Trump's Cabinet Will Change D.C. Forever

Summary

The Charlie Kirk Show Episode: Trump's Cabinet Will Change D.C. Forever Release Date: January 11, 2025

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of The Charlie Kirk Show, host Charlie Kirk delves into the pivotal confirmations of Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and explores their potential impact on Washington, D.C. The episode also tackles pressing issues such as the devastating wildfires in California and the impending ban of TikTok in the United States. Featuring insightful conversations with Senator Eric Schmidt and Isabel Brown, along with a critical update from San Bernardino County Fire Chief Dan Munsey, this episode offers a comprehensive look at the conservative landscape shaping America’s future.

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Conversation with Senator Eric Schmidt: Strategic Confirmations and Legislative Strategies

Timestamp: [00:00 – 16:25]

Key Topics:

1. Greenland’s Strategic Importance
2. Confirmation of Trump’s Cabinet Nominees
3. Legislative Strategies: One Bill vs. Two Bills
4. MAGA Influence in the Republican Party

Highlights & Notable Quotes:

• Greenland’s Geopolitical Significance:

  • Charlie Kirk emphasizes the strategic importance of Greenland, stating, “China, Russia, or the United States will end up controlling Greenland. Take your pick.” [02:22]
  • Senator Eric Schmidt underscores the geopolitical stakes, mentioning, “We have the opportunity to get the natural resources and the strategic advantage in Greenland.” [02:31]

• Trump’s Cabinet Confirmations:

  • The discussion highlights key nominees like Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, and Sean Duffy, with Senator Schmidt expressing strong support: “Pam Bondi will be a slam dunk pick. She is tough as nails and a reformer.” [06:41]
  • Charlie Kirk praises the Senate's efforts: “Pete Hegseth is now almost a guarantee to be confirmed.” [05:35]

• Legislative Strategy:

  • Senator Schmidt advocates for a two-bill approach, emphasizing early wins: “Let’s get some early wins and then continue to work on a second reconciliation package in the summer.” [11:01]
  • Charlie Kirk counters the one-bill argument by highlighting the need for momentum: “If you get an early border bill, reconciliation, we can build up momentum.” [13:00]

• MAGA’s Enduring Influence:

  • Senator Schmidt reflects on the party’s transformation under Trump, stating, “Trump is the leader of our party... representing the people who do that hard work every day is exactly where we ought to be.” [15:01]

Analysis: Senator Eric Schmidt provides a detailed update on the confirmation process for Trump’s cabinet nominees, emphasizing the strategic importance of securing key positions to advance the administration’s agenda. The conversation navigates the complexities of legislative strategies, advocating for a dual-bill approach to secure early victories and maintain leverage against opposition. Additionally, Schmidt highlights the enduring impact of MAGA on the Republican Party, reinforcing Trump’s pivotal role in shaping its direction and priorities.

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Wildfires in San Bernardino: An Update with Fire Chief Dan Munsey

Timestamp: [16:25 – 26:44]

Key Topics:

1. Current Status of Fires in San Bernardino
2. Challenges in Firefighting Efforts
3. Causes of Wildfires
4. Community Action and Prevention

Highlights & Notable Quotes:

• Fire Status and Challenges:

  • Fire Chief Dan Munsey reports, “We've been doing pretty well in San Bernardino County. Our firefighters are keeping the fire small.” [17:45]
  • Addressing water shortages, Munsey explains, “You have more water flowing out of the system than what's flowing into the system.” [19:46]

• Causes of Wildfires:

  • Munsey attributes over half of the wildfires to human negligence: “Over half of our wildfires that we respond to are human-caused by negligence.” [23:31]
  • He also highlights the role of homelessness in exacerbating fire risks: “About 25% could be attributed to some sort of homelessness activity.” [23:40]

• Community Action:

  • Munsey urges listeners to take proactive measures: “Start with your house, making sure you're meeting with contractors, ensuring your house is constructed safely.” [25:22]

Analysis: Fire Chief Dan Munsey provides a sobering account of the wildfire situation in San Bernardino County. He details the logistical challenges faced, particularly regarding water supply and infrastructure limitations that hinder firefighting efforts. Munsey identifies human negligence and homelessness as significant contributors to the increasing frequency and magnitude of wildfires. He calls for community engagement and proactive measures to prevent future disasters, emphasizing the critical role of individual responsibility in mitigating fire risks.

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The TikTok Debate: Preserving Free Speech and Economic Stability with Isabel Brown

Timestamp: [26:44 – 36:48]

Key Topics:

1. Impact of TikTok on Gen Z Conservatism
2. Implications of a TikTok Ban
3. Economic Ramifications for Small Businesses
4. Free Speech Concerns and Data Privacy

Highlights & Notable Quotes:

• TikTok’s Role in Shaping Conservative Youth:

  • Isabel Brown asserts, “TikTok has been instrumental in making Gen Z more conservative, largely because of accounts like yours, Donald Trump’s, and others engaging with young people.” [27:37]
  • Charlie Kirk reinforces the platform’s influence: “President Trump would not have won the presidency without TikTok.” [36:03]

• Potential Ban and Free Speech:

  • Isabel Brown emphasizes the free speech implications: “This is a matter of First Amendment freedom of expression rights for all American citizens.” [32:02]
  • She references Supreme Court precedent, stating, “Free speech rights in America don’t just protect what you say out loud, but also protect what the Supreme Court called your right to receive.” [32:22]

• Economic Impact of a TikTok Ban:

  • Brown warns, “There are quite literally millions of American small businesses that have been built up thanks to TikTok alone. This could yield a massive unemployment rise.” [34:01]
  • She criticizes the motivations behind the ban, arguing, “Mark Zuckerberg admitted... that the Biden administration forced them to censor certain content and provide American data to the federal government.” [34:22]

• Preserving TikTok for Conservative Momentum:

  • Isabel Brown envisions, “If President Trump saves TikTok, it would protect the red wave conservative movement and encourage conservative values to thrive.” [35:32]

Analysis: Isabel Brown presents a compelling case against the imminent TikTok ban, highlighting the platform’s significant role in fostering conservative sentiments among Gen Z. She underscores the potential loss of a critical voice for young conservatives and the economic fallout for millions of small businesses reliant on TikTok for growth and visibility. Brown also raises serious concerns about free speech and data privacy, challenging the government’s justifications for the ban. Her advocacy underscores the importance of preserving platforms that enable open dialogue and support economic diversity within conservative circles.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Charlie Kirk effectively navigates through the intricate landscape of political confirmations, environmental crises, and digital freedoms. Through in-depth discussions with Senator Eric Schmidt and Isabel Brown, alongside vital insights from Fire Chief Dan Munsey, the episode paints a vivid picture of the current conservative movement’s challenges and triumphs. From securing Trump’s cabinet to combating wildfires and defending free speech on social media, The Charlie Kirk Show offers listeners a thorough analysis of issues critical to America’s future.

Key Takeaways:

• The strategic confirmation of Trump’s cabinet nominees is poised to reshape D.C. with a focus on national security and conservative reforms.
• Wildfires in California are escalating due to human negligence and infrastructural deficiencies, calling for enhanced community and governmental action.
• The potential ban of TikTok poses significant threats to free speech, economic stability for small businesses, and the conservative influence among young Americans.

Notable Quotes Recap:

• Charlie Kirk: “We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives. And we are going to fight for free freedom on campuses across the country.” [00:50]
• Senator Eric Schmidt: “We have a very unique historical position where we have the House and the Senate and the White House to get this stuff done and deliver.” [15:01]
• Isabel Brown: “The only reason that these conservative values are becoming trendy and cool again is because young people are confronting them where they are in a language they understand.” [28:38]

For more insights and to get involved with Turning Point USA, visit freedomarliekirk.com.

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Transcript

[Charlie Kirk]

Hey, everybody. To the Charlie Kirk Show. Senator Schmidt joins us. The latest news of getting Donald Trump's cabinet confirmed to fulfill the mandate. And then also we cover the LA fires and should we ban TikTok? That is the question. We have Isabel Brown to discuss. Email us. As always, freedomarliekirk.com subscribe to our podcast. Open up your podcast application and type in Charlie Kirk show and get involved with Turning Point [e-mail] that is tpusa.com Buckle up, everybody. Here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus. I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

[Charlie Kirk]

Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

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.

[Charlie Kirk]

We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives. And we are going to fight for free 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 [e-mail] that is noblegoldinvestments.com it's where I buy all of my gold. Go to Noble Gold Investments dot com. Joining us now is Senator Eric Schmidt, who does a phenomenal job. Senator, thank you for taking the time. Senator, update us. What is the confirmation schedule that we are looking at here? Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, Sean Duffy. What are we looking at?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Hey, before we get to that, how was Greenland? I haven't talked to you. How was.

[Charlie Kirk]

Oh, so it was, it was incredible.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I'm on, I'm on record. When we get it, we're going to call it Macedonia. Okay?

[Charlie Kirk]

I love it. I love it. And President Trump can have a northern winter White House called Maga Igloo. Instead of Mara Igloo, it'll be Mara Igloo. It was incredible. The people are just wonderful people. They love America. They do not like the Danes. It is some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen. Just untouched frontier, as serene as it gets. And finally, you just got a little window talking to the people, the untapped natural resources there, from the oil to the lithium to the nickel to the rubies to the gold to the silver. It's truly extraordinary. So it was, was honored to be able to go with Don, there.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I don't think people should discount this. I think this is an important tenet of new American realism. I'm serious about this. People are tired of the 200 billion for Ukraine when the Chinese control the Panama Canal. And we have the opportunity to get the natural resources and the strategic advantage in Greenland. So stay tuned on this. I don't think this issue is going away. I'm glad you got a chance to go up there.

[Charlie Kirk]

No. And look, people can make fun of it, but there is significant geopolitical reasons for Greenland, part of the United States natural resource reasons. And the way to look at it is either China, Russia, or the United States will end up controlling Greenland. Take your pick. And consolidating North American and hemispheric hegemony is critical. As China rises, we need to have a safe haven of a hemispheric free society. And the Panama Canal is critical that, and so is Greenland. So, Senator, we need you to carry that.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, no, no, I mean, and also with space, China's.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yes.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

You know, they're coming in a real way, and that's a strategic location for sort of the next frontier. I mean, whoever controls, you know, China might declare the moon entirely there, so ever gets to Mars first. So this isn't science fiction stuff. This is part of securing America's future. So I think it's important.

[Charlie Kirk]

And yeah, we will have the Gulf of America and then we can have the moon of America. We'll see. All right, Senator, speaking of space force, that is under Pete Hegseth's potential jurisdiction. Pete Hegseth went from the media saying he was dead and on life support. Now to looking as if it's almost a guarantee he will be confirmed. Is that the correct analysis? And what is the schedule in front of us?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, so Pete Hexth will be in front of the Armed Services Committee, in which I serve on Tuesday. And I think that's right. I think that as much as they tried to ratchet up some sort of outrage, as they always do, Pete's the right guy for the job. And I think you look at the consistent theme of all the picks that President Trump has picked with the view that he ran, you know, as much as it was R and D, it was disruptor versus establishment. And all of these picks are coming in as reformers, and we need that at the Pentagon. And so what, you know, what I've talked to Pete about, and I think what he's committed to doing is first and foremost getting rid of DEI immediately. We've been able to make some gains in recent years. But this is divisive. It has no place in our military. We shouldn't be dividing the room by oppressor and oppressed. We need to have the most lethal fighting force in the world, and that's the goal. So I think he's going to do that. A real focus on China and then also procurement reform. I mean, we've got to be able to do things better and more efficiently than we're doing right now. And I think Pete's going to come in there and have a cultural shift. He's also a war fighters warfighter. Right. Like this guy served. I think he's going to command respect. And don't underestimate the ability for us to recruit. When they see somebody like Pete Hegseth leading the Pentagon, as opposed to somebody like Lloyd Austin, who, you know, famously was wearing the. The mask in the Philippines during COVID disaster.

[Charlie Kirk]

No, it was more than the mask, Senator. It was the mask with the visor, with the entire kind of. He was wearing the face mask and then he had the shield. Yeah, the face shield, which was just a joke. Not to mention, remember, Secretary Austin was privately hospitalized without informing the chain of command. This happened. And he was. We really didn't have like a secretary of defense for some time, which is just completely outrageous. So this is important, everybody. Pete Hegseth looked as if he was just dead to rights. It was over. And you in this audience helped pull Pete Hegseth across the finish line. You took out your shovels, you did the ditch work that was necessary. And here we are. Peter, Pete Hegseth is now almost a guarantee to be confirmed. We drew a red line. We said, Ms. Ernst, back off, and turns as if the message was heard loud and clear. Senator, the, the other confirmations, can you explain to our audience how you do confirmations even before the Trump administration begins? Can you just explain how that all works?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, so we were, you know, the new Congress has sworn in, and so the president takes the oath of office on January 20th in 10 days. Can't come soon, but we're, we're in session, so we got committees organized this week. It was our first week back. And so we're trying to line up these confirmation hearings as fast as we can and try to get some of them done by confirmation day or, you know, January 20th for President Trump so he can get moving. So I think the Senate's pretty committed to moving these confirmations quickly. We've got Pete Hegseth on Tuesday and Pam Bondi will be on Wednesday. So I'm also on the Judiciary Committee. We'll be hearing from Pam on Wednesday. And she's a slam dunk pick. I mean, I know Pam from State Ag World. She is tough as nails. She's serious. She's a reformer. She's going to come into doj, an agency, of course, as everyone watching knows, has been weaponized against political opponents, been weaponized against Catholics, been weaponized against parents who showed up to school board meetings during COVID I mean, it's totally lost its way. She's gonna restore credibility and get it back to its core mission of taking on violent crime. And we've got a lot of that to take on in cities across the country.

[Charlie Kirk]

Senator, the Senate schedule is gonna be rather ambitious. Can you kind of bring us into the room? President Trump took D.C. by storm the last couple of days. I talked to a couple lawmakers. They said, yeah, you know, we had an ambitious schedule. Then President Trump mentioned another 55 things he wants to get done. Bring us into the room. What was it like hearing from President Trump in D.C. these last couple of days?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Well, you know, I was. I was down in Mar a Lago the week before. We came back and got to spend some time with him. And even there, man, he's just ready to roll. Like, he loves America. You know this. He's ready to go in, and he's picking his team, and we want to get his team on the field as quickly as possible. But he came in, he was on Capitol Hill on, I guess that was Wednesday, came to our Senate conference. I know he's meeting with a lot of House members this weekend in Mar a Lago, but he understands, and I certainly understand. I think my colleagues understand. Part of the important thing of leadership is understanding the moment that you're in. Right. We have a very unique opportunity with him winning the mandate, having control of the House and the Senate to actually deliver for the American people, and we can't squander a day. So we're talking about these confirmations. To get his team on the field and have reform on the inside, that's important. But also, as we look to securing the border, as we look to being energy dominant, as we look to restoring our place in the world, having an economy that works for working families. So it's gonna be busy. So if you think about it, the Senate has the confirmation duty. We're gonna be doing all that. We're gonna be working on that. We're also gonna be working with CRAs to overturn some late rules that Joe Biden put into place the kind of Trump proof will be doing that and then working on this reconciliation package. My view is I want to get some wins on the board as quickly as possible for President Trump. I don't want to squander anytime, including the first hundred days. So, you know, we're having an internal discussion. Is that one bill? Is that two bills?

[Charlie Kirk]

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[Senator Eric Schmidt]

So if you think about this, because we have both chambers, we have the ability to move forward what's called reconciliation, meaning if it's dealing with these budget issues and budget savings, we in the Senate, we don't need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. We just need 51 votes and we've got 53 votes. So reconciliation provides us a great opportunity to not have to rely on Democrats for any votes on the big ticket items that we want to get done. And so the question then is the House is sort of, hey, we want to do one bill. And I'm sympathetic in the sense that these are well meaning folks who have a very, very slim majority. We have a slightly bigger majority in the Senate. But my issue is, I think you look at what spent a lot of time with President Trump on the trail as you did, he was very consistent about securing the border, being energy dominant, all those things. I just want to make sure we get some wins. On the board early. I don't want to squander that time period where people are, you know, November wasn't that far in the rearview mirror. People understand what that election was all about. We can go do it. And then you've got the issues as the, you know, the tax cuts from 2017 are set to expire at the end of 2025. Right. So we've got all year to make sure that gets done. What I don't want to see, and my concern is with one bill, is that we get to March and we haven't done any of these big ticket items. We're going to be in a spending fight and a debt ceiling fight with the Democrats then. And if we haven't had any points on the board, it's just going to feel like I don't, you know, I want to get, I want to deliver early. And we're going to have leverage to get those tax cuts extended and make them permanent because they expire. So we have our own leverage on that to get that done. So my feeling is let's not empower Chuck Schumer to have any more leverage than we need to. Let's get this stuff done before March when we have those sets CR and debt ceiling fight and then continue to work on a second reconciliation package in the summer. Because worst case scenario, I just don't want to be in July and August not having got a lot of the.

[Charlie Kirk]

Stuff done that President Trump ran on that's so important. And also if you have one big bill and fails, that's your whole legislative agenda potentially. Right. And if you get an early border bill, reconciliation, we can build up momentum. What is the argument for one bill? I've heard it. Let's just kind of steel man that. And who is the one. This is not a criticism. I'm friends with a lot of them. It seems like the House is more in favor of one bill and the Senate is more in favor of two bills. Is that correct?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah, that's right. The House, at least right now, or what Speaker Johnson has articulated, although I'm not sure that's a uniform position in the House. But look, I'm sympathetic that it's a, it's not an easy task with a 1 to 3 vote majority over there on this stuff. But the argument for them is, hey, we won't get a second bite of the apple. We gotta make sure we have everything in one. So it'll provide maximum leverage to make sure everybody's getting what they want in one big bill. I will say though, that I think the Senate Senate Republicans are unified in our belief. And I'm not sure there's a dissenting opinion that we ought to break this up and let's get some early wins. And so look, ultimately this is President Trump's call and I think we are all committed to getting this done and, you know, securing those wins. This is just a, you know, a strategic discussion. It's an ongoing discussion of it's one bill or two, we're all on the same team. And like I said, President Trump's the quarterback. He's ultimately make the call. But I think objectively the best strategy here is to get one, you know, a border package done early and then let's deal with the other stuff later in the year.

[Charlie Kirk]

So, final question. I heard from somebody who was in some of these meetings yesterday on President Trump's team. They said it was a remarkably different type of tone being around the Senate conference than it was in 2019 or 2020. It was seems that there was an agreement amongst the senators that this was Trump's party and that MAGA was here to stay. Did you get that sense with your meetings with President Trump these last couple of days?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Absolutely. Now, look, I came in the 2022 cycle. I think one of the things that's also true is you have a, a younger group of members that have come in since 2018, really, that, you know, have, you know, when Trump has been on the stage, I think it's, it's transformed our conference in many ways to sort of America first. But Trump is, you know, it's, it's not disputed at all that he's the leader of our party. And by the way, the reason we have 53 votes in the Senate and why we have a House majority and why we are the party of American workers now, we are a broad based party with great opportunities ahead. Now, one of the things that you guys did really well at Turning Point was that means with that broader base, we have more lower propensity voters. So we gotta make sure people show up and vote. But this is the path moving forward. And I do think in that room, everybody understood the role that President Trump played for us to be in this very unique historical position where we have the House and the Senate and the White House to get this stuff done and deliver. So I don't think there's any disputing that at all. And I'm very much at home in this party, Charlie. I grew up in a working class, blue collar neighborhood in the St. Louis area. And so to have our party now representing the people who do that hard work every day is exactly where we ought to be.

[Charlie Kirk]

Senator, you do a great job. We'll see you next week at the inauguration. Thanks so much.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

All right, brother, we'll see you.

[Charlie Kirk]

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[Dan Munsey]

Thank you, Charlie. Hey, I'm sorry you don't have any partners right now, but I'll see if I can fill that gap. We've been doing pretty well in San Bernardino County. Our firefighters are keeping the fire small. We've had about half the wind speeds I think we've seen in la, and we were blessed a couple days ago to start getting a little snow on our upper elevations. All that's been real helpful with keeping our fire small. We have sent quite a few resources over to LA county and LA City. Our hearts are just with our brother and sisters over there. They got a tough job with what they're facing. This kind of devastation in 29 years. I'd love to say it's unheard of, but it just seems like it's becoming more and more commonplace. Over the last 20 years, the fires have just increased in magnitude frequency. I think it's double what it was when I first started. It's a shame. And it's not lack of effort by these firefighters. The acts of bravery that we've witnessed that we've heard the stories from, talking to the fire chiefs in this area. They are fully committed and engaged and definitely have saved. While it doesn't seem like it, they've seen save billions of dollars of property and save countless humans lives. And I think that's going to be the true testament as we walk away from this is what can we do different as we move in the future? What could we have done differently in the heat of the moment, but at the same time recognizing the efforts of the men and women that truly put their lives on the line. One story, for instance, I was talking to one of our strike team leaders that's over in the Palisades. And at the time I talked to him, he said he hadn't slept in 36 hours and his crews were still actively fighting fire. That's what our firefighters are facing year round. It's not just the fire season anymore. It's January. This is a new year. This is not supposed to happen, but this is a reality that we face.

[Charlie Kirk]

So. So explain to me as a layman how it's possible that fire hydrants don't have water and that there's a lack of water to fight fires. Help, help me understand that as a layman.

[Dan Munsey]

You know, I live in a small house. If I take a shower before my wife and I go too long, she doesn't have a hot water. Why? It's because you only have so much water in tanks and a hot water heater, it needs to heat up. Right. The same thing's occurring here. So you have more and more firefighters taking water in the system. Look at that fire. I mean, there's. You need hundreds of thousands of gallons a minute to be able to combat something like this. You essentially have more water flowing out of the system than what's flowing into the system. Number one, you deplete your reservoirs. The second is our water systems in our urban areas, especially in what we're showing on the video right now, they're not gravity fed. They're often fed by pumps. These pumps could be supplying tanks that are on hills that are gravity feds. But often it's used to pump the pressure. So when you see these kind of trees that are on fire in these houses, you can imagine utilities are also affected. You lose power to your pumps and now you have less pressure. Finally, look at this house that's burning down. What you're going to find when these houses are done burning is that the water is just running out of this house until you go turn the water meter off so you have so much water that's being wasted as well. It's with this kind of devastation on this kind of scale, it's absolutely predictable that your water system is just not going to be able to maintain the fire flow that's required. Fire flow is just never designed designed for this. And I would go further and say it's not really even feasible to examine. You know, how do you increase the pressure, how do you increase the diameter of the pipes? We're talking billions of dollars in infrastructure that would be required for this. Now, the state of California did a good thing. They sent a lot of water tenders into the fire. But let's talk a little about that. A water tender is a truck that's going to carry 2,500 gallons or larger is what the state requested. They're going to have to go find a water hydrant that has water and then drive back and supply these fire trucks. And then they're going to turn around again and they're going to go find water. At times they might find a static water source like a pool or a lake, generally fresh water, and they'll draw water from that. But it's very time consuming. So one of the best things we can start doing is restoring the water system. Utilities as a whole is going to be very impactful in these particular areas of until they're able to do that.

[Charlie Kirk]

So help me understand. I mean, wouldn't part of the problem based on what you're describing is a water supply? And so just capturing more water from rainfall would definitionally then help the supply and you would have a surplus. There's billions of tons of water that very well could be captured from rainfall that they let go into the ocean, right?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Dan Munsey]

Storm drainage. I'm not a water manager. I spent a couple of years elected in our water district. So I think you're right. There is a lot of water that we allow to return to the sea. And there's a wide variety of reasons of why that's occurring. Having that water that's available that we can use for firefighting is always going to be beneficial. But in reality too, I'm going to go back to the scale of this fire. You can only put so much water on the fire. There's only so many firefighters. Having an uninterrupted supply of water isn't going to stop this fire. It may save more structures, definitely. It may save human lives, definitely. But we're talking about an absolute natural disaster. We're talking about high wind speeds, we're talking about ember casts. There was a video earlier of embers just being blown by the wind. Those embers are traveling at times up to two miles. They're catching vegetation on fire. They're getting up underneath the eaves of houses. They're starting spot fires. As a firefighter, you're chasing the fire at this point. You're not making a defensive stand and stopping the fire with any kind of control breaks.

[Charlie Kirk]

Okay, so let's go to arson. How many of these fires do you think might be responsible for people setting them? Homelessness and arson related?

[Dan Munsey]

As an industry, I think we do pretty well, knowing that conditions have been hot and dry. We've been putting out the signage, we've been doing radio announcements. We literally, in San Bernardino, we fly our helicopters over the homeless areas and announce to them when danger is going to occur. At the end of the day, unfortunately, a lot of the fire service is in business because people tend to do unsmart things. They're negligent. There are several fires that are caused each year in our jurisdiction, other jurisdictions by homelessness. There's a wide variety of why the homelessness have fires. And in the case of this January, it's just simply cold and they have warming fires or they may be cooking food or cooking other things. They are using it to sometimes make money. If theft, for instance, if they're stealing copper wires, they'll strip the coverings of the copper wires. All of these fires have the chance of getting out of control. But we also have citizens doing things like this. Unfortunately, a couple of fires have been on more than once have been citizens that have been outside welding on days that have fire dangers and that just a little spark gets into a brush, next thing you know you have a large fire. So this is a problem. If I were to give you a percentile, I would say that over half of our wildfires that we respond to are home are human, caused by negligence. Maybe about 25% could be attributed to some sort of homelessness activity. But generally we're keeping those fires pretty small. They don't tend to just go make a warming fire in an area that they know that's going to spread the vegetation because they want to really be left alone.

[Charlie Kirk]

So, Dan, just in closing here, what can people do to help this tragedy here?

[Dan Munsey]

Thank you. I think you can always donate to the United Way and Red Cross at These points, we have people that want to volunteer and help look to those organizations. Typically, the fire agencies will be inundated by people wanting to help out. But remember that we're totally engaged in this fire. We're going to remain engaged in these fires for quite some time. You can also donate money to those organizations that'll help those in needs. Really what I need you to do to move forward though, is realize as citizens, you're a part in keeping fires small. We need you to work with your local fire authorities. Please go to their websites, look at what fire safety looks like in your particular area. Almost 80% of Californians live in a wildland urban interface. That's a huge percentage of our population. Start with your house, making sure you're meeting with contractors, you're making sure that your house is constructed in a safe manner, prevent quality fire, that you're following those guidelines that you'll find on the websites about removing fuels away from your house, that you're examining. The trees, the shrubs, the grasses, removing them, creating fire breaks around your property will keep those fires from spreading and destroying your house. My heart goes out to the LA city and LA county firefighters that are working so hard and citizens that have lost their houses. Charlie, thank you for highlighting these issues and having me as a guest.

[Charlie Kirk]

Thank you. Thanks, Dan. God bless you. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Okay, now getting to our next guest. You guys can email us. Freedom. CharlieKirk.com is Isabel Brown. Isabel Brown is very popular on TikTok. TikTok, by the way, is scheduled to be banned in the United States on the 19th of January. Coming up in nine days from now, it's gonna be in the hands of President Trump. The law gives President Trump the ability to either keep the ban or to allow TikTok to operate or to allow it under what could be some sort of a settlement. But in the meantime, the Supreme Court may or may not strike, strike down the law, allow TikTok to continue to operate. Over 170 million Americans use TikTok and we reach billions of people on TikTok. Joining us now is Isabel Brown. Isabel, welcome to the program. Isabelle, talk about the profound impact that TikTok has had making Gen Z more conservative.

[Isabel Brown]

Well, the truth is, Charlie, we wouldn't be preparing for a Trump inauguration in just over a week if it weren't for TikTok. It has been a astounding to see the impact that that campaign had on one social media platform. In fact, according to TikTok employees, Trump is outperforming his performance on every other social media platform on TikTok by a factor of five. So he's five times more impactful on TikTok than anywhere else. But of that nearly 200 million Americans that you just mentioned that use the platform every single day, about 70% of those individuals our Generation Z are this next great generation that we're starting to see become overwhelmingly conservative, largely because of accounts like yours, Donald Trump's, and so many others engaging with young people in an authentic, honest conversation that feels a lot more tangible and accessible on TikTok than it does on Meta or YouTube per se.

[Charlie Kirk]

What would a ban of TikTok mean for conservative creators and the progress we've been making to make Gen Z Red?

[Isabel Brown]

What's been really fascinating this last week is that there's been a much larger conversation opening up related to free speech on social media, not just from the First Amendment perspective, but from content policy and moderation perspectives too. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg just said they're backtracking on Meta to get rid of fact checkers and censorship of conservative ideas, largely because of TikTok. Now, I know we've all had our frustrations with certain censorship issues and accounts accounts getting shut down over the last several years, but I've been screaming from the rooftops for about a year and a half that only one platform has been regularly reaching out to myself and other conservative creators to insist that we have a home on their platform, and that is TikTok. Frankly, the only reason that these conservative values are becoming trendy and cool again is because young people are confronting them where they are in a language they understand.

[Charlie Kirk]

Making America Great Again starts with Making America Healthy again. Charlie Kirk here. I lost 40 pounds with the PhD weight loss loss and nutrition program and two years later I haven't gained a pound back. I started the PhD weight loss program because I need to be healthy to keep up with my crazy schedule. Most people start a weight loss program to get healthier. So why is Big Pharma spending millions to convince you to use their weight loss injections that do just the opposite. They have harmful side effects and lifelong dependency. Take a natural approach that isn't connected to a big pharmacy Pharma Bottom line, PhD changes the way you think about food. They custom design a plan that is simple and works with your schedule. You'll learn to quiet cravings and finally release the unhealthy belly fat. You won't be hungry and you'll never take medication. Call 864-644-1900 to schedule your one on one consultation or visit myphdweightloss.com that is myphdweightloss.com 864-644-1900 let me play some pieces of tape here of some of our viral moments on TikTok. Billions and billions of views. This video right here got 50 million views. Play cut 157. Are you voting for Kamala?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

I am.

[Charlie Kirk]

Okay. What is her. What is her greatest free speech?

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

Free speech?

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah. They have a safe. They have the freedom of speech to boo you. That's right. Do I have the freedom of speech? Okay, so if I boo them. If I boo them, then it's an impediment of freedom? No, but I just gave you an open mic for 15 minutes. Let's just tell me, what is Kamala Harris's greatest accomplishment? See, that's it. That's that question.

[Senator Eric Schmidt]

You can't.

[Charlie Kirk]

Okay, the greatest accomplishment that goes back to. That goes back to sort of establishing an extreme email. US freedom. Charliekirk.com TikTok is scheduled to be banned on the 19th. And I was a skeptic, and I saw the impact and the power that TikTok can have, so. Isabel, TikTok is scheduled to be banned on the 19th of January. The Supreme Court heard the case today. We have no idea how that case will end up. It might strike down the law, which is very unlikely. President Trump has it in his ability to save TikTok. The law allows the president to strike a deal to say what is a qualified divestiture. I was just reading about it. Do you think President Trump should save TikTok?

[Isabel Brown]

I absolutely do, Charlie. Namely, because this is a matter of first Amendment freedom of expression rights for all American citizens. I'd be really curious to hear everything that was said in the oral arguments today. But I do know this free speech angle was of the utmost importance for TikTok's legal team, and I'm sure will be based in existing Supreme Court precedent from a case back in the 1960s called Lamont v. Postmaster General. Way back then, American citizens wanted to receive propaganda that the United States government had deemed to be against national security from the then Communist Party of Russia. And ultimately, it was determined that your free speech rights in America don't just protect what you say, say out loud, but also protect what the Supreme Court called your right to receive. So when our federal government, namely Congress, from a bipartisan perspective, is making the argument that this is against the issues of national security currently occupied by the White House and by those on Capitol Hill, they're really ignoring this right to receive that Americans have baked into our Constitution to not just say something that might be unpopular, but to hear a difference of opinion as well.

[Charlie Kirk]

The ramifications for banning TikTok. How many, how, how many small businesses use TikTok? What are the economic potential ramifications here? Again, I think that something needs to be probably cleaned up on the data side. Make sure that American data is not shared with the Chinese Communist Party. Some sort of deal struck, maybe bring in a third party data company. I'm just thinking out loud here, but as a creator, I was super skeptical. And Isabel, you were like, no, you got to use TikTok. You got to use TikTok. We sent out this proclamation because we were banned so many times. We got banned from tik tok like 35 times. And Ryan was like, you got to keep posting. So we sent out this big tweet and we said, hey, if you're going to treat us fairly, we're going to keep posting. And now we got like five and a half million followers and billions and billions of views. And so what would the economic impact of such a TikTok ban be?

[Isabel Brown]

Oh, it can't be underscored, Charlie. There are quite literally millions of American small businesses that have been built up thanks to TikTok alone. In this post Covid era, that would essentially cease to exist almost instantaneously. Some economists are projecting this could yield a massive unemployment rise for Donald Trump taking office a week from Monday and would be catastrophic to the American economy. So that is certainly a concern. But as for this idea of American data, you know, I still have a very hard time believing that the true intention behind this law was to protect Americans data first and foremost. If this law is upheld by the Supreme Court, they are still allowed to hold onto nearly 200 million Americans data after TikTok ceases to operate in the United States. So that data is just already out there. And we have countless documented examples of meta selling your data to China, Russia and the US Government alike. Mark Zuckerberg admitted today on Joe Rogan that the Biden administration forced them to censor certain content and to provide American data to the federal government. Airbnb has been known to sell your data to the Chinese Communist Party. So I don't really think that's what's happening here. When you see this rare, bipartisan, overwhelming support happening on Capitol Hill from people who can't even agree on what the definition of a woman is, the hair on the back of my neck begins to stand up asking what's really the impetus for this, and I think so much of it has to do with with the free conversations happening on the platform.

[Charlie Kirk]

Final question here, Isabel. If President Trump saves TikTok, what would that mean for our worldview and for him? Would that be a big win?

[Isabel Brown]

Oh, it would be an endless win, Charlie. And I'm highly encouraging the president to do so. Not just to protect this red wave conservative movement we're seeing happen with young people, but to continue encouraging conservative values to thrive across Western civilization. This isn't just protecting free speech and the exchange of ideas for American citizens, but young people everywhere. And I'm incredibly excited to see where the movement goes.

[Charlie Kirk]

Isabel, great work. Thank you. I know you have many followers on TikTok, and I think President Trump benefited tremendously from TikTok. I don't know if he would have won the youth vote, and I do know this, he would not have won the presidency without the youth vote. Young people move dramatically in his direction. Boomers moved in Kamala Harris's direction. Boomers were three or four points towards Kamala Harris. Donald Trump would have lost the presidency. You can make an argument, it's a little bit of a reach, but it's there that President Trump might not have won the White House without TikTok. There's an argument to be made there because we know that he would not have won it without younger voters. Isabel, thank you so much. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. Text this episode to a couple friends and donate to turningpoint USA.com thanks so much for listening and God bless.

[Dan Munsey]

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