The Charlie Kirk Show - Jay Feely’s Fight for Arizona and Iran’s Fight for Freedom

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

Former NFL star and announcer Jay Feely joins the show to talk about his new Charlie-inspired, Trump-endorsed run for Arizona's 1st Congressional District. He talks about the economy, how faith inspired him to leave a lucrative career for public service, and what it was like to play with Tom Brady. Then, Iranian exile Erica Le Bon weighs in on the uprising in the Islamic Republic and what the prospects are for toppling the Ayatollah's regime. 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.

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The Charlie Kirk Show is proudly sponsored by Preserve Gold, the leading gold and silver experts and the only precious metals company I recommend to my family, friends, and viewers. All right, welcome back. Our two of the Charlie Kirk Show. We are very honored to have a guest in studio now. He is going to be the next congressman from Arizona's first congressional district. And that is Jay Feely.

Jay Feely, longtime NFL kicker, then NFL broadcaster. And you are now Trump endorsed, Speaker Mike Johnson endorsed. Welcome to the show. Thank you. It's awesome to be on here. Huge fan of Charlie, just watching him. His heart for people, he cared about people, regardless of their political persuasion. I just love the way he communicated how effective he was and, you know, just honored to be on this show. Well, it's great to have you here. And I was, we've been watching the developments of your race as they've kind of come. And, you know, there's, there's been a few twists and turns. But now you're Trump endorsed. Speaker Mike Johnson just endorsed you. We've got the graphics there. you are running for Arizona's first congressional district. So give the audience that's

we have a national audience, but we also have a big Arizona audience. Give them kind of a feel of what your, what geographically where your district is. Well, it's Scottsdale. If you think it's Scottsdale, it's Scottsdale, it's Fountain Hills, it's Paradise Valley, a little bit of Phoenix. It's that area of kind of North Phoenix. It's a very affluent district that cares about the economy. You know, over 50% of the people in that district have a college degree, more than a BA. The vast majority are employed by private companies, and they care dramatically about the economy and where the economy is going. I think if you look at what President Trump is doing, just the numbers that have come out recently, they're going to love that. Over 4% GDP,

almost 2.5% inflation, bringing down inflation, continuing to get jobs, investment into our country. You know, you go back and you look in the 80s, we had positive net investment in other countries. And at minus one trillion, Warren Buffett said it was unsustainable. You know, in 2024, we had minus 26 trillion in investment into our country versus out of our country. And no one talked about it. And President Trump is doing the work to bring that investment using tariffs as the threat to make countries invest back in our country, bringing trillions back into our country and continue to make an economy that's going to help everybody. And, you know, you listen to Lutnik the other day on the All In podcast. He was very positive. They

think we could have over 5% GDP in the fourth quarter and going forward, maybe 6% throughout 26. That would be enormous for not only the midterms and Republicans going into the midterms, but for the American people in general. Yeah, the Atlanta Fed had it, I think it was 5.3, they're estimated. They revised their estimate for Q4. So we're waiting to see what that number ultimately is, but that's a huge number that we haven't even dreamed of in this country for a while. And then we've got the Supreme Court is probably going to come down with a ruling on Wednesday, is what I'm hearing as far as the tariff ruling, which we'll see. We'll see. We'll see there. Because I agree with you. I believe that President Trump, I, you know, I believe economic warfare is,

you may not like it. You may not like those words, but it is a reality, right? We have to have Western Hemisphereic dominance. You're seeing that in Venezuela. You're seeing it with the way that President Trump is using tariffs as a, not only a political or an economic tool, but as a foreign policy tool, right? And these things ultimately, are meant to enrich the homeland and enrich your residents in places like Scottsdale, Paradise Valley. It's a close district, right?

Schweiker holds it, so it's an R-seat. Now, you know, tell us about some of that. It's a very, it's a, it's, the margin is. I mean, it's like plus two, plus one. That's what he's won by when he's held the seat. You know, it's going to be one of the most important swing seats in the country. And it'll probably be the seat that the Democrats spend the most money in the country

trying to go out and flip that. And it's why I decided to move. Ideally, you don't want to move districts. I lived in Gilbert. That's why I originally was running. President asked me to move. Then Republican leadership asked me to move. They didn't feel that we had anybody running for that seat that could hold a seat that

could win it. So they all called me and say, hey, Jay, we need you to move into CD1 and run in that district. And I said, yes, for the good of the party. The whole reason I decided to leave broadcasting, listen, I loved my job. I only had to work five months of the year. I got paid really well. I got to do football. You know, that's what I had done the last.

last 10 years after playing for 14 years. And it was a tremendous blessing. And I decided to lead broadcasting because I felt like God was pressing me to do it, to do something with more meaning. I think back to something that Charlie always said that really resonated with me, which was, you know, I'm much more concerned about what God wants for me than I am with what I want from God. You know, and if I was selfish, I would have just said, I'm going to keep my broadcasting job and it's fun and it's easy and I don't risk anything. But I've always been more concerned about trying to follow the path of where I think I can help people. When we were when we were playing my wife and I always wanted to use the platform that that God gave us to have an impact on people. You know, and I view

politics the same way, maybe somewhat idealistic, but your job is to create those equal opportunities, those pathways to success for everybody. You know, I think that's what President Trump is doing. You know, it was not the easy decision to try to go after and rebalance trade. You know, he could have just extended the tax cuts, tried to create energy dominance, and, and, and, you know, he could have just extended the tax cuts, and more energy production, which is going to bring down inflation, bring down costs, and kind of coasted into the midterms. But they took the hard path, which was no, we have to bring investment back into this country. We have to reset trade parameters.

And we've got to look at the long-term perspective because we have 38 trillion in debt growing out of trillion every 100 days and nobody talks about it. You know, those are the issues that I think, you know, that sit out there and Congress doesn't do anything about either side, you know, this massive debt growing, the lack of investment into our country, and who pays the price, and Charlie always talked about it. It was the average working everyday man and woman. That's who pays the price, and that's who paid the price of the Biden policies. You know, with the 9% inflation and the printing of money,

and they didn't care about the impact on America. They cared about the impact on their politics despite the impact on Americans. Well, and when you have that inflationary environment, too, guess who gets hurt, it's the working men and women. It's a muscular class. The people that don't have investments and, you know, stocks and equity. they're getting out the value of those equities is outstripping their ability to earn and get into the financial ladder, get that first rung in the ladder. I want to just make sure our audience is aware of this. So, you know, I've been asking around about you, Jay, you know, knowing that we were going to have you on.

And one of the things that came back again and again, and you alluded to this in kind of what you were talking about, why you're running, is that you're just a strong Christian man. And your kids are, you have four children, right? We have four of our own, and then we have two that we kind of adopted from Haiti. We didn't legally adopt them. I started going down and doing projects after the earthquake, rebuilding homes with a group called Mission of Hope down there, awesome organization. And, you know, two guys that were our translators that we just kind of fell in love with. And, you know, I decided my wife and I that we could help them. And legally, they went through.

They got an education visa. Wedner did, and he came here, moved into our house. It was the hardest thing I ever did, to be honest with you. Because as a dad of four young kids, you don't want to do anything. that may put them at jeopardy and have a negative impact, but he moved into our house. We got him into Grand Canyon University. Oh, good. He got a degree.

Did awesome. Well, and it's, I just, I wanted to highlight that because it's something that everybody, everybody said about you that I asked was that he's a really solid Christian guy. And we need more of that. We, you know, I believe, as Charlie believed, that this nation will fail if we lose sight of our Christian roots. That's right. Western civilization is Christendom.

Whether or not people follow it or not, I mean, that is our fact. foundation, you know, the, we, we need to keep our eyes centered and affixed on God. This is a, God has his providential hand on this nation, I believe it. We need leaders that acknowledge that. So I just want to give you a shout out there. But also, when we were coordinating the memorial for Charlie, you had a hand in that. And you helped us get, um, in touch with the people, help us coordinate the stadium. Well, we were heartbroken. My wife and I literally were walking out of the White House when we found out about Charlie. She burst into tears. I was just gutted.

And we laid in bed that night and she said, you know, are you sure you want to do this? And I said, I have more resolved now. I know that God has put me in this place at this time for this reason. And I just reached out and said, hey, what can we do to help? You know, we wanted to donate to you, help defer some of the cost of the memorial. I wanted to bring people that may donate to your organization and just try to support him. Because I loved what he stood for.

I loved that he was willing to have conversations with people that completely disagreed with him, that he mandated the people there, give them the respect to be able to communicate, and then he communicated with a heart for people. It wasn't just, let me tell you why you're wrong, and I'm so smart, and I know all the things to be able to counter your argument, but he had a heart to try to help people change their viewpoint, and really everything started with his faith and his trust in Jesus and trying to have an impact on people for Christ.

And you helped us secure the venue, or at least help connect some of the dots behind the scenes. So if you want to know how we were able to pull, that off. Look no further than Jay Feeley and helping connect some of the dots there to get the State Farm Stadium and get access to that. If you're stressed about getting out of debt, it's go time. Seriously, this is one of those moments where timing actually matters. Done with debt is one of the best I've seen at navigating debt relief. 2025 was a record year. They enrolled over $102 million in debt for our listeners

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Done with debt helps you through the debt relief process so you keep more of your paycheck every month. Go to done with debt.com right now. That's done with debt.com. Your background is great. So you walk in the office and my first question I was like not about politics at all. I was like, what was the longest field goal you kicked?

And what was the answer? It was 61. It was long when I was playing, but now they're making all the way back to 70-yard field goals. 61 is a really long ways to kick a field goal. And then you, so, and then you, you went into broadcasting. I did. And you broadcasted four Super Bowls?

Four Super Bowls. It was kind of crazy. You were doing sideline and analysis at that point, right? Sideline in the playoffs for like for the Super Bowl, up in the booth. I was the second kicker ever in the booth after Pat Summerall, the legendary Pat Summer. Susie Wiles's father. So the connection to the White House, which is great. And, and just honored to be able to do that.

Like it was, it was a challenge. You know, people are like, what does a kicker know about football? You know, so I love that challenge aspect. of it to go in there and say, hey, I actually know the game, understand the game, I study the game, and I can communicate it on air. And you also told us, I didn't know this. You lived with Tom Brady for a while, right? Well, we did it like in the summers. We're at Michigan for four years ago. He was my holder for one year, which is great. I got a picture of him holding the balls when I was kicking. And Tom is a great guy and somebody that, you know, just so is real leadership. You know,

when you have a heart for service and you care about people and you put them above yourself, that's why the Patriots were so successful when he was there. You know, I hope to bring that into politics. You know, I care about people. I want to have an impact for people. I think we need people that have the ability to communicate. I think it's one of the things that translates directly into politics from broadcasting. I was live on air for three hours, you know, every Sunday on national TV.

When we lost Charlie, we lost one of the great, if not the great communicator for conservative causes. No one can step up and fill the void that he's left, but we need people willing to step into that void. and try to be able to communicate and do it effectively and do it with a heart for people. I really mean this that, you know, Charlie was desperate for a Republican Party that was as conservative as its voters. And to hear you, you know, bring that up as an inspiration and then just knowing kind of your reaction to when Charlie was assassinated and the things you did to help behind the scenes, you know, there's all, it's funny. I was telling Tyler, there's all these conspiracy theories that we like planned the memorial six months out or something like that. No, the reason we were able to do it

is because we had friends like you that had connections with NFL ownership to help open up the stadium. It wasn't just you. There was other people helping. I don't want to over overstate things. But I mean, it was really amazing. And I just, I keep hearing you say this, you know, this note about how you were inspired by Charlie. And it really warms the heart because what Charlie's enduring legacy is going to be a Republican Party that's remade and inspired by the things that you. he did by the message that he presented. My biggest disappointment has been the way the Republican Party has acted after his death, that we haven't coalesced together. When you look at the parties, they've never been further apart ideologically. We have so much to go after to show

this distinct differences in beliefs and what our vision is for this country between the left and the right. And there's been so much infighting on the Republican Party to try to, I don't know, fill the void of Charlie and where he was. And, you know, we need to come together. and not fight against each other, but fight against, you know, the people on the other side. When you listen to Jasmine Crockett and Congressman Omar Ilan, and the things that they believe, and you look at Mondami and why he was elected,

you know, Charlie talked about affordability all the time and the fact that we need young people to have a vested interest in this country. They have to have ownership in this country. If they don't own a home and they don't have ownership, they're not invested in this country, that's why somebody like Mondami can get elected in New York. why so many young people are disillusioned with the political process because they throw their hands up there. They're like, I got massive debt from college.

I can't get a great job. And interest rates are crazy high. I can't buy a home. So I just want the government to do it for me. We've had a very interesting swerve from the president just these last couple weeks. He's on homes. He says he doesn't want large institutional to own it. And also he's calling for a 10% interest cap on credit cards as well.

Right, which is potentially problematic. but but other but he's signaling in the right direction that he's worried about affordability's worried about you know so much of our economic system benefits economic incumbents right and so we have that was the message that charlie had for gen z it's like listen the american dream is alive and well we have to focus on it because yeah we had major gains in 2024 with the next generation but we got to stay on it we this is not you know the cement is not dry yet he brought hope to young people And that's what our politicians need to do. That's what Republicans need to do.

We need to give them a vision of why they should believe in our policies and how they're going to give them opportunity. You can't dictate outcomes because you can't control individual behaviors, but you can give the right opportunities to people and say, if you work hard and you make the right decisions, here's your pathway to success. I think so many young people right now don't see that. They don't have hope that if I do the right things,

that I'm going to be successful. That's our job as a Republican Party is to make that argument and make it understand. for young people. And listen, and for everybody, most people are just trying to work their job, provide for their family. They want the government stay out of their business, you know, and they want the right economic environment to be able to be successful. That's what most people want. You know, they don't want their government in their lives, telling them what to do, how to live their lives, what decision to make. They just want you to do the right things. Unfortunately, we had four years of a Biden administration that let 10 to 20 million illegals come in that raise the price of rent, that raised the cost of affordability. You had prices go up because they got into Snap and they're using those Snap, that's raising grocery prices. And then the interest rates go up because they're printing money, which is going to drive up inflation.

And then you get 9% inflation. All of a sudden, the average person is going, what happened? Like, I can't afford even the things I used to be able to afford and I don't have hope for a future. Well, and I think ultimately you're talking about giving up on the system, young people, you're seeing this in Minneapolis. I think a lot of people have given up on America. They've given up on the idea of America. They want to see it all burn.

These communist front groups are getting funded and the protesters are organizing. And, you know, you got the Golden Globes wearing Be Good buttons when you're so hypocritical. I heard you guys talking about earlier. I loved what you said because when you look back at Obama and what he did with deportations, 80% are which without due process. They talk about due process all the time. His deportations were not with due process, but nobody complained. The only person who even said anything was ACLU. They wrote like four articles about it.

But nobody in the mainstream media had any issue it because it was. was a Democrat president doing it. Well, and I want to reiterate a point you made. This is going to be one of the most expensive congressional races in the country, Arizona One. Your website is jfeely for congress.com. Jayfeely for Congress.com. Please put that up on the lower. Please, everybody that can chip in, Jay's a good guy, good Christian man. It very, I mean, we're going to keep this seat. We're going to keep this seat because a guy like you has taken the hard route. Thank you. And it's throwing your hat in the ring and you're doing the hard thing for, the sake of your country. More importantly than keeping the seat, we're going to keep the house in

26. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure we do that. Okay, hardest question yet. Tony Romo or Tom Brady. Who's the better broadcaster? Who's the better broadcaster? Yeah. Romo. Who's the better? Who's the better? I really liked Brady over this weekend. He was teaching me how to throw a ball on the wind. That's for sure. Oh, man. These are controversial sentences. That's right. I'm going to get a text after that way. Exactly. Jay Feeley, uh, thankful for you to be in the race. Thank you guys for what you do. God bless you, sir. For standing up for conservative causes. President Trump walked into a catch-22 when taking office. Do nothing in America would be staring

at a ticking debt bomb, the kind of crisis that could cripple our future. Instead, he's taken action with strong policies to slow the train and buy us some time. But the effects of past administration's spending are still working through the system and experts predict dramatic price increases in market uncertainty. Trump is doing all he can, but no matter who's in office, Protecting your retirement savings is ultimately up to you. And that's why many Americans are turning to real assets like gold and silver. Preserve gold is our go-to choice here at the Charlie Kirk Show. We use them because they make it easy to own physical gold and silver,

even inside your retirement accounts like an IRA or 401K. Now, hear from Charlie in his own words. Preserve gold is my go-to choice for all my precious metal needs. They are the real deal. And I recommend them to my friends, family, and viewers. Get their free wealth protection guide now by texting. Charlie to 50505. President Trump is fighting for America's future.

Now it's your term to help protect yours. We are turning our attention to Iran now that we talked about this on Friday. And we're going to have Alika Laban, who is an Iranian in the United States. And she's been a strong activist advocate for a free Iran, free of the Mullahs and Khomeini. And so there's a lot going on. And it's very hard to understand exactly what's going on because there is an internet blackout. We've got AI. We've got a almost complete media blackout from the West.

There has been very little coverage. But there is a lot of activists that are. We have reports of hundreds. Some people are claiming thousands. I've seen reports in around 500 some supposed deaths from clashes between demonstrators and security forces. President Trump has been weighing in on this. He said about a week and a half ago he was saying if Iran strikes on protesters, we're ready to step in.

And then he said this weekend, quote, Iran is looking at freedom, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help, three exclamation points. And so there is this sense that President Trump, I guess you might say he might see this as an opportunity similar to Venezuela, where in a normal war you'd need a lot of force, but he may see this as an opportunity where a couple strikes and he can knock over the Iranian regime.

Well, can you imagine the psychological impact of the protesters? Now, I want to be very clear. I currently am against intervention, military intervention. I don't see it as America first at this point, but, you know, I am hearing reports that there could be carriers headed to the region, straight to Hormuz, that kind of thing. If we are doing economic warfare, I think you could topple the Iranian regime plus the protests with an embargo, if you will, a blockade of the oil coming out of Iran that's usually headed straight to the CCP. So it's good in two different,

on two different fronts, right? You're going to choke off the oil flow to the CCP. You're also going to choke off revenues to the mullahs okay so those those two things i would be in support of i do not want to see us militarily get involved but it does seem like the lady gs and that sort of thing is it's happening they're they're pushing for a final blow against the iranian mullahs right now so that's that's we are monitoring that closely let's do you have a clip you want to play sorry i want to play a clip here real quick this is a i think like a fairly dispassionate setting the table before Ellica joins us, 228. Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khomey on Friday accused protesters of acting on

behalf of U.S. President Donald Trump. Chaminet said rioters were attacking public property and warned that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as, quote, mercenaries for foreigners. Videos uploaded to social media on Thursday showed hundreds of people marching in Tehran streets at night. As anti-government protests continued, triggered. by frustration with the country's economy and rampant inflation. Witnesses in the capital and major cities of Mashad and Isfahan told Reuters that protesters gathered in the streets chanting slogans against the Islamic Republic's clerical rulers.

Protesters tore an Iranian flag in half. Internet monitoring group NetBlocks said a nationwide internet blackout was reported on Thursday. All right, and it looks like we have Elyke-Labon, who is now ready. Elika, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. So one of the struggles with the Iranian story right now is it's hard to get accurate information. So you are connected with people inside Iran.

You are Iranian. Tell us what the truth is, what's really going on, the extent of the protest, please. Yeah. Well, I mean, first of all, a lot of what the media says is that this is, you know, protests that are instigated because of economic conditions. But the reality is that what these people, what the people of Iran are protesting is the oppressive regime. that has sort of had its boot on their necks for the past 47 years. It's true that sometimes things happen, that instigate a new series of protests,

which is exactly what's happened right now, with the economic conditions. Since then, it's just impossible to count how many Iranians have taken to the streets. From what we're hearing from people inside Iran, essentially everybody and their neighbor and their parents and even their children have taken to the streets, and it is a total nationwide protest to try and oust the regime.

At the same time, the regime's narrative, which we have to remember, the regime are in control of the entire propaganda operation. They're in charge of the media. There's no free speech. There's no free journalism. And their story that they're returning back to the world, while the internet has been shut down, is that this is a Zionist operation, a Zionist sciop,

a form of American imperialism. But what most people don't know is that that is the lie that drove the 1979 revolution. And it is the very lie that Iranian people have woken up from and are now protesting against today. And how big are the protests and how widespread? Monumental. I mean, every city, every, it's across the entire nation. Obviously, you know, it's not like the regime is going to be tallying numbers and sending us back figures to let us know. It's not like Gaza health ministry where they're going to send us, you know, accurate.

But essentially, from what we've heard from inside Iran, every single city in Iran is basically has detonated with these protests. So there is a gal online. I'm not sure if you're familiar with her. It's Tamina de Bozorgi. I'm apologies for butchering that. But she had this viral tweet that it looks at 5.3 million engagements right now. She says, the Western liberal media is ignoring the Iranian uprising because explaining it would force an admission it is desperate to avoid. The Iranian people are rebelling against Islam itself and the fact that shatters the moral framework through which these institutions understand the world. So she's basically saying this is different than what happened in Palestine or with Hamas. It doesn't fit the moral framework of Western media. Therefore, Western media is not going to cover it. Do you think that's what's happening?

Is that what's causing this media blackout from the CNN's and the MSNOs of the world? Yeah, I mean, I've posted a similar tweet and similar videos talking about the moral color code, which is essentially that in Western academia, especially leftist academia, and I say this as a former leftist myself, there's this sort of framework that has been taught to American youth about who the good people and who the bad people are, who the oppressed and who the oppressors are. And we've, so many decades, we've spent educating our youth that the good people in the world are the, you know, the global South or the people of color and the evil people in the world are the white people, right? And so their rebellion, according to that moral color code, is against all things white. And that is why you saw them coming out in droves to, you know, protest against Israel, which had been named a white nation of white Jews from Poland, right? And that was absolutely deliberate. But when you see these, you know, protests against Israel, which had been named a white nation of white Jews from Poland, right? And that's, that was absolutely deliberate. But when you see the, but when you see the, you know, but when you when you see what's happening in Iran at the hands of an Islamist regime, well, let's not forget that violates the moral color code because now you're talking about Islamists who are coded as brown.

And they cannot defy the moral color code and go against the Islamists because that under us their entire story, it exposes the contradiction that what they've been protesting for or what they've been standing for this entire time has never been humanity. It has been abiding by orthodox abiding by a moral color code, which is built on a farce. So, Alika, I was wondering if you could, I've seen some discussion. What type of alternative government do you think the people on the ground want? There's been, obviously, the son of the former Shah has made himself a very prominent figure in all of this.

Do people want the Shah back or how do they feel on the ground there, do you believe? Yeah. So when we're looking at these protests, these nationwide, protest from city to city, the one thing that is unanimous is that they are calling back for the Shah. They're saying Javid Shah, which means long-lived the king. They're saying, Inochari Nabadeh, Pah, Vah, Mighad, which means this is the last battle and Pahlavi will return. There's a very specific reason for this. And the reason is that they ousted his father in 1979 based on what I call the great lie. And that great lie was the ideology by the Marxist and the

leftists that convinced them that some utopia was going to come if they just ousted, you know, Western imperialism, they called the Shah an American puppet, the American elite. And once we would be done with all of this and, you know, we could usher in some Marxist utopia of equality for all, right? And so the Iranian people very soon discovered that there was no utopia. It was just hell. And because of that lie, there is a very specific return. that they're calling for right now. It's essentially an apology first. We made a mistake. We want the Shah's son back. We want the Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi back. He will act as a transitional leader. He's not coming as a dictator and authoritarian. He's coming back as an interim leader to transition the country

into democracy. At that point, a referendum will be opened up where the people will decide who it is that they want to lead the country, what type of system, whether it'll be a constitutional monarchy, a republic, a democratic republic. But I will say that the polls that have come out of Iran over the past couple of years have already revealed that their number one choice for a leader is the crown prince Rez al-Pathlavi, because he is the only person that they trust against everything, all of the betrayals and all of the lies that they've experienced here to fall. Wow. And you feel like that is widely shared on the ground in Iran? I mean, just listen to their words. We don't have to guess. We just, we listen to their words.

No, that was a big question. I have to trust you on that one. I don't know a far. That was a big question we had. Was this representative? Yeah, was he representative of a larger voice or was he trying to insinuate himself and to be opportunistic? It was an honest question. So that's actually good to know because.

Yeah, no, no, no. I just like, that you don't speak the language. Well, I was like, why don't you hear them? Yeah, no, totally. Yeah, we don't speak it. So the next question here is about U.S. involvement, intervention. Play, 220. Yesterday, the leaders of Iran called they want to negotiate one.

I think they're tired of being beat up by the United States. Iran wants to negotiate this. We may meet with them. I mean, a meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what's happening before the meeting. So I guess a general thing I'm wondering is how fragile. does the regime seem to be? Like, Trump is threatening to possibly get involved. We see the people in the streets. We see the regime shooting back. Is it the sort of thing that could be shoved over with not too much effort? I think the fragility of the regime is directly proportional to how

much it can withstand. And if there's intervention that's coming from the United States that's coming from the outside, they're not going to be able to withstand the uprising within Iran and the intervention from outside. So that will absolutely be the thing that topples the regime over. Without intervention, no, the regime will not collapse because there's already been a massive shutdown and they're saying that the regime are starting to take control. This is Lane Schoenberger, chief investment officer and founding partner of Y Reefi. It has been an honor and a privilege to partner with Turning Point and for Charlie to endorse us. His endorsement means the world to us, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Turning Point for years to come. Now, hear Charlie, in his

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Jeez. Wow. Elica, I want to show this image really quick. 234. This has become an iconic image of this young woman. lighting fire to the supreme ruler and leader, whatever his name is, Khomeini, and using it to light her cigarette. And I mean, it's really, like, it's become this touchpoint of the youth-led movement. Explain that. How are young people playing a central role in this Iranian protest movement?

Yeah, well, I mean, it's essentially entirely driven by the youth because we have to remember that, you know, our youth in Iran, they have access to the internet. They're on TikTok. They're on Instagram. They're on social media. And what they're doing all day is essentially comparing their lives to lives to the lives of people who are living with the rights and freedoms and privileges that we enjoy. And it makes no sense to them why they don't have those things. It makes no sense to them. Why they have to, you know, have hair coverings, why they're not allowed to sing or dance in public, why they're not allowed to essentially do anything. and they have to follow these laws of these clerics that are completely removed and completely

out of touch from the youth of that generation. And it's also important to remember that many people think that Iran is a Muslim country and technically it is, because of the regime. But the Iranian people are not religious. They've never been religious because Islam is not something that came to us. Our original, our indigenous religion, you can say, is Arastianism. And Islam came to us by conquest and it's not something that the Iranian people ever fully adopted. And so there's an aspect of it that is still foreign to the Iranian people and most especially to the Iranian youth. So when they're seeing the way that the rest of the world is living on TikTok, they're making their dance videos too, but they're not allowed to make their dance videos. They're getting

penalized for making dance videos and they're tired of living under these restrictions. Yeah, it's very interesting what you're getting at. I don't think that that feels I guess, logical to the average American, right? We've been told our whole lives, you know, the Iranian Muslim is very repressive. This is what we've known. But there is this undercurrent within Persian culture, right? The Persian people, I interacted with them when I was living in Los Angeles. I mean, amazingly industrious people.

I think a lot of them are pretty devoutly Muslim. I would say my experience, you would know better than I, of course. but my interaction, this is my first-hand experience, they were devalued Muslims. Were they IRG-C? I don't think I've ever met a Persian that was a devout Muslim unless they were IRG-C. Well, and that, no, that's really interesting insight. Listen, you're the subject matter expert here. But what I will say is it does seem to be this, you see these videos from the 1970s of Iranian culture before. And it feels very Western.

It feels very liberal. And I do think that that is a promising side. If we're going to see Iran change and leadership change, do you believe that the country would be well poised to sort of be reintegrated into the international community? Yeah. And, you know, I tweeted something about this the other day because people talk about this concept of westernization, right? And they forget that we, the Iranian people, are the descendants of Cyrus the Great, who basically penned the Cyrus.

cylinder and that was the first declaration of human rights in history. And people forget that the Middle East was once considered the cradle of civilization. And so a lot of what we consider, you know, liberal right now, these concepts of human rights, they did originate with, with people like our ancestors, Cyrus the Great. And so Iran is sort of like a downstream effect of that type of culture and those types of norms. And that's why it's so important to understand that the way that Islamism has been sort of put on Iran, it contradicts our true underlying values. And our underlying values, it's not that we are Western. We are, we are Persian, but our Persian values mirror Western values very closely.

And that's also why you've seen such a close alliance between the Iranian people and the United States and Israel and Western countries because we share the same values. And pre-1979, that's exactly what you were seeing in Iran. The Shah, the last Shah of Iran, he actually instigated something called the White Revolution, which was a modernization project that gave women's rights, women's suffrage. It was about expansion of literacy, industrial growth, all of these things. And it was actually that exact modernization that caused the Islamists and the Marxists inside Iran to ally, to overthrow the Shah, because they called it westernization. What it really was was Persianization.

It was a return to our Persian values that are very, very closely mirrored with the West, the Judeo-Christian values. Yeah, I mean, it certainly seems that. I think we, I mean, this is why these videos go viral online about the 1970s Iran that is no more, and hopefully we'll be again. But yeah, go ahead, Blake.

It's just, it's a remarkable thing to watch. I think all of us would be very happy if Iran's been an enemy of the United States my entire life, if we were able to topple that without needing a giant regime change war, without needing, you know, 200,000 U.S. troops, I think that would be an amazing thing. Yeah. And it, I mean, floor is yours.

Elica, what's your message to the American people about Iran? My message to the American people is that it has never been more important to stand behind the people of Iran. A liberated Iran from the regime will free, not just the regime. It will free Israel and Gaza from Hamas, Lebanon from Hezbollah. It will Yemen from the Houthis and the west from Newcliffe. It will be a massive cascading liberation for all. Thank you, Alica. Really well said. Thank you. Thank you. For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.