The Charlie Kirk Show - From the Archive: Charlie’s 2023 Live Free Tour Speech at Texas Tech

Episode Date: August 23, 2026

Charlie speaks to students about why Texas must rediscover the toughness and independence that once defined the Lone Star State. He dives into Texas history, the pride students should take in being the heirs of Davy Crockett and Buck Travis, and why the state should take border security into its own hands if Washington won’t. Charlie closes with a paean to home ownership and warning against America becoming a nation of renters. Watch every episode ad-free on members.charliekirk.com!    Get new merch at charliekirkstore.com!Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My name is Charlie Kirk. I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country fighting for the future of our republic. My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth. If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're going to end up miserable. But if the most important thing is doing good, you will end up purposeful. College is a scam, everybody. You've got to stop sending your kids to college. You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible. Go start a turning point USA college chapter. Go start a turning point you would say high school chapter.

Go find out how your church can get involved. Sign up and become an activist. I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade. Most important decision I ever made in my life and I encourage you to do the same. Here I am. Lord, use me. Buckle up, everybody. Here we go.

Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of the Charlie Kirk Show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of, precious metals. Learn how you could protect your wealth with noble gold investments at noblegoldinvestments.com. That is noblegoldinvestments.com. Thank you, everybody. Please take a seat. Thank you. It is, it's great to be back in Lubbock, Texas. I got to tell you, I was here earlier last fall. I guess I'll tell you why I was here. It's going to upset some of you. So my father and my uncle, my aunt, all went to the University of Oregon. So we're big ducks fan. See, now you guys are going to get upset. See? And I, okay, first of all, I have nothing against,

you know, I've always, I was a big Texas tech fan, rest in peace, well, Mike Leach when he was here, and I was always pulling, and I can't stand the longhorns. They're awful, so we can agree on that, right? Okay. So we're, we're, we make a habit out of trying to go to a game or two, and Lubbock isn't too far from Phoenix where I live, and I come here, we have amazing time, and everyone was super gracious, except for all the F-bombs, you know, being throwing at us, duck fans. And it was the goof. I was literally getting upset. I got to tell you what you guys do.

This throwing the food thing on the... What is this all about? You know, there are tortillas flying, whatever. And then I learned they tried to get rid of it, and you guys kept their tradition alive. And I kind of had respect for it. I kind of said, you know what? You guys keep doing it.

You know, no matter how much they try to tell you, you guys keep fighting the man and you keep on throwing. And I kid you not, I saw somebody up in the cheap sheets. There was a tortilla that flew like 150 yards and went right on the 30 yard line. And you guys put like holes in them to try to perfect the aerodynamicism. Do you guys, do you guys at like the frat houses, like, you know, you try out or you kind of figure out the best way? I've never seen tortillas fly so far. So I needless to say, it was, you guys totally choked. I got to be honest. It was not a good night at the end of it. But anyway, good memories for me.

Not so good for you. And then we, okay, it's very passionate folks here. And then we had a great Sunday at Trinity Church. So it's great to be back in Lubbock, Texas, everybody. And do me a favor. Anytime you ever play those longhorns, you've got to beat them. That's just, it's got to be right in there. So I don't want to talk for too long before we get to questions,

because I think that's the most important and the most fun. That's why you're here. I've done a lot of studying recently about the history of Texas, and it's fascinating. And this is kind of one of the last bastions of how Texas used to be and what the future of Texas should really look like, which Texas was largely unsettled. In fact, so much so that the Mexicans were like, if you guys can settle in Texas, like, you can have it. Like, if you're able to kind of figure something out in Texas, like, go ahead.

It's not easy land, it's tough land. You have the Comanche Indians that were not exactly easy, you know, to live with and, you know, very, very violent. And so my people, the Scots-Irish, were crazy enough to, you know, navigate the Appalachian Trail and go west and come to this place now known as Texas. And in the early stages of Texas, Texas was the closest thing to a Jeffersonian Republic. There was really like no police, no standing army, and it was the law and the belief in the code of the West that kept Texas together. And it's very interesting. It's the most eerily similar example I can find to how the Hebrews lived in the Old Testament, where they had no police and no standing army. And it wasn't perfect.

People still, you know, did bad things. But Texas turned into this powerhouse where so many people. different cultures and different civilizations said, you know, we don't really want to settle there. And for whatever reason, Texas all of a sudden started to grow and grow and became its own country first, the Republic of Texas. And anytime you spend time around Texans, there's something different. There's, you're Americans, but you're also Texans. I'll never forget. The first time I did a speaking event in Texas, they do this hail Texas flag thing, and then also I was like, what on? This is really, nothing against it. Because I love people that are proud of where

they're from and thankful for where they're from. And in the clearest possible way, Texas needs to start acting like Texas again. And Texas need to get that attitude back where you need to go tell the federal government to go pound sand, you're going to secure the board of yourself. And I want to talk to you about an issue so many Americans face, and that's health insurance. There's an organization I really, really appreciate, called Christian Health Care Ministries. CHM is a faith-based alternative to health insurance. And this is real stuff, folks. Like, you've got to listen in.

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And Texas, which 20 years ago was nowhere in comparable population, I was 10 million more people than the state of New York. This place is one of the best places America still has to offer. And I'll give you another example. Texas never should have locked down for the virus lockdowns that happen during COVID. And the spirit of Texas is one of self-sovereignty, one of liberty, one that tends to buck the trend, and I firmly believe this, that America cannot get back to greatness, which I think a lot of you guys are here tonight because you want to see America made great again.

I think that's why a lot of you are here. That would be a great slogan if someone ran for president on that. It would be really great. And it cannot happen if Texas just becomes a flatter version of Tennessee. Texas needs to go back into its roots. of the can-do attitude to look towards that pioneer spirit. And there is a toughness in the Texans that I've known that is very, very unique. There is an attitude, too.

You guys got attitude like, holy crow. You guys got attitude. But I love it. And I love it in a way where a lot of people are now looking for leadership, obviously, and what an opportunity. And we look around the country right now. people are moving to the state, and what drives me nuts, I'm sure you know this, if you spend any time in Travis County in Austin or in Harris County in Houston, a lot of people are moving to the state, and they continue to act and vote in the pattern that they previously had when they destroyed the state that they fled from. And, I mean, they destroyed California, and then they come to Texas and they say, oh, I don't like the fact that, you know, in Texas you can own firearms the way you can't. Why'd you move here exactly? Why did you try to come here? And the other thing that drives me crazy is they're like, we need to expand abortion access in Texas.

And I'm like, well, where are you from? And they're like, well, I'm from Massachusetts. Like, okay, then go back to Massachusetts. They have abortion all over the place. Like, don't tell Texas how to run itself, actually. Stop trying to colonize Texas. And I think there's a really important thing. Again, it's not a racial thing either.

And this is what's so amazing is that some of the most proud Texans are originally from Mexican descent and they're on the border and they're part of the Texas story. And I think we can all agree though, and I want to just emphasize this and we'll do questions, is that what's happening on the southern border is one of the most outrageous crimes against this country that we have seen in any of our lifetimes. And it is to have a, to have anywhere between 10 to 15,000 people coming across the border is an invasion. I don't care what your politics are. You could be here, you'd be on the super far left.

that doesn't matter, it's unsustainable. And this is not a racial thing, but the bad guys actually look at it as a racial thing. Now, in a very perverse way, they might end up being wrong, but it's still wrong what they're doing, because they think, and it's not my belief system of this, but just look at what the Castro brothers have said repeatedly. They said that as Texas becomes more Hispanic and less white, they thought that Texas would become more left-wing. Well, it's not that simple, actually, because it turns out.

the Hispanic community is not a monolith and that there's a lot of Hispanic conservatives out there that don't believe that men can give birth and they want a secure border and they want police and they want a rule of law so it's not that simple but what it does do outside of the politics is it does destabilize a country and that's the bigger point is that you cannot have an unregulated flow of millions of people. We're not doing background checks. We're not doing DNA testing. We have no idea where they're from and act or even believe that somehow a stable country can continue. And for those of you that either came to this country legally or your parents did, what is

happening on the southern border is an insult to all of you that waited in line. It is an insult for all of you that had to go to the proper protocol and process. That basically what it is, is why did you, why did you follow the law? And what they're saying basically is you don't have to follow the law anymore. And I am, I've been patient and I actually have seen more and more fight out of your governor recently. I wish it would have happened earlier. And I want to see that next step taken. And I think, I think his administration is getting closer and closer to that, which is it is now time for Texas to start to deport the foreigners that have come here to this state and return them to their country of origin. It is time to now do that.

I had the honor of a lifetime to call Charlie a friend. And what I remember most wasn't just what people saw on stage. It was what was behind the scenes. That was an unwavering commitment to his faith, his love for his family, and his genuine desire to encourage others to live with courage and conviction. Charlie believed that following Christ wasn't something you compartmentalize. He didn't put it in a box. He lived it out loud. It shaped how he lived, how he served, how he treated people every single day.

Charlie Kirk, American martyr, captures that heart. This documentary isn't just simply about remembering Charlie. It's an invitation for each of us to ask what kind of legacy we're building and whether we're willing to stand firm in our own faith when it's tested. I hope that you'll watch it with your family and have those conversations together. Go to angel.com slash kirk. That's angel.com slash kirk. Become an angel guild member.

Watch Charlie Kirk, American Martyr, and help bring more stories of faith, courage, and conviction to audiences around the world. Largely because the federal government has left us no choice. And it is a very simple moral question. If the federal government is tasked with the safety and the well-being and the administration of the rule of law, and may have year over year told you they are not going to do that.

Texas, which was once its own country, which can therefore declare an invasion clause easier than any other state in the nation, does not just have a right, but a duty to take this in to its own hands and to fix this problem. And I think Greg Abbott, to his credit, has been feeling the pressure and has been doing some stuff. I mean, you've got the barriers, got the razor wire, you got balloons on the, you know, whatever those big things are in the big objects in the Rio Grande Valley. That's fine.

You've got the National Guard. It's hard for me to paint this picture. If you haven't seen the video, I encourage you to look at it, where Texas National Guard really steamrolled by hundreds of people last week as if, like, no, no, no, this is our country. We're just going to come right in. And, you know, some people say, well, the Texas National Guard should have resisted. But the Texas National Guard, an ideal should have resist.

But think about it, they would have gotten probably arrested by the federal government for, you know, violent confrontations. of migrants. And that's another important point, which is there are some people that are coming that can fit the quote-unquote migrant mold. But a vast majority of these people are military age, fighting age males that are 21 and 22 years old from 120 different countries. We know that thousands of people have been intercepted on the southern border from the terror watch list, and we have no idea where they're going on the interior of the United States. And I hate to say, but this feels awfully intentional.

It feels as if that they want this to happen. Now, why? We can have a robust discussion about it, but I don't get from the current ruling regime that they love the country like you do, that they love the country the way that those that serve this nation do. In fact, I feel as if they want to turn it into something different,

that they want to try to overwhelm the system. Before some of you yell up and say, you're a conspiracy theorist, well, you guys should study an academic paper that is called the Clowered Piven Strategy. It was written in the 1970s by two academics, cloward and Piven.

They were communists, self-described Marxist and communists. And they said, hey, the way that we communists are going to take over America is three steps, three very basic things. We need to try to make sure America borrow so much money that the currency is worthless

and the national debt becomes unsustainable. We need to try to build an administrative state or a deep state bureaucracy that swallows the private sector and have DC be the most important part of the country, an uncontrolled mass migration into America to destabilize the fabric. Now, we wouldn't know any one of those three things, of course. We are borrowing a trillion dollars every 100 days in this country. For those of you

that want to own a home, for those of you that want to have a future, it is literally getting stolen from you by these unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. Again, this is not a political statement. In 2020, when there was a different president, the average income to be able to afford a home in this country was $59,000 a year, according to Zillow.com. It is now $106,000 a year to be able to comfortably own a home in this country. Now, it might be less here in Lubbock, Texas. I don't know. I mean, but I bet property has gone up everywhere. I bet it's gone up here, but it's probably a little bit easier here, but your incomes are probably not as high as they are in Dallas. So it all kind of evens out. And by the way, that's what they want. They don't want you to own homes. They want you to be permanent renters for the rest of your life because you're easier to control. When I was landing here in Lubbock,

I saw so many small towns, and it reminded me how mass urbanization has destroyed this country. And there's something very dark about big cities, not just the fact that the worst ideas come out of cities, not just the fact that the worst politics come out of big cities, and the most crime. But I want you to think for a second, it's very easy to be anonymous in a big city.

You don't have to know your neighbor. You can kind of just blend in. For those of you that have grown up in a small town, it is impossible to be anonymous in a small town. That there's an accountability. Your neighbors check in on you. Everyone kind of has a reputation in a small town. That's the drunk.

That's the thief. That's the priest. Stay away from that guy. That's the guy you want to try to do business. with everybody has for better or worse but everybody's reputation because that closeness creates community in New York City you can kind of just be an anonymous you know widget in an 8 million person beast I don't think that's a good thing actually hi folks Andrew Colvette here I'd like to tell you about my friends over at Y Reefi you've probably been hearing me talk about Y Reefi for

some time now we are all in with these guys if you or someone you know is struggling with private student loan debt, take my advice and give them a call. Maybe you're behind on your payments, maybe you're even in default. You don't have to live in this nightmare anymore. Why Refai will provide you a custom payment based on your ability to pay. They tailor each loan individually. They can save you thousands of dollars and you can get your life back. We go to campuses all over America and we see student after student who's drowning in private student loan debt. Many of them don't even know how much they owe. Why Refi can help. Just go to yrefi.com. That's the letter why then refi.com. And remember, why refi doesn't care what your

credit score is. Just go to why refi.com and tell them your friend Andrews sent you. I think it's a better country when you're held accountable by your neighbors. I think it's a better country when you know your neighbor's names. I think it's a better country where you own property and you go to church and your kids are raised walking around a farm not staring at a screen all day long. I think it's a better country when you don't have to wonder that you're going to have to go riskily into debt to be able to own a home. And these might strike you as overwhelmingly political statements, but they really aren't because it's the restoration of a normal way of life. And you guys still have it a little bit here in West Texas. And if there's one thing I can

communicate to you is you need to fight to protect that thing. Because how many pockets around this country have they allowed us to lose that American way of life? Where they come in with big developers and mass urbanization and cities that used to be very, very, let's just say, livable, just become kind of unthinkably progressive. And they are targeting West Texas. They are targeting Amarillo. They are targeting Lubbock because they look at themselves as imperialists, that there will not be a square inch where they don't control.

There's a book that was recently published, and I can't help but just think of so many of you. The book's title is called White Rural Rage, The Threat to Democracy. So if you get in a car and go 30 miles west or 30 miles east from here, you will find the people that this book is talking about. These are two professors that wrote this book, and they were beautifully welcome on MSNBC. And for those of you that own farms and you work with your hands

and you go to church, you happen to be white, they think you're the threat of democracy. I think, first of all, how sick you must be to blame the people that have done the right thing for the last 100 years and originally were homesteading and raised a family and paid their taxes, many of whom served in the military,

and they blame the white rural rage voters because they don't think the way that the Harvard academics want them to think. And in fact, dare I say that it is the white rural rage that very well might save this country one day. It very well might end up course correcting us.

And it's not a racial thing, but they're making it a racial thing because it's those, that own property and they have different values than that of the regime. So we need Texas to be Texas again for that attitude and that spirit to be reignited. And I'm just so touched. I mean, look at this turnout here on campus. There's something happening. I don't know what it's going to look like or how it's going to manifest politically. I've been doing this now for 11 years. I have visited more college campuses than any other speaker in the last decade. I've never

seen crowds like we are drawing right now. And I believe it's because so many of you in Gen Z, you are up, you have reached your limit of the nauseating woke nonsense that has permeated the culture, that you actually don't want to worry about getting fired from your job for using the wrong pronoun, that you want in America that is strong, that is decent, that is stable, that is orderly, you want to be able to get married and have kids. And this is one of the reasons why, and again, this is, what the data shows, why young men are the most conservative that they have been in the last 50 years. And young ladies, we got some work to do, but it shows a lot of promise because I truly

believe that there are more decent Americans than indecent Americans, and that we're going to course correct this. And the entire spirit of Turning Point USA is we do want to see this country return to greatness. And we believe we're returned to greatness by recommitting ourselves to foundational principles. And by not being afraid to confront the parasitic ideologies that have been destroying this country. And what are those ideologies? You can call them wokeism, you can call them Marxism, but they are decaying the society all around us. And it's resulting in an untouchable oligarchy that is not listening to the people that is more and more afraid that the silent majority might be silent no longer. And as we can see here by this incredible turnout and what's happening, I think our

numbers are increasing to such a level that keeps them very nervous. For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.