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Charlie Kirk
Hey, everybody. What is Gaza? Where is Gaza? We dive into President Trump's very newsworthy announcement regarding Gaza and our perspective on that. Then Senator Schmidt from Missouri joins us about Doge confirmations and more. And then we dive deeper into Star Trek. Email us. As always, freedomarliekirk.com, make sure you listen to the entire episode and become a member today. Members.charliekirk.com that is members.charliekirk. com Buckle up, everybody. Here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here. Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
Senator Schmidt
I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.
Donald Trump
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
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 There is a lot to cover today. Front page of the Wall Street Journal, Trump urges US Takeover of Gaza. Front page of the New York Times, Trump proposing takeover of Gaza as a US Territory. Where is Gaza? Most Americans cannot tell you, so let's first just educate all of you and catch you up to speed on where in the world is Gaza. Well, Gaza is a very interesting piece of the Middle East. Its history dates back all the way to 15th century BCE it was an important city in ancient Egypt and even the Philistines. Seems that there's always been conflict around this specific sliver. Let's show the map. Now, when you talk about Israel, Israel is about the side of New Jersey. Israel as it is in this particular map is the turquoise on the map. The more brown color as I see it presented, is what would be called the Palestinian Authority. This is a very important point, the Palestinian Authority. What usually here is the west bank, meaning it's west of the Jordan river, is Judea and Samaria. There you'll have Hebron. There you have Nablus there you have the major metropolitan centers of the Palestinian Authority. What most people don't understand though is that there is a separate area of Arab Palestinian Authority control which is not contiguous. It is discontiguous. And that is the Gaza Strip. You can see the Gaza Strip right there, which is positioned near the southwest corner of the State of Israel. The Gaza Strip is gorgeous. It's beautiful. It's right on the Mediterranean, has rolling hills, vineyards, orchards. It is legitimately could be the new Beirut. Well, when Beirut was actually very nice. It could be a Hong Kong, it could be a Singapore, it could be a beautiful beacon. But there's been a lot of conflict over Gaza throughout the years. So Gaza, we'll just kind of fast forward to more modern time. Of course, we had the creation of the State of Israel in the 1940s. And as the creation of the State of Israel happened, there was a lot of conflict about who's actually going to control Gaza. Interestingly, Gaza was under Egyptian control from 1948 to 1967. It was not formally annexed by Egypt, but Palestinian national identity, whatever that is. However you want to explain it started to take shape. Now in 1967 there was something called the Six Day War, very famous Six Day War where Israel captured the Gaza Strip and basically controlled it for the next 40 years. From there you started to see a lot of people in Gaza that were Arab, Palestinian, Muslim start to get a little bit discontent. There was a lot of resentment. There was something from 1987 to 1993 which was called the first intifada. It was an uprising against Israeli occupation that began in Gaza, marking a key moment in what they would call the struggle for self determination. There was also the Oslo Accords that were offered by Bill Clinton, signed in the early 1990s and established the Palestinian Authority and set the framework for, for Palestinian self rule. Now understand the people of Gaza that call themselves Palestinian, they've always wanted to govern themselves. We don't want to be under Israeli rule. We don't want to be under Israeli rule. Now Hamas started to rise up in the late 1980s as a radical Islamic resistance movement. As it started to percolate and manifest more and more radical anti Semitic, anti Jewish, Jew hatred rhetoric started to metastasize in the Gaza strip. Then in 2005, the big decision was made. In 2005, Israel made the decision to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza, dismantling settlements and evacuating military personnel. Basically Israel said, forget it, we're done. This is too much headache, too much consternation. It's nothing but problems for us. If you guys really want to govern yourselves, have at It Gaza have at it Hamas have at it Palestinian Authority. Couple Years later, in 2007, following violent clashes between Hamas and Fatah, Hamas took complete control of the Gaza Strip, further deepening the political division between Gaza and the West Bank. Now, they've always wanted self determination and that's what they got. But they really also wanted more than that. They didn't just want self determination, they wanted free stuff, they wanted aid. They also wanted Israel not to exist. Now let me reiterate, Gaza could be a lovely place. The problem is the people who rule it. Israel in a past time also captured the entire Sinai. What's notable is they gave back the Sinai but not Gaza. In the peace deal, the whole idea was land for peace. We're going to give you land and we're going to get peace. But land for peace has never worked. Hamas wants to destroy Israel and the most radical elements of Islamic fundamentalism took control of the Gaza Strip. Now, as I keep that map up on screen for just one more second, all of the activity on October 7 originated from the Gaza Strip, not from the West Bank. The Gaza Strip was the launching off point. The Gaza Strip controlled by Hamas is where they went to the rave concert. They went into the kibbutzes, they went into the nurseries, they went into the little schools, they went into the synagogues. It was the launching off point in the Gaza Strip, not in the West Bank. So that fast forward now to today where it's a major mess when Israel has now done their response to the horrific, unspeakable mini holocaust on October 7th. It has all been in the Gaza Strip. It has been focused on the Gaza Strip. And the untold military story, which honestly the media has had a lot to cover the last year and a half is, yes, the IDF has been largely successful, but not nearly as much as they would have liked. And this is a pattern that America experienced in Vietnam and America experienced in Afghanistan and America experienced in Iraq, with a small determined fighting force in their home neighborhoods and in their homeland can be very difficult to defeat. They get stronger the more you repress them. They get more of a fighting spirit. The snipers and the dodge and duck type strategy on the streets of Gaza have been very difficult for the IDF to completely eliminate and wipe out Hamas. They've done a pretty good job, but Hamas has yet to be totally and completely defeated. Now, just a reminder, polled In December of 2023, Palestinians in Gaza overwhelmingly support what happened on October 7th. Now, 72% of respondents said they believed Hamas decision to launch the Cross Border rampage in southern Israel was correct. Now, let's be honest. How do you conduct a poll in the midst of a war zone? So let me actually give you a piece of data that is, I think, even more compelling that the people who did October 7th, the terrible savages, when they returned to Gaza, they were celebrated as heroes. That is more persuasive to me that there was parties in the streets of the people that returned from the horrific acts on October 7th and they came to the streets of Gaza. That's more persuasive than some poll that is being done. I mean, they don't even have phones in Gaza. Well, I don't know what they have or they don't have. That is actually a much stronger data point. So this is a big problem for Israel. The question is this a big problem for the United States? Is this a problem that we want to inherit? Is this a problem that we should have to supervise? Is this a problem that we should have to babysit and nanny? Because the Egyptians had control of it and they said no way. Israel had control of it and they said no way. And it's kind of in this murky middle ground. And those of us that are America first. It is a very serious question of how should we approach the Gaza Hamas situation. Well, we're gonna find out what President Trump means by own Gaza. Does he mean own it like he owns Mar a Lago, or does it mean that we're gonna own the activity and be responsible for managing a broker deal? Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk here.
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Charlie Kirk
So President Trump, if I were to infer, I have no firsthand knowledge of this, of other things I do, of this I do not. If I were to infer what led to this clip we're about to play was obviously his meeting and press conference with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is that there was likely a dialogue that that was occurring. Of all the people that don't want to assume control of Gaza, the Egyptians don't want it, the Jordanians don't want it, Israel doesn't want it. And I could see a situation where President Trump says, oh, forget it, we'll just take it over. I could see a moment where President Trump says, you guys are all, you don't want to take control of it. We're going to be the alpha males and we're just going to come in. So let's play this piece of tape here. And it is really shaking the matrix. I have received hundreds of messages about this. People asking, asking. That's what's so nice about having this program. I don't have to respond to text messages. I say, just watch the show. Just watch the show. It's good for ratings. Just watch the show. If you want to hear my thoughts. This is one of the moments that shook everything up that led to these headlines. Front page, above the fold. Trump urges US takeover of Gaza. Play cut 122.
Donald Trump
The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area. Do a real job. Do something different. Just can't go back. If you go back, it's going to end up the same way it has for 100 years.
Charlie Kirk
Okay, let's take a step back here. Now. Is this the art of the deal? Is this to get more moderate Arab countries to step up? Is this cutting Israel in line? We don't know. But President Trump was reading prepared remarks there. This was not off the cuff. It's very important. This is not President Trump just answering a question from a reporter. He was reading prepared remarks. So it begs that there's some sort of chess game going on here. But let's kind of go through our red lines without knowing the exact maneuvers and counter moves that are happening. Let's go through some red lines. Number one, under no circumstances Are we going to allow refugees from Gaza to come into the United States of America? I can't imagine that is even on the table. I don't think President Trump would allow that. But it needs to be said, needs to be emphasized. While we're doing the largest deportation effort in American history, which is going very well, we got Gitmo, El Salvador, we got planes going all over the place. We're not going to go let in a bunch of Elon Omar's that are going to be singing Al Akbar on college campuses, burning American flags and waving Palestinian propaganda in the faces of American students. We're not going to put up with that. So the answer is zero. Not going to happen. Zero. And number two is that we're not going to have any US Troops fighting in Gaza. That would be a detrimental mistake. That would be catastrophic. Now, when President Trump says we're going to own it, does that mean that he. We're going to own the situation. We're going to diplomatically handhold it. We're going to bring stakeholders together. I'm not sure. But we are not going to have a single US Troop. We're going to speak out against that with every fiber rbn. We are not going to get involved. Another Iraq, another Afghanistan. By the way, to the best of my knowledge, Israel has never even asked for U.S. troops. All they want is the ability and the green light to be able to wipe out Hamas. But I do think we have to also proceed with some caution here on this program. We have been outspoken critics of nation building. I don't think that's what President Trump is talking about here, but I think it's within the same potential topic here, that nation building. One of the things that we've been most critical of in Iraq and Afghanistan, in Libya, in Syria, in Ukraine, this is likely President Trump trying to create more leverage the same way he did with Canada, same he did with Colombia, same way he did with Mexico. So I trust Trump 100% to navigate this. He is the master and in him, I trust on this. At the same time though, we need to make sure that we articulate the principles that built his entire presidency and built the entire movement. The occupation of Gaza is not worth the life of a single Marine from Oklahoma, period. It's not worth it. That is not America's role to go put our most prized possession, our 18, 19 and 20 year old young men on the front lines to go fight in a region that has been described as sand and death. The IDF can handle that and we should give them a green light to go finish the job that I completely support. But limitations on American foreign policy intervention is something that has been widespread approval, and the president believes this. And so this situation in front of us is probably going to be developing in real time. But the Jordanians and the Egyptians have to step up. If all of a sudden we're going to say, hey, get out of Gaza. Well, the Jordanians don't want them, the Egyptians don't want them. But I think this definitely creates a lot of momentum to force Arab neighbors to take Palestinians. Hey, everybody.
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Charlie Kirk
With us is one of my favorite senators. He's doing amazing work. Senator Schmidt from Missouri. Senator, welcome back to the program. Senator, it looks like Trump's going to get his entire cabinet. You've been holding the line, doing great work here. Give us the latest.
Senator Schmidt
Yeah, no, I think that's exactly right, Charlie. And you know, he's got a great team. And you've talked about it. I've talked about it. I think the conference understands and certainly something that I've been talking about a lot is this election cycle was the disruptors versus the establishment. Right. And he deserves to have a team in place that's going to be real reformers on the inside. And I think, you know, the RFK pick, the Tulsi Gabbard pick, which were, you know, some of the results maybe were in question a little bit earlier in the week in committee. They Both came on a committee and expect them to get confirmed next week. Both of them. Cash Patel will probably vote on him in Judiciary next week, so he'll be a few days behind that. But having said that, I think they're all in really good shape. And I think it's important, I think it's important to honor, you know, the trust that voters gave President Trump to pick his team and this broad coalition now that we have. And I think his cabinet reflects that broad coalition. And, you know, one of the main reasons they all need to move forward, and I think they will. One last point on that. We're way ahead. I mean, Senator Thune deserves some credit here. Way ahead of the timetable that we've seen was Joe BIDEN Or President Trump's first term, where 12 confirmed by the end of this week, maybe 13. I think it might end up being it was at 6 in his first term. Biden had 6. So you'd have to go back to the Obama era where we were moving as quickly. So that's a good sign, too.
Charlie Kirk
It's a great sign. And that's also just mention that with maximum Democrat opposition, every trick in the parliamentarian handbook. Can you speak about that? You got Senator Schatz from Hawaii who's saying he's going to delay everything over usaid. I mean, it's like every possible trick. How, how has that made it a little bit more difficult? And how do you navigate such delay tactics by the Democrats?
Senator Schmidt
Yeah, normally on these confirmations, like basically you have an executive calendar in the Senate, you have a legislative calendar in the Senate, and you have an impeachment calendar in the Senate. There's only three things that you're doing at any one time and you got to switch back and forth, which, you know, takes a little time. But we're staying on the executive calendar. We're staying on these nominees. They can force us to go longer. We can only do one at a time. But we're plowing through it. We made it clear we're going to be here nights, weekends. We're getting this done. And I think they, as much as they're kicking and screaming about it and are throwing some procedural hurdles, it's going to happen. And so it's interesting this week, Charlie, they're really setting this up to be, you know, their Spartacus moment for, for Rough Boat, because they're really zeroing in on this Doge stuff, which I think is a. It is the fight that we want.
Charlie Kirk
I totally agree.
Senator Schmidt
We should relish. We should relish this. People have been clamoring to rein in government. This administrative state that's out of control. It needs to be dismantled. And now that the, you know, permanent Washington really doesn't want people to know how this money gets spent. And USAID is at the top of the list of corrupt organizations that have, that have spent money on DEI programs in Uganda and, you know, sex change operations in South America. It's an insult to taxpayers. So this is really shaking up sort of business as usual in Washington. They like this stuff in the dark. It's all coming out in the open and under scrutiny. And that's a good thing. And they're mad about it. So like I said, they can kick and scream about it, but we're going to get this done.
Charlie Kirk
Yeah. And again, it is about making government more efficient. And just so everyone understands, from the 2019 to 2022, 2020 fiscal year to today, so in about four years of fiscal year, our federal budget has nearly doubled. Nearly doubled. And I just hope everyone understands that, that there was almost a pre Covid baseline. And the post Covid baseline is so extraordinary. What is our federal budget? It's gonna be about 6 trillion ish, right. If you count this reconciled fiscal year. Is that about right? Six trillion ish.
Senator Schmidt
Yes. And I think that's a great, great point. And one of the things I try to mention is pre Covid, we were spending about $4 trillion. Okay. The budget this year will be hope, like Biden wanted to spend 7 trillion. Okay, maybe it's going to be 6 trillion. Right. So pre Covid 2019, President Trump's in office, 4 trillion. Our revenues now, Charlie, are 5 trillion. Like, if we were just spending what we were spending a few years ago, we would have a surplus. But the Democrat, they don't. They do not want to give any of that money back. So we're going to have a real fight on our hands in this next reconciliation package to sort of reign this in. And you know, I kind of get tired of saying, well, it's only a couple billion dollars or the waste is only a few hundred million dollars from like, I still count my money. And in Missouri, when you, if you were to tell somebody that that like, oh, it's only a few hundred million dollars or a billion dollars, they would, they'd be pissed and they should be pissed. So I think any money we save, whether it's a dollar or a trillion dollars, we ought to be focused on it. And I think that for, for now, that is where the momentum is and we ought to hold on to that. And we ought to fight that fight with the Democrats every single day.
Charlie Kirk
So I wanna dive deeper into the Doge issue, specifically usaid. Your colleagues are losing it over the USAID situation, which is one of the most wasteful, grotesque agencies. It's actually a very good one for President Trump and Elon Musk to focus on out of the gate because it's all about funding silly pet projects externally and not doing anything internally. Let's play just some of this here. This is cut. Let's just actually listen to Caroline Levitt list out some of the waste from USAID.
Caroline Levitt
Play cut 64 through USAID over the past several years. These are some of the insane priorities that that organization has been spending money on. $1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia's workplaces. 70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland. 47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia. 32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru. I don't know about you, but as an American taxpayer, I don't want my dollars going towards this crap. And I know the American people don't either. And that's exactly what Elon Musk has been tasked by President Trump to do to get the fraud, waste and abuse out of our federal government.
Charlie Kirk
Thank you, Senator. This is where our taxpayer dollars are going and they're mad that Elon and Doge are putting a stop to it.
Senator Schmidt
Yeah, that's exactly what's happening. And I think it's also important to put in context here that this is sort of, this is kind of business as usual in permanent Washington. It's also part of this decades long failed foreign policy establishment that is, that is being forced now to look in the mirror a little bit like it's not working for the American taxpayer. As Secretary Rubio said, the only money that we should be spending anywhere in the world is if it advances U.S. interests, our core poor U. S interest. Providing sex change operations and doing this DEI stuff in foreign countries is lunacy. But it's what happens when you have these agencies that are totally unaccountable. They have a pot of money and they get turf and they feel important and they spend the money and then they have politicians that get to travel to those places and then they get to feel important when the leaders thank them for that. Like, that's not why I did this. Like it's, I mean, but that is why a lot of politicians in Washington, you know, they love being greeted at the door and thank you, thank you for all this or whatever that we're Spending money on. So anyway, I think the reckoning is coming and that's a good thing. And this is just the first step, by the way. This is USA is like top of the list, but it's not the only thing on the list. And I think that again, this fight is worth having across the board. Like dismantling the administrative state will do more to restore the health of this republic than almost anything else we can do. Because they're totally unaccountable. You can't vote them out. You know what I mean? And so like this is, this is an important fight.
Charlie Kirk
So let's emphasize that for a second, which is we live under the appearance that there are co. Equal branches. That the first executive branch, the legislative branch and the Supreme Court, that there's tension between them. You're speaking about a fourth branch of government that was never authored by the Founders, the administrative state. And technically that should fall under the vested authority of the president in Article 2.
Senator Schmidt
Yes.
Charlie Kirk
They don't believe that and speak about how what we are really barreling towards, we are barreling towards a constitutional crisis. And I think the Supreme Court will rule correctly on this of who actually runs the bureaucracy.
Senator Schmidt
Yeah. And I think, look, Covid was so informative in so many different ways. Power doesn't necessarily corrupt, it reveals. And what Covid revealed was that there is a class of people in this country, particularly on the left, that it. That really does, you know, the whole trust the experts thing. This is a fight between we the people and the experts. It started with Woodrow Wilson. Not to get too historical about this, but like maybe one of the worst presidents, if not the worst president, who believed that the experts knew better than the people. It's really a fundamental distrust of our, of our republic. Right. That the people actually get to decide what happens. And so you're right. We have a vertical and horizontal separation of powers. Whether it's federalism or the three branches of government. The founders envision that to constantly be checking one another so that no one branch, no one person ever got too powerful. Why is that? The fundamental goal was to protect individual liberty. That is the, that's the constitutional design that we have. They never envisioned a separate branch apart from that that would have immense power over people's lives and livelihoods. And you never know who they are. Like you don't know their names, you've never heard of the. But they can send a guidance letter and totally destroy a third generation business. Or they can have an agency like OSHA that was created to make sure forklifts Beep when they back up force the COVID shot on 100 million people. So this fight really is about. It's the opening salvo about returning power back to where it always belonged, which is with the people and the article one branch of legislative body should be making these decisions. It's one of the reasons why Mike Lee and I and others are really pushing for the REINS act to get done. Because if you have an agency that's, that's trying to get a rule done right, we should have to vote on it. Like, if you think banning gas stoves is such a great idea, make us vote on it. And the truth is those ideas would never come that far because they know they're ridiculous. They never get voted on. But if they did and somebody voted on it or voted against it, you could hold them accountable for it. So this is, I think, a really important fight about, like, where does power reside? And that permanent Washington and mostly the Democrats, they really don't like that being exposed because it's been a great deal for them. They get other people to do their bidding and they're never held responsible for it.
Charlie Kirk
And this is exactly why they're going to try to do everything they can to stop Russ Vote. Russ Vote is prepared.
Senator Schmidt
He's tip of the spirit. He's tip of the spirit. Language, Charlie. There are already language talking about Project 25. The irony is their opening and closing argument during the campaign was that Trump was a threat to democracy. Lost that in the middle of that argument. Somewhere along the way, they tried to scare people with Project 25, whatever. But here we go. Now they're using similar language and they're just going to lose. And we have to exercise the power that we have now that we're in the majority to right size government and put power back to where it always belonged.
Charlie Kirk
Senator Schmidt, excellent work. Thank you so much.
Senator Schmidt
All right, take care.
Charlie Kirk
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Unknown Young Talent
And one day I was just listening to a podcast back in March. It was with Nat Friedman. He just kind of got on the podcast, explained, like, there are these burnt up scrolls that were buried in the Pompeii eruption. No one knows how to read them, but some professors have created CT scans of these scrolls and they uploaded the data on the Internet as a competition to see who could find writing inside of these scrolls. I just went home from work that day at the end of the day, and I've been working on it evenings and weekends ever since. Late one Saturday night, I was sitting at a party at a friend's house in Omaha and I get a text from another person on the challenge team and he says, hey, hey, I've just uploaded this new kind of piece of the scroll. You should take a look at it. I remotely access my computer. I type into it like, please run the algorithm on this new piece of scroll. And then I just kind of start it. I pull out my phone again, just nonchalantly like, hey, I wonder how that went. And there are three Greek letters on the screen, letters I'd never seen before. It was really cool because it's like, oh my goodness, like we actually detected new writing in the scrolls using AI. That was the moment realized, like, this is actually gonna work. Like, we're probably going to read the scroll.
Charlie Kirk
That is one of the young men that Elon has brought into the government. High IQ combined with patriotism is a threat to the establishment. The federal government has been synonymous with underachieving, lazy mediocrities. But a new team is here. Checkmate. Kobayashi Maru. Thanks so much for listening everybody. Email us. As always, freedom. Charliekirk.com thanks so much for listening and God bless.
Senator Schmidt
For more on many of these stories.
Unknown Young Talent
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Senator Schmidt
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Podcast Summary: The Charlie Kirk Show - "Gaza, DOGE, and... Star Trek?"
Release Date: February 5, 2025
Host: Charlie Kirk
Guest: Senator Dave Schmidt from Missouri
In the February 5, 2025 episode of The Charlie Kirk Show, host Charlie Kirk delves into critical geopolitical issues, governmental reforms, and unexpected analogies linking pop culture with current events. The episode, titled "Gaza, DOGE, and... Star Trek?", is structured around three main discussions: President Donald Trump's recent announcement concerning Gaza, the ongoing confirmation of Trump's cabinet nominees with insights from Senator Dave Schmidt, and an intriguing analogy connecting Elon Musk's initiatives with the iconic Star Trek universe.
[00:00 - 10:26]
Charlie Kirk opens the episode by addressing the complex and often misunderstood region of Gaza. He provides a comprehensive historical overview, tracing Gaza's significance from ancient times to the present day. Kirk emphasizes the persistent conflict in Gaza, highlighting its strategic location and the challenges it has posed over centuries.
Key Points:
Historical Context: Gaza's history dates back to the 15th century BCE, serving as a crucial city in ancient Egypt and among the Philistines.
Modern Conflict: Post-1948, Gaza was under Egyptian control until Israel captured it during the Six-Day War in 1967. This led to decades of tension, including the rise of Hamas and ongoing struggles for self-determination.
Trump's Announcement: The centerpiece of this discussion is President Trump's declaration advocating for a U.S. takeover of Gaza. Kirk plays a clip of Trump's speech:
Donald Trump [12:40]: "The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area. Do a real job. Do something different. Just can't go back. If you go back, it's going to end up the same way it has for 100 years."
[Timestamp: 12:40]
Implications and Red Lines:
No Refugee Intake: Kirk firmly states that the U.S. will not accept refugees from Gaza, emphasizing, “We are not going to put up with that. Zero.”
[Timestamp: 13:14]
No U.S. Troops: He underscores that deploying American troops to Gaza would be a catastrophic mistake, drawing parallels to past military involvements in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Support for Israel: Kirk advocates for supporting the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in their efforts to eliminate Hamas, asserting that the United States should not inherit the burdens of local conflicts.
[17:48 - 29:36]
After addressing Gaza, the conversation shifts to the progress of President Trump's cabinet confirmations. Senator Dave Schmidt from Missouri joins the show to provide insights into the confirmation process and the broader fight against the administrative state.
Key Points:
Cabinet Confirmations: Senator Schmidt highlights the expedited pace of confirmations under Trump’s administration compared to previous presidents. He notes, “We are way ahead... Biden had 6. So you'd have to go back to the Obama era where we were moving as quickly.”
[Timestamp: 19:22]
Overcoming Democratic Opposition: Despite staunch resistance and procedural delays by Democrats, Schmidt asserts that the confirmations are on track. He emphasizes the importance of honoring voters' trust in President Trump to assemble a reform-oriented team.
Focus on USAID and the Administrative State: The discussion delves into Senator Schmidt's critique of USAID's expenditures, particularly on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. He states:
“Providing sex change operations and doing this DEI stuff in foreign countries is lunacy... dismantling the administrative state will do more to restore the health of this republic than almost anything else we can do.”
[Timestamp: 20:39]
REINS Act Advocacy: Schmidt advocates for the REINS (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny) Act, which aims to reduce bureaucratic overreach by requiring congressional approval for significant regulatory changes.
Budget Concerns: The conversation touches on the exponential growth of the federal budget, increasing from approximately $4 trillion pre-COVID to an expected $6 trillion. Schmidt criticizes Democrats for their unwillingness to curtail spending, highlighting the need for fiscal responsibility.
“Our federal budget has nearly doubled... The Democrats do not want to give any of that money back.”
[Timestamp: 21:50]
[23:00 - 28:56]
Charlie Kirk and Senator Schmidt delve deeper into the inefficiencies of the administrative state, with a particular focus on USAID's controversial spending.
Key Points:
Wasteful Expenditures: Caroline Levitt identifies specific instances of USAID's misallocation of funds:
“$1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia's workplaces. $70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland. $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia. $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru.”
[Timestamp: 23:33]
Elon Musk’s DOGE Involvement: The discussion highlights how Elon Musk, through his cryptocurrency Doge, is instrumental in combating federal waste by targeting inefficiencies within agencies like USAID.
“Elon Musk has rejected the rules. Instead of playing the game of the Kobayashi Maru, he went and changed the rules and hacked the Matrix.”
[Timestamp: 29:03]
Impact on Washington's Bureaucracy: Schmidt emphasizes the necessity of exposing and dismantling unaccountable government agencies to restore transparency and efficiency.
“These are totally unaccountable... These are part of the decades-long failed foreign policy establishment that is being forced now to look in the mirror.”
[Timestamp: 24:20]
Constitutional Crisis Concern: Both host and guest express concerns over the administrative state's encroachment on the Constitution, warning of potential constitutional crises if unchecked.
“We live under the appearance that there are co-equal branches... But they have a pot of money and they get turf and they feel important...”
[Timestamp: 25:53]
[29:36 - 36:32]
Transitioning from political discourse, Charlie Kirk employs a Star Trek analogy to illustrate Elon Musk's disruptive influence on governmental structures.
Key Points:
Kobayashi Maru Reference: Kirk compares Musk's strategies to the infamous Star Trek training exercise designed to test cadets' character under unbeatable odds. He draws a parallel to how Musk, through DOGE, is "hacking the Matrix" to overcome insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles.
“Elon Musk has rejected the rules... they know it's impossible, so they had to reprogram the system.”
[Timestamp: 34:59]
Federal IT Infrastructure Coup: The podcast references an article from Politico detailing Musk's aggressive takeover of federal IT systems, enabling mass communication channels previously inaccessible.
“Musk's campaign to cut Washington bureaucracy is aiming at a very specific, very sensitive digital power center, the federal IT infrastructure.”
[Timestamp: 34:59]
Youthful Talent: Highlighting the involvement of young, tech-savvy individuals, Kirk underscores how these new players are challenging the entrenched bureaucratic norms, much like Kirk from Star Trek defied traditional boundaries.
“These young geniuses are giving us a minute of their time... they’re being attacked by the media.”
[Timestamp: 36:03]
Potential Media Smear: The episode cautions against media backlash against these young disruptors, likening it to the infamous Covington High incident, warning of unfair portrayal and attacks.
In wrapping up the episode, Charlie Kirk reiterates the themes of governmental reform, the importance of fiscal responsibility, and the disruptive potential of innovative leaders like Elon Musk. The analogy with Star Trek serves to inspire listeners about the possibility of overcoming seemingly impossible challenges through ingenuity and breaking established norms.
Final Thoughts:
Notable Quotes:
Senator Dave Schmidt:
"The occupation of Gaza is not worth the life of a single Marine from Oklahoma, period. It's not worth it."
[Timestamp: 19:36]
Charlie Kirk:
"We are not going to let a bunch of Elon Omar's that are going to be singing Al Akbar on college campuses, burning American flags and waving Palestinian propaganda in the faces of American students. We're not going to put up with that. So the answer is zero. Not going to happen."
[Timestamp: 13:14]
Caroline Levitt on USAID:
"$1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia's workplaces... I don't know about you, but as an American taxpayer, I don't want my dollars going towards this crap."
[Timestamp: 23:33]
Senator Dave Schmidt on Administrative State:
"Dismantling the administrative state will do more to restore the health of this republic than almost anything else we can do."
[Timestamp: 24:20]
Charlie Kirk on Elon Musk's Strategy:
"Elon Musk has rejected the rules. Instead of playing the game of the Kobayashi Maru, he went and changed the rules and hacked the Matrix."
[Timestamp: 34:59]
This episode of The Charlie Kirk Show offers a blend of geopolitical analysis, political strategy, and cultural commentary, providing listeners with a robust perspective on current events and their broader implications.