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My name is Charlie Kirk. I run the largest pro American student organization in the country, fighting for the 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. College is a scam, everybody. You gotta stop sending your kids to college. You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible. Go start a Turning Point USA College chapter. Go start a Turning Point USA High School chapter. Go find out how your church can get involved. Sign up and become an activist. I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade. Most important decision I ever made in my life. And I encourage you to do the same. Here I am, Lord.
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Use me.
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Buckle up, everybody. Here we go. The Charlie Kirk show is proudly sponsored by Preserve Gold, the the leading gold and silver experts and the only precious metals company I recommend to my family, friends and viewers.
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All right, welcome back. Hour two of the Charlie Kirk show is underway. I'm excited about our next guest. Never had her on before, but I have followed her writings for a long time. And that guest is Kirsten Fleming, features columnist at the New York Post. Welcome to the show, Kirsten. Honored to have you. And happy Ash Wednesday.
C
Where are you? Solemn Ash Wednesday. I don't. I don't like. I actually wash it off. It's like a kind of personal quirk of mine. I know most people don't. I do. I take. I. I think. I think always about the Gospel of Matthew where it says, when you are fasting, wash your face.
B
Oh, well, don't.
C
And it's. Most people don't. This is an eccentricity of mine, but.
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It'S a thing about mine throwing you into the bus here.
C
A solemn Ash Wednesday. I would say a solemn Ash Wednesday period of fasting.
B
I actually, I had it. I had made a note to bring it up at the top of the show, and I. And I missed it. So I'm glad that we got reminded here. Kirsten, there is so much going on in the city of New York, and yesterday, Mom Donnie made a lot of news. Let's go ahead and just start with some of this and I'll get your reaction on the other side. Oh, here they are. Okay, so he said, we're forced to raid our rainy day fund 407.
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In order to get to this point of closing the gap on both this fiscal year and the next fiscal year. We are forced to. To raid the rainy day Fund the retiree health benefits trust reserve, and to increase property taxes across these other years.
B
Yikes.
C
He's very casual about that. Oh, we're raiding the rainy day fund. Which is it a rainy day? No, it's just the start of his.
B
So, yeah. Kirsten, how do we get here? And what. What is he really saying? And what's the truth? Is he spending like a drunken sailor, or is this all make perfect sense to you?
E
He wants to spend like a drunken sailor, for sure. I mean, look, it's. He. We're a month and a half into his. His administration, and the balloon is already off the rose. The smell is off the socialist. This is what he is doing. He is to put this the best way possible, as our front pages are the best. Stick him up. He is trying to force Kathy Hochul's hand to try and make her come up with the cash by taxing the rich. That's what this is.
B
Yeah. Okay, so there is this backstory behind this, right? So Kathy Hochul is, in New York terms, not to all of us out in the real world out here, but in New York terms, she's considered sort of more to the center, a centrist Democrat, and she's saying that these are off the table. We're not gonna raise property taxes. Cause. Or. Well, property taxes. Zoron could do all on his own, but the wealth tax, he would need Cathy's help. Hochul's help to do. But she's already given him 1.5 billion from the rest of the state and injected it into the city's budget, which, by the way, Kirsten, is $127 billion. The entire budget of the state of Florida is 117. So, like, the maths. Don't math up for me here. Now, Mayor Adams is saying that he left a fund of 9 billion behind, and Mamdani saying that's not true. So what's the truth there? And what do New Yorkers make of the rest of the state having to subsidize the city?
E
Well, I mean, I can't say with Adams. I mean, he had some wasteful stuff going on. But the idea is, if you do have waste and you have issues going on, you cut spending. You don't keep promising, like, he's Oprah. He's like, you get more. You get more. And it's like putting more into the freebies, the incentives. And he wants, like, you know, in terms of. He's always advertising, even to migrants. Like, he wants to shell out way more money for migrants. He wants to Shell out all of this money for things. He wants to increase the spending that we're going to be giving to each public school student, decrease the class size. All of these things where it's like, buddy, why don't we start cutting some of the fat? Because we got a lot of fat in this place. So that's really what, what it comes down to. He is unwilling to make compromise and he just wants his way and he wants his DSA agenda.
B
Well, this is what's crazy about this. It almost feels like he's holding Kathy Hochul hostage.
E
Yeah, that's, that's exactly like I said. This is like the great.
B
Yes, perfect. Yes, exactly. Well, and here's what this is.
E
Trying to force her hand.
B
And he's trying to use his social media savvy, his the energy of the activist far left base to really hem her in. And she's trying to say like, it's fine, we'll figure it out, we'll figure it out. Trying to keep the pressure off. But I think this clip spells it out really well. 411.
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There are two paths to bridge this gap. The first is the most sustainable and the fairest path. This is the path of ending the drain on our city and raising taxes on the richest New Yorkers and the most profitable corporations. The onus for resolving this crisis should not be placed on the backs of working and middle class New Yorkers. If we do not fix this structural imbalance and do not heed the calls of New Yorkers to raise taxes on the wealthy, this crisis will not disappear. It will simply return year after year, forcing harder and harsher choices each time. And if we do not go down the first path, the city will be forced down a second, more harmful path. Faced with no other choice, the city would have to exercise the only revenue lever fully within our own control. We would have to raise property taxes.
B
So if you're raising property taxes, this is just amazing. By the way, he's like, awful decision. Or even more awful decision. Welcome to the warmth of collectivism.
C
We have no choice other than all of the policies that I have chosen that are terrible.
B
And so when he's talking about raising the property taxes, who are these people? Are these like all rich fat cats or are these like normal New Yorkers?
E
No, I think people forget that New York is not just Manhattan. It's five boroughs. There's a lot of middle class housing immigrants who became homeowners in like south, you know, South Brooklyn, in the Bronx, in Queens, Staten island and the, you know, the house housing Prices keep rising, but the reality is, you know, and it's going to be passed on to the renters as well. So this is not the fix that he's selling it as. And, you know, he's trying to manipulate everything and make it seem like, look, if Kathy doesn't do this, look what the establishment Dems did. We need even more radical policies. And that's just, that's it's a manipulation.
B
So it just feels like this is the same old playbook. It's like it kind of reminds you of, you know, eventually the problem with socialism. Eventually you run out of somebody else's money. Margie Thatcher. But it's like you promise utopia, you fail because, you know, math is math, and then you tax and spend to deliver utopia, you fail again, and then you run out of money to tax and spend. So you scapegoat the last remaining productive people in your society.
C
And.
B
And then when that fails, you just seize the means of production and you hold them over a barrel until you get what you want. I mean, what, as a New Yorker, what is every. Like you said, the smell is off the rose or the off the socialist. The bloom is off the rose. But I mean, you know, I don't mean to be a pessimist here, but it's hard to have faith in the good common sense of New Yorkers when they keep, you know, it seems like they want to rush down this socialism path. Is it. Is it cutting through, I guess is my question. Is it really going to have an impact? This feels very negative.
E
It is. It is. It's scary. It is very scary. And look, a lot of common sense New Yorkers did flee during COVID because the conditions were so filthy, the streets were terrible, the crime was rising. And, you know, so people said, you know what, screw this, I'm going to go someplace else and pay less money and have better access to better services and so get more, more bang for my buck. So a lot of reasonable people left. Now. There are still, like, Mandani did not win by that much. You know, there's still a lot of people who did not vote for him and who were freaking out. And people who are prepared, they've got their bags back to go. But not everybody can go like someone like me. My mother is here, my cousins are here, my brother's here, my whole family's here. So I don't make a lot of money. What am I going to do? So it really does put pressure on these people who like me or like working class New Yorkers who can't just like pack a bag and buy a place in Florida. It's just not tenable. And also, I work here. It does feel very negative. I am hoping that common sense will prevail and that Kathy Hochul will hold strong because either way, it's a bad, bad outcome. But it's funny because all these, he had his tenant advisor who has called homeownership white supremacy. And you have all of Sia Weaver, she's a gem. Just go through her Twitter account. So you have all these people and you're like, wow, they're really radical. But what they've done, they're already working. They're already like crafting the machine. So to be in place for when this stuff falls apart.
B
Well, and you, you did a great piece, by the way. I recommend everybody read it about the champagne Socialist. There's that one guy, the one guy that, that you find all his old tweets, like complaining about American Airlines and France Air and all this stuff. You know the guy, and he's a total raging target. Yeah, exactly. And by the way, just so we're clear, Mamdani let 18 people die on the streets of New York just in the cold, refused to move out the homeless people. So there's that too. Kirsten, this is so fun to have you. We're going to have you on a back again soon because this story is not going anywhere. Thank you for, thank you for joining. If you're stressed about getting out of debt, it's go time. Seriously, this is one of those moments where timing actually matters. Done With Debt is one of the best I've seen at navigating debt relief. 2025 was a record year. They enrolled over $102 million in debt. For our listeners and others, here's why I'm telling you about this now though according to the Federal Reserve's latest survey, many banks have tightened their standards. Right now may be the best window to negotiate settlements before lenders tighten further. Done with Debt tracks credit card and loan company behavior. This is what they know. They're experienced at knowing who is negotiating and when and what it takes to get you the biggest reduction possible. And Whether you're carrying 10,000 or $500,000 in debt, this probably the best chance you'll get all year.
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C
Yes we do. We've got it. It's really laying out exactly what's going to happen. Let's play 459.
A
Coleman Young was the mayor of Detroit and his stated goal, well, that stated, but his whole idea that would get revealed later was that kick ever basically make it so unpleasant. But I hold on to power. I will rule over the ashes. I will be the mayor over a destroyed city. I will be a mayor over Dresden after the bombing. It will be a terrible place to live. But I'm in charge. I'm the mayor. And that's what Mom Donnie will do.
B
He.
A
He'll make it so unpleasant, he'll make it so awful of a place to live. And then he'll end up being the king. Some people want to be the king of the ashes. And that is Mamdani.
C
It's so funny. I wish I could have told Charlie about this before I remembered it. Well, you know, more before everything that happened, which there was a mayor of Boston about 100 years ago, also a Democrat. And there's literally a study that creates a. A like a hypothetical effect where it's in the political interest of a ruling elite to make a city worse with the knowledge that your opponents will move out faster and your base will stick around or will move out last. And so you deliberately make a city worse to make sure that you keep.
B
Control of it happened in California.
C
Yes, it's what happens in California. It's what happens in so many Democrat jurisdictions.
B
You're seeing people flee from Massachusetts, Illinois, New York, California, and they're going to the Sun Belt. So it's gonna completely alter electoral politics at a national level. But it's really sad. People shouldn't have to leave their homes. We should not live in a country where one state becomes so unbearably, so poorly run that they have to leave their family homes where they were born, where they were raised, where Their grandparents were born and raised. That shouldn't be an America that we allow to happen. This is why we have people like Steve Hilton on this show. Because it's still important to fight for California. It's still important to fight for New York. It's still important to call out the commies. And by the way, Charlie raged against this. And I completely agree. You had George will go on and say, well, maybe New York needs a tough dose of socialist medicine. And then they're gonna correct course. No. Do you have any idea what Mamdani, the damage that Mamdani and his apparatchiks can do in a city like New York? The systems that they can set up, the processes, the personnel, the budget shortfalls, the taxes. It's incredibly difficult to roll that back once it's instituted. Yeah.
C
It is never the winning play to say, oh, let my opponent win. There's always a scope. I saw it with Obama when he took office. Everyone said, oh, well, Obama will do socialism, he'll do his thing and he'll fail. And then we'll roll it back. And no, all that happened is you got a lot of Obama's stuff has been around ever since. Why is health care super expensive? Well, Obamacare is still here. It's still the law. It was never fully replaced. Why do we have like, I mean, like dei that all went into overdrive. Obama's second term, we're still rooting that out. Even if things aren't popular anymore, even if you have a new government in place, their judges are there for life. Their bureaucrats are there. It's so hard to eradicate.
B
Elections have consequences. But thankfully we have a great vice president who is in the White House and a great president, of course. But J.D. vance went on with Martha MacCallum, did a wide ranging interview. Lots of great clips there. And it's actually gonna set up our next segment with HUD Secretary Scott Turner. But we will get to that clip in just a second. Let's start with this one. Him praising Marco Rubio. A lot of chatter about their relationship because people keep wondering, is JD gonna run? Is Marco gonna run? Are they gonna run against each other in the primary?
E
416, he's my vice president. Of course he's gonna be at the top of the ticket.
F
Well, I think the president is very smartly saying we've got three years to go. Marco is my closest friend in the administration. I think he's doing a great job for the American people. But most importantly, we all have to continue doing a good job. Job for the American people from the president on down. And that's what we're focused on.
E
Surely as vice president you'd like to be president.
F
What I, well, look, I think again I'm going to try to do as good of a job as I can right now. So one of the things that I, that I don't like about this question and this entire perspective is I've been in this job for all of a year. About six months ago, or sorry, a year and six months ago, I asked the American people to give me this job that I have right now. Why don't I do as good of a job as I can at this job? We'll worry about the next job sometime in the future.
B
And listen, I think he did. That's the only possible answer for that. If he was to say, yeah, I do want to be president, that would be like months of headlines. President Trump would see him. It would cause all kinds. I mean it's the only right answer to give in that instance. He was also asked about the midterms and I thought he had another great answer. 413 the question we're going to put.
F
To the American people is do you want to give the government back over to the people who frankly burned down the house and made most Americans much less wealthy and much less safe, or do you want to double down on the president's leadership, which has helped us recover from some of the problems caused by Joe Biden and then has built a lot on top of it? Because so much of what we've done over the last year are things that are going to pay long term dividends for the American people.
B
I completely agree with this. There's a lot of doomerism, there's a lot of black pilling that says, well, they're not doing enough on all these issues. And so I hope they lose and I hope we just get a Democrat elected into office and they pay for their sins and we get a real radical in there, folks. Let Mamdani be an example of what we're talking about. Let the only Boston mayor to win.
C
And if you, if, if defeats allow you to win in the future, that's a blessing. I think a lot of us believe this administration has been more successful because of the setback of 2020. But I mean the Biden years were still really bad and caused permanent damage to this country.
B
Millions of illegals in this country that are flooding your DMVs and your hospitals and your schools and your roadways that should not be here, that are flooding.
C
Your jails frankly, incredibly enough, the best way to win is to win well.
B
And by the way, this okay, And I wonder if JD's answer would have been different on the midterms after the Fabrizio, because I think this happened before the Fabrizio slides. Maybe he'd already seen them. But it's so true. The economic numbers are increasing, the GDP numbers are increasing, the foreign direct investment is increasing. We're getting people out of the country. It's sometimes messy, it's sometimes not a direct line, but there's so much good happening. Can you imagine Kamala Harris in office right now? The DEI hellscape We would be living through the judges that would get appointed. There is no substitute for success. And by the way, J.D. vance talked about one of Charlie's most critical issues for Charlie, and that was housing affordability for Gen Z.
C
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A
People under the age of 35 to have equity in the system. Yes, not the Democrat version of equity where they want to have redistribution, but actually, are they paying a mortgage? Do they own stuff or are they permanent renters? A permanent renting class in this country is the prerequisite, is the leading ingredient for radical politics that nobody wants to see. We need to reinvigorate the ownership economy. And then all of a sudden when you own stuff, you're less likely to burn down a Wendy's and vote for candidates like Zohran Mamdani.
B
Well said from Charlie. There Little throwback. And anyways, JD Vance gave a absolute amazing interview on Martha MacCallum yesterday and we played some of those clips and we've got a clip that I think really, really sets up the secretary very well here. And this is Vice President Vance and will welcome the secretary on 414.
F
We're going to make it easier to build and create homes. We're going to make it easier for Americans rather than Wall street to buy those homes. But we also need to get interest rates lower. That's a critical part of the President's.
B
All right, welcome to the show. Secretary Turner of Housing and Urban Development, welcome back, sir. Good to see you.
G
Hey, great to see you guys. Thanks for having me.
B
Absolutely. What did you make of the fact that you saw both those clips together? You saw Charlie talking about we need young people to own a stake in this economy. They need to own homes. You do not want a nation of renters. And then to see the Vice President of the United States messaging directly on that issue.
G
Well, absolutely. You know, we, we all love Charlie and so thankful him and his legacy. You know, he was spot on in talking about young people wanting to own a home. You heard the Vice President yesterday talking about what the Trump administration has done thus far to help first time homebuyers to help Americans achieve the American dream in owning a home. You know, so many things have happened so far. You know, just In January of 2026, over 5 million Americans were able to refinance their home, making our monthly payments go down. The sales of single family homes have gone up. Mortgage affordability has gone up. The amount of money that you need to afford your home has gone down, which is at a five month high. And so if you look at President Trump, he's making and taking bold actions to help American people to be able to afford and buy a home. You saw with banning institutional, large institutional investors from buying single family homes. These homes are for the American people and not for corporations. I know at HUD, you know, last year we helped 1 million people in America be able to afford a home, including 500,000 first time home buyers. We also made it so that FHA backed mortgages no longer will go to illegal aliens coming in our country. And so under President Trump's leadership, American people are a priority. And the only priority in home affordability is at the top of mind.
B
Yeah. And it's interesting this, you know, and I've seen it debated, Mr. Secretary about, you know, the impact of illegal immigration on the housing supply and the affordability of homes. Right so to what extent does undocumented immigration contribute to the strains on the housing supply?
G
Well, that's a great question. You think about during the Biden administration, you know, the immigration policies were extremely weak. And so you have tens of millions of illegal immigrants coming across our border. This put a strain on housing apply. It caused housing costs to go up. And I have some interesting stats for you. About 59% of illegal alien families use one or more welfare programs here in America, costing us about $42 billion a year. And if you look at some of the blue states around our country, nearly 100% of the increase in rental demand in New York and California is because of illegal immigration. But since we have President Trump in this administration and Secretary Noem and others, since our border is secured now, you look at rent, prices have gone down in the last five or six months because our border is secure. And so the impact of illegals coming across our border unchecked, unvetted, not only strains our housing supply, not only takes it up, but these are houses and spaces that should be used by the American people. And so, under President Trump's leadership, you see these numbers coming down, you see affordability going up, you see housing supply going up, and it is because we have secured our border.
C
I'm looking at the map in Phoenix area. I know housing prices are actually going down. They've gone down about 2% here. And I just, I mentally link that with a tent I would always see outside the Home Depot that was selling torta sandwiches that only spoke Spanish, and that disappeared as soon as ICE operations thought and began. And I suspect that there's a link between those two things. You know, Charlie had a tweet that he said. He said, in this administration, we need to deport 20 million illegals and build 10 million homes. And that's a good platform to have. But I think he also understood there is a direct link between those two things.
B
Well, absolutely. It's a pure supply and demand issue. I think the liberal economists, they don't want to admit this, but when you flood the nation with millions of people and we're building, what, like a million new homes a year, and you flood it with, you know, 10, 15, 20 million people, whatever that number is, of course you're going to see prices go up. And it's not like all these people are living in destitute lives. Some of them have actually pretty good incomes and they can afford a pretty decent home. Look at this graph here, Mr. Secretary. 448. This is the average income needed to buy a home versus the medium income in the country. This is 448. And you see this giant leap starting right around when Joe Biden entered office in 2020. And you see that yellow line shoot up. Now, the average income needed to buy a home is almost $110,000 a year and the median income is only $83,000 a year. That gap is the politics of our moment. How does that intersect with what you're doing at hud? What levers can you pull? I mean, I love that you've taken illegal immigrants off the eligibility for certain loans and housing subsidies. What other things can we do at hud? Or what are you working on right now to address that gap?
G
Well, thank you. Sorry to interrupt you. Thank you for that. And thank you for showing that graph and that chart. I think that all of the policies that we've talked about under President Trump and the vice President alluded to this yesterday. When you bring down cost and you raise supply, more people in America can afford a home. There was a stat that I read the other day that the income of Americans is increasing. And because that income is increasing and housing affordability, little by little, tick by tick, really is coming down, you'll see that gap on your chart, you know, even be tighter. And so I know from a HUD standpoint with our FHA and our Ginnie Mae programs helping first time home buyers where generally you have to have less of a down payment, like I said, last year we helped over a million people, 500,000 first time home buyers. And if you look at these things all working in concert together, that gap will close as incomes go up, as affordability and costs go down. You know, the American people. And I think because of the one big beautiful bill, and I'm kind of going to go side here, the one big beautiful bill and the policies inside, I think this year in 2026, you hear Secretary Basin talking about a lot the American people will benefit from this policy and more money will be in the pockets of American people across our country as it pertains to housing affordability, energy taxes and things of this nature. So I am very encouraged that this year, not just for housing affordability, but across the board from an economic standpoint, that the American people will benefit and thrive this year. Coming.
B
You have a Charlie clip?
C
Yeah, well, we have another clip that they're telling us is really great. This is specifically about the Sunbelt which we were just talking about. Let's do 437.
A
If the average age of a home buyer is 38 years old, that's probably only, only going to go up. And so how do we fix it? Well, again, we need more supply of homes. We need less people that are buying them. So deport 20 million people, build 10 million homes. We need to fix all the regulation around the homes. We also need to use more automation and more robotics and how we actually build the homes, which will bring down the price of home. But also we need to cut rates. Now, cutting rates is not everything. Cutting rates is not the entire picture. Cutting rates is not the whole thing because the price is still high, but it will unlock more capital for people that are right on the edge of purchasing a home.
B
Pretty spot on. Yeah.
C
I mean, that sounds like it's basically the President's plan.
B
For example, Secretary Turner, you're not the Fed chair. We got Wash coming in, in I believe May, and I think the market is basically anticipating a rate cut in May. We'll see how deep it is and if that materializes. But this idea that we've gotta get first time homebuyers and bring that medium age down, I saw a stat actually that real incomes have gone up about $1,200 under the Trump administration. But people don't feel it yet. And by the way, your tax return is gonna be 11% higher than it was the year before, on average. So you've got all of these indicators that people are gonna have more money in their pocket, they're gonna be able to afford more, but they're still living, they're still digging out of four years of Biden inflation. And it just, you know, I don't, I think sometimes the market doesn't feel it yet. The voters don't feel it yet. But it sounds like what you're seeing, what you're seeing at hud, the indications are positive moving forward.
G
Absolutely. And thank you for bringing that forward and to our attention, you know, and thank you for, you know, sharing the good news. You know, people in America during the Biden administration, you know, suffered greatly as it pertains to economically. Interest rates were high, mortgage rates were high, inflation was high. And so President Trump and his administration really inherited a fiscal mess, if you will. But just in a short period of time over this last year with the one big beautiful bill, which is the largest working family tax cut in American history. The policies therein will be a big deal benefit to Americans throughout this calendar year of 2026. As you see home supply going up and costs going down, you know, for the median age of a home buyer to be 40, that is way too high. Owning a home in America really is the greatest step to creating wealth and generational wealth for a family. And so that is a top priority. And so getting people in our country who are not supposed to be here, getting them out of our country, increasing the supply, bringing the price down. Andrew and Blake, I mean, this is a great formula for American prosperity, and I believe that we're on track to do it day by day and step by step. I mean, we've done a lot of things. There's a lot to do. But I'm encouraged, and I would encourage your viewers and others to continue to be faithful, continue to work hard, continue to pay attention of what's going on in our economy, the good things that are happening, and know that with great anticipation, there's more to come.
B
I have to ask you, secretary, did you watch the halftime show? You are a former professional football player, defensive back. You played for the Washington Redskins, the Chargers, the Denver Broncos. You were a standout at the University of Illinois. Did you. Did you tune in? I just have to ask.
G
I did not.
B
Oh, no, not to ours. To ours. Yeah, we had the all American halftime show, but it's okay. As long as you didn't do the other one either. That's great.
G
Well, listen, when you said the halftime show, the first thing I thought about was the super bowl halftime show. I did get to see many of the highlights from your halftime show, and I'm so grateful for you all that you made the investment in time and talent and resources and energy. I was on the plane.
B
Good pivot.
G
Yeah, I did. I watched. I was on the plane. But I saw great highlights, so thank you.
B
God bless you. God bless you, Secretary Turner. Keep up the great work.
G
Okay, brother. Okay. Thank you.
B
Hi, folks. Andrew Colvett here. I'd like to tell you about my friends over at yrefi. You've probably been hearing me talk about why Refi? For some time now. We are all in with these guys. If you or someone you know is struggling with private student loan debt, take my advice and give them a call. Maybe you're behind on your payments. Maybe you're even in default. You don't have to live in this nightmare anymore. Why Refi will provide you a custom payment based on your ability to pay. They tailor each loan individually. They can save you thousands of dollars, and you can get your life back. We go to campuses all over America, and we see student after student who's drowning in private student loan debt. Many of them don't even know how much they owe why refi can help. Just go to yrefi.com that's the letter Y. Then refi.com and remember why Refi doesn't care what your credit score is. Just go to yrefi.com and tell them your friend Andrew sent you. Secretary Turner's a great guy, actually one of the most godly, kind, good natured men in the administration. So I just wanted to give him a shout out because he's, he. They're just. I just feel like there is this pall of negativity. And then you talk to somebody like Secretary Turner and you're like, you're a fantastic person and you're really based. You're really conservative. You're getting illegals out of the programs. You're getting rid of all this DEI stuff. And you know, are we even like, are people aware? So I love having him on, but that's a bit of an aside. I want to. We just have to take a moment to reflect on the Olympics. Blake. We are not winning the medal count, unfortunately.
C
That's one more Winter Olympic medal count in Asia. It's so. It's all kind of. It's like, have you ever seen how China maxes its medal count in the Summer Olympics? They just, they. It's such a, like a, like the stereotype of like Asians studying for an exam or something where they figured out like, what are the sports that have tons of medals and not a ton of people do them. And so like they, they went really hard at diving. Cause there's a ton of diving medals and it's not a big sport that, you know, gazillions of people do and similar for other events. And so for the Winter Olympics, that's basically what cross country skiing is.
B
Yes.
C
I think there's 12 different events in cross country skiing.
B
One of the weirdest ones where you're, you're cross country skiing and then you shoot things.
C
Biathlon. Biathlon has a ton. So yeah, there's a million biathlon events and a million cross country events. And so the Norwegians just got to domina it because they all ski to school every winter and whatever.
B
Well, listen, we brought her up before Amber Glenn. She's an American figure skater. Remind you of the insanity here of what she. She said. 4:21.
H
It's been a hard time for the community overall under this administration. It isn't the first time that we've had to come together as a community community and try and fight for our human rights. And now especially, it's not just affecting the queer community, but many other communities. I hope I can use my platform and my voice throughout these Games to try and encourage people to stay strong in these hard times. I know that a lot of people say you're just an athlete, like, stick to your job. Shut up about politics. Politics. But politics affect us all. It is something that I will not just be quiet about because it is something that affects us in our everyday lives.
B
Okay? None of that made any sense because President Trump is not coming for the queer community, and it was dumb. She's also been kind of just terrible in general during the media circuit that goes on at the Olympics. 442American Olympic medalist Amber Glenn fires direct message at critics. They hate to see 2woke.bi. You know, the B word. Winning. Well, that's really nice of you, Amber Glenn. There you go. See? Too woke. So she admits she's woke. That's great. Well, so she was, I think, anticipated to get a medal, unfortunately. Listen, I always root for America, even when they're awful, like this person, Amber Glenn. But unfortunately for her, it didn't go that well, and she fell during her routine. She is now, I think, going into the second round. She's 13th in.
C
I think she's just no metal.
B
Well, she's basically out of the medal running now. She's ranked number 13 in the. Yeah, see, there you go. Number 13 right there. But there is an American that is primed for a potential medal. She's number three. As far as I know, she hasn't been spouting off at the media and drawing negative attention to herself in Milan. So there. There you go. What is. Her name's Alyssa Liu. And she just seems to be very happy and excited about that. Isabel. Isabel Levito is ranked eighth in the competition. These are the standings currently. And so I think there's one more round to. Oh, she did not fall. She just messed up one of her jumps. But then she cried, and that's all the headlines that I've seen. So she lost a bunch of points because she messed up one of her jumps, which is, you know. You know about figure skating, but I'm just gonna say, couldn't have happened to a nicer person.
C
I'm reading from experts who actually follow figure skating outside of the Olympics. And because it was a clarification, she didn't fall, but apparently it was worse than falling. Like, she just failed to even complete some part of her program. And it literally would have been better to do it and then just face plant right on the ice.
B
Really?
C
Yes.
B
Than What? She did. Yes. So she screwed up.
C
But I don't watch. I don't watch figure skating.
B
All right, we have to do the medal count, because this is the only thing I actually care about. 486 is the medal count. Norway with 15 golds, 8 silvers, 10 bronze, and 33 total medals. Italy, which you think like, Italy has, like, 1.2 children, you know. Yeah.
C
They are the host, so they get a free entrant in every event.
B
Yeah, but it's. I mean, they. I think they historically do well in the metal count.
C
Yeah, well, they have the Alps. All the. Anyone that touches the Alps does pretty decently.
B
Does pretty well in these. But it's just like they have, like, no people. And yet here they are. They have nine gold, four silver, 12 bronze, and then finally, the United States in third position with only seven golds, 11 silvers. I mean, we're really crushing it. We're like. We're like the. The kings of runner up. 11 silver.
C
We love that silver. We had. We. We had the sponsors in the other day, and they dropped their giant brick of silver.
B
Yeah, well, unfortunately. And then. Then it's France, Sweden and the Netherlands. And, you know, unfortunately for Sweden, they still don't have a lot of black slalom racers. Apparently. That was a criticism made by the AP about the Swedish Olympic team.
C
Let's put it up. Let's put up 433. This is Amber Glenn again, and it's gonna be difficult. Obviously, you can't see it if you're on podcast, but if you're watching us now, you'll be able to see she's crying there after what happened. And if you zoom in on that top image, I don't know if they can, but it's circled. She is wearing a trans. Kind of pride flag. Heart.
B
Pride pin.
C
So she'll have that form of pride.
B
If not, that was her waiting for the score to come in. So she's sitting there crying, knowing that she messed up her jump.
C
Oh, these do they do it so much? They know exactly how it is, whether they've nailed it.
B
Oh, yeah, she knew. She knew. You know, but listen, all due respect, you're an Olympic athlete. You've put the time in. I can only hate you so much. Hate on you so much. But you are very hateable, Amber Glenn. And I regret that your media appearances have been so abysmal and awful and disgraceful to the country. But you're still an American, and I would still have rooted for you and been like, well, at least she can back up her big talk. That's what I would have been. All right, one last piece of breaking news here before we leave you for the rest of the show. It looks like we mentioned the potential war in Iran. Breaking news just in. Israeli emergency services and the home front command have been instructed to prepare for war as officials assess imminent, and that is a, quote, Imminent U.S. strike on Iran. And that is according to INET news service, imminent. Imminent is a, is a scary word. So we've been here before.
C
We'll see. We will see what happens.
B
Yeah.
C
I mean, if what happens, I imagine.
B
We'Ll probably, I did check with some sources in the break and it does appear that, you know, historically, yes, you could conclude that, that a kinetic strike would be imminent, but there does not look to be enough resources for a ground invasion or holding land or something like that. So we're going to have to wait and see and see what happens. We'll have more on that tomorrow. We'll see you then. For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.
C
Com.
Date: February 19, 2026
Host: Charlie Kirk
Guests: Kirsten Fleming (New York Post), Secretary Scott Turner (HUD), panel
This episode centers on the fiscal crisis and political battles in New York City, with a focus on Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani's policies and their implications for homeowners and the middle class. Host Charlie Kirk brings on New York Post columnist Kirsten Fleming to dissect Mamdani’s radical fiscal approach and its effect on the city's finances, unpack the interplay between local and state politics, and discuss broader economic consequences. The episode also features a substantive interview with HUD Secretary Scott Turner on national housing affordability, immigration, and the administration's efforts to stabilize the real estate market for first-time buyers and young Americans.
[03:19–07:30]
[07:30–09:54]
[09:54–11:17]
[19:56–22:47]
[26:24–31:31]
[13:27–14:27], [28:10–29:54]
[34:17–40:05] (brief summary due to focus on main themes)
[41:00]
Listeners interested in the details of bureaucratic and activist mechanics in big cities, federal and state politics' interplay, and possible future trajectories for American housing and demographics will find this episode both informative and provocative.
Note:
All timestamps are in MM:SS format and correspond to the core content sections, skipping advertisements and non-content.