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Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA Founder, Dead at 31 after Utah Campus Shooting
00:12:14
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- [00:00]
Podcast Host
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:06]
Donald Trump
It is my, it is my great dishonor to be the person that says this and breaks this to you on television. But President Donald Trump is announcing on Truth Social the great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead. No one understood or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by all, especially me. And now he is no longer with us, Melania and my sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erica and his family. Charlie, we love you.
- [00:35]
Ben Ferguson
This is a 47 Morning Update special edition with Ben Ferguson. It is Thursday morning. It is nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update. And there's only one thing we're going to be talking about today, and that is the life and the legacy of an incredible young man, Charlie Kirk, who I've had the honor of knowing for over a decade. Charlie's mission field was college campuses. His mission field was to have grand debates. He understood something that many others didn't, which is the left had taken hold of a entire generation of young people in this country. And they were turning them against God. They were turning him against prayer, they were turning him against pride in this country. They were turning them away, away from families, they were turning them away from having children. They were turning them away from marriage, being a husband or a wife, a mother or a father. And he decided he was going to do something about it and he started an organization called Turning Point. I remember meeting Charlie for the very first time and we had breakfast together when he was trying to start Turning Point. There was people like myself and Ben Shapiro and others that had done kind of the college campus thing and had been the young generation of conservatives. And he wanted to be that next generation. And my, oh my, was he. He's had more of an impact on the younger generation for conservatives than anyone I've ever met. And I don't say that because he was assassinated by a cold blooded killer. I say that because the truth, Charlie Kirk was a hero whose legacy will live on for, I think, the rest of my life. And probably then after that, people are going to remember Charlie Kirk. They're going to remember where they were when they found out that he was shot. They're going to remember where they were when it was announced by the President of the United States of America on Truth Social that he had died. This is so hard. I've been talking about this all day. I'm recording this at basically midnight Eastern and I've been talking to friends and Colleagues who know him and all of us are so sad because we all knew him well. I think the hardest part for me is the fact that I know that this is a man that loved this country, but also loved his family. He was so proud of his kids. He was so proud to be a dad. He loved being a dad. He loved celebrating what a family is. He loved celebrating that he was going back to traditional way of life with a mom and a dad and children. I am so sad tonight for his family, for his wife who is so sweet, for his children that are going to grow up without their father. They're going to have videos for years that they can watch and they can be proud of him. And that may be the one blessing, is that they. So much of his life over the last five, six, seven years was put on tape. I also get sad for this country because we lost someone that was so dear to us. And I get sad that we've gone off this path so far to where the radical left and a part of it is a terrorist organization now, make no mistake about that, is celebrating the killing of a man whose only crime was wanting to bring people together for a grand debate. That's what he did wrong. He wanted to debate the most important issues of our day, and he wanted to sit down with people that disagreed with him, and he wanted to have that conversation. And that's why they killed him, because he was so effective and so powerful by bringing facts to a conversation and, by the way, being kind to those on the left, those that disagreed with him. He wanted them to come to his events. He wanted to talk to them. He gave them a microphone. It's exactly what he was doing in Utah. Trump's assassination attempt in Butler is that we were worried that they were going to do it again. Whether I was on stage doing an event and so many others that do what Charlie does in the conservative movement, it has become a very real thing in our minds. And what they wanted to happen to Donald Trump and Butler is exactly what happened in Utah to Charlie Kirk. They wanted that video. They wanted to put fear in the hearts and the minds of other conservative fighters, other conservative warriors, because they want to silence us. I have talked to some of the most influential conservative leaders today on the phone and in text messages, My mentors, people that I've mentored. And one thing I can assure you from all this is, yes, we're gonna take more precautions. Yes, we're gonna do more, but we're not stopping. Charlie was asked recently about what he does and what he thinks before he goes on college campuses. And I want you to listen to what he said. It's only 47, 48 seconds long, but I want you to listen to what.
- [06:16]
Charlie Kirk
He says before I go on a college campus. My prayer is very simple. God used me for your will.
- [06:22]
Ben Ferguson
Amen.
- [06:22]
Charlie Kirk
Because there's a plan above us all. God is sovereign above all. So what is God's plan? When I go on a college campus, I just believe I will only tell truth. I will not compromise and I'll love on the lost. The specific teachings of Christ is go make disciples of all nations. I'm trying my best to do that, and I'm trying to do it first in this nation because this nation impacts every other nation on the planet. You cannot impact the world without impacting America, period. That's the way that God has designed the universe in this particular being that as America goes, the world goes. Jesus called us to love children. Jesus called us to tell truth. God. Jesus called us to contest in the public square for his purposes. I'm far more interested in what God wants of me than what I want from God. And what God wants from me is a life fighting for truth.
- [07:06]
Ben Ferguson
That is going to be a large part of Charlie Kirk's legacy. The President of the United States of America also put out a video from the Oval Office. Hours after he announced that Charlie Kirk had gone to see his Lord and Savior in heaven, Donald Trump decided to address the nation. And I want you to hear what the President had to say about Charlie Kirk and his legacy.
- [07:31]
Podcast Host
To my great fellow Americans, I am filled with grief and anger at the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah. Charlie inspired millions, and tonight, all who knew him and loved him are united in shock and horror. Charlie was a patriot who devoted his life to the cause of open debate and the country that he loved so much, the United States of America. He fought for liberty, democracy, justice, and the American people. He's a martyr for truth and freedom.
- [08:07]
Charlie Kirk
And.
- [08:07]
Podcast Host
And there has never been anyone who was so respected by youth. Charlie was also a man of deep, deep faith. And we take comfort in the knowledge that he is now at peace with God in heaven. Our prayers are with his wife Erica, the two young, beloved children, and his entire family, who he loved more than anything in the world. We ask God to watch over them in this terrible hour of heartache and pain. This is a dark moment for America. Charlie Kirk traveled the nation joyfully engaging with everyone interested in good faith debate. His mission was to bring young people into the political process, which he did better than anybody ever to share his love of country and to spread the simple words of common sense on campuses nationwide. He championed his ideas with courage, logic, humor, and grace. It's a long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible. For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now. My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country. From the attack on my life in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, which killed a husband and father, to the attacks on ICE agents, to the vicious murder of a health care executive in the streets of New York, to the shooting of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and three others, radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives. Tonight, I ask all Americans to commit themselves to the American values for which Charlie Kirk lived and died. The values of free speech, citizenship, the rule of law, and the patriotic devotion and love of God. Charlie was the best of America, and the monster who attacked him was attacking our whole country. An assassin tried to silence him with a bullet, but he failed. Because together, we will ensure that his voice, his message, and his legacy will live on for countless generations to come. Today, because of this heinous act, Charlie's voice has become bigger and grander than ever before. And it's not even close. May God bless his memory, May God watch over his family, and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you.
- [11:32]
Ben Ferguson
I want to just end by saying two things. One, I am so sad. I am so sad for Charlie's family and his colleagues and his friends. I'm also incredibly angry. I'm angry that the left has gotten to the point where they're inspiring people to do this with no accountability. I'm angry that they have normalized this type of political violence. There will be more to be said about that moving forward, I can promise you. But what I'll say right now is this. Pray for Charlie's wife. Pray for Charlie's children. Pray for all of them. I'LL see you back here tomorrow.
- [12:19]
Podcast Host
This is an I Heart podcast.