Remembering Two Heroes, New York Times Anti-News, and AMA 258

Summary

The Charlie Kirk Show – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Remembering Two Heroes, New York Times Anti-News, and AMA 258
Date: March 20, 2026
Host: Charlie Kirk (with Andrew Colvett, Blake, and guests Steve Dace, callers)
Episode Theme:
This episode blends remembrance and reflection with sharp analysis of current media trends, culminating in an "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) session. The show honors two American icons who recently passed, critiques the mainstream media’s handling of sensitive topics (notably mass shootings and transgender issues), and closes with an engaging Q&A, emphasizing grassroots activism, critical thinking, and conservative political strategy.

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Remembering Two American Heroes

Chuck Norris (1939–2026)

• Overview: The episode opens with personal and cultural reflections on Chuck Norris, marking his passing at age 86.
• Discussion Points:
  • Legacy: Martial arts champion, 'Walker, Texas Ranger' star, meme and pop culture icon.
  • Cultural impact: Early internet humor, right-leaning Hollywood outlier in a liberal era.
  • Patriotism & Faith: Open conservative, supporter of Mike Huckabee (memorable 2008 campaign ad played [04:41 – 05:13]), outspoken supporter of Donald Trump in 2016.
  • Athletic longevity: Norris trained and sparred up to his 86th birthday.
  • Memorable Quote:
    • “When Chuck Norris does a push up, he isn't lifting himself up. He's pushing the earth down.” — Mike Huckabee ad [05:03]
    • “He was courageous when it came to expressing his own beliefs… The true American icon, dead at 86. He will be missed.” — Andrew Colvett [06:35]
• Tone: Nostalgic, respectful, and infused with the humor of the Chuck Norris jokes era.

Jeff Webb (1949–2026)

• Overview: Tribute to Jeff Webb, founder of Varsity Brands and close friend of Turning Point, who died in a sporting accident at 76.
• Contributions:
  • Creation of modern cheerleading culture and competitions.
  • Provided young people with opportunities for community and achievement.
  • Known for generosity, kindness, and commitment to youth empowerment.
  • Served as publisher for The Post Millennial and Human Events.
• Notable Clips:
  • “Jeff Webb is kind of the personification of the American dream.” — Ian (caller) [07:25]
  • “Millennials, they're not lazy. I work with thousands of them every year. They just need some help finding their way.” — Jeff Webb [08:05–08:32]
• Message: Live each day to the fullest; cherish time with loved ones.

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Media Critique: The New York Times & Anti-News

Mass Shooter Coverage Bias

• Key Discussion: In-depth critique of The New York Times’ handling of mass shooter stories, particularly omitting transgender identities of offenders.
• Specific Article Example:
  • NYT essay “We study Mass Shooters. Something terrifying is happening online.”
  • Hosts point out that the piece avoids referencing the biological background of transgender shooters despite obvious evidence, viewing this as deliberate censorship.
• Critical Quotes:
  • “Unless you're like us, where you know the background of this, you're basically being actively misled because they are not telling you something… They are taking efforts to avoid sharing it with you.” — Blake [13:13]
• Press Tactics: Describes the mainstream media as a “giant mean girls club,” enforcing speech and topic boundaries to maintain social status within elite circles [14:42].
• Charlie Kirk Clip:
  • “Trans people have been made into kind of the sacred cow of American politics… How many dead kids is it going to take for us to say, we’ve probably gone too far here?” — Charlie Kirk [17:08]
• Underlying Message: The search for truth is being sacrificed in mainstream reporting due to ideological conformity and fear of social exclusion.

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Special Guest: Steve Dace on America’s Cultural and Spiritual “Sifting”

Main Topic: The state of MAGA, the conservative movement, and the larger spiritual/cultural upheaval in America.

Key Insights:

• Unique Spiritual War:
  • America is “the last outpost of Western civilization.”
  • Present moment is marked by spiritual and societal crisis, similar to historic periods of upheaval [18:09–19:32].
• Media & Trust:
  • Post-COVID era has destroyed trust in official narratives and fostered both skepticism and nihilism.
  • “The last five years collectively is the most […] this generation has been systemically lied to.” — Steve Dace [18:09]
• Church’s Influence:
  • Critique of church retreating from social influence; call for renewed meaningful engagement and teaching critical thinking [19:33]
• Revival or Bust:
  • America is at a crossroads; systemic revival is the only path forward [23:39].
  • “We are firmly ensconced in revival-or-bust territory now…” — Steve Dace [23:39]
• Teaching Critical Thinking:
  • Essential for the next generation to be equipped with the ability to think, not just react; skepticism is healthy only when grounded in facts [25:31]
• Sifting Moment:
  • Interpretation of contemporary events (COVID, George Floyd, assassination of Charlie) as a “sifting”—a painful but necessary sorting for future mobilization and clarity [28:25]
  • “Whenever there’s a sifting, it’s because a mobilization is about to happen. But first, the gardener is going to prune his garden.” — Steve Dace [28:47]
• Community as Salvation:
  • The fragmentation of society puts immense future weight on those communities that remain cohesive—especially churches and local groups [31:07–33:07].

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Ask Me Anything (AMA) Segment [36:16+]

The hosts field a range of listener questions, blending political, cultural, and personal topics with humor and camaraderie.

March Madness Brackets [36:41–44:00]

• Callers and hosts discuss their basketball bracket picks.
• Blake humorously reveals he’s a “Scrooge” about March Madness and dislikes the sport [37:26].
• Fun debate over Arizona, Duke, and Michigan’s chances.

How to Discern Good Political Influencers [43:13–47:32]

• Andrew:
  • “Does that person have skin in the game? Is there any cost to being wrong?” [43:52]
  • Direct electoral involvement and accountability are key indicators.
• Blake:
  • Look for long-term reliability, ideological consistency, evidence-based predictions, and emotional steadiness.
  • “People who are less reliable tend to get insanely worked up… encouraging you to get really, really angry all the time about every new thing…” [45:13]
• Danny:
  • Consistency matters—frequent contradiction is a red flag.

Gratitude & Lessons from Charlie Kirk [49:23–53:39]

• Andrew:
  • Grateful for family, faith, and fundamentals; shares a candid story about focusing on what matters [49:58]
• Blake:
  • Cites Charlie’s emphasis on gratitude even after defeat; focuses on the abundance and peace in America compared to much of the world [51:45]
• Danny:
  • “The four Fs: Faith, Family, Freedom, and Friends.” [52:56]

Immigration Policy: Fiancé Visas & Vetting Concerns [53:44–63:07]

• Caller Qs:
  • Should fiancé visas be preserved during an immigration freeze? What about abuse of marriage visas?
  • Lax vetting allows hostile foreign actors’ family members (e.g., Iranian regime leader’s daughter at Emory) to enter the U.S.
• Discussion:
  • Consensus: Any visa system must be extremely cautious and merit-based.
  • Proposal: “One per native-born citizen, lifetime limit” for spousal visas.
  • Strong critique of family reunification policies and asylum loopholes.
• Quote:
  • “Endless family reunification has been a disaster for America very bluntly.” — Blake [59:09]
• Policy Hope:
  • The White House has announced reviews of immigration benefits for countries of concern (e.g., Iran) [63:07].

Moving from Blue States to Red States [64:40–67:05]

• Charlie’s Position:
  • Supportive of conservatives moving to red states for greater impact and better quality of life, while respecting those who “stay and fight.”
• Benefits of Red States:
  • Safer, better schools, more freedom, less taxation, stronger communities.
  • Population shifts to red states strengthen conservative political prospects.

“Conservative Conclave” and Election Strategy [67:15–71:01]

• Caller Mark:
  • Urges focus on policy comparison—reminding listeners that Republican policies outshine Democrat ones but need to be clearly communicated to win over independent voters.
• Blake & Andrew:
  • Agree, tying back to the importance of “skin in the game” and the need for consistent focus on opposing the left, not fellow conservatives.
  • “Look at who [is] picking fights… If instead they’re facing your own guys and finding reasons to stoke conflict… that’s not a good thing.” — Blake [68:57]

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “You can read all of this, you can learn all these facts and yet… you’re basically being actively misled.” — Blake [13:13]
• “Trans people have been made into kind of the sacred cow of American politics.” — Charlie Kirk [17:08]
• “In our era, this last five years collectively is the most that any of this generation of Americans has been systemically lied to.” — Steve Dace [18:09]
• “We have to finish well… We have to show the younger men that if you stick to it…” — Steve Dace [34:00]
• “If your goal in reporting is to expose truth and to affect the world and make it a better place, you’re abandoning your central reason for being simply because you want to keep getting invited to other cocktail parties or get that next job.” — Andrew Colvett [15:14]
• "The Conservative Conclave… we focus energy comparing policy from Dems to Republicans." — Mark (caller) [68:45]

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Key Takeaways

• Honor & Inspiration: Celebrating conservative heroes highlights the value of courage, integrity, and community-building.
• Media Critique: Mainstream outlets, especially The New York Times, are characterized as ideologically driven and intentionally misleading on controversial issues.
• Call for Revival: America is in a profound cultural and spiritual reckoning—what Steve Dace terms a “sifting.” Revival and critical thinking are essential for renewal.
• Grassroots Pragmatism: The show consistently returns to the theme of activism, community, personal responsibility, and the importance of local engagement over passive consumption.
• Action-Oriented Optimism: Despite concerns about division and decline, there’s a persistent undercurrent of hope—rooted in faith, family, and the power of determined collective action.

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This summary captures the major themes, memorable moments, and spirit of the episode, designed to give listeners a deep sense of both content and tone, with clear directions for further reflection or action.

Transcript

[Charlie Kirk]

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 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.

[Blake]

Use me.

[Charlie Kirk]

Buckle up, everybody. Here we go. The Charlie Kirk show is proudly sponsored by Preserve Gold, the leading gold and silver experts and the only precious metals company I recommend to my family, friends and viewers.

[Unidentified Speaker 1]

All right.

[Andrew Colvett]

Welcome to the Charlie Kirk show. It's March 20, 2026. Blake, how we doing today?

[Blake]

You know, I was doing pretty well, and then I received news that is devastating for all late millennials like myself.

[Unidentified Speaker 1]

The.

[Blake]

We'll get to it later, I'm sure. But the Chuck Norris news, that is the first. First Internet meme I remember getting reported on in a newspaper, which is this paper thing that had stories in it that used to exist.

[Andrew Colvett]

Let's start there. Chuck Norris died. I guess we found out about it today. I think he died yesterday at the age of 86. He was in Hawaii surrounded by family. He's one of the last great action stars.

[Blake]

Yeah, I think he was a lot. He was older than people expected. I mean, late 80s. I feel he became super. I feel like I associate him with the 90s. Walker, Texas Ranger. I associate him, of course, with a lot of the Internet humor that happened in the mid 2000s. And by then he was already a pretty old guy. Quite the impressive figure.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah. So the Octagon, 1980. Eye for an Eye, 1981. Silent Rage, 1982. Lone Wolf, Wolf McQuaid, 1983. Missing in Action 1 through 3. And that was from 85 to 88. Code of Silence Invasion. No one saw those movies.

[Blake]

Andrew, It's Walker, Texas Ranger man.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, well, yeah, so that was the 90s. Yeah, but that's because of your age. So he actually. He was one of the most accomplished karate champions in the history of the sport. Became a star with Good Guys Wear Black. He actually was in scenes with Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee cast him in the 1972 film Way of the Dragon. So there's those clips right there. So he, he was a, A phenomenal athlete and actually an accomplished martial artist. And then he became as you know, the. A star. And then he took it to Walker, Texas ranger, which ran 200 episodes on CBS, which is pretty remarkable. And even up until his 86th birthday, he posted a video. Training and sparring at 86. So the guy was just special. I mean, to be doing that at 86 is special.

[Blake]

But obviously we don't just like him because he was a, you know, a martial arts, a movie star guy. We like to highlight these guys. He was a patriot. And I think I remember it actually catching a lot of people off guard because this was the, this was the Bush era, which was a peak of everyone in Hollywood, every celebrity being left wing. And this is when all the jokes are going on the Internet. If you're under 20, you may not know these things. There was this whole trend of making, you know, viral Chuck Norris jokes. When Chuck Norris does a push up, he's not pushing himself up, he's pushing the earth down. When Chuck Norris jumps in water, he doesn't get wet. The water gets Chuck Norris there. There's like a hundred of these different jokes. And this is what passed for humor in the Bush era. But as I said, it was very, it was a very liberal time. Then very few celebrities, even if they were right leaning, would openly say so. And then it's 2000, it's early 2008. It's the primaries for the presidency, and Mike Huckabee is running for president, making a long shot bid, and he's campaigning in Iowa. And it turns out that Chuck Norris is a Mike Huckabee supporter. And they cut one of the more memorable ads I think we will ever see in the history of American politics. Should we just play it?

[Clip Narrator]

It's clip number one, My plan to secure the border. Two words. Chuck Norris.

[Blake]

Mike Huckabee is a lifelong hunter who'll protect our second amendment rights.

[Clip Narrator]

There's no chin behind Chuck Norris beard, only another fist.

[Blake]

Mike Huckabee wants to put the IRS out of business.

[Clip Narrator]

When Chuck Norris does a push up, he isn't lifting himself up. He's pushing the earth down.

[Blake]

Mike's a principled, authentic conservative.

[Clip Narrator]

Chuck Norris doesn't endorse. He tells America how it's going to be. I'm Mike Huckabee and I approve this message. So did Chuck.

[Andrew Colvett]

Chuck north approved. It's pretty good. For 2008.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah.

[Blake]

And I should add, you know, he was, Chuck Norris was a Christian. I think he wrote several. I think he wrote Christian books, you know, in addition to any memoirs.

[Andrew Colvett]

But he also came, he wrote eloquently about his political beliefs for years. And in 2016, he actually tried to rally everybody around President Trump. Obviously, this was an era of never Trumpism. The party was very divided. It was sort of a hostile takeover, the conservative movement. And he said, if reluctant Republicans and other freedom loving citizens don't rally now behind GOP nominee Donald Trump, we could elect Hillary Clinton by default or by those who merely stay home on election day. And he said he'd only met Trump once 42 years prior during his retirement event at the World Martial Arts Champion. That was it. Quote, I haven't seen or spoken to him since. However, I will tell you, I liked him. He was very friendly and sincere. I truly believe that the people who have a negative view of Trump will be pleasantly surprised when he becomes the leader of our country. So Chuck Norris was not only courageous when it came to fighting in the, in the octagon. Well, it wasn't the octagon. It was a mix. It was martial arts. He was a karate champion. But he was courageous when it came to expressing his, his own beliefs. The true American icon, dead at 86. He will be missed. I also want to pay attention to or draw some of your attention to Jeff Webb. Jeff Webb was the founder of Varsity Brands. He was a friend of Charlie's, a friend of Turning Points. He died at 76 yesterday, tragically sporting accident. And he is just a dear, dear friend of mine for years. Always faithful, always kind, always generous with his time. Let's go ahead and play some clips. We actually did a Only in America documentary about Jeff Webb at one point. Play Cut four.

[Caller Ian]

Jeff Webb is kind of the personification

[Charlie Kirk]

of the American dream.

[Blake]

I'm joined now by Jeff Webb, who is the founder and creator of Varsity

[Jeff Webb (clip)]

Spirit, providing a platform and a showcase for outstanding young people to really present

[Andrew Colvett]

what they can do. He created a whole brand where none existed around high school. Cheers created competitions, didn't do it to get rich. He just wanted to give young people an opportunity where they could have community, where they could share values, where they could compete. And he's truly an all American story of success. Let's play Cut five.

[Jeff Webb (clip)]

What drives us is doing something great and building a great organization and really making a contribution to young people in this country. Young people today are not lazy, as some people like to say. Millennials they're not lazy. I work with thousands of them every year. They're not lazy. They just, they just, they need some help in finding their way and they need some help with our institutions and making them more available to everybody.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, that was. It's a real big loss for the Turning Point family. Jeff Webb been around for years. As a matter of fact, the first event I ever went to with Turning Point and Charlie, Jeff was there. So Jeff predates my time with Charlie and Turning Point and just a genuinely good hearted, kind man, generous man, and again passed away too soon at 76. A sporting accident. And it's a reminder that we never know when your time is going to come and to live each day to the fullest and be grateful for, for the time that we have with the people that we love. A terrible reminder of it genuinely. He also at one point was the publisher and owner of the Post Millennial and Human Events. So he was always in the fight.

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[Charlie Kirk]

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[Andrew Colvett]

Blake there is a story that you are very passionate about out of the New York Times. And by the way, I'm passionate about one I just saw. So we don't have it prepped for the show, but leave it to this small tease. There will be no post presidential peace for Donald Trump. They are actively plotting to impeach presidential election. We'll get into that in just a

[Blake]

sec because, I mean, we've got a lot. So the one I want to hit, there's. There's endless reasons to fixate on the press.

[Caller Mark]

But.

[Blake]

But this is the one that got my attention because it was going around today. It's actually from a couple days ago, but it's getting attention today. It's an essay in the New York Times. We study Mass Shooters. Something terrifying is happening online. And when I first saw the headline I thought, oh well, this is great, maybe the New York. Because the New York Times will sometimes come in very belatedly and they will admit a trend that is going on and like give left to notice things. And we've noticed a certain trend among shooters, which is we have transgender shooters right now that are radicalized on discord, on Tumblr, on Reddit, on these various spaces. They're getting more violent, they're getting more demented, they're really being enabled. But the New York Times summarizes it this way. I'm going to read a pretty extended excerpt from this. We are witnessing the emergence of a new paradigm. A mass shooter no less, despairing about life's hardships, but younger, highly connected to online social networks and seemingly convinced that in acting violently, he or she is carrying out the only meaningful act possible in a world devoid of meaning. Consider a recent example. Last month in Tumblr Ridge, British Columbia, an 18 year old killed her mother and half brother at home. The then opened fire at a secondary school she attended, killing five students and an educator. In the aftermath of the shooting, amid expected evidence of the shooter's despair, there emerged an alarming trail of online activity.

[Caller Anthony]

On Roblox, the shooter had created a

[Blake]

game simulating a mass shooting. Her TikTok account reportedly featured reposted videos

[Caller Anthony]

of a mass shooter.

[Blake]

She belonged to a Gore forum where users can post uncensored videos of violence, and so on and so on. Never mentioned anywhere in this article is the syllable trans. Never mentions that this woman who did this shooting was actually a biological male who had become convinced that she was a woman and then also became convinced that she had to do a mass shooting. Later in the article there was they mention in the Annunciation Catholic School Last August, a 23 year old fired through the windows of Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. She killed two children and wounded more than 20 others. The inscriptions on her weapons told the story of the online community of which she had been a part. And then they mentioned quoting the Columbine shooters and so on. Again, never mentions this is a Transgender shooter. Never once. So, Andrew, this is just. It's such a perfect example of this pattern that exists in the modern press. And call it, you might call it boring news, anti news. You can read all of this, you can learn all of these facts, and yet, unless you're like us, where you know the background of this, you're basically being actively misled because they are not telling you something. The authors of this story 100% knew, and they are taking efforts to avoid sharing it with you. It's like when you read a New York Times article that'll talk about a, you know, a major crime that's committed and they have to wait until 18 paragraphs in before you tell them. They mention their name, or they might mention that they're a migrant, they're not from the United States. It's just. It's truly unbelievable.

[Andrew Colvett]

It kind of reminds me of our conversation with Lydia Moynihan from the New York Post yesterday, because she, she has to face these people on CNN every day where she described, you know, some of the reporting that you had to do in the mainstream press to ultimately, you know, tell the truth.

[Blake]

You.

[Andrew Colvett]

You had to eventually acknowledge the truth. And all these journalists were loath to do it. Nobody wanted that assignment because they would essentially not be allowed back into polite society. And the cocktail parties in the Acela corridor. So this, this is one thing to understand about the mainstream news media is it's like. It's like a giant mean girls club out of high school. So these people refuse to acknowledge a basic, fundamental biological truth that these are not women that are shooting up these schools or houses or whatever. These are men. These are violent men that have been deluded by a brain rot to think that they are women and by lots and lots of medications that are being pumped into their bodies, twisting their brain, twisting their mind, and they won't admit a basic, fundamental truth that could actually get to the bottom of it and maybe make it stop. So if your goal in reporting is to expose truth and to affect the world and make it a better place, you're abandoning your central reason for being simply because you want to keep getting invited to other cocktail parties or get that next job. It's actually pretty disgraceful the amount of lying that goes on in the propaganda, the agit prop here. And at some level, you just have to say, are you doing this intentionally to upset us because you know the underlying truth of this story and refused to report it? It's a bastardization of the calling, which is a high calling to report truth and most of these people have no concept of what that truth is. And it's disgusting. I'm not shocked, though, Blake, to be fair.

[Blake]

Yeah, no, I mean, it's not shocking. It's a core element of the press, especially if you're the New York Times, because a lot of news outlets, they're just scrambling to get whatever clicks they can. The New York Times actually has the institutional power and it is well aware of it to shape what it is okay to believe, what it's now acceptable to talk about. What is it? What it's unacceptable to talk about. And you know, Charlie himself, he liked to point out that this is like the big sacred cow is this like, transgender cult that is devouring the nation's children. And even when they're willing to come out and say so and say that there's this new dark shooting online, they can't mention the giant elephant in the room. In fact, let's play that very quick before the break clip.

[Charlie Kirk]

10 trans people have been made into kind of the sacred cow of American politics. You can't question it, you can't criticize it. They believe they can threaten whoever they want. This is the ultimate top of the impression Olympics. How many dead kids is it going to take for us to say we've probably gone too far here and we should just ask a couple of questions. How many mass shootings have to happen where we probably say, wait a second, you know, can we just calm down?

[Andrew Colvett]

All right, without further ado, Steve Dace is the man really just become a great friend and a trusted voice sounding board. So, Steve, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show. Welcome back. I tempted to ask you about your bracket because you are a big sports guy, but we already know it's disaster because everything's terrible on the bracketology this year. Everything's blown up. So we'll just skip that. I want to know how are you interpreting this moment that we are in? Right. There is a big debate about how divided MAGA is. What do you think?

[Steve Dace]

I think on a high level, we're the last outpost of Western civilization. We're all that's left, or sometimes we used to call it Christendom before we gave it that term. And so I think that there is a unique spiritual war happening right now for the direction of this country. And I think that's the backdrop of everything. And then I think we're coming out of really maybe since, you know, you have that period during the 60s, Gulf of Tonkin, JFK, MLK assassinations, RFK assassinations. That's before any of our lifetimes. I wasn't alive yet. My mom was just a teenager when all that was going on. So in our era, this is the last five years, beginning with the events of COVID on March 16, 2020. The last five years collectively is the most that any of this generation of Americans has been systemically lied to. That's broken a lot of our abilities to trust and to think. Skepticism and nihilism often get confused for one another. One is healthy, one is not. And then on top of that, we have this last generation of the church just kind of took the generation off kind of from the original religious right in Francis Schaeffer. You know, we decided to sell Hawaiian shirts with Rick Warren and, you know, books with Joel Osteen and plant churches in cities like New York, like Tim Keller, and have, like, no cultural influence at all.

[Andrew Colvett]

Okay.

[Steve Dace]

In the most important city in America. And now it's an Islamist refuge. Right? So. And then the schools decided we can't critically think anymore because then the kids may out think us and the very dogmas we're trying to impress upon them. So when you stir all of that into a witch's brew and into a cauldron, guys, and you pour it out, I think you have the current ecosystem that we're all operating in. And then on top of that, we had, who many of us thought was going to be our generational leader here, assassinated. And so when you throw that. So now the fulcrum of this, the plumb line, you know, that. That I've talked about that I think every time I've been on here with you guys since Charlie's murder, that meme of Charlie, Charlie as the giant Hoover, like, dam holding back right wing retardation. And then so we can learn to unite and win. And so when you throw all that in here, I think that's where you have this witches brew that explains a lot of the various trend lines and headlines that we're seeing right now.

[Andrew Colvett]

Blake, your thoughts?

[Blake]

I mean, I don't want to muscle in on your guys's Protestant territory here, but Catholics have long had a different approach. Obviously. I mean, obviously we want to affect the culture, but there's much more, of course, unity of organization. But I guess what I have definitely appreciated in this cultural moment is like, we've had that discussion, especially on the Thursday show, like, is America culturally a Protestant country or should it be even. Even kind of among the Catholics? And I actually think it basically is. One thing I've become very alert to is the way that Catholics in America are very different from Catholics abroad. Like, we'll have our sort of special Latin parishes and all of the Latin only ones like where you definitely get groups that still want to affect the culture by breaking away from it a little more and being more assertive. And we do need to have that.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, I mean, it's interesting. I wasn't even interpreting anything of what Steve said in a Protestant versus Catholic sort of.

[Blake]

I was thinking of the Rick Warren, the church planting stuff. I guess you don't have a Catholic church plant operation. And it's, it's kind of funny. Like there is a lot of chatter about it, how that works and like, you know, the flow. But you know, churches rise and fall in decay. It's just, it's, it's something I've become very alert to just really in the past year learning about it. And so I was, you know, I was listening to a podcast about the history of that. It's just, it's very new to me.

[Andrew Colvett]

You know, it's interesting. I did Ross Douthit's podcast. A New York Times columnist, he wrote a book called Bad Religion and he talked about the, the vibrancy of the American church throughout the years has been the fact that there is this sort of competition for pew seats, right. So when one denomination sort of falls off and loses their way, then another one will tend to fill the gap. And that has been basically marked by Reformed theology. It's been marked by charismatics. Different denominations and church movements would come up and fill that void. And so, yeah, America does retain its Protestant sort of ethos, its character. And I think that we have remained as vibrant as we have while the rest of the Western world has sort of fallen off because we have a competition for eyeballs. I hate to put it that bluntly, but that's essentially what it is. And I think, you know, you think of the book of Revelation when you talk about the, the God will snuff out the, the lampstands and, and you know, ones that are preaching the truth and lifting up the name of Jesus will take its place. I sort of am still holding on to the fact that there are revival type energies that we are seeing and, and you've seen some of this in your neck of the woods as well, Steve. You know, you've seen, we did the pick up the mic tour that's come near, near your, your home and we've done where we've got these make having crowded tour stops that are going all across the country. They're all packed out And I mean, at some level, I hate to devolve the conversation to such a place, but we are at a point where we either get revival or I'm afraid of what the future will hold.

[Steve Dace]

I think we are firmly ensconced in revival or bust territory now, the form of it, you know, we have a tendency, you know, there's a difference, I always say, between tradition and nostalgia. Tradition is where you look back on how truth, what's good, true and beautiful, has worked itself out throughout human history. What the Creator has revealed are those things. And those things give you confidence that if applied in a contemporary way for the time in which you live, they're timeless and can work again. And so I view tradition as a motivating factor. I view nostalgia as a paralyzing one. So it's gotta look exactly the same way that it looked before. Otherwise it's very foreign to us, and this can't be how things work. And so, you know, when I say without another Great Awakening, long term, we're doomed, it doesn't mean that it has to be the exact same playbook as the Great awakenings of the 18th century. But without that sort of systemic revival, I don't disagree. I mean, the systems are too far gone. And now a lot of our own people. I was with Lucas Miles, my good friend from TPUSA Faith, yesterday at Alan Jackson's church in Nashville and spoke to a group of pastors there. And what I said to them, the number one thing we need you guys to do right now, frankly, is to teach our people how to think. That even before. Now we get to what I want to do, which is worldview formation and belief installation, do I have permission to think. And we're kind of in this era right now where I've been so betrayed by official sources that even when the guys I voted for now control the official sources, I still think they're betraying me. I mean, they might be. I mean, I don't know. But, you know, what would be the metric? You can't. Skepticism in and of itself. No. Some reactionary ism is good, right? Someone breaks into your home and wants to harm you and your family, react, Right. Don't just pontificate, react.

[Andrew Colvett]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

But if reactionaryism is all you do, right. Well, so Lindsey Graham likes shamrock shakes, too. So I'm just not going to have them anymore. I mean, we've got to have a more contemplate, you know, a more. A more complicated and sophisticated epistemology than that. And I think that a lot of Us in America right now don't know what to think or how to think. We just think we can't trust any of our thinkers, and we've got to fix that. Otherwise I'm not sure how we can sustain ourselves moving forward.

[Andrew Colvett]

I mean, I tend to think that we're in a sifting moment.

[Steve Dace]

Totally agree. Totally agree.

[Andrew Colvett]

I think this is why so many people look around and they don't know what to make of it. It's because it hasn't settled yet.

[Steve Dace]

I agree.

[Andrew Colvett]

And sometimes that just takes some time. Yeah.

[Blake]

And.

[Andrew Colvett]

And, you know, we went from a point where we said, you can't trust the experts to we're going to only trust people that are not experts. Right. I mean, if you think about.

[Blake]

There's downsides to that.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, there's downsides. You know, at some point, I remember, I'm reminded of a moment after Student Action Summit last year where Charlie took a bunch of incoming. Because at Student Action Summit, we basically were as loud as anybody in the country about the Epstein files. We wanted to see transparency. It was basically what the whole event became about. And then on Monday, Charlie told me, he's like, you know, I think they got the memo. And he said on the show, we're gonna trust our friends in the government, meaning people that we helped get in place, and we're gonna give them some bandwidth to go. Man, the. The blowback was instantaneous. And what he was saying is like, at some point, we have to empower the people that we helped elect, that we helped put into positions of power to get this done and get it done the right way. We could argue till we're blue in the face whether that happened or not, but at some point, there has to be a middle ground where people use common sense. And I don't know that we're. I don't know that we're at a point where anybody's ready to do that yet. And I love what you're saying, Steve, is that we need to teach a whole generation to think again, to use their common sense. I want to. I want to get into two things here in this segment. I want to. I want you to distill that idea more, why it's so important in this sifting moment that we find ourselves in. And then I want to lay out the stakes because there's a chilling new article out of New Republic, which is a far left rag, but they lay out the stakes here pretty clearly. They say there will be no post presidential peace for Donald Trump. They even compare his sins to scandals and crimes with the shocking likeness of the charges laid out in the Declaration of Independence against the last American king. So the stakes could not be higher right now. And, yes, there's the graphic. There will be no peace for President Trump. My question to you is this sifting moment. What should our audience do with this moment of angst?

[Steve Dace]

Well, let's talk about what we think the sifting is first. I think what you're seeing is, I think Covid was a sifting. I think George Floyd was a sifting. I think the latest sifting was Charlie's assassination. And whenever you see. I think that's God moving. You see this throughout the biblical narrative. I mean, the greatest sifting of all, the formation of the Christian church.

[Andrew Colvett]

Right, okay.

[Steve Dace]

And so whenever there's a sifting, it's because a mobilization is about to happen. But first, all right, the gardener is going to prune his garden. We're going to pluck some weeds out first. The general is going to make sure that he has the right troops that are actually trained for the battle ahead. And that's a painful process. And we are undergoing this right now. And I think the sifting is, will you put your faith in God and in his Word, and then will you follow facts? I think that's the sifting that is taking place right now. Okay. Because there's some real Matthew 20:24 stuff going on right now, which is, man, if those days were not shortened, even the elect would be deceived. I mean, the. The amount of AI and everything else that's going on right now, the amount of false headlines that's going on that it's exposed right now. We've never been more bombarded with information in human history and more of it wrong than we are right now.

[Andrew Colvett]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

And, you know, I sometimes get these perpetual reactionaries to come back at me and say, well, we're only doing what you did during COVID All right, Steve? And I'm like, no, you're not. What I did during COVID was actually take the government's own data and show they were lying to you. They weren't showing you their own data. I can't do a SARAH prevalence exam. I don't know how to do a study like that. I can't give you, you know, itemized mortality data on Covid, you know, broken down by demographic. I don't have that data. I took it from the cdc, I took it from foreign government departments of health, and then I shown the light on their data that they didn't want to show people in other words, I used facts. I didn't do endless contemplative speculations and, and, well, you know, just asking questions and maybe sos and did God really says. And that's what we're all kind of undergoing right now. And we're calling that critical thinking. And so I think we're watching a very painful sifting process go through on our side. And on their side, they are in lock step right now. I mean, you have a fully formed weaponized religion of the state, the spirit of the age manifested in government. It has done this all throughout human history. It has manifested itself in human governments all throughout history. And you're watching that now happen in our history as well. And so I think what we should be praying for, frankly guys, is for this sifting to speed up a little bit. All right? Lord, can we get this sifting? Can we reach its conclusion? All right, so that we don't fear that we are falling so far behind here to the organized evil we're up against that we can't possibly catch up.

[Blake]

Well, Steve, what I kind of find myself thinking in terms of the great sifting, it's as you say, we have the sifting in terms of what, you know, are people able to maintain their, call it maybe mental composure, mental discipline, to not fall for fake things on one end or complete propaganda on the other end. But I also think of the sifting like in, in society itself, that everything is so disordering and disorienting to people. A lot of people are kind of crashing out of society. That's the, you know, the aimless lost youth, they're not able to get careers off the ground, they're not able to have families, they're not able to really muster communities together. And where I think a real sifting is taking place is people who are able to attach to a community like that, that used to be almost everyone, you know, there was some sort of community you could attach to. But now there are people who are just going to never have that happen. They will live their whole lives that way and then they'll basically select out because they'll never have families, they'll never have kids. And the little communities, which in many cases will be Christian communities, will be churches. They're going to have immense outsize importance, immense outsize power in the future just because they will be the ones who held together while everything else is flying apart. I think that's an absolute answer to that.

[Steve Dace]

I think that's a, that's a brilliant observation and forecast, Blake. I completely agree and I think on one hand, the older men, those of us entering our third act, play a huge role in this. You know, I've seen it with my own, with my own son. All right, he went looking for a job, didn't like this job, didn't like that job. Now he has a job that he really likes.

[Andrew Colvett]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

And his entire perspective on I'm doing something that I enjoy, I'm contributing something, I'm earning a living. It's completely just, I mean, he's gotten reconnected back into the church again. He's involved in a really good young adults group. He's actually going to a young adults group at another church. And so why is he doing that? Well, you use that, that's the word that you use, community.

[Andrew Colvett]

All right?

[Steve Dace]

And so now he has found a work environment that he can be productive and rewarded for being productive and doesn't shame him for his belief system. And then he's going to places where he has peer groups that share his belief system and that sense of community, that sense of attachment. I mean, I can just see his entire, you know, outlook on things has dramatically improved just in the last couple of months because of everything that you just said. And I think it is imperative for us as older men now. We have to finish. I know, I keep harping on this too because I think it keeps being true. We have to finish well, we have to show the younger men that if you stick to it, I mean, you know, my wife wants to write an autobiography. I married a mailroom clerk. That's what I was when we got married. All right. The idea that I was going to do this for a living or get to write best selling books or produce a movie or not that no one would have looked at the man that she married 28 years ago and thought that's how this was going to turn out.

[Andrew Colvett]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

And all of us have some kinds of those success stories unless we truly are born into a handful of elite families. And so I think for the, are the younger men to see us finish well, to finish the race, not trade in our wives for the 39 year old or 42 year old assistant, all right, not do something stupid or reckless with their inheritance and in fact maybe give it to them early when they're young and married and they're struggling, when they really need it then, not when they're 40, 45 and I'm dead. And by then they're probably, probably or hopefully established. These are things that as the older generation we need to be looking for. What are opportunities now to backfill, retcon the American dream so that when we then say to the younger generation, hey, you know, sack up, get tougher, stick in there, we give them evidence of how you can still be successful if you do that.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, I think that's beautiful. I couldn't agree more because everything that you both just described is going to be countered with countless online communities that will, you know, lead to brain rot, lead young people astray. And we have to be leading forth. Education is leading forth, leading towards the truth, the truth of scripture, the truth of our faith. Steve Dace, thank you so much, my friend. I think this was actually a really important conversation. I hope the audience got a lot out of it. Hi, folks. Andrew Colvett here.

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[Andrew Colvett]

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[Sponsor Voice (Legacy Box / Yrefi)]

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[Andrew Colvett]

It's the ask us anything hour you can do. You can take part in this if you join us at members.charlie Kirk.com members.charlie Kirk.Com help us keep the lights on. You guys mean the world to us. So you get to be a part of the show on Friday. Send your questions in. First question is Caleb and Michelle. Love Caleb and Michelle. How are you guys? Welcome to the chart. Oh, and we have Dan had them

[Blake]

on before, but not in a while.

[Caller Caleb]

It's.

[Andrew Colvett]

It's been a while, Caleb, relatively recently.

[Caller Caleb]

Yeah.

[Andrew Colvett]

How are you, Caleb?

[Caller Caleb]

Hey, we're doing. We're doing really, really well. Thank you. How are you guys?

[Blake]

Oh, we're doing great.

[Andrew Colvett]

Doing. Doing great. It's Friday, so.

[Caller Caleb]

So, yeah, it is Friday. So a year ago, a year Ago. We called in and we talked to Charlie about his March Madness bracket, and. And we're watching the tournament right now. We're doing a Charlie thing. It's on over there while we're on. On the stream here and missing him more at this time because loved hearing him talk about how much he loved basketball. So, anyway, the question is, who do you have winning in your tournament and how are your brackets doing?

[Blake]

All right. I'm really glad we have Danny for this.

[Caller Danny]

Lake refused to join our office bracket pool.

[Blake]

I am a huge Scrooge on March Madness. I am. This is an underrated fact about me. I'm kind of a basketball hater. I don't like, don't like it as a sport. Like, you know, I have my little bit of sort of autism J stuff. I don't, I don't like the design of the sport. I don't like watching basketball. And yeah, so I, I like Revolt against March Madness and refute. I don't know who the number one seeds are. I don't know who's in the tournament.

[Andrew Colvett]

Goodness.

[Blake]

No winner. I'm a big Scrooge.

[Andrew Colvett]

But you guys do take it off.

[Caller Danny]

Doesn't like fun.

[Andrew Colvett]

Taking it all.

[Caller Caleb]

Yeah, that's Michelle's.

[Caller Danny]

Arizona.

[Blake]

You have Duke. There's like a guy in every pool. Andrew, who has Duke taking it all? Every single.

[Andrew Colvett]

I've never ever, in any bracket I've ever built, had Duke taking it all.

[Caller Danny]

They almost lost yesterday, though. They probably should have lost yesterday.

[Andrew Colvett]

They should have. But, Danny, who do you got? Danny's big sports guy.

[Caller Danny]

Yeah, I have Arizona winning it all.

[Andrew Colvett]

How far did you have that?

[Caller Caleb]

The.

[Andrew Colvett]

Do you actually believe that, or is it because you live in Arizona?

[Caller Danny]

No, they're a 1C. Like, I actually believe that they're pretty good. I had Ohio State losing in the second round to Duke. I was pretty honest there. I didn't have them going too far. Big Ohio State fan. But, yeah, they're. They're not a basketball school right now, so.

[Andrew Colvett]

At tcu, are they a basketball school ever?

[Caller Danny]

They were a powerhouse about 10 to 15 years ago.

[Blake]

Okay. How many titles did they win?

[Caller Danny]

They went to a few Final Fours titles, not so much, but.

[Caller Michael]

Yeah,

[Andrew Colvett]

that's all right. Caleb, who do you got? Who you got taking it all?

[Caller Caleb]

I, I, I didn't pick a winner yet. I have, like, I don't know. This is probably a long shot, but Gonzaga or Yukon.

[Caller Danny]

Wait, how do you not pick a winner after the tournament?

[Andrew Colvett]

That's not how the bracket works.

[Caller Danny]

Yeah,

[Andrew Colvett]

you're doing it Wrong.

[Caller Caleb]

I am doing it wrong.

[Andrew Colvett]

You're doing it wrong.

[Blake]

This sounds like.

[Andrew Colvett]

What do you think about Michigan?

[Blake]

A secret bracket and then I can reveal it after the tournament is over and thereby.

[Andrew Colvett]

Oh, yeah, like, we totally trust that

[Blake]

about that sort of thing. Andrew.

[Sponsor Voice (Legacy Box / Yrefi)]

I don't know.

[Caller Caleb]

Yeah, Michigan could do really well.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah. Interesting to see. If Arizona wins, we're basically not going to have a studio when that day comes. Michael's already saying he's wilding out. He's going. He's. We're going to lose him. We might not have a show. If Arizona wins, our team's going to lose it. Caleb, thank you for calling in my friend. And thank you for bringing in a little bit of Charlie spirit. Charlie. Charlie did not like the NBA, but he loved college basketball. He liked the Bulls, 90s Bulls, and he liked college basketball, the bracket. So, yeah, I'm into it. All right, next up we have Anthony. Anthony, what's going on?

[Caller Michael]

What's up, guys? Blake, I can kind of agree with you. I don't watch basketball, but if I have to. No, Danny, hold on. I work in the industry. Working it is more fun than watching it. Oh, that's absurd.

[Blake]

What does that. What does that mean? Like, like the players are interesting or like the shoot?

[Caller Michael]

Well, I work on the communications and marketing side. So you're always interacting with players, media, game notes. I've worked a Sweet 16 in Elite 8 regional back in 2010 when it was at Syracuse. So I had Cornell, Kentucky, Washington and West Virginia. So working it as an. As a person is a lot more fun than just sitting it on your couch or out with friends watching it. So you're. You're more into it. Like, I have guys in mind right now are in different regionals, working on staff.

[Andrew Colvett]

So.

[Caller Michael]

So.

[Andrew Colvett]

So, Anthony, I totally agree with this. I went to my first NBA game, like, close to the court. I went to a Suns game. Somebody invited me and it was really cool in person. I hate watching basketball. NBA. I like watching March Madness. I hate watching NBA at home. It just like you don't have a. Any. Any sense of the size and athleticism of the players, but up close you do and you're. It's. It really is remarkable. They are tremendous athletes. Got to give them their due.

[Caller Danny]

What makes March tennis great is the upsets, though. Like the NBA, there's no such thing really as an upset because they're all professionals, which again, why college football is better than the NFL, because in college football, you also have the upsets. College sports are better than professional.

[Blake]

My Problem with basketball is just, I don't think the design of the game is good. Like the incentives to just foul endlessly at the end of a game so it slows down to a halt and they're just shooting all the free throws. And I feel like there's not that much strategy. Like they, it took them 40 years to figure out a three point shot was worth more than a two point shot. So you should shoot a three point shot and then one. Once they did that, it just totally wrecked the strategy. Guys are just chucking threes or they're doing layups. Nobody's ever trying to, you know, set up an isolation mid range jumper anymore. I just, I think it's all.

[Andrew Colvett]

Curry did kind of ruin the sport.

[Caller Danny]

Can you say his name again? What'd you call him?

[Andrew Colvett]

What? Did I say it wrong? Curry. I thought, you know your first name.

[Charlie Kirk]

You did.

[Steve Dace]

He did.

[Caller Michael]

He did say Stefan Curry. It's Stephen Curry.

[Andrew Colvett]

Oh, Stephanie Stephen Curry.

[Caller Danny]

Yeah. There's not a lot of ball knowledge, Anthony, on this.

[Blake]

Steph Curry.

[Caller Michael]

Well, hold up before I get to my question, Andrew, I can agree with you on one thing. I used to work in the NBA for two years, so I see. I've seen the difference in pro and college and my picks to win it. If I had to pick right now, I didn't do a bracket. Arizona, Michigan, Duke or Florida are my top four, but I think Arizona is going to take it.

[Caller Danny]

Yeah, anybody but Michigan. I'm a hater of Michigan at all.

[Blake]

Yeah, we're aware.

[Caller Danny]

Yeah, yeah.

[Caller Michael]

Okay.

[Andrew Colvett]

Ohio State.

[Blake]

All right, Anthony, what's your, what's your other question? And we can go into the other side.

[Caller Michael]

This is my real question. How can you tell who's a good influencer on social media, in politics? Because there's a lot of them that just create podcasts, create short memes, animations, that kind of stuff. Interviews where they just want clicks. And we know what AI These days you can create a lot of fake propaganda. We see it fall over. So like outside of you guys, Brandon Tatum and others, like, how can you figure out who is a good one to follow? Because I think a lot of people don't. The average person doesn't know who to follow and they'll just follow everybody. And some of the information is not true.

[Andrew Colvett]

A lot of it's not.

[Blake]

That is a complicated question.

[Andrew Colvett]

I, I will answer it succinctly like this, but we could build this idea out. One of the main things I look for, Anthony, is does that person have skin in the game? Is there Any cost for being wrong. That could mean they get involved in local elections. They're actually working the the system to try and affect change from a grassroots level. That's the one thing that kept Charlie grounded more than anything else is that he had touch points with the students, he had touch points with the voters. We have that turning point action. Everything we do, we're trying to advance the football. Another sports analogy to make sure that the country's a better place, that we're leaving it a better place. And I will tell you that grounds you, it focuses you like nothing else. Blake, I know you have many, many thoughts when it comes to which influencers you should follow and trust and which you should not.

[Blake]

Yeah, I mean, so it's a. First of all, it's just a great question. I think it's an important one and a lot of people are becoming aware of it. I think as you said, an important thing is skin in the game. Not just are they doing actual work out there, but sort of is there any accountability if they're wrong about things? And more to the point, you should just, even if they don't, you should look for signs that like if they make predictions, do you have to look. Sorry, I'm stumbling over my words. You want to look for a long term pattern here. You should see does this person offering like consistent takes on things, that doesn't mean they have to be right all of the time, but are they clearly coming from some sort of ideological foundation? Can you anticipate how this person will react to things in a way that isn't just chasing after clicks? Another thing I think that's worth looking towards is if a person is often alluding to having secret knowledge or foreknowledge of things, does that actually pan out? Because a very common way to sort of grift or attention bait is to suggest you have secret sources about stuff and then that nothing ever comes of it, nothing ever emerges from this. A lot of people like to say, oh, I have a lot of. I have secret info that something big is going to drop in next week and if it never happens, most people forget about it because the memory is like a goldfish. But you should watch those things and if they are doing that consistently. One of the great things on X, you can actually make lists of different users and you can put someone on your list of this person actually BSS me a lot. Or you could put someone on a list this person actually has been reliable. You can bookmark posts. Using those tools is a good way to keep track of who's reliable, who's honest, and who's less reliable. Another thing I like to look for is sort of emotional balance. I find that people who are less reliable, they tend to get insanely worked up about things. And it's always a new thing this week because emotional overload is very. It is clickbaity. It's very satisfying to people. It's very. People enjoy getting really worked up about things. And if a user is deliberately feeding that, if they're encouraging you to get really, really angry all the time about every new thing, if they're encouraging really drastic action all of the time, I find that's a sign that they're often just chasing after the most clicks that they can get rather than trying to lead you in a good direction. And I think Charlie was good about that. Charlie could be very strong in his views, but he wasn't endlessly having meltdowns about things.

[Andrew Colvett]

Well said, Anthony. Thank you for your question. I think it was a really, really good one. Unless, Danny, you want to add anything to it, we got.

[Caller Danny]

No, I just think staying consistent, if you continue to just keep going back and forth on different, different issues and keep contradicting yourself, then you can't really be trustworthy.

[Caller Michael]

I appreciate it, guys. And I'm going to send something to you guys so you can watch basketball different way. Like, I watch it.

[Andrew Colvett]

All right.

[Blake]

I don't think I'm gonna be sold.

[Andrew Colvett]

I am.

[Blake]

I have become an enemy of the b ball.

[Andrew Colvett]

Like, be open minded.

[Caller Michael]

I'm gonna side with the Dodger fan here.

[Blake]

Eight men show up at my house and beat me up now or something.

[Andrew Colvett]

But deciding with the Dodger fan, that's, that's how, you know, I made, I made a good point. By the way, I think the, the Dodgers team could beat Venezuela nine out of 10 times. That's what I'm gonna say. All right.

[Caller Anthony]

The online world moves fast and it's moving even faster these days. That's why TikTok approaches teen safety with families in mind from the start because discovery and creativity are both wonderful things. But it's important to make sure that safety comes first as well. On TikTok, teenagers have over 50 built in protections right from when they join. Accounts, routines all start private by default. They're not open to the entire world. And for those under 16, direct messages are turned off. Only their friends can comment on their videos. And that kind of approach matters because feeling confident and comfortable about these platforms your teenagers are on shouldn't mean digging through a bunch of menus and Trying to set everything up yourself and worrying that you got it wrong. TikTok is taking a proactive approach. Their protections are built in from the moment those teenagers join so that safety and peace of mind for parents is

[Blake]

there right from the start.

[Caller Anthony]

All of this is to say, when safety comes first, discovery and creativity can follow without fear. Learn more by going to TikTok.com GuardiansGuide that's TikTok.com GuardiansGuide

[Andrew Colvett]

Michael, you're up next. Welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show. Thanks, Anthony.

[Blake]

Oh, Ian is next. Sorry, Ian is sorry. Sorry about that.

[Andrew Colvett]

We'll get to you in a second.

[Blake]

Michael. Ian.

[Caller Ian]

Ah, you trying to trick me here? All right. Hello, guys. How you doing?

[Andrew Colvett]

Good, good. How you doing, Ian? What's your question?

[Caller Ian]

Yeah, it's been. This has been good. I love. I love hearing this. Also, basketball. I mean, Michael Jordan is the goat. Charlie was spot on the nose with that, but, yeah, anyways, don't get me started on basketball. I'll talk for hours on that. But I really. I've been working on gratitude this year. That's been a really big thing for me. And I just wanted to know what. What are some things you guys are grateful for in your lives? And also secondly, what's something that Charlie taught you about gratitude? Because I know he was big on that, too.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, I had a reminder of this last night, actually, Ian, you know, without getting into the gory details, yesterday was an adventure personally for me for a very variety of reasons. Blake knows a little bit about it. Sorry to be vague. But anyways, the point is, I was talking with my wife, and she looked at me and she just kind of, like, threw up her hands, and she goes, isn't it great that you and me are good and that our kids are healthy? Like, isn't it good that doesn't matter. Like, what's going on, what challenges that we have each other and that our relationship is strong. And I just thought, you know what? That's exactly right. It doesn't matter. All the noise. It doesn't matter. Everything that's swirling, all the tension, all the conflict. You know, I'm grateful for my wife and my family, and I'm grateful that I have a Christian faith that has, you know, guarded my heart and has guarded my life and helped me make better decisions. And, you know, it was interesting. There's a pastor that I used to download his podcast all the time and listen to him, and he would acknowledge the fact. He was kind of a blunt guy. And he said, you know, if I didn't have If I wasn't saved by Jesus Christ, I'd be drunk, alone, divorced, and, you know, alone in some basement somewhere. And, you know, it was kind of. It's a blunt way to put it, but I do think that there is an element of all of our lives that if we didn't. If we weren't grounded in something eternal and something true and something that is tried and tested over the years, in the millennia, that we would find ourselves in a really, really terrible spot. Sometimes you still find yourself in a really terrible spot. But I'm grateful for those. Those lasting things and those good things. And anyways, that's my answer. Blake, what about you, Danny?

[Blake]

Charlie was very good about gratitude, even in. Even in defeat. I remember he was going on about the importance of gratitude right after the 22 midterms, which were very rough, and he did a great bit on Thanksgiving. Like, we have the most gratitude right now because we recognize the stuff that is truly central to us, which is faith, which is family, which is the immediacy around us, everything God's given us. I am very grateful for those basic things. I am personally very grateful. I know there's a lot of doomerism about the US I'm kind of grateful. Like, I think about the very basic things that I can still, as much as people complain, I can count on, like, a functional country, the rule of law. I can easily obtain food every time. I try to always take myself to that. Back to those, like, very root things. Like, as much as we are worried about this country, we have a very nice one, and we see a lot of things breaking down all around the world. And as much as we're annoyed by things that unfold around the world, for example, there's this war in the Middle east, and I don't think any of us like that it's happening. We do live in a country that is basically at peace. But I wanted to get more on that because I wanted to ask you, Danny, are you grateful? Do you have gratitude for Ohio State football?

[Caller Danny]

Well, first off, I'm grateful. I call it the four Fs. Faith, Family, Freedom, and friends. So I start off with that.

[Blake]

Football's not football.

[Caller Danny]

It's kind of just something fun on the side. It's not. Not the main thing. I'm grateful we beat Michigan this year. I am not grateful that there was a disaster game in Miami that I attended, and they lost pretty bad.

[Blake]

But you're feeling a little fair weather fan here. To me, they've won a title. They've won, what, three Titles in the last.

[Caller Danny]

Well, see, we demand excellence, Blake. So we're not satisfied with losing. So it's a different type of breed.

[Blake]

I will say I am grateful the packers won a Super bowl, and I'm like, I want them to win more, but I'm. I'm glad we got one. Which Minnesota Vikings fans will never get to experience.

[Caller Anthony]

Sorry, guys.

[Blake]

It's true. But, yes. Now we can move on to the next question.

[Steve Dace]

Can you hear me?

[Blake]

Yeah, Michael, what's your question?

[Unidentified Speaker 1]

Hey, first off, I want to say thank you for helping to call attention to the issues we have in trucking. I. I called in and talked to Chart. Last time I called in and talked to Charlie, he actually held me over the break to discuss it. And, you know, unfortunately, we've had some tragedies between here and there in trucking, but I'm thankful that we're stuff done. My question is that with all of the talk about an immigration freeze, I was curious if there was any hope of keeping fiance visas open. And as I said in the. In the question, you know, limiting it limited to one per. One per citizen. A lifetime limit of one per citizen. Yes.

[Blake]

All right. All right. Lifetime limit of one per citizen. Sounds like a good idea. It seems like very straightforward. You should not. That would be a good check on fraud at a minimum.

[Caller Ian]

Exactly.

[Unidentified Speaker 1]

That's what I'm thinking. I. I've been talking to from South America for a while, looking to bring her up here, and that whole immigration freeze thing would be a little bit of a kink in that.

[Blake]

Oh, well, yes. So I. I don't know if there's a discussion of a freeze on all spousal visas. I imagine even if we were to do a. Well, I go back and forth on this because obviously we've talked about a moratorium. It would feel extreme to say, oh, you can't bring your spouse in from abroad. But I also have to. We also have to be very aware, if we were to crack down on all other forms, it would encourage a big increase in, let's be frank, fraudulent marriage visas, because people will find any means they can to get into the US if you want an example.

[Andrew Colvett]

Ilhan Omar.

[Blake]

Yeah, I mean, if you want an example, we also have. We have a visa for victims of crimes who can stay in the US So they can testify in a case or whatever. And just the other day, we had yet another indictment. We've had many of these where they've caught rings of people faking crimes against their friends so that those friends can then get that Visa and stay in the U.S. i think your idea of a, you know, a one person limit is. Or a one lifetime limit is a good idea. Another one might be you maybe have to add some like, threshold expense to it, which I know is a pain, but it would, you know, encourage you to be very serious about those things. There's ways we can go about it. The truth is. Oh, is there? All right.

[Unidentified Speaker 1]

Yeah, it's a ten to fifteen thousand dollar expense once. And that doesn't include travel or anything else because I've already game planned all this stuff out and I'm looking at about a 10 to $15,000 expense just to get her up here, which I'm fine with paying. My goal in life has always been to get married and have kids, and my generation has been absolutely horrible at that. So come hecker, high water. I'm pushing. I am. Me and her are focused on getting this done. It's just that, you know, the same as illegal deport all means all. You know, when someone says, we want to halt all immigration. Okay, all means all. There is a hard stop and no one passes. Go. And I would like to. I would like to, you know, I'll teach you the citizenship test myself. It's not that hard. I'm sorry. It's just not. I will teach her that stuff. I'm active in my community. I will take her through that stuff. I just need to be able to get her up here.

[Andrew Colvett]

All right, well, what country is she coming from?

[Unidentified Speaker 1]

Venezuela. She's more based than I am, though.

[Andrew Colvett]

Yeah, there's a lot really patriotic Venezuelans, actually. And by the way, we're, we're, we've endorsed on this show a net zero moratorium, which would essentially, it does mean there will be some spots and maybe, maybe we need to prioritize some of these marriage visas if they can be properly vetted for patriots like yourself. I'm, I'm open to that. But a net zero would essentially be about 200, 250,000 people would still be admitted because that's how many people are leaving the country every year. So as soon as the spot opens up, it opens up right to Blake's point, though. You know, the second, the second that you start making exceptions or carve outs, people will exploit them. And so you've got to. The starting point needs to be very firm, very rigid, and very exacting. And the point is, is because we've just been so taken advantage of, we are the suckers. We are the marks for the entire world that wants to flood in Here. And you know, it's basically arbitrage.

[Unidentified Speaker 1]

Yeah, trust me, I know. That's why one per native born citizen. Lifetime limit of one per native born citizen.

[Andrew Colvett]

Not.

[Unidentified Speaker 1]

You came in here and you became a citizen. You had to be born here. Natural born citizen.

[Blake]

I think that might be a good start. But it's a complicated topic and I think to kind of put a bow on it, a big thing to remember here is there's so many ways our system is just constantly exploited because we don't take the idea of having a good immigration policy seriously. And if we really did that, if we were serious about any immigrant who comes to the US should be improving the country. We should not be allowing criminals, we should not be allowing, you know, dependents. We should not be allowing problems to come into America. We can instantly make a vastly smarter system and we mostly refuse to do it. And I think merit, like marriage visas for clear cases where it makes sense to allow it is one of the less damaging things that we could have compared to the just endless importation of, you know, foreign workers, tech workers and so on.

[Unidentified Speaker 1]

One person, you're not bringing your family up here. You can go down there and visit.

[Andrew Colvett]

Mm.

[Blake]

I think that's very reasonable. Endless family reunification has been a disaster for America very bluntly. But thank you for your question.

[Andrew Colvett]

Hi, folks. Andrew Colvett here.

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[Blake]

And we want to make sure we have a few people still in the queue. Elizabeth, unmute yourself.

[Caller Anthony]

What's your question?

[Caller Elizabeth]

Yes, hi. So mine's also about Immigration as well. I don't know if you were aware that Ali Largiani, who was a senior Iranian official in the Supreme Leaders, like National Guard. He was basically the guy who got the 40,000 protesters killed. He's like a truly evil person. And he was recently wiped out by Israel. His daughter is a professor. Well, was a professor at Emory University and had gotten her green card in 2021. I don't know if he guys not 21. I think it was 2020. No. Yeah, 2021 under Biden. And there was an article in the Post about all of these Iranian leaders and their kids getting visas and green cards educated here. There was that terrorist in Michigan who was here legally, whose brother was a leader in Hezbollah. There was a terrorist attack over in Austin, Texas. And it's just astounding that these people aren't getting vetted. We have people filing for asylum claims, and it's like four years later, they say, no, you're declined asylum. They get to appeal. They get to stay here. It's 20 years later before you can legally get them out. And everyone's yelling at you, oh, they've been here for 20 years. How can you make them leave now? Meanwhile, they don't even speak the language still. Like, is there any possibility of, one, vetting these people better and then two, if you are claiming asylum, that you have 14 days for your trial, and then there's a process where they can just sort of basically vet you out one way or the other, and if you don't qualify and they have to leave the country with within another two weeks and that's it. And if they want to appeal it, they can appeal it, but not on American soil.

[Blake]

Yeah, I mean, it's just the whole story with this, like, man's daughter.

[Caller Anthony]

Yeah, you're correct.

[Blake]

She was. She had a faculty position at Emory. And I don't know exactly how that came to pass, but this is a guy who's senior in a regime that is an enemy of the United States. And it seems like something broke if she's able to just very easily come here. Unless we have hard proof that she's, like, basically a huge opponent of everything, you know, of the regime. Like, if she was an actual. If she had skin in the game as some one who'd, like, fought against the regime.

[Caller Danny]

Flying back over there.

[Blake]

Yeah, but I don't. Yeah, it seems like she's flying back over there. And frankly, just looking at her faculty portrait, I don't think that she's an enemy of the regime. It just it gets back to what we said with the last segment. We have such an unserious immigration policy. We just casually bring in people who are hostile to America, who are scamming America, who are plundering America. And as soon as we make it a priority to not let that happen, there's so many benefits we can build up for the United States.

[Andrew Colvett]

By the way, the White House announced a review of all immigration benefits granted to Iranians, which has been labeled a country of concern. So movement, shocker has been movement on that. We'll see what happens there. Blake, you got an interesting email question. I think. I think it deserves answering.

[Blake]

Yeah, yeah. We got one from Kelsey and she asked a few weeks ago, Mikey posted some great pictures and videos of Charlie. And in one video, Charlie was eating In N Out, which made me wonder what was his go to order at In N Out. Thank you, Kelsey. That's a fun one. And we actually had to do some research because the truth is Charlie didn't eat In N Out a lot. He loved In N Out the company. He loved their Christian foundation. I think he even interviewed the founder at one point, Lindsey, and so he really loved it. That was kind of our go to. If we were ordering food for the office, it would be In N Out, but obviously not a big fast food guy. So we asked and Erica tells us his default order was a protein style double double. So I think that's two patties, two pieces of cheese, the two by two. And that didn't surprise me because Charlie only ate about four foods and bread wasn't one of them. So you'd never really see him eating a burger patty and cheese. I think cheese would be a luxury. You very rarely saw him eating cheese.

[Caller Michael]

The.

[Blake]

The go to was beef, chicken, avocado, olive oil and sort of green vegetables. We'd say like lettuce or cabbage. Basically any green vegetable you could kind of do. And those are basically the only things he ate. And so that. That cheese on the In N Out burger, that was a. That was a very special luxury for him.

[Andrew Colvett]

Okay, Mick, you're up next.

[Blake]

Oh, Mick also wanted us to read it. Yes.

[Andrew Colvett]

So Andrew, guys, not feeling great. Please read for me. There was a clip played during one of the breaks where Charlie was talking with a gentleman from Oregon, where I'm from, who wasn't sure if he should get involved in his local election. I myself am looking to move to South Carolina. What did Charlie and what do you guys think about conservatives moving from blue states to deep red states? I think he was basically pro he, you know, oftentimes he would tell Californians, like, your vote will go further in Arizona if you want to move here. But he was also pro you saying, you know, if you, if you made the decision to stay and fight in Oregon or California, he was pro that. And he said, you know, but fight to win. And you don't fight because you know you're gonna win. You fight because it's the right thing to do. So wherever you are at, you need to find wins and ways to get involved that will move the needle. That's the main point. But if you're gonna move and you're get your votes now, going to count for more, by all means, don't vote for Lindsey Graham. That's all I can tell you. Yeah, in South Carolina, I mean, I'd

[Blake]

add Charlie, for example, at the memorial, Stacy spoke. She was a member of our team who was in California, and Charlie was always pushing her to move to Arizona. And thankfully she finally did. Of course, Andrew, you've also come out to Arizona. I think in general, another reason besides just political calculations. Charlie would want people to move to red states because you can live a better life in a red state. It's more affordable. You're more likely to be able to have a home better for your kids. You're less likely to be taxed to death. You're more likely to be able to practice your faith as you wish, to go to the school that where your children can learn the way you want. This. You don't have to worry that insane people might abduct your children for the transgender cult. There's a million reasons to live in a red state that are not just who I'm gonna vote for, who I can help elect, but that does matter as well. The movement of people to red states has been hugely helpful for us. We are better able to win elections because red states are growing, blue states are shrinking. And as long as we keep our states on side, that's going to produce a lot of benefits for us.

[Andrew Colvett]

Big if in places like North Carolina and Georgia. Those are the two I'm most worried about.

[Blake]

So, yeah, I mean, they love to. They love to blue ify our red states. It's a huge hazard, but our states are well run. They are better. And that's something we can brag about. The. The vindication of red state government has been a big story of the past decade.

[Andrew Colvett]

It really has, actually. I'm glad you said that because it kind of flows into our next. Our next question mark. Unmute yourself. Welcome to the Charlie Kirk show.

[Caller Mark]

Okay. Thanks for taking my call, guys.

[Andrew Colvett]

Absolutely.

[Caller Mark]

Yeah. One of the main reasons why I started listening to Charlie Kirk, and I loved this about Charlie, was his obsession with winning elections. One of the main reasons why I donate to guys is because Turning Point action, and I don't want to say I'm a. What do you guys call them? The black pillars? The doomers.

[Caller Danny]

Right.

[Caller Mark]

I don't know what you guys call it, but basically, I'm extremely worried about the midterms. But what I would like to see is, and I'm going to use, I think, Blake's term because he's a Catholic guy. The Conservative Conclave, I'm going to call it. I'm kind of calling it the Conservative Conclave, where we focus energy comparing policy from Dems to Republicans. There's a book called Questioning to the Close. If you look at the response from Abigail Spamberger after the State of the Union, she just kept asking three questions, what has. What has Trump done? Blah, blah, blah. What has Trump done? Well, she didn't. I mean, basically, she was lying. But the concept is the same. We need the independent voters. And what I don't see hardly anywhere in conservative media is what is. There's no comparison between policy. Like the Republican policy is. Is superior to the Democrats Have. No.

[Andrew Colvett]

I agree. Well, I agree, Mark. This is interesting. It ties into two of the other questions. Who are the podcasters you can trust?

[Blake]

Yeah.

[Andrew Colvett]

You trust the ones that have skin in the game and that are actually working elections and trying to get the right people elected.

[Blake]

It got me thinking about this, because a reason they wouldn't be comparing Republican policies to Democrat ones is if they're just promoting conflict within the movement. And that's something we should have said about who you can trust. Look at who picking fights with you want. I love to talk about the words that are on a Claymore mine for military lingo. Front towards enemy. They should be facing the enemy, which is the left. And if instead they're facing your own guys and finding reasons to stoke conflict with other Republicans without really good reason, like, okay, we attack Lindsey Graham for reasons that we hope we're very clear on. But if they're constantly finding new Republicans to beef with, that's not a good thing. And so you're very right. We need our communicators talking about elections and talking about what Democrat rule means. And what Democrat rule means is training in your kids. Crime, filth, disorder in the streets, higher taxes, like unlivability. It's California spending. $40 billion on a train that will never carry anyone anywhere.

[Caller Mark]

I agree 100%. And this is why I was so adamant about getting through, Right? It's like I. I get so angry when I. This. This infighting is not helping anybody. But this is kind of why I'm calling it the conservative conclave, because it's like we're grabbing people from this space and saying, look, guys, if we lose the midterm in the Senate and the House, Trump is done. If we lose the House, he's not out of office, but if he loses both, he's done. And so. And if we lose the House. Yes. And if he loses the House Senate and we lose in 28, if JD doesn't win, they're coming after you guys. I mean, I hate to say it, right? Because, I mean, this is. I mean, this is why Loved about Charlie was so fearless. And the thing that I love, he went. He did his own RNC convention right next to the RNC convention. I was, like, stoked when he did that. And this is why when I see conservative talk shows, I get angry. So I'm just asking you.

[Andrew Colvett]

We got to wrap the show. We got to wrap the show. I hate to cut you off, but you're absolutely right. The Claymore mind is a great analogy, Blake. I think that was a great way to end it.

[Blake]

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