Loading summary
Transcript43 lines
- [00:00]
Charlie Kirk
Hey, everybody. Doge speaks out the super geniuses that are supercharging our government. Phenomenal conversation that Bret Baier had with them. Then David Azrad with one of the more interesting conversations about how President Trump is leading revolution against the major institutions in this country. Email me as always, freedomarliekirk.com and subscribe to our podcast, that is the Charlie Kirk show podcast page. Get involved with turning point USA@tpusa.com that is tpusa.com Buckle up everybody. Here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here. Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
- [00:36]
David Azerrad
I want you to know we are.
- [00:37]
Charlie Kirk
Lucky to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks. I want to thank Charlie.
- [00:44]
David Azerrad
He's an incredible guy. His spirit, his love of this country.
- [00:47]
Charlie Kirk
He's done an amazing job building one.
- [00:49]
David Azerrad
Of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point usa.
- [00:53]
Charlie Kirk
We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives. And we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country. That's why we are here. Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of the Charlie Kirk Show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you could protect your wealth with Noble gold investments@noblegoldinvestments.com that is noblegoldinvestments.com if it's where I buy all of my gold, go to noblegoldinvestments.com the media has done everything they possibly can to weaken Elon Musk and the DOGE Effort. The DOGE Effort, the Department of Government Efficiency is a once in a century opportunity to restrain the size, the scope of the federal government. We have gone so far off the founders and the framers original intent on what a constitutional purpose should be for our federal government. Elon Musk sat down yesterday with Bret Baier with his team of super geniuses. And this is worth going clip by clip and piece by piece. If you missed it, we're going to bring you up to speed. It was phenomenal. This group of super geniuses are a blessing to our nation. You see, the media wants you to believe that they're a menace to our nation, when in reality it's the permanent federal bureaucracy that does nothing all day long at best and does active damage to our country at worst. They're passing rules and regulations that have no applicability to your life. They're the ones that were investigating President Trump. They're the ones that are going after small businesses. They're the ones that were going after Moms and dads at school board meetings. And also there's just the unnecessary administrative bloat at the Department of Education and Health and Human Services, for example, at the Department of Health and Human Services, Bobby Kennedy has identified there are 100 communication departments. 100. He says we should just have one consolidated. We don't need 100 separate communication departments. And at every corner and every turn, as you work hard to write your checks by April 15 and tax day is right around the corner, you send that money to Washington D.C. and have it wasted with zero concern for fiscal prudence, for zero concern to try to balance the budget. And Elon Musk, despite everything that he has to lose, the Tesla terrorism, the death threats, them going after his children. Elon Musk is an anti fragile individual. You could be fragile, you shatter upon any opposition. You could be strong, someone that is able to endure opposition. But antifragile and Donald Trump is the same way. They get stronger the more you attack them. They find energy and a life force the more that you throw at them. Elon Musk sat down with this group of super geniuses and understand how blessed we are to have people with this high iq. This determination working in our government and our media is truly the enemy of the American people for trying to dox them and stop them. We may never have this chance again to have this many capable people serving in our government, to restore the constitutional intent with real kind of business expertise, real wisdom. These guys are studs. And I want to play this. Let's just go one by one. Let's start with cut 340. And by the way, credit to Brett Baer. He did a terrific job last night. Play cut 340 and sort of at a high level.
- [04:41]
Elon Musk
You think of this as we are. We want to reduce the spending by eliminating waste and fraud. Reduce the spending by 15% which seems really quite achievable. The government is not not efficient and there's a lot of lot of waste and fraud. So we feel confident that a 15% reduction can be done without affecting any of the critical government services.
- [05:07]
Charlie Kirk
You could only be against this if you work for the government, are receiving graft from the federal government or you're in on the entire cabal against the American people. This truly is the citizens versus the Leviathan. It is the citizens versus the intractable federal bureaucracy. Elon Musk continues. Let's play cut 344 at Social Security.
- [05:36]
David Azerrad
One of the first things we learned.
- [05:37]
Charlie Kirk
Is that they get phone calls every day of people trying to change direct Deposit information.
- [05:43]
David Azerrad
So when you want to change your bank account, you can call Social Security. We learned 40% of the phone calls that they get are from fraudsters. Almost half.
- [05:50]
Elon Musk
Yes. And they steal people's Social Security is. What happens is they. They call in, they say they claim to be a retiree. Then they. And they convince the person, the Social Security person on the phone to change the. Where the, where the money's flowing. It actually goes to some fraudster. This is happening all day, every day. And then, and then somebody doesn't receive their Social Security. It's because of all of the fraud loopholes in the Social Security system.
- [06:16]
Charlie Kirk
You have the world's richest man and the greatest innovator, maybe of the last 100 years, definitely of a generation that is using his brainpower, his capacity, his fortune to go make sure that fraudsters are not able to steal Social Security checks. The Democrats and the media are lying. Oh, they want to cut Social Security. They're actually trying to save it for all of you that paid into it. Steven Davis, who I've had an opportunity to know, who is a super genius. This is a guy that could run any Fortune 100 company. He could run Amazon, he could run Salesforce, he could run Dropbox, he could run Alphabet. This guy is incredibly bright. And instead the Democrats, they don't want to try to work in the middle to try and find common sense solutions. They have zero, zero interest in trying to deliver for the American people. Because if you're going after the size of the federal government, you are going after the untouchable relic of the Democrat Party. They worship the state. They find meaning from the state. And these group of super geniuses, this group of men, they're not flashy. They're motivated by patriotism. And it's honestly inspiring. It means that we should fight even harder here in the grassroots. We should fight harder in the trenches, that we should do even more because they're out there. There is no reason they have to be doing this. It's not for money. It's not for fame or fortune. They have themselves doxxed. They have their families being targeted. They're all getting death threats. We're all getting death threats. The media is going after them relentlessly. Capitol Hill is trying to assail them. And it's all because they know that we are careening towards bankruptcy as a nation. If we do not cut spending significantly, find the waste, find the abuse, find the bloat, find the unconstitutional programs, we will reach a tipping point of no return. Play cut 352, the amount of issues.
- [08:24]
Steven Davis
That were the Social Security system are enormous. As an example, There are over 15 million people that are over the age of 120 that are marked as alive in the Social Security system. And that's an accurate figure, correct?
- [08:38]
Charlie Kirk
15 million?
- [08:39]
Steven Davis
Correct. This has been something that's been identified as a problem, again, preexisting problems since 2008, at least from an IG report. So there are some great people working at the Social Security Administration that found this 2008, and nothing was done. And so 15 to 20 million Social Security numbers that were clearly fraudulent were floating around that can be used only for bad intentions. There'd be no way to use those for good intentions. And so one of the things the DOGE team is doing is carefully and very methodically looking at those and making sure that any fraudulent ones are eliminated.
- [09:13]
Charlie Kirk
I mean, this is inspiring stuff. You have never been able to assemble a team of all stars like this, ever. Maybe during World War II. Maybe during World War II. We had industrial titans that were able to come together for a short period of time. We had Berar Baruch. We had a short window of industrial might that came together to say, we want to go win World War II. This is the greatest team of all stars that has been assembled in 50 or 60 years. And the Wall Street Journal doesn't mention it. The New York Times doesn't mention it. They're too worried. Talking about a signal chat, which we've covered thoroughly, and President Trump just delivered some much needed air cover and firepower. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last night. I'm going to tell you what it is. It is monumental. It is so desperately needed. It is a game changer that will allow DOGE to do their work. And it goes right after the core of the federal bureaucracy. That goes right at how the federal bureaucracy is so untouchable. And it's all because of an executive order that was signed previously and President Trump is reversing it. Hey, Charlie, Kirk here. Ever see your dog slowing down or having health issues and wonder, what can I do to make them better? Well, my friend, add rough greens to your dog's food for 90 days and you'll see changes that will amaze you. Guaranteed. Invented by naturopathic doctor Dennis Black, Rough Greens wants to invite you and give your pup the Ruffgreens 90 Day Challenge. In the first 30 days, you'll see shinier coats and increased energy. By day 60, your dog will have a stronger immune system, less shedding and improved joint function, all due to live nutrients you've added to their diet. And at 90 days, better digestion, reduced inflammation, improved heart health, and you might even have reduced their cancer risk. Fetch a free Jump Start trial bag for your dog today. Go to ruffgreens.com just use promo code Charlie, that is ruffgreens.com promo code Charlie and just cover shipping. You don't have to change your dog's food to improve your dog's health. Just add a scoop of Ruff Greens. That is ruffgreens.com JD Vance just landed in Greenland. I told him the great places to eat in Nuuk. I said, hey, here are the good places to get some chow if you want whale blubber or seal. I told him the best places in downtown Nuke. We're going to talk more about Greenland in a little bit. But President Trump continues on his laser focused precision campaign. Last night, he signed one of the most important executive orders that a president has signed in nearly 50 years. And it's gotten almost no media attention. Front page of the New York Times there. What are they talking about here? Perched in luxury as shantytowns rolled by. Something about South Africa. What is the Wall Street Journal talking about? Health agency to cut 10,000 jobs. Well, this actually applies to that. And then also something about the Yankees because baseball is back. President Donald Trump signed last evening, something I've been pushing for publicly on this show and, and privately with White House staff. And it is monumental. This is your good news story of the week because it's been a little bit annoying. Got a little glitch. You got the signal thing. You're doing hootie stuff. We got people leaking. They're blaming Pete Hegseth, none. And everybody. This is a beautiful, delicious ending to your week. And of course the courts are gonna try and stop it, but we'll win in the end. President Trump is launching an effort that we're not even sure that he would attempt at. And he deserves our credit and our praise. Late last night, President Trump signed an executive order to end collective bargaining and unionization with federal unions at many federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, the Department of State, the EPA, and USAID. Overall, this would revoke the right to unionize for 75% of currently unionized federal workers. Now, let me pause. President Trump, as you can see, is being very smart. He's not touching border patrol. He's not touching people that are in ice, that are in front lines, that have union agreements, understandably, in case someone gets shot, similar to Kind of police officer work? No, no. This is if you're a paper shuffler at the epa. If you're a paper shuffler at the Department of Agriculture, the President has the power to do this. Federal law allows the President to override unionization rights for any federal agency involved in national security work. This is badly needed. Badly. The entire concept of a public sector employee union is hugely damaging to the body politic. In the private sector, unions can work, at least in theory, because workers and owners are in theory opposed to each other. That's a little nonsensical, but in theory, workers want higher wages, owners want lower wages, but they have to collaborate because if the business goes broke, everyone loses. But in a government union, this obviously does not apply. The government doesn't go bankrupt or go out of business. And on top of that, the CEO of the government is elected. So we get what we've seen in city after city and state after state. And in our federal government too. Lawmakers have gotten elected by pandering to the government workforce to make them higher pay and benefits in return for votes. And it is a self destructing bankruptcy, an inevitable bankruptcy destination cycle. If you look at the numbers today, the average federal employee is paid more than a private sector employee and has vastly more benefits, more time off doing less work, no accountability, all paid for by you and your grandkids via our mounting national debt. We have to end this if we want a federal government that actually works for the public instead of itself. Now we know what happens next. This will be challenged in court by the unions themselves. We'll probably get a nationwide injunction against it. We'll probably have to go to the U.S. supreme Court and maybe they won't even hold it up at all. But this absolutely has to be a priority of the American right. America has been driven into the ground by a bunch of cartels. We've talked a lot about the college Credential cartel. We've talked about the Sinalo drug cartel. We know about the military industrial complex war cartel. But we have to make a priority of cutting down and cutting back and raising the expectations of the federal employee cartel. This goes right at the Democrat Party. The federal unionization practices are a major built in incumbency advantage for the Democrat Party. This is a shot across the bow against the administrative state. So now you have Doge, as we've been mentioning, finding waste, finding abuse, finding unnecessary positions. But we can't do anything about it if all the public sector unions are unionized. All the public sector workers are unionized. Do you know who is against public sector unions. FDR was even against public sector unions. He said it was a conflict of interest. He said that the incentives work against one another. This started by executive order and this can end by executive order. And we weren't even sure if President Trump was going to go there because this is a big move, a necessary one, a courageous one, a declarative one, and one that will restore fidelity to our federal government, that will restore responsibility for, for the US Taxpayers. This is one of my favorite of all the executive orders that President Trump has signed to end the forced unionization of people that are supposed to work for us. The world is waking up to the power of gold. National banks are scrambling to secure it. According to the World Gold Council, central banks added 1,000 tons of gold in 2024, the third straight year of net gold buying. They understand what many investors don't. Gold is real money. Unlike paper currency, gold's value doesn't disappear with inflation, reckless government spending or market crashes. Now, Noble Gold Investments makes it easy for you to claim your share. As our new administration works to reverse the economic chaos of the past. Market swings are inevitable when uncertainty rises. You need something solid, something to keep you on the path to financial freedom. Gold can be that foundation. And right now, when you make a qualified investment, Noble Gold will send you a free 10th ounce of a cold coin. Visit noblegoldinvestments.com that's noblegoldinvestments.com the world is turning to gold. Shouldn't you be looking into doing that too? We have a great guest here, Dr. David Azerrad. I'm one and have him on the program. He's a tough guy to nail down. He's phenomenal. And I love his online courses with Hillsdale College. One in particular that I re watched and I took very special notes was all about progressivism and about the left. Dr. David Azerad from Hillsdale College understands the philosophy of the ideology of BLM and CRT. Joining us now is Dr. David Azerad, Associate professor of government for Hillsdale College in D.C. Dr. Azerad, great to see you.
- [18:42]
David Azerrad
Thank you for having me, Charlie.
- [18:43]
Charlie Kirk
So, doctor, there's lots to talk about here, kind of piggybacking on what I just mentioned. I do wanna ask the question, where do you think the left will head next? Where do you think the left will hit back as the right does its well earned metaphorical victory laps? What can we expect from the progressives, the Marxists? What's coming next?
- [19:07]
David Azerrad
I say two things. One is I Think the Democratic Party is unwilling, incapable to moderate itself, to tack to the center. Part of me wants to say they're beholden to extremists, but the part of it is that would imply that there's a fringe minority of extremists, whereas the party is run by fanatics. So I don't expect any tack to the center anytime soon, and I think that's great. Should never interrupt your enemy while he's making a mistake. Let them triple down on BLM on the trans stuff. Let's encourage them. Let them discredit themselves and keep on being crazy. Eventually, one day, I think one sign of winning for us will be to force them to move to the right. But for the time being, I want to continue to push a Trumpist agenda and have them discredit themselves. The second thing they're already doing is they're going to deploy the standard playbook. They have to interfere and interrupt the president's agenda, which means nationwide injunctions. Bog everything down in the courts. Have the bureaucracy, the deep state, drag its feet and slow things down. Mobilize the mobs. We haven't seen much of that yet. But remember, you know, they have antifa on speed dial. They can start to do the rioting. And then we need to remember that they still control the universities, the elite sectors of America. Some people there who were not fundamentally woke are moving to the center. And some universities are starting to respond to the threats that the Trump administration is putting on them, namely deporting students and cutting off funds. But Trump won an impressive victory a few months ago. But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the left is still deeply entrenched in almost all of the elite sectors in America and that they're not gonna go down quietly.
- [21:05]
Charlie Kirk
So, Dr. Asparad, in your online course for Hillsdale College, you talk about how there is almost a hierarchy to the beliefs, and you talk about how there is a quote from Nietzsche, of which there Every society has a central piety that essentially something you are not allowed to make fun of. Can you explain that to our audience? I thought that was a deeply profound point. And how is that at all instructive to the current political moment that we're in?
- [21:35]
David Azerrad
I mean, the current left worships victimhood. You know, you refer to them as Marxist. I think there's influences of Marx, but there has been a fundamental transformation. I mean, Marx doesn't worship victimized identity groups. It's all about class conflict. I mean, there is an influence there via the Frankfurt School, but we're dealing with a phenomenon that is different and new. I mean, at least since the 1960s. And there is a hierarchy of victims, there is a hierarchy of oppression. I mean, what defines these identity groups is how oppressed they claim to be and the extent to which their oppression is recognized by society. So at the top of the totem pole, obviously, are our fellow black citizens. That is the ultimate piety, you see. I mean, to the extent that it has penetrated the right to a large extent. I mean, the example I always like to give is, you know, if a conservative foundation is handing out grants to high school students on a purely meritocratic basis, and if they end up with no black kids, not because they discriminated, because it so happened that we judge people by the content of their character, almost always they feel bad. It weighs on the conscience. The right has partially bought into the framework that you need to have black people present to lend moral legitimacy to an institution. Now, obviously, the right doesn't go as far as the left and saying it should be at least 13%. There can never be too many. But that is the central party. I think the second one is women. I think the third one is, you know, the so called LGBTQ community. And then it gets a little bit hazy. I think Muslims come and go, but I think the central party in order are our fellow black citizens women. And then, you know, the LGBTQ rainbow coalition, which means you defer to them, you don't contradict them, you don't criticize them. You know who Ibram X Kendi is, right?
- [23:41]
Charlie Kirk
America's leading charlatan, Harry Rogers, or Henry Rogers, whatever his name is.
- [23:45]
David Azerrad
Yeah, yes, by his real name. Exactly. You know, in his interminable tedious book stamped from the the Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which I would not suggest you read is way too long. He does have a great line in there. He says repeatedly, there's nothing wrong with black people. And to which you might add, and there's nothing wrong with women, there's nothing wrong with lgbtq, there's nothing wrong with anyone who has the privilege of having their oppression be recognized. That's the key thing. And I should add that, you know, who gets to have their oppression recognized can change. So the Jews used to be part of, you know, the roster of the aggrieved because of the Holocaust, but now, because of Israel and the fact that Israel is viewed as a white Western colonial nation that is oppressing noble brown Muslims, Jews have lost the oppressed status and are being pushed in the evil white category. So These things have some flexibility, but ultimately the left decides.
- [24:44]
Charlie Kirk
So if you were to just give an analysis, do you think it's possible or likely that from a political standpoint, left wing Democrats will be able to, let's just say, put the more radical elements of their party in a corner and run to the middle? How entrenched are what we would call woke dei, critical race theory? Is it possible for moderation in this Democrat party?
- [25:16]
David Azerrad
I think if it happens is because we force them against their will to moderate, meaning we need to break the hard left to allow the timid, moderate, more moderate voices on the left and in the Democratic party to assert themselves because they defer to their left. The left flank of moderate liberals is weak. They're afraid of being called racist by people to their left. So it'll only come about if we succeed. One way to think about it is look at what Reagan did with the economy in the 80s and how he forced the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton to somewhat move to the right on economic questions. Right. The new way, the Democratic Leadership Council that got Bill Clinton elected. You only do that after you really triumph. So I think it won't come about by themselves. It will come about if we win in such a decisive way that we marginalize their radicals, therefore creating room for their moderates to speak out. And I don't see a way to do that outside of breaking the universities. You had some very kind words about Hillsdale College that I share entirely. But we both know that Hillsdale is in no way representative university in America. The universities are the nerve center of the regime. They are the madrasas of the left. If you look at the common denominator to the people running the media, Hollywood, the deep state, the judiciary, the nonprofit, the foundations, the arts, the Hollywood people who went to college. This is where you learn the creed. This is where you are made into a fanatic. This is where you learn the piedes. We need to break the universities. And there is a way to do that. We send them the money, either directly or we send the Pell grants that fund the students that go to these universities. And finally, God bless them, President Trump is starting to attach strings to the funds. But you gotta ask yourself, like, why have we not done this before? But so I would say there's gonna be no more moderation until we moderate the universities. And I do think it is doable.
- [27:31]
Charlie Kirk
I hope so. One of my concerns, President Trump is fighting hard. Why are red states still funding so many of these schools on the state level, for example, I'm going To Oklahoma State University. Next week, Riley Gaines with Turning Point USA is going to University of Oklahoma. Our students are getting assaulted in Norman, Oklahoma, on campus. University of Oklahoma. They have DEI departments. They have transgender stuff. Oklahoma is the reddest state in the country. Every county voted for Trump, and yet the taxpayers of Oklahoma are still funding the University of Oklahoma. Quickly, David, help me understand that. What's that all about?
- [28:08]
David Azerrad
I'd say it's a combination of factors. One is Americans have a lot of emotional ties to their universities in a way that people, people in other countries don't like. I grew up in Canada. We don't speak of an alma mater. We don't donate. I don't wear T shirts with the universities I went to. For Americans, it's a rite of passage. You know, I always tell my students in America, we make more college movies than any other country that I've ever heard of. It's, it's, you know, so true, defines part of who you are. And so these state legislators, right, they went there. They have the University of Oklahoma sweatshirts. They go to the games. If they're in Alabama, it's Roll Tide. I mean, that's the other dimension is that it's tied up with football and basketball.
- [28:51]
Charlie Kirk
The sports is a major, major problem, and I'm victim of it. I love college sports. I think it's amazing, it's entertaining. And yet when you're talking about defunding, we'll just take it for a second. In Mississippi. Well, they're like, well, Ole Miss is in the suite 16. Why would I defund the school? Hold on. The athletic department is completely different than the fact that they're teaching kids to hate white. Private student loan debt in the United states totals about $300 billion. About 45 billion of that is labeled as distressed. Why refinances distressed or defaulted private student loans that others refuse to touch. Why? Refi is not a debt settlement company, and they work with each borrower individually, tailoring each loan to each borrower's specific situation. You will not be calling a faceless call center. Yrefi can save thousands of dollars by refinancing and even lower your total cost. Go to yrefi.com you can even skip a payment every six months up to 12 times without penalty. Go to yrefy.com can you imagine being debt free and not living under this burden anymore? The first step is contacting yrefi. Go to yrefi.com that is yrefy.com if you have private student loan debt. If Your friend has private student loan debt. Refer them to Yrefi. They love America, so check it out. Why refi.com may not be available in all 50 states. Plug some of the work you're doing at Hillsdale. Enlighten our audience about the critical work Hillsdale College is doing.
- [30:28]
David Azerrad
So I teach in the D.C. campus, which is a little outpost in the swamp that we set up a few years ago. And we have undergrads who come from the main campus to do a semester with us. And then the main feature is we have a master's program where we teach the great books, we teach political theory, American political thought. But, you know, I basically describe it as saying we've got one foot in the academy and one foot in the real world. So we're going to read Aristotle. We'll read Rousseau, Marx, Nietzsche, but not just with the view to understanding the book, but to thinking about what light they shed on the current American predicament. Because at the end of the day, the mission is to revitalize the republic.
- [31:07]
Charlie Kirk
Look, we cannot just send kids to college to live in the clouds. You can't just look at abstractions. You must apply philosophy to life. That's why I love that you guys teach Aristotle. It is the essence of the thing that matters. Charlieforhillsdale.com Everyone should check it out. So, Dr. Azerad, I cut you off. Talk more about how some of these very deep red states, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, I just went University of Tennessee. I mean, same problem here, deep red states where we are financing the very institutions, the colleges, that are teaching our kids to hate themselves, hate their country, hate white people. President Trump can only do so much. In reality, the states hold far more power and authority than the federal government here.
- [31:55]
David Azerrad
So we talked about the one problem is the emotional, excessive, emotional attachment to these universities, the nostalgia for college. I mean, think of the movie Old school, right? Guys in their 40s who go back to college and it's like, life is wonderful. So there's that. It's exacerbated, as we mentioned, by the football and the basketball programs. Second, you have the fact, look who's serving in a state legislature. Good people. But, you know, it's going to be a dentist, a small business owner. They are intimidated by the professors. They are intimidated by the academics because they're like, well, you know, they've got big diplomas. I don't. They use fancy words. They've read more books. I mean, part of it is we should embolden state legislators to see that most academics are charlatans. I don't want to say all of them. And it's not evenly distributed. Usually the hard sciences are pretty good, but in the social sciences, in the humanities, it's a farce at this point. And whatever credentials or publications they have, you shouldn't be intimidated because you've got common sense on your side. And third, I would say, I mean, this is partially a failure of the conservative movement, because the job of the institutional right should be to equip state legislators with the strategies, the policies they need to deal serious blows to the universities. And the right has been complaining about universities ever since Bill Buckley wrote his first book, God and Man at Yale, I think, in 1950. And since then, what have we mostly done, right? Lecture series. You said you guys are going to speak. That's good. But that doesn't fundamentally alter things. We set up little centers. We tinker with the curriculum. We need bolder moves. And I think the think tanks, the red state think tanks, the conservative think tanks and the national ones need to develop a more aggressive higher ed reform agenda to help these state legislators do the right thing. Because, you know, the moment right now is different. The appetite is there. Trump, you know, one of my favorite line is from Pat Buchanan's memoirs, it's that courage is contagious. What Trump is doing is spreading, but people need to know how to go about it, how to navigate higher red reform. But it is absolutely doable. I think the state that has probably done the most is Florida under Governor DeSantis. But even there, you know, they still haven't shuttered, for example. Why is any red state having a sociology department at a public university? Tell me what good reason there could be to taxpayers to fund kids studying sociology today. If you want to study sociology, go to a private college. The taxpayer is a third red state. We're not funding that. No one has yet done that. Close down every Sociology department, every black studies department, every women's studies department, every, you know, critical legal theory. Go after them, close them, fire the tenured professors.
- [35:06]
Charlie Kirk
I mean, I'm enthusiastically in agreement. So for this to affirm what you're saying, University of Oklahoma. I'm not just picking on them because there's dozens like this. They have a whole Sociology department, a whole department that the taxpayers of. And by the way, the first thing you see at the sociology department is LGBTQ R&E Collective Practice Mini Conference. That's the first thing that you see.
- [35:30]
David Azerrad
Charlie, Charlie, you and I didn't coordinate this, right?
- [35:33]
Charlie Kirk
No, no, there's no coordination. I just typed it in. And this is at. Again, I wonder what press percentage of taxpayers in Oklahoma would love to work hard and pay their taxes to have an LGBTQ collective at the University of Oklahoma. Again, I'm not trying to just pick on them. There's multiple offenders. However, every county voted for Donald Trump in Oklahoma. That, as Jussie Smollett say, that is Maga country. So Dr. Azerat, again, there was no coordination here whatsoever. We could put this up on screen. Actually, again, this was completely spontaneous. Where at the University of Oklahoma they have. Here, please join us to support student researchers conducting LGBTQ related research at the first annual LGBTQ R and E Collective Mini practice conference. This is Oklahoma. At this in person conference, students will give practice, practice LGBTQ related research and conference style presentations. Again, this is all subsidized. To your point, Dr. Azerad, if you want to study that, just go to a private school. You have the capacity to go raise money and pay private tuition, but not at the expense of the taxpayer.
- [36:46]
David Azerrad
Yeah, it's a free country. We're not banning the study of anything. We're not banning books. We're asking the question, what bang are we getting for our buck? Why are we subsidizing this? You know, one way to do it is you gotta humiliate these charlatans. I mean, one thing I would do is testimonies. Bring them out, find the state legislators who are the most verbally nimble and the sharpest, prep them well, and then make a mockery of these fools. I mean, these people are so insulated from reality. I mean, Charlie, do you realize how thick their bubbles are in terms of when's the last time they were challenged and questioned? The whole academy is surrounded by such fools. Their conferences, the journals they read, conservative students they rarely encounter. And if they do, they're afraid to speak in class. They don't have colleagues challenging them. Trot them out and call them out. Like what was done yesterday to the head of npr. Right. Bring out these people, mock them, humiliate them. The power of humiliation can never be understated. And you know, again, this is something that Trump has been doing exceedingly well as a president. Perfectly legal. It's perfectly constitutional. You mock, you reveal that the emperor has no clothes and that builds further support. You then publicize the best excerpts on Twitter, on cable news, and that creates the appetite to defund the departments.
- [38:14]
Charlie Kirk
I think that's exactly right. I wanna just close with this that we need. What you're talking about is using the MAGA movement to go after some of the institutions that are creating the infantry of the radical left, albeit the chief offender is higher education.
- [38:36]
David Azerrad
Yeah, because look, you know the line, right? Live by the pen, die by the pen. You can issue all the executive orders you want. They're wonderful. I'm not trying to downplay the importance of that, but at the end of the day, all of this can be undone by your successor if he happens to be a Democrat. We need to burn some real political capital to fundamentally alter the rules of the game. I mean, I think the Republicans should be willing to lose Congress, the House and the midterms, and Iran through one or two big transformational bills. I mean, think of what Obama did with Obamacare. I would probably suggest higher ed reform. There might be other contenders. We need to think it through. But something has to go through Congress and a lot can happen at the state level right now independently of what's happening in Congress. And we should be willing in this regard to be like Democrats. Burn political capital to ram something through that can't really be undone.
- [39:37]
Charlie Kirk
I think that is so well said. Wish we had more time. Dr. Azrad, thank you. Everyone should check out charlieforhillsdale.com thanks so much. Hope to see you soon.
- [39:45]
David Azerrad
Thank you, Charlie.
- [39:46]
Charlie Kirk
Thanks so much for listening, everybody. Email us. As always, freedom. Charliekirk.com thanks so much for listening and God bless.
- [39:52]
David Azerrad
For more on many of these stories and news you can Trust, go to charliekirk.com.