Making Masculinity Great Again with Dan Bongino

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Charlie Kirk Show — "Making Masculinity Great Again" with Dan Bongino

Host: Charlie Kirk
Guest: Dan Bongino
Date: July 23, 2021

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Episode Overview

In this lively and candid episode, Charlie Kirk hosts Dan Bongino—conservative commentator, former Secret Service agent, and radio host—at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit. The two discuss the current state of masculinity in America, the war on men, fitness and health routines, parenting challenges, and cultural shifts shaping modern manhood. Bongino shares personal stories from his work in law enforcement, media, and his battle with cancer, all while offering an unapologetically masculine—and deeply personal—perspective on what America needs to reclaim.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dan Bongino’s Fitness & Health Philosophy

• Efficient, Intense Workouts

  • Bongino dismisses long, slow gym sessions for “wussbags,” emphasizing short (30 minutes or less), high-intensity, heavy lifting:

    “If you're doing it more than 30 minutes, you're not doing it hard enough.” (02:08, Dan Bongino)

  • Key lifts: deadlifts, squats, weighted pull-ups, bench press, and overhead pressing.
  • Tongue-in-cheek, he ridicules “waist-up” routines that neglect legs:

    “What do you do for legs? I bench. It's not a real workout.” (02:47, Dan Bongino)

• Coping with Injury & Health Setbacks

  • Bongino details a back injury and subsequent procedures, describing how kettlebell training helped rebuild his strength and spine health:

    “Kettlebells ... almost create a splint for your spine.” (04:44, Dan Bongino)

• Sleep, Diet, and Recovery

  • After dealing with “chemo brain” and sleep issues during his cancer recovery, Bongino found better rest by adjusting his meal timing and tracking sleep with an Oura Ring:

    “I figured out if I eat by 5:30 now my sleep is good and I'm feeling good now.” (08:13, Dan Bongino)

  • On the importance of sleep vs. looks:

    “Would you rather have massive biceps or sleep well at night?”
    “Sleep well, man.” (08:21, Charlie Kirk & Dan Bongino)

• Workout Techniques & Crossfit

  • Bongino respects CrossFit but considers it tough on those with arthritis; shares stories of grueling complexes and battle wounds:

    “The problem with CrossFit for me is I have really severe arthritis ... My hands were bleeding so bad from the blisters on the bar.” (10:36, Dan Bongino)

2. On Jiu Jitsu, Fighting, and Grit

• Bongino is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner; explains how fighting teaches humility:

  “Truth comes to people in a lot of ways, but it comes really fast to you in the ring.” (12:15, Dan Bongino quoting Teddy Atlas)

• Emphasizes that even “icons” can reach a breaking point; tells the story of being unable to choke out a friend in sparring, underscoring toughness:

  “Everybody eventually quits ... it's not who quits. Everybody has a breaking point.” (12:47, Dan Bongino)

3. Masculinity in Crisis: The “War on Men”

• Roots of the Cultural Shift

  • Bongino points to early childhood indoctrination and the marginalization of roughhousing, fatherhood, and male role models in schools as root causes.
  • Echoes Andrew Breitbart:

    “Politics is downstream of culture ... The political war is useless if we don't fight the culture. It's obvious. We've failed in the culture.” (16:10, Dan Bongino)

• Consequences and Solutions

  • The erosion of traditional masculinity, especially the role of fathers and positive male behaviors, has negative societal effects:

    “The war on men is probably the single most destructive thing out there, along with the idea that kids don't need fathers.” (16:24, Dan Bongino)

  • Recommends retraining the entire culture—starting in schools—toward patriotism, manliness, and the “sheepdog mentality” (protectors who stand between evil and the innocent):

    “You’re not going to get sheepdogs teaching kids in third grade that roughhousing is bad… I mean, I played guns growing up. I promise you I haven't killed anyone…” (17:44, Dan Bongino)

4. Culture, Parenting, and Risk

• Changing Attitudes Toward Childhood Freedom

  • Both discuss how past generations allowed more freedom—and risk—for children, compared to today’s hyper-cautious, “helicopter parent” culture:

    “We all knew we grew up in a different generation where you learned to grow up fast… I mean, honestly, Charlie, I'm guilty of it too. I got two kids and… you want to protect them from everything.” (22:36, Dan Bongino)

• Role of Media and Technology

  • Bongino attributes increased parental paranoia to social media and the proliferation of alarming video content:

    “I think it was the advent of video platforms, phone cameras, and social media… These kids are getting kidnapped. The hard reality is, the chances of your kid getting kidnapped are like … one in a million. But we see it and we think it's real because it's in front of us.” (24:14, Dan Bongino)

• Law Enforcement & the “Paranoia” of Protection

  • As a former Secret Service agent, Bongino candidly admits his own struggles balancing protection with freedom for his children:

    “I'm terrified about my daughter. Even in my… super safe neighborhood… But I haven't found the balance. I'd love to tell you… but I haven't.” (24:19, Dan Bongino)

5. On Media, Influence & Responsibility

• Bongino describes being more stressed by his current media presence and responsibility to millions of listeners than his Secret Service days:

  “What we're doing now [media] … stresses me out more because I feel a responsibility, man ... we're probably talking to seriously 10 million people.” (26:41, Dan Bongino)

• He calls this work a bigger ongoing challenge—cognizant of both its potential for influence and the cultural stakes.

6. Memorable Quotes & Notable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |:-----------:|:---------------|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:08 | Dan Bongino | “If you're doing it more than 30 minutes, you're not doing it hard enough.” | | 08:21 | Dan Bongino | “Would you rather have massive biceps or sleep well at night?” — “Sleep well, man.” | | 12:15 | Dan Bongino | “Truth comes to people in a lot of ways, but it comes really fast to you in the ring.” (quoting Teddy Atlas) | | 16:24 | Dan Bongino | “The war on men is probably the single most destructive thing out there…” | | 17:44 | Dan Bongino | “You’re not going to get sheepdogs teaching kids … that roughhousing is bad ... I played guns growing up. … That’s what we did.” | | 22:36 | Dan Bongino | “We all knew we grew up in a different generation where you learned to grow up fast… I’m guilty of it too...” | | 24:14 | Dan Bongino | “I think it was the advent of video platforms, phone cameras, and social media…” | | 26:41 | Dan Bongino | “What we're doing now … stresses me out more, because I feel a responsibility, man… we're probably talking to 10 million people.” |

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Notable Segments by Timestamp

• Workout Philosophy & Deadlift Advocacy: 02:04–03:13
• Fake Weights and Lifting Culture: 03:13–04:21
• Overcoming Injury & Kettlebells: 04:22–04:53
• Back-and-Forth About Tattoos & Gym Culture: 04:54–06:13
• Cancer, Health, and Sleep Monitoring: 06:32–08:21
• CrossFit, Bear Complex & Battle Scars: 10:26–11:33
• Lessons from Jiu Jitsu & Grit: 11:39–14:59
• Defining and Reviving Masculinity & “War on Men”: 15:40–19:20
• Childhood Freedom vs. Modern Parental Anxiety: 22:29–25:45
• Responsibility in Media vs. Secret Service: 25:45–26:48
• Dog Crap Training Mention: 26:58–27:07

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Tone and Style

Throughout, both Kirk and Bongino maintain a playful yet passionate tone—frequently joking, using self-deprecating humor, and sharing personal anecdotes to illustrate deeper philosophical and cultural points. Bongino particularly weaves together personal vulnerability (illness, parenting anxieties) with bold, unapologetic advocacy for traditional masculinity, physical toughness, and American cultural renewal.

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Conclusion

For those interested in the intersection of fitness, culture, and the modern challenges facing men, this conversation offers an unfiltered, energetic, and personal look at why Dan Bongino and Charlie Kirk believe masculinity matters more than ever—and what can be done to make it “great again.”

Transcript

[Charlie Kirk]

Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

[Dan Bongino]

Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus. I want you to know we are

[Charlie Kirk]

lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

[Dan Bongino]

Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks. 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]

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[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, that's fun.

[Charlie Kirk]

So tell us your workout regimen.

[Dan Bongino]

Well, listen, here's the thing. There's this common misconception with lifting, like you gotta do it for a really long time. That's for wussbags. Don't do that. That's like a mess. Don't you have to lift really hard, super intense and short. If you're doing it more than 30 minutes, here's the thing, you're not doing it hard enough because if you're doing it the right way, like high intensity stuff, you shouldn't be able to do it more than 30 minutes. And no chump stuff. Okay. If you're gonna lift. No, no, not you. You give me like the, See, that you have to do. You have to do the heavy stuff. Especially you young guys like you. You got a deadlift. You got a squat weighted pull ups, bench press, overhead pressing. Yeah. No, no, you have to do legs. You can't do like the New York Queens workout, what I grew up with, you know, the New York Queens workout.

[Charlie Kirk]

What do you, what do you. Waist up?

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah. What do you do for legs? I bench. You know, what do you do for calves? I bench. It's not a real workout. You have to deadlift. Matter of fact, man, we really. This is like a Saturday Night Live cold open, isn't it?

[Charlie Kirk]

No, of course.

[Dan Bongino]

It's crazy. We just like blew right into it, me and this guy. We could be real trouble on here.

[Charlie Kirk]

Could you imagine?

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, I know. It could be real trouble. We could like set the whole universe on fire. You have to deadlift. I would argue to you that if you just deadlifted twice a week, you would be better off than if you just did. Like, your upper body would look better than if you just did upper body.

[Charlie Kirk]

Have you heard about the scandal of people doing those Instagram videos of fake weights on?

[Dan Bongino]

No, no. Is that true?

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, they're starting to get exposed.

[Dan Bongino]

That's heresy.

[Charlie Kirk]

Is that right?

[Dan Bongino]

There should be a death penalty for that, don't you think?

[Charlie Kirk]

I think that's.

[Dan Bongino]

This is. I have real videos of me lifting, like, real weight. But I promise you, you know what tell is, Jim, do you remember Attellas? Hold on.

[Charlie Kirk]

Oh, is this the guy in New Jersey?

[Dan Bongino]

The guy in New Jersey.

[Charlie Kirk]

So you get a tattoo there or something?

[Dan Bongino]

I don't. We're not allowed to curse in your show, right?

[Charlie Kirk]

Well, okay, depends, because I was HBO Max Edition.

[Dan Bongino]

All right, well, I was just going to say people talk and stuff. So I, I, People's like, oh, I'm going to go help this guy and Attila's out. So I took a private plane and went up there.

[Charlie Kirk]

But you got a tattoo or something and lift.

[Dan Bongino]

I got a. Well, there's the tattoo. Look, that's my, that's my back. That's the tattoo I got. You want to See, that's my B. Yeah.

[Charlie Kirk]

Have you seen Roger Stone's?

[Dan Bongino]

Right there? Yeah.

[Charlie Kirk]

Roger Stone has the picture of Richard Nixon. Right?

[Dan Bongino]

Really have that.

[Charlie Kirk]

Whatever that is?

[Dan Bongino]

No. Is this a Geraldo moment? This is my back, but my wife took this picture. But this is here. Check this out. So this is me up in Attila's right here. So the guy's like, how many times you think you can do 315 and the dead? And I'm like, I don't know. And then this woman's, like, taking my picture behind me. But check that out. That's real. Like, there's 315. Jeans. Jeans. Look at that. Jeans and boots. No. By the way, no.

[Charlie Kirk]

Warm up. Destroy my back, though.

[Dan Bongino]

Check it out, man. Killing it. Slaying it.

[Charlie Kirk]

See, I have a really bad back.

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, I had a bad back, too. I had.

[Charlie Kirk]

So how'd you fix it?

[Dan Bongino]

I had a percutaneous discectomy, and I started doing kettlebells. It's when they go in with a cannula and they take, like, jelly out of the donut.

[Charlie Kirk]

Wow.

[Dan Bongino]

And they shrink the disc, so it scars up. I've never had a problem since. But you know what fixed my back? Kettlebells. Which sounds crazy.

[Charlie Kirk]

What do you mean, kettlebells?

[Dan Bongino]

Kettlebell. They're like cannonballs with handles.

[Charlie Kirk]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Bongino]

And you. You do the swings with them. And if you do them right, it built my back, and it really, like, it almost creates a splint for your spine.

[Charlie Kirk]

Wow.

[Dan Bongino]

But, yeah, I could talk working out all this. My favorite. I used to do shows during the holidays. Do you remember what we called Rough Cuts?

[Charlie Kirk]

See, that's Roger's tattoo. Is that what yours looks like?

[Dan Bongino]

So, no, no, definitely not Richard Nixon. But that's a cool tattoo. Oh, that stone stat.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, you better define.

[Dan Bongino]

No, I had the Jesus fish, but I say I had the Jesus fish put on the back. Because the story was I wanted to go up to work out Nutella's, just to kind of stick it to the man and support them. And then on the way back, there was a tattoo shop that got shut down, too. And I said to Paula, me, well, keep in mind, I'm 46. Like, who gets a tattoo at 46? And I was like, let's stop in North Carolina, too. What was his name? That guy Jazz or some shit like that. What was his name? His name was Jax. I forgot the name. Yeah, Jax. Jax. And I said, let's stop in Jax and get a tattoo and, like, rep the cause. And it was like a huge posse of people was the Attila.

[Charlie Kirk]

With the guy with that killer beard.

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, he still has that. Ian. Ian Smith.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah. Didn't he almost go to jail?

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, yeah. And they bankrupted him too. They. Well, they took. Yeah, there was a GoFundMe. They raised like a quarter million bucks. And then the. The state came in and like fleeced all the dough. Unbelievable, right? It's like a freaking communist country we live in now. It's unreal.

[Charlie Kirk]

And he's right across the river from Philadelphia. Like, literally.

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, we. I think we flew into Philly. Sorry. I keep looking at Paula because she

[Charlie Kirk]

knows, okay, but he's right.

[Dan Bongino]

Paula is like my surrogate brain. I store very little information. She stores all of it. She has to feed me stuff during the show.

[Charlie Kirk]

And we had Ian on our podcast. So, Dan, you're doing three hours of radio Day doing podcasting. You're hosting a fox show, foxnation.com just in case anyone's curious.

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Charlie Kirk]

You're speaking here at Turning Point, USA Student Action Summit. You have biceps. That again. It's kind of need to be categorized in its own. Its own stratosphere. How do you balance at all?

[Dan Bongino]

I don't. I'm losing my mind. I'm trying now to kind of triage my needs and find out what we're going to stick with and what we're not. But, you know, it's tough. I mean, you know, the cancer thing really kicked my ass. I mean, bad.

[Charlie Kirk]

Were you doing okay?

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, I'm doing okay. And if I had to review, you know, cancer on Amazon, I always say two thumbs down. It definitely comes not recommended. Like, you know, don't do it. It sucks. But that kind of. That really sucked the energy out of me. And the problem is, you know, when you have. You get the chemo, you get this like, chemo brain. And I gotta tell you, like, I never really, really recovered from that.

[Charlie Kirk]

What do you mean?

[Dan Bongino]

You know, when you're on chemo, it's hard to focus. I don't know why they call it chemo brain. And it's real. And it took me months to get rid of that. And I wasn't sleeping well. And luckily now, like, I feel good. It's not a sob story. Like, everyone, I'm doing okay. You know, there are people with far worse cancers than I had. Stage one Hodgkin's. That's like the common cold of cancer. So we got rid of it quick, but I was sleeping terrible. And lately though, I got this oura ring. They are not like A sponsor or anything. I'm not trying to shield the aura ring, but this monitors your sleep. And I figured out things that were getting in the way of my good sleep. Like I was eating late. Like me and Paula eat at like 10 o' clock at night or sometimes. And I was like, paula, why am I sleeping so terribly? And I figured out because I eat a lot.

[Charlie Kirk]

But then you get acid reflux throughout the night without realizing it.

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, I don't get much of that because my body's used to consuming mass quantities like the Coneheads from the old Saturday Night Live. But I'll eat like 20 pieces of sushi. Sushi and go to bed. You know, if you're going to put on a lot, you got to eat big. I mean, as my bodybuilder friend said to me once, he said, the real battle's with the knife and fork.

[Charlie Kirk]

No, but that's exactly. So when you're lifting, you have to keep up the eating.

[Dan Bongino]

You got to eat like a savage. But you can't sleep at night. So I figured out if I eat by 5:30 now my sleep is good and I'm feeling good now.

[Charlie Kirk]

So. You got it. Would you rather have massive biceps or sleep well at night?

[Dan Bongino]

Sleep well, man. See, you're a young guy, man. You, you know, you're. When you get older. Anyone over 40 in here? Anyone? Ladies, you don't have to say anything. I'm talking to the guy. Specifically. Never ask a woman her age. You don't look, by the way, anywhere near 40. For the record. You look like you're in your 20s. I'm just saying when you hit 40, you will never sleep well. It's like a 40 year old thing and it really sucks because it's like your whole life, right?

[Charlie Kirk]

Paula, how many hours of sleep do you sleep?

[Dan Bongino]

Well, the Oura ring said last night because it manages. Maybe you're sleeping.

[Charlie Kirk]

Have you ever tried magnesium? I'm not kidding.

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, I do. Zma.

[Charlie Kirk]

It works really well, doesn't it?

[Dan Bongino]

I slept seven hours and 41 minutes last night.

[Charlie Kirk]

Okay?

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, but my REM sleep, my REM sleep wasn't very good. It was only an hour.

[Charlie Kirk]

How many REMs you get in two or three?

[Dan Bongino]

It depends. You got to look at the cycle. Looks like I got two in. You see the blue dots?

[Charlie Kirk]

A true REM's like 90 minutes, right?

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, it's. That's the whole cycle REM, my REM was an hour and 12 minutes total. But deep sleep was strong, an hour and nine minutes.

[Charlie Kirk]

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[Dan Bongino]

are we supposed to be talking about anything specific?

[Charlie Kirk]

This is really important, Dan.

[Dan Bongino]

I know you asked me about the workout stuff too.

[Charlie Kirk]

I really set you off. Are you a believer in CrossFit or is it all a scam?

[Dan Bongino]

No, CrossFit's great. But the problem with CrossFit for me, the wads are killer. I steal them sometimes. Like, I just go out and I'll like, look at the couple and do them. But the problem with CrossFit for me is I have really severe arthritis. Like, if you're young and can slam it hard, I. I love CrossFit.

[Charlie Kirk]

I mean, which routine in particular?

[Dan Bongino]

Well, I used to do like, the Bear complex, which is really, you know. Yeah, the push overhead front squat down, put overhead back squat, then a deadlift. And my shoulders can't handle it. Matter of fact, the last time I did the Bear Complex, I did the True Story. My hands were bleeding so bad from the blisters on the barks. I didn't have any, like, tape or anything. And I go to do an interview with Glenn Beck in his station in New York. And Glenn's a great guy, but he doesn't like, you know, other people's blood on him like most human beings wouldn't, which doesn't make him unusual. Does Glenn lift this guy? I don't think so. I haven't asked him, but I'm pretty sure. So I'm just wondering. I shake his hand, and I, like, bleed all over his hand. And I could see him, like, he was, like, freaked out, and he was like, someone get me some alcohol.

[Charlie Kirk]

The biggest problem with CrossFit are the people that do CrossFit, they can't stop talking about it.

[Dan Bongino]

I know. It's kind of like I'm a Brazilian jiu jitsu guy, so I do.

[Charlie Kirk]

Is that right?

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, I like to talk about that, too.

[Charlie Kirk]

Tell me about it.

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, it's great. Like, it's, you know, you. You. The first month of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, you know, you learn how to, you know, beat like, 999 guys out of a thousand in a street fight. And then the next 20 years is learning how to fight that one badass mofo. You went on to the street, it was like kimbo slice, you know, so it's the greatest thing ever. But you realize, like, you realize really interesting things about people. You know, It's. It's. It's funny. What a great segue into the speech, because I'm going to start off the speech with a Teddy Atlas quote. I even said on a Fox and Friends this morning, famous boxing trainer Teddy Atlas, he once said, like, truth comes to people in a lot of ways, but it comes really fast to you in the ring.

[Charlie Kirk]

Oh, I love that.

[Dan Bongino]

And that's the thing about Brazilian Jiu jitsu. Like, you learn a lot about yourself quickly. When you hear people say things, for instance, like, you know. You know, people don't. You should never quit, you know, never go, listen, bro, here's the hard reality. Like when you're getting your ass kicked by a guy who outweighs you by £100 and you can't breathe and you're ready to die, like, everybody eventually quits, even the toughest fighters in the world. That's not what makes you a man. Like, people quit. All the quitting has a negative connotation. But when you're in real fights, like, in real time, and you can't breathe and a guy's punching you in the face and yanking your arm out of its socket, you're like, okay, like, I gotta live to fight another day. And you start to realize that it's not who quits. Everybody has a breaking point. The bravest soldier in the world, if you torture him enough, is gonna quit. It doesn't make him not brave. It's just the breaking point people have, like, the weak people are here, the okay people are here. Like, the good people are here, the great people are here, the legends are here, and then the icons are here. Like, they don't quit until, like, the seventh day.

[Charlie Kirk]

Is that the differentiator between the okay fighters and the best fighters?

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, I mean, I. It was a guy, this guy Jurka, that I rolled with, he's a savage. He's like. He's like, not even of planet Earth. He comes from, like, some alternate string theory dimension. He just doesn't feel pain like normal people. So I've got huge legs. I outweigh this dude by 20 pounds. I have really big legs. From squatting, I get this dude in a triangle choke. And, brother, I'm telling you, this guy's face, it's not purple. It's, like, black. Like, he's. He has no blood in his face at all.

[Charlie Kirk]

For fun. I'm just.

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, I did. I can't because of my chemo. My chemo ports still in. You see that? So I can't. You see that little golf ball in my chest? So I can't roll until I get it out. And she won't let me anyway. And because I swear, like, that contributed to some of my illness because I was Always had inflammation problems. But I'm like, yanking this guy's head. I got him in this triangle choke. I'm telling you, the dude's face is turning black. He would not quit. And eventually my legs got tired choking this guy, and I'm like, you believe this shit? This guy. My legs are getting tired choking this dude out. So eventually I have to let go. And he proceeds to beat the hell out of me because I have no more gas left. And I'm thinking, like, he's. He's lost fights, jerka. He has. But he's the single toughest dude I've ever met in my life. Like, he. He just was like, all right, if I pass out, I pass out. And he just sat there in this triangle choke. His face went from, you know, white to blue to purple to black. And he just said, just choke me. That's it. I'm just not. And that's. That's, like. That dude's, like, a great status, you know? And then you get, like, icons, people, you know, like, you know, in the ufc, like old. Remember Jens Pulver and people like that, they were just. These guys would fight until they're like, jorge Masvidal. Freaking guy's been knocked out. One time. He's on my show on unfiltered. I mean, the guy is a savage.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah.

[Dan Bongino]

There's a street fighter him with this Kimbo, Slice's protege. Right? You got to watch on Slice.

[Charlie Kirk]

He passed away, didn't he?

[Dan Bongino]

Did Kimbo. He was badass.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, but he had a lefty, I think, too. He was a.

[Dan Bongino]

Was he. Was he a south guy? I think you're right. No, no, you're right. Because he would come in like this. Yeah, you're right. Knows his stuff. But he had a protege, this guy Ray. And Masvidal used to fight him. And this guy Ray was tough. He rarely, if ever, lost a fight. Masvidal whooped his ass twice in the street. In the street. Bare knuckle, bro. No, nothing. No mouth guards? No. Masvidal is badass. Like legit. Not like UFC badass. I mean, like legit badass. So I respect that. I respect guys who can throw down.

[Charlie Kirk]

There's a lot of different things I want to get to. In addition to all of this very important stuff, how do we solve the war on men in our country? Speaking of hyper masculine things. Because last time I was in a Brazilian chokehold with somebody, it actually worked well.

[Dan Bongino]

Well, no one's asked me that question before. And I think it starts with the indoctrination process early. Obviously, we failed. Let's stop pretending. See, you know, Andrew Breitbart said, you know, politics is downstream of culture. And Breitbart was a very smart guy. I know you probably knew him.

[Charlie Kirk]

Actually, I didn't. He passed away right before I got involved. I wrote my first article for Breitbart.com.

[Dan Bongino]

i met him one time at an early CPAC when it was still at the Marriott Wardman. He was with Ted Cruz. Remember that? The old days. And he used to say the politics was downstream of culture. The political war is useless if we don't fight the culture. It's obvious. Let's just get through that. We've failed in the culture we have. The war on men is probably the single most destructive thing out there, along with the entire idea that, you know, that kids don't need fathers. I mean, I've been a. I grew up in a divorced family. It's not a sob story. Whatever. My wife and I were talking about it last week. Cause something happened with my mom. But dads are different. They roughhouse their kids. Kids learn that they can be physical without being violent. There are things fathers do. And this war on men and teaching kids that, you know, roughhousing is bad. Like what we remember, we Were kids, they call it, what do they call horseplay or something? Oh, you know, don't do that anymore. You know, that's like whatever. Male white supremacy, male dominance, you know, the male white male patriarchy. Knowledge is a construct of power. Critical race theory, bs. It's gonna take a long time to from, I mean, rip it out from the roots and start from scratch. And you know, where does it start? Because you need action plans. You can't just talk a bunch of smack. It starts in the schools of education. Who's donating their college? You donate in your college. I always ask people why, why are you donating your college? I went to Penn State. I don't give him a dime. I love Penn State. I went to the business school. When Penn State hires a bunch of conservatives, I'll donate. And once we start retraining the entire culture from the start to re. Embrace this country. Patriotism, manliness and the good thing of man. The good things about manliness. And we re embrace the sheepdog mentality like Dave Grossman writes the sheepdog mentality. So Dave Grossman wrote this book, he was an army officer called On Killing. The book is literally about killing and what actual killing in war is like. It's an amazing book. It was a bestseller. It's a eye opening book. You read it, you'll never look at the. It should be mandatory reading for law enforcement everywhere. And in the book he talks about there are wolves in society. Genuinely evil people, right? And then there were sheep. People who are just going to be preyed on. They're just weak. It happens, unfortunately. You know, I, I wish it didn't, but it did. But he said in between the sheeps and the wolves are the sheepdogs and the sheepdogs are the men. Think of this war on men. They're the men. And even the women out there who are willing to put their butts on the line and you know, put a shield on their chest or they don't have to be a cop or in the military. You're the guy in a gas station when some woman's getting beaten up and robbed. You could walk away and you're like, not today. And I'm going to go knowing you could get stabbed. And those are the sheepdogs and we need more sheepdogs. But you're not going to get sheepdogs teaching kids in third grade that, you know, roughhousing horseplay and playing guns is, you know, is, is somehow going to turn them into serial murderers. I played guns growing up. I promise you I haven't killed anyone, nor do I have the desire to. Just for the record. I mean, I played guns. I had the Jaguar Matic, I remember was a cap gun. And, you know, bang, bang, we got. That's what we did growing up. I mean, we acted like boys. We put mattresses on skateboards and used to roll them down hills into traffic. And my mom was like, everyone okay? Like, it's all good. I mean, we used to take a Spongebob, a bat and a glove, leave at 9 o' clock in the morning, come back at like 10 at night. We'd eat Mr. Softy for lunch before. Yeah, and sometimes we didn't even do that. And my mom was like, whatevs. If you're all right, you're all right.

[Charlie Kirk]

Look, I know a lot of you are pushing back against vegan culture. Now, maybe you're vegan and that's fine. I do that sometimes, too. You know, sometimes I get the fake burgers and all this, but when I do that with my wife, I have to be honest, I feel to myself, I miss the real meat. Do you know that you might be eating Chinese meat? That's right. You might be eating meat from China. Now, the way to ensure that you're not eating Chinese meat is goodranchers.com. i get my meat from goodranchers.com. they send you a big box. Now, I know a lot of you want to impress your neighbors. Maybe you got the new lawnmower. Maybe you built the new pool. But if you all of a sudden want your neighbors to be clamoring and chattering, whispering and gossiping and saying, I wish I had with the Smiths or the Joneses or the Schmucktenbergers or any of the other people have. Then all of a sudden you want them to say, I am so unbelievably ready. Wait till you get a box of marbled, genuine American meat delivered to your door. You see, my friends at Good Ranchers, they've traveled America. You know that Johnny Cash song, I've Been Everywhere? That's them. They've been everywhere, all across America, searching for the best meat. Free for you. You see, they met with the actual farmers. They're pro farmer. And here's how it works. They deliver it to your home. You could subscribe. And then, you know, like clockwork, boom, boom, boom, I'm getting meat to my home. If you subscribe to any one of our packages, you'll save 20% with each purchase. Subscribing brings the cost down per meal. Get steakhouse Quality for less than $5ameal. By the way, the emails that I get at freedom. Charliekirk.com I think this is bringing families back together. I really do. I think good ranchers is a way to solve the, what I call Applebee's chaos. Where do we want to go to eat? Everything's booked. I guess we'll go to Applebee's. You end up fighting and that's what happens when you go out. Unless you have meals at home. You see bring the family back together. No more grocery store guessing game. No more Chinese meat. Know where your meat will come from with goodranchers.com and support American farmers. Here's the one thing that I like about good ranchers. I'm not selling you some obscure thing. This is not like a Johnson rod for your car. It's not some sort you all need to eat. So therefore I'm putting something that I know you all need. So you might as well get the food that supports this program, supports America, supports the ranchers and bring smile to the [e-mail] Charlie that's GoodRanchers Charlie. $20 off and free express shipping. 100% American beef. You guys will love it. GoodRanchers.com Charlie so but the other side, Dan will say, that was awful. It was unsafe and it was dangerous. Now we mask our six year olds. Why is that America desirable again, A risk taking, a daring America that kind of just allows kids to develop and kind of a natural habitat.

[Dan Bongino]

You're a good interviewer. See, I'm a, I'm a really terrible interviewer. I just had this conversation with Fox the other day. I'm like, I got to work on my. You're really. Those are good questions. It's not because when you ask people in polls about things like political correctness, which, let's be honest, encompasses this idea that, you know, manliness is inherently dangerous. It never polls well. But we all do it as a form of public virtue signaling to, you know, I think it's to avoid punishment. I think we tell our friends that and we attack manhood and things like that because we wanna be popular at the foie gras cocktail party. These people aren't doing Jaeger bombs. They're drinking champagne and stuff. And they're like, well, Joey bag of donuts here, if I say that, he'll think I'm some kind of conservative MAGA supporter. So we just agree. But quietly behind the scenes, when you take these polls, people realize things like crt, political correctness and all this other bs, you know, the. What do we call them? Like the, the, the. The. The angel parent? No, the helicopter parents. We all know it's bad. I mean, we all knew we grew up in a different generation where you learned to grow up fast. I mean, listen, and Paula's story is crazy. They came here with nothing from Columbia. I mean, she was taking trains in the Bronx when she was like 13 years old. Like, no, she didn't have a bodyguard or anything like that. And yet we coddle our kids. But I mean, honestly, Charlie, I'm guilty of it too. You know, I got two kids and, you know, I don't. You know, I. My kids. You want to protect them from everything. You're afraid they're gonna get kidnapped and stuff.

[Charlie Kirk]

So what's the balance thing? Cause so many parents say, I remember how it used to be, but then they get extraordinarily paranoid. They're like, well, they could get kidnapped, they could run into traffic, and then I would have to live with the guilt and the responsibility. Why was your parent. Why were your parents okay with you kind of just going down some hill? And you grew up in New Jersey, right?

[Dan Bongino]

New York, Yeah.

[Charlie Kirk]

New York just kind of going down some hill and like, oh, hope it works out for you. What changed?

[Dan Bongino]

I think it was the advent of video platforms, phone cameras, and social media.

[Charlie Kirk]

I think you're right.

[Dan Bongino]

Where you get a kid, that's. I mean, what was that thing we just saw, Paul, up in New York, right? The kid, right, Was going to get kidnapped. And we see it, we're like, holy crap, this is real. Like, these kids are getting kidnapped. The hard reality is the chances of your kid getting kidnapped are like, thank God. Knock on one. Like one in a million. But we see it and we think it's real because it's in front of us. We're visual creatures. But you asked where the balance was and listen, I'm gonna. I'll be candid with you and you people, I haven't found it. I. I'm terrified about my daughter. Even in my. I live in a super safe neighborhood. I mean, we have our own cops. It's like, it's. It's like a Brinks truck. This neighborhood. There's. We haven't had a. I think there was a car break in there like seven years ago or something. That's it. And, you know, there's a street my daughter runs down and I tell her, you're not allowed to run down here alone. Which is, I mean, candidly ridiculous. But I haven't Found the balance. I'd love to tell you. Oh, Dan Barjido. I figured it out, but I haven't. I'm a dad, and I think having been a cop and a Secret Service agent kind of hurts because you see some really bad stuff, brother. I mean, we had. The Child Pornography unit was in the Secret Service through ncmec, the national center for Missing and Exploited Children. We ran that, man. You can't. You know, you can't look at that and not change. Like, you. You get paranoid real fast. You can't. You just. You know, it's kids, man. It's kids. Like, crimes on adults are bad enough, but, you know, defenseless kids changes you, man. That's why the guys in the unit cycle out after a few months. You can't look at that stuff. It just rewires your brain.

[Charlie Kirk]

Last question, then I got to bring you up on stage because they're clamoring for Dan Bongino upstairs. Was it harder to be a Secret Service agent or to do what you're doing now?

[Dan Bongino]

You know, this is gonna sound crazy, but what we're doing now, you know, the Secret Service, you just. You go on autopilot, man. I mean, you train. You. You train, you know, to do a job, to handle the big six, the tactical medical chem, bio. Ied, airborne fire emergencies. You train to do it, and you do it. You know, I always used to argue with people about, you know, the heroism of policing and being a federal agent starts when you sign up, you know, like, that's it. Like, you don't think. Like, you don't go to work like, oh, look, I'm going to be a hero. You just go to work, like, when you decide that that was the real heroism, Right? So you don't think. But this job stresses me out more because I feel a responsibility, man. I mean, between you and me, between Fox, your radio show, mine, and both of our podcasts and your Turning Point Charlie, we're probably talking A Seriously, like, 10 million people.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yes.

[Dan Bongino]

I'm not joking. It's not hyperbolic. That's like, real direct reach. Direct. Right. Who. God only knows what.

[Charlie Kirk]

Facebook and indirect.

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah. I mean, that's a big responsibility, and you're fighting to fight for them, and you damn well better do it right.

[Charlie Kirk]

Thank you, Dan. We got to get you back on, all right, brother? And we need to get the specific routine. The workout routine.

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah, I'll give it to you, man. I'll give you. I'm serious. I'll give you a good one. It's called Dog Crap training.

[Charlie Kirk]

Is that right?

[Dan Bongino]

Yeah. Yeah. D O G G that Dead series. Look it up.

[Charlie Kirk]

So it's.

[Dan Bongino]

It's a funny name.

[Charlie Kirk]

They need Dan to get on stage, tell them they could fight him. Charlie, Kirk here. Thanks, Dan.

[Dan Bongino]

See you guys. Great. Thanks. For more on many of these stories and news you can Trust, go to charliekirk.com.