The Charlie Kirk Show - The Revival He Always Wanted — Charlie Kirk's Memorial

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

Charlie 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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Starting point is 00:00:25 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.
Starting point is 00:01:25 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,
Starting point is 00:01:37 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,
Starting point is 00:01:46 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.
Starting point is 00:02:06 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
Starting point is 00:02:30 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.
Starting point is 00:03:23 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
Starting point is 00:03:33 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
Starting point is 00:03:45 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
Starting point is 00:04:00 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,
Starting point is 00:04:47 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.
Starting point is 00:05:45 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?
Starting point is 00:06:20 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.
Starting point is 00:06:39 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.
Starting point is 00:07:01 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.
Starting point is 00:07:29 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
Starting point is 00:08:01 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
Starting point is 00:08:16 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
Starting point is 00:08:29 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
Starting point is 00:08:36 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
Starting point is 00:08:46 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,
Starting point is 00:09:15 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
Starting point is 00:10:02 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
Starting point is 00:10:47 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
Starting point is 00:11:32 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.
Starting point is 00:12:05 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.
Starting point is 00:12:33 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.
Starting point is 00:13:01 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
Starting point is 00:13:33 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
Starting point is 00:14:17 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
Starting point is 00:15:09 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
Starting point is 00:15:48 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
Starting point is 00:16:05 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...
Starting point is 00:16:21 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
Starting point is 00:16:41 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,
Starting point is 00:17:06 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.
Starting point is 00:17:47 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.
Starting point is 00:18:09 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
Starting point is 00:18:46 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
Starting point is 00:19:32 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.
Starting point is 00:20:10 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.
Starting point is 00:20:37 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.
Starting point is 00:20:51 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.
Starting point is 00:21:11 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.
Starting point is 00:21:33 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.
Starting point is 00:21:53 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
Starting point is 00:22:34 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.
Starting point is 00:23:23 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.
Starting point is 00:23:42 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.
Starting point is 00:24:07 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.
Starting point is 00:24:34 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
Starting point is 00:24:51 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
Starting point is 00:25:08 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
Starting point is 00:25:26 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.
Starting point is 00:25:44 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.
Starting point is 00:26:31 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,
Starting point is 00:27:14 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.
Starting point is 00:28:16 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.
Starting point is 00:28:46 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.
Starting point is 00:29:26 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
Starting point is 00:29:42 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.
Starting point is 00:29:56 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.
Starting point is 00:30:20 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.
Starting point is 00:30:56 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.
Starting point is 00:31:24 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?
Starting point is 00:31:42 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
Starting point is 00:32:23 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
Starting point is 00:33:08 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.
Starting point is 00:33:56 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.
Starting point is 00:34:27 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?
Starting point is 00:34:47 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.
Starting point is 00:35:04 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
Starting point is 00:35:27 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
Starting point is 00:36:13 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
Starting point is 00:36:59 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
Starting point is 00:37:39 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.
Starting point is 00:38:17 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
Starting point is 00:39:04 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.
Starting point is 00:39:40 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.
Starting point is 00:39:54 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,
Starting point is 00:40:06 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.
Starting point is 00:40:25 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
Starting point is 00:40:50 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.
Starting point is 00:41:28 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
Starting point is 00:41:44 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
Starting point is 00:42:07 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,
Starting point is 00:42:47 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
Starting point is 00:43:17 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.
Starting point is 00:43:36 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.
Starting point is 00:43:54 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
Starting point is 00:44:12 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.
Starting point is 00:44:28 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.
Starting point is 00:44:51 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
Starting point is 00:45:30 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
Starting point is 00:46:17 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?
Starting point is 00:46:57 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.
Starting point is 00:47:12 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
Starting point is 00:48:01 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.
Starting point is 00:48:46 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.
Starting point is 00:49:23 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,
Starting point is 00:49:46 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
Starting point is 00:50:24 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.
Starting point is 00:50:44 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.
Starting point is 00:51:22 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.
Starting point is 00:51:37 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
Starting point is 00:52:12 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
Starting point is 00:52:45 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
Starting point is 00:53:03 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
Starting point is 00:53:34 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.
Starting point is 00:53:57 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.
Starting point is 00:54:10 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?
Starting point is 00:54:31 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.
Starting point is 00:55:00 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
Starting point is 00:55:19 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
Starting point is 00:55:33 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.
Starting point is 00:56:35 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
Starting point is 00:56:51 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
Starting point is 00:57:08 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
Starting point is 00:57:27 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
Starting point is 00:57:56 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
Starting point is 00:58:44 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
Starting point is 00:59:28 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.
Starting point is 00:59:50 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?
Starting point is 01:00:18 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.
Starting point is 01:00:39 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,
Starting point is 01:01:09 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.
Starting point is 01:01:45 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
Starting point is 01:02:21 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
Starting point is 01:02:57 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.
Starting point is 01:03:11 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.
Starting point is 01:03:27 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.
Starting point is 01:03:43 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.
Starting point is 01:04:25 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
Starting point is 01:04:57 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.
Starting point is 01:05:28 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.
Starting point is 01:05:50 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.
Starting point is 01:06:12 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.
Starting point is 01:06:33 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.
Starting point is 01:06:53 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.
Starting point is 01:07:10 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.
Starting point is 01:07:44 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
Starting point is 01:08:33 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.
Starting point is 01:09:09 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
Starting point is 01:09:40 sociopath porn addicted furry this is who took Charlie from us let's just state the facts okay so who's the
Starting point is 01:09:50 aggrieved party here who's the party that had something horrible had well the right we lost
Starting point is 01:09:54 a generational leader generational voice and a future president obviously so
Starting point is 01:09:59 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
Starting point is 01:10:20 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.
Starting point is 01:11:12 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.
Starting point is 01:11:32 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,
Starting point is 01:12:03 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,
Starting point is 01:12:27 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
Starting point is 01:13:41 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.
Starting point is 01:14:16 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.
Starting point is 01:14:26 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
Starting point is 01:14:41 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.
Starting point is 01:15:02 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
Starting point is 01:15:26 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
Starting point is 01:15:48 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
Starting point is 01:16:23 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
Starting point is 01:16:39 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.
Starting point is 01:16:58 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
Starting point is 01:17:37 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.
Starting point is 01:18:15 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.
Starting point is 01:18:33 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,
Starting point is 01:18:47 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
Starting point is 01:19:30 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.
Starting point is 01:20:11 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
Starting point is 01:20:49 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
Starting point is 01:21:07 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.
Starting point is 01:21:23 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.
Starting point is 01:21:34 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.
Starting point is 01:21:48 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
Starting point is 01:22:20 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.
Starting point is 01:22:33 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
Starting point is 01:23:00 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
Starting point is 01:23:47 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.
Starting point is 01:24:38 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
Starting point is 01:25:24 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
Starting point is 01:25:47 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.
Starting point is 01:26:03 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.
Starting point is 01:26:46 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.
Starting point is 01:27:05 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?
Starting point is 01:27:20 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.
Starting point is 01:27:27 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
Starting point is 01:28:04 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
Starting point is 01:28:20 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
Starting point is 01:28:55 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?
Starting point is 01:29:24 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.
Starting point is 01:29:36 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
Starting point is 01:29:54 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
Starting point is 01:30:29 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
Starting point is 01:31:12 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.
Starting point is 01:31:40 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.
Starting point is 01:31:58 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.
Starting point is 01:32:16 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.
Starting point is 01:32:34 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.
Starting point is 01:32:47 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.
Starting point is 01:33:07 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.
Starting point is 01:33:21 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.
Starting point is 01:34:04 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.
Starting point is 01:34:24 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
Starting point is 01:34:52 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
Starting point is 01:35:30 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
Starting point is 01:35:46 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
Starting point is 01:36:20 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
Starting point is 01:36:37 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.

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