The Charlie Kirk Show - The Revival He Always Wanted — Charlie Kirk's Memorial
Episode Date: September 22, 2025Charlie dreamed of filling an entire stadium for a revival-style event. And on Sunday, it happened. The great and powerful joined the masses to celebrate Charlie and celebrate Christ. Benny Johnson, N...ick Sortor, Cliff Maloney, and Turning Point event icon "Brick Suit" join to reflect on what will go down as one of the most iconic moments in American history.Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Everybody, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show on the Monday following what truly was.
One of the most historic events in the history of our country,
remembering Charlie Kirk, building a legacy at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
I'm joined by an amazing cast of friends who were all there, who all witnessed it in person.
They need no introduction, but we're going to do it anyways.
Our dear friend, Benny Johnson, dear friend of Charlie Kirk, thank you, Benny.
Nick Sorter, independent reporter.
he was all over.
I saw you so many times
for such a big venue.
It was amazing.
Yeah, I got my steps in this room.
I ran into you.
And of course,
Blake Neff,
who played a huge role,
by the way,
behind the scenes
in yesterday's event
and what you saw unfold.
But Benny,
I asked you here
because I knew you were
going to have a lot to say,
and I think it's very fitting.
You know,
what we did last week,
we had this amazing
all-star group of people
that came in
and honored Charlie by guest hosting the show alongside his team.
But I think it's very fitting that you have the Monday after that powerful, powerful memorial to his life and legacy.
So, Benny, the floor is yours.
Tell us what's on your heart.
What are you feeling the morning after?
Andrew, I'm probably going to spend the rest of my life processing what I experienced yesterday.
I couldn't sleep.
It's like you were buzzing last night.
There was so much kinetic energy in that room.
it was a revival energy and helping assist and build Turning Point USA in these events over the last
decade or so the magnificence of the team here and Blake is here obviously but Blake is just a
representation you yourself as well of the architecture that Charlie put forward there is no
group on earth political or otherwise that could have pulled off a 100,000 person in
person memorial, including the vast majority of cabinet secretaries, executive offices, governorships,
members of Congress, senators, world leaders, richest man on earth, Elon Musk, arguably the most
powerful private civilian on earth, Elon Musk, all in attendance yesterday. It is an impossibility
for nation states to be able to pull that off. Like, small countries in Europe wouldn't be able to do
that. They wouldn't get the permit to do it.
full force of the
with the full force
of the Swiss government
they couldn't pull that off.
What an,
I just want to like
take a giant step back
and perhaps we have
some,
some imagery that the producers
could play of the
size of the audience,
the scale of the audience.
Not only were the rafters filled,
not only were,
was the floor filled
where you don't,
wouldn't get that normally
in an NFL game or an NBA game,
right, or a professional hockey game.
The field is for the players,
right?
And there's just a handful of,
but also the behind the stage was filled let me explain that these are people who are sitting
maybe you could see it right here these are people who are sitting that can't see the program
but they're still there to just stare at a wall this there's an overflow room also that was at
near capacity another another minor league sports arena yes that was at the desert
diamond it's the former NHL arena and it was it's neighboring state farm stadium and it was
Filled. The energy was, unlike the Super Bowl, unlike a sporting event, it was spiritual in nature.
It was so kinetic because the room was so packed and so filled. And as far as I could tell,
and I know, I know this actually as a matter of fact, not a single window broken, not a single
Maltov cocktail thrown, not a single fist ever thrown in anger. No fights, no burning buildings,
no attacks on cops, no attacks on our nation, nothing but a peaceful memorial.
memorial, the largest, perhaps on earth, perhaps in American history, filled with prayer,
mourning, forgiveness, and a call for righteous justice. That is the difference between two
ideologies, two directions for Western civilization, and a profound, magisterial remembrance
of Charlie's legacy. It is precisely as he would have wanted it. And I want to de,
jump just one more story in because I was backstage. I got to see a lot of interactions. I got
backstage, front stage. I was seated amongst all the cabinet secretaries, got to see a lot.
Elon Musk came by a couple times. And I just want to use Elon Musk as a, as an example of the power of Charlie's legacy.
Elon Musk and Donald Trump had a bit of a falling out. Maybe you've heard of it. And,
that sucked, especially for guys like Charlie, who were coalition builders.
Charlie Kirk was thanked on stage by Donald Trump himself for bringing together RFK Jr.
and Maha movement.
Donald Trump says, Charlie created Maha.
I don't think Charlie ever will get the credit that he deserved for doing that.
But also Charlie Kirk brought together massive coalitions of, well, at any turning point event,
you can find Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, and Tucker Carlson sharing the same stage, right?
Maybe not together, but they're all there, right?
to give an opportunity to project their worldview, right?
Charlie was constantly doing that,
constantly bridging gaps,
constantly fusing together because he realized
that if we don't hang together,
we will surely hang separately,
which is exactly what Elon Musk told me.
So backstage, Elon Musk embraces Erica Kirk,
and she's crying in his arms,
and they're hugging, and it's really profound.
This was after the speeches,
this was after the program.
And this is the words that Elon Musk said to us,
in this small little group with Erica Kirk.
And he said, he said, like, this is why I was proud to sit with my president.
That's what he called Trump, my president today.
He accepted Trump's invitation to go up there.
And the majority of the event, Elon must sit sitting there with Donald Trump, chewing it up.
Everyone can see the, here's the photos of Elon embracing Erica.
And then there are photos of Elon with Trump and they seem to be having a great time.
Dana White also there.
What a professional, not only was the size.
and scope of this and the peacefulness of it, a profound eulogy for Charlie and his memory.
But the cornerstone of it all to unite the world's most powerful, richest private civilian
with the world's most powerful public figure, Donald Trump, Charlie said in this chair right
here, he hoped that it happened. There's a clip that went viral yesterday. Charlie saying,
I pray, I pray that Elon Musk and Donald Trump reconcile. And they did so at
Charlie's funeral in Charlie's
memory. A profound
and
beautiful example
of what Charlie constantly was doing
for our movement.
And he fused together
the greatest schism that we've seen in the
in the nascent Trump administration.
He just fixed Trump and Elon
to get there. We saw it live.
And it's like the power of
Charlie crying out.
I mean, after death
crying out and like,
still the power of Charlie
like bringing together
these tectonic forces
that should not reconcile
these are two stubborn men
these are two men
that don't need
each other
you know honestly
but it's
but Elon Musk told me this
he hugs Erica Kirk
he looks to all of us
and he goes
if we don't hang it together
we will surely hang separately
so let us unite
I was proud to sit with my president
tonight that's what Elon told us
that's what Elon told us
backstage
and so again
just as a little
behind the scenes
vignette here
a, a, a, a, what you watched yesterday, what tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions
of people saw yesterday, definitely hundreds of millions saw yesterday, was a beautiful
encapsulation, eulogizing, and memorial to Charlie with his energy pulsing through every
bit of it. I mean, I was beautifully said. I, I, I hadn't heard that, that part about Elon,
so I, I love that. And, you know, I know, and Blake knows how badly Charlie,
wanted to see them reconcile so many times we discussed it and charlie you know he Elon kind of
flew off the handle a little bit when it first happened and Charlie was very reserved he didn't hop on
it because he was like I believe they're going to come back together and yesterday Charlie was proved
correct as he often is and you I mean and it was funny I tweeted about it and I said I hope that
these two men are saying to each other for Charlie and then about two hours later Elon Musk
tweeted an image of him in Trump talking and he said for Charlie and a Bible verse yeah Benny you
get the honor today of being seated right next to Charlie's chair let's know to you Nick by the way
it's sort of I mean this we added this this seat location yeah for these streams because you know
we're just going to all pile around Charlie which is very Charlie but yeah Benny I mean please
you were you were continuing and I cut you off so you reflect I mean you used to
saw it. It was powerful. You ever seen Elon Musk convert to Christianity? We're going to see
that? I think that Elon Musk, what do you think, Blake? Probably agnostic at best.
He was openly agnostic, actually. He would say that because he was more of a science-based
guy, as he would say. And, you know, he wants to see evidence and proof of things before it happens.
But, you know, the amount of people in that room yesterday, I mean, like, I could feel it. I was
genuinely convinced that the Holy Spirit was in the room yesterday. And I saw Elon tweet.
uh what did we forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those right and then i ran up to you and showed
you immediately you were in the middle of talking to somebody but i was so excited i'm like here like
look at this andrew i was so so excited blew my mind and i i think we all felt you know
tucker had that great line and he said the the holy spirit was was what did he say it was
humming like a tuning fork in there and you could just i mean you could not help but step into that
room and feel that and I think probably I mean there was a our our production team that was running
all the streams they they logged well over a hundred million streams and that was just the ones
they knew about that's not broadcast that's not obviously clips of the of the memorial that's none
of that stuff that was they could just log over a hundred million that number will grow it will
end up being probably close to about a quarter or a quarter of a billion when it's all
said and done but what do you think I mean you were kind of observing
I saw you a couple times, Blake was just kind of taking it all in.
And sometimes Blake can be very kind of in your thing you're doing.
And you were unusually sort of observant of the wider moment.
I saw you a couple of times.
What was it like for you, Blake?
You know, I think the moment I think a lot of people who are there going to remember is actually right at the start.
Before any of the speakers come out, it's just right at the beginning where they had all the different signs that were color-coded.
And I remember they chose the signs very well.
It was like one of them was the, you know, here I am, Lord, send me.
Another was the, I think, well done, my good and faithful servant.
Like, they had a good selection of what was on the signs, and everyone just holding them.
The music is just the strings.
There's no one singing or anything.
And it goes for, man, it felt like it was five plus minutes.
Everyone just sort of sitting there, like, marinating in the moment.
And that felt very powerful.
I saw a lot of people crying.
I think I teared up during it.
And you had several moments of that throughout the night.
It was an entire event very rich with meaning, very rich with common feeling, and I think everyone there is going to remember it the rest of their lives.
Yeah, and you were going around interviewing people, Nick.
What were people telling you?
Well, I mean, first off, what was really interesting to me were the amount of people, like turning point action yesterday was super busy going around registering voters.
People want to get involved.
These are people that didn't really.
pay too much attention to politics before. Maybe they did casually. But now all of a sudden,
you know, this happened. It woke a lot of people up. It scared them. It shook them to the core.
You know, I've been speaking to my mother as well, who she's been a lifelong Democrat, loved
Obama when I was growing up. And she called me and was like almost in tears because she didn't
know Charlie before. She didn't know anything about Charlie. And then she started seeing all the
clips. She started seeing the highlights from him doing these college tours and stuff. And now
she wants to get back into the church and she wants me to to start going with her and such she's like
i want to send you this this uh i want to send you a bible i'm going to and it's just this unbelievable power
that charlie has unleashed posthumously on the world uh bringing people closer to god i would say
it's in the millions upon millions of people that have now just gone to church for the first time over
the past couple of weeks or have gone to church for the first time since i think erika said since as a child
You know, and I think there was this feeling, you know, in the immediate aftermath of Charlie's assassination, there was this surge, right?
I could feel there was a surge, you know, people were showing up, you know, hundreds and hundreds of people were showing up in front of the HQ and there was vigils going on.
And I kind of prayed silently.
I said, Lord, you know, let this not be the end of it. Let this not.
I hope that this is not just a flash in the pan.
and I'll tell you there's tons of people in front of the building this morning just paying their respects
and I think this memorial and this rediscovery re-exploration of Charlie's actually what he said not what the media said about him
is going to mean that this carries on much much longer than just you know these last 11 12 days
I had the honor of speaking yesterday at Charlie's memorial at State Farm Stadium
in Glendale, Arizona. It was an honor of a lifetime. And I got to bring our team up on stage,
which was also an honor. And I got a lot of great feedback from people just saying, you know,
bringing the team up was a master stroke. It was so good. And it's exactly what Charlie would
have done because Charlie loves this team, probably spent more time on a daily basis with the team
that runs the show than any other team because there were so many teams. But this was his daily
routine and
feel free to chime in
I got a message from a friend who was asking
who's this guy and it was not a photo of me
it was a photo of Dalen on our tech team
because the profile he had a very
powerful looking chin so congratulations
Dallan good for you buddy
have you ever heard
have you ever heard the most powerful leaders in the western
world all be
apostles for Christ on the same
stage thank you for
that's never happened this is the big E on the eye chart
really this is the biggest this is the biggest
apostolic event
since the times of Christ, I believe.
I don't think there is another...
Some of the greatest reformation.
Given technology and given the number of people
that can watch concurrently, right,
Christ can speak to thousands on a hillside,
but there's no way to amplify it worldwide.
Given the number of people watching in South Korea,
I mean, we probably will never get those numbers,
but I think it's probably fair to say
that this service was seen by billion.
by the time it's all said and done and gone worldwide,
at least pieces of it, right?
Parts, snippets, videos, and clips on social media.
Billions saw it, and there wasn't a single speech
that did not have Christ at the center of the speech.
I believe that this, and you should contact the Guinness Book of World Records,
this is most likely Charlie's Memorial Service,
the single largest apostolic event in modern history.
Well, I don't know if you guys saw this.
Somebody tweeted out a photo of, you know,
the monitors for all the different news networks.
Every single major news network in the Western world was tuned in live, not cutting to any commercials while these big speakers were going. Absolutely crazy.
And I will tell you, I handle press for turning point events historically. And so I sort of had to, on top of a number of other things that I was doing. And my team did an amazing job. Shout out to Aubrey. You did a phenomenal job. Aubrey Lage. Thank you so much for stepping up.
Aubrey's just one of those people that said, I want this.
I know you can't focus on this like you normally do.
I want to, I want you to trust me.
And I said, okay, Aubrey, it's yours.
Don't mess it up.
And I got so many compliments on the job she did, just kind of playing orchestra.
You know, she was orchestrating the choir.
It was a really amazing job because there was so much press going on.
But this is what we heard from the venue.
Now, remember, the venue does Super Bowls.
They do special events all the time.
time. And I will tell you, they said this was more press interest from around the world, not just
America, than the Super Bowl or any other special event they've ever been a part of. And I believe
it is a very true fact to say that the gospel was just proclaimed to more people in one singular
event than any other time in human history. And it makes me remember, Benny, the verse where he says,
Jesus says, you will do even greater things than these. It's not that we are greater than Christ.
Christ is king. But you will do even greater things than
these and everybody who had a hand in yesterday's event was was a participant in those greater
things because as you said we have social media we have this ability to spread the message so
far and so wide and so quickly right so truly amazing to be a part of that the it is hard to put
if you go to a lot of maga rallies and we've been to you know hundreds thousands safe to say
we've been to some you know how big the rallies are based on the size of the press rafter and let me
explain the press rafter yesterday was we were on a football field it was 30 yards deep and the
entire football field wide that's how much space was needed to simply handle the number of cameras
and on the ground reporters is this correct colvette i mean you would have probably approved these
dimensions yeah the size of the press rafter took up a considerable portion of the football
field it was in order to get the amount of press in that wanted to it was the biggest uh press riser
anybody had ever seen and I talked to you know President Trump's team backstage I talked to our
our physical production partners they've never seen anything like it well I talked to Aubrey actually
because that's where I got my press pass from and I saw the stack in front of it was like this
of just press passes and I'm like my god how many and she's like it's in the hundreds oh and we
had to cut just so everybody's aware we had to cut a lot because we originally were going to be
able to put some overflow press into the over a desert diamond arena or whatever and
And that ended up not being a possibility.
So we could have fit even more into the back.
And we just, we fire marshal stuff, footprint stuff on the floor.
We had to, we had to ultimately cut back.
So there was some press that didn't even get in.
But listen, we got in the lion's share of the press.
And to God be the glory for Charlie, we pulled it off.
The team didn't sleep.
And again, just what a testament to Charlie's legacy, his leadership.
that the team rallied the way they did.
So, you know, you were talking about...
Streaming.
500,000 concurrence on Charlie's channel last night.
Yeah, there was millions...
That's the most I've ever seen on a YouTube channel.
There, yeah.
On Charlie's YouTube channel, 500,000 concurrence.
There was a lot.
I mean, I don't know what it was at his peak,
but I just got an interesting tidbit of information
that we had some partners do a geotag.
How many devices were in the general vicinity?
And it was nearly 300,000.
It was 270.
7,000 devices were geotagged in that vicinity.
So for comparison and context there, when they geotagged,
what was the most famous MAGA rally of the 2024 election,
the Madison Square Garden rally?
This is every MAGASAR.
This is Hulk Hogan and Elon and kill Tony and all of them, right?
Remember, the left loves comedians, loves comedians.
They love his Puerto Rico joke.
They love that way.
Yeah, that's right.
They're totally free speech.
That was 97,000.
Wow.
So that was the full geo tag for that,
which is seen as the penultum maga rally was 97,000.
Yeah, I mean, I walked outside.
I was there most of the night covering the growing size of the crowd.
You had people there the night before.
It was in the hundreds, which is still pretty good,
especially when they very specifically said,
nobody's allowed to stay overnight.
They're not allowed to camp overnight.
They're like, okay, so we're going to stand on the sidewalk instead.
You can't make us leave.
and these people like two hours later three o'clock in the morning rolls around and all of a sudden there's tens of thousands of people standing outside they wanted to make sure they got that spot they wanted to make sure they were in there and i read a post earlier today from a guy that was from main that came all the way over here he got there early and ended up sitting behind the stage and he's like i wouldn't have it any other way i wanted to be there he stood in line for like you know hours and hours and hours but he was overjoyed just to be able to
experience it i i talked to somebody from canada finland in that line just interesting yeah i saw a bunch
of people that i mean look at these crowd shots like that's outside by the way that was people
lining up to get in and it was just a mass of humanity a mass of humanity i mean by the way
huge line of people who were camped out overnight when i came in to the hotel room yeah that's what
you were saying yeah it was absolutely massive and it actually flowed pretty well we filled up the
arena in pretty good time. The Secret Service provided a ton of mags, which is the security scanners
to get into the venue. And so that helped because, you know, we had been a part of many Trump
events during the campaign where the Biden administration was not giving us a lot of mags.
They were giving us the bare minimum number of mags. You can only move so many people through those
per hour. The ingress is limited by mags. And I mean, you know, you can't prove it. At least I can't
But there was this feeling like they were like,
we're going to screw your event.
People are stuck out in the heat passing out.
We're out there.
I'll never forget.
I'm in Palm Beach.
I'll never forget that Palm Beach event where Charlie went out into the parking garage.
Because people, the line, we put the line out into the parking garage, this mass, 100% humidity, crazy heat.
We put out big fans.
We rushed in fans.
We had pallets of water.
And Charlie went and shook everybody's hand and said, I'm so sorry.
And it was because they screwed us on the mag.
So this time, we got all the mags we needed.
Man, it was rough.
I mean, I don't know what your guys' experience was entering the arena.
But when you walked into the arena, there was this major energy change.
And we were coming over from Fox.
You had done Maria Borkeromo right before me.
And it took a while to get into the arena, big time security, obviously.
You get in and you walk in.
And the first thing that greeted me was, like, three ladies that were, like, sobbing and tears.
that all come over to like cry on my chest
and then it was like that every two feet
like every two feet took us an hour and a half to get to our
chairs and people were just mourning
Charlie there was like this there was like this kinetic
there was like this kinetic energy of
it was like Charlie it was like Charlie was there
I don't know how else to describe it
you could see people who were just walking onto the floor
into the arena area and they were just like sobbing
as they walked crying crying uncontrollably taking it all in
yep crying uncontrollably however
you know another massive shout up to turning point
and the events team here
to give what people are looking for in that time
if you don't give them a physical ability
to mourn and to get it out
then that energy can actually go dark
and can turn into something bad
so doing this was actually
therapeutic for the nation
it was actually so important to do it this way
it was so important for people to have the opportunity
to grieve and mourn together and to get it out
and to channel into something good
I love where you're going because I want to talk about that
because Erica Kirk did something
truly, truly remarkable.
And so guys, ready that clip where she forgives the shooter.
And there's all this chatter online.
I don't think I could forgive.
And maybe it's too soon or this or that.
I want to explain why what Erica Kirk did was the epitome of courage and humility and Christ's love.
And show the, I think it's 61, go ahead and throw up the New York Post cover.
I forgive him.
and that's Erica being embraced, putting her head on the chest of the president as he consoles her,
this powerful moment where she said what for many, Benny, is the unthinkable.
I forgive this man who just robbed the world of a great hero and a titan of a man, our friend.
But I'm very well aware that, yes, he was my dear personal friend.
We spent so much time together, but yet he belongs to the world.
he belongs to history and here erika is was doing this not out of a personal relationship
you know with her husband but really like because she understands that she is an instrument for
god right now and so she dug so deep and did this beautiful thing and it's created a lot of chatter
online and i want to get into it now what's the clip guys it's 19 go ahead and play it on the cross
our Savior said,
Father, forgive them,
for they not know what they do.
That man,
that young man,
I forgive him.
Wow, I got chills just watching that back.
I agree, Benny, that that was, she's given two of the most powerful speeches that I've ever heard, if not the top two.
I don't know what even comes close, actually, in this moment.
And that moment in particular, I tweeted at the time, I said,
This is one of the most truly important and profound moments in American history, perhaps world history, and she had such courage to do it.
Blake, take us behind the scenes, because you were kind of, you were bouncing ideas off her with the language of this speech.
Yeah, and, you know, we were, you know, I helped her in, I helped her ahead of time with the speech, and, I mean, she's incredible.
She was very clear what she wanted to say throughout, very clear thinker, very impressed with her throughout all of this.
I think all of us have been.
Amazing.
And we, you know, we were at that key point, and, you know, it was going into, it was actually a bit of an open question for me.
Like, is she ready to do this?
Is she prepared to do this?
And I won't say everything that went into it.
A lot of that was very private.
But two things I think I can say is, first of all, it was, you know, one of us almost throughout idly, you know, what would Charlie do?
do and that actually you know impacted her a great deal she she did as she said up there it is what
charlie would do and the other thing she said uh ahead of it that it it impacted me so much at the time
she said i have to do it because i i can't let there be anything that would stand between me
and seeing charlie again if i were to die wow and she knew you know the gospel the gospel says
we must love our enemies that is powerful and that
so incredible in that moment.
I think that it inspired a lot of people,
especially the ones that I was sitting around
because you know you watched that video
and how gruesome and how angry it made me
watching that video and you know
this is this is Charlie's wife
and she was able to actually go up on stage
and say in front of millions of people
that she forgives him.
I mean the power that's behind that
it's something that
we'll remember for a long time.
So backstage she was she was
lea Erica was leaving
was a wild
to tell you the importance of this moment for Erica.
And first off, I mean, I said this during the break,
but I think that that speech ranks among the top three
most powerful speeches ever given in modern history,
without question.
Not only that, but she in that moment ceased to be Erica Kirk.
She became something spiritual.
She also did it standing right here before this chair.
It was right where you're sitting.
And I'm not sure I'd even call that a speech.
I think I'd call that like a wife's,
private eulogy that she was able to share with all of us because of how important Charlie was
to the world. That was less of a speech and more of like God speaking through her. I don't, again,
I've known Erica and Charlie for a long time. I was at the wedding. We were all at their wedding. Like,
like, I, I, that wasn't Eric, like, Erica's incredible. That was like something spiritual.
Like, it was God physically moving through her and speaking through her. Because she,
Humanly, you can't forgive a monster like that.
Humanly, you can't do that.
And after it happened, it was really beautiful people brought this up right away.
Let's put up pick number seven.
This is a tweet Charlie did all the way back in 2014.
He was, you know, to be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.
She shared Christ.
That was probably the, that was the most Christ-like thing that happened.
A lot of people talked about Christ.
The Secretary of War talked about Christ, right?
Very interesting.
Don Jr.
talked about Korea.
And dank memes, which is a first.
But that was the most Christ-like thing that happened on stage.
I think everyone will agree with that.
Of course, the forgiveness of the unforgivable, right?
And Erica shared Christ, one of the largest audiences maybe ever gathered in human,
and did the most Christ-like thing.
And that, again, the most apostolic.
event in human history was that and I think that I if if you will allow me a lot of people are
saying well how dare Trump while you know saunter on stage afterwards and say no I hate my
enemies I'm gonna kill my enemies like I hate them I want him to burn right because Trump went on and
did that right in his own way Trump bravado and said oh I hate my enemies I don't know how
Erica can do that I want to take an opportunity to just say from a Christian perspective
and look at this from a biblical perspective because what was demonstrated in both those
speeches represented by obviously Erica but then represented by Stephen Miller did a great job
at this. Donald Trump did a great job of this. Secretary Ward did a great job of this is the
personification of Romans 13. Romans 13, the Apostle Paul, who's very familiar with martyrdom, was there
at the martyrdom of Stephen that actually brought him to Christ, writes about a properly instituted
government set up by God, and that the government is there to institute safety and security
for the good and moral people of the nations, that God has set up the leaders of our land
in order to do that. And so God set up Trump and his administration to allow for security
and family flourishing and for the prospering of good and moral people, and that God gives
the sword to the leaders of our principalities.
in order to enact, these are the exact words, terror within evil men, to bring terror upon
evil men. And that was what the Trump administration represented. That is pure Christian
doctrine. That is fundamental Christian doctrine about the establishment of the government so that
the good may flourish. Now, on a personal level, what Erica showed was what we must do in our hearts
in order to absolve ourselves and to follow in the Christ-like method of forgiveness
in order to ensure that we are unburdened, actually, by evil.
Evil happens to us.
We must unburden ourselves by following through with the power of Christ.
Erica shows that perfectly, balanced absolutely in perfect harmony
by President Trump and his administration saying that it is now incumbent upon us,
the rulers of this land, to institute justice.
We do not have to forgive.
We must enact justice, swift, and severe justice upon evil men so that they are in terror.
And that is perfectly fundamentally harmonious in the Christian worldview.
Yeah, Ali Stucky actually said something that I, and she's actually going to be hosting the show with me tomorrow.
So that's exciting.
But she said there's a big contrast between Erica's forgiveness speech and Stephen Miller's destroy our enemy's speech.
And that was in quote.
I don't think, you know, I can't remember exactly.
He said, we are the storm.
we are the store
Did you help him write that place?
Yeah, right.
I think Stephen, I think Stephen,
You know, but she did it in quotes.
I mean, I don't think she met any disrespect to Stephen.
It was just the tone was, you know, distinct.
The tone was Stephen Miller.
She says, exactly as it should be.
It is our job to forgive, not the governments.
Christians give grace.
The government wields the sword, Romans 13.
We turn the other cheek.
The government punishes evil.
Yes.
And, I mean, you saw that.
in very very vivid detail on that stage yesterday because to your point personally that was an inexcusable
evil that has been perpetrated against the world certainly but against Erica specifically
and she unburdened herself she said I will not live with this hate I will not live
with this this thing in my spirit I am I am going to forgive as Christ forgave me
because I will not let it get in the way of me being with Charlie and
in heaven and I will not let it get in the way of me running turning point USA and being the new
leader of this movement and I I just commend her for that because yes I even when I heard that my
flesh I felt my flesh like crawling because I didn't want her to forgive I wanted her to like get
that fierce look in her eyes you know that she has which is just amazing by the way and I wanted
her to look right in the camera and be like we are going you know give me one of the bullets in because
Utah still has you know what is it firing squad give her one of the bullets and let her shoot
him right in the you know whatever anyways the point is I wanted that my flesh wanted that
but my spirit knew that the power you talked about if you don't give people a way to grieve
in this positive way in a way that uplifts Jesus then it can turn dark and what she did is
she took all of that energy and she flipped it on Satan's head and said you are not going to
win this one. We are going to choose Christ and God's love will be unleashed on this country.
Can we talk for just a moment about how this is how you begin, this is how civil wars and
secretarian violence actually spirals into that failed state. You have these moments of political
violence. You don't give anyone the capacity to grieve. There is no justice. There is no shooter
found. No one is brought to justice. No greater terrorist network has brought down. I talked a lot
with Cash Patel and Dan Bongino yesterday. I'd love to share that on the show. I know we're up
against a break. But just another massive shout out to the team at Turning Point and the team
at the Charlie Kirk Show and Charlie's core here at giving the country inability to grieve
in a peaceful and in a productive way. Because what happened there yesterday was people saw
that this isn't just pain and loss that can carve a hole in your heart and make you into a dark
person. This is something that can be uplifting actually and can bring the movement forward
and can consolidate a movement. And that's healing for a nation.
100%. Charlie, I mean, Blake knows this. Charlie preach more than anything to young people.
Be a part of something bigger than yourself. Do not get sucked down these dark holes on the
internet. Do not become an in-cell in your mom's basement or wherever. Get out. Get in real life.
Be a part of something bigger than yourself. And what you saw was that Charlie is a man that
invited people into something bigger than even himself, even in death. And, you know,
Benny, I'm thinking about something you were saying. And you kind of alluded to it earlier.
That my brother actually flew down to, and my dad, which was an amazing honor.
I've never seen my dad quite like this, which will be something that I keep with me from this experience.
But they made a comment.
I've never been to a big event like this with a sea of people coming in and not have to not had to deal with the riffraff,
didn't have some weird exchange with some random person.
was no negative energy. Everybody was so loving to one another. It was truly a positive experience,
even just being around strangers. A lot of people hate that, right? A lot of people hate going,
I might be one of them, where you're kind of like, you go into a sporting event and you're like,
okay, let's avoid that part. Nothing like that. Well, I mean, that was one of the things that really
ticked off the left yesterday. I was monitoring this stuff online to see this reaction to, you know,
everybody worshipping and the tens of thousands of people singing and yeah and that that really pissed
off the left in this country and and they even tried to pull this stunt i texted you about it
where they were trying they they were making it go viral saying oh nope sorry doors are closed now
stadium's full oh yeah and i text i was inside so i texted an image to you i'm like this is a live
look at the stadium people are still coming in the the whole upper bowl was was completely empty because
they were kind of filling the stadium from bottom to top and i was like please get this out
I don't know if you ended up tweeting there.
Oh, yeah, I did.
I mean, it got seen millions and millions of times
because people were sharing it
because they knew what was going on.
You know, the left saw these images
that we were putting out, like the drone footage
and, you know, the video that you just showed here
of these endless lines of people.
And they're like, oh, this is bad.
This is really bad.
Because, you know, they're in total,
they're in a spiral at this point.
Because, you know, a lot of people, as I said,
been woken up.
They have seen what the left has been doing
over the past week,
celebrating the death of somebody as
wholesome and good and well-intentioned as Charlie Kirk,
that they don't know what to do at this point.
So they're going to continue trying to demonize us.
They wanted this to be,
they wanted to be able to show pictures of a crap ton of empty seats
and say, you know, this was a failure.
I guess people really didn't care that much.
That was their goal.
And they failed because if you looked at the arena next door too,
that was packed as well.
There's no way for them to spin it.
Can I, since we're sitting here with so much of the Charlie Brain Trusts
and not enough, I mean, frankly, not enough credit goes to
ever the people who really make it all possible made like this charlie kirk moment possible
cannot emphasize enough blake andrew and the entire team here also tyler you know on
occasion there's screen time there but like just not enough credit is given to the infrastructure
and architecture that makes a charlie even possible right because there's such a huge machine behind
it many of many were on stage which is a beautiful thing that you did yesterday could i ask you
guys a question just live here not to put you on the spot why don't we do one every year in charlie's
honor like a memorial like why do we do like a revival style of that i love that make this like the new
america fest or make this something that is um countervailing in like a spirit is more like a turning
point faith event that is more like faith driven yeah i've got a lot of people saying you know you
guys should do tent revivals now.
Because people are like, TPSA
faith should go around and we should just
start preaching. But I love
this idea. Like having a single nexus point.
This is much more TPSS. I like this better.
Having a single nexus point in a stadium
and like to show people the
magnanimity and then also just
the majestic power of 100,000
people here to sing and praise
and worship and to do so
in a way that is positive for the nation.
Something that I think a lot of church. There are megachurches
but they never talk politics, right? And they never
talk about like the direction a moral nation should go i will tell you i spoke and overheard some
conversations i should be more exact because uh with some of the worship leaders and you know
we're talking grammy award winning artists these are the best of the best and they were blown
away they had never seen anything like it they had never seen the spirit move like that honor to be
with you guys on a truly historic occasion the monday after bidding fair
farewell to our friend, but really saying hello and welcoming this new move of the spirit that
has been unleashed on the country.
Yeah, and we were just talking about that.
So there are so many people that want to feel something, that want to, like, say, this is why
I meant the MAGA rally works, because there's power in saying we agree on these, like,
core principles, and we can gather together and show our power.
And the right has been, of course, historically terrible at this.
But Donald Trump changed that.
Charlie Kirk changed that.
And to do a Charlie Kirk style memorial event that maybe goes from a Charlie Kirk
Memorial into more of a spiritual reawakening and revival style event.
I love it.
In his honor to bring people together for a moral projection of like where the country and
nation should go, inviting our leaders to almost give sermons, right, to almost like share
their faith to make it more about that.
because that's what they all did naturally.
I doubt that you told anyone what to say.
I know you didn't.
You didn't tell a single person what to say on stage.
We've never told what people what to say on stage.
We've never censored people.
I'm sure Charlie had conversations with certain people.
And they go, can I really talk about this?
And he would say, the floor is yours.
Yes.
The floor is yours.
We believe in bringing good people to events and letting them do what made them good people in the first place.
So you guys didn't tell a single?
No.
cabinet secretary or soul what to say yesterday
and every one of them naturally shared their faith
and by the way jd told me behind stage
so i i had a perch behind stage where i could see
the teleprompter
and the script
and jd made this amazing comment where he said
i've talked about jesus more in the last two weeks
than i've talked about the entire
my entire public career
yes and that was ad-lib
i was looking on the screen and it was like
wow you
You didn't have that in your script.
It just came out of it.
He was like, yeah, because it's true.
And it felt like I needed to say it.
Wouldn't be neat in Charlie's honor to create like a nexus event where you could have a place where it is appropriate.
Sometimes it's not appropriate or it's just there's other things to talk about, right?
We're talking about fentanyl overdoses today.
We're talking about the national debt today.
We're talking about autism today.
Maybe that's not the appropriate time to share your faith, right?
It kind of depends on who you are.
But maybe you create the nexus event where it is.
appropriate actually for the leaders of our land or would be want to be leaders of our land
to share their to share their faith to a large arena like this a lot of this stuff if someone tries
to do it is very stadium stadium stadium with a stadium a lot of this stuff is like poorly attended
in like sunken damp mildew basements of dc right they're like very poorly these these events are
like not well done and it'd be nice to do one where people can come they can feel the spirit
they can get like that that energy that revival energy that everyone wants to feel that everyone
felt yesterday and then give a platform i think it's great for leaders to come and talk about this we could
do it on the anniversary of the memorial screw the assassination you know like 921 or at least the
sunday closest to 921 yeah what and um and i think it's a beautiful idea and we i think i will
pursue it and it's a you know like we need another event to produce around here like we need a hole in the
but the uh the it was it was i mean i agree with the idea that it you we gave people a platform
to preach jesus and they did and there was a a tweet i saw from mark driscoll who's a local
pastor around here and he was like these elected leaders are preaching the gospel better than
the professionals yes yes so one that's very encouraging for a moral nation right for a nation
where trump wins seven out of seven swing states 90 percent of the counties in america voted for
Trump. Trump wins the popular vote. We have a center right nation. We have a moral, it's still a
morally good people in this country. And we never get a chance to see that in our leadership,
reflected, ever. And even Trump himself, right, like talking through his faith. I've never seen
him like that, like talking through his faith like yesterday, like wrestling with some of the larger
questions about Christianity and governance. He was doing that live on stage. What a remarkable thing to
see. And what a neat, what a great platform to have. The question I have for you guys is,
after seeing what happened yesterday,
how many Americans do you think would get a ticket next time?
Millions.
I think if you opened it up,
I think millions of people would sign up in the first 24 hours
to try and come.
I will tell you that Amvests,
I'm not at liberty to share the current ticket sold number,
but it's a lot.
It's a lot a lot.
And we're probably going to have to get a new venue
because I don't think the Phoenix Convention Center
will hold the number that we've we've got so that's 10,000 no it's bigger I don't want to be again
I haven't discussed whether I could say it to anybody but yeah wow yeah it's amazing and anyways
I just I I just it's so good to have friends here at this time I I I say that on behalf
of the Charlie Kirk show have brothers in the fight with us here with us means a lot
at Angel Studios. I love Angel Studios. Amazing new film this Holy Week. Phenomenal. As I think about
Charlie's life and how much of a supporter was of Angel, it's hard not to feel so grateful for what
he did. He supported us in our darkest days and in our brightest hours as a company. Jeff and I
and Charlie were doing lunch together. We asked him, he said, are you, are you at all worried about
one of these college campuses? And he just said, there was so much peace in his eyes and so much peace in
his heart. If that's how God takes me, then that's how I'm supposed to go. And I feel like that was a
clear message that Charlie's life is a testimony to Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior. And his
relationship with him was the most important thing that he would want the world to remember about his
legacy. Man, are we grateful to have gotten to be a little connection in the multitude of connections
that he made throughout his life because it was so impactful to us. Thank you, Charles.
Charlie, love you. We miss you. We're going to continue to drive forward to good news.
There is our dear friends empty chair, and that's the Shaquille O'Neal chair for everybody wondering.
It was probably the cheapest of the 14 chairs that Charlie tried on, but Charlie was a nephalum.
I've said this before on the show. He was huge in person. Like, people would always be like,
You're taller than I expected.
He's like, I've heard this before.
And we got all these fancy chairs.
We tried them on.
He'd be like, nope, nope, nope.
So finally somebody thought, let's get the shack chair for huge people.
And it was probably the, it was like $150 at Target or something.
We put it together.
He was like, this is the one.
This is the chair.
So I can't help but laugh at it because it's just so Charlie.
But anyways, we are beginning hour two on the Monday after the memorial,
the historical memorial where the Holy Spirit was humming like a tuning fork at the State Farm Stadium
here in Glendale, Arizona. And we are joined by Brick Suit. Great to be here.
Honored to have you, my friend, and Cliff Maloney, who Cliff has the amazing honor of having his voice
overlaid on one of the most viral Charlie Kirk clips of all time. And so I don't know if we want to start
there or somewhere else, but I'm going to play that clip
at some point. Are you want to do it
now? Yeah, let's do it. All right, so
this, this actually, President
Trump talked about this, which is amazing.
So, and I love the clip, so let's just play it. Let's play
cut five.
Fox News decides
Donald Trump is president
of the United States. We've got
our republic back, folks.
Let's go.
There it is.
everybody should remember this moment look i'm gonna i'm gonna echo charlie from earlier remember where you
were when this happened remember where you were when you realized that the unit party and all these
you know just the establishment you said it's time to actually participate and look what you guys
have done and if anyone deserves to get tears in his eyes it's charlie i think we all agree
I think Erico is not one of the munions of something in the break room.
No one has worked harder than Charlie for this.
We got to hear some words here from you, Charlie.
You put all this together, my man.
Let's hear it.
I am just humbled by guy.
It's all got it.
It's all got it.
Got alone.
Got alone.
Decision desk has it.
Pennsylvania.
It's done.
It's beginning.
man that takes me back wildest experience in my life many of you guys know I am not the
influencer type online I'm more the organizer Charlie was you know one of the few people in
the world that could do both right to figure out you know how do I get the message out then
how do I organize this changed a lot of that for me that moment you know one it went viral as
it happened and then two you know Megan Kelly did her whole show interviewing Charlie about that
moment right so then there was a
another round. And then the weirdest thing, you know, to be in the tribute from the White House,
that clip. And just obviously under horrific, after this horrific event, you know, seeing it make
another round out there. When I have people that have not talked to me in 15 years, you know,
high school friends or things that are, they're not political, they don't follow anything. And
they're randomly sending me a reel on Instagram. They're like, is that you? Is that your voice talking?
you know at your al michael's moment
and charlie that one thing
I loved is I don't know who said that at first
it might have been you it might have been jack
it might have been charlie yeah but
for for them to announce me at the turning
point investor you know as the summit
as the al michael's uh politics i'm like you know
i don't really have a good voice for radio or t and i don't know
you do you do actually i mean i think i think you proved it
the proof is in the pudding so going back to that night
and you guys all get this doing media
the reason i feel like
I had to step in is because Erica came in the room and, you know, obviously Charlie was upset.
You were all here, right? So me being the remote guy in our headquarters in Harrisburg, PA, you know,
just analyzing all the numbers, we can't have dead air, right? We don't know that's the golden,
that's the golden goose. You cannot have, you know, no one talking. And I feel like everybody's
attention was on Charlie. And so I was like, well, you know, I'm just going to speak here. I didn't
want to ruin the moment. And that's what I just said, you know, remember this moment. And I felt
Like, everybody in the room was just, you know, trying to tend to them because they were having that moment.
So it was beautiful.
You know, it was perfect that you stepped in.
Go ahead, Benny.
So President Trump talked about this last night.
And it was very interesting his take on that clip, specifically.
Because Trump's like, never seen Charlie like that.
What was that?
Crying?
Like a baby.
What was that about?
But then I understood he was crying because of MAGA and how beautiful our victory was.
Something like that.
I'm paraphrasing.
Perhaps we can get the exact clip.
But that's the sense of what Trump was saying,
is that he's never seen his friend Charlie cry.
He's never seen his friend Charlie emotional
and breaking down because of emotion.
And constantly, I am asked, I'm sure you, certainly, Andrew,
having to fill in this chair or ask this,
how do you do it?
Like, how are you still going?
Because we've been basket cases.
You know, we get that all the time.
Those closest to Charlie must understand something
that all of our actions, those who worked with Charlie and those who built with Charlie,
all of our actions are inspired by knowing that Charlie is in heaven, looking down,
and would judge us ever so harshly if we were blubbering weaklings right now.
Charlie would never allow it.
Now, this is a moment that, of course, Charlie's crying because he's happy.
There was a moment that I lived through with Charlie where he should have been crying because he was sad.
and that was the 2020 election
and everybody knows what a nightmare that was
there's no reason to relitigate it now
but it was a nightmare and it meant very bad things
obviously for Turning Point
clearly Turning Point was then under investigation
we all go under investigation
Charlie Kirk's social media was then
about up for censorship and banning
that all's happened we have all the documents for that
the entire weight of the federal government
came after Turning Point
we were
it has come out now that we were
investigated by the FBI
the FBI was surveilling Turning Point
Yep. And so that, so clearly if there was a time to cry or be depressed, it was that moment, that dark moment. Everyone had felt it was all off in 2020 where that election, you know, collapsed, right, into darkness. And what did Charlie say? I know what Charlie said to me. I know what Charlie said to me and it rings in my ears every single day when, you know, when you're like, man, this is tough, like getting getting through this. We go 50 times harder. This is what he said. And I'm telling you, I have said that.
the mirror every single morning for the last week and a half, you go 50 times harder for Charlie.
He would not want us blubbering. He would not want us crying. He would not want us fearful in this
moment. He would want us to go 50 times harder to continue that mission. And I think that's why
that moment of him crying and breaking down is so profound because we never saw Charlie like that,
not even somebody who was a father figure to Charlie, which was President Trump, you know?
And Trump sitting there in wonder about it on stage was really something.
because everyone's processed that
and those closest to Charlie understood
what the mission is now
and Andrew there's a massive compliment to you
you have really like forcefully
carried forward what Charlie would have
wanted to have had happen right now
which is no we hold the side up
we stand upright as men
and we go 50 times harder
you know there's something
yeah please and Charlie's last interview that he gave
it was in Utah just Salt Lake City
an hour before he went to the campus
I think it was the last question he was asked
as about one of his favorite quotes
and what I remember him saying was
this too shall pass
and that kind of applies
to the moment we're in now
but also to that moment where you were narrating over the victory
because Charlie was
saying that not only in that
times of sorrow are going to pass but to also
keep you humble at the times of your greatest
success and you need to go forward
from that and because that
symposium there was really about
entrepreneurship primarily in the restaurant industry there may not have been a lot of people
who are familiar with charlie or politically involved who have seen it but it's absolutely
worth the watch if you want to see something about how charlie viewed his role in this
organization you just inspired something some i mean whether it was good times or bad times
charlie would tell me stay humble stay close to jesus we got to stay like if we'd had this huge
success he i i probably have dozens of this exact you know text in our in our chat stay humble
stay close to jesus stay humble stay close to jesus like you know we thought we were you know after
trump won it was all this you know he's like we just need to stay humble and he stay close to jesus
and that is charlie in good or bad and i will never ever forget it amen i'm just saying
please i'm just in bewilderment we're they have cnn you know they have every major news network
up CNN. It's one of them on an entire wall of screens here in the studio. And it says
Erica Kirk forgives assassin, says her husband wanted to save young men just like the one who took
his life. That is the Chiron on CNN. We, boys, we are living through a moment. Well, this is what
Erica and I have joked was we both, you know, I think it started with Erica and Charlie that
would say this to each other and then somehow it, it filtered out. And Charlie and I would start
saying it to each other and just be like this is not normal you know when charlie got on south park
i was just like this is not normal man like what's happening you're just like a campus activist
dude you know that it's now larger than light i don't know how that happened this is not normal
and you know eric and i have had more than one chuckle like through the tears you know
you're we just look you know i there was a text it to charlie i go i go this is amazing and he's
like, is it a good thing?
They nailed his hair, too.
His hair was perfect.
His hair was perfect.
This is cultural.
I mean, people, this is cultural power.
You know, there's a cultural power that you've always fought for.
That there's always been at the core, back before Turning Point, even owned a building on this campus when they were renting, like Charlie, when it was like seven people here.
Like, Charlie was talking about, like, how important culture is that's because he loved Andrew Breitbart.
Andrew Breitbart would constantly tell Charlie.
in particular, but all of us, that politics is downstream of culture.
Well, so you know what's crazy about this, and I've said this before,
Andrew Breitbart died in 2012.
Charlie was so, Charlie had never met Andrew, but he was so, he followed him,
and he was so inspired when he died that he started Turning Point USA.
Is that really the nexus point?
That's the nexus point.
Wow.
And he told Larry O'Connor this, because there was a CPAC panel with Matt Boyle and
Larry O'Connor, and I think Alex.
Marlowe, all of which worked for Andrew Breitbart.
And so Larry was kind of like, why are you here, Charlie?
And Charlie's like, I can't wait to tell you about it.
Like, call me and I'll tell you.
And Charlie said, to Larry, I followed him so closely.
And when he died, I was devastated.
And I knew that I had to start something.
And so that is those little seeds that get planted in these moments.
And so you can draw a direct line between Andrew Breitbart's death, the beginning of turning point.
And now with Charlie's death, you have to ask yourself,
yourself, how many are going to be inspired to rise up and to push back against the darkness
and against the lies and save this country and spread the gospel? I think it's going to be,
I think the harvest from Charlie's death is going to be multitudes, magnitudes larger than
what we saw with Andrew Breitbart. And I just don't see how there's any, I mean, there's just
not an option where that's not true. But I, you know, for what it's worth, Charlie loved Andrew
Breitbart. He always talked about culture. And you
You, Benny Johnson, you played a central role in this Kimmel thing.
And we can wait for radio, but you, I was so proud of you.
And I know there was some consternation about, you know, Brendan Carr and should the government be directly involved.
I think there's, you know, I had a tweet on it.
You, I think, retweeted it, Benny.
Thank you so much.
But the point is that this was, this is cultural power because we're finally saying, this is not anti-free speech, by the way.
Jimmy Kimmel is not a victim.
he's a liar and he tried to pin this assassination on MAGA which is a vile thing to do
and by the way when you are on a network you get extraordinary benefits taxpayer funded benefits
and privileges to uphold the public good lying to the public about who committed this atrocity
is not in the public good and so ultimately this is the consumers and the affiliates and the
network using their free speech to say no and you played a central role in in building that energy
and so hat tip to you benny johnson well this is exactly what charlie would have wanted i mean i
tell people this and the easiest way to explain it is charlie took cartman and made him his
twitter profile photo charlie loved being able to reach into culture and affect it because he
understood that core Breitbart
tenant. Now doing
now with Jimmy Kimmel
is the exact same thing. What we are doing
is holding accountable,
flexing cultural power
in a place where we had none.
I mean, it's again,
inconceivable for us to think that Cartman would become
Charlie Kirk. For those of us who've known him for a while.
Not on my bingo card.
That is incredible. That's power.
It's power. It's something we should embrace.
Only God. And that's what Charlie did.
Many people are like, oh, Charlie owned now.
They got him.
Charlie loved it and embraced it.
I called on Paramount to put the episode back up.
A bunch of people wrote it up.
Conservatives should love this fight with Kimmel.
We can talk about it next.
They should love this fight with Kimmel.
You should embrace it.
You should enjoy the melee instead of being...
I totally agree.
Totally incomplete weaklings and babies in doing what they always do,
which is like, treat me nice, pet me like a dog,
I'll be your little doggy.
Rule me harder.
Yeah, that's right.
We're having a great time here,
remembering our friend, our brother,
An American legend, I pinch myself often knowing that this person I spent so much time with now belongs to history.
He's not, he's not ours, he's not anybody's, I mean, save Erica's and the children, but he is, he will live in it for eternity in the hearts and minds and the memories of humanity on earth.
I'm not talking about his spirit.
I'm talking about his message, his memory will, it will not be snuffed out.
I mean, I saw this, the White House posted, I think.
It was like, it was Lincoln and MOK and, you know, JFK and Charlie.
And I just, I remember just thinking, how on earth is this real?
How on earth?
Yeah, let me echo real quick with the vice president said.
You guys talked about it in the previous hour, but, you know, him going off the cuff and saying he's
talk more about Jesus in the last two weeks than he has in his entire time in public life.
That's me, right? I never talk about my faith. You know, this is something, I mean, Charlie would text
me certain things, you know, some of the Bible verses, different things from time to time.
I am a Christian, but I appreciated what you said, a degenerate loser. I loved you leading with that
line because, you know, I've had my moments. You know, I've had cancel culture come after me. I've
had different things happen. Charlie always stood by me. Loyalty, very rare in politics. Oh, yeah.
But I agree with what J.D. Van said.
I mean, I've talked more about my faith.
I've thought about my relationship with Christ more in the past 12 days than I probably have in the last decade.
God bless you.
And I don't, I'm not coming out here.
Just say yes, baby.
Just say yes.
Just say yes.
And to be in that room yesterday, I think for all of us, you know, especially me as somebody who, you know, traveling all the time,
struggling to get to church as an excuse, I'll put it out there.
But to be in that room for the worship and the fellowship.
it was such highs and lows of emotion.
You know, seeing Charlie with all the, you know,
the different banners that they had up, the different videos,
but then to join so many people in worshiping from all over the country.
I mean, that was probably the wildest part to me,
is you had people coming in.
I mean, and here's, this is something that's weird for us to say.
There were so many people we didn't know, right?
That is what hit me.
Because when you go to any of our events,
even if there's 20,000 people,
at America Fest, right?
You know so many people.
We've worked, we've interacted with so many activists.
I didn't know so many of the people that were there yesterday.
You would run into these random folks, and they were, they didn't have a hotel room.
They would drove six, you know, six hours and just stay overnight and no plans.
It was amazing.
Everybody felt like a family, though.
And, Brick, you are a keen observer of kind of that confluence between the online and the
IR, right?
You are, I see you, you are monitoring everything online.
but yet you are a person that puts yourself in these real moments
and you're always at these events.
Tell us about that.
What did you see, did real life match online?
I mean, what were people saying?
What were people thinking from your perspective?
Well, I can say that this event, you know,
sometimes I call myself a meme in real life.
You know, when I've got the brick suit on and I'm wearing that.
That's good.
I'm a meme in real life.
And that was really kind of the origin of how I started that.
That's what I was trying to do.
But, yeah, I went there the night before just to check it out.
Nick in the first hour talked about how many people were there.
And they just, they just, they wanted to be there for Charlie.
And this event was unlike any other event that I've been to.
Unlike Trump rallies, unlike the Madison Square Garden rally, unlike Coachella,
unlike even Tulsa where I camped out on the sidewalk with a bunch of other people for four days before.
it was completely unlike that one thing that one thing that was not there was any protesters yeah and inside
even i couldn't believe that not one one person had to stand up not a heckle it wasn't outside
people wanted to get in and you know and as i was inside you know it wasn't just the building
that was filling up people's hearts were filling up well that's what i was going to say so here you have
cliff and i thank you for your you're just that the candor cliff and the vulnerability and i think
so many people were feeling that did you see that did you see that online people saying like i am so
moved by this moment that i'm going to i'm looking at my faith all over you hear people talking about
that you see it online i saw it online and i saw it beside me and i saw it behind me and i saw it in
front of me it was everywhere you look in that stadium praise god everywhere it's amazing you know
there is not i mean i've heard people say this a lot but we didn't we didn't riot we didn't burn
down we worshiped we we we held prayer vigils and there is no greater testament to the character
of charlie kirk than that that one fact and i'm so proud of it you know i i want our country to
be united i think we need to confront the truth first and we need to be honest about something benny
we are not the same these two sides are not the same and there's a huge gulf between them
And I want to get into it.
I have a great.
Yeah, go ahead.
I have a great follow up for that to continue our conversation.
So Charlie Kirk is a generational leader and voice for our side.
Let's just call it the right.
He was stolen from us in an on-air execution done by a political enemy of our side, the left.
a transgender
antifa
radicalized
sociopath
porn addicted furry
this is who took
Charlie from us
let's just state
the facts
okay
so who's the
aggrieved party
here
who's the party
that had
something horrible
had
well the right
we lost
a generational
leader
generational
voice
and a future
president
obviously
so
so we are
the aggrieved
the left
killed
charlie
someone of the
left killed charlie yeah now let's look at the behavior of the right and the left in the 11 days
since charlie's assassination the right has prayed and mourned and gone to church and and executed
one of the single most uplifting events in american history possibly the single largest apostolic event
in human history yesterday now that's our ledger let's look at the left in the seconds after
Charlie Kirk's assassination, a Democrat voter, his name's George Zinn, shouted that he was
the shooter in order to let the actual shooter escape. Now, he's been charged with a felony
for this. He also had a ton of child pornography on his film. So sick to jail. He also charged
with that. Okay. So whatever the hell that was, that's like the first act of the left, all right,
was to try and assist in Charlie's assassin, okay, and getting away. Then in the next 12 hours,
a Fox News truck has a bomb placed on it by two Democrat voters and donors, and the bomb is lit.
Thank God, it didn't blow up.
But that's a story that got buried because there was so much news happening at the time.
Yes, this happened in Utah.
Wow.
So Fox News affiliate.
Since then, we've had four or five different charges of assault for people destroying,
desecrating, or attacking people at Charlie Kirk Memorials.
One right outside.
That's right.
you've had thousands of leftists, maybe tens of thousands, get fired from their jobs for
celebrating Charlie Kirk's assassination.
Jimmy Kimmel is one of them.
MSNBC contributors are among those numbers.
You've had Brett Kavanaugh's would-be assassin come out as trans, RFK Jr., bomb threat at
RFK Jr.'s house in Washington, D.C.
and you've had just grotesque commentary from the left,
effectively either lying about Charlie Kirk's assassination
or refusing to vote against it in Congress
with 58 members of the Democrat Party
refusing to disavow political violence.
So that has been their response
to an assassination from their side.
And so I am calling
a, the, from space,
the largest BS on this despicable narrative that it is a both sides problem.
Polling doesn't show that. No data shows that. And the reaction to this event shows
definitively and demonstrably for all time that it is not a both sides problem. And it hasn't
been for a very long time, if ever. We are the side of morality, strength and compunction and
composure in a moment like this.
and civility and they are the side of anarchy and so let this be an opportunity to display the differences and to own to own them fully i've seen some people godliness versus godlessness i totally agree civilization versus chaos and anarchy and i would also say this i've seen some people because i've seen you know he was the left killed charlie or whatever and they'll go to the left question mark excuse me it was some deranged kid out of utah no i think you're making a point now i am very
very clear that speech, you know, for example, Bernie Sanders supporter shoots Steve Scalese.
I did not blame Bernie for that. That's not what I'm saying, but I am saying that, yes, I put the
onus of the culpability, obviously, on the shooter, but to your point, this is not a both-sides
issue. There's some, you just talk about no stats support it. They keep pointing to some ADL study,
but, like, that is, I mean, that is the most grotesque presentation of data that is known to man.
I mean, it's completely garbage, but.
They created this environment, right?
I will blame the left for creating an environment.
When you tell people that Trump is Hitler continuously, yes.
And then you tell people that Charlie Kirk helped get Hitler elected to the presidency of the United States.
Yeah, then what can't you justify.
Yeah, and then Charlie's the next Hitler, right?
That's what they said.
Exactly.
So they do get some blame.
They created the environment.
I can't tell you how many times.
turning point's been called Hitler Youth.
I just want to amend
like a pendant with just one thought though
that is fast, it strikes me
that Charlie Kirk's
legacy
and the harvest spiritually
and both in our country
that we are seeing
from this around the world
has been so
extraordinarily huge
it strikes me how little I've thought
of the shooter.
Yes.
How small a character he is in this saga.
Yeah, Larry Arne's commentary yesterday was really something on that.
I didn't hear it.
I was working.
What did he say?
Yeah, so Larry Arne said that...
He's the president of Hillsdale College for those who don't know.
This audience should know, but for those who are unaffiliated, un-initiated to this.
He said that what threatens evil are good and moral people that have been, and Charlie had been,
and an assassin has no being
they must take the being of someone else
the energy of someone else
and that the assassin
those with being
when they are assassinated
grow stronger and the assassin dies
and obviously
my team I know that we can get the actual exact quote here
I think it's worth actually saying it or perhaps there's the clip of Larry
Arne saying it his comments were only like two minutes long
but it was a profound
point. It was a beautiful point. Alex Danny. Like, it was a beautiful point and said, you know, spoken
in a very subtle and soft and somber way. You know, Larry Arns is very philosophical. Yeah,
individual. But it was, it was a wonderful way to say that. To your point. Yeah. He has no
being. This, this does not negate this whole conversation that we were having before about how
important it is that we get to the root of this problem. Right. And when, when you, we must
reject the premise that this is both
sides. Correct. Both sides
do have some
fringy characters. I'm not going to say that's not
true. I think we'll all admit it. But in
just proportion
to each side's
size, it is
far larger on the left. I think
everybody knows that intuitively. I think
what we're seeing based
on the reaction, all you have to do
is look at the difference between what happened after
George Floyd and what happened after
Charlie Kirk. Yes, that's right. That's all you have to
I mean, there is no, you cannot show me a statistic that will convince me.
I don't care how doctored up it is.
I don't care what the ADL puts it out 20 times.
You, this is the proof.
Your eyes have seen the truth that we are not reacting that way because we know Jesus.
We know that we will have, we will be held accountable upon our death for the evil things that we do unless we confess and we repent.
And secondly, we are on the side of civilization building.
creating and you know the anarchists they're nihilists they don't care about those things we're trying
to build a country for our children to inherit that will be safe and beautiful and good and so if we
would have taken this energy and turned it into an anarchy moment into a revenge moment
that would have spelled doom for our nation and our nation our side loves this nation and that
full circle is why what Erica Kirk did on that stage last night was so profoundly important
and why I tweeted in the moment that that is one of the most profound and important moments
in American history because it means America has a chance.
It means that the gospel will continue to go forth.
It means that we have given license to the Holy Spirit to fill more hearts and minds.
We have chosen and said yes to Jesus.
And you could hear a pin drop when she said those words and announced that she was going to forgive,
of this radical unhinged man.
The 10 seconds before it, in my head,
I didn't know the speech,
you know, I didn't know of the speech beforehand
or what was going to happen.
But in my head, I was thinking,
there's no way.
Like when you started to see her kind of drift
in that direction in the speech,
that she was going to forgive this person.
But it was like the whole room
kind of came to a realization
as she was building up to it.
And we all, I mean, at least,
you know, the people around me,
we were,
there's no way she's going to say this.
this is this is 11 days ago this is just had her world taken from her and charlie and when she
said the words you guys remember the applause like the applause it wasn't just it wasn't just
it was like almost in shock people were applauding it was a very distinct applause that made it on
the graphic you know the translation up there she's got her her words yes exactly i actually
have that image it's it's amazing the team has it i sent it in the chat
actually because i noticed the same thing it is uh yeah the i think it's pick seven or 65 it's 65 show that show the
actual image and underneath it says applause that that man that young man i forgive him and what she
said before that by the way benny and i know because you've been in the foxhole with us along so
many of these years that is exactly the type of young man that we have pulled like
out of this nihilism over the years.
And these men would come into, instead of getting buried in some internet rabbit hole
where they just want to burn it all down and never contribute to anything positive,
they would come in to Turning Point and realize they had a place in the movement,
that the movement gets stronger when you join it.
And they would find friends and they would find meaning and purpose,
be a part of something bigger than yourself.
And when she led in with that, I just, I was so struck because I was.
I was like, yes, this is, these are these young men that have been so villainized.
She spoke directly to them and she said, you do not have to be, you know, you do not have to
cower at the prospect of life. You don't have to cower that our elites have robbed this generation
of so much wealth and opportunity and for the incumbent older generation. You have agency,
be a part of something bigger than yourself. I just keep thinking of that refrain in my heart
because that was the through line
because we are going to miss some
and there will be some men that are left on the sideline
but God I pray we can get so many of them
especially after this moment
yeah you know Andrew that you are a father
and this was something that Charlie
upon my wedding was constantly texting
when are you going to become a dad
when you're going to become a dad when you're going to become a father
and the reason why he was constantly texting me that
is because nothing will drive purpose
more in your life as a young man
than holding your newborn child
if you want to witness an actual miracle in life,
and it can only be witnessed by you.
The amazing thing about fatherhood
and about parenthood is that only you see the miracle.
There are some miracles that are seen by all.
Wow, look at all this bread on this hillside.
There was no bread here.
Jesus prayed.
Now there's a bunch of bread.
That's cool.
Look at all these fish.
Like, that's a miracle everyone saw.
As a parent, you like hold your newborn child
and this special miracle that God gives just you and your wife.
Just you, right?
Not even the people in the hospital share with it, really,
because they've seen it a million time.
No, it's this like moment.
and the whole world closes in and every father knows what I'm talking about here.
And Charlie was constantly driving toward that and constantly delivering for more fathers,
more men to fall in love, get married, have children, seize their American dream,
and Christ center their life.
When you talk about like the destructive nihilism of eternal online,
eternal online rabbit holes
and gaming
and just the nihilist feedback loop
right, eternally online.
You know what breaks you of that?
Like a little kid.
Like a baby that wants to play with you.
Like your son or daughter
that wants to see you and says dad-da
and grabs your phone and pulls it down
and says like pay attention to me.
Like my eight-month-old did this morning.
Right?
I noticed you were a few minutes late this morning.
And you guys, that's exactly right.
I'll send your producer.
actually maybe you can pop it up i'll send your producers ander i'll send it to you and you'll send it to
you exactly what i was doing this morning i'll i'll i'll show you and it's what charlie wants for all
men what charlie wants for all young men is this oh you're gonna love this there you go here you go
this is this is what i was doing this this is what i was doing this morning before the show
sitting there with my son in the grass with my coffee and just like and just like living
life and what the point is is that that that's the that's the key to unlocking your purpose in life
there it is there it is that your coffee mug in the front yeah yeah it's just in the hotel room
you know just at our hotel and so i just like uh you know let my wife sleep in and i took my son out
and i just let him crawl around he's just crawling now and you just and that is like such an
it's god gave it right god's god's design but charlie understood this so preternaturally that that was the
way to unlock in men purpose and meaning and fulfillment in life you know that's weird okay so
i'm sure you had the same effect on you you have three beautiful yeah i have three beautiful children
beautiful wife i'm so blessed i i will say this is i felt this way iconic to be honest when they
were showing the footage the last event like those last moments as he was driving up to the last
event it's like it's hard personally for me to think about that but i i
Blake and I were exchanging texts with Charlie about, I'm going to say, like, 25, 30 minutes before it happened.
And we were talking about, you know, because he was in Utah, we were predicting that there was going to be some questions about maybe monogamy versus polygamy.
And I looked at that again, that text exchange, and Blake likes to call it, you know, really advanced societal technology, monogamy.
And we were putting all these talking points in Charlie was like, yes, good.
Good, good.
And it's interesting because what you're talking about is there is this thing where you love one woman and she loves you and you're faithful to each other and you build this family and this legacy and how that unleashes this energy that is so positive in a man because now you have to, it's like, you know, men are like trucks.
They're squirrely until you put a load in the back, right?
And then they drive straight as an arrow.
and it's like when you give them a family and kids we become like trucks with a load in the back
and we have to drive straight as an arrow because we got we got precious cargo and we're going to
take care of our kids we're going to take care of our families we're going to work harder our jobs
we're going to try and earn more money we're going to try and have more of an impact we're going
to try and make sure that the world our kids inherit is beautiful and good and safe
And that is a powerful, powerful force to unleash
You're the perfect person to answer this question
Because you're gonna, I know you're gonna ring it like a bell
We knew Charlie way back when, right?
There was a time when Charlie was just like a meme, right?
And it was like, you know, he was building
And everyone was just making fun of him
And everyone dogging on Charlie, right?
Yeah, there was a, you know, everyone,
like those of us who had been around long enough
knew Charlie in the early build before Erica.
And my wife and I talked about this
And I want you to answer this
because you were so close to him.
there was a flip that switched in that man.
Let Charlie's life be an example.
When he met Erica, and I knew Charlie before Erica, right, a lot of people, you know, some people did around here.
And there was a, when Charlie was a single man, okay, not that he was some kind of like, you know, degenerate or anything, but like when Charlie was a single man, he was a different person wholly and completely than when he was a husband and had children to come home to.
There was a nuclear fusion switch.
Yes, that happened.
And we all saw this hockey stick that happened to his career, his life.
And there's this lie that it's like having kids and getting married will, oh, it'll
sap your energy, bro, you'll have no more alpha energy and, you know, you just got to let a rip.
No, dude, look at Charlie as an example.
But every father actually knows, I know you know this Colvette.
I certainly have experienced this.
When you have wives and children actually accelerates your life.
100%.
I will answer your question, but I think you did a pretty good job.
We're talking about what Erica's impact was on Charlie.
Yes.
And it couldn't have been more dramatic.
I mean, he went from like baggy suit dude with everything, nothing fit right.
And he was, you know.
Bad haircut.
Bad haircut.
That worked.
And all of a sudden, and I love, working out?
Who said he's wearing Walmart jeans from like Goodwill?
Oh, yeah.
Who said that?
That line came out.
No, who was that?
Was that Tyler that said that?
That might have been.
He started working out?
He started like lifting.
He got really into, you know, he got really into like biohacking, getting the most out of his body because the time management skills that it took to run Charlie's life was dramatic.
And I wish I could bring up all of his, the assistants.
We called him force multipliers to advance every next stop to make sure there was a car, there was hotel, there was travel arrangements, that there was people to greet the security.
Everything had to be so exacting just to get him from point A to point.
B to point C to point D in a given day
sometimes. It was amazing
and people would ask for interviews with
Charlie and I'd be like, I don't know how we
fit anything else into this time
and I'm sorry I'm not trying to be rude. Anyways,
that whole
metamorphosis where he became
where he grew shoulders broad enough
to show to
handle the burden
of just his time and his energy
on him. He realized it was a
great burden and it all went back to
Erica because Erica was the
vault the safe place the refuge and he knew and he just loved going home to her she talked about
that in her speech she was never the nagging wife she never gave him a hard time about being gone or
on the road and he couldn't wait to get home and i always told it erika while charlie was alive
and i told her again since since his passing you were the real MVP and i know this because
you know and you saw it with the athleisure wear when he would go out you know to the campus all of a
And I remember there was this episode on PBD.
I think it was Adam on PBD, one of the hosts.
And he was like, Charlie Kirk's got that Riz.
He's got that Riz.
And we had this exchange where Charlie was like, what is Riz?
And so Charlie believed in changing culture, but Charlie did not often participate in it.
But he really wanted it, you know, this is why with the South Park thing where he was like, you were like, you know, you're on South Park.
He's like, is this good?
Yeah, this is good.
Great.
So, but like, I would just say,
any ounce of Riz
goes straight to Erica Kirk.
She gave him all the Riz.
And to become a father.
And to become a father.
And Charlie would just be proud
that that is a part of his legacy.
Encouraging fatherhood.
I love that she said in her speech,
you know, that she wanted him
to want to come home and that she supported the fact.
I mean, the guy, I don't think people understand.
I know we talk about his schedule
and you know you're managing a lot of it obviously with the show but it's like
think about what you have to do to run an organization like turning point
you're talking hundreds of days on the road to raise money right nobody ever wants to talk
about that because it's like oh raising money it's got to raise the money how do you guys
hire thousands of people how do you have thousands of college high school faith all of these
chapters it's tons of money and so i just tell everybody you know it's not just the time on
the road raising the money then the guy decides he's going to do a show fight
days a week and i'm like are you kidding me then you have the idea that he's going and speaking he's
doing you know other media he's doing college events you've got some candidates and doing the
candidate events and this is by the way where he goes what is riz yeah he goes he goes what is
ris and i say like swagger and blake has to go carriz ma one of my favorite uh i don't know
if it was a lefty or somebody on the right somebody somebody posted a video
that was like pretty much they were saying that Charlie was hot like in some of these
outfits and I'm watching these and a couple people sent it to me and it's just like
wait is he like they were saying and they're showing like these videos you know him playing
basketball or whatever and you could definitely see the Riz post Erica so we do have to give
her credit for all that it was guys I want to end with really the major theme of yesterday
and that was the Holy Spirit and Jesus so I'm going to go around the table rapid fire
If you had to sum up just the proclamation of the gospel,
the presentation of it from Tucker to Don Jr. to VP Vance, to Erica,
just give me, like, sum it up.
Sum it up for you.
Brick, go first.
Matt, all the speeches were so powerful.
And I was trying, from my vantage point, to film them from the crowd as best I could.
And then when Jack was up there, and he's holding up the rosary.
Are you Catholic?
I had to put down the camera.
Yeah.
Because I had to start, I couldn't just film anymore.
I love that.
I wanted to be part of that.
I wanted to stand up.
I wanted to applaud.
And that, for me personally, I think that was the one that stands out the most.
There were a lot.
And Erica's forgiveness, actually, is, of course, the top moment.
But other than that, Jack.
Yeah.
Good.
I mean, okay, because can we just say everyone say, like I've already said Erica is one of the all top time
three most powerful speeches ever given.
So if you're asking me something beyond that,
then I've got to say,
Don Jr.
Yeah.
Don Jr. did something that no one else did.
He used humor.
I really like humor.
He did his dad.
Relax.
You got to take it easy and relax.
And he joked about Hillary Clinton.
He joked about Kamala Harris.
There was that pan to Trump up in the press box.
And Dana Wides up there.
Dana Wides up there going like this.
It was so good.
It was amazing.
And Don, Don used humor, I think, in a moment that only Don could pull off.
And I'm a big fan of using humor and memes.
And I wasn't sure.
I didn't find it.
You know, I thought yesterday was a day to just memorialize my friend in my own way and use it for Christ and not for laughs.
And so that, you know, you only get three minutes.
So you just got to do that.
Don did it.
Don went there and joked about Kamala and Hillary.
They'll never know what it's like to be president.
What was the setup of the joke?
It was hysterical.
You know, it's just like Kamala and Hillary will never know what it's like to be president.
president it's like amazing the room uh needed a laugh actually needed sort of like an uproarious laugh
yes and so and so like i'm so glad that don went there and then also don junior of all people to
share his faith in christ talk about something you have never heard before and may never hear again
i will tell you backstage it was like don't did you just talk about jesus is like i know man
what like i had jokes i had jokes written yesterday that i wanted to use that i thought were inappropriate
Like, for instance, you know, Jimmy Kimmel's show deserve to be canceled because it gets less viewers than Chris Christie's only fans.
That's a joke that I wanted to use yesterday.
But I didn't because it would have been totally and wholly and appropriate.
I wanted to say that the whole of the federal government is represented here.
And what I mean by that is Marco Rubio's here today.
And that Marco Rubio actually has a brand new position to fill.
And that's Jimmy Kimmel's show.
Well, I'm going to, that's really funny.
But we didn't do that, right?
We decided not to do that.
But Don was the perfect palette cleanser.
I want to play a little bit of the worship
because actually one of the things about,
I don't get into worship all the time.
Ever since this happened,
I just, every time a worship song comes on,
I'm just caught up in it.
Let's play cut 50.
I know it's not my
I have nothing else
sing one more
so I'll throw my head
praise you again
all did I
is
I shared two things
there were two very vivid moments for me
one was walking in
and the worship was starting
you know I got there at that time
and I have been pretty good about
holding things back you know over the last two weeks
everybody grieves differently you know
I'm Irish so we like to bury things
and not not deal with them
that was the first
moment where I, you know, I really started to hit me, you know, make it real. And then obviously,
I just lost it when Erica came out. I mean, when she came out, it was, I don't want to say
it was closure, but it was just, it was full circle that not only is this real, but all of the
fear and everything that I worried about with Charlie being gone with all of you, with
turning point, with the movement, she just reassured me that we're going to be okay. And to have her
be that strong both standing here
and at the event
it just filled me with emotion but it also
just reassured me we're headed in the right direction.
To extend an analogy I started last
week, if Charlie's death was like the death
of Jesus and we were the disciples
and we were scattered and we were afraid
Erica's speech on that Friday
was like Pentecost and it filled us all with courage
and the memorial yesterday
was almost like the start of the book of acts
and now it's all the disciples' job
to take it and run with it. Benny Johnson
brick suit. Cliff Maloney
and thank you guys. What a blessing today has been. We'll talk to you soon.
I'm going to be able to be.