THOUGHTCRIME Ep. 68 — J6 Retrospective? New Year Resolutions? "Gaycations?"

Summary

Episode Summary: THOUGHTCRIME Ep. 68 — J6 Retrospective? New Year Resolutions? "Gaycations?"

Release Date: January 7, 2025
Podcast Title: The Charlie Kirk Show
Host: Charlie Kirk
Guests: Andrew Klavan, Jack, Blake

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1. Introduction

In the 68th episode of Thoughtcrime, host Charlie Kirk engages with his co-hosts Andrew Klavan, Jack, and Blake to delve into a series of pressing topics ranging from the January 6th Committee hearings to the peculiar phenomenon of "gaycations," and culminating in a spirited debate on New Year’s resolutions. True to Charlie’s signature no-holds-barred style, the discussion is both in-depth and candid, offering listeners a comprehensive look into the subjects at hand.

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2. January 6th Retrospective

The episode kicks off with a deep dive into the events surrounding January 6th, four years after the Capitol insurrection. Charlie Kirk and his co-host Andrew Klavan clarify their locations during the incident, emphasizing their non-involvement.

Legal Challenges and Testimony: Charlie shares his ordeal with the January 6th Committee, highlighting the difficulties in securing legal representation. At [04:59], he states:

“I had to go through 10 different lawyers before the 11th said yes to represent me. That is how toxic anything surrounding January 6th was.”

This underscores the pervasive fear and stigma associated with any perceived connection to the events of that day, regardless of actual involvement.

Impact on the Conservative Movement: The discussion shifts to the resilience and resurgence of the conservative movement post-January 6th. Charlie reflects on the transformation from what seemed like a potential debacle to what he describes as an “American renaissance”:

“Four years later, it looks like we're entering an American renaissance, that we have more momentum, that we have more power.” [02:37]

Notable Quote: Andrew Klavan adds depth by comparing the committee’s actions to a form of political persecution:

“This was like a death sentence for the modern conservative, nationalist populist movement.” [03:58]

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3. Pardons for January 6th Participants

The conversation transitions to recent news about potential pardons for over a thousand individuals convicted in connection with January 6th. The group debates whether these pardons will be indiscriminate or selectively applied.

Speculations on Pardoning Process: Andrew Klavan offers his perspective on the likelihood of how the pardons might be handled:

“I think there is going to be the ones that are clear-cut cases that are going to be day one. There might be some... examples where the sentencing was disproportionate.” [21:43]

He further criticizes the severity of sentences handed down, suggesting that many convictions were excessively harsh:

“We have to come back to the fact that these were patriots... It was a real opportunity to say, hey, we want the states to look at these votes again.” [21:47]

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4. The "Gaycations" Phenomenon

Blake introduces a viral Reddit post discussing "gaycations," sparking a lively analysis among the hosts. The concept involves straight men embarking on vacations with the premise of temporarily exploring their sexuality.

Authenticity and Troll Analysis: Charlie expresses skepticism about the authenticity of the post:

“I think it's a Reddit troll. I don't think this is real.” [28:55]

However, Jack counters by referencing a Vice documentary series titled "Gaycation," hosted by Elliot Page, adding credibility to the discussion:

“There's a whole TV series called Gaycation... it's a documentary series.” [29:05]

Detailed Breakdown: Blake attempts to dissect the Reddit post, noting its structured narrative and emotional progression, which could indicate it being a well-crafted troll:

“It’s very well done troll. If it’s a troll.” [31:34]

The group concludes that while the post may be exaggerated or fabricated, it reflects ongoing cultural dialogues about sexuality and identity.

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5. New Year’s Resolutions: Tradition vs. Innovation

The episode culminates in a passionate debate over the efficacy of New Year’s resolutions. Charlie champions the tradition, while Jack and Blake offer alternative viewpoints.

Charlie's Pro-Resolution Stance: Charlie emphasizes the motivational aspect of setting New Year’s resolutions, viewing them as a means for self-improvement:

“I think it's incredibly powerful... just the idea of wanting to be better at something is phenomenal.” [35:06]

He shares personal anecdotes, citing his own resolutions that have led to significant achievements:

“My New Year's resolution last year was to work as hard as a human being possibly can to get Donald Trump elected president.” [35:16]

Jack and Blake’s Alternative Perspectives: Jack suggests that daily resolutions might be more effective, arguing that the arbitrary nature of the New Year makes it less impactful:

“I would argue that something that could be more powerful than a New Year's resolution could be a daily resolution.” [35:22]

Blake echoes this sentiment, sharing his own experience of initiating profound life changes away from the New Year, thereby maintaining momentum without the societal pressure:

“The most memorable time I made a very big shift in my life... it happened on April Fool's Day.” [38:37]

Andrew’s Insights on Resolutions: Andrew bridges the discussion by highlighting the psychological benefits of honoring personal commitments, whether tied to the New Year or not:

“Once you honor a promise that you make to yourself... you build momentum and the psychology shifts.” [42:15]

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6. Conclusion

As the episode wraps up, Charlie invites listeners to share their New Year’s resolutions and reflects on the various perspectives discussed. The hosts leave the audience with thought-provoking insights on personal growth, political resilience, and cultural phenomena.

Final Thoughts: Charlie reiterates his support for New Year’s resolutions while acknowledging differing viewpoints:

“Who could be against the idea of self-examination and wanting to be better?” [35:08]

Andrew concludes with a motivational note on the importance of personal commitments:

“Do something really hard and make yourself keep doing it and you will become a powerful, more powerful person.” [44:39]

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Key Takeaways

• January 6th Legacy: The conservative movement has not only survived but is experiencing significant growth and momentum despite past challenges.

• Legal Hurdles: The difficulty in obtaining legal representation for testimonies related to January 6th underscores the pervasive fear within the movement.

• Pardons Discourse: There is skepticism about the rationale and fairness behind the potential pardoning of numerous January 6th participants.

• Cultural Trends: The discussion on "gaycations" reflects broader societal conversations about gender and sexuality, though skepticism about the authenticity of certain narratives remains.

• Personal Development: The debate on New Year’s resolutions versus daily resolutions highlights diverse approaches to self-improvement and goal-setting.

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Notable Quotes:

• Charlie Kirk at [02:37]:
  “Four years later, it looks like we're entering an American renaissance, that we have more momentum, that we have more power.”

• Andrew Klavan at [03:58]:
  “This was like a death sentence for the modern conservative, nationalist populist movement.”

• Charlie Kirk at [04:59]:
  “I had to go through 10 different lawyers before the 11th said yes to represent me. That is how toxic anything surrounding January 6th was.”

• Andrew Klavan at [21:43]:
  “There might be some examples where the sentencing was disproportionate.”

• Blake at [31:34]:
  “It’s very well done troll. If it’s a troll.”

• Charlie Kirk at [35:06]:
  “Just the idea of wanting to be better at something is phenomenal.”

• Jack at [35:22]:
  “I would argue that something that could be more powerful than a New Year's resolution could be a daily resolution.”

• Andrew Klavan at [42:15]:
  “Once you honor a promise that you make to yourself... you build momentum and the psychology shifts.”

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Conclusion

Episode 68 of Thoughtcrime offers a multifaceted exploration of recent political upheavals, cultural trends, and personal development strategies. Through engaging dialogue and insightful commentary, Charlie Kirk and his co-hosts provide listeners with a nuanced understanding of the challenges and triumphs facing the conservative movement today, alongside reflections on individual growth and societal shifts.

Transcript

[Charlie Kirk]

Hey, everybody. Enjoy this episode. Become a member. Members.charliekirk.com that is members.charliekirk. com email us. As always, freedomarliekirk.com and become a member to support this program. Buckle up, everybody. Here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

[Andrew Klavan]

Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

[Blake]

I want you to know we are.

[Charlie Kirk]

Lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

[Andrew Klavan]

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.

[Jack]

Created, Turning Point usa.

[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@noblegold investments.com. that is noblegoldinvestments.com. it's where I buy all of my gold. Go to noblegoldinvestments.com welcome to Thought Crime Monday. What? It's Monday and we're doing Thought Crime. That's right. Because of New Year's and Christmas, we missed a couple episodes, and we wanted to make sure we made good on that. And also January 6th, which is definitely a day where Thought Crimes must be said, I don't know who I have with me because I can't see the whole lineup. I think we have Jack, Andrew and Blake. Am I guessing correctly?

[Andrew Klavan]

That's right.

[Blake]

Yep.

[Jack]

You would be correct, sir.

[Charlie Kirk]

Very good. All right, who wants to take the first topic? I believe it is January 6th. Related. Jack, please proceed.

[Jack]

Well. Well, you know, what can I say? I mean, I've got the Capitol right behind me over my shoulder. I'm here in Washington, D.C. and if I understand correctly, I am the only one of the four of us who was actually at Capitol Hill on January 6th, four years ago today. Is that correct?

[Andrew Klavan]

Yep. Charlie and I were.

[Charlie Kirk]

For the record.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah. Charlie and I were in Phoenix, broadcasting live.

[Jack]

Charlie, it's like, I gotta check with my lawyer.

[Charlie Kirk]

No, I. I said I was very much not there. I was. I was literally on air in Phoenix.

[Andrew Klavan]

So although Charlie. Charlie, you did share some information on your show that I found pretty shocking that you show you shared. You should share it again.

[Charlie Kirk]

What did I share?

[Jack]

What do you mean?

[Andrew Klavan]

That.

[Charlie Kirk]

The part about the lawyers or the subpoena.

[Jack]

Wait, wait. Go to the lawyer.

[Charlie Kirk]

Oh, yeah.

[Jack]

All of a sudden. Go ahead.

[Charlie Kirk]

No, I said that on the show. No, I mean, it's not a mystery. People know that I was subpoenaed by the January 6th committee, and we had a lawyer, but I had to go through 10 different lawyers before the 11th said yes to represent me. That is how. Just let's say how toxic anything surrounding January 6th was, was that if you were even remotely connected or not even connected, just in the universe of the discussion, which is where I was. I was in Phoenix. I was broadcasting live. We were calling balls and strikes. We weren't involved. And yet the lawyers were like, no, we don't want anything to do with that. There are entire law firms that will go out of their way to represent terrorist bombers, to represent the worst people in society. But we just remember back to where we were four years ago. It looked as if this was the death sentence of the modern conservative, nationalist populist movement. And four years later, it looks like it's the exact opposite. It looks like we are entering an American renaissance, that we have more momentum, that we have more power. We control the House, the Senate, and the presidency. Popular opinion, it's remarkable to witness and see. So, thoughts, guys, and kind of your lessons over these last four years.

[Jack]

Wait, wait. I just got to say. I got to say. So I have. Because I'm me. I read everyone's January six testimony that was released publicly, and I definitely gave an extra effort to read anyone that I'm friends with. So one of my personal favorites was Charlie's January 6th testimony because he didn't answer any questions. He didn't even answer his birthday.

[Charlie Kirk]

Read it. No, no. Jack, go find the testimony and read it.

[Jack]

I said, no, I should actually pull that up. Yeah, let me see if I can. We should have grabbed it before. It's so funny because I remember this. On the. On the advice of council, I will not be answering.

[Charlie Kirk]

Super viral.

[Jack]

It went viral. Is so funny. You refuse to even give your birthday. They're like. They're like, sir, if we could just confirm you're the actual Charlie Kirk. And you're like, no.

[Charlie Kirk]

No, I didn't say no. I did not say no. I said under the.

[Jack]

Mr. Kirk, I. I did.

[Charlie Kirk]

All right, for the record, I. I had great attorneys. I had great attorneys. Jeff. Jeff Nieman and Josh Levy were great attorneys. And they said. And they prepped me. They said, only. Only answer your name and nothing else because we were invoking our Fifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination. And I said, okay, just to Be clear. Nothing else. And they said yes. I said, okay. So nothing else. They said yes. Okay, so we're in there. And so I said my name, and then Jack read.

[Andrew Klavan]

Here it is.

[Jack]

Okay. No, wait. No, you did also. Hold on. There was. There was one other piece. I live currently in Scottsdale. So you did say Arizona. Said South Skellett, Arizona. All right. What. Highest level of education? Fifth Amendment. Are you the founder and executive director of Turning Point USA? Fifth Amendment. Are you founder of Turning Point Action? Fifth Amendment. Mr. Kirk, you could just say Fifth Amendment. Okay, do you see the documents on the screen? Yes, I can. Okay. This is the subpoena. Etcetera, etc, etcetera. Are. These are some text messages. Are you correct? Fifth amendment, fifth amendment cycle. It's like 28 pages of.

[Blake]

What I love is. Here's what I love is. You'll hear people say, like, why do they not do this more often? And it'll always. It'll always just be a lame thing. It's like, well, you just. You can't. You can't do that to everything. It'll. It'll make you look bad. And I. And Charlie's just like, wait, no, this is the Fifth Amendment right. They can't make me say anything.

[Jack]

Here it is. Right here. Right here. Page seven. Mr. Kirk, how old are you? On advice of counsel, I'm invoking my Fifth Amendment right.

[Andrew Klavan]

Charlie's a good student. Yeah, he took. He took the instructions. Well, now, Charlie, can you understood the assignment. Yeah. Charlie, can you reveal which members were in attendance that day? When you were. When you were doing the testimony, are you able to.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, there was only one member of the committee that showed us it was mostly staff. And then at the end, Adam Kinzinger showed up towards the latter end of ours.

[Jack]

Oh, yeah, that's in here. Yeah.

[Charlie Kirk]

It was a zoom call, man. Yeah. He did not enter the meeting.

[Jack]

Questions.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Charlie Kirk]

Correct. Adam Kinzinger did not ask.

[Blake]

I'm searching and invoking. My fifth is used 65 times in this document. In 28.

[Jack]

Amazing. Amazing.

[Andrew Klavan]

Wow. 65.

[Charlie Kirk]

There's got to be something, as you say, because I was. I was saying the entire time because they told me my instructions, and I was not messing around. Right? Like, okay, how old are you? And I would read on the piece of paper. No, no, no, I didn't say. I said I invoke my constitutional right. And, like, so then they eventually would say. You could just say Fifth Amendment. I was. Okay, got it. So.

[Blake]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jack]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Blake]

I just start, like, on the advice of counsel.

[Charlie Kirk]

I got nothing else to say. But no, I mean, look, it was, that was a very expensive, very trying thing unnecessarily, right. And. Cause look, I mean, Steve Bannon went to prison by this very same committee. Peter Navarro went to prison from this very same committee. I mean, it was, you know, serious stuff. And so, but just going through that whole process, it definitely, I'll speak, I can speak candidly about this part stuff. There's nothing to talk about, but I'll just let the testimony speak for itself, which is my testimony will be, will tell the whole story is this. Look, and I think it's very clear that this hardened me in a way where I knew we had to win or else this country was going off a lawfare cliff, the likes of which we would not survive, the likes of which that would completely obliterate this nation and destroy this country. And so it made me want to work harder, hire more ballot chasers and eventually play a small role in the greatest political comeback in history.

[Jack]

Look, this was summer of 2022, by the way. If you look at the, you know, if you look at the, the date on it, May 24, 2022. So I mean, this was, this was way before we, this was before the midterms that even happened. This was before anyone had announced. No, I think he had announced he was running by this point. I think he did that in February of 22, unless I'm wrong or no, excuse me. No, he hadn't announced yet. That was February 23rd. No, blame my last. And so, yeah, President Trump hadn't even announced he was running yet. This was like a pretty low point for maga. And here's Charlie, just like, I'm going to go to bat. Like, nope. No, just like, absolutely not. Boom, out of the park. Boom. Out of the park. Fifth Amendment. Would you like to throw this? Because, because, Charlie, what they're trying to get you to do, and I know you know this, what they're trying to get you to do is throw people under the bus. They're saying, throw this person under the bus. Throw that person under the bus. You know, we'll, we'll let you back in. We'll let you go back to the old, you know, 2005 George W. Bush style Republican who just, just throw these people under the bus. Just give us what we want and, and, and the pain will stop. And you didn't do it, man. You just straight up didn't do it.

[Blake]

I love the phrasing here. I love the phrasing. I'll tell you, Mr. Kirk, if you wish to shorten your response to invoke the Fifth Amendment to something that is not as wordy as that to save us some time, I'm fine with that.

[Andrew Klavan]

But, like, this is the. This is the big. The big scandal here. And Charlie hit the nail on the head. The fact that he had to go through 10 attorneys. I mean, this is not that Charlie Kirk is not some Joe Schmo. This is. This Charlie Kirk. He's a very. Like, people would be falling over broken glass to represent you.

[Charlie Kirk]

Well, I don't know about that. But I will say this, though, that it's not just like, you call them up. You have to do an introductory call for all of them, and they're 45 minutes to an hour in length because they want to find out, you know, what you are. It wasn't just like, okay, they said, oh, well, you know, let's do an introductory call. All the facts, they ask questions, then they come back afterwards and reject you. And so you have to keep doing this. And so finally, after, like the eighth one, I was like, can you just tell me, is this going to. Can you just run a conflict check? Do you have a policy? And finally, one of the lawyers, like, yeah, that's not going to work. Great. You saved me a whole hour. And finally, by the 11th, a lawyer in Florida who's awesome, Jeff Niemann, who just was like, so prepared and was like, yep. He's like, I fight the government for a living. And Andrew, I think you met him, great guy, really solid.

[Andrew Klavan]

Multiple times.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andrew Klavan]

Really, really, really smart guy and super smart. Yeah, so smart. And also just kind of no nonsense. Didn't even care about any of that stuff. Was just like, listen, we're, you know, you did nothing wrong. You've not, you know, we're gonna make sure you get through this. It was really comforting, actually, to meet with him and hear, hear the way he does business. So if anybody finds themselves in that spot, by all means, give, Give Jeff a call. But I mean, the fact you had to go through that in the first place, I mean, talk about what Jack was saying, a real low point. And I mean, it had. I mean, you know, we had Timothy Hale on the show. It's. It's like the. This, you know, solitary confinement for 14 months. What you went through was terrible. But it was nothing compared to what so many just normal American patriots had had to. Had to experience as a result of. It wasn't just a low point for maga, it was a low point for the country and the fact that we still have people like Sunny Hostin or Hoston and even now Hakeem Jeffries invoking Pearl harbor from inside the Capitol after a cringy moment of silence with Chuck Schumer inside the Capitol saying that this was a day that will live in infamy doing this. This is not clips from four years ago. This is not a clip. As you said on Twitter, Charlie, from four months ago, this is a clip today. We're still dealing with this stuff. That these people are so deranged that they thought it was worthwhile dragging half the country through the mud, calling everybody fascists and Nazis and all of these terrible things, and for what? To get some weird virtue signal out of it? For political gains? Destroy the country? For their to rule over a pile of ash. So I think it's. I think it's a pretty fascinating story, what you went through, Charlie, and then obviously to remember that we actually had it pretty easy compared to so many.

[Charlie Kirk]

Well, yeah, it's like, so Jack's here. Jack was actually at the Capitol and I wasn't. I had to go through that whole rigamarole again. I'm not saying, you know, I didn't do any wrong, Jack doing anything wrong. I'm just saying it was just ridiculous that the whole thing had to occur. But I mean, let me ask you guys and Blake, I want to get your thoughts. What do you attribute our ability to kind of climb out of the ditch? Was it the metaphorical? Our back was against the wall and we had no choice but to fight? Walk us through it. Because objectively, it's one of the greatest turnarounds in a four year period we've ever seen.

[Blake]

You know, honestly, a thought that comes to mind is I think it helped a lot that 2020 had happened just before this. So I've been talking with some friends. You know, why does it seem like things have shifted so much from just a few years ago? What happened? You know, was it just that Elon Musk bought Twitter? All that? And I said, I think a big factor is that 2020 took place because in 2020 we had Covid and we had the whole George Floyd thing and the regime, the elites, whatever term you want to use for sort of the people who set policy and set the agenda, they went basically all in on lockdowns and that. You couldn't say Covid was Chinese and that was a conspiracy theory. And they also went all in on the racial reckoning, attack, white people thing. And what they did by doing those both at the same time, in such a massively dramatic and traumatic way, is they staked a ton of their credibility on something that very quickly and obviously turned out to be wrong and bad. And that when they follow that up right after 2020 and in January, January 6th, with, oh, and also, this is a domestic insurrection, and we need more sweeping powers to do all of these things, they had just staked so much of the reputation on something, and it blew up. And so. And also thanks to Covid, that's really what created the impetus for building so many more alternative institutions for communicating with people. That's what helped Rumble get off the ground, for example. And, you know, within a few years, Rumble Rumble was a thriving ecosystem. And it also, I think the excesses of 2020, I think, are what also prompted Elon Musk to say, I'm going to buy Twitter. And obviously, him liberating Twitter in 2022, as he did, paved the way for so much of what we've been able to accomplish over the past two years. So I think it's really, throughout it was the hubris and the excess of those in power that drove a lot of what happened. It's kind of like I was saying, I don't think he still probably would have pulled it off, but I sometimes wonder, would Donald Trump have faded away if they had just let it alone? If they'd said, we're gonna stop talking about him. He's banned from everything and just never report on him. CNN doesn't cover him, New York Times doesn't talk about him. We don't charge him. Just let him go away. And instead they said, no, we have to throw Donald Trump in prison. We have to charge him. We have to raid Mar A Lago. And it was when they did that, it was when they raided Mar A Lago and dropped those charges, that it made the Republican primary a total formality. And August 23rd, and they did that to themselves. We could not make them do that. They had to do it themselves. And they did. And that really got everyone bonded together. And it laid out clearly what the stakes were. And I think it played a central role in us getting where we are today.

[Jack]

And that was August. So. So Charlie's testimony was before, I guess, at the beginning of the summer of 22. And then this was the. Towards the end of the summer of 22. So, yeah, Charlie, your testimony was even before the Mar A Lago raid, which was, again, I mean, this was just a time where a lot of people were saying, hey, let's get on the desantis train. And let's, you know, let's forget about Trump and Trump, Trumpism. Without Trump, that was a whole big thing. And, you know, Charlie easily could have walked in there and, you know, maybe life would have been a lot easier to simply go in there and say, well, you know, I mean, you know, Don Jr. Said to do this, and I was on the phone with the president and I said that and whatever, whatever, you know, but he didn't. He didn't take the easy road. I don't think any of us took the easy road. And, you know, it was at a time where it was. It was seemingly wide open. But you know what they say about the. The wide gate and the narrow path. I think we all remember that well.

[Andrew Klavan]

I mean, I want the audience to appreciate just the stakes that not only the country was up against, but from a personal level, I mean, this is no joke. And Charlie, you know, feel free to chime in here as much as you want. We were actively discussing what happens if we lose and how to protect ourselves, because we were just assuming that, that, you know, the suits were going to come in and raid us. They were going to come in and they were going to get us. And to live in that kind of reality with that actually being a plausible reality, knowing that you didn't do anything. You're simply. You're exercising your free speech and act, you know, activating people on the ground, and, you know, you're trying to do everything by the stinking book as close as you possibly can. Double, triple, quadruple checking everything, even holding yourself to a standard that's above what the law even states, because, you know that if you trip up even a little bit, paperwork, air could land you in the Gulag. I mean, this is how much scrutiny. Everything that we touched, everything that we put out, everything that we were doing behind the scenes had to go through. And it was simply because of what happened after J6 and what they did to squash political dissent. And, I mean, there was a few names, I'm sure, on that list that they had. I know there was a file that was huge on Charlie inside the committee. We heard about it from friends, but, I mean, there was very few names that were higher on that list. And so to have to live with that as reality. And I think back, Charlie, to election night when, you know, we're all stunned after Pennsylvania gets called. And this, this just. Well of emotion just. I think the wave just swept over all of us, you included, and that's why that video went so viral. I think we were all just so grateful that this country had been saved from these people that would do that to their fellow citizens.

[Charlie Kirk]

That's right. And look, I mean, I just. I lived a little bit of it compared to the January 6th or, I mean, not even close. I mean, these guys went through absolute hell. And people that literally were, you know, is the government going to come after me? Is the government going to raid my house? And I mean, the only comforting thing is that as soon as Congress was reaching out to us, that there was a pretty good understanding once we started, you know, setting up the hearing, the discussion, that the FBI probably was not going to come sweep in. But they could have, right? I mean, any time. But it was like kind of a different track. But, you know, there was this concern that first month, those first couple of months after January 6th, it was like open season where we were worried that they were just going to go after anybody that had any sort of remote connection and not that there was anything that there would be found, but just the public embarrassment and they coming through your office and grabbing your devices and just would have been. Would have been really. Would have been even more trying. So praise God, we are, we are through that. And it's, it's really just. It's really just remarkable. We look at this, Charlie, here on January six. Yeah, go ahead, Jack.

[Jack]

Before we, you know, move on to other topics, you know, we know that there was that reporting over the weekend regarding pardons for the J6ers, looking at somewhere around a thousand, I think that came out in Bloomberg. We know. I think there is a 1000 plus defendants or convicted J6ers as it sits. You know, do we think that that makes sense? Do we think that it makes sense to do all that day one? Of course, that's what he campaigned on. He really made this central to the campaign in general. But when it comes down to it, do you think it's going to be more of this blanket idea or is it going to be more of like, you know, sort of a pick and choose kind of thing? Not pick and choose, go through, you know, excuse me, categorized that wrong. You know, kind of put them into different buckets and say, okay, these will be day one. These will go to a review process. These will go, you know, in one section here and there.

[Charlie Kirk]

So I'm not exactly sure how to answer that. Andrew, what do you think?

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah, I think there is going to be. The ones that are clear cut cases, I think are going to be day one. I think there's going to be some that received really, really harsh sentences for the trespass, meaning that they might have been guilty of something. All of us on this show right now would say, you know, hey, that was a crime. You shouldn't have. You vandalized that equipment. You shouldn't have punched that police out, whatever it is. I don't know. I'm not even, you know, suggesting certain people did certain things and didn't. Okay, but if you did something where you hit a cop or if you vandalize something, and I'm not just talking about walking through the Capitol building rotunda, I'm saying if you did something we would all agree that of common sense, maybe you get that sentence commuted if you've already served your time. Right. That might be a different review process. I would think there would be very, very few instances where the sentencing would. Would be upheld. And I'm not speaking on behalf of the administration here, but I'm even talking about the Proud Boys and things like that where they got jack. You probably know the sentencing more specifically, but it was like 20 something years for a seditious conspiracy for the Proud Boys. I mean, some of this stuff was so bananas, over the top sentencing. And you might say, okay, well, they were coordinating something or whatever. I'm not the expert on this. All I know is that even those cases, I would say even the cases where criminality was found, you know, and maybe some of it could be proven, the. The hammer came down on these people in such a disproportionate way that is not fitting with the crimes even be being suggested. Seditious conspiracy. I think it was like one of the first times this had been used since, you know, the Civil War against somebody. And really, we have to come back to the fact that these were patriots, most of the vast, vast, vast, vast majority of more patriots that were coming to the Capitol begging the country to look at what people thought were fraudulent votes or that were fraudulent practices, whatever in the 2020 election. That's why people were there. They were not there to overthrow the democracy. They were not there for, you know, any of that stuff that the left likes to say. It was not a day that will live in infamy like Pearl harbor or World War II. This was, I think, a real opportunity to say, hey, we want the states to look at these votes again, because there's shenanigans going on. And I still feel that way. And I still feel that way, honestly, about some of the voting that happened in 2024. We need to get our elections in line. We need to get election integrity in line, in alignment, and we need to keep addressing it. So to call these patriots seditious conspiracists or whatever, I think is completely out of line. So that's my theory on it. But the vast majority, day one, and then, yeah, there's gonna be some review processes on the other ones.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah.

[Jack]

And look, by the way, to your.

[Charlie Kirk]

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[Jack]

So I think we should talk about this thing Blake has been talking about. You know, we used to have this thing that we did on the show where it was. We called it Deep Web reveals, and some of them included sort of like explaining things to Charlie Kirk. Because I got folks don't know this, that Charlie really does not use the Internet. Like he. He kind of goes around, pokes around here and there, but he's just. It's just not something that he's ever done really in. In his life. You know, like the Jonathan Haidt book that came out. You know, the Anxious Mind. The Anxious Mind and the Childhood. It's like. Like Charlie's not on social media ever, so. So, Blake, there was something that. That came up on the Internet on Reddit that was going pretty viral that I thought would be interesting for us to explain here on Thoughtcrime. Yeah, it's sort of getting back to our old roots on thought crime here.

[Blake]

Exactly. It's Project 2025. We can talk about whatever we want. And what we want to talk about is deranged. Deranged content discovered on the greatest source of soy on the Internet, which is Reddit.com so this was posted. Again, I should clarify. This is not me. This is a post somebody made and Compiled on a Reddit.

[Charlie Kirk]

Are you sure it's not you, Blake? Are you sure?

[Blake]

Yes.

[Charlie Kirk]

You had to do this, like pre emptive denial. It's kind of weird.

[Blake]

Some people are gonna be confused and they're gonna send emails and they're gonna be like, why did you let Blake say that? That's disgusting. Anyway, so this went viral a few weeks ago, but it was sent to me the other day by a friend and this was posted originally as a seeking advice thread on their relationships forum on Reddit. My. This is a 42 year old woman with a 42 year old husband. My husband has informed me he intends to go on a, quote, gay cation with his brother in law in Ibiza. Ibiza, That's a, that's a fancy island getaway place. How do I handle this? And it's very long. I cannot read the whole thing, but the context is this is a woman in Britain and her husband approaches her out of nowhere and he says that he pulled out a printed poster and started explaining to me. This is the woman saying it. The concept of a gay cation, it's where straight men go somewhere with, quote, sun, sand and booze and become gay for the duration of the trip. But that's fine because it doesn't actually count because, quote, what happens on the gaycation stays on the gaycation. And the wife rather reasonably asks, okay, are you gay? Because if you are, we need to talk about what that means. And he says, no, no, he's not. That's the beauty of the gaycation. It's temporary. It means Nothing. He's actually 100% attracted to women. He says, but he needs to experience gayness. And what does it. And it's, it's the comparison he makes is it's like going to an aquarium. And she says, I would rather you not do this. That sounds disgusting and would ruin our relationship. And why do you need to ever do this?

[Jack]

Wait, wait, Blake, Blake, Blake. Can we pause? Charlie, Charlie, can we just, can I just get a check in with you right now, right as we're about. Need a temperature check with you, Charlie, as we're like halfway through the explanation of the gay occasion.

[Charlie Kirk]

I think it's a Reddit troll. I don't think this is real.

[Jack]

Well, I think, by the way, I'm kind of with you. I think a lot of these are Reddit trolls. And yet if you look this up.

[Charlie Kirk]

I think it's just like an erotica weird fantasy writer. I don't think it's real.

[Jack]

There's a whole TV series called Gaycation that you can look up and it's a. It is a documentary series. Wait, Charlie, Charlie, listen to this. Guess who. No, guess who hosts it. It's on Vice. I call. I used a magical power called Brave browser to learn about it and it's called By Elliot. It's hosted by Elliot Page. Obviously we know that's Ellen Page and it's talking about the. Ellen Page was the. The actress who in Juneau went for the Juno actress.

[Blake]

So does Ellen Page host gaycations because of the conceit that he is gay now? Because there's. Is he still attracted or so he's just.

[Jack]

Just inheriting or just. Just experiencing the gay case?

[Andrew Klavan]

No. This is good.

[Blake]

I don't know, man.

[Jack]

Even if this specific post is a troll, I'm telling you that there is apparently this is like a thing. It's a total. They go in Japan.

[Andrew Klavan]

Couple things. Couple things. Blake, I told you just like bent my. Okay, so Ellen Page was a lesbian before becoming. Is this right? Or Jack.

[Jack]

So with Ellen Page, I don't know.

[Andrew Klavan]

Okay, going on a gaycation mean that she was then on a island with other lesbians or.

[Blake]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Andrew Klavan]

It's very mind bending.

[Blake]

Her spouse.

[Jack]

Yes. Yes.

[Blake]

Was Ellen. Ellen was gay, but now she's.

[Jack]

Ellen was gay before.

[Andrew Klavan]

Okay. I don't really know what she would do with that. With that. But here's what I will tell you. I read this thing from top to bottom and there's multiple posts and then she waits a couple days and then she comes back and she. You can tell that her thinking has changed. I. It is the best troll job I've ever seen. If. If it's a troll because it actually feels very authentic the way that her thinking develops over time. And you can. You can tell that she's then made up her mind about certain things and then she's actually reacting to some of the comments saying that they've shaped her thinking. I mean it's. It's very. It's very well done troll. If it's a troll. The other thing is I actually have lived in the UK for some time. I was there for almost a year. This feels very British. Feels very uniquely. Uniquely something that would actually happen in the uk. And it's hard to explain why, but I feel that way.

[Blake]

I want to read Charlie just because.

[Jack]

Okay, go ahead.

[Blake]

I want to read this line just because it is the best line from it and it is what caused it me to send it to everyone. Which is. So this is the Woman saying. And so I ignored him for the rest of the day. But we spoke at Tea and I asked him why does he want to do this so bad if he's not gay? He said he's interested in how gay men's lives differ from straight men's and that unfortunately, once the gaycation begins, it is simply impossible for a man to resist and he must, quote, surrender himself, mind, body and soul to the gaycation or be destroyed. Which that is. So, that's so funny.

[Andrew Klavan]

Or be destroyed.

[Blake]

It. Like I said, Charlie, it seems like a troll, but this is, you know, just like if you read it, it does read like a woman wrote it. Like, you know, so I go back and forth on it, but either way it is very funny.

[Andrew Klavan]

It's, it's really sad if true genuinely, because like this story, apparently this guy involves the woman's brother in law and it like destroys two families. It totally destroys two families. There's kids involved, the parents are distraught. I mean if this is like a thing that's spreading on the. Is if this is like a contagion that's spreading on the underwebs like this is. This bodes very, very badly for, you know, the UK and I hope probably is here already. It's really terrifying.

[Charlie Kirk]

So help me understand. The wife is approval approving of this.

[Andrew Klavan]

No, does not have. No.

[Blake]

Although the post does come with trigger warning, right. For internalized homophobia and accusations of homophobia. But people assure her, the commenters assure her that it is not homophobic to be upset that your husband wants to ditch you to go on a vacation with his brother in law.

[Charlie Kirk]

That's all I got.

[Jack]

She also, also at one point, one of the commenters suggests that she could take a straight cation and go up to, I think she says Manchester and say whatever happens in Manchester stays in Manchester. And at which point he gets very upset and accuses her of abusing the gaycation and not giving the gaycation the proper respect it deserves.

[Blake]

Abusing the gaycation, the sacred, the sacred.

[Jack]

Trust implies totally abusing the concept of the gaycation.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah.

[Jack]

Like an aquarium only. But, but an aquarium is not interactive, so it's not like an aquarium.

[Blake]

Yeah. So I would, I should also add this, this is another thing that the man claims in the story. He claims that a gaycation is something that all straight men go on and that in fact he's, he's like 40 in the story. He's actually going on it rather late compared to other people. So, so that's part of the claim. The part of the claim is that dudes are just doing this all of the time. And in fact, she's just out of the loop. Now, I am not the hippest person, so perhaps I am also out of the loop. I have never heard of anyone doing this that I know of. But Jack apparently does disagree.

[Jack]

Well, I was in the Navy, so. But what it's. But you know, when you're underway, you.

[Charlie Kirk]

Know what they say in the Navy, So that's.

[Jack]

Yeah, we need Donald Trump. So, so as we close, let's do New Year's resolutions.

[Charlie Kirk]

We're running out of time.

[Andrew Klavan]

Okay.

[Charlie Kirk]

Okay.

[Jack]

No, I was just gonna say that he, he, he, he threw out that maybe it's, it's literally. It's not a gaycation. He just wants an excuse to go cheat.

[Andrew Klavan]

A very elaborate excuse, very loud. He wants to keep his family intact and still cheat on his wife.

[Blake]

I mean, I guess one of the best ways to make it so they don't suspect you of cheating with women is to just very loudly say that you're cheating with men. That would be a weird way to go about it. Anyway, New Year's resolutions, First of all, we had a disagreement. Charlie is pro New Year's, Jack is anti New Year's. So I think you guys should hash that one out.

[Charlie Kirk]

I'm very pro New Year's. Very. I think that it's. I think it's really. I've always been. I totally disagree. I think it's incredibly powerful. And I think, first of all, just the idea of you wanting to be better at something, I think is a phenomenal thing. Acknowledging that you're not who you yet want to be and that you want to aim at a higher point and that you want to be a better version of yourself. I look back at my life, some of the greatest accomplishments I have have been thanks to New Year's resolutions. When I listened to Dennis Prager teach the entire Torah, that was a 2023 New Year's resolution. My New Year's resolution last year was to work as hard as a human being possibly can to get Donald Trump elected president. I have New Year's resolutions for this year. But who could be against that? Who could be against the idea of self examination and wanting to be better? And who cares if you don't keep the New Year's resolution? That's not the point. The point is that not even that you try, but you acknowledge that you are not all that you yet want to be. What am I missing, Jack?

[Jack]

Well, so, I mean, it's also I mean, I'm speaking from a personal perspective. I like the idea of resolutions, but I would argue that something that could be more powerful than a New Year's resolution or perhaps more effective, could be a daily resolution. Because if you want to talk resolutions, sure, I'm for resolutions. I just don't think that the New Year's one is particularly effective, personally. What I was saying before, personally, is that I've just. I don't know, like, to me, it's like an arbitrary. You know, the calendar is kind of arbitrary to begin with in the sense that we know that it's a couple of years off from the. The birth of JC Himself. So the numbers are like, well, we just sort of started the numbers at one point and. And there they are. And not saying it's arbitrary in the sense of theologically, but that's a different conversation. It's like, I don't know. I just, you know, it's. It's another day of the week to me. But that being said, a resolution is important, but I would reframe it as a daily resolution. Say, this is what I'm going to do today. This is what I'm going to do this month. This is what I'm going to do in this, you know, this progression. You know, for. In the military, we had different ranks. So this is what I'm going to do while I'm at this rank to get to the next rank of the. This is what I'm going to do in my personal life, et cetera, et cetera. But just, I don't know, like, the idea of, like, oh, it's New Year's Eve, and now it's 2024, and now it's 2025. It just, to me personally, it never really had much resonance at all. And it's kind of like, you know the cliche you go to the gym on January 1st, which, you know, actually we did do, by the way. So we were in the gym January 1st, January 2nd, we did a couple of days at the gym, and then, you know, it's packed. But then go there a week later, go there a month later, and guess what? All those people are gone. Why? Because they made New Year's resolutions and not daily resolutions.

[Blake]

So I have a sort of funny story about that, which is I. I kind of agree with Jack. Like, it's a little arbitrary. And what I worry is, I think we have created such a culture of New Year's resolutions, and people know, they, like, don't work. It's almost. It's like an anti promise. It's the promise you make that you almost have social approval to break because everyone expects it to fail. And what I will say is funny, is the one time I. Not the one time, but the most memorable time, I made a very big shift in my life where I really changed a lot of my behavior all at once. I'm not sure why, but it didn't happen at New Year's. It happened. I remember it very well. It happened on April Fool's Day. So I used to be quite a bit fatter. And don't look at photos of it. It's bad. But I think most of them have vanished off the Internet. And the time that I fixed it was on April Fool's Day, 2018. Or. No, it was 2017. 2017. And I'm not even entirely sure what happened, but I remember the details of the day very well. I went with my roommate, his girlfriend and a friend of mine, and we went to Kings Dominion, an amusement park in central Virginia. And like, while we were driving down there, I thought, you know, it's gross. I'm fat. That's bad. I should not be fat. That's so gross. I'm going to not eat anything today. And I didn't eat anything that day. And I didn't eat anything the following day either, or the day after that. And that actually turned into this gigantic thing where I lost £70 in one year. And I also read 101 books that year. It turned into this like giant self improvement frenzy that lasted about a year and a half, I would say. And it was very funny because at the time I remember thinking, I don't think I can maintain this level of intensity for the rest of my life, but I can maintain it as long as I can. And it was. It was a big part of my life. And I sometimes wonder if it mattered a lot that it just. It didn't happen on New Year's. So, like, it made the momentum feel more durable to me. Just a thought I've had.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, that. That's a resolution. Doesn't matter if it's on New Year's or not. Just New Year's is a good way to try to wipe away the old year, go into the new year. I also just love New Year's Day. This New Year's Day was awful. Well, it was great until it wasn't because Oregon lost in a humiliating fashion. That's okay.

[Andrew Klavan]

Humiliating.

[Charlie Kirk]

Besides that, it was great news. It was humiliating. It was. It was awful.

[Andrew Klavan]

Wow.

[Charlie Kirk]

However, I. I love. Yes, I. I Do know that it was a surprise. It was not good. So. But I, I did go through my entire phone. I do this every year. I just kind of go through, like, oh, who are people I haven't contacted before and people I haven't reached out to and just spend a lot of time doing that and trying to just send a bunch of messages. I love doing that on New Year's. And so what are your. Anyone have a New Year's resolution to share?

[Blake]

I, you know, I do. So I said I read all those books in 2018, and then this is, you know, to TMI, but after, you know, after I had my thing in 2020. Google it, if you care. I, like, I didn't read a book for six months and I read a lot more than I did after that happened. But I do want to. I want to try to read 50 this year. 101 will be hard. I'm busier than I was in 2017. But I want to read 50 books, one every single week, roughly.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah, my resolution is I got to finish my Sabbath book. Go ahead.

[Andrew Klavan]

No, you go. Go for it, Charlie.

[Charlie Kirk]

No, I just said I want to finish the Sabbath book. I want to read. I wanted to read 100 books, but we'll see if I get there. Audiobooks count. And yeah, I have some other resolutions too. Just health stuff that I want to hit. Go ahead, Andrew.

[Andrew Klavan]

Yeah, I just want to. I was reflecting on what Jack said. You know, I think Resolute and what Blake said, that there's this built in social acceptance to just fail at your resolutions. I would say I'll answer both questions. What is my resolution? I feel like I'm still living up to a resolution that I am bounded and determined to keep. And I'll, you know, maybe this is too much behind the scenes, but Charlie and I and a few others were in a small room probably about four years ago. Charlie, I want to say maybe it was five years ago where we mapped out how we wanted to see the Charlie Kirk show grow.

[Charlie Kirk]

I remember that.

[Andrew Klavan]

And, and we put it all on a whiteboard and we, we mapped it out and I took pictures of it. And I still look back at that picture. I would say probably once a month, once every two months. And I, and I check how we're going, and we're still not, we're not all the way there yet. But I would say that we're closer to being there than we've ever been. And, and that makes me really excited. The other thing I would say, so I, I would say that Resolutions, you tr. It's a built in psychology. If you know that you're not going to keep a resolution, then, then they're useless. But the second you, you, you honor a promise that you make to yourself that your yes, be yes and you're no be no, the more that you believe in yourself internally and you do build this momentum. Kind of like what Blake was talking about. As soon as he took one step in the right direction and he didn't, you know, eat food the next day, he ended up gaining momentum. And I think that's the psychology of resolutions, is that once you do, once you actually honor something that's hard internally and mentally for you, the next day is easier and you keep going. And all of a sudden you build this momentum and the psychology shifts to becoming from I'm not going to do this. Why am I even trying to do this? To wow, I can't believe I made it this far. I really want to keep going. And once you turn that corner, something really profound and powerful happens and you become a much more powerful person when you start honoring your own resolutions to yourself. So I would say wherever you're at, I love resolutions. They don't have to come at New Year's, but do something really hard and make yourself keep doing it and you will become a powerful, more powerful person as a result of that. And you can actually trust yourself when you commit to doing something that you're going to follow through. And that's a really powerful way to live your life.

[Charlie Kirk]

Well said, Andrew. Thank you, guys. Jack, Blake, everyone. Email us your New year's resolutions, freedom charliekirk.com, we'll be back with another show on Thursday. Thanks so much. Talk to you soon. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. Email us. As always, freedomarliekirk.com thanks so much for listening and God bless.

[Blake]

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