that treasury is doing. And we were talking in the break about, you know, how this economy is doing. Is it doing well? Is it doing, is it a mixed bag? I think it's, it's doing mostly well. I mean, the animal spirits are alive and well in this country. So maybe just start there and tell us, give us that 30,000 foot view of how you see things going, how treasury is viewing things in this current moment.
- [31:52]
Joe LaVorgna
Sure. Thank you very much for having me. The data are as, are as good as they could be. I mean they're actually very good thanks to President Trump. So in the second quarter, his first full quarter in office, we grew 3.8%. If you take the federal side out, we actually grew 4.5%. So the real GDP excluding the federal government grew at 4 and a half percent. And in the third quarter, the latest estimate from the Atlanta Fed, which a lot of people look at, is at 3, 8 with also a very similar profile of the growth being led by the private sector, consumers and also capital spending Capex, that's investment in things like AI and other technology. So that's really what's driving the economy. The labor market is not great. We learned after the fact that the Biden job machine really didn't work very well, that we had about 2 million downward revisions over two years. That's a huge number.
- [32:49]
Scott Bessant
Yeah.
- [32:49]
Joe LaVorgna
So the economy is doing well thanks to President Trump. We need to get the labor market turning higher. Unfortunately, the shutdown is hurting, hurting a lot actually. And that's a factor that we're concerned about. But the long term outlook under President Trump is excellent.
- [33:06]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
So Charlie was very, one of the things he would talk about repeatedly over the last few months. He talked about the future of young people in America because there's a lot of extremism among young people. We've seen polls even after Charlie's death that show shockingly high share of, especially those on the left among those under 40 support overt political violence. And he would talk about this choice between MAGA and mangionism. Luigi Mangione, the guy who shot the healthcare CEO, and he would basically say, you need to give young people a stake in the economy, a sense that they have ownership of things, or they'll become really politically radical. One of his big passions was you need to have young people be owning homes. We've seen, I think in the 1980s, the average first time home buyer was about 29 years old. That's grown to 38. It's gone up almost four or five years just since COVID I believe. And he was very concerned with that. What can we do to make it so young people are buying into the system rather than feeling hopeless and atomized. And I was wondering if you have any thoughts on what the Trump administration can do along that dimension to especially uplift the youngest Americans who are otherwise at risk of getting really radicalized.
- [34:21]
Joe LaVorgna
Charlie is exactly right. And the Treasury Secretary recently highlighted the fact that we have a housing affordability crisis to Charlie's points that he was making so eloquently. One of the things you can do certainly is get inflation down, because under the prior administration, inflation ran at a near 5% annual rate. That's the highest since the inflationary 70s. We have high inflation, you have high interest rates. Under President Trump, he's been able to get inflation rate down substantially. That's allowed blue collar wages to expand it to grow quite significantly. And also a lot of interest rates, rates of decline. So you look right now at US interest rates, the 10 year yield, the benchmark borrowing rate for mortgages and for corporate borrowers is around 4%. So that's very positive. And that will eventually pull mortgage rates down because inflation is declining. And all the investment that I talked about that President Trump is getting going in the economy, that will increase the economy's ability to produce goods and services, which will further lower inflation so mortgage rates can't come down further. The administration is also working on things to try to expedite the permitting process, trying to lower some of the costs. Things like that will help, no question, because as you said, young people need to have a skin in the game, need to have a stake in the outcome and feel like they're not disillusioned. So Charlie was exactly right about that. It will take time to undo the policies we had under the prior administration. But we are optimistic that as the cost of living goes down and as worker wages, wages rise, you'll get more young people being able to go into the home, you know, the home market, and be able to buy, get affordability higher and things will turn. It'll take some time, but things will turn.
- [35:59]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Yeah. Another important part will be another thing Charlie talked about a lot, the college scam, sort of deflating the scam elements of higher education. Did you see this yesterday with the, I believe it was Santa Clara School of Law.
- [36:13]
Andrew Colvett
No.
- [36:14]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
So this is something that's unfolding right now. One of the things the Trump administration recently did is it capped the annual amount of student loans you could take in the PLUS loans to $50,000 a year. This is the super student loan. A lot of people getting graduate degrees get it and they capped it at $50,000 a year. So Santa Clara School of Law, last year their tuition was $62,000. This year they announced a scholarship that every single person who goes to the school will get such that their tuition is now $50,000.
- [36:44]
Andrew Colvett
That's a practical example.
- [36:46]
Joe LaVorgna
Well, that's it with the government. I mean, I mean, Alice Rivlin, probably not well known among many folk, old person like me knows who she is. She was head of the Congressional Budget Office under, I believe under Clinton and was a vice chair of the Fed. She's certainly not a rightist in any way shape form, but she talked about how government with education causes all sorts of big problems and how they basically create artificial demand. To your point about what the Trump administration is doing, trying to get government out of the market. So that's very important, lowering costs. So things like this are very important. Let the private sector do its job and let the government get out of the way so that costs can fall to make education cheaper for everyone. This also comes back to your point on housing. Trying to get the government out of the way, senseless regulation that doesn't allow building and things to go forward in a more productive way so that cost can be, you know, can be lower.
- [37:43]
Andrew Colvett
How concerned are we about artificial intelligence? You talked about this dichotomy between you had 4.5% real growth in the, in the private sector, but you are, there are struggles in the labor market, obviously. That's what I think of first when I think about young people getting skin in the game, getting on that, that first rung of the ladder to start building wealth and building a career. Is AI something that you are looking at actively? How concerned are you about it eroding, especially those entry level jobs you think financial markets, right. Financial analysts on Wall street, that's the first jobs that are getting cut. So, so how worried are we about that first rung on the ladder of career building as, as the first jobs that are going to get cut because we're seeing some negative trends with Gen Z employment.
- [38:30]
Joe LaVorgna
Look, all new technologies are very disruptive but the history, the US economic history is such that they ultimately get the economy growing and expanding and thriving in a much better place. So I'm not worried about AI necessarily replacing jobs, although there might be some areas where there is some, you know, some effect we have. We need a lot of jobs and a lot of high tech tech areas certainly in a lot of high skilled areas, trades, tradesmen, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, all those things to build. You know, we need a lot of that labor. We're so short of the fact that the administration has secured the border and gotten rid of significant amounts of illegal workers which are artificially depressing. Yes, worker wages is also very important. But like when you want to build and the President wants to re industrialize the manufacturing base, create high value, high value added high paying jobs. Those aren't AI jobs, those are jobs that you're building. You're operating a factory, you're getting capital coming in. That's where the US economy will thrive. And President Trump as a builder knows how to create things. The secretary has been excellent and helping articulate and seeing that vision through. And you're going to, we've got all these new industries, look at the equity market, look at the boom we're seeing across these hyperscalers. I mean there's so many wonderful opportunities. I have to think that the outlook and the ability to do business and to transact in a meaningful way and not be impeded by government regulation and high taxes, those are all things that are going to create jobs for all sorts of people, all sorts of Americans. So it makes me really optimistic. It's not to say there weren't certain areas, there will be some dislocations, but President Trump knows how to create jobs and we'll get done.
- [40:09]
Andrew Colvett
You know, I, we were had the opportunity to speak with the Vice President yesterday just briefly and you know, it struck me that he is extraordinarily bullish. Glass half full you could say on AI and its ultimate impact that you know, we've seen this with the railroad, we've seen this with the automobile, we've seen this with the dot com boom. So these new technologies come in, they are disruptive but ultimately they lead to, you know, greater productivity which leads to additional job opportunities. And hopefully we, we are able to backfill some of that with trade schools that are in higher trades. Right. You think of trade schools you think of, you know, carpenter, H Vac, that kind of thing. But there's trade schools for these high tech. Maybe it's going to be trade schools for programming or, or robotics or automation.
- [40:57]
Joe LaVorgna
That's right. My father, he's retired mostly, but he ran the largest trade school, vocational trade school in Connecticut. So yeah, there's tremendous amounts of opportunities that are there. And look in the bill that was just passed, one big beautiful bill. There's full expensing for capex, there's going to be full expensing for factories. So all the things you talk about in terms of building that the President wants to create, those tax incentives are there, which makes the forward really, really bullish.
- [41:22]
Blake Neff
Vice President.
- [41:24]
Andrew Colvett
I'm glad you brought that up because Charlie would talk about that a lot. You.
- [41:26]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
He would.
- [41:27]
Andrew Colvett
He, he really wanted that. He became a big, big believer in the one big beautiful bill because he saw that the Capex that was going to drive a ton of investment in the short term because, you know, private business owners, he was thinking about it from a personal standpoint, going like, well, if we can write all this off right now, let's do it.
- [41:43]
Joe LaVorgna
Let's do it. And it's still to come.
- [41:44]
Andrew Colvett
Yeah. And we haven't seen the impact of that. Right.
- [41:47]
Joe LaVorgna
Not even. Not yet. We will see it next year. It will really be a wonderful boom.
- [41:51]
Blake Neff
It's going to be a big.
- [41:52]
Andrew Colvett
And that's going to be like, you know, restaurants and small businesses, factories, manufacturing, warehouses. Right.
- [41:57]
Joe LaVorgna
We had the small business sentiment data today. The numbers still look really solid thanks to President Trump.
- [42:02]
Andrew Colvett
That's great. Okay, well, it's good news. Good news. More with Joe LaVorgna in just a second. I'm going to tell you About Tax Network USA TN USA.com this feels very poignant to do this. Read particular where we're at, this is not the irs. We're not there. But it does feel adjacent somehow. The government needs your money. They need more money and it's your money. If you owe the IRS back taxes, they can garnish your wages and levy your bank accounts. They can even seize your retirement or take your home, which sounds terrible. Do not let them target you like that. Call the professionals at Tax Network usa. Their tax lawyers and enrolled agents are experts in powerful programs that may even help you eliminate your tax debt altogether. Tax Network USA is A plus rated and has saved over 1 billion for their clients in just one phone call. You can start the process of stopping the threatening demand letters, stopping the aggressive collections and resolving your tax matters once and for all go to tnusa.com tn USA or call 1-800-958-1000tnusa.com we will be back in just a few minutes.
- [43:13]
Lee Zeldin
Foreign.
- [43:18]
Andrew Colvett
Spirit.
- [43:19]
Joe LaVorgna
You're listening to the Charlie Kirk Show.
- [43:24]
Andrew Colvett
Hello. Welcome back to the Charlie Kirk show to our real America's Voice audience. I want to tell you about why refi.com feels very pertinent to the conversation we're just talking about with. Was that, what was that college?
- [43:35]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
I believe it was Santa Clara School of Law.
- [43:37]
Andrew Colvett
Santa Clara School of Law. Private student loan debt in the US totals about 30 $300 billion and about 45 billion of that is labeled as distressed. Why refi refinances distressed or defaulted private student loans that others will not touch. They provide you with a custom loan payment based on your ability to pay. So you are guaranteed if you work with them that you will be able to make this, this payment every month. That's the huge and most important piece. Yrefi is not a debt settlement company and they work with each borrower individually tailoring each loan to each borrower's specific situation. You will not be calling a faceless call center. So listen, it's going to take a three minute rate check without any credit impact. Bad credit is accepted. If you have a co borrower, they're going to get rid of mom and dad off of that loan, which is huge for them. You can even skip a payment every six months up to 12 times without penalty. That's right. So go to yrefi.com that's y r e f or call 888-Y-REFI 34. That's 888-Y-REFI34. We're going to hear more of your emails next and more economic news. Be right back. All right. Welcome back to the Charlie Kirk show. We are reading your emails that you send to us@freedom Charlie Kirk dot com. That's Freedom Charlie Kirk dot com. So, Blake, the floor is yours. It's obviously his. Would have been his 32nd birthday and a lot of you are sending in your birthday wishes.
- [45:09]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Yeah, you know, it's just, it's just so many. We've got Nicole here. Good morning. What a glorious day. We've been blessed with. I got, I have to get through a lot of this. She had a lot, but she's, you know, sorry. I opened one that was, that was.
- [45:25]
Andrew Colvett
Really for yours.
- [45:30]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Joby. I am remembering Charlie today on what would have been his 32nd birthday. We attended a vigil for Charlie last night in Central New York 350people came to praise Jesus, give testimonies and speak about how Charlie impacted their lives. He is a beloved young man who has done immeasurable work for this country. Thank you, Joby or Joanna.
- [45:52]
Andrew Colvett
Harry's is nice.
- [45:53]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Harry's. Let's see. See. Do you want to read that one?
- [45:56]
Andrew Colvett
I'm so very sad. But today, Charlie Kirk receives the highest honor any American can receive, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He truly earned it and deserves it. I still wish he was here with us all. Charlie was a warrior for the kingdom of God. He is a martyr. He is in heaven. I pray for him and his entire family every night. God bless you all at Turning Point usa. Sincerely. Sincerely, Harry. Just one after the other. I mean, and some of these are longer. Tim says, I'm still angry. I knew Charlie was special. I believe that the celebrities who are moving out of America may have been funding antifa and other socialists. Justice for Charlie, we're going to find out. That's what's so great about what treasury is doing as well. So I'm going to play a clip for you here, Joe. And I have to confess, our audience is probably like, I was barely aware of the shutdown. I mean, obviously I follow the news. I knew it was happening. But you know, outside of the D.C. area, it wasn't. But when I came here, all of a sudden it was like, oh, I can feel the shutdown. Right? You really feel it when you're in dc. Let's go ahead and play a cut that's going viral right now of Speaker Mike Johnson listing some of the crazy things that they want to pass in order to reopen the government. The Democrats 149 in their legislation, their counter proposal on the CR to keep the lights open. This is what they want to do. They want to spend 24.6 million of your hard earned dollars as a taxpayer for climate resilience in Honduras. They want to spend 13.4 million for civic engagement in Zimbabwe. They want to send 3.9 million for LGBTQI plus democracy grants in the western Balkans. They want to spend 2.9 million of your dollars for desert locust risk reduction in the Horn of Africa and 2 million for, quote, organizing for feminist democratic principles in Africa. Africa. So, Joe, you're the counselor to the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant. You, you know this stuff better than anybody. You're also like a famed economist. I want people to understand that you're not, you're not just the spokesman. You are yourself a really renowned economist. Our people don't care about the Shutdown, they care about Charlie's birthday, things like.
- [48:09]
Joe LaVorgna
But.
- [48:10]
Andrew Colvett
But the question is, should they?
- [48:12]
Joe LaVorgna
Here's why it matters. CEA County Economic Advisors estimated that we could be losing $15 billion per week of lost output because of this shutdown. That's a lot of money that adds up. Obviously, cumulatively over time is significant, but because we're. And because we're not getting any economic data, the Federal Reserve, which the President has accurately said rates are too high. The Fed has been begun cutting interest rates. If we had data that I think might be weaker because as I said earlier, the Biden jobs market was not very good. And we got handed in a market that was losing a lot of downward momentum. Maybe the Fed should cut rates more. So not having the data because of the shutdown is a problem because you may be not making the best policy decisions because we don't have any information. And of course there is an economic hit and there's also a human toll. This doesn't have to happen. As I'm sure you know, there were 13 clean budget, clean continuing resolutions Democrats passed over the past four years. If you go back and look historically, I counted no less than 15 the Republicans passed when they were the minority party in power without there being a shutdown. So that they.
- [49:22]
Andrew Colvett
In this speech, by the way, Speaker Mike Johnson said that he. They went and counted all of the CRs that Chuck Schumer supported and it was 29 out of 30 over his tenure. And the one he hasn't is this one. So. You know, Blake, I don't know if you have any final thoughts. We're coming up against a break on the hour, but maybe we just leave it with. Go ahead.
- [49:43]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Honestly, I would. I'd like to leave it with. I don't know if we have it ready to throw up. Someone ordered.
- [49:48]
Andrew Colvett
Yeah, this is great.
- [49:49]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Charlie's, you know, Starbucks order, the mint Majesty tea with two honey packets. And the barista took that order and then wrote on the cup, don't lose your voice.
- [49:59]
Andrew Colvett
There it is.
- [50:00]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
And it's also baristas in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where I'm from. So I'm gonna shout out my hometown for having good baristas.
- [50:07]
Andrew Colvett
That's amazing. Well, Joe, thank you so much. Joe LaVorgna, counselor to the Treasury Secretary. Please carry on the mission. Keep thinking about Gen Z as you're doing this and.
- [50:19]
Joe LaVorgna
And Charlie, of course. Thank you so much.
- [50:20]
Andrew Colvett
Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. We have Lee Zeldin and Senator Mike Lee in our two here from the cash room. At the Treasury. We'll be back.
- [50:46]
Terrence Bates
Welcome back to this real America's Voice news break. I'm Terrence Bates. One of the lesser known facts about the body is its ability to renew itself, even in areas we once thought couldn't regenerate. This woman that I'm about to introduce you to is a witness, and it's all thanks to her work with Energized Health.
- [51:04]
Andrew Colvett
Mental clarity is amazing. I hadn't been able to basically feel my feet for about a year and.
- [51:11]
John Jubilee
A half, and I. I just realized last week, after the cat ran across them and they hurt, that I can really feel them again.
- [51:18]
Andrew Colvett
I don't have pain in my back. I can get on the floor and.
- [51:20]
John Jubilee
Get back up without help.
- [51:22]
Andrew Colvett
When I'm playing with my grandkids, the peace that I have since I started is absolutely incredible. I'm an entirely different person.
- [51:33]
Terrence Bates
The man who helped her out is right there on your screen. John Jubilee, the founder and CEO of Energized Health. John, good to see you.
- [51:40]
John Jubilee
Great to see you, Terrence.
- [51:41]
Terrence Bates
So let's talk about some of the areas where the body can kind of rejuvenate itself. And how does hydration actually help support that sort of healing?
- [51:50]
Blake Neff
Yeah.
- [51:50]
John Jubilee
Well, first of all, you know what. What a great story. You know, so, Terence, a lot of people have neuropathy or they have nerve damage because. Or poor circulation. And so what a cool thing that someone said, hey, that was a good feeling. That my feet hurt because I had a cat run across those cat cloths. But, you know, anyone that has any type of, you know, neuropathy or sometimes what they call, you know, drop foot, you know, a dead foot, you know, those type of things, you know, the sleeping issues, the brain fog, you know, when you get that healthy circulation going, Terence, through that intercellular hydration, you really can reverse those things. And, you know, and I love hearing about, you know, not just parents, but grandparents, right? So here's grandparents. That lady said, terrence, she's getting down on the floor, up and down off the floor as a grandparent, playing with her grandkids. And, you know, that's creating a legacy. When you can actually be an active participant in your grandchildren's lives, that's going to leave a legacy. Your grandkids will never forget that grandma or grandpa was getting up and down off of the floor, playing with them, Terence. And there's a. There's an amazing medical study that came out that said longitivity of life is basically now tied to one thing, which is strength. Strength. The stronger we are, Terence. The longer and better we're going to live. And our muscles are 75% water. They're 75% water. So that's the power of intercellular hydration. It gives us our lean muscle mass, which gives us strength, which gives us a long, amazing life.
- [53:37]
Terrence Bates
And it's my understanding that this intercellular hydration that you talk about also could help us with our brain, kind of getting those neurons and protons fiery.
- [53:47]
John Jubilee
Well, thousand percent. You know, our brain is 70% water. Our brain is mostly water. And our brain and our heart are electromagnetic devices. They are electrical. And how come nobody would get in the bathtub and turn on their blow dryer and throw it in the bathtub? Because everyone knows water conducts electricity. You would get electrocuted. It's the same in your brain. The more hydration you have in the brain, the more electrical conductivity you have. So you have way more neurotransmitters and brain synapses firing in there. Terrence, the brain. There's three things in a human body that never age. Your voice always stays the same. The voice doesn't age. That's why you'll see some 80 year olds singing just like they did when they're 20. Your eyes always look the same. Your eyes don't age. That's why they can use a retinal scan, because the eye never changes and our brain actually never ages. It only gets dehydrated. If it gets dehydrated, that's when we lose our memory. That's when we lose brain function. So we can always get that back with our intercellular hydration.
- [55:01]
Terrence Bates
Interesting. Quickly, in 20 seconds, folks who are interested, how can they find you?
- [55:05]
John Jubilee
Well, best thing to do now, guys, is go to my 5, 5, 5 challenge calm. We got a challenge coming up where we'll share this science with you, Chelsea and I. My wife is so fun, guys. She makes science entertaining. It's $5. It's $5. Come and just spend Cabinet. Like having a cup of coffee with John and Chelsea for five days. My five, five, five Challenge Calm.
- [55:28]
Terrence Bates
All right, folks, it's right there on the bottom of your screen.
- [55:53]
Andrew Colvett
All right. Welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show. I am Andrew Colvett, executive producer of this show, joined by Blake Neff and honored to be having Cabinet, another cabinet level guest on the Charlie Kirk show. While we're here, administrator of the epa, Lee Zeldin.
- [56:10]
Lee Zeldin
Gentlemen, it's good to be with you both.
- [56:12]
Andrew Colvett
Yeah, well, it's honored. We're honored to have you. You probably. And I You know, I don't want to offend anybody else, but Charlie maybe said more nice things about you, Lee, than, you know, just as far as your ability to be an effective administrator of the epa, but like an effective operator, just solid. He's so behind you. It's just from top to bottom, I never, ever heard him say anything but just wonderful things about you. So it really is fitting that you're. You're here on his. What would have been his 32nd birthday.
- [56:44]
Lee Zeldin
That feeling couldn't possibly be more mutual. The respect, admiration that I and so many others have had for him. And, you know, I shared a thought with both of you when we were together last night about what's happened over the course of last month. Coming across these parents who had no idea how much their sons and daughters were greatly looking up to Charlie and paying attention, tuning into this podcast every day, listening to all of those videos over TikTok and learning so much from him again. And so inspired by Charlie and what's happened over the last month, not only have these parents had this epiphany as to what was going on with their sons and daughters, but now those parents have been watching all these videos, like, wow. And I gotta say, as somebody who was in touch with Charlie a ton, I. I appreciated him. But like, when you, when you saw the. The response following his death, not just from across this country, but around the world, I didn't spend any time thinking about this, you know, a possibility that we might lose Charlie so soon and that you'd have that kind of a turnout on his passing. And I remember driving into the stadium and seeing so many people who were walking the other way because the stadium was full, the overflow was full, and, and I mean, it's. It was a hot day inside of Phoenix. These are older, older people. But you could have filled up another stadium.
- [58:18]
Andrew Colvett
Oh, we could have filled up, I think three, maybe four, actually. Yeah. With all the people that were there. It was funny because our tech partners, apparently this is very standard at a stadium like this where they monitor how many devices are in and around the stadium. It's not some, like, conspiracy or whatever, but they. That, you know, the State Farm arena, or stadium rather, you know, it's host Super Bowls and things like that. They're very. They have a great team, actually. And they, they confirmed with US it was 277,000 devices. So I mean, you figure you got 70,000 people in that stadium. I mean, you could have filled that up three, maybe more times. And so it was an amazing, amazing Outpouring of support. And as you said, you know, you. I mean, we were up close to it, and I. I kept telling Charlie every six months, I'd be like, I have to recalibrate just how famous you've become. I couldn't, because I was so close to it. And then I would see him and I would take him out, and these moments would happen. I'd be like, you're getting mobbed like you're a beetle, you know?
- [59:20]
Scott Bessant
Yeah.
- [59:21]
Lee Zeldin
I remember shortly after, I came into Congress, and Charlie was doing an event in D.C. and we're talking about almost a decade ago, and I walked into this venue in D.C. and there were thousands of young men and women with so much energy. It just. And it was just so genuine. It was so. It was so pure. For people who are talking about Charlie as if this was, you know, some explosion over the course of, you know, the last few months or the last couple of years, you could go back a decade earlier. This guy who. 32, 32nd birthday today, I'm talking about, like, early to mid-20s, he was pulling thousands of people out at an event.
- [60:08]
Andrew Colvett
Talk about this, because a lot of people that have known him a little bit longer, like yourself, saw the evolution of Charlie. You know, he was a little bit more rough around the edges at the beginning. Still the same passion and, like, warmth and vibrancy that was always a constant. But you know what I mean, he got more mature, he got softer with younger people. He became a big brother figure. What did you see from your vantage point?
- [60:34]
Lee Zeldin
Well, there was. He was a very good learner. A lot of people might not realize just how much he was always trying to grow himself and become smarter, to become wiser, to see study.
- [60:48]
Joe LaVorgna
He.
- [60:49]
Lee Zeldin
When he was having this event at a school where he was challenging people to come up to talk about topics where they disagree, he wasn't just trying to bring out the best of that person who was stepping up to the mic. He was hoping that that person stepping up to the mic was to bring out the best of him, of Charlie, and he would learn from that, and he would get better and stronger for it. So if you had to point to one thing that would have happened over the course of that decade that we were just talking about is that he was absorbing so much knowledge. He was just becoming so much wiser. And so many of us in life, we just. We just get through the day, and we have a job, we have a family, we have a routine, and we don't really take a moment to just take it in to reflect, to be able to pray, to grow. And Charlie was doing that in his entire day, all day, every day. He was absorbing everything. And that's such a great trait. And what will happen is by the time you're in your early 30s, you're going to be wiser than most people who are senior citizens who have just kind of dragged themselves through life, never becoming smarter and absorbing everything you come in contact with.
- [62:16]
Andrew Colvett
I so agree with that. And we are on October 14th. Obviously, Charlie's gonna get the Medal of Freedom from President Trump today. It has been moved. Blake, is it? It's been moved to the.
- [62:28]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
It's been moved outdoors to the Rose.
- [62:29]
Andrew Colvett
Garden, which I guess with the weather crowd, I believe. Yeah. President Trump said there's so many people that want to be a part of it that we are going to now do it outside, which is great. And since it's his 32nd birthday, a lot of people are sending in birthday.
- [62:41]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Wishes, and so many of them, they're writing them to Charlie. And of course, Charlie can still read them. I liked this one, Barbara. Dear Charlie, thank you for never giving up on our country and on the gospel of Jesus Christ. I remember watching you on Fox and Friends for your very first interview there. I have been following you since I have always been a Christian, but I didn't really realize that I was faithful but not walking in my faith until you were taken from.
- [63:05]
Andrew Colvett
Wow.
- [63:05]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Because of you, I went back to church and took our children. Because of you, I am a better wife, a better mother, a better person. Your words made me realize that the only way for me was through Jesus. Thank you for helping me to realize that my job was never to get my children into Harvard. It was to get them into heaven.
- [63:22]
Andrew Colvett
Whoa.
- [63:23]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
That was a great one, Barbara.
- [63:24]
Andrew Colvett
That is a good line.
- [63:26]
Lee Zeldin
And by the way, it's not too often that somebody first cable news interview is memorable, is inspiring. Like the first time you do an interview, you might be somewhat intimidated by the setting you're trying not to mess up. I, you know, I remember the first time I was on Fox and Friends. I probably am the only one who remembers the first time that I was on Fox and Friends.
- [63:47]
Andrew Colvett
And meanwhile, you have so many mother and your. Your wife.
- [63:50]
Lee Zeldin
No, actually, I'm probably the only one who remembers that. Hey, but you know that there are so many people out there who remember the first time that Charlie was on Fox and Friends. Like how that never happens.
- [64:02]
Andrew Colvett
Yeah, well, and he got to host. Ultimately, he got to host Fox and Friends weekend with Rachel Campos. Campos Duffy. Sean Duffy's. Wife and Fox News host and Charlie Hurt. And that is actually one of the clips that has gone viral where his daughter Gigi was running up to go see him. And there's, there's just so many we've.
- [64:22]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Been getting, we, we're reading a small handful of them, but I'd say we probably had maybe two hundreds or so.
- [64:26]
Andrew Colvett
Since this started, since the start of.
- [64:28]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
The show when we started. Just most of them, it's just, you know, the standard, you know, happy birthday, Charlie. You will always live on in our hearts. Keep up the good work. Tpusa My thoughts to Erica and her children. That's from James. We have just, just so many, you know, I have to click open to them and all of that. But I took the day off today and I'm sporting my best Charlie ever T shirt with glowing pride. I just left a Catholic mass where I lit a prayer candle for Charlie and his family. That's from Lisa. Thank you, Lisa.
- [64:59]
Andrew Colvett
I just love that, the outpouring of support for Charlie. I mean, he knew that you loved him. I can tell you that. He knew, he did know and he loved this audience and he had a direct connection with you guys. And part of, part of the way that that happened was through these emails. But, but even I think he would be blown away at all of this. And so God bless you guys and thanks for honoring Charlie on his 32nd birthday. I want to tell you about Done with Debt and then we're going to continue on with administrator Lee Zeldin of the epa. When you're buried in credit card and loan debt, it's human nature to put it off and say, I'll deal with it later if that's you. Here's a hidden fact the debt strategy experts at Done with Debt shared with me. They discovered a little known strategy that works in your favor to dramatically reduce or even erase your debt altogether. They aggressively engage everyone you owe money to this fall and here's why. They know which lenders and credit card companies are doing year end accounting and need to cut deals. They even know which ones have year end audits and need to get your debt off their books. That means you need to get started with Done with Debt now this fall. Done with Debt accomplishes this without bankruptcy or new loans. So go to donewithdebt.com and talk with one of their specialists for free. Visit donewithdebt.com donewithdebt.com we'll be right back. All right, more with administrator Lee zeldin of the EPA. You are the 17th administrator of the EPA. That's right. Right. I saw that in your. Your X, I guess, bio. Tell us about the epa, because Charlie was not a huge fan of the epa. Was it the elimination of Productivity Agency or what? It was like the. Something like job elimination. You know, that sort of vibe with Charlie. But you have taken it. And Charlie really loved what you were doing with the epa because yours is. You have this growth mindset. Yeah, we want clean water, we want clean air, we want the cleanest water and the cleanest air. But there's a way that you can use this agency and leverage the tools at your disposal to really be pro growth. And so tell us about how you're approaching that.
- [67:19]
Lee Zeldin
So one of the biggest differences between conservatives and liberals is that we believe it's not a binary choice between protecting the environment and growing the economy. We choose both at the Trump epa, and that's a difference. And we come in. We inherited so many bad decisions that were made during the Biden administration. We have basically half of the president's deregulation agenda.
- [67:41]
Joe LaVorgna
Wow.
- [67:42]
Lee Zeldin
And we're talking about trillions of dollars of deregulation in one year. We will do more deregulation at the Trump EPA than entire federal governments have done across all federal agencies, across entire presidencies. Just one of the proposed deregulations alone. The proposed rescission of the 2009 Obama endangerment finding, if finalized, is the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States. But while we're doing that, I'll tell you the best announcements that we put out on the 100th day of President Trump's term in office, our top 100 environmental accomplishments from those first 100 days on the 200th day of President Trump's term in office, our next top 100 environmental accomplishments from those next 100 days. And we're getting people back in the office. We're right sizing the agency. We're going through reorganization. When I came in, there was a little over 16,000 employees. We're going down to just over 12,000. And that reduction, we will actually get more done.
- [68:46]
Andrew Colvett
Of course you will.
- [68:47]
Lee Zeldin
With. With just over 12,000 than the Biden EPA did with just over 16,000. It's about priorities.
- [68:53]
Andrew Colvett
Well, it's also you get rid of the whiners. You get rid of the people that are holding you back and that are actually on agenda and want to. Want to contribute to what you're doing. And you call it the Great America American Comeback Initiative. So what is that to you? Is that so?
- [69:08]
Lee Zeldin
President Trump often talks about pillar one, clean air, land and water for all Americans. It's a five pillar agenda. Number two is unleashing energy dominance. Three is advancing cooperative federalism and permitting reform. Pillar four is about making America the AI capital of the world. And pillar five is protecting bring back American auto jobs. These are all part of the Trump mandate. President Trump campaigned on delivering on all these promises and that's what powering the great American company.
- [69:37]
Andrew Colvett
So important people don't understand the EPA enough, but you can either cause a lot of damage.
- [69:45]
Lee Zeldin
Yes.
- [69:46]
Andrew Colvett
Or you can be a good friend.
- [69:47]
Lee Zeldin
Yes.
- [69:48]
Andrew Colvett
To product productive people.
- [69:49]
Lee Zeldin
Right.
- [69:50]
Andrew Colvett
It's like we don't have that, that thought in our minds instantly when we think about the epa. Charlie certainly didn't, but he trusted you to do it and he knew that you were the right man for the job. Did Charlie and you interact at all during the transition? Was he encouraging you to do this?
- [70:04]
Lee Zeldin
Oh, yeah, no doubt he was engaged during the transition process and he had a lot of ideas. We were very much in contact over the campaign and the different ways to be able to make sure that President Trump was elected and he had a Republican Congress to work with him to implement that agenda. But when the election came and went, Charlie didn't just disengage to became more engaged to make sure that the right people were coming into government, that they were focused on the priorities of this president. They weren't going to. We don't want to do is repeat any mistake of the past where the wrong people come in. They're trying to sabotage the president.
- [70:47]
Andrew Colvett
Yeah. No, I didn't mean to cut you off. I'm about to welcome back national radio. But Charlie, 72 hours after the election, flew to Florida. That was Charlie's dedication. We'll be right back. All right. Welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show. Andrew Colvett here on Charlie Kirk's 32nd birthday. We are at the Cash Room, the historic Cash Room at the Treasury Department. We are, we're reading your emails. You're sending in hundreds and hundreds of thousands happy birthday emails to Charlie. We're trying to read some of them on the air. And so please send them freedom. At Charlie Kirk.com we are joined by EPA Administrator the 17th, which is, you know, that's noteworthy. Of the glee Zeldon. I want to ask you a different question, actually. There's a lot of news about, you know, what's happening with the Virginia gubernatorial race and the New Jersey gubernatorial race. You've, you ran in a blue state. What, what Is that like, are you, I mean, I hope maybe with the Charlie effect and some of the things that you guys are doing in the Trump administration, they're going to have some wind at their back. I mean, what are you seeing in these? Do they have a chance? What, what is your advice to them down the stretch?
- [72:04]
Lee Zeldin
So we'll have to be careful about how I answer this, understanding, setting and the position.
- [72:10]
Andrew Colvett
If there was a. I, I think.
- [72:12]
Lee Zeldin
It'S so important for Canadian conservatives to get out of our comfort zone and not just speak to the people who agree with us all the time, but to go to places where maybe no one in that community vote, has voted for us in the past or agrees with us and engage with them directly. And you know, something that obviously Charlie confronted head on, especially when he was on these college campuses, and I've been experiencing this at the epa, is that there are terms, words used in the environmental space that the left is used for organizing that get particular definitions that might sound good on paper, but in reality is not what you think you're getting. The terms like environmental justice, climate justice, climate change, they get a definition and you might think that you are supportive of the concept, but actually the congressional Democrats who are pushing those terms aren't doing exactly what that definition says, environmental justice, they'll say, hey, there's a community that's been left behind, they need help. Okay, like we all agree if there's a community that's been left behind and needs help, let's, let's all help them. But actually what they're using the term environmental justice for is to get tens of billions of dollars appropriated. But their left wing activist NGO friends, they're well connected former Biden and Obama officials and Democratic donors, so that they can just, you know, eat at the taxpayer till and just waste away money with reduced agency oversight in the name of climate justice. The Biden EPA gives $50 million to a group called Climate Justice Alliance. They say the climate justice runs through a free Palestine. There are a lot of Americans who would say that we shouldn't be spending $50 million on, on an activist NGO like that American tax dollars. Or in climate change, you have people who, they'll build support with their definition, but then they'll try to get these policies across to have more control over the lives of more of the citizenry. They will try to bankrupt people who can least afford it. And I just think it's really important that we as conservatives are reminded to take advantage of all these opportunities to get out of our comfort zone, talk to people who maybe haven't supported us or understood us in the past. Maybe meet them where they are and talk to them about these important issues because they're getting fed what I would say are lies that are deceptive on purpose and it results in abuse of power and people getting taken for granted.
- [75:00]
Andrew Colvett
I think that's really well said. Confront them where they're at. People have not heard these ideas. Do not always assume people have heard your pov, because a lot of times you'll discover that they haven't. I don't know, Blake, if you've got anything top of mind or any emails we want to share, but someone's holding.
- [75:14]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
A pool party during the Medal of Freedom.
- [75:16]
Andrew Colvett
Oh, well, that's cool.
- [75:16]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
That's great.
- [75:17]
Andrew Colvett
Well, that's very.
- [75:18]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Enjoy watching it. They were in Sunset.
- [75:20]
Andrew Colvett
Okay.
- [75:22]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Just so many things, you know, we have Donna. Thank you, Charlie, for always speaking truth and being a light in the world. Your absence is just as strong as your presence. We love you and miss you, but we know God is pleased that you are with him now. Thank you, Donna.
- [75:38]
Andrew Colvett
That's what's amazing.
- [75:39]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
So many like these.
- [75:40]
Lee Zeldin
I'm thinking of this. This visual of. Of Charlie in 2020. It was on the South Lawn of the White House where the RNC was getting hosted. And he was right in front of me for the President's acceptance. This smile. And you all have seen this smile so often. I mean, you saw it firsthand in 2024 when they call Pennsylvania. You know, this epic footage, this hard work paying off, man, that smile, it was. It was someone who is just showing you so much joy and passion for the cause, for this country, for the future and hope, man. We can never forget or lose sight of that smile on his face.
- [76:27]
Andrew Colvett
That's our sacred duty here at the Charlie Kirk Show Turning Point. It's why we're here today, why we're honored to have you. I know that you and Charlie were close friends and you guys confided a lot in each other. And so your loss is our loss. And I know. We'll see you this afternoon.
- [76:43]
Lee Zeldin
Yes, sir. We'll be there.
- [76:45]
Andrew Colvett
Thank you for making the time.
- [76:46]
Lee Zeldin
It's great to be with you guys.
- [76:47]
Andrew Colvett
Awesome. We are going to take a quick break. We will be joined by Senator Mike Lee in the next segment.
- [77:05]
Terrence Bates
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- [79:37]
Joe LaVorgna
The Charlie Kirk show where truth lives.
- [79:43]
Terrence Bates
All right.
- [79:46]
Andrew Colvett
Welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show. We're doing a little guest swap. I see Senator Mike Lee is just getting into the room. You know, everybody's furloughed in the imperial capital. So getting people in and out has actually been somewhat entertaining today. But we let's go ahead and see if there's any more emails here.
- [80:03]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Blake before, because he's about to get here. Let's throw at 155. We have a Charlie tweet from all the way back in 2013. I love Mike Lee.
- [80:11]
Andrew Colvett
155 Throw that up.
- [80:13]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
And he said in 2016 that Mike Lee was his favorite senator.
- [80:17]
Andrew Colvett
154 Throw up. 154 Mike Lee is my favorite senator sent on March 10, 2016. So I hope you didn't do anything in between those times to ruin your status atop the the Senator list. But welcome to the show, Senator.
- [80:33]
Blake Neff
Thank you. I'm elated I hadn't seen those particular tweets. I'm so honored by that.
- [80:37]
Andrew Colvett
Great.
- [80:38]
Blake Neff
Love, Charlie. What a good man.
- [80:39]
Andrew Colvett
I didn't even know that he tweeted those things out, to be honest.
- [80:42]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
For everything.
- [80:43]
Andrew Colvett
Yeah, there is a Charlie.
- [80:45]
Blake Neff
I knew I was his favorite, to be sure, but I didn't realize he had told the rest of the world that.
- [80:49]
Andrew Colvett
Well, so let's just start there. Senator, you know, you were a regular, and you hopefully will continue to be a regular on this show. But, you know, you and Charlie had a close relationship. You stayed in constant communication. You know, Charlie was based in Arizona. You're just in Utah, one state away. Explain what this. This whole last month and change has meant to you. It's his 32nd birthday today. The floor is yours, Senator.
- [81:14]
Blake Neff
First of all, happy birthday, Charlie. And thanks to all of you who are keeping his legacy moving forward like the last last month has been tough. Not only did they take away a dear friend of mine, a dear friend of the American people, but they took away a leader, a husband, a father, somebody who had immense potential and destiny. I'm absolutely convinced he would have been President of the United States probably within a decade or so, which, at Charlie's age, still would have made him an exceptionally young president. But this happened almost in my backyard. UVU is just a couple miles from where I live, and it's not the kind of place where that's supposed to happen. I remember just a few weeks earlier, Charlie called me one day right after he had scheduled that particular visit and said, mike, I want you there. Be with me. Come do the event with me. And I was really excited about it. I said, tell me the date. Pulled up my calendar and realized the Senate would be in session. I said, I will be there if I possibly can. There is a chance, though, that there will be votes that have to be cast that day that I can't miss. That turned out to be the case. And a few hours before the event, the night before, I texted him and said, there's no chance I'm going to be able to get back for this. He texted me that day just as he was about to get to the event, telling me how excited he was for it. So, look, a huge loss, but it's up to the rest of us, those of us who knew him and had such admiration for him, to keep his message moving forward, to make sure that his words echo throughout the ages.
- [82:48]
Andrew Colvett
Yeah, I was not there that day, actually was originally going to go, but Charlie said, oh, stay back with your family and guest host the show. So I guest hosted the Charlie Kirk show that day, and Blake, unfortunately, was there, and, you know, so was Jason Chaffeth, and so many friends, so many staffers that will. That will live with that. But today we're kind of honoring this, what President Trump raced back from the Middle east to do, which is to honor Charlie with the highest civilian honor that our country can bestow on somebody, the Medal of Freedom and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And, you know, you see what Charlie meant to the President. And, you know, we got a chance to spend a little time last night, and so many friends. I mean, Charlie was. We talked about this earlier. Charlie was a man of the people. He was always about the grassroots, always about the muscular class, sort of reviled the elite in a sense. You know, he was a kind of a populist in that way. But. But, you know, you go around this town right now and it's like the who's who. And they all loved Charlie and his friendships and his network extended to so many of the most powerful people in the world right now. And you're seeing that on full display with the President of the United States after brokering a peace deal in Israel, Gaza, flying back, racing back for this. I guess just reflect on the enormity of that and how that. What that says about the impact Charlie's had.
- [84:17]
Blake Neff
Well, it's a huge thing, and it's one of countless data points that we can identify since September 10th of where the entire world has reacted. You've got foreign heads of state recording tributes to him. You've got the President of the United States flying to Arizona the following week for that beautiful memorial service where the President himself and many members of his senior team also spoke. He's brought together all kinds of people, and I think that's one of the reasons why I'm optimistic that his legacy will be a lasting one, in part because he's got such a great team of people who knew him really, really well. And you, you know, because you remember, because you were there for a lot of these speeches, and you're going to be able to recall with an accurate degree of detail which Charlie Kirk message fits the moment.
- [85:07]
Andrew Colvett
Yeah, I think we all have this, like, Charlie, Charlie GPT running in.
- [85:12]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
People want us to make a literal Charlie.
- [85:14]
Andrew Colvett
I know. Yeah, we're getting contacted by, you know, all these AI groups and we're like, that's there's a right way to do it in the wrong way to do it. Okay.
- [85:21]
Blake Neff
You know, I hope you'll consider it though. You consider the amount of words that Charlie uttered as part of the public record over the last decade or so, It's a very large volume.
- [85:35]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Yeah. I think what we do genuinely want is we want the ability to see everything he did say in the past. You know, with all those hundreds, thousands of hours. Yeah, I think people would be a little creeped out if we started, you know, having a robot hologram. What Charlie would say, yeah, no, no.
- [85:49]
Blake Neff
I wasn't even think of the hologram yet. But that would be a lot of fun. You probably want to watermark it to make clear a little longer before I'm not there yet.
- [85:58]
Andrew Colvett
But I do appreciate your glass half full on the AI robotics kind of stuff.
- [86:03]
Blake Neff
In the meantime place got it in his head. He can, he can do it anytime.
- [86:07]
Andrew Colvett
I do what I can. So I want to play or I want to show this image. Senator Lee, you and me kind of teamed up to make this story go pretty viral in your home state. So this was published. Go ahead and throw up. Image 99. We mentioned it yesterday on the show, but I just find this shocking. This is Bagley cartoon. The whole head gang wanted for failure to honor their oaths to protect and defend the constitution from dictatorial whims of a malignant clown. And it has you, Burgess, Owens, I mean, the Republican elected electeds from Utah. Right.
- [86:41]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
The thing to really emphasize there is the way he's put the red bandanas around them. So it's like they all have this.
- [86:47]
Andrew Colvett
Burst of red coming out of right around the neck. Obviously Charlie was assassinated with a gunshot to his neck area. And I saw this and I could not believe my eyes. And then I found out that this Pat Bagley character is a far left lunatic and they celebrate him at the Salt Lake troop as one of the longest running employed cartoonists left in America or something like that. But he's not even in America. He moved to Portugal. So anyways, I sent. I tweeted about this, send it to you and you. I don't know if you'd seen it already or whatever. I think maybe you had seen the edited version because they took down the hole in the Head gang.
- [87:22]
Blake Neff
That's right.
- [87:23]
Andrew Colvett
So I mean, how did this strike you? What are you thinking? What's the status of this? Like, can we fire this guy? Can we? I mean there's, it's just one of those things, like on a human level, I want accountability. I'm not saying you can't have free speech, but this is like October 7th. It's not even a month out after Charlie's murder.
- [87:41]
Blake Neff
Right. Look, we ourselves, of course, can't do anything about it in terms of what his future looks like there. That's not up to us, not up to any government. Their speech is protected by the First Amendment and, and I'll fight to the death to make sure that they've got that. That doesn't mean that it's a good idea. Just because you can legally and because you're protected doesn't mean that certain things are a good idea. And publishing something like this, which I regard as just the next iteration in a long series of inflammatory statements and inflammatory images like this one, they don't contribute to a good environment. Calling people fascists, Nazis, this kind of imagery is something that they've been doing for a long time. In fact, they did that just a couple days before Charlie Kirk spoke at uvu. They referred to me and Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs basically as Nazis, saying that we were bringing about the Vichy regime of the United States or words of that effect. A couple days later, a member of their editorial board was asked about it. He said, oh, those guys are totally fascist. And you know, look, they're constitutionally protected and they're right to say that, but it does create a certain atmosphere. Now this, a few weeks after that assassination occurs with the red, red bandanas around the neck with the hole in the head comment that's really, really pushing it.
- [89:07]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
So we want to, we have a clip we want to play. This is from when you came on our show last night.
- [89:12]
Lee Zeldin
March.
- [89:14]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Yeah, yeah, last March. This one of these topics came up. Let's play clip 156.
- [89:20]
Joe LaVorgna
Senator, what do you make of this.
- [89:22]
Andrew Colvett
Rise of left wing terrorism targeted at.
- [89:25]
Joe LaVorgna
Tesla and Elon Musk?
- [89:26]
Andrew Colvett
My fear, Senator, and I hope I'm.
- [89:29]
Joe LaVorgna
Wrong, and let's say stay in prayer that I'm wrong, that someone is going to get shot the same way that Steve Scalise got shot and God forbid, killed.
- [89:36]
Andrew Colvett
This is what domestic terrorism does.
- [89:39]
Scott Bessant
This is what domestic terrorism looks like. And they very much want people to be in fear.
- [89:45]
Andrew Colvett
That's why they do it. They understand that people understand that there.
- [89:49]
Blake Neff
Is a risk of bodily harm or.
- [89:51]
Andrew Colvett
Even death in these kinds of circumstances. And that's designed to induce fear. One of the worst things about what happened to Charlie, it's just how prophetic he was about raising the alarm about the rise of left wing terrorism and magionism. What I mean, I find this chilling to even hear him say that. Those words. Senator Lee, what does that, how does that strike you given what's happened?
- [90:22]
Blake Neff
First of all, I remember that, that interview. Now you play the clip and I remember just finding his words chilling when he made that comment, realizing he's probably right. This is the sort of thing that happens. So I'm glad you played that for us. But one of the most troubling things that has happened since Charlie's death has been that the extent to which there are people all over America, people in responsible positions, leftists who openly celebrated, openly applauded what happened, wishing on, on death for more conservatives. I did not expect to see this. Look, you think back other times when other prominent national figures, whether office holders or otherwise, have been assassinated, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, just to name a few. You did have, sure, a couple of crazies here or there would say something stupid, but they were immediately dismissed as not being responsible members of society. This time around, people were openly celebrating it and they were not rejected by their own. And that hearkens back to this poll, the NPR PBS Marist poll that came out about two weeks ago. I believe it was August 1st, saying that 55% of leftists in America believe that it's morally acceptable to murder the current president of the United States, Donald J. Trump. That is just chilling.
- [91:59]
Andrew Colvett
It's chilling. And by the way, there was a economist YouGov poll conducted a few days after the assassination that found 30% of 18 to 39 year old self described progressives or liberals said that political violence was justified to achieve political ends. We're going to hold right there. We've got more with Senator Mike Lee. I'm going to quickly tell you about Patriot Mobile art. We're at a break. We're going to break. I digress. I will do it after the break. All right.
- [92:43]
Blake Neff
Without thinking that in so many ways he was a protege of Rush. I'm quite certain, in fact, I think I recall Charlie saying that he was an avid Rush listener long before Charlie Kirk's name became prominent. And I'm also confident that those voices around Charlie, even before he started listening to Rush, were themselves influenced by Rush Limbaugh. So it's good to have Charlie carrying on that legacy and others carrying that forward. Even after Charlie, he's going, yeah.
- [93:12]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
A lot of people have been saying that, you know, they thought he was going to be president one day. And I guess what we can say is he's something greater than a president, actually, which is he's a martyr.
- [93:22]
Andrew Colvett
Wow. Yeah. I mean, in his legacy. You know, Charlie, it's funny because on my first interview that I did after Charlie's assassination, it was actually with Laura Ingram. It was about an hour before Erica gave her first interview address. And I said that line, I said, you know, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And I actually had never heard Charlie say that. It's just one of those things I had never heard him say. But then Erica, you know, she. Charlie was an avid journal maker taker, so he left a ton of journal entries and she never looked at them. It was. Obviously, that would have been weird. And. But when he died, she looked at some of those journals and she found a page and she showed it to me. She took a picture of it, sent me a picture of it. And it said, in Charlie's chicken scratch, Charlie did not have great penmanship. That was one thing. But it said, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And my heart about dropped out of my chest because, you know, just again, the little Charlie was incredibly in tune, I think, with the Holy Spirit. He was in tune with God. And, you know, he just, he could, he had a sense for where things were going and where things. You know, and I think there's these little, these little Easter eggs, these God winks all over his life when you, when you have eyes to see it. And anyways, we're going to welcome back national radio in about two seconds. All right, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show. Final segment of the day. We're going to continue on with Senator Mike Lee. But before that, I want to tell you about Patriot Mobile. Every dollar you spend is either supporting your values or working against them. In today's economy, when you spend your money, that's what matters most because you're impacting the culture whether you know it or not. Patriot Mobile is leading the way as America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. Switch today without sacrificing quality of service. They have all three major networks under their umbrella. You can even get a phone with two of the major networks, which is what I do. So if you don't have service with one, you can switch the other. You're never going to be without connection. So here's the best part. When you switch to Patriot Mobile, you're supporting faith, family and freedom. If you believe in our first and Second Amendment. Rights, the sanctity of life and supporting our veterans. This is where you belong right now. Go to patriotmobile.com charlie or call 972 Patriot to get a free month of service with the promo code Charlie. Promo code Charlie. So go to patriot mobile.com Charlie promo code Charlie to get a free month of service, an upgrade. They take care of all this. It's a great, great people over there. We love Glenn and Jenny. They are fantastic people. So support Patriot Mobile and just, you know, keep getting the same great service you already have and enjoy. All right, so Senator Mike Lee, I was telling this to Joe Lavorna in the first hour that we are in a government shutdown and yet you're still here. There's some other employees here, but it is funny because a lot of employees that we would normally interact with to get into buildings or get it security checks or whatever, they're furloughed. So where are we at? Should we care? You know, this was the kind of story inside the Beltway story that Charlie would usually not care that much about. But Joe's point was that you will start feeling this in a wider and wider concentric circles outside of the imperial capital. What's the status? Are we going to turn the lights back on anytime soon?
- [97:03]
Blake Neff
Look, they'll come back on undoubtedly at some point. Nobody knows exactly when. We're in uncharted territory here because the Democrats controlling not one of the three political levers. There are two political branches of government, the executive and legislative. Legislative has two pieces, the Senate and the House. Between those three pieces, the Democrats don't control the House or the Senate or the White House. For them to issue the kinds of demands that they issued in connection with leading up to culminating in this shutdown is absurd. They're not in control of any of the three branches and yet they are not even willing to accept Biden ERA spending levels. Now look, that was. I bristled in response to how generous an offer that was on our part. I understand why we did it, but it was probably an overly generous offer. They still wouldn't accept that they're so accustomed to getting their wave, the mainstream news media covering for them and Republicans getting attacked every time something like this happens, regardless of who did what, that they think that they're immune from the laws of physics and mathematics. But it's not going to end well for them. Not this time. Not with this president. He's not messing around. And so look, when we look at shutdowns, we ought to think of how many things have gone wrong along the way. A lot of people will point to the fact that we're supposed to pass 12 separate spending bills, each in a different category of government. So you can't get to an all or nothing moment like this and the whole thing shuts down. That's true even long before we get to that. Something else has broken down by the time we can get into this posture where the federal government gets so big, so expensive, with such a long arm reaching into so many aspects of your lives that the mere threat of not having the whole thing funded all at once can cause widespread panic. A government that can do that to you is a government that's gotten too big, too expensive.
- [98:55]
Andrew Colvett
Well, I love that. I feel like that's the best place where we can leave this conversation because Charlie's first big popular slogan that ever went viral was Big Gov sucks, and it still sucks. And Charlie wanted a limited government that was strong enough to affect the people's, you know, will that they voted for, but that was, you know, small enough that it didn't impede our freedoms. And so, I mean, I think, you know, Charlie would say, hold the line, Senator, and, you know, fight for us, don't give in. And I think that's the fighting spirit in some ways that has fully saturated, it seems, the highest levers of power, at least within the admin. We've got some legislators that need some work. You are not one of them. But this offense, offense, fight, fight, fight. This, this pushing forward a muscular Republican Party and conservative movement that Charlie so desperately wanted. You're seeing that on display here.
- [99:52]
Blake Neff (alternate or producer role)
Yeah, it just, it's amazing to see the out, the flood of love, the flood of support today. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy heavenly birthday is a very common one that a lot of them say. And you know, we, Charlie adored all of you and it's great to see that they all adored Charlie. And I just, I guess I encourage everyone to tune in at 4. We'll have the Medal of Freedom.
- [100:15]
Andrew Colvett
We are going to have a birthday celebration for Charlie Kirk unlike he would have ever imagined. It's bittersweet. It's going to be emotional. I hope all of you will join us. It's now going to be in the Rose Garden. President Trump has moved it, so we will see you there at 4 o' clock along with Senator Mike Lee and so many other of our friends and Charlie's dear friends. Thank you for joining us on Charlie's 32nd birthday. We'll talk to you tomorrow from the White House. This is an I Heart podcast.