Boomers and Banned Food Dyes - The Charlie Kirk Show

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Charlie Kirk Show – Boomers and Banned Food Dyes Release Date: April 23, 2025
Host: Charlie Kirk

Introduction and Overview

In the April 23, 2025 episode of The Charlie Kirk Show, host Charlie Kirk delves into the pressing issue of banned food dyes and the shifting political landscape between generations. The episode features insightful discussions with Kali Means, author of Good Energy, and Vani Hari, widely known as Food Babe. The conversation is set against the backdrop of recent developments at Texas A&M University and broader societal changes impacting both youth and older generations.

Main Discussion: Banning Food Dyes

The Dangers of Petroleum-Based Dyes

Charlie Kirk opens the discussion by highlighting the harmful effects of artificial food dyes on children, asserting that these additives are unnecessary and pose significant health risks. He states:

“We are poisoning our kids with unnecessary dyes in our food.”
— Charlie Kirk [00:00]

Kali Means responds by emphasizing the global stance against such additives, noting that:

“Every study and every piece of common sense would tell you that if a kid eats that every day it's going to cause issues. It clearly causes ADHD.”
— Kali Means [18:05]

Regulatory Shifts and FDA Actions

The conversation shifts to recent actions by the FDA under the Trump administration, which has taken decisive steps to ban harmful dyes. Kali Means praises this move as a common-sense action to protect children's health:

“As of 4pm yesterday the FDA said this petroleum-based dyes that they were safe. Marty Makary got up there with Secretary Kennedy and said it is poison.”
— Kali Means [18:05]

Marty Makary, FDA Commissioner, further elaborates on the significance of these changes:

“Parents are speaking up. They're saying their kids are behaving differently on these diets. They are aggressive. There's ADHD. So why are we taking these risks when there are healthy natural ingredients?”
— Marty Makary [25:35]

Corporate Influence and Accountability

The guests discuss the long-standing influence of the food and beverage industries in promoting harmful additives. Vani Hari criticizes the Consumer Brands Association and the American Beverage Association for their roles in maintaining the status quo:

“They bought off the USDA to say they were safe. They added 10,000 chemicals into our food.”
— Vani Hari [20:31]

Kali Means adds that these companies prioritize profit over health, leading to widespread dietary issues:

“The Consumer Brands association, the American Beverage Association … arguing petroleum-based dyes are safe.”
— Kali Means [22:43]

Impact on Public Health and Youth

The episode underscores the dire public health implications, especially among youth. Kali Means highlights alarming statistics:

“We have 38% prediabetes rates among teens in this country.”
— Kali Means [18:05]

This alarming trend is linked to the consumption of ultra-processed foods laden with artificial additives, which the administration aims to rectify through regulatory measures.

Generational Political Shifts

Boomers vs. Younger Generations

Charlie Kirk addresses the political divide between baby boomers and younger generations, pointing out that:

“Baby boomers are moving to the left. The data shows … they're increasingly more and more sympathetic with what the Democrats are doing now.”
— Charlie Kirk [00:55]

He contrasts this with the rising conservatism among young people, facilitated by effective use of social media by organizations like Turning Point USA.

Media Consumption and Information Dissemination

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on how different generations consume information. Charlie emphasizes the transformative role of social media:

“How you receive your information, more important than even what you are receiving. The medium … is critically important.”
— Charlie Kirk [00:55]

He argues that younger generations are better engaged through platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, which has bolstered the conservative movement's influence among youth.

Current Geopolitical Commentary

Ukraine and Peace Negotiations

In a notable segment, Charlie Kirk addresses the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, critiquing Ukrainian President Zelensky's stance on Crimea. He references a statement made by Zelensky and critiques it as obstructive to peace negotiations:

“Zelenskyy is going to emotionally and politically blackmail Donald Trump to keep this war going.”
— Charlie Kirk [19:33]

He advocates for peace and criticizes the prolongation of the conflict, suggesting that leadership under Trump would have prevented the escalation.

Dark Woke and Democratic Strategies

Towards the end of the episode, Kirk shifts focus to the Democratic Party's evolving strategies, characterizing them as increasingly radical and hostile:

“Dark Woke Democrats are trying out a new attitude. It's provocative, edgy and perilously toeing the line of not being too offensive.”
— Charlie Kirk [32:32]

He warns that these tactics could alienate moderate voters and emphasizes the importance of confronting these issues directly:

“You beat dark woke by making them answer very simple questions about the most radical trans, social, parental and education and immigration issues.”
— Charlie Kirk [27:29]

Conclusion and Forward Look

Charlie Kirk concludes the episode by reaffirming the administration's commitment to common-sense policies that prioritize public health and conservative values. He expresses optimism about the ongoing grassroots movement and its potential to drive significant political and societal changes.

“This is a big deal … Keep on going, Cali. This is a big deal.”
— Charlie Kirk [22:43]

The episode underscores a pivotal moment where regulatory actions against harmful food additives intersect with broader generational and political realignments, highlighting the intricate interplay between public health and political advocacy.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

Charlie Kirk [00:00]: “We are poisoning our kids with unnecessary dyes in our food.”
Kali Means [18:05]: “Every study and every piece of common sense would tell you that if a kid eats that every day it's going to cause issues. It clearly causes ADHD.”
Vani Hari [20:31]: “They bought off the USDA to say they were safe. They added 10,000 chemicals into our food.”
Charlie Kirk [00:55]: “Baby boomers are moving to the left. … they're increasingly more and more sympathetic with what the Democrats are doing now.”
Charlie Kirk [19:33]: “Zelenskyy is going to emotionally and politically blackmail Donald Trump to keep this war going.”
Charlie Kirk [27:29]: “You beat dark woke by making them answer very simple questions about the most radical trans, social, parental and education and immigration issues.”

Supporting Information and Resources

Noble Gold Investments: Featured as the official gold sponsor, emphasizing the value of gold as a stable investment.
Hillsdale College Courses: Promotion of free online courses, including Understanding Capitalism.
YREFI.com: Resource for private student loan debt assistance.

Final Thoughts

This episode of The Charlie Kirk Show effectively combines advocacy for public health reforms with an analysis of shifting political dynamics. By addressing both the immediate issue of harmful food additives and the broader trends influencing political affiliations, Charlie Kirk provides listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the conservative movement today.

Transcript

Charlie Kirk (0:00)

Hey everybody. Charlie Kirk here live from the Bitcoin.com studio. We are poisoning our kids with unnecessary dyes in our food. Kali Means joins the program. Author of Good Energy and what we saw at Texas A and M University is so hopeful, so awe inspiring. The kids are alright. They're moving in our direction in a major and powerful way. Email us as always freedomcharliekirk.com and subscribe to our podcast that is the Charlie Kirk show podcast page and get involved right now@tpusa.com Turning Point USA is the most important organization in the country. Tpusa.com Buckle up everybody. Here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

Kali Means (0:35)

Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

Charlie Kirk (0:37)

I want you to know we are.

Marty Makary (0:38)

Lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

Charlie Kirk (0:41)

Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

Lara Trump (0:44)

I want to thank Charlie. He's an incredible guy. His spirit, his love of this country. He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point usa.

Charlie Kirk (0:55)

We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives. And we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country. That's why we are here. Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of the Charlie Kirk Show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you could protect your wealth with Noble gold investments@noblegoldinvestments.com that is noblegoldinvestments.com it's where I buy all of my gold. Go to noblegoldinvestments.com we're going to start today recapping our incredible day in College Station, Texas. College Station is the home of Texas A and M University, Texas Agriculture and Medicine University. A very interesting place. I got to tell you, I have been to a lot of college campuses. I think I have probably been to more college campuses than any person in public commentary. I have been to well over 180 college campuses all across the country. I've been there. There is something rather unique about Texas A and M University. They have a different language, they talk to each other differently. They don't boo, they hiss. They say howdy, they say gigum. And they have this war hymn that I gotta be honest, I really like. It was terrific. It's their fight song. But no, no, you can't call it a fight song. It is a wore him. It's quite interesting. I gotta tell you. What we are seeing on these college campuses is profound. It's real and I want to lead with it because it connects to a piece of data that is very important. And it is a reminder of this truism in the year of 2025, how you receive your information, more important than even what you are receiving. The how actually dictates the what, the medium of which you view the world or the how, the medium which you get the information about the world is critically important. This was not as important in 1995, with the exception of the great Rush Limbaugh. On talk radio, if you were to read a newspaper, if you were to watch television, you would get some symmetry of what was happening in the world. Social media has changed all of that. And previously, social media was very difficult for us on the right. Obama used social media to win both in 2008 and 2012. Donald Trump, however, used social media to win in 2016, 2020. We all know what happened. And then, of course, in 2024, we used social media to communicate to the younger generation and move younger voters so significantly, so substantially, in a way that shocked the world. A nearly 20 point move. I was sitting down with some of our donors with Turning Point USA prior to the Texas A and M speech, and they said, how are young people getting their information? They said, what shows are they watching? I said, well, they're not watching television, they're not listening to radio, they might do some podcasting, but typically, and traditionally, they're just flipping through their social media feed. That's easy to criticize, but honestly, it's advantageous. Our content is better. We espouse things that are rooted in truth, in goodness and patriotism. And yesterday, this was on full display at Texas A and M University. Just to give you an idea of what the stamina day looks like, I show up at Texas A and M University and it was hot. It was a hot Texas day. So hot, in fact. But unfortunately, two people in our crowd passed out. They're okay, but they were passing out from the heat and heat exhaustion. So I sit there and I will debate anyone that comes up to the microphone for three hours in the Texas humidity. Prior to that, I actually sat down with the great Lara Trump for a half hour interview. After those three hours, I try to catch my breath a little bit. And then at 5pm we have to get started all over again for our evening event. And I want to play the evening event. I got to tell you, I've been to a lot of events. This was the most electric college campus entrance. That is an auditorium of 2,800 people. And we had to turn around, turn away another 500 people at the door. So we drew nearly 3,000 people during the day and over 3,500 people at night on a college campus. Everybody, let's play cut 239. I gotta tell you, this war hymn that Texas A and M has is pretty amazing. But even more than that, it shows you this next generation is increasing in its attachment to conservatism. Baby boomers are moving to the left. It's a fact, everybody. You don't like it when I say it. The data shows it, the protests show it. Anecdotal, it shows it. They're not moving very far to the left, but they don't like Trump. And they're increasingly more and more sympathetic with what the Democrats are doing now. Not the wonderful baby boomers in this audience. I'm talking macro. Macro. It is young people that are now becoming the backbone of the conservative movement. Watch this. This should give you chills. Play cut 239. Man, I want to watch the whole thing. That's good stuff. And almost every single person in the audience watches us on TikTok, they watch us on Instagram, they watch us on YouTube, they listen to the Charlie Kirk show podcast page. And you put all that together and you recognize and you realize there's something deep happening in this country. And it's a bottom up resurgence, it's a bottom up movement, it's a realignment. Dare I say we are getting back to this idea that actually we want a future. The next generation wants to be able to buy a home, to have kids and be married. And in the latest poll, I want to show this up on stage. The oldest voters, according to real clear opinion research, the older you are, the more likely you are to to disapprove of Donald Trump. It's just the facts. I see this up close and personal. I see this in my own community. The older you are, the more likely you are to not like Donald Trump. And that is because it is how you get your information. When you are older, you are likely to watch CNN or Fox, not even Fox. Fox is great, but you're likely to watch cable news again. Fox has been really great to us. You watch msnbc, you watch the local nonsensical stuff. You watch the white noise machine. Fox News being exempt from that. That's why you got to tell your friends, by the way, watch real America's Voice. And you're more likely to also be in a position where you don't actually think the established order needs to be disrupted. Many people that are 70 plus do not like the Talk of changing the economic order, the idea of holding China accountable, they're like, well, we got really rich with China. The whole idea of disrupting the status quo in D.C. come on, we don't want that. Where younger voters say no. This established order has been a disaster for us. It's been destructive. And also at Texas A and M University, it must be noted that there was an attempted competing liberal group as well. And they drew a couple dozen people to their little thing with all this hype and they flew all these people in the traveling circus. And meanwhile we were able to draw thousands and thousands of people. This is highly unusual because I went to the campus of Texas A University a decade ago and we were outnumbered. We were outnumbered by liberals, leftists and Democrats. What we have done to keep on punching and punching and punching. So now the question is, can we do the same with baby boomers? How do we bring baby boomers and the 70 plus to now be as excited about conservatism and the Republican Party as the younger generation? Let me just say right now this is a great problem. To have this right here is a phenomenal problem. To have the Democrats know they have a much more troubling structural problem. Their structural problem is one that could end their party over the next 30 years. We might have a two year problem and I think we could get a lot of 70 plus people to come back home. A lot, I think once the information and the truth comes out. Because so many people that are 75 or 80 are being lied to by being by the news that they are consuming and they watch the news all day long. And of course it's anti Trump and of course it's just complete nonsense. Ask 10 people to define the word capitalism. How many different responses do you think you'll get? This is a word that comes up all the time. But does anyone know what it really means? Do you? Hillsdale College offers more than 40 free online courses. That's right, free online courses on subjects like the book of Genesis, the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, the history of the ancient Christian Church. It's hard for me to even say which is my personal favorite. You guys have got to take these online courses. They've recently launched a new course, Understanding Capitalism, that I've been watching. In seven lectures you'll learn about the role of profit and loss, how human nature plays a part in our economic system, why capitalism depends on private property rights, the rule of law, and above all, freedom. And why capitalism is ultimately a system that encourages morality rather than undermines it right now. Go to charlieforhillsdale.com to enroll. There's no cost and it's easy to get started. That's charlieforhillsdale.com the Register C H-A R L I E for hillsdale.com I want to be very clear when I talk about baby boomers. I'm not talking about the wonderful patriots in this audience. There's been some people very fired up in the email saying, how dare you insult our generation. I'm just, it's just the data. I mean, RealClear politics is really reliable and baby boomers are 14 points more disapproving of Donald Trump than they are approving. The numbers are the numbers. And also, don't feel obligated to defend your entire generation, please. It's not your family. There's a lot of disagreement in a generation. Anyway, that's a whole separate topic for another time. Okay, I want to get to this Truth social that President Trump put up. Very important, by the way, it is the front page of the Wall Street Journal today. Zelensky resist US Peace proposal. Ukrainian president says Kiev won't recognize Russian control over Crimea. This is, this is not good. This is bad news. It is Zelensky that is now getting in the way of a potential peace proposal and President Trump has now reacted on Truth Social. I'm going to read the entire Truth Social post. So I think it's very important. It's breaking news while we're here on air. Ukrainian President Zelensky is boasting on the front page of the Wall Street Journal that Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea. There's nothing to talk about here. This statement is very harmful to peace negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of Barack Hussein Obama and is not even a point of discussion. Trump is right on this. Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian territory. But if he wants Crimea, why didn't he fight for it 11 years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired? The area also houses for many years before the Obama handover, major Russian submarine bases. It's inflammatory statements like this that Zelensky makes that makes it so difficult to settle this war. He has nothing to boast about. The situation for Ukraine is dire. He can have peace or he can fight for another three years before losing his whole country. I have nothing to do with Russia, but have something to do with wanting to save on average 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week who are dying for no reason whatsoever. Blessed are the peacemakers. God bless President Trump for this. You think George W. Bush would care? George W. Bush never cared about the death of innocents. He invaded Iraq and he couldn't care less. He shrugged his shoulders. The statement made by Zelensky today will do nothing but prolong the killing field, and nobody wants that. We are very close to a deal, but the man with no cards to play should now finally get it done. I look forward to being able to help Ukraine and Russia get out of this complete and total mess that would never have started if I was president. Okay, let's go through some of the facts. Crimea is not able to be retaken, period. Let's get a picture of Crimea. Crimea is on the southern tip of Ukraine. Crimea, first of all, is massive, and it's always been part of Russia. It never should have been handed over. It was ceremonially handed to Ukraine. The Crimean Peninsula is the tipping. It borders the Black Sea, and Crimea is overwhelmingly Russian. Ethnically, nobody seriously disputes that Crimea wants to be in Russia. It's where Russian wine is from, for example. It's where the Russian naval fleet was and is headquartered. The insistence on fighting over Crimea is what makes this war, quite honestly, insoluble. Evil people in Washington have egged this on. People like Dan Crenshaw see Ukrainians as cannon fodder. They urge them to fight and die in a war they couldn't win because they just wanted to kill Russians. And does Zelenskyy actually represent the will of the Ukrainian people? We don't know. There hasn't been an election in quite some time. We want peace. We don't just want dead Russians. And for what point is this all continuing? So I will disagree with. Not disagree, but I will say President Trump says that Zelensky has no cards. Zelensky does have one card to play, and it's not a good one. Do you know what Zelenskyy's card is? Zelensky's card is him to say President Trump, do you want to be the president that reigns over Putin taking Kiev? That's his card. Zelenskyy is going to emotionally and politically blackmail Donald Trump to keep this war going. That's the only card that Zelenskyy has to play. The only card that Zelenskyy has to play is to basically say, if you don't help me, Russian tanks will take over my capital, and that will be a political disgrace and a humiliation for you. His other card, of course, is to try to start a nuclear war, have terrorists shoot up Russian cities And he could totally do that. There's a ton of Ukrainian sleeper cells all throughout Russia that can be activated and do all sorts of terrible stuff throughout Russia. Terrible stuff. But think about this. Zelensky thinks he has the cards because he'll say, oh, you don't want to be the US President that had Kyiv fall the same way that Kabul fell. I want you to think about how sinister that is. Basically, Zelensky is saying, I know my country will fall if this war continues, and you don't keep on giving me weapons, but you're going to be to blame and I will sacrifice my own people. That's demented stuff. Blessed are the peacemakers. And right now, Zelenskyy is not acting like someone who wants peace at all. And I pray for the goodness of humanity, we can end this war. The world is waking up to the power of gold. National banks are scrambling to secure it. According to the World Gold Council, central banks added 1,000 tons of gold in 2024, the third straight year of net gold buying. They understand what many investors gold is real money. Unlike paper currency, gold's value doesn't disappear with inflation, reckless government spending, or market crashes. Now, Noble Gold Investments makes it easy for you to claim your share as our new administration works to reverse the economic chaos of the past. Market swings are inevitable when uncertainty rises. You need something solid, something to keep you on the path to financial freedom. Gold can be that foundation. And right now, when you make a qualified investment, Noble Gold will send you a free 10th ounce of a cold coin. Visit noblegold investments.com that's noblegoldinvestments.com the world is turning to gold. Shouldn't you be looking into doing that, too? We need to continue to summarize all of the wins that we are getting out of this Trump administration. We have a border. We are seeing a massive decrease in oil prices. The price of eggs is down. But also, we can't forget what Bobby Kennedy is also doing. There are ingredients in our foods that should not be there, period, that other countries do not allow. And Callie Means joins us now to discuss. Callie, great to see you. Author of Good Energy and one of the leaders of the MAHA movement. Callie, tell us this breaking news about banning red dyes and blue dyes from our food and the profundity of it.