They're Back! Charlie's "Prove Me Wrong" Table Returns

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Charlie Kirk Show – "They're Back! Charlie's 'Prove Me Wrong' Table Returns"

Release Date: March 11, 2025

In this compelling episode of "The Charlie Kirk Show," host Charlie Kirk reunites with his "Prove Me Wrong" table, a forum designed to engage in vigorous debates on pressing educational and political issues. The episode delves deep into the contentious topics of affirmative action, the role of the Department of Education, school choice, and the broader implications of government policies on education and economic equity. Through spirited discussions and exchanges between supporters and critics, Kirk provides his signature unapologetically conservative perspective, aiming to clarify and defend his viewpoints amidst a sea of chaos.

1. Introduction and Setting the Stage

The episode kicks off with Charlie Kirk introducing the setting of the discussion—University of South Florida campus—and briefly mentioning the participants involved, including teachers, former Senate candidates, and students. Kirk emphasizes his mission to provide clarity on the nation’s most significant issues from a freedom-loving conservative standpoint.

Notable Quote:

• Charlie Kirk [00:00]: "Buckle up, everybody. Here we go."

2. Affirmative Action and Its Impacts

A significant portion of the episode centers on the debate over affirmative action and its purported effects on both white and minority students in educational institutions. An anonymous student challenges Kirk’s stance by labeling affirmative action as detrimental, questioning whether policies intended to promote equality have inadvertently created barriers for white students.

Key Points:

• Critique of Affirmative Action: The anonymous student argues that affirmative action has made it more challenging for white students to gain admission to colleges, citing higher test score requirements and lowered standards for minority students.

• Conservative Counterargument: The conservative commentator defends Kirk’s position, asserting that affirmative action leads to a redistribution of opportunities based on skin color, which he deems inherently racist and divisive.

Notable Quotes:

• Anonymous Student [01:27]: "I believe you said that the Civil Rights act was bad and that we shouldn't have that."

• Conservative Commentator [03:08]: "It allowed the Department of Justice to go after people that have different skin color, AKA white people, and prevent them from getting jobs in college admissions."

• Anonymous Student [03:10]: "I think perhaps you're familiar with the term equity, right, where different people have different circumstances."

• Conservative Commentator [07:41]: "Isn't it racist then to penalize white people to come into college or to get jobs based on the color of their skin?"

3. The Role and Efficacy of the Department of Education

The discussion transitions to a critical examination of the U.S. Department of Education, with the conservative commentator arguing for its dissolution. He claims that the department has led to declining educational standards and increased bureaucracy, contributing to poor performance in reading and math across public schools.

Key Points:

• Department of Education's Failure: The commentator asserts that since the Department of Education's inception, the U.S. has plummeted to 26th in educational outcomes, spending $250 billion annually without yielding tangible improvements.

• Call for Decentralization: Emphasizing localized control, the commentator advocates for empowering parents and states to manage education without federal intervention, promoting competition and choice.

Notable Quotes:

• Conservative Commentator [20:17]: "We are now 26 in education. We were top five when it started. We're the lowest in reading, math, arithmetic in the Western world."

• Conservative Commentator [26:31]: "Let me go back to the more important thing... we're a nation in debt. We know we're $35 trillion in debt."

4. School Choice and Education Funding

The conversation further explores the controversies surrounding school choice programs, particularly focusing on Florida's bill that allocates $7,000 for school choice. The anonymous student criticizes the allocation, arguing that a significant portion benefits affluent families, thereby diverting funds from public education to those who can already afford private schooling.

Key Points:

• Allocation Criticism: The student contends that 75% of the $7,000 per family goes to those already capable of affording private education, which undermines the public education system by siphoning necessary funds.

• Conservative Rebuttal: The commentator disputes this, highlighting the broader economic implications and advocating for reduced federal spending to empower individual choice and parental control.

Notable Quotes:

• Anonymous Student [22:41]: "I'm not against school choice... 75% of the money is going to families that can already afford education."

• Conservative Commentator [24:16]: "You're saying 75% of the money going from the public education system into the private system is going to those who can already afford private education."

5. Government Efficiency and Fiscal Responsibility

A robust debate ensues regarding government efficiency, fiscal responsibility, and the elimination of what the commentator describes as "bloated" government agencies. The discussion critiques current federal expenditures, highlighting perceived waste and advocating for significant cuts to balance the national budget.

Key Points:

• Fiscal Conservatism: The commentator emphasizes the need to cut unnecessary spending, citing examples like empty government buildings and discretionary programs that do not contribute effectively to societal welfare.

• Defending Spending Cuts: Supporters argue that reducing federal expenditures on such programs would contribute to closing the $35 trillion national debt, promoting economic stability and efficiency.

Notable Quotes:

• Conservative Commentator [30:25]: "We got $35 trillion in debt... This is the first time in my lifetime we have an administration going after the waste, going after the size of government to balance the budget."

• Conservative Commentator [32:54]: "If we find waste, you're gonna have to over-justify why this exists in the first place."

6. Conclusion and Final Remarks

As the debate intensifies, Charlie Kirk interjects with promotional segments for sponsors like Noble Gold Investments and Balance of Nature, ensuring that the core contentions between the conservative commentators and their critics remain central. The episode culminates with Kirk reiterating his commitment to advocating for educational freedom and fiscal conservatism, urging listeners to take action and support the movement.

Notable Quotes:

• Charlie Kirk [26:12]: "Education freedom legislation puts parents, not zip codes and politicians in charge of these important family decisions."

• Conservative Commentator [36:17]: "We've taken back the government... We're going to go piece by piece, department by department."

7. Post-Debate Reflections

The episode concludes with closing remarks from Charlie Kirk, encouraging audience engagement through email and membership, and reiterating his mission to provide trusted news and informed discussions.

Notable Quote:

• Charlie Kirk [37:08]: "Thanks so much for listening and God bless."

Key Takeaways

• Affirmative Action Debate: The episode presents a stark contrast between supporters who view affirmative action as a tool for equity and critics who argue it perpetuates racial divisions and disadvantages white individuals.

• Department of Education: The conservative perspective vehemently opposes the Department of Education, attributing the decline in educational standards to its policies and advocating for its dissolution in favor of localized control.

• School Choice Controversy: School choice programs are scrutinized for their financial allocations, with debates focusing on their actual beneficiaries and impact on public education funding.

• Fiscal Conservatism: Emphasis is placed on reducing federal spending, eliminating wasteful programs, and addressing the national debt through stringent fiscal policies.

• Advocacy for Educational Freedom: Throughout the episode, Kirk underscores the importance of parental control over education and the need to dismantle bureaucratic barriers to foster a more efficient and merit-based educational system.

This episode of "The Charlie Kirk Show" offers an unfiltered glimpse into the ongoing cultural and political wars surrounding education and government policy in America. Through passionate debates and pointed critiques, Kirk and his panel seek to challenge prevailing narratives and advocate for a conservative vision of freedom, meritocracy, and fiscal responsibility.

Transcript

[Charlie Kirk]

Hey, everybody, it is me on campus. You'll enjoy these conversations. I know it. At the University of South Florida, I talked to a teacher that is educating our kids, someone who ran for Senate. We talk about Doge and more. As always, you can email us freedom charliekirk.com and become a member today. Members.charliekirk.com that is members.charliekirk. com Email me. As always, freedom charliekirk.com Buckle up, everybody. Here we go.

[Supporter]

Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

[Anonymous Student]

Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

[Supporter]

I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

I want to thank Charlie. He's an incredible guy. His spirit, his love of this country. He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point usa.

[Conservative Commentator]

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.

[Charlie Kirk]

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[Conservative Commentator]

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[Charlie Kirk]

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[Anonymous Student]

Hello. Oh.

[Conservative Commentator]

Be respectful, guys. He can do what he wants.

[Anonymous Student]

Oh, can I start now? Oh, nice to meet you, Charlie. I'm a big fan. I think you're a very beautiful man. I admire you physically, but. No. No homo. No homo. No homo. I did have a question. Something I don't find very interesting about you, something I find kind of repulsive, is that I believe you said that the Civil Rights act was bad and that we shouldn't have that.

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay, well, thank you.

[Anonymous Student]

I appreciate that. I don't like you as much as Charlie, though.

[Conservative Commentator]

First of all, what's your name?

[Anonymous Student]

Oh. Oh, sorry. I don't want to be, like, filmed and stuff. I'm Anonymous, number one anonymous guy.

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay. Well, hello. Nice to meet you, Anonymous.

[Anonymous Student]

Thank you. Thank you. Nice to meet you, too.

[Conservative Commentator]

Yeah, I believe in part of the essence of the Civil Rights act went way too far, way too wide.

[Anonymous Student]

Oh, how they go too far.

[Conservative Commentator]

Well, for example, it created an entire civil rights leviathan that gave us affirmative action.

[Anonymous Student]

Civil rights leviathan. What do you mean?

[Conservative Commentator]

Yes, if you can let me finish three words in.

[Anonymous Student]

Sorry.

[Conservative Commentator]

It allowed the Department of Justice to go after people that have different skin Color, AKA white people, and prevent them from getting jobs in college admissions.

[Anonymous Student]

You have a job.

[Conservative Commentator]

I'm sorry?

[Anonymous Student]

You have a job.

[Conservative Commentator]

No, you're right. I do. Right. But just until Trump came around. Until these Supreme Court decisions. Thanks to the Civil Rights act, if you have white skin color, it's much harder to get into a college than if someone has black skin color. Much harder. You have to get higher test scores. It's a much harder pool, largely thanks to the precedent set by the Civil Rights act, not to mention all the trans stuff that we're seeing. We're seeing men be able to win trophies and medals from women across the country, and they use the Civil Rights act to justify it.

[Anonymous Student]

Okay, I think I see where you're coming from. So you think that it's harder for white people because black people, they have. They could have lower tech scores. I get.

[Conservative Commentator]

It's not what I think.

[Anonymous Student]

It's the fact that's what you're saying. Okay. All right.

[Conservative Commentator]

Well.

[Anonymous Student]

Well, I guess what I would say, too, I think perhaps you're familiar with the term equity, right, where different people have different circumstances.

[Conservative Commentator]

I reject.

[Anonymous Student]

Whether you reject it or not, I think it's a prescient concept in this argument, because what you have to understand is that when you, for example, you're born in, like, a black neighbor. You're born, like O block or something, like a very, very. Like, you don't know what OBLOC is. Oh, well, if you're. If you're. If you're born there, if you're born in a very poor area like that, with, like, very low economic activity, very, very poor schools are very low ratings where the average test score is much lower. When you're in that environment, you have the whole system up against you. Right. So it. So when you say in that kind of circumstance, when you're facing the whole, I guess, leviathan of systemic racism, would you say that. Sorry, let me just finish. When you say it's fair to, for example, lower the standard because knowing that their circumstances were like that, perhaps based on what they had, was presented to them, they had the correct amount of merit to get into a school.

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay, so are you a student here? I'm guessing you are.

[Anonymous Student]

Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm a student here.

[Conservative Commentator]

Are you a pretty good student?

[Anonymous Student]

Oh, yeah, I would say I'm a good student. I have a pretty high gpa.

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay. Can you give your GPA to her because she's a woman of color, please?

[Anonymous Student]

Oh, well, you want me to give.

[Conservative Commentator]

You a. I mean, I can Would you be willing to do that?

[Anonymous Student]

Sure, yeah.

[Conservative Commentator]

You record that?

[Anonymous Student]

Yeah, I'm fine. Wait, give. What you mean?

[Conservative Commentator]

I want you tell her or like. No, by force.

[Anonymous Student]

So we're swapping.

[Conservative Commentator]

Let me tell what I'm going to do by force, white man. Okay, I'm going to take your gpa, I'm going to give it to a woman of color.

[Anonymous Student]

Okay.

[Conservative Commentator]

You're cool with that?

[Anonymous Student]

I mean, yeah, I can just work back up like.

[Conservative Commentator]

No, there's no working back up.

[Anonymous Student]

I can pull myself up my boots.

[Conservative Commentator]

No, there's no working back up.

[Anonymous Student]

I mean, you can't work back up. That's the whole point of conservatism.

[Conservative Commentator]

I'm going to keep on taking it from you because that's equity. And you're cool with that?

[Anonymous Student]

What?

[Conservative Commentator]

But that's not just equity in practice.

[Anonymous Student]

Equity isn't taken. Equity is giving. Applying the equal standard.

[Conservative Commentator]

If you give, how do you get. You must take.

[Anonymous Student]

Wait, what do you mean?

[Conservative Commentator]

That which is given must first be taken.

[Anonymous Student]

Well, what's being taken?

[Conservative Commentator]

Well, in this case, grades. From you to grades to her.

[Anonymous Student]

That's. No one's taking my grades, though. That's not what. That's not what. Affirmative.

[Conservative Commentator]

Hold on.

[Anonymous Student]

Someone takes your grades.

[Conservative Commentator]

Hold on a second. If you only have so many. You only have so many positions at University of South Florida to come in, right? There's. There's a. There's a. There's a set number. Let's say it's 20,000 people, okay. And we're going to say we're going to lower the test standards so that somebody that's a woman of color can come in. And therefore, it's harder for you. So it's a higher bar for you, lower bar for them. Definitionally, that's a redistribution of test scores to somebody else, just by the definition. And you're okay with that?

[Anonymous Student]

Well, I guess I would ask then if we were to do what you're doing. I guess that's what happened under Trump, right?

[Conservative Commentator]

Well, no, it's actually been happening the last 40 years.

[Anonymous Student]

Okay. Actually, yeah, whatever. Okay, so when you say that, if you do that, then, well, black people aren't gonna get into school and then they won't be able to uplift themselves. They won't be to have prosperous families, don't be able to, you know, equalize the economic status because you need to give them a little jump start, you know, you have a car, right?

[Conservative Commentator]

How is that? How is that? Oh, no, now I know you are.

[Anonymous Student]

No, no, no, no, no. It's Good.

[Conservative Commentator]

But no.

[Charlie Kirk]

How has that worked?

[Conservative Commentator]

The last 40 years, we've had robust affirmative action. We've had hiring practices. Has it made black America more successful?

[Anonymous Student]

I can answer that easily. It's because. Oh, sorry. It's because. Sorry. What am I. What am I going for?

[Conservative Commentator]

I don't know.

[Anonymous Student]

You're a funny guy. So what happened is even after the Civil Rights act, you understand. You know what I believe? I believe the term is massive resistance. It was a movement in. After the broad versus Board of Education in Virginia, where essentially the legislature, which was still white supremacist, which is still extremely racist, they decided that, no, we're going to do everything that feasibly possible within our means to stop black people from going to white schools. You even see this? In was. I believe it was the Little Rock Nine, Right. Even after it was legalized at the state level, white supremacist mobs still mobilized to prevent it. So even if it, de facto, it's gone de jure, it still exists.

[Conservative Commentator]

Let me ask you a very simple question. Yeah. A term you keep on throwing around.

[Anonymous Student]

Got you.

[Conservative Commentator]

What is racism?

[Anonymous Student]

What is racism? That's a very complicated question, but no, it's not. I mean, there's a simple answer and then there's the highly theoretical answer.

[Conservative Commentator]

Give me the simple.

[Anonymous Student]

The simple answer will essentially be because. Because we have, like, different skin colors, that he's treated a different way than me. He has, like, a different upbringing than me.

[Conservative Commentator]

No, no, no. But what is racism different in practice?

[Anonymous Student]

Oh, it's discrimination based on the color. Based on the color. The skin.

[Conservative Commentator]

Yeah, got it. Thank you. So isn't it racist then to then penalize white people to come into college or to get jobs based on the color of their skin? Wouldn't that be racist? So you're arguing for a very racist policy, which is that we should actively discriminate against people based on the color of their skin, which is affirmative action in dei.

[Anonymous Student]

In practice, I just don't. I disagree with the premise that you can do, like, anti white racism. Because. Because.

[Conservative Commentator]

Wait, can you be racist against white people?

[Anonymous Student]

No, bro. I'm a cracker, bro.

[Critic]

What?

[Anonymous Student]

No, you can't be racist, bro. There's so many crackers here, bro. There's your clip, bro. There's your clip. Well, what you gonna. You're gonna do political violence to me, bro? Like, why are you saying that to me? You're making me scared.

[Conservative Commentator]

So let me tell you what we believe because you tell us what you believe. Your worldview is indistinguishable from the kkk that you want. That you want to organize the world based on skin color. We want to organize the world based on merit and character, based on how hard you work, what you bring to the table. I believe it's destructive and wrong to say that people are going to be organized or have their future set based on the color of their skin. I think it's tribalistic, I think it is divisive and I think it hurts the excellence of a country. You asked a question. Well, how are we going to help other communities? You know how you help other communities? Stop pandering to them and start treating them like individuals made in the image of God, not tribes to be organized for political purposes.

[Charlie Kirk]

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[Anonymous Student]

Okay, so do you think, like when Trump is a now nice president now that racism is gone, now because Trump is back, we're no longer pandering? Right. Do you think that the conditions of black people have like. Do you think O Block is going to become like a much nicer place? Do you think that, do you think that these are very downturned sort of black neighborhoods that have been sort of left behind? Do you think they're going to become revitalized now? Is that what you think is going to happen?

[Conservative Commentator]

Yeah, they'll do better for sure.

[Anonymous Student]

You think they do better now we've stopped helping them? They're going to do better.

[Conservative Commentator]

Well, see, that's an interesting thing because.

[Anonymous Student]

That Seems like contradictory to me. Just basic logic.

[Conservative Commentator]

Well, it's actually black Americans under Donald Trump in the first term saw the greatest economic renaissance that they saw since the 1950s. You don't think is lowest unemployment, revitalization, amazing investment in their communities, opportunity zones.

[Anonymous Student]

I mean, that's when we had affirmative action. That'd be bad.

[Conservative Commentator]

Well, again, we actually got rid of affirmative action.

[Anonymous Student]

Now, I was talking about before.

[Conservative Commentator]

Those are unrelated things though. Just.

[Anonymous Student]

They don't seem unrelated to me. Well, affirmative action addressing racism.

[Conservative Commentator]

Affirmative action is. Again, so.

[Anonymous Student]

I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you.

[Conservative Commentator]

No, you are. That's okay.

[Anonymous Student]

I'm sorry.

[Conservative Commentator]

Affirmative action is largely federal government hiring practices and the adjacent institutions. I think that all communities will do even better when we stop living under the soft bigotry of low expectations. Inherent in your argument is that we have to pander to certain communities based on the color their skin because they can't do as well as white people. I reject the premise. I think that we should try to say I don't care about the color your skin, I care about what you bring to the table. And stop pandering to people based on special criteria points and acceptance to college, saying that we're going to make it easier for one group and harder for another group.

[Anonymous Student]

I don't think it's pandering though. I think it's understanding.

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay, but understanding.

[Anonymous Student]

Do you think that circumstances working based on that?

[Conservative Commentator]

Do you think that we should have black only dormitories in America?

[Anonymous Student]

No, why would I want that?

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay, well, there's hundreds of schools that have those actually.

[Anonymous Student]

Black only. Like they're not. Like people are not allowed.

[Conservative Commentator]

No, white people are not allowed.

[Anonymous Student]

White people. Yeah, that's why I said white people are not allowed.

[Conservative Commentator]

Correct. We have black only graduation ceremonies across the country.

[Anonymous Student]

Well, those are from. Well, I believe those are Most likely like HBCUs, right?

[Conservative Commentator]

No, like the University of Michigan has one. Harvard has one. So we're agreeing that that is wrong. That is the furthest extension of hyper race obsession. So you have to. You can, you could choose one or the other. You can be race obsessed or merit obsessed. We as conservatives decide to be merit obsessed to build a country based on how hard you work and what you're able to deliver.

[Anonymous Student]

Okay, well, so wait here. Just. I was.

[Conservative Commentator]

Final point.

[Anonymous Student]

Yeah, final point, sure. Okay. This thing's a little close. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend your wonderful setup here. Yeah. So I guess I'll just restate my point that I don't believe you mentioned like all black dormitories. Right. I mean, I don't really comment on that. I mean, I don't know if that's real. To me that sounds fake, but I'll give you the benefit of doubt here.

[Conservative Commentator]

It's very real.

[Anonymous Student]

Okay. But I, I just think it's very irrelevant, kind of like aesthetic focus thing. It doesn't really affect the material conditions of like black.

[Conservative Commentator]

If you heard there were white only dormitories, there'd be marching in the streets. Right?

[Anonymous Student]

Oh, well, because. Okay, I can. The difference is like for example, if you want to go back to segregation, the all white dormitory was nice as an all black one was. So if that's the. If that's. If that was brought back.

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay.

[Anonymous Student]

If we were to do an all white dormitory and all white dogs.

[Conservative Commentator]

I'm not recommending. I think actually segregation is wrong and evil and we're heading until Donald Trump. We were heading in that direction until.

[Anonymous Student]

But like. Okay, I'll go back because I did I let slip by. But you mentioned that like in the early years of the Donald Trump presidency. Right. That the conditions with employment and stuff were going up for black people. What I would say is the economy works slow, works like a time dilation for policies initially enacted. So what I would, I would probably assume, based on what you said to me, is that it was the Obama era policies that actually led to that and not the Trump policies. Because stuff like tax cuts doesn't really help.

[Conservative Commentator]

In a year from now, we're gonna have the greatest economy ever. They're gonna say it's all Biden. It's all Biden.

[Anonymous Student]

Well, I mean, if we. I don't think that's gonna happen. I personally, I think the economy is going to. With what all Elon Musk is doing. But if that, if that was to happen, I mean, I guess my whole.

[Conservative Commentator]

Worldview, but I'm pretty certain about what about Elon. What Elon's doing bothers you? Do you, do you not want to see the government efficient?

[Anonymous Student]

The government is efficient. He's just firing everybody. Looks like he did to Twitter. But y'all see what happened? The Twitter brat's braces as now he's at the Nazi haven. It went from like a pretty, pretty accepting place to like what, like where like the average blue check mark is saying hail Hitler. Like Elon Musk himself has replied to like, well, he did the Nazi salute. Like, we're not going to forget about that, are we?

[Conservative Commentator]

No, he did.

[Anonymous Student]

What do you mean? Yeah, y'all y'all didn't see that clip, right? Y'all see when he did that?

[Conservative Commentator]

All right.

[Anonymous Student]

Oh, okay.

[Conservative Commentator]

Thank you. And by the way, I just want to thank you for something.

[Anonymous Student]

You're welcome.

[Conservative Commentator]

Well, I want to thank you.

[Anonymous Student]

Do I get. Do I get a portion of, like, the TikTok revenue you're going to get from this?

[Conservative Commentator]

I. I want to thank you. I want to thank you for something. Oh, yeah, you. You are a perfect reminder why we won in November. So thank you for that. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Yes.

[Anonymous Student]

Hi.

[Conservative Commentator]

We got. We got 15 minutes. Let's stick with disagreements, guys. Yes, ma'am.

[Student]

Hi. I'm starting my senior thesis this semester on political polarization and the effects social media and echo chambers has on talk.

[Conservative Commentator]

Right in the mic. And guys, please give her a chance to speak. Okay. Bring your mic down a little bit.

[Student]

Hi. So I'm starting my senior thesis this year on political polarization and the effect social media and echo chambers has on it. So my question is, how would you describe the relationship between social media and political polarization, especially now that Elon Musk owns X and has advocated for freedom of speech?

[Conservative Commentator]

Yeah, I mean, I think that more speech is always better. Again, I'm just going to sound, you know, somewhat polarizing, but I don't think it's the right that's polarized in the country. And I'll prove it to you. Donald Trump has two people in his cabinet that ran for president as Democrats, Tulsi Gabbard and Bobby Kennedy. It's the Republican Party that is the unity party, welcoming more people in. We're the ones that go to these campuses and have an uninterrupted mic for two hours. I mean, do liberals come to campus.

[Charlie Kirk]

And have an open mic for two hours?

[Conservative Commentator]

We can say, really? That's interesting. You're. You're. They say, no. Well, thank you. And so we are the party of free speech. They're the party that's not. And look, we welcome all ideas and we agree to disagree. And, yeah, look, we are becoming more pol. I think we're getting less polarized because we won in November. Thankfully, there's all this clamoring minority of people that are angry because USAID doesn't exist, but the majority of people support President Trump. What he's doing, he won the popular vote. There's this huge mandate. We're going to. We're going to restore what it means to be an American citizen. And I just love what Doge is doing. It's going in and it's questioning every little element of waste of taxpayer money that you guys worked so hard to send money to D.C. so that's my answer.

[Charlie Kirk]

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[Conservative Commentator]

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[Charlie Kirk]

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[Conservative Commentator]

Yes, my vaccine friend. How are you?

[Supporter]

He remember you? Yeah.

[Conservative Commentator]

Sorry.

[Supporter]

All right, Charlie. So I ran for, I ran for state Senate because our government doesn't work well. There's a lot of waste, there's a lot of bloat. And yet the things that you're advocating about going against are what, help people. Everybody here is, everybody's here because they support freedom. Because, as you say, we want a freer market, we want a freer place. And yet these policies, like destroying the Department of Education, which I'm a teacher for, hurts our ability to take power in the marketplace. It just adds to the few rich people owning all of us right now In America, the top.01% have an average $600 million of wealth. The bottom half have an average $7,000. And by destroying the Department of Education, the center for Budget, the Consumer protection bureau that is actively helping those rich people take all of our money. Prove me wrong.

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay, so Trump's been president for six weeks.

[Supporter]

Sure.

[Conservative Commentator]

Right. So we had an oligarchy as Donald Trump was becoming president.

[Supporter]

Yes.

[Conservative Commentator]

We had all these agencies. How did they prevent the oligarchy?

[Supporter]

They didn't know. We have a bad oligarchy. But Trump is increasing our oligarchy. He had Jeff Bezos, he had Tim Cook. He had the richest people on earth who have more money than the bottom half of the country combined sitting right behind him. And Elon Musk is helping those regulations.

[Conservative Commentator]

Get destroyed so they can take inauguration as an attendee.

[Supporter]

But let's go through one donated to it.

[Conservative Commentator]

So let's go one by one.

[Supporter]

Sure.

[Conservative Commentator]

Let's first go the department Education. So the Department Education, which I'm guessing you're in favor of like $47 million going to improving learning outcomes in Asia.

[Supporter]

Yeah, because helping other. Whoa. Helping other people. Excuse me. Helping other people helps us. I'm a teacher. When other people don't match our economy, when they can't participate in it, everybody's hurt by that.

[Conservative Commentator]

So I do have a question though. We're not even helping ourselves. Why should we help other countries? Right.

[Supporter]

We should help our. You're right. We should help ourselves more.

[Conservative Commentator]

Question is the Department of Education.

[Supporter]

The question is health care.

[Conservative Commentator]

Let me. Let me finish. How does one help oneself?

[Charlie Kirk]

Have.

[Conservative Commentator]

Have educational outcomes gotten better or worse since the creation of the Department Education?

[Supporter]

The bloated Department of Education. You are right. We're spending way too much money on administration. That money needs to be good at funding school meals. That needs to be reducing class sizes.

[Conservative Commentator]

Sound like a DOGE advocate, man.

[Supporter]

No, because DOGE is not doing that. By destroying the Department of Education, they're not funding Title 1 classrooms. If we funded Title I classrooms with the money that we promised, every single classroom would get a paraprofessional, which would help my students immensely.

[Conservative Commentator]

So they are failing.

[Supporter]

And as you're saying before that Florida is the most equitable state. It's not. The richest students get 2000 more dollars to their schools every year than the fourth quartile of students.

[Conservative Commentator]

I am curious though, that the Department Education. We've seen standards go down. They want to send it back to the states definition. By definition, we have the Department of Education. 11 million people are teach. Are in education like yourself. 11 million of them. 6.7 million are administrators. 6.7 million are administrators. Can we agree we should fire most of the administrators?

[Supporter]

It would. Look, I can't say that because I don't know what those administrators do. I think we have way too much. You're a teacher.

[Conservative Commentator]

I got to. Are you a teacher?

[Supporter]

Yeah.

[Conservative Commentator]

What are the administrators in your school?

[Supporter]

Do they help us out a lot? I mean, do you think I could manage my classroom if I absolutely are wrong? No, I could not manage my classroom. But unless I had an administration helping me out.

[Conservative Commentator]

You need five administrators or one teacher. That's the ratio.

[Supporter]

That's bad. You're right. That's bad.

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay. But that's the current ratio. So five to one. But secondly, let me ask you. This is very important.

[Supporter]

You're reduced by destroying the Department of Education. Not the answer. Because then you hurt the American economy by not allowing people to build up human capital.

[Conservative Commentator]

Time out. We already have the evidence from the advent of Department of Education. We are now 26 in education. We were top five when it started. We're the lowest in reading, math, arithmetic in the Western world. Department of Education has made our standards substandard and we spend $250 billion a year on the Department of Education. And yet our kids can't. We can't find a single kid that can read at grade level in a Baltimore public school or that can do math in a Chicago public school, yet we keep on spending billions of dollars on it. So maybe the solution is crush the current system, send the money back to the states, empower families and parents, moms and dads to spend the money as they see fit. More choice, more competition, and make it localized, not federalized.

[Supporter]

So here's the problem. The state of Florida introduced a bill. My opponent introduced the bill to provide $7,000 for school choice in Florida. That's government waste. Most of that. A lot of that money is going to Disney to cruises. That's increased waste. It's also every dollar is taken out of the Florida public education system given to private families. 75% of that is going to families.

[Conservative Commentator]

You're against school choice?

[Supporter]

75%. I'm not against school choice. On. We fund education properly, but 75% of the money is going to families that can already afford education, which means my students are getting $3 billion taken out of their education to go directly to the richest Florida.

[Conservative Commentator]

I just want to make sure I understand. So you're against the money going to homeschooling? Like, what do you mean by this Disney thing? You're talking way too fast.

[Supporter]

Like, so we need money going to where it's needed to school me.

[Conservative Commentator]

What is your Critique? You're saying $3 billion going to what? I'm not.

[Supporter]

So $3 billion is being taken out of the public education system and going directly to the people can already afford a private education.

[Conservative Commentator]

For what reason?

[Supporter]

To help people get their private education. The problem is there also weren't restrictions on that to limit what the private.

[Conservative Commentator]

You're totally wrong. I got. You're saying. Well, you're saying, though. Well, it's because.

[Supporter]

Show me the facts.

[Conservative Commentator]

It's their taxpayer dollars that are coming back as a refund. Right?

[Supporter]

It's Also the public taxpayer dollars, public money. And they were given back to private individuals having go to the public system. It's there people stealing our taxes.

[Conservative Commentator]

Hold on. It's easy to say like the rich people.

[Supporter]

Yeah, the. The 75% of the money define rich.

[Conservative Commentator]

By the way, how much money a.

[Supporter]

Year is for a private education which is anywhere from 15,000 to $40,000 a year. You are rich. And 75% the money going to the private and wait. And 75% of the money go. Half of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. If you can afford $40,000, you're richer than most people now. So 75%. 75% of the money that is going from the public education system into the private system is going to those can already afford private education.

[Conservative Commentator]

What is the number one predictor of student success?

[Supporter]

How many years a teacher has been an educator?

[Conservative Commentator]

Yeah, actually the quality of this teacher. So do you. Can we agree at least because we'll not agree on everything that we should be able to fire teachers at will?

[Supporter]

At will is. What do you mean at will for what?

[Conservative Commentator]

Cause if you're a bad teacher.

[Supporter]

What do you mean by a bad teacher?

[Conservative Commentator]

I mean you're.

[Supporter]

What do you mean by bad teacher?

[Conservative Commentator]

Yeah, someone who doesn't listen to their students, doesn't have that is not good at what they do. Graded by other teachers.

[Supporter]

Cause. Not at will. Yes, we should fire teachers for cause.

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay, but I think that. Do we have too many teachers or not enough teachers?

[Supporter]

We have. In Hillsborough county alone we're missing 12, 1200.

[Conservative Commentator]

I reject the premise across state. We need a better.

[Supporter]

We need better 50,000 students without an educator. You asked me a question. Let me finish.

[Conservative Commentator]

We need. We need better, higher paid teachers.

[Supporter]

Yes, absolutely. And Florida has the 48th lowest average.

[Conservative Commentator]

Why do you think that is?

[Supporter]

Because we have a Republican controlled state for the past 30 years that are increasingly taking away money for teachers.

[Conservative Commentator]

Hold on. If I'm not mistaken, Florida is in the top five. Not the number one on educational outcomes for students. Right.

[Supporter]

On them passing. Not actual outcomes on them passing.

[Conservative Commentator]

So that's number one in the country I think though. Right. And it was like number 30 or 40 back before school choice was. So I'm just curious at your complaint here. But it's fine. Let's just kind of go back to the thing we'll go to. Next question. Department education. Why should the federal government have any role in education?

[Supporter]

Because that spending that money on helping people helps the entire economy.

[Conservative Commentator]

That's not where the money's going to finish.

[Supporter]

Helping people helps the entire economy.

[Charlie Kirk]

How does that work when you let.

[Supporter]

People fall through the cracks? It destroys our economy. It's more expensive when you take away the Consumer Protections Bureau. That helps $16 billion of scams go back to the American people. That helps our economy because then they can take place in the marketplace. What you're advocating for is reduce the things that push people into the marketplace to increase the barriers and to destroy the freedom of our marketplace.

[Conservative Commentator]

Again, you have not answered the question. Let's just reiterate it. Department education. That answer got started in 1979. The same sort of nice sounding stuff we started to do over the last 35, 40 years. And we have the lowest standards ever had. We have childhood poverty all over the place. We have broken public schools because spending money from D.C. does not solve the problem. Empowering parents does. So parental agency is the solution, not more. Not bureaucratic empowerment.

[Supporter]

Spending money on spending the.

[Conservative Commentator]

Got to get to the next one.

[Supporter]

One second. The federal government spending money based solely on tests hurts people because then we don't get the money going to critical thinking which your misinformation machine succeeds on.

[Charlie Kirk]

Hey everybody, Charlie Kirk here. There's a lot of excitement in Washington D.C. as we start the year. But I wanted to talk to you about something just as exciting happening outside the D.C. beltway. A revolution in the States. It's the education freedom movement. It's real. It's growing and growing because some states, as they should, are putting parents in charge of the education of their kids. Everyone knows education has the power to change a kid's life. And anyone who raised a child knows each has different needs, learning styles and God given talents. The fact is, parents know their own children best, knows what's best for their development and future. Education freedom legislation puts parents, not zip codes and politicians in charge of these important family decisions. It's why I strongly support making universal education freedom a reality for every parent in every state. To find out where your state legislature stands and to make sure your voice is heard, go to educationfreedomusa.com now education freedom usa.com.

[Conservative Commentator]

So you would say I'm a misinformation machine. That's fine. Yeah, fine. You're a teacher. Yes. What is a woman?

[Supporter]

What is a woman? Oh, buddy. All right. So we define gender as a set of preferences that you have. Except gender is a set of preferences. We have woman. Woman is a social construct that we've agreed upon. Typically we imagine womanhood as makeup or whatever it is. There is a difference between the Word woman and being a biological female. Woman is a social construct that we use. Listen for a second. I'm telling you what it means. Woman is a social construct. We agree on these set of preferences. If I tell you that I'm a man is because I want you to know that I like these set of preferences. If I tell you I'm a woman, it's because I want you to know that I agree with these set of preferences.

[Conservative Commentator]

Can men give birth?

[Supporter]

Can men or can males? Because males can't these. Listen for a second. If you listen to your bio professors, you'd understand there's a difference between biology and what we think.

[Conservative Commentator]

So I want to thank you for proving a great point. You are why we should eliminate the Department of Education. Thank you very much. So.

[Supporter]

So you want my kids to not have a teacher.

[Conservative Commentator]

We'll go to the next question. Thank.

[Anonymous Student]

You.

[Critic]

How are you? Good. I just want to drill in a bit about Doge and some of the.

[Conservative Commentator]

What quick. We've done it like five or six times.

[Critic]

And about some of these like hiring, hirings and some of the unconstitutional moves they've been making. I don't like to be more useful here. When your claim is that you're trying to like make the government more efficient and then you arbitrarily fire a bunch of people. For example, for the nuclear people, a bunch of them were fired and then they had to help get them back. You're wasting time and effort by randomly just and arbitrarily picking how to handle these cases. If your claim is that you want to be efficient, you should just gov and immediately start firing people. You have to go over this with a lot more methodical effort. And that's not what's happening. And on top of that, the Doge administration will not save enough money. Even if you were to fire every single government employee, they would not even be able to get to a fraction of how much revenue we need to get for taxes. That's not enough. And it's not helpful.

[Conservative Commentator]

I mean, when you go placards.

[Critic]

Sorry. And when you go over those placards, you can just. You can flash them and say that.

[Conservative Commentator]

Like, I mean, it's $115 million. Yes. For equity assessment programs. That's a lot of money.

[Critic]

No, it is not. And with regards, compared.

[Conservative Commentator]

Compared to Not a lot of money.

[Critic]

Compared to how much we need for the run the country.

[Conservative Commentator]

Hold on. This is a very important point.

[Critic]

We're talking about scale here. 2.2 point. About $2.6 trillion of revenue comes from Our income taxes. If you're going to like, cut. If you're going to make these cuts. You mean to meaningfully like.

[Conservative Commentator]

Hold on. This is. This is it. This is a false argument. I'm glad you're making it. Which is that. So then we shouldn't cut it because it's not that big of a deal.

[Critic]

No, that's not what I mean.

[Conservative Commentator]

So. So should we cut this $115 million for equity assessment of existing program policies?

[Critic]

The point.

[Conservative Commentator]

The point is that I'm going to make the point. But do you think this should be cut?

[Critic]

It depends. You need to make the argument that it's actually good. You can't just. You can't just flash the dog.

[Conservative Commentator]

I'm going to flash. I didn't say equity assessments of existing program policies. 115 million.

[Critic]

You have to justify that this program is helpful. You have to justify the existence of the program.

[Conservative Commentator]

Yes, justif it should not exist.

[Anonymous Student]

Why?

[Critic]

Why does it not exist?

[Conservative Commentator]

Well, first of all, the President signed an executive order saying no more dei. Equity assessment should have no place in the US Government. Equity is not constitutional sign of the US Constitution. It's not American value. It's about redistribute redistribution and $150 million, a grotesque amount of money to spend on it. So you should get rid of it to save taxpayer money. Now, to your point, it's 150 million bucks to get rid of this. Now, it's also $144 million here of empty buildings. How about empty buildings again?

[Critic]

You can just say. You can't just say empty. Well, they're like, go over it.

[Conservative Commentator]

No, we did. That's why there's 97. And they reviewed the leases. They're. They're vacated because of COVID That's 144 million bucks. So right here I have 330 million bucks. We're going to keep going, right?

[Critic]

Yeah, you can keep doing that. No, no, you have to actually just justify like why the policies are helpful or not.

[Conservative Commentator]

This is what's interesting.

[Critic]

Like you can say, you can say, you can see how much they cost.

[Conservative Commentator]

Hold on.

[Critic]

If they do something useful for the government, their prices make sense.

[Conservative Commentator]

They're empty buildings. What use is happening with for them other than landlords getting rich for nothing? The point is this. You think the government is innocent until proven guilty. I think the government, after what we've learned, is guilty until proven innocent. They have to justify why this money is being spent the first place.

[Critic]

Wait a minute. That's how the law works. Innocent are Proven guilty. You have to prove that.

[Conservative Commentator]

That's not how taxpayer money works, though. It's that if we find waste, you're gonna have to over justify why this exists in the first place. Secondly.

[Critic]

But you just fire them. You just like, get rid of the program automatically before, like you've done the work.

[Conservative Commentator]

But let me go back to a more thing. This is, this is an argument they're making. Oh, it's not that much money. Even if you only save $100 in taxpayer money, that is a moral fight worth having. That attitude is why we're $35 trillion in debt. Secondly, which is very important, if you annualize Doge's savings, you know how much they're on pace to save this year? A trillion dollars. One trillion dollars. Which would then get us on path for a balanced budget. They're on pace because you say, oh, it's only a billion here. They've been in for six weeks. They've already saved $100 billion. But by December, they'll be at a trillion. Our deficit is 1.6 trillion. We're going to lower our deficit in such an increasingly important way. And you're going to learn that you actually don't need these government agencies to run a country, that these people are unnecessary. It's bloated. These bureaucrats don't do anything all day long. And we need to. Right. Size it, because we're a nation in debt. We know we're $35 trillion in debt. In debt.

[Supporter]

Yes.

[Conservative Commentator]

And the only way we're going to get out of it is if we're honest. Be like, how about no more empty buildings, no more $115 for equity assets the way we program biodiversity in Nepal? $19 million.

[Critic]

Again, those can be important. You guys are like. Those could be helpful.

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay, so how could biodiversity in Nepal for 19 million bucks, we spent $20 million for a new Sesame street in Iraq.

[Anonymous Student]

It's true.

[Conservative Commentator]

You guys can look it up. $20 million for new sesame street in Iraq. And because no one has ever had the courage to look through the books and look and examine the expenditures.

[Critic]

That's not what's happening.

[Conservative Commentator]

No, it has happened. No, Biden, Obama, they never looked through any of the federal expenditures, and we got to $35 trillion in debt. This is the first time in my lifetime we have an administration going after the waste, going after the size of government to balance the budget so that you guys don't live as indentured servants and Russian serfs for the rest of your life.

[Critic]

Well, I just want to Say like what?

[Conservative Commentator]

Go ahead.

[Critic]

You don't need to interrupt people. Thank you. The point is when you, when you want to deal with this problem, you can either increase taxes or cut spending massively. Like, the point is that like, these programs aren't, aren't efficient and helpful for getting to that goal.

[Conservative Commentator]

Yes, they, I just proved to you that they're on pace. Trillion dollars. Like, but, but even if it's only a billion or 2 billion, that's admirable and noble. That's just to understand fault.

[Critic]

You have to do. You have to both justify that these programs are bad.

[Conservative Commentator]

I think.

[Critic]

No, you can just, you can flash. This is a program. It cost this much money. We should.

[Conservative Commentator]

I meant it.

[Critic]

That's not an argument.

[Conservative Commentator]

$1.5 million for voter confidence in Liberia.

[Critic]

Again, you can say that. You can say that.

[Conservative Commentator]

Do you know anything about Liberia? I mean, like, I mean, no. I mean, I happen to know a lot about. That's a separate issue.

[Critic]

It's not about. What I know is about the people in the government making these decisions.

[Conservative Commentator]

Yes. And they, they have proven themselves to be robber barons over the last 20 years that they, that they have are spending your money with reckless abandon and total indiscretion. And it's time that. This is what's important. It's we the people, not we the government workers. And we've taken back the government.

[Critic]

The government. The government workers are also American people.

[Conservative Commentator]

Yes, but who works for who? Do we work for them or do they work for us? Which one?

[Critic]

Yes, they work for. They work for us.

[Conservative Commentator]

They work for us. Yes. So we voted in November by popular vote and electoral vote, landslide, that this crap is over. And that's what we're doing. We overwhelmingly spoke. And so we're gonna go piece by piece, department by department. And this is why it's important. You guys deserve a future where you don't have $35 trillion in debt, where you don't have a trillion dollar.

[Critic]

Solving that problem by doing this again.

[Conservative Commentator]

I have again, a trillion dollars. You have to address this. They're on pace to cut a trillion by December. That's big. Big. That's, that's 75% of our deficit.

[Critic]

Okay, but my point, My point is that like, you have to meaningfully increase taxes or cut like, cuts. Yes, you do.

[Conservative Commentator]

Well, I know that's what he's doing. They are meaningfully cutting spending.

[Critic]

Do you have to cut taxes? Either raise taxes.

[Conservative Commentator]

No, you don't.

[Critic]

Or massively cut spending.

[Conservative Commentator]

Got it. Let me, let me just, let me just ask one final question.

[Critic]

Yes.

[Conservative Commentator]

If Trump and Elon get this done and balance the budget and cut all this, will you give them credit?

[Critic]

It depends on how successful. But wait, why? I'm not finished speaking. Oh my God. It depends on how successful the country is afterwards. It depends. If you make a lot of cuts and the country becomes worse, then you didn't do your job.

[Conservative Commentator]

Okay, we'll see what happens. Thank you.

[Charlie Kirk]

Thanks so much for listening, everybody. Email us. As always, freedom at charliekirk. Com. Thanks so much for listening and God bless.

[Supporter]

For more on many of these stories.

And news you can trust, go to charliekirk.

[Conservative Commentator]

Com.