Transcript
A (0:00)
Thank you for listening to this Podcast 1 production now available on Apple Podcasts, Podcast 1, Spotify and anywhere else you get your podcasts. Hey everybody, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died and we have the instant analysis here. We are not celebrating, we are not saying it is a good thing. We are remembering who she is. We are remembering her rulings, who she was and also taking a moment to have a non political moment in our country. I wish this whole podcast could be not about politics. But unfortunately, just minutes after her death there were calls for riots, called for Mitch McConnell to be murdered and so much more. So we cover that and also the ramifications of what the court will look like and how President Trump and how Chuck Schumer and the players that matter are reacting. That and so much more around this breaking news item of Ruth Bader Ginsburg passing away. This episode is made possible by by those of you that support us@charliekirk.com support charliekirk.com support. Buckle up everybody. Important breaking news episode. Here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here. Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus. I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.
B (1:15)
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.
A (1:25)
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. Ruth Bader ginsburg died at 87 on Friday evening. You probably heard this news. You probably got your push notifications. I was about to go on Fox News when the news came through. It was just hard to process. As it happened, there's only nine people on the United States Supreme Court or nine spots, I should say. And when any of them resign or pass away, it is absolutely earth shattering news. The cause for her death was complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. The Supreme Court said now call me old school, but as soon as I saw the news come through, I thought that a woman who served on the Supreme Court should at least be held in a non political framing for at least the weekend. And we're going to talk about some of the political consequences later in this episode because they're real. However, I think just talk about the human being is something that is necessary, important and the right thing to do. There was plenty of people on the Democrat side that were getting very nasty, very quickly about the political consequences that they saw. I did not see one person on the Republican or conservative side dive into that. In fact, I saw more people on the conservative Republican side on Twitter and Facebook and on television actually extend their condolences and take a moment of pause than even some of the people on the Democrat side. But here are just some facts about Ruth Bader Ginsburg for those of you that do not know and are just new to politics. She was the second woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court. Sandra J. O', Connor, of course, was the first who was nominated by Reagan in 1981. She was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1993, the year I was actually born. She's known as an advocate of women's rights. I would disagree with some of that description, but she definitely did push forward in a belief that America was, let's say, weighted too much in the direction of what some people would call the patriarchy. As she closed in on 90 years, she became a cultural icon to a younger generation. She was barely five feet tall. She was about 100 pounds. She looked incredibly frail, especially in these last couple years, but she was a very resilient human being. She had beat colon cancer in 1999 and early stage pancreatic cancer 10 years later. Justice Ginsburg received a coronary stent to clear her blocked artery in 2014. You might remember two small tumors were found in one of her lungs in December of 2018. And this was during a follow up scan for broken ribs that were suffered famously when she was 80 years old. So seven years ago, during Obama's second term, she refused to be replaced by a sitting Democrat president. She said, quote, as long as I could do the job full steam. There will be a president after this one and, and I'm hopeful that president will be a fine president. She was the only woman on the court for three years when Sandra Day O' Connor retired in 2006 and was not joined by another until 2009 when Obama nominated the very liberal Sonia Sotomayor and Elegia Kagan in 2010. Her star really began to rise in liberal circles and in popular imagination when she became the senior Liberal justice in 2010 with the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens. It was then when she really began to write the most pointed opinions on behalf of the liberal bloc of the court. Now, I want to be very, very clear. I disagree with almost every single opinion that she authored in recent memory, whether it be on immigration, life, abortion, guns, the Constitution, almost every single belief that she held. I fundamentally disagree with However, I don't think that is a reason to, like some people, have, in a hyper politicized moment, act gleeful when somebody dies. Call me old school in that way. I just think it's the right thing to do. And in truth, her star only rose with the election of Donald Trump. People from across the country, understanding the gravity of the court, pleaded their organs to help keep the elderly Ruth Bader Ginsburg alive. You might know that some young women even had the image tattooed on their arms. Some girls dressed in RBG costumes for Halloween. And some people had this tattooed on them. You can't spell truth without Ruth. There was a Internet sensation and phenomenon that was created called Notorious the Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It was created by Erin Cameron, erin Carmen, and Ms. Chishat, Ms. Kinzik, which became a bestseller the day after its publication. 2015. And the next year, Simon and Schuster brought out a Ginsburg biography for children with the title called I Descent. There was a documentary made of her life. It's pretty well done. I've seen it. And it kind of catalogs her entire life and her fight against cancer. What is often let out about many of the discussions about the Supreme Court is that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was very close friends with Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia's children, in fact, posted many touching tributes and tweets online, which was a very nice thing to see. Justice Clarence Thomas also shared a close relationship with Ginsburg. Justice Clarence Thomas is, of course, an American hero and does not get the credit he often deserves. Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that choosing her favorite opinion would be like choosing a favorite amongst her grandkids. However, she said the ruling that she most regrets that she wishes could be overturned was Citizen United. She actually ruled the way that she wanted to. She just wishes it could be overturned now. Immediately after hearing the news of her death, I actually did not want to think of politics. I just kind of just opened up social media and kind of got on a couple group text messages and I was curious, you know, how are people processing this? And so it started to trend on Twitter, of course, Ruth. And there are hundreds of tweets that I am reading here that I'm happy to kind of recount. It says, I will riot for Ruth. I have a bad leg and a terrible chronic illness, but I will riot. I mean, they go on and on and on. And these are not anonymous counts. These are hundreds and hundreds of tweets. As a Kentuckian, I will riot for Ruth. I swear to you, Mitch, I will riot. So immediately this became a very political moment. And I just have to say that the Democrats and the leftists that immediately politicized this moment for a human being that has died is very disappointing. However, it quickly descended into social media, into an all out political bloodsport. This is not a healthy thing for our civilization. By the way, I tweeted very clearly, unlike most of political Twitter, I'm taking the night off. Jesus is the answer prayers to all. And I mean that. I actually think when a person dies, it's not the moment to start talking about the type of country that might exist if somebody who you disagree with might replace her. So Reza Aslan, who I believe was best known for going after Nicholas Sandman at a different time, he said that over our dead bodies, literally, will Mitch McConnell replace this seat? Bill Williamman, who I've never heard of before, said, we're shutting this country down If Trump and McConnell try to ram through an appointment before the election. Riza Aslan tweeted the four letter word that many of you know that starts with f with about 22 exclamation points. He then said, if they even try to replace rbg, we burn the entire effing thing to the ground. Laura Bassett, who's a these are all, by the way, these are all verified Twitter accounts. These are real people. She writes for GQ magazine, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, and Cosmopolitan and Huffington Post, said the following. If McConnell jams someone, through which he will, there will be riots. And then she responded by saying more bigger riots. And then Fred Wellman, who I've never heard of before, said, Mitch McConnell is an evil bastard. Burn the whole country to the ground. The GOP is done. And he's an advisor to the Lincoln Project, which is the Republican effort to try to destroy Donald Trump. Other instant reaction from Twitter, which, by the way, there have been glowing tributes. And we'll get to this in a second from the president, from Scalia's family, from many different people that have been talking very fondly and affectionately of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That is how we opened our program here. That is how anyone should be remembered when they pass away. However, someone who writes for the New York Times by the name of Lydia Kissling says, quote, how come the person who dies is never Mitch McConnell? Nicole on Twitter, who looks like a liberal fan, account says, f you, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. F you for not retiring under Obama. Fu for dying under Trump. Fu, fu, fu. Here's Chuck Schumer. And before he even remembers Ruth Bader, Ginsburg, his first tweet is political. Chuck Schumer goes, the American people should have a voice in the selection of the next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president. And then eight minutes later, he realized he immediately politicized it, said, oh, by the way, tonight we more the passing of a giant in American history. A champion for justice and a trailblazer for women. She would want us all to fight as hard as we can to preserve her legacy. So politics first, condolences second. That's Chuck Schumer's priority. And again, I'm not trying to politicize this. I'm just showing you that in a moment where we all could have just remembered a human being and took a night off, which should have been kind of a moment of national unity, even though this person has overseen more court decisions that have allowed a million abortions a year, anti gun measures, things that I so fundamentally disagree with, from the size of scope of government to the regulatory state does executive action to, you name it. There's a time where you just say, let's allow the family to mourn about this turning into a political gladiator match. Adele Scalia, who is the daughter, I believe, daughter in law of Antonin Scalia, said Justice Ginsburg was more than a seat on the Supreme Court. Tweet accordingly. She's right. So the most interesting part of the entire evening was that right as President Trump exited Air Force One in Bemidji, Minnesota, great part of the world to go to a rally, I kid you not. As he was walking down the stairs, all of a sudden I got a push notification that Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away. And so he took the stage immediately. The way these new rallies work is you get off the plane, you go right into an airport, airplane hangar, and you give the speech. So the president gave an hour and a half long speech. He did mention the Supreme Court a couple times and then came off of the speech. And all this was happening, by the way, Mitch McConnell's reaction, Chuck Schumer's reaction. Twitter was melting down and the president did not know. So we actually have a tape right here of when President Trump learned that Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away and Elton John was playing in the background. You couldn't have designed a better moment. Now play tape.