Ever More Democrat Fraud + Can LA Be Saved?

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Charlie Kirk Show – "Ever More Democrat Fraud + Can LA Be Saved?" (May 7, 2026)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Charlie Kirk and his guests dive deep into three major topics:

• Alleged Democratic corruption scandals—focusing on entrenched political power structures.
• The state of American urban politics, with a specific case study on Los Angeles and the California gubernatorial race.
• Geopolitical developments in the Middle East, particularly U.S.–Iran relations and the Trump administration's current challenges with the Iran peace process.

The tone is unapologetically conservative, mixing pointed criticism, dark humor, and rallying calls for activism and reform. The episode features co-commentary from Blake, Jack Posobiec, and interviews with Mike Brest (Washington Examiner) and Steve Hilton (California gubernatorial candidate).

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. Virginia Senator Louise Lucas – Entrenched Power and Corruption

[03:38–15:55]

Summary:

• The Story: Democratic Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas, long-tenured and influential, had her cannabis dispensary and affiliated businesses raided by the FBI, allegedly exposing a web of self-enrichment, Medicaid abuse, and political influence.
• Power and Permits: Lucas, central to state redistricting, is accused of using her position to benefit her vertically integrated operations—dispensaries, group homes, and medical businesses, many receiving lucrative government contracts and Medicaid funding.
• Conflict of Interest: Lucas chaired the committee that allocated Medicaid funds while personally owning businesses directly profiting from those allocations.
• Track Record: Over $42 million in Medicaid dollars flowed to her businesses; her facilities have some of the state’s worst safety records, with multiple deaths and injuries reported.

Notable Quote:

“This is not a collection of random businesses. It’s a vertically integrated operation... while her political entities launder influence and campaign cash back into the system.”
— Charlie Kirk [06:04]

• Defensive Politics: Kirk and team highlight how Lucas’s supporters defend her regardless of accusations, illustrating what they see as tribal politics in blue states:

“We got her back no matter what, doesn’t matter how corrupt she is. We like her cuz that’s the way this works.”
— Charlie Kirk [14:24]

Takeaway:

The Lucas saga is presented as emblematic of deep-rooted Democratic machine politics: "third-world-style" allegiance, lack of accountability, and manipulation of public resources.

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2. Middle East Tensions & U.S.–Iran Peace Negotiations

[17:28–34:09]

Summary:

• Current State: The U.S. (under President Trump’s second term) struggles to enforce a peace “ceasefire” with Iran after a brief surge in aggressive strikes. Iran’s recent attacks on Gulf oil infrastructure (e.g., UAE refinery) cause frustration among local allies, but the administration hesitates to resume military escalation.
• Project Freedom: A U.S. attempt to escort trapped commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz ends abruptly after Iranian attacks, revealing American reluctance to upend fragile peace talks.
• Iran’s Leverage: Despite violating terms, Iran faces little consequence as the U.S. appears eager for a diplomatic breakthrough—possibly due to domestic pressures and upcoming midterms.
• Key Demands: The Trump administration seeks full nuclear suspension, strict limits on missiles, and termination of Iranian support for proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis). Iran resists long-term commitments.
• Domestic Uprising?: The administration hints at arming Iranians for regime change, but blackout conditions make impact uncertain.

Notable Quotes:

“Trump is probably just ready to put this behind him, wants to chalk it up as a W and move on... meanwhile, Gulf partners feel let down.”
— Charlie Kirk [19:24]

“Ending Project Freedom was essentially a concession to the Iranians without getting anything in return.”
— Mike Brest [33:34]

Takeaway:

The hosts see the U.S. strategy as vacillating under pressure, risking regional relationships for short-term gains, and highlighting the perils of negotiating with an entrenched, pain-tolerant Iranian regime.

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3. Religion, Politics, and the Vatican

[36:07–42:43]

Summary:

• Pope Leo & the White House: Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Pope Leo, signaling the political import of the Catholic vote in a tense midterm year.
• Rubio’s Religious Identity: Questions arise about Rubio's shifting religious affiliations (Catholic, evangelical, even attended Mormon services), showing the blending of religious identities in U.S. politics.
• Electoral Math: Jack Posobiec points out the political calculation behind engaging Catholic America, citing high-Catholic states as key electoral battlegrounds.

Notable Quotes:

"Why make an enemy of the Pope when you're in this huge fight?"
— Jack Posobiec [42:43]

"This almost feels vaguely medieval... you have the Pope sort of frequently saying stuff that is directly at odds with a conservative president."
— Blake [41:04]

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4. Los Angeles Mayoral Debate & Urban Policy Failure

[44:11–51:11]

Summary:

• The Debate: Viral moments from the LA mayoral debate feature Spencer Pratt challenging incumbent City Councilwoman Nithya Raman on issues like crime, fentanyl, homelessness, and public safety.
• Exposing Failure: Pratt accuses the city establishment of failing basic governance (“She’s going to get stabbed in the neck... they want fentanyl or super meth” [45:41]), with Charlie and guests highlighting the massive cost and dysfunction of current policies.
• Wider Trend: The team draws parallels to the Giuliani/urban Republican eras, suggesting urban decay may pave the way for a conservative resurgence.

Notable Quote:

“This is a MAGA Republican’s idea of what Los Angeles looks like... That’s not – Okay, dude.”
— Blake/Charlie, riffing [45:03]

Takeaway:

Commentators suggest both LA and other liberal-run cities demonstrate a destructive cycle—urban policy failure, brief reform, then return to decay—underscored by progressive capture of local institutions.

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5. Voting Rights Controversy in LA

[49:58–51:11]

Summary:

• Non-Citizen Voting: The LA City Council proposes allowing non-citizens (including green card holders) to vote in local elections, sparking debate about the nature of citizenship and the limits of franchise—implicating broader trends in blue urban politics.

Notable Quote:

“They can’t say the most basic facts about, like, having a functional citizenry... It’s just the suicide of a country.”
— Blake [50:35]

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6. California Gubernatorial Race: Steve Hilton Interview

[52:38–70:23]

Summary:

• The Candidates: Steve Hilton, running for governor, describes competing against “machine Democrat” Javier Becerra and billionaire Tom Steyer in California’s unique top-two primary system.
• Corruption Allegations: Hilton alleges Becerra's involvement in serious finance and ethics violations and links to nonprofit groups employing illegal immigrants with taxpayer funding for campaign purposes.
• Voter Mobilization: Hilton stresses the importance of voter turnout to prevent Democrats from locking Republicans out of the general election.
• LA’s Crisis: Hilton, echoing earlier segments, links arson, metal/copper theft, and “collapse of civilization” in LA to permissive, left-wing governance—citing a recent major fire as emblematic of systemic failure.

Notable Quotes:

“He’s exactly what’s driven California into the situation where we’re the worst run state in America with the worst results on everything.”
— Steve Hilton [53:54]

“As with so many other things in California, it shows you these disasters… are totally avoidable. … Most of the fires in Southern California are started by humans, either by arsonists or by homeless encampments. So they’re totally avoidable.”
— Steve Hilton [64:01]

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Memorable Moments & Quotes with Timestamps

• On Lucas Scandal:
  “Her own businesses are funneling money back into her campaign PAC.” — Charlie Kirk [06:19]

• On Defensive Politics:
  “We’re sticking with her, whatever the case may be.” — Constituents, paraphrased by Charlie Kirk [11:52]

• On LA Debate – Crime:
  “She’s going to get stabbed in the neck. These people do not want a bed. They want fentanyl or super meth.” — Charlie Kirk [45:41]

• On Decline of Cities:
  “It’s something out of South Africa, 100%... total collapse of civilization.” — Blake, Steve Hilton [68:43, 68:48]

• On Becerra/Biden Machine:
  “He has no thoughts of his own. He’ll just do what he’s told by the unions, by the activists. This is what they’ve been waiting for.” — Steve Hilton [53:09]

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Important Timestamps / Segment Guide

• [03:38 – 15:55]—Virginia Senator Louise Lucas corruption, Medicaid, cannabis, and blue state political machines.
• [17:28 – 34:09]—Mike Brest on U.S.–Iran ceasefire, Middle East blockades, Project Freedom's halt, Trump’s diplomatic calculus.
• [36:07 – 42:43]—Rubio meets the Pope; Catholic vote in politics; interplay of faith and electoral strategy.
• [44:11 – 51:11]—Los Angeles mayoral debate, crime, drugs, calls for urban conservative resurgence, non-citizen voting.
• [52:38 – 70:23]—Extended interview with Steve Hilton: California’s political situation, Becerra allegations, fires, and societal decay.

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Conclusion & Big Picture

This episode paints a dire picture of Democratic governance—locally (Virginia and LA), statewide (California), and on the international stage (Iran policy). The hosts emphasize the dangers of entrenched political machines, the decay of urban order under progressive policies, and the need for conservative activism and reform. Throughout, the show’s tone balances caustic criticism, humor, and calls to action for its conservative base.

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For further information and news updates, visit charliekirk.com.

Transcript

[Charlie Kirk]

My name is Charlie Kirk.

[Mike Brest]

I run the largest pro American student organization in the country, fighting for the

[Charlie Kirk]

future of our republic. My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth. If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're gonna end up miserable. But if the most important thing is doing good, you will end up purposeful.

[Jack Posobiec]

College is a scam, everybody.

[Blake]

You gotta stop sending your kids to college.

[Charlie Kirk]

You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible.

[Jack Posobiec]

Don't go start a Turning Point USA College chapter.

[Charlie Kirk]

Go start a Turning Point USA High School chapter. Go find out how your church can get involved. Sign up and become an activist.

[Jack Posobiec]

I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade.

[Charlie Kirk]

Most important decision I ever made in my life.

[Jack Posobiec]

And I encourage you to do the same.

[Mike Brest]

Here I am, Lord.

[Jack Posobiec]

Use me.

[Charlie Kirk]

Buckle up, everybody. Here we go.

[Blake]

Noble Gold Investments is the official gold

[Charlie Kirk]

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@noblegold investments.com, that is noblegoldinvestments.com. all right, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show. It's Thursday, May 7th. I'm on location here at the Real America's Voice DC Studio. So thank you to Rob and Parker Sig and the whole team here for making me feel so welcome. Appreciate it. It's technically the remote, the mobile Y Refi Studios. Blake's holding it down in Phoenix, Arizona at the Y Refi Permanent studios. Our friends over at Y Refi, check them out. How we doing, Blake?

[Blake]

We're doing great. If you're really on the road, like if you're only using your webcam in your. In your laptop. Is it the Y Refi laptop or the Y Refi?

[Charlie Kirk]

It would have to be. Yeah, it would have to.

[Blake]

The why Refi mobile microphone.

[Charlie Kirk]

Listen, we've got a packed show and lots to get to. An amazing debate actually for LA Mayor with Spencer Pratt, who's who is really taking the nation and social media by storm. We're going to get to that as well in hour two with Steve Hilton, who is going to be joining us. Who took over his gubernatorial debate from just a couple days ago. Blake is. I wouldn't say you're the most positive about the prospects in California, but nevertheless, I think it's a very important case study in just how insane left wing politics have gotten, how corrupt, how dysfunctional, how inept, how poorly run Democrat jurisdictions are and people are voting with their feet. There's a few People willing to stay and fight. And we want to support those people, certainly. But because, Blake, I think it highlights just how corrupt Democrat politics have become, especially when they get this grip on power. Case in point is Virginia. We wanted to lead the story, lead the show today with a story out of Virginia. We mentioned it briefly on the show yesterday, and that is about an FBI raid over a state senator, Louisa Lucas, who is a state senator in Virginia, who led the redistricting fight. And then lo and behold, all of a sudden, her cannabis dispensary. Yes, she has a cannabis dispensary, gets raided by the FBI, along with some other properties that she owned, offices that she controlled. Blake, you highlighted this wonderful article, breaking it all down for us. So please do that. Start us off, Blake.

[Blake]

Exactly. So, like you said, it's Luis Lucas. She's been in the Virginia State Senate for, for about 30 years. And so one of those, well, entrenched lawmakers that you'll see often Democrats at the state level, they've been there a very, very long time, have a lot of institutional power. So she's not the majority leader, but she was perceived as playing a very central role in redrawing the state's maps, ramming that through. And now just a few days after their vote and their, she's raided by the FBI. They came in, it was almost like it was a J6 raid. They had SWAT teams busting in to her dispensary and several other buildings. She has a whole network of different entities and companies that are linked to her, her family. They almost all have Lucas in the name, Lucas Lodge llc, which runs group homes, the cannabis outlet, Lucas Professional Center, Lucas Hospitality, Lucas Medical Transportation. We know that is a very fraught business. We don't know no charges have been dropped yet. But it's a lot of connections to companies where we know political corruption is a big opportunity. For example, her cannabis business, Virginia is one of those states where you can run a licensed cannabis dispensary. Excuse me. And it's easier to get if you have some sort of. It's one of those ways things you can get more, more easily if you have political connections. It's one of those things.

[Charlie Kirk]

Where can you. Pause right there. So I know this from stories out of the state of Nevada. When they legalized, which was my home state, when they legalized it, there was a massive push at the political level, the local level, to basically get their hands on it because they only give out so many permits for cannabis dispensaries. That's sort of the Handshake deal here, right? We're gonna legalize it, but we're gonna control it, contain it in certain ways. One of which is they give only a certain number of permits for facilities that maybe are like indoor greenhouses that could grow it and storefronts. So you. If you want to sell cannabis to the public, weed, you have to get a permit. Well, guess who tends to get those permits, Blake. Not guys like you and me, because we probably would.

[Blake]

Not that I would do it.

[Charlie Kirk]

Although it is a lucrative business, it tends to be the politically well heeled and well connected, which is exactly Luis Lucas, who this person is, by the way, shout out to the channel VA change agent who published this very detailed document on X VA change agent. Check it out if you want to follow along. But this is what's revealed in it, Blake, is that this is a sitting state senator out of Virginia that has consolidated power over the years. This is not a collection of random businesses. It's a vertically integrated operation. Reading direct from the article, Real estate ownership via the trust group Homes, by the way, which are funded by Medicaid. Another one of those little tie ins. Real estate ownership, transportation, day day support and direct care, all feeding off Medicaid dollars while her political entities launder influence and campaign cash back into the system. So that's right, her own businesses are funneling money back into her campaign pack. And get this, the same person. This is Luis Lucas, who's chairing the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, which funds Medicaid in the state of Virginia. She personally owns all these buildings. So she on the committee that disperses the funds. She owns the business that benefits off the Medicaid dollars that are flowing through. And she might just happen to have been involved in a corruption scandal giving her access to the cannabis dispensary. Approximately correct.

[Blake]

She received Lucas Lodge llc, received in Portsmouth, received two different. She had Lucas. Lucas Lodge and she received a total of about $600,000 in PPP loans in 2020, which may have been repaid, but they may also have just been forgiven. It says paid in full or forgiven. So no easy way to tell there, but we can take a guess. One of the funny things about this is she's fighting back by claiming that this is a political retaliation from the Trump administration. The awkward thing is, as reported by Bill Malusian on Fox and some other outlets, is that this investigation apparently originates in the Biden administration. I feel like maybe she would have had better odds if she just. We know a few Democrats have had success with that. Where she Says I was about to expose the Democrat Biden machine. And that's worked occasionally on President Trump with a few other Democrats. She might have a better shot with that.

[Charlie Kirk]

We're talking not just 600,000 in PPE loans, we're talking $42.3 million in Medicaid taxpayer dollars funneled to Senator Luis Lucas operation between 2006 and 2025. So that's what we're talking about. Over 20 years, full capacity could be as high as 48.5 million as well. There's massive expansion. This is lucrative stuff. And what's wild is that she gets her cannabis dispensary raided. And that seems to be where maybe the corruption scandal that is the smoking gun, if you will, but is exposing one little Virginia state senator that none of us had ever heard about. It's exposing the depth to which corruption takes root when political power like this gets entrenched. This is why I think this story is emblematic. We stopped started this week. We're talking with Luke Rosiak at the Daily Wire about the fraud in Ohio and about how all these safeguards had been taken off the Medicaid programs and a billion dollars goes out the doors to Somalis doing fraudulent daycare for their family members, doing companionship. And now you see another example in barely blue Virginia where the same thing has happened to a woman that's been able to remain in power for a very long time at a very lucrative sense.

[Blake]

Andrew, I found something pretty amazing because she's been around a long time. And if a lot of people who are lifers in Virginia are saying she's absolute garbage, has been involved in everything. And a really amazing story. This is from summer 2020, the summer of Floyd, when they were having a lot of left wing riots, demonstrations, left wingers. What, what were they doing at the very beginning of that? They were going after statues. They were spray painting statues, ripping them down. And there was an incident where she gets caught on a police body camera telling police. This is a direct quote from the body camera footage. I'm Senator Luis Lucas. I know I'm in disguise, but they are going to put some paint on this thing. This thing being one of the statues they were targeting. You cannot arrest them. You need to call Dr. Patton because they are going to do it. You can't stop them.

[Charlie Kirk]

Them.

[Blake]

So she's going around undercover ordering police not to arrest vandals who are defacing or destroying public property. In the Summer of Floyd.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, this is a corrupt woman. And again, we're highlighting this. Yes, It's a breaking news story out of yesterday, but it is endemic to our system, the corruption, especially in deep blue areas where the power gets entrenched. We're seeing it across the country and we're gonna highlight it even more. So we talk about Los Angeles, the mayor's race, Steve Hilton with the governor's race. But this, I'm going to show you this clip and to me it blew me away, but it didn't surprise me. But it's just, it's a reflection of just the how out of touch. Or how about this? How tribal people are in these areas where people like Luis Lucas get their stranglehold on power. Sat 17 she did more good than bad. No matter what they say, they try

[Steve Hilton]

to bother her because she's a strong, opinionated person.

[Charlie Kirk]

You know, she looks out for her

[Steve Hilton]

state, for her people.

[Charlie Kirk]

And I don't understand what all this is about.

[Steve Hilton]

And I feel it's all political.

[Charlie Kirk]

It's character assassination. They've been doing this for years. For people who are in power, who represent our community, this is not the

[Steve Hilton]

first time character assassination.

[Charlie Kirk]

And we hope that it's not nothing but at the same time, the community, myself, Earl Lewis, I'm gonna stick with her. Those are her constituents that put her into office and they say she's done more good than bad. This is character assassination. We're sticking with her, whatever the case may be.

[Blake]

I have even more compelling information about the summer of 2020. So she's in disguise telling police, don't block these demonstrators from vandalizing this statue. And then the demonstrators proceed to illegally rip the statue down. And it fell on one of their heads and turned him into a vegetable. Like actually serious brain damage. And he's in a wheelchair. Nonverbal, I believe, to the.

[Charlie Kirk]

Probably at one of her homes, possibly probably one of her. Paid by taxpayers.

[Blake]

And then they blamed her for this. And she tried to sue the city saying that they had basically aligned against her. And then this body camera footage actually surfaced as a result of that. If I'm. If I'm reading this correctly, which I'm finding.

[Charlie Kirk]

There's even more that I found. Blake. There's even more that I found. She was the co sponsor of the cannabis legislation that. And then she opened the cannabis outlet the same year the legislation passed, which is now the subject of an active FBI corruption bribery investigation. So she co sponsored that legislation and then immediately profited off of it. Here's one other thing that we should talk about. The Luis's Lucas facilities have one of the worst Safety and compliance records of any of such facilities in the state of Virginia. They found 217 citations since 2021, among the highest violation counts of any they call intellectual developmental disabilities provider in Virginia. They've had nine individuals die while in care. So that's across multiple years. Serious incidents. They've had 143 serious incidents involving injuries since 2019. They had 102 before 2022 or. Yeah, 102. Yeah, I think I got the numbers right there. Corrective action failures. 46 citations for failing to implement required corrective action plans over a five year period and virtually zero. Blake, you talk about the way she, her attitude with the body cam footage. Virtually zero enforcement actions because she probably is making sure that there are zero enforcement actions. So this is, I just think this story is remarkable and such a picture into corrupt blue dudes, deep blue politics. And you listen to her constituents and what do they say? We got her back no matter what, doesn't matter how corrupt she is. We like her cuz that's the way this works.

[Blake]

This is how politics works. Let's be blunt. This is how politics works in a lot of the third world. It's how politics works in countries that are divided into, let's just say it, ethnic and racial little clusters. That's what this encourages. You need a kind of unified body politic for politics to actually become a competition for providing the best services, providing the best moral conduct, providing good things for the whole society. And America had that for a long time. And we achieved a lot of great things. But we have, through immigration, through dei, through just the rhetoric of the left. We've been racing towards an alternative way of doing politics and. And if you want to see how it works out, well, we'll be talking about the Pope himself in a few minutes. The Pope himself has told us to look at Lebanon. You can see how Lebanon works out. You can see how politics in the UK is working out, where they've got their all.

[Charlie Kirk]

How about Brazil, South Africa?

[Blake]

One country after another and it's not good. But a lot of people will say I stand behind our person no matter how corrupt they are. Stand behind our person.

[Charlie Kirk]

You're wrong. Diversity is our strength, Blake. Diversity is our strength. Sing it loud, sing it proud. It is our mantra. I want to talk to you about an issue so many Americans face and that's health insurance. There's an organization I really, really appreciate called Christian Healthcare Ministries. CHM is a faith based alternative to health insurance. And this is real stuff. Folks like you gotta listen in with chm, you're not paying into a company's profit margin. You're investing in a community of with less overhead than the competition. You get reliable support through the giving and prayer of fellow members. Members contribute every month to help pay for each other's medical bills, allowing believers to afford the care they need. Because they're not insurance. You get access to your preferred doctor or hospital without network restrictions. You heard that right. If you want to see massive savings in your healthcare budget, CHM has four low cost programs for every stage of life starting at just $115 a month. Plus you can enroll or switch your program at any time. See why so many believers are taking a leap of faith? Start today by visiting chministries.orgcharlie and use promo code Charlie for a 50% credit towards your first month. That's chministries.orgcharlie and use promo code Charlie. So much to get into with breaking news out of Iran. Here to help us do it is Mike Brest, defense reporter from the Washington Exam. Welcome to the show, Mike.

[Mike Brest]

Thanks for having me.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yes, absolutely. So there's so much to go through, but I want to start with there was an NBC report that says the story behind the story here with the the abrupt U turn on Project Freedom right where they were going to escort some of these groups that have been trapped in the Strait for now weeks and weeks and weeks. There's 22,000 crewmen or something like that that are just trapped behind there. Then rockets start getting shot, missiles start getting shot. And then there was an abrupt pause. What is your reporting showing that's actually going on and why that may have happened?

[Mike Brest]

So it's hard to tell definitively why or what prompted the President's pretty dramatic reversal. I mean, it was only earlier that day that both Secretary Hegseth and Secretary Rubio were out in front of the media pretty proudly talking about Project Freedom. And so one thing that seems to have been a factor was the US Response to how Iran retaliated. And so you mentioned that there were some skirmishes between Iranian naval vessels and the US Navy vessels, and they also attacked commercial shipping. But the other thing that Iran did was they carried out or launched drones and missiles towards the uae, which did impact an oil refinery there. And so that seemed to be a big moment because it was the first time since President Trump announced the ceasefire that Iran attacked another Gulf country. And then the US Went as far to say that that attack, as well as the attacks on the US Navy vessels, did not amount to a breach of the ceasefire or that the ceasefire was still in effect. And so it seems like there was consternation among Gulf countries that there was concern that the US Essentially brushed off the fact that Iran launched drones and missiles specifically targeting the uae.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, so they basically, there's almost like a tale of two wars here, right? The Americans and the Israelis were super aggressive bombing the crap out of just about anything they could find for weeks. And Trump wants this deal, he wants this to be behind him. I have a sense, I mean, this is just a personal feeling that Trump is probably just ready to put this behind him, wants to chalk it up as a W and move on. Meanwhile, when a skirmish breaks out with this Project Freedom missiles start flying at Gulf partners who've been broadly supportive of the US Led efforts in Iran, they're like, what the heck? We're taking shots here on our infrastructure, our oil refineries, and we're not gonna retaliate. What's the story? So it's almost like they felt let down by this, according to the reporting. Is that essentially what this is? So Trump is kind of stuck between an Iranian rock and a allies in the region. Hard place.

[Mike Brest]

I think you're, you're onto something with the fact that it does seem like the signs are pointing towards the President wanting a deal as opposed to restarting aggressive offensive military operations like we saw in the first six weeks of this war. And the fact that they didn't consider it a violation of the ceasefire is a demonstration of the fact that they don't want to necessarily restart offensive operations. And to take it Back to the April 7 announcement from President Trump about the ceasefire, he said in that initial message that it was all contingent upon Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz. That message was sent, or the President's announcement was a month ago today. And over the course of the month, Iran hasn't opened the Strait of Hormuz. So by the President's own terms, Iran hasn't lived up to the one main component of the cease fire agreement, and yet the US hasn't carried out military operations or considered the ceasefire null and void, even though that very basic initial principle has not been met.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah. And why do you think that is? What would have to happen for the US to essentially acknowledge that the ceasefire has been violated and that we're going to resume kinetic activities, strikes on Iran, as you're reporting, any of your sources kind of indicated what that red line might be. As we're kind of hunting down this now one page memorandum before we're going to send our Negotiators back over to probably to Pakistan to negotiate an actual permanent peace.

[Mike Brest]

It's hard to tell exactly what the President is thinking as it relates to what would constitute breaking of a red line. And part of that is because it does seem like the President has made a decision that he wants to see this wrapped up, especially as the situation with the global economy continues to fight some turmoil. And so while the President seems to want to end the war, that knowing that also gives Iran some leverage. And they've, as they've done several times in the past, continue to drag out these negotiations. And it's unclear exactly what would have to happen for the President to try and to essentially throw away these negotiations for a resumption of military operations. But it should also be noted that the US And Iran were negotiating around this time last year prior to the Israel, Iran 12 day war. And they were negotiating or at least having talks in January before the start of this conflict. And so the most recent iterations of U S Iranian negotiations have not gone well and have led to significant military conflicts. The question is now is the President willing to restart those conflicts, especially as we get closer to the midterms and there is little reprieve for the economy, whether that could happen.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, I mean there was some good earnings reports today from Wall street which has I think been well received. So you know, the economy is a mixed bag. Certainly energy prices spiking has been bad, but we're also now exporting, I think we're the leading exporter of oil all of a sudden in the world. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's, we're right up there, you know. So the question that I have here is again, you're spending your days reporting, working your sources, getting the int here. Mike, how effective has the US blockade been? You know, basically you talk about leverage, how much leverage has that actually given us?

[Mike Brest]

So I think the US blockade has been in fact has been impactful. The problem is when it comes to trying to, trying to impose economic ramifications on any economy or any country, it doesn't happen overnight. And so while the blockade has worked, and it does, there are signs of Iran's already troubled economy struggling even further. It's unclear exactly that they're feeling already the effects of this blockade as opposed to the effects they would feel if the US were to continue this for several months.

[Charlie Kirk]

So basically the calculation that has to be made is how long is Iran willing to stomach the economic fallout from this? Everybody seems to report, and maybe you would agree that they have a high threshold for pain. So it could just be the stalemate for the near intermediate future.

[Mike Brest]

That's exactly right. And it feels like that's the point we've come to over the last couple of weeks where the Iranians are particularly set up to handle this type of pain. And part of it is the fact that they are not a country that is seeking to benefit better the lives of the civilians in their country. And so they have been able to withstand a tremendous amount of both military and economic pressure to this point, and at this point don't seem ready to crack to US Demands either, leading many to believe that they are holding out and can for quite some time.

[Blake]

So, Mike, one thing that's making it very difficult here. So obviously we've seen the claims that it was airspace issues that brought an end to this Operation Freedom. But bigger picture, what is, what's the overall level of support of our regional allies for the operations against Iran? Because I constantly am seeing claims where one day it's, oh, they don't. They want to deny their airspace. They think it's too much escalation. But then you also see reports where supposedly the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is egging President Trump on to be tough. Are some of these reports just lies or what is the overall posture of all these middle countries in the Middle East?

[Mike Brest]

I think a lot of the countries in the Middle east, just like the President, sometimes their opinions fluctuate based on how operations are carried out or the results of them. And so there could have been countries that were open to the idea of Project Freedom, but were then turned off to it because they saw the Iranians not only attack commercial and US Navy vessels, but also attack the uae. And I don't think the Gulf countries want to see Iran resume their attacks against them and their infrastructure. That being said, the Iranians have demonstrated the capability and the willingness and the persistence to be able to carry out attacks on Gulf countries. So while their position on specific aspects of the conflict may vacillate from week to week, they are now even more, even more clearly than it was pre February 28th when the war began. They have now seen and experienced the threat that Iran poses to not just them, but the entire region.

[Charlie Kirk]

Well, this is, I mean, it seems like Trump has actually done a fairly good job of consolidating port regionally, and Iran has done a fairly poor job of winning any sympathies by, you know, firing missiles at everybody. So, Mike, I want to, I want to talk about this peace deal. What, what are the demands of the Trump administration, obviously, no uranium, I would assume a way to extract it, a way to monitor it. So we'll start there. What is the broad outline of what they're going for right now?

[Mike Brest]

So the Trump administration as, as it relates to the nuclear front, the Trump administration wants to see Iran agree to effectively end its nuclear program, wants to figure out a way to extract the highly enriched uranium which is buried deep underground because of the US Strikes last year in Operation Midnight Hammer. It's unclear exactly where the uranium is, what shape it's in. And so the idea of trying to extract it from deep within Iran is not something that could happen really or easily if the conflict were still ongoing. So that's something that is of a significant priority for the administration. And so they also want to get Iran to agree for some time period that they will refuse or explicitly say they will not pursue uranium enrichment. And so there are reports out there that the Trump administration is seeking a 20 year moratorium. There is also reporting that Iran is not willing to agree to that and would be potentially open to a much smaller moratorium, say five years. All that being said, the Trump administration, and this is why this deal is really hard to see how it gets across the finish line. The Trump administration hasn't changed their position on almost anything. And at the same time, the Iranians have not really, at least publicly demonstrated a willingness to do that either. So at this exact moment, it seems like neither side has really changed their tune. So to speak specifically about the nuclear program, the administration, over the course of the war, has talked about aspects unrelated to their nuclear program that they also want to see addressed, like Iran's support for proxies in the region like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. And the US Also wants to see limits put on Iran's missile capacity and the number of missiles they're allowed to keep at any given time. The hard thing is those are things that the Obama administration determined would be, would make their attempt at a deal too broad and hard to agree upon. And it seems like the administration is figuring out some of those challenges now as they're trying to parse through each individual aspect of the deal that they're hoping to achieve.

[Blake]

So, Mike, one question that does come to mind with this framework is even, as you say, there's a lot of obstacles to it. But if it was agreed to, I'm seeing, you know, these long term agreements to stop enriching uranium with some form of monitoring for it, what would, what would set this deal apart? What would be the key differences between this proposed deal and the nuclear deal that we got rid of when President Trump was in office the first time.

[Mike Brest]

So if the administration has their way, and it's not clear that they will, they do want to see aspects like the missile capacity, funding for proxies to be included in this deal. And so that would be a big part of it. The president at times has said he does not want to see Iran enrich uranium at any to any percent or at any in any way. And so that's going to be a really hard obstacle to tackle because obviously Iran wants to continue their nuclear program, which they say is a civil nuclear program. And so if the US Makes the stance that they don't want to see Iran enrich uranium to any level, it's hard to see exactly how they get a deal agreed upon. But that would be one area in which a deal would be different than the Obama era Iran deal.

[Charlie Kirk]

All right, so there was a brief mention by President Trump about. Because all of this really hinges on the fact that we have not seen the regime toppled. Right? Right. They've remained in power. Their grip on power remains. He made mention that they're gonna get guns, referring to the Iranian people, that they're gonna get armed soon. Is there any indication that the Iranian people are ready to take up arms against the regime?

[Mike Brest]

It's hard to tell exactly. Especially because there is the ongoing Internet blackout throughout Iran. So it's hard to grasp exactly what's going on in the country as it relates to the protests that we saw in late December and early January, which really was the opening chapter of this now conflict or now war. And so it's not exactly clear even who would get the guns or how they would be provided to them. And so it's unclear exactly how this will play out or if we will really see a dramatic domestic uprising.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, I mean, you've got to imagine with, you know, the threats of more murder by the regime against any protests. Everything remains in flux. But then you have the economic turmoil that's going to be roiling the country increasingly as the blockade continues. It does feel like this is a bubbling cauldron that is eventually going to overflow one way or the other. And I just. It doesn't seem like the Iranian regime has any sort of rational economic interests. They don't, like you mentioned, they don't seem to put the concerns of their people at. At the forefront. They just want to hold on to power, and they want to play their leverage against the Trump administration to whatever ends that might come final 30 seconds to you, Mike. Big picture. What do you predict is going to happen? Are they going to get a peace meeting? Do you think that's actually going to get that far? Where we see another Islamabad negotiation, It's

[Mike Brest]

hard to tell exactly at this moment. The things that I'm watching for are how the president approaches this, because ending Project Freedom was essentially a concession to the Iranians without getting anything in return, or at least anything that we can see. And so that was a concession from the Trump administration. And so will there be a alternative concession from the Iranians that we just haven't seen yet, or will we see the president agree to make potentially additional concessions if it means getting a deal?

[Charlie Kirk]

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[Jack Posobiec]

We're actually sitting next. We're actually sitting next to each other. If I can get my fist.

[Charlie Kirk]

No, you can't. You can't see it. So, Jack, you're Catholic. Blake is Catholic. He is. I was. I went to Catholic high school. I'm a cradle Catholic and I love the Catholics. But we've got an interesting story, and there's a lot of tentacles to it, and that is that Marco Rubio is going to be holding a face to face meeting with Pope Leo at the Vatican. So add that to his jobs list, I think.

[Jack Posobiec]

I think technically, because of the time change. They already had it.

[Charlie Kirk]

They already had it.

[Mike Brest]

Yeah.

[Charlie Kirk]

Okay. Well. They already had it. Okay, so I want to play this clip because Rubio has been going viral a lot lately. Just because he's an articulate defender of the President's policies, might be one of the top two communicators in the admin. I would put JD Vance also as one of the top two. No disrespect to the President, of course. It's just when he's got surrogates out there. He's an impressive communicator. So he gave this speech in advance of the meeting with the Pope. The Catholic faith has always been part of the American story.

[Steve Hilton]

The first Christian service on our soil

[Charlie Kirk]

was a Catholic mass.

[Steve Hilton]

The oldest permanent settlement in the United

[Charlie Kirk]

States is The town of St. Augustine,

[Steve Hilton]

planted by Spanish Catholics on the coastal sands of my home state of Florida,

[Charlie Kirk]

Catholic saints were martyred on American soil

[Steve Hilton]

well over a century before the revolution began. In missions and settlements, wilderness forts and

[Charlie Kirk]

trading posts stretching from the first colonies

[Steve Hilton]

to the distant frontier, Catholic explorers, soldiers, priests and pioneers consecrated this new world to their ancient faith and christened its

[Charlie Kirk]

land with Catholic names. Maryland, St. Louis, San Francisco, Santa Fe. Almost every region of what is now the United States was first explored and mapped by Catholics. So actually, that was a speech, I guess he delivered about a month ago, but nevertheless, it's relevant. I wonder if it plays a role in the fact that he's going to meet with the Pope instead of. Because here's what's interesting. So Rubio is, I believe, evangelical. I don't believe he's Catholic. Am I mistaken?

[Blake]

There he goes back and forth. It seems like he's attended evangelical services. I think he says he's Catholic now, but he's got that American tendency to church hop a bit.

[Charlie Kirk]

All right, fair enough. I've spoken with the secretary before. He was Secretary of State during the campaign about his faith. And he sort of sounds like an evangelical when you're talking to him. But that's great. The point is, it's interesting that Vice President Vance is not going.

[Jack Posobiec]

Well, I think that JD not going as the vp. That may come as an event that you were at, actually, where he was discussing this sort of dust up between the President and Pope Leo, where the VP made some comments when you actually asked him the question. And there were, you know, he was saying, well, there's different lanes. And he was basically saying that that's a theological lane, a religious lane. This is a political lane. We're operating in that. I think that was blown out of proportion big time, by the way. I think that's all that he was saying. He wasn't saying the Pope shouldn't talk at all about those things. He was talking more about the response to it. But I do think that because of that perception, that may be one of the reasons that Rubio is coming in. Look, he's the head of our foreign diplomacy. He is the Secretary of State. It makes sense for him to be meeting a world leader.

[Charlie Kirk]

So I got clarity on his faith description. He describes himself as evangelical Catholic.

[Blake]

That's super clear. He even attended a Mormon services for a while as a child, it looks like.

[Charlie Kirk]

As a child? Yeah, as a child.

[Jack Posobiec]

Interesting.

[Charlie Kirk]

And then he attended a Southern Baptist church. He returned to his Catholic roots, describing himself as evangelical Catholic. All right, no wonder I was a bit confused there. So I think that's right. Okay, so what are the goals you think about foreign diplomacy being about the heads of states meeting or meeting with his counterpart in, you know, foreign powers. But the Vatican is essentially a very small plot of land in Italy. And, you know, so what. What are the goals here? They're trying to thaw this kind of tension. Blake, what. What do you think are the goals here?

[Blake]

Well, I think there would be some desire to thaw, because in general, in American politics, we haven't really had the Pope as a big player, but when he has been, there was a little bit of friction with Pope Francis. But generally, devout Catholics in America have been towards the right. When the church has played a role, it's been on stuff like the life issue, gay marriage, euthanasia. And we've never really had this almost feels vaguely medieval bit where you have the Pope sort of frequently saying stuff that is directly at odds with a conservative president. And it is the first American Pope. There's so many different layers to it. I think it's a conflict. They have enough disputes here. In the United States, they don't need another one. I think that's how the admin feels. Who knows how the President feels? Because the President is a guy who likes his arguments, his fights, his WWE style mashups. But I think they would desire to have a friendlier relationship or at least not a hostile one.

[Jack Posobiec]

One angle I'd love to throw in though is let's not forget that this is politics too, that we are in a midterm election. And I just pulled up a quick list in Brock here. You look at states that have Senate races, that have governors races that are competitive, that also have high Catholic percentages in terms of the population. And we know from 2024 that the Catholic vote was a huge swing vote, many of which overlaps with the Hispanic Hispanic voting bloc which is now growing in the southern states. You look at places, the Rust Belt, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, which has a Senate and Governor's race high 20%, 25% Catholic population. Ohio, which has a Senate governor's race. Maine has a very high Catholic percentage, which of course has a huge Senate race that's going on. That's Planter and Collins. New Hampshire 25%, Nevada, Texas 20%. So Minnesota again, like there's just a ton of states. And then North Carolina, which doesn't have as high of as a Catholic state. But in a state where it's going to be so competitive, look, every vote counts. And so why make an enemy of the Pope when you're in this huge fight?

[Charlie Kirk]

Well, so I want to get your guys thoughts on the Rubio Vance thing. Right. There's been a lot of ink spilled, a lot of reporting commentary about who is going to be the heir apparent going into 2028. For a while there, JD was running away with it clear as day. But Rubio's performance and his skill, his. You know, even at the White House press briefing room when he we took on that new job for a day, I mean he did a great job. Rubio is incredibly effective, like I said, as a communicator. Is it too early to play into this? But I'm hearing other reports that say the President himself is polling audiences in private about who they want. So, you know, the President's thinking about this question. I'll go to you, Jack.

[Jack Posobiec]

Yeah, I think that, I think, look, we all know the President loves the, you know, the Willy won'ty question. He loves running the Apprentice, which of course I think it's in his like 24th, 25th season or something. It's gonna be the last season so when you look at the polls, JD Vance is by and far still the lead. But there's no question that Rubio has had a slew of headlines in recent days talking about, you know, some of his successes. He's obviously on a high profile trip right now. The real question is if. Whether or not he wants to, because Rubio has said that if JD Runs, he won't.

[Charlie Kirk]

I wonder if things can change, you know? You know, President Trump is a very mercurial man. He'll adapt to change situations. I wonder if Rubio shares the same pension. All right, so I, I have to do this because it's just too much fun. There was a mayoral debate in Los Angeles, a world away from us here on the East Coast, Jack. But Spencer Pratt is getting a lot of headlines here. And I just have to play this because I think I want to hear your.

[Jack Posobiec]

Wait, this was not a debate, all right? This was a slobber knocker, as they call it. A slobber knocker. As, as, as our good friend Faz would say.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, he. So Spencer Pratt is running against City Councilwoman Nithya Rahman. Nithya, I think I sang it, right?

[Jack Posobiec]

Yeah, sounds right.

[Charlie Kirk]

Nithya Ramen. And it was. This great moment happened and it's going viral. So let's go ahead and play it.

[Blake]

I'm not sure how to respond to

[Charlie Kirk]

that vision of Los Angeles.

[Blake]

This is a MAGA Republicans idea of

[Charlie Kirk]

what Los Angeles looks like. This is, this is really not.

[Blake]

That's not. Okay, dude.

[Charlie Kirk]

Say that the head bob where he's

[Jack Posobiec]

like, los Angeles, where drugs aren't all over the street. And they're. Because they were just in MacArthur park and they got, you know, the raid and they were like dozens of people just selling drugs in a children's park, like out in the open.

[Charlie Kirk]

Well, he gets into that. Check it out. Five treatment first.

[Blake]

I will go below the Harbor Freeway

[Charlie Kirk]

tomorrow with her and we can find

[Blake]

some of these people she's going to offer treatment for.

[Charlie Kirk]

She's going to get stabbed in the neck.

[Blake]

These people do not want a bed.

[Charlie Kirk]

They want fentanyl or super meth.

[Jack Posobiec]

These ideas cost us over $400 million to house for 70. What is it, 3,000 people for 400 million is.

[Charlie Kirk]

This is absolute failure for both of them. They're a team. I mean, he, he. So you had a take, Jack, that you found it fascinating just to see this entrenched liberal Democrat stronghold actually have a voice that's challenging some of their orthodoxy.

[Jack Posobiec]

It's, it's really amazing. And I Remember when we were on, I guess it was last year and we were on Thoughtcrime and we did that. That video of it was like the live stream and we were talking about the debate in New York and it was Mondami and Curtis Lewa was the, was the candidate, but you just didn't see. And I said at the time, Curtis just didn't go all the way in like this with facts, with just complete full on disrespect for what they've done to their own cities and what they were continuing to try to push. Where you listen to Spencer Pratt, he's just saying basic things. He's saying this is what's going to happen. If you go for a walk in downtown Los Angeles, you're going to get killed. You're going to get literally stabbed in the neck. That's a MAGA Republican. Really? Then why don't you go on down there? Why go on down there and see if it's MAGA Republicans that we're worried about there? In fact, I remember, I remember tweeting about this when we were talking about Charlotte on. Not to bring this up, but on like one of the last conversations I had with Charlie was when do you remember the Van Jones. Right. Van Jones was saying like, oh, these, you know, it's people like Charlie Kirk are riling stuff up. And I had actually tweeted that, you know, when I'm going on public transit or anyone's going on public transit, they're not looking for, looking out for Charlie Kirk over their shoulder. All right? Like, no, that's not what they're looking for. So it just reminds me, MAGA Republicans like, like rear the problem. No, we're the ones telling you about the problem.

[Charlie Kirk]

We're the ones trying to fix the problem.

[Blake]

Yes, well, it's. And it's a return to a style of. We can remember we had that period where you could elect Republicans in big cities again. That's how we got Giuliani in New York. And it's unfortunate because we got a huge amount of urban rebirth. US cities got way better in the late 90s, early 2000s than they were in the 70s and the 80s. And they made the cities great. People could move back into them. You got gentrification and they got promptly nice enough to elect deranged Democrats again. And there's something to be said the worm might be turning again. Where we're making cities like LA bad enough that they could elect Republicans again and we might save our cities yet again.

[Charlie Kirk]

Blake, what you just outlined is Something I've thought so much about. You had this urban blight through the 60s, 70s, 80s, early 90s. It got so bad, you look at the murder rates. It got so bad that you've got Mayor Richard Reardon in Los Angeles, who massively increased the police force, gets safe, gets gentrified, investment comes in. All these, like, young upward, you know, these young college educated folks come pouring into the cities, they get really nice and then they forget what happened and then they reverse the trend. Our memories are so short and the lessons that we had to learn, and we think we're not bound by the lessons of history. The same thing, of course, famously happened with Mayor Giuliani in New York, right? You get the broken windows theory, they actually start policing, you get stop and frisky, and then they turn their back on the very policies that made those cities so successful for really, a blip in time, unfortunately. And one of the underlying themes here, though, Blake, and we talked about it earlier when we were talking about the Virginia State Senator, Louisa Locke, is this idea that these entrenched communities, they want to almost allow people that don't agree with us, that shouldn't be voting to vote. This came up. Should illegals be voting or immigrants? Let me see how the moderator asked the question, but sats 6. This is a yes or no question, an answer. So there's an LA council member, he wants voters to decide. He is saying that non citizens, should

[Blake]

they be allowed to vote in local elections?

[Jack Posobiec]

Is this a yes or no, Mr. Pratt?

[Charlie Kirk]

No. Mayor Bass?

[Steve Hilton]

It depends. It's not a yes or no.

[Mike Brest]

Depends on what?

[Steve Hilton]

Well, first of all, when you say non citizens, it doesn't mean they're here illegal.

[Charlie Kirk]

It doesn't mean they're undocumented. They could have green cards, they could be here. Perfectly legal.

[Steve Hilton]

And there's a lot of states and cities that do that on very, very local elections. We have to see what the councilman is proposing.

[Charlie Kirk]

Councilmember Bremen.

[Blake]

Yeah, I would say again, it does depend. In other places, school boards have non citizens. Non citizens.

[Charlie Kirk]

Blake, how dangerous is this?

[Blake]

I mean, well, it's. You really can see the future in the deepest blue cities of what they want to bring to America. They can't say the most basic facts about, like, having a functional citizenry. Should the political franchise be limited to people who are actually American? Should it be limited to people who are not criminal? Remember when they were saying felons, murderers in prison, should be able to vote? We should abolish the police. It's just the suicide of a country and Los Angeles has a choice. And we'll see what they pick in a month because. And it's not good that it's going to be that close.

[Charlie Kirk]

All right, everybody. I'm so excited about telling you about our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom. ADF is dedicated to advancing free speech, religious freedom and sanctity of life, parental rights and God's design for marriage and family. They've scored huge legal victories like helping to topple Roe v. Wade and securing a landmark free speech win at the Supreme Court just a few weeks ago on behalf of Christian counselor Kennedy Kaylee Chiles. And they're fighting for some of our culture's most pressing issues, from the protection of women's sports to defending unborn babies. ADF are amazing people, I will tell you. They rely on your generous support from people like you in this audience to protect freedom in the courtroom and in our culture. For a limited time, every dollar you give to ADF will be matched. That means 25 becomes 50, 50 becomes a hundred dollars only while their matching funds last. Go to joinadf.com charlie that's joinadf.com charlie or text charlie283848 to have your gift to ADF doubled. That's joinadf.com chardie or text charlie to 83848 to double your impact for freedom. And let me just say, they've helped Turning Point along the way many, many times. Wonderful people. Please support them. We are going to be joined by Steve Hilton. Steve, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk show, my friend. And congratulations on a great debate performance.

[Steve Hilton]

Great to see you guys. I'm very happy to be with you. Fantastic.

[Charlie Kirk]

So, Steve, tell us about your debate performance. I was posting about it like crazy the night it happened. I just, I'm still, like, absolutely blown away that Javier Becerra closed claimed that there were no missing kids after the New York Times verified it, that there's hundreds of thousands of them and this guy is surging in the polls. What is happening, Steve?

[Steve Hilton]

So, so the thing about him, you got to understand is that he's like a dream come true for the corrupt, failing Democrat machine in California because he's exactly like Biden, like Kamala Harris, like all these people. Just a total career politician. He's been doing nothing but 36 years now. He's just a class. He's like Biden. And so he's the perfect puppet for the machine. He has no thoughts of his own. He'll just do what he's told by the unions, by the activists. This is what they've been waiting for. They thought they would have Kamala Harris, then she decided not to run. Then they were onto this guy, Alex Padilla, who's the current US Senator, one of the two senators for California. They were really hoping for him. They thought he decided not to run. And then there was in this terrible scramble where they had all these incredibly weak and embarrassing candidates and Swalwell was moving to the top. Then he blew up. And then suddenly Becerra just started rising in the polls, and you could just feel this sigh of relief from the machine. Finally, we got our useless puppet candidate that we wanted all along. And so they're shoving money behind him, the unions are getting behind him. But he's exactly what we don't need because he's exactly what's driven California into the situation where we're the worst run state in America with the worst results on everything.

[Charlie Kirk]

So I got two polls here for you. This one is from Survey America. It's got you at T at the top. If you could throw this up there, guys at 20%, Tom Stier at 18, Chad Bianco at 12, and Becera at 10. Right. And then I've got another one here from Impact Research Poll, and it, it got Becerra at 23 at plus 16. It was released May 4. And he's tied with you, Steve. And then Tom Steyer at 14, Chad Bianco at 11. Do you have an approximation of which poll is. Is more accurate based on your internals?

[Steve Hilton]

Yes, the, that Becerra poll, by the way, was put out by a super PAC supporting Becerra, the one that had him leading. But there's no doubt, there's no doubt that he's moving up. And it seems to me what we've, what we're seeing happening, we just had a poll, actually, which is that you've basically got a very clear top three emerging, which is myself usually at the top, Becerra and Tom Steyer and everyone else is. There's a big gap now between those, the three of us and everybody else. Now, on the one hand, you could say that it's good news that I'm leading. I'm happy that I'm leading. But if we're not careful because of this ridiculous top two primary system in California, you could eat because Tom Steyer, remember the billionaire climate fanatic, he's already spent $160 million on his campaign. It's by far the most expensive in the country. He's already spent that. He's got plenty more where that came from. So you could imagine him pumping up his numbers a little bit, moving up. You've got Becerra now, really seriously getting the machine, the unions and all of that. And so there's a real possibility that you end up with two Democrats in the top two. Stya and Becerra, which of course is a total disaster for the state. So it's very important. People in California actually vote. The ballots are out, voting has become begun, and it's, you know, a poll lead like I have doesn't turn into an election win on its own. People actually have to vote. And so everyone watching and listening. California, you gotta vote and you gotta vote for me to guarantee that we get a Republican in the top two.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you mentioned it on another interview I saw you doing, Steve, that there's more and more that's coming out about just how incompetent Becerra was. You guys challenged him on some of these criminal allegations about his chief of staff, where they were padding his salary. I thought it was a really important moment. I'm gonna play the clip here now and get your reaction. Sat 27.

[Steve Hilton]

My view is that it's a bit rich for Javier to talk about following the law when he is mired personally in a corruption scandal. Steve, I hope you speak as ferociously about Donald Trump's violation of the law

[Mike Brest]

every time you're sitting in the governor's

[Steve Hilton]

office trying to protect the people of California. Because the last thing we need is to have an executive who continues to violate the rights of Californians and have

[Mike Brest]

a governor who just sits back and

[Steve Hilton]

agrees with that executive named Donald Trump.

[Blake]

I feel like that really. That really gets it in a nutshell. Just, you guys are a disaster. You're doing terrible. Well, I hope Donald Trump. Donald Trump is bad.

[Charlie Kirk]

I know.

[Blake]

Is he running for government?

[Steve Hilton]

All they've got is Trump. I mean, it's unbelievable. It's very funny in these debates, literally, it's all they have because the record is indefensible. Literally highest poverty rate in the country, highest unemployment rate in the country, highest cost of living by far worse than all these measures that matter. They have nothing new to offer. None of them is offering any kind of change. And so literally all they have is Trump. But I just. And that's what you hear from Trump. Trump, Trump, maga. MAGA makes. It's hilarious. But just to be really clear about what Becerra did here, I think this is very serious and it could get worse for him. When he was hired by Biden as His health secretary. He wanted to take his chief of staff, a guy called Sean Mc McCluskey, with him to Washington. The salary paid by the federal government wasn't enough for him. He wanted more money, but the federal salary is what it is. So what they did was take money from Javier Becerra's California state campaign account. They created a payment of $10,000 a month to this consulting firm, one of these lobbying firms in Sacramento, who then passed the money straight on, 10,000 straight out the bank account to this guy's wife, Sean McCluskey's wife, the chief of staff's wife. Clearly, payment to him, that breaks two. That's a violation of state campaign finance law because that money was only supposed to be used for Javier Becerra's campaigns. It's also a violation of federal employment law because as a federal government employee, you can't have sources of income from anything other than the federal government. It's a strict ethics rule. So he's in real trouble here. That whole case is already the subject of a federal criminal indictment for the people in the middle of it. But Becerra is absolutely vulnerable on this because it's his chief of staff. And the idea that he didn't know about this or, or didn't sign off on it, which is what he's claiming, I just think is ridiculous. This has got much further to go, and you could very well see Becerra himself prosecuted for his role in this.

[Charlie Kirk]

Well, I'm just gonna say it. I think Becerra and Alejandro Mayorkas deserve to be prosecuted for what they did. The crimes against humanity, the treasonous way that the border was dealt with, the migrant children were dealt with. I find it all so despicable. And the fact that we're not actively criminally prosecuting both of these, I agree with that at this point. And one is now, apparently the leading Democrat candidate for governor is just. The irony is too rich to really put into words. But, but that's.

[Steve Hilton]

Can I just give you one of the.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah.

[Steve Hilton]

Can I just give you one other thing? This is a story that we. We. We uncovered and published yesterday through Cal Doge, part of my campaign, California Department of Government Efficiency. We've been publishing a number of fraud reports this year. The one yesterday directly involving Becerra on April 13 this year. This organization, which became notorious during the LA Anti Ice Riots last year, Chirla, C H I R L A Chirla. They are an organization, immigrant rights organization. They do legal defense for some of the worst criminals that are being deported Amongst other things things, it's an entirely, nearly entirely taxpayer funded. About 80% of its budget comes from California taxpayers. This is what's been happening. On April 13, they endorsed Javier Becerra, said they'd be working hard to get him elected. We found documents from within Chirla that lay out their political operation and how they support candidates. And on one of these documents, it explicitly says that they use paid canvases to do political campaigning, including undocumented, in their words, undocumented people. In other words, you have California taxpayers funding illegal immigrants to campaign for Javier Becerra. Again, total violation of the law. And so this just shows you the corruption of this machine in California.

[Charlie Kirk]

Well, I mean, it's really despicable. And we're grateful that you're fighting the fight. You know, we have, you know, obviously a nationwide audience here, Steve, but our largest audience per share, especially on our podcast, is California. So I hope that everybody heeds your words and gets out to vote in this jungle primary. Get Steve Hilton across the top two finish lines so that he can run in the general here. But I want to take it, take us away here with a great moment for you. I felt in the debate. Sat 28, Mr. Hilton, right now, President Trump is enacting a policy of mass deportation. As you know, roughly half of California, California farm workers, which are an essential part of this state's economy, are undocumented. As governor, would you push to deport them?

[Steve Hilton]

So I'm the only immigrant on stage. I'm a legal immigrant. And Americans support immigration when it is properly controlled. And what we saw under the Biden administration, open borders, undermined everybody's support for immigration. And as governor, I've made it very clear, although it is the federal government's responsibility to determine and implement immigration policy, I think it's important that all the laws are peacefully enforced. And as governor, I would make sure that, that we work with the federal government to enforce our law.

[Charlie Kirk]

I mean, I'd go full immigration moratorium, but that's just me. Steve, you gotta do you in California. I get it. All right, Steve, we have breaking news on the Palisades fire. The guy who did it, Jonathan Kinderknecht, turns out he's a Luigi Mangione obsessed fan and he's a far leftist that just basically ruined hundreds of thousands of people's lives. And Spencer Pratt is one of them who's running for mayor. He had his debate last night. What is your just assessment, your reaction to finding out this news about Jonathan Kindernecht?

[Steve Hilton]

Well, it's just so infuriating because as with so many other things in California, it shows you that these disasters and the massive costs, these are the most expensive disaster in California history, are totally avoidable. Totally avoidable. And the specific on this fire, everyone needs to remember, which is that it was started on purpose and it was not. It was then it was called the Lockman Fire, and it was. It was a week before the Palisades fire, and then it was put out, but not fully. And the reason, and we now know this from internal documents from the fire department, was that they were specifically asking, wanting to bulldoze the area where the fire had been extinguished in order to make sure is properly extinguished. But then they didn't do that because there was a endangered plant that they were supposed to protect, and they didn't want to bulldoze the area that left this fire smoldering, which. Which reignited and created the Palisades fire. So it's just outrageous. And so the point, which is most of the fires in Southern California, there's a very big difference between the kind of wildfires you get in Southern California and the ones that you get in the Sierra Nevada, in the big forests in the northern parts of the state. In Southern California, most of the fires are started by humans, either by arsonists or by homeless encampments. So they're totally avoidable. And one of the things I think we need is a classic example. Arson is a really big cause of fires. Is there any deterrent? Is there any real effort by law enforcement, by the politicians to really clamp down it, Think about the damage that it does, and yet it's never really discussed by the politicians as something we need to really fight against. Classic California. We gotta be much tougher on all this stuff.

[Charlie Kirk]

Steve, isn't there a story right now at the 110 freeway? There was. There's a fire that's been smoldering from a homeless encampment there that's going to.

[Steve Hilton]

Exactly.

[Charlie Kirk]

It's shut down a major thoroughfare in the city.

[Steve Hilton]

Yes, exactly. That's exactly right. I'm in LA right now, and it's just. But it happens all the time. And you go to some parts of the. Of the city and it's just. It's. I mean, it's. It's hard to describe. I did put out a video a couple of weeks ago about one of the things we saw. We just went there and actually it was to do a Cal Doge press conference on fraud because one of the organizations was there just like randomly this is not Skid Row. This is not a famous part of the dystopian scene in Los Angeles. Just as if it was a set for a movie capturing some dystopian future, some horrific scene. And that's just block after block of total chaos. And, you know, that one time I was there walking through, there was a porta Potty that was clearly being used as the, you know, the main sort of toilet there just suddenly burst into flames while I was there. Just the chaos and lawlessness in America's second city. We're about to host the Olympics. It is just so totally unacceptable. That's why Spencer is doing really well and getting a lot of buzz and energy and attention in la. He was completely dismissed, but he's getting all the energy because people are sick of it in LA in particular, especially Democrats. So not just Republicans. You have Democrats who are saying, yeah, whatever, but we can't go on like this. I'm not a Republican, but we need a change.

[Blake]

Well, and there's another. There's another story that I've been recently reading about that I think really also captures the profound decay along with arson, along with the homelessness. There's metal theft. So you need copper wiring. Scrap metal is used in every city. They're doing this. And la, recently, they disbanded their metal theft tax task force at the lapd. They got rid of it. And what's going on is you have. Criminals are stripping copper wiring from streetlights, they're stripping it from major bridges. And this is a really destructive crime because they'll get $10, you know, if they get $100 of scrap metal, it costs 10,000 or $50,000 to replace it. And then they can still go steal it again. And it's known how we could stop these things. You just have to. You have to make really severe penalties. You can use cameras, you can do stuff to keep this from happening. And instead they're getting rid of the units. They're just. They're refusing to maintain civilization. And so, yeah, when the Olympics show up, when the World cup shows up, the. The lights will not be on. They literally can't keep them on because they're stealing the wires. It's something out of South Africa, 100%.

[Steve Hilton]

And it's total collapse of civilization. It's exactly the right term. And they won't do it. They won't clamp down on it. Another one, catalytic converters. Massive spree of thefts from cars. And funnily enough, Nitya Raman, the third person running for mayor who's even more to the left of Karen Bass as she's a member of the LA City Council. She was when, when the catalytic converter thefts really started accelerating a couple of years ago. She starts blaming the car companies for, for not making them more secure. And then you look at the street lights. There's another reason they're not fixing the street lights because they passed this law about what they call street diets, where if you try and fix, if you try and upgrade or improve or do anything to a street, you're now required to convert it and make the streets narrower, to slow down traffic, put speed bumps in there, all this stuff, because they hate cars, they hate people driving, put in bike lanes. So their own law that they put in to make street diets mandatory is now stopping them from fixing the street lights. It's just so crazy.

[Charlie Kirk]

Steve Hilton, we, we have your back 100%. Steve Hilton for governor dot com. Get out and vote. You gotta vote. The early voting has started. We got to actually get the ballots in the box, get him as a top two so he can actually run in the general. Steve Hilton, you're doing a great job. You and Spencer Pratt are, are shifting the narrative in California. I pray for success. It is. God bless you, sir. We'll see you soon.

[Steve Hilton]

See you soon. Thanks, guys.

[Blake]

For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk. Com.