What Was No Kings Even About?

Summary

Podcast Summary: "What Was No Kings Even About?" The Charlie Kirk Show
Release Date: June 18, 2025

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Introduction

In the episode titled "What Was No Kings Even About?" hosted by Charlie Kirk, the conversation delves into the recent "No Kings" protests, exploring their significance, underlying motivations, and the broader socio-political implications. The episode features insightful discussions with Nate Friedman, an independent citizen journalist, alongside producers Daisy and Blake, who provide additional perspectives on international affairs, particularly focusing on the Middle East.

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I. Understanding the "No Kings" Protests

A. Overview of the Protest Movement

Charlie Kirk initiates the discussion by referencing the "No Kings" protest, critiquing the movement's effectiveness and underlying motives. He juxtaposes the protest against the recent actions taken by Democrat governors during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting perceived overreach and authoritarian measures such as lockdowns and mandatory vaccinations.

B. Nate Friedman's Investigation

Nate Friedman provides a critical analysis of the protests, unveiling the presence of organized, possibly funded, protesters aiming to sway public opinion.

• Exposure of Paid Protesters:
  "I just knew that that was going to be the case because no one behaves like that for free. I just refuse to believe that."
  (Timestamp: [05:16])

• Case Study of Karen Shaw:
  Nate identifies Karen Shaw as a professional protester with a history of participation in nearly 100 protests, suggesting that such individuals are salaried to influence movements.

• Financing and Organization:
  "She works for a company called Rise and Resist... their donation links are to act blue, so it gives you a starting idea of who's behind this."
  (Timestamp: [12:10])

C. Demographics and Diversity of Protesters

Nate observes that the protest demographics skew older and predominantly white, challenging claims about diversity within conservative movements.

• Age Diversity:
  "I met an older woman wearing a make Mexico make Mexico America again hat. And she was, you know, she was in her 70s and just, you know, such a hatred for America."
  (Timestamp: [12:33])

• Racial and Cultural Diversity:
  Charlie and Nate discuss the lack of diversity in these gatherings, emphasizing that while diversity is praised, it often lacks representation in reality.

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II. Middle East Focus: Iraq and Iran Dynamics

Transitioning from domestic protests, the show features a segment with producers Daisy and Blake, aimed at educating younger audiences about the complexities of Middle Eastern geopolitics.

A. Distinguishing Iraq and Iran

• Historical Context:
  Blake explains the difference between Iraq and Iran, including the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni leader, which has had long-term implications for regional stability.

B. Sunni vs. Shia Islam

• Religious Divisions:
  "The main type of Islam is called Sunni Islam.... In Iran, it's Shia."
  (Timestamp: [20:53])

• Impact on Regional Conflicts:
  The discussion highlights how these religious distinctions fuel conflicts, particularly Israel's adversarial stance towards both Sunni and Shia groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, respectively.

C. Iran's Nuclear Ambitions and Israel's Response

• Nuclear Program Concerns:
  "Benjamin Netanyahu... has been warning about Iran's nuclear program literally since the 90s."
  (Timestamp: [29:21])

• Israel's Strategic Strikes:
  Blake narrates Israel's recent strikes on Iranian targets, emphasizing the element of surprise and questioning the preparedness of Iranian leadership.

D. Proxy Warfare and International Alliances

• Hezbollah and Hamas:
  The role of Iran in supporting militant groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza is examined, illustrating Iran's use of proxy forces to exert influence without direct confrontation.

• China's Involvement:
  "China doesn't care as much about that. So they're willing to have trade with Iran."
  (Timestamp: [27:31])

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III. Notable Quotes and Insights

• Charlie Kirk on Grassroots Activism:
  "Grassroots journalism is the salvation of a free society."
  (Timestamp: [16:19])

• Nate Friedman on Media Influence:
  "They just refuse to answer because they know that if Trump were a dictator, they wouldn't let mass amount of people occupy his house."
  (Timestamp: [07:22])

• Discussion on Youth Awareness:
  Daisy reflects on generational gaps in understanding historical events, such as the Iranian hostage crisis and the death of Saddam Hussein, highlighting a disconnect in collective memory.

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IV. Conclusion

The episode "What Was No Kings Even About?" offers a multifaceted exploration of contemporary protests and international relations. Through Nate Friedman's investigative journalism and the educational segment with Daisy and Blake, listeners gain a deeper understanding of the orchestrated nature of certain protest movements and the intricate dynamics of Middle Eastern geopolitics. Charlie Kirk seamlessly integrates these discussions, underscoring the importance of informed activism and grassroots journalism in shaping public discourse.

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Key Takeaways:

• Organized Nature of Protests: The "No Kings" protests may involve paid participants aiming to manipulate public perception.

• Demographic Insights: Protests often lack the promised diversity, revealing a predominantly older and white demographic.

• Middle East Complexities: Understanding the Sunni-Shia divide is crucial for comprehending regional conflicts, particularly involving Iran and Israel.

• Proxy Warfare: Iran's support for groups like Hezbollah and Hamas exemplifies modern proxy wars, complicating international relations.

• Generational Knowledge Gap: Younger generations may lack awareness of significant historical events, impacting their understanding of current affairs.

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Final Thoughts

This episode emphasizes the necessity for critical thinking and thorough analysis of both domestic movements and international events. By shedding light on the orchestrated aspects of protests and the convoluted nature of Middle Eastern politics, Charlie Kirk and his guests encourage listeners to seek truth beyond headlines and engage in meaningful discourse.

Transcript

[Charlie Kirk]

Hey everybody. Charlie Kirk here. Live from the Bitcoin.com studio. We have a amazing, fearless citizen journalist join us. And then Daisy and Blake join us to talk about the war in Iran, what it means and from a historical perspective. Email US as always, freedomarliekirk.com and subscribe to our podcast. That is the Charlie Kirk show podcast page. Subscribe today and get involved at turningpoint [e-mail] that is tpusa.com Buckle up everybody. Here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

[Nate Friedman]

Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

[Blake]

I want you to know we are.

[Charlie Kirk]

Lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

[Blake]

Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

[Nate Friedman]

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 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 noblegoldinvestments.com this last weekend was the no Kings protest. No Kings they say. It's funny. They weren't doing no Kings protests when the most authoritarian thing of all happened in our country the last 30 years when the entire nation was locked down by Democrat governors and we were forced to take an MRNA gene altering vaccine against our will. And I was not allowed to visit the city of New York or, or Los Angeles without show me your papers. A vaccine passport. No Kings they say. It's funny when American military members were kicked out of the US Military because they would not take the COVID shot. The same party that selected and appointed Kamala Harris as the candidate with no election, no process like a zoom call thinks Trump is a king. The same party that prevented Bernie Sanders from becoming the nominee in 2016 and partially 2020 thinks that Trump is a king. Now no honest person looks at the situation and thinks that Trump is a dictator. Unless of course you are part of the resist AARP crowd. You see, it's very interesting. Besides the purple haired jihadis and the rank and file stormtroopers of the left, look at that picture here from the no Kings Protest. It looks old. It's kind of like the last gasp of the liberal boomer. Not all boomers are liberals. Not all boomers are liberals. We got great boomers in this audience. But look at that audience. That is an almost all white elderly crowd. Not that it matters what color of the skin that they are, but it's kind of interesting. But they're the ones who whine all the time if anything is too white. They say turning Point chapter meetings are too white. Turning Point USA college events are too white. I thought diversity was your strength. You guys don't have any. Age diversity, racial diversity, cultural diversity. Again, I'm not the diversity police. I don't care if you want to have an all white gathering. Who am I to say? But somebody who was on the front lines of the no Kings protest this last weekend and did a fabulous job is Nate Friedman, host of the Nate Friedman show, independent journalist. You can find him at YouTube@natefreedman97. Saw a great clip of his that I do want to play. But first, Nate, welcome to the program and please introduce yourself.

[Nate Friedman]

Thank you so much, Charlie. Yeah, my name is Nate Friedman. I'm an independent journalist. Boots on the ground journalist. And yeah, I speak to people on the street and just get to know what's really going on in this country.

[Charlie Kirk]

And so you were at the no Kings protest and you started, you did this very powerful video that I hope we have queued up somewhere where. Let's play it296. Where you identified some of these protesters. Do this for a living. Play cut. 296.

[Nate Friedman]

Here's my press credentials.

[Blake]

Okay, thank you.

[Nate Friedman]

Okay, so who are you with.

[Charlie Kirk]

Right now?

[Blake]

I am representing myself and I am representing the folks at Rise and Resist who have been.

[Nate Friedman]

Okay, so rise and Resist. How much. How much do they pay you to wear this vest?

[Daisy]

Absolutely nothing.

[Nate Friedman]

Really. So I did some digging and the woman trying to stop my interview is named Karen Shaw. She is a professional protester. I found her at almost 100 different protests. Let's look at her portfolio, shall we? Here's her outside Trump Tower saying, TikTok, time's up. Here's her saying, ban guns, not dragon. Amazing. This is her telling us that lies have consequences. She is also very passionate about abortion. Even in the video right now she's just wearing a hat that says abortion on it.

[Charlie Kirk]

Nate, she's made a career out of this.

[Nate Friedman]

Yeah, yeah. This is her second job, actually. So she's an associate director at Lincoln center and in New York City, which is a very prominent theater. It's beautiful theater, but she's all over the country, touring the country, protesting. And I just knew that that was going to be the case because no one behaves like that for free. I just refuse to believe that.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah. And so you kept on. Let's just say your research, you kept on examining it, and there's a whole group of these paid protesters. Is that correct?

[Nate Friedman]

That's right. That's right. Yeah. And I've met them personally and. And dealt with them personally.

[Charlie Kirk]

Tell us more.

[Nate Friedman]

Yeah, so when I went to the Takedown Tesla protest, almost immediately upon getting there, an older woman comes up to me and has a right wing troll arrow and follows me around the protest. Now, I hadn't even interviewed anyone up until that point. You know, I had asked someone for an interview, but I wasn't granted one yet. And then she comes along and she follows me and asks everyone I speak to to not talk to me. And that same arrow is at the no Kings protest. The printed the exact same way. And so the original older woman that I spoke to at the Tesla protest, I found her at, you know, 20, 30 different protests.

[Charlie Kirk]

20 and 30.

[Nate Friedman]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then all over the country to D.C. blocking the Capitol, stopping senators in the cafeteria, the whole. The whole deal. Then two more people come along, and I see that they're teammates, actually, that all the time, they're in pictures together. It's all in the Tesla takedown video. And so they all behave the same way. They're all telling each other like this, don't. Don't speak to him. Don't speak to him. And what's funny is they eat their own. So someone wants to speak. They say, I don't care who Nate is. I want to have a conversation. They say, no, no, no. Don't have a conversation. So you see them disagreeing with each other, and it's just. It's crazy because, you know, the left lost the election, so they should know that in order to win back votes, you have to have conversations with the other side. The other side won. Right? So it's interesting.

[Charlie Kirk]

Let's go to 279. This is at an ICE protest where he has a sign that says, I stand with Iran. He seems like a pleasant person. Play cut 279.

[Nate Friedman]

Hey, how you doing? My name is Nate. I'm just pressed, and I see you have a different kind of sign. Can you tell me about it? Sure. My sign says, I stand with Iran. They don't have a nuke. They never would want to nuke. America ever, ever, ever. I've been to Iran. And what about the supreme leader of Iran saying, like, death to America? Is that just, like, words?

[Blake]

Well, that's.

[Nate Friedman]

That's part of our propaganda indication when we get married.

[Charlie Kirk]

So, Nate, who is this guy? He doesn't seem like a spring chicken.

[Nate Friedman]

Yeah. So, funny thing about this. So I had to get this video. I wanted to get this video out to my audience as fast as possible. I later did find him at like six or seven different protests with this, you know, veterans association that he's with. But this guy, he did speak to me for over 10 minutes. And I have to. I always have respect for the people I'm interviewing. They are granting me an interview. They're willing to speak. That's. That's great. But I did. He did lie every two to three minutes. One of the biggest lies was that Hamas is. Or that Iran is not funding terrorism. And I just said, there's literally videos of Hamas thanking. Thanking Iran for money. I mean, so it's quite interesting how they just don't listen to facts. And then when I asked them, where's their source of news? Where. Where did he get his source of news? He said, iranian media. So there you go.

[Charlie Kirk]

Well, Iranian media is having a tough week. So. So, Nate, how did you get your start here?

[Nate Friedman]

Sure. So I got my start around the NATO summit of last year. When Biden called Zelensky Putin. I thought I just couldn't stay on the sidelines anymore. I thought, okay, this is. This is the national security risk. This person is obviously not running our country. So I was just curious, are people out on the street going to vote for him again? And I let each side talk. I wanted to hear from both sides. And I really just felt very passionate about having those conversations. Because polls are one thing, you know, but it doesn't give the country an idea of why are people voting for certain people. So I figured if I just let. If I just let people talk, then people will make up their own minds of what. What's the best person to vote for.

[Charlie Kirk]

Stay right there. Nate Friedman. You know, this is. You are part of an ever growing community of young dissident journalists. This is what Andrew Breitbart wanted to see this entire time. Andrew Breitbart always said, you have a phone, get out in the streets, ask a couple of questions, and, boy, he would be rejoicing to see people like yourself, people like frontlines, people like Kalin. We profile a lot of these dissident frontlines, grassroots journalists. It's what Helps keep the country free. So, Nate, good on you. We're honored to be partnering with Alan Jackson Ministries today. I want to tell you about a book by pastor Allen that you'll want to read. It's called God bless America Again. It tells the truth about our history, how our nation was formed on biblical principles, and the importance of protecting our Judeo Christian foundations as we move forward. God has given us an assignment to bring our faith into our world today. And here's the catch. It starts with focusing on our own attitudes. When you take time to understand how God has consistently blessed America, pouring his grace and mercy on us over and over again, it will give you hope for the days ahead. We cannot afford to forget our past, good and bad, or we will forfeit the best opportunities of our future. God Bless America Again. This book will sharpen your perspective on what it means to bring God's truth into our nation. Today. Alan Jackson ministries is working hard to bring back biblical truth back into our culture. Go to AlanJackson.com Charlie for free shipping on God bless America Again. That's Alan Jackson. A L l e n jackson.com Charlie I love what I learned from Alan Jackson and you will too. Alanjackson.com Charlie Nate Friedman continues. US let's go to cut 300. I don't give a about somebody being.

[Nate Friedman]

Jewish, Hindu, Muslim or anything like that. Okay.

[Blake]

Okay.

[Nate Friedman]

What song is that? What's your problem?

[Charlie Kirk]

Talk to me, man.

[Nate Friedman]

Yeah, this is so.

[Blake]

What. What you're trying to.

[Nate Friedman]

Yeah. Filming.

[Blake]

No.

[Nate Friedman]

Yeah. This is amazing. What song is that? We're gonna put you on YouTube. It sounds good.

[Charlie Kirk]

So she gets paid to go do this. I have a question. Do you have any idea who is financing this?

[Nate Friedman]

Yes. So she works for a company called Rise and Resist. So there are many non profits like this. So there's like Jewish voices for peace. There are many nonprofits that are funding this, and it goes all the way to the top. I'm still digging in. But, you know, their donation links are to act blue, so it gives you a starting idea of who's behind this.

[Charlie Kirk]

Yeah. And so the what. When you went to these protests, I'm sure there were a fair amount of young people, but it does skew older, doesn't it?

[Nate Friedman]

Yeah, yeah, it definitely does. And I met an older woman wearing a make a Mexico make make Mexico America again hat. And she was, you know, she was in her 70s and just, you know, such a hatred for America. It's. It's really sad to see that. You know, it's ironic that this is a no kings protest and they're all freely chanting against the king. You know, it just doesn't make any sense. You should.

[Charlie Kirk]

So, yeah, but so the coverage, what city did you cover this last week for the protests?

[Nate Friedman]

So this was New York City and.

[Charlie Kirk]

So the protests in LA got very unruly. This is obviously choreographed, obviously financed. I know you've not been doing this for quite some time, but you have good talent to be able to get in there and they're going to come after you anytime. And are they starting to recognize you?

[Nate Friedman]

Yeah, so unfortunately. So for example, when Trump Tower was occupied, I asked a question and I asked one of the leaders of the protest. First of all, oftentimes I'll try to speak to someone and they'll say, go and speak to our media person. They won't think independently for themselves, they'll just tell me to go speak to another person. So I speak to a person and I say, you know, is Trump a dictator? And they won't, they refuse to answer because they know that if Trump were a dictator, they wouldn't let mass amount of people occupy his wife and son's home. Right. So I've, they start to recognize me and I see this woman who works for this company called Jewish Currents, which is a magazine company that often works with Jewish Voices for Peace, which is a far left radical group, does not speak for the Jewish people, very anti Zionist and actually celebrated, you know, October 7th and you can see that it's paid for because this woman who's the leader of this protest, the only one that I'm qualified to speak to, so called, she is working for this Jewish Currents magazine and she's just there in the middle of the day, right? So that's just an example of what sort of happens. And also I went to a protest recently, one of those anti ice ones and these guys in cafe as you know, they're masked, they're masked up, sunglasses, everything and they walk up to me, they take a photo of my press ID and I say, do you want to ask me anything? Do you want to, do you want to speak to me? No. You know, you've got nothing to hide, right? You're press. And they just take photos of me and walk away. So yeah, it's not nice to have guys with cafe as walk up to you and take photos of your press id, but that's what I'm willing to risk when I'm out there in the field.

[Charlie Kirk]

And so in closing, here you, as a, as a young man, I'm Guessing you're Jewish, is that correct?

[Nate Friedman]

Yeah, that's right.

[Charlie Kirk]

And so this takes a lot of chutzpah for you to go out into the streets and you kind of see the protests. And what have you learned about the radical left that you wish other Americans and liberal Jews would know?

[Nate Friedman]

Yeah, absolutely. So, okay, so what I wish liberal Jews would understand is that Trump has been the best president of all time for Jewish people. It's very, very clear. He's so good to Israel. He moved the embassy to Jerusalem. His daughter. His daughter converted to Jerusalem. Judaism. He loves the Jewish people and he brought many hostages home. It's remarkable. And that alone should be enough. Bringing those people home should be enough. And he said he was gonna do it and he did. So that's what I wish liberal Jews would understand, that Trump is the best president for Jews.

[Charlie Kirk]

Really quick, we're running out of time. How can people support your channel and follow what you do and keep on doing it? Nate, we wanna work with you at Turning Point USA Frontlines. Grassroots journalism is the salvation of a free society. Please.

[Nate Friedman]

Absolutely. Nate Friedman, 97 on YouTube. I speak to everybody on this street. I speak to both sides. I never show bias in the interviews. I speak to both sides and just let you make your judgment of what you believe.

[Charlie Kirk]

Very good, Nate. Thank you so much. God bless you. Talk to you soon.

[Nate Friedman]

Thank you.

[Charlie Kirk]

Excellent. Every one of you has the capacity to do it. Few will do it. And that's what I love. Everyone in this audience could be a grassroots journalist, but few do. It takes courage. Why refi.com, private student loan debt in America totals about $300 billion. Why? Refi has been an amazing partner of us and it's only getting started. They were a huge supporter of our Young Women's Leadership Summit. Game changer. Largest ever. Go to yrefi.com that is yrefy.com youm don't have to ignore that mountain of student loan statements on your kitchen table anymore. Yrefi offers a 3 minute rate check without any credit impact. Go to yrefi.com let's face it, if you have distressed or defaulted private student loans, nobody is coming to bail you out and bankruptcy is not an option. But you could take charge of your situation by contacting yrefi. Go to yrefi.com that is yrefy.com that is yrefi.com Many clients are not able to even make the first monthly payment on their private student loans when they contact yrefi. Go to yrefi.com Again, they don't care what your credit score is. You, you got to check it out right [e-mail] why? Refi is not a debt settlement company. And they work with each borrower individually tailoring each loan. Each borrower's specific situation. You will not be calling a faceless call center. Go to yrefi.com that is yre f y dot com.

[Blake]

Hello there. I'm producer Blake. This is producer Daisy. Charlie had to head out a bit early to get to D.C. so we thought we could do a slightly different segment. People have been hearing a lot of news over the last few weeks. They've been hearing a lot about mullahs and bunker busting, bombs and nuclear programs and countries on the far side of the world. And we know a lot of our viewers are younger people. They're members of Gen Z. They may not know all the background to this. And so we thought it'd be a fun segment to have one of our producers who is a Gen Z' er, Daisy, join us. I'm a millennial, shamefully 25 and proud. So we heard that song, which. That was a song which.

[Daisy]

I hadn't heard that until today.

[Blake]

That is a song from right after 9 11. And you know, it says Daisy. Do you know the difference between Iraq and Iran?

[Daisy]

Yes. As in, I know they're two different countries, but I would be lying if I said I didn't think they were extremely similar. From my knowledge, they're both Muslim countries in the Middle East.

[Blake]

Yes. So we'll start there. So they're both Muslim countries in the Middle east and they are, in fact, right next to each other. I don't know if you guys want to grab a map of the Mid east really quick, but so you have. Iraq is a country. We invaded it in 2003. So 22 years ago, and we invaded it. It was run by a guy named Saddam Hussein. You know who Saddam was, right?

[Daisy]

Yes. And he was killed.

[Blake]

Yes, he was executed, actually. So they put him on trial. He was a bad dude. He was a dictator. He did like, he killed a lot of his own people. He was like your prototypical strong man.

[Daisy]

Was he killed by us?

[Blake]

Well, so technically we. We put him through a trial for bad things that he had done. He was sentenced to death and then he was hanged. And I think the Iraqi government technically hanged him because it was a somewhat sordid affair. There's. There was video of it. It was kind of disturbing to watch. We won't go into that.

[Daisy]

Well, I do. I. I Don't remember hearing about Saddam Hussein. I do remember. And it's a running thing on TikTok that everyone my age has memories of not knowing who Osama bin Laden was but being somewhere. And your parents freaking out that Osama bin Laden was killed. And there's a whole running joke on x and on TikTok that people used to think that that was someone that they knew in their lives who was killed.

[Blake]

Oh. Oh, wow, man.

[Daisy]

I remember where I was when I found out he was killed. I don't know who he was.

[Blake]

Did you think. Did you ever think?

[Daisy]

No. I mean, my parents were hardcore Republicans, so I knew he was a bad guy. They were clearly excited. They were very excited that he was killed.

[Blake]

Okay. So. Yeah. So Iraq and Iran, different countries, they border each other. They're similar in a few ways. So you've heard of Islam? Of course. Do you know there's two major types of Islamic.

[Daisy]

Yes. They both start with S's. One is radical and one is not radical.

[Blake]

No, they are. If only it were that simple, Daisy. No. So there's. The main type of Islam is called Sunni Islam.

[Daisy]

Yes.

[Blake]

That is what most Muslims are worldwide. And in fact, it's. Most Muslim terrorists are Sunni. So the guys who. The guys who did 911 were Sunnis.

[Daisy]

Okay.

[Blake]

But I don't want to say that's the terrorist one because that there's a billion Sunni Muslims.

[Daisy]

Okay.

[Blake]

So Egypt is Sunni. Saudi Arabia is Sunni. Afghanistan is mostly Sunni. Iran is Shia, and that is the other type of Islam. And Iraq is also majority Shia, but it's mixed. So it was, I want to say, about 60% Shia and, like 30% Sunni. And they also had a Christian minority and some other stuff.

[Daisy]

I was gonna. When you say these countries are Shia or Sunni, is that like, everyone in the country has.

[Blake]

In Iran or, like, are there laws on Iran? Almost everybody is Shia.

[Daisy]

Okay.

[Blake]

They do have minority. Is very small, but it is mostly Shia. Now what that means is they often are in conflict with all the other countries in the Middle east because they have religious differences with them, and they just have somewhat different.

[Daisy]

They're in conflict with the other Muslim countries because often.

[Blake]

Often over that and other reasons.

[Daisy]

Okay.

[Blake]

And on top of that, Shia Islam has some interesting beliefs. So I mentioned the 911 guys were. Were Sunnis. But Shia Islam has a particular emphasis on martyrdom as a heroic thing. It's kind of a big. It's a religion centered around this early Muslim figure named Ali and that he. He died in a civil war between some early Muslims and They think Ali was the best and he was killed by them. And that's kind of their difference with Sunnis is they're. They're still litigating a Civil War from 1500 years ago. And so there's that. And they also have a very interesting belief. You'll hear them called Twelver Shias. So they believe there were a series of imams. That's like a chief, kind of an Islamic teacher. You'll hear imam used to just describe a normal Islamic cleric, but this is like a kind of super imam, basically. And they believe that there were 12 of them. So there were 11 who kind of. There have been 12 historically. And then the 12th one died. But they kind of. I believe the belief is they think he's like in hiding, like he's still alive and he will return. He's like a messianic figure. So Shia Islam is a messianic version of Islam where they think this 12th imam is going to reveal himself. He'll be called the Mahdi. So there are multiple instances of a person proclaiming themselves to be the Mahdi as like an apocalyptic figure. And wow, we're going way down the rabbit hole of this.

[Daisy]

Okay, well, so my next question, and this is again just what I'm seeing from a Gen Z perspective. All the two different types of Muslims do they both dislike Israel, they both dislike Jewish, the Jewish religion?

[Blake]

There are plenty. I don't want to say again, not all of them think this, but both Sunnis and Shias have a long history of conflict with Israel. So for example, Israel had multiple wars with Egypt. Sunni country, they had multiple wars. I mean, Hamas, that's mostly Sunni group, however, Iran despises Israel. So, you know, they call us the Great Satan. They call Israel the little Satan. Another group that Israel fights against. You've maybe heard of Hezbollah.

[Daisy]

Yes.

[Blake]

Hezbollah is a Shia militant group that occupies southern Lebanon. So there are Shias in Lebanon too. Hezbollah is a Shia group.

[Daisy]

So Hamas.

[Blake]

Yes.

[Daisy]

Which, where does.

[Blake]

Hamas is a radical group that controls Gaza.

[Daisy]

Right.

[Blake]

And they are a Palestinian radical Islamist group. They are mostly Sunni. In fact, I think they might just be exclusively Sunni.

[Daisy]

Okay, that was my question. So Iran and Iraq were talking about how similar they are. Are they allies or they're just similar to people who don't live in the Middle East.

[Blake]

Similar people. They were hostile to each other historically. So Saddam Hussein, his country was mostly Shia. Saddam was Sunni. And his. He wasn't really a religious figure to the same extent, but his base was Sunnis.

[Daisy]

Okay.

[Blake]

And so it was kind of a. A country where the Sunni minority was running things over the Shia majority. So he was hostile towards Iran. So to show you how complicated it is, we invaded Iraq to over overthrow Saddam in the 1980s. We gave weapons to Saddam or I'm not sure if we gave. We gave some form of support to Saddam because he invaded Iran and we.

[Daisy]

Were anti Iran and were okay. So are a lot of people anti Iran?

[Blake]

Yes, a lot of people are anti Iran. So that's part of where this is complicated. So obviously we have at this point 45 years of antagonism with Iran. Have you ever heard of the Iranian hostage crisis?

[Daisy]

Yes.

[Blake]

So yes, that was, that was the big thing in the Middle East. In fact that was the biggest story in America. If you were around in 1980, was the hostages in Iran.

[Daisy]

I wasn't around, but I've heard of it.

[Blake]

So what happened was Iran had a monarchy. They overthrew him and he was replaced by this Islamic government. They're led by a guy called the Ayatollah. And Ayatollah is kind of just a supreme Islamic cleric title.

[Daisy]

So do have Israel and Iran also had a long history of conflict or it's just the nuclear threat, the weapon threat that is making it. Israel wants to go after Iran.

[Blake]

As you can see if you look at a map. They don't border each other. So between them there's Jordan, then Iraq, then Iran. So there's several hundred miles away. So there's nothing a lot of ability to directly fight each other. And historically there hasn't been. So recently Iran's been shooting missiles at Israel. That wasn't a thing they were doing 20 years ago. But there's hostility in other ways. What Iran sort of pioneered was they would sponsor terrorist groups in other countries or militant groups. So for example, Hezbollah, who I mentioned Hezbollah has directly fought Israel. Hezbollah has definitely received assistance from Iran. They've received training, they've received money, they've received weapons, they've received moral support. So it's like proxy wars. So the same way that we give weapons to Ukraine so Ukraine can fight against Russia, Iran has done that against Israel in many cases. You've heard about the Houthis lately?

[Daisy]

Yes.

[Blake]

So the Houthis are in yet another country in the Middle East, Yemen. They've also received support from Iran over time.

[Daisy]

Okay, so is it that Iran has less allies, more just common or people have common enemies with Iran, so they.

[Blake]

Have allies, but their allies are not are non state actors. So when is a militant group or an ethnic group rather than they don't really have allies who are a similar.

[Daisy]

Acting party to what Hamas would be.

[Blake]

Yeah, exactly, stuff like that. So here, China as an ally of Iran, it's much more like China just like selling things to whoever. So we sanction Iran, we try to crush their economy. China doesn't care as much about that. So they're willing to have trade with Iran. And maybe to the extent that they see Iran as our rival, they might even support them a bit as, oh, you know, America's hostile to us, the enemy of my enemy. But they're not an ally in the way like the US and Israel are allies where there's a lot of direct assistance.

[Daisy]

So Israel choosing to go after Iran. I have two questions. I don't know if we'll have time to get to them both in this segment, but one, I have heard you talk about how Israel's been discussing this threat for a while, which I didn't know. And I don't know that everyone my age or just my knowledge of Middle east conflict would know that. So I want you to explain that a little bit more. But secondly, when Israel chooses to go after Iran, is there anyone specific that they're worried about retaliating against them on behalf of Iran or just these militaristic groups?

[Blake]

Yeah, so the first one, yeah, it's been, I would say so. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime Minister of Israel. He's been prime minister before. He's been a politician in Israel a long time. He's been warning about Iran's nuclear program literally since the 90s. In the 90s, he was saying they're a few years away from getting a bomb. You heard a bit of this in the 2000s. In 2002, George W. Bush gave a State of the Union address where he declared three countries the axis of evil. Iraq was one of them, North Korea was one of them, and then Iran was the third one. So there's been concern, oh, Iran might try to get nukes or WMDs, weapons of mass destruction.

[Charlie Kirk]

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[Blake]

Daisy, I thought maybe I should ask you a question. We'll see how alert Gen Z is. Name one city in Iran.

[Daisy]

For sure. Okay, Tehran.

[Blake]

You got it. You got it. Do you know what that city is?

[Daisy]

No, I only know. I would not have known that a week ago. I only know about it because that's the one that Trump was truthing about.

[Blake]

That is good enough. That is good enough. That is the capital of Iran.

[Daisy]

I could not name a city.

[Blake]

It's actually quite large. It's about, I want to say it's about the size of New York City. It's one of the largest cities in the world. It's in this, like, bleak lunar landscape. It runs very mountainous. So you have lots of desert, lots of mountains. Not always a lot of vegetation, but big city, it's a big country. I think there's about 90 million people there.

[Daisy]

Oh, my gosh. Just for comparison, I would have never guessed that.

[Blake]

The more, you know, seriously, I guess we still have a minute here so I could finish that, you know, close the loop on what we were saying about Netanyahu. It really ramped up. I want to say about 2013, 2014, you started getting a lot more agitation, certainly from Netanyahu's end, on Israel's end, where they're saying, we have intelligence Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb. They're getting closer to it. And this is one of the reasons there's so much debate about this, is he did frequently frame it in this. Oh, they're six months away from getting it done. They're in that. They would call this the breakout period, where they would get so close, like we could stop them from getting the bomb. And they made this warning a lot. So people who are skeptical of a war with Iran, one reason they're skeptical is they'll say, oh, we keep hearing these warnings that Iran's close to a bomb, but we've heard that before, like.

[Daisy]

The Israel who cried wolf about Iran.

[Blake]

Sort of. Sort of. That would be the argument for it. And I mean their argument is like kind of. But now they say for real. So when they were doing the strikes, they were saying we had evidence. They were, you know, days or weeks away from being able to build a nuclear bomb, send it at Israel. Next question. Daisy.

[Daisy]

Okay, so I briefed this question in the last segment. Is there when Israel, you've been telling me that Israel's been talking about this for years, that there is a threat from Iran and when Israel chose to do the strike, is there any country or what you've been telling me, military groups in specific that they were worried would retaliate specifically against Israel?

[Blake]

Well, the specific one they'd worry the most about is Iran. So those proxy groups that I mentioned, they've already had a lot of conflict with Israel. So Hezbollah, they fought them before. They haven't, they've done a little bit of skirmishing even just since 10, seven, for example. There would be some worry that if they get into an all out war with Iran that that might escalate and Hezbollah could get really heavily involved. So far they haven't. I think a big reason they haven't is Israel has shown they're far more gung ho about they're willing to take out a lot of people. They, I think they're kind of scared. I think some of Hezbollah's leaders are thought, yeah, I'd rather not die right now.

[Daisy]

And because they're not necessarily strong allies with Iran, are a lot of people just kind of like, well, they're strong allies. Iran, you got it.

[Blake]

People have a, you know, have a survival instinct. And so there are places that are allied with Iran, but they won't necessarily want to think I am ready to kill myself to show solidarity with Iran. And if it looks like the US and Israel are, well, I should say Israel and possibly the US Are saying this time we're serious about it, we're taking out this regime or at least hitting them very hard. They can think, I would rather stand aside from this one. This is getting too hot to handle.

[Daisy]

Do you think we briefly touched on this, about how Israel has, some people would say that Israel has been talking about this threat for so long that they never thought it was going to actualize and Israel is actually inducing about it. Do you think that Iran felt that way, that Israel would never actually, they've been talking about this since you said 2000.

[Blake]

They were genuinely, it seems they were genuinely caught off guard by it. And that's been one of the funnier things about this, which doesn't.

[Daisy]

Even from my perspective, it doesn't feel like that happens that often anymore.

[Blake]

Yeah, it's. It's actually truly jarring. So one of the things that you may remember they did is in their opening strikes, they didn't just hit air bases or nuclear plants. They took out leaders of Iran's military, and no one is invulnerable. But there's this element of, were they. These guys were not prepared to possibly be hit. They didn't have a secure location because one of the guys, they just took them out. They blew out an apartment block in Tehran. Why are you in an apartment block in Tehran?

[Daisy]

Right.

[Blake]

And so it seems that they were genuinely. There's been a lot of chatter about this. It seems they were caught off guard by this. Immediately beforehand, we'd been talking about, oh, another round of negotiations. Trump was saying, oh, we're gonna meet in Oman, another. Yet another Middle Eastern country to do negotiations. And it seems that they just assumed, oh, we're at least good through those negotiations. We don't have to worry about strikes. And they greatly miscalculated on that front.

[Daisy]

Okay. So we kind of briefly touched on this. Charlie did with Nate earlier, and he was talking about the no Kings protests. I'm not understanding how there. And we only have a minute left. I'm not understanding how people are at the no Kings protest against Trump, against ICE and not. It used to be like last year, Americans were so proudly pro Gaza. They want to go to Gaza, they want to live there. They love it. Now it seems all of a sudden, and I don't know if it's just because they don't have enough information or it's just what they're told to support. Now they're. I mean, we just saw videos people being super gung ho about Iran. They support Iran. They want Iran to be able to do whatever they want. I'm not sure how that's connecting with the no Kings protest.

[Blake]

It doesn't. What you see, I mean, this is just how the left is. Generally, the left all causes blob together over time. So you see Palestine flags at your ICE protest.

[Charlie Kirk]

You.

[Blake]

You see BLM tweets out pro Hamas stuff after the 10, 7 attacks. That's left, which I think you are plenty familiar with, even if you don't know as much about Iraq and Iran.

[Charlie Kirk]

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.

[Nate Friedman]

And news you can Trust, go to charliekirk.com.