The Megyn Kelly Show - Tucker, Shapiro, Don Jr., Erika Kirk and More - Megyn Kelly Looks Back at Memorable Tour Moments

Episode Date: November 28, 2025

Megyn Kelly looks back at some of the memorable moments from her recent "Megyn Kelly Live" tour, including conversations with Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, Erika Kirk, Donald Trump Jr., Piers Morgan, a...nd Link Lauren.  Riverbend Ranch: Visit https://riverbendranch.com/ | Use promo code MEGYN for $20 off your first order.Tuttle Twins: Give your kids a gift that matters—save up to 75% on Tuttle Twins bundles during the Black Friday sale at https://TuttleTwins.com/MK.Grand Canyon University: https://GCU.edu/MYOFFERByrna: Go to https://Byrna.com or your local Sportsman's Warehouse today.  Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at:https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Megan Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at New East. Hey everyone, it's Megan Kelly, and I hope you had a great Thanksgiving with your friends and family. Today, we are bringing you some of the most memorable moments from the Megan Kelly Live tour, which came to an end last week. It was so great to see the tens of thousands of you across the country. And now we want to look back at some of what you may have missed. We had Donald Trump Jr. kick us off on night one. That was amazing in Texas. He was fired up and in rare form.
Starting point is 00:00:41 I spoke with Tucker Carlson in New York, followed by Ben Shapiro in Florida on back-to-back nights. That made tons of news earlier this month. We had so much fun with Pierce Morgan in Miami and Link Lauren in Texas. And, of course, it came to an endless weekend in a powerful interview with Erica Kirk in Arizona. So go check out some of the memorable moments. Have a great weekend. Listen to it here and I will see you Monday with Mark Halperin. I've been talking a lot about River Bend Ranch because I love their steaks. Well, this holiday season express your love with a very special gift of
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Starting point is 00:02:03 Order from Riverbendranch.com. Use the promo code Megan for 20 bucks off your first order. And let me know what you think. That's Riverbendranch.com. Promocode M-E-G-Y-N. Before you go, you have to do your best, Donald Trump. We're going to have to do some Donald Trump, guys. All right, let's talk about why we're here, right? I mean, we were going to do this tour. this tour two days before Charlie was killed, and then the question was raised by basically everybody, do we still do this tour? And I know how I felt, and I know how you felt. It's not exactly how my husband felt. But we're here, and it's more important right now to be here than
Starting point is 00:02:46 ever. A hundred percent. I mean, the best way to honor Charlie's legacy is to actually be out here to doing this, to be unafraid, to not back down. I think Yeah. Thank you. I know I was supposed to do something with him literally the week after that. And as you mentioned, sort of in the intro, you know, I met Charlie. I think he was 19 or just turned 20. And it was 2015 at the beginning of that cycle. And a couple friends of mine actually from Texas were like, you know, you have to meet this guy. He's great. He's charismatic. And he knows everything about politics. I'm like, wow, that sounds great. Because no one here knows anything. I've told you this before, but it was like, when they were like, you're colluding with Russia. I'm like, guys, if you knew what was going on in that campaign,
Starting point is 00:03:33 like we couldn't collude to order a cheeseburger, okay? So, like, like, relax. Slow your roll. Relax, Adam's ship, like, give me a break. But, you know, they're going on and on about how great this guy is, and they're like, okay, well, he's, you know, he just turned 20. I'm like, just, okay, enough. Like, stop.
Starting point is 00:03:52 We're good. You know, if there's one thing we had no shortage of, it was guys that didn't know what the hell they were doing, we didn't need someone else who also didn't know what the hell they were doing. But these guys were persuasive, and I sat down and in five minutes, I was like, oh, oh. Describe that Charlie versus the Charlie we knew before he was taken from us. Honestly, it was the same. You just knew it was a generational talent. You know, I don't know much, but I think, you know, if there's one thing I've probably
Starting point is 00:04:21 proven to be fairly decent at in the last decade or so, is sort of just understanding talent. and I recognized it in an instant. I mean, it was literally five minutes. I'm like, okay, interviews over, like, you're traveling with me. And, you know, he spent the next, you know, six, seven months. It was everything. I mean, he'd be making calls. I mean, I have great pictures of Election Day, 16.
Starting point is 00:04:44 And I think I did, it was close to, like, 75 radio interviews. We were just sort of moving east to west as the polls were shutting down. I'm, you know, screaming at Sean Hannity, be like, just get me on in Western Florida because there's a time difference there, and I can still get a couple people to the polls because, you know, whatever wasn't showing up. And, you know, Charlie was basically just in the background operating, you know, my Twitter
Starting point is 00:05:05 and other social media handles from my desk in my office as I'm going through this. And it was just such an amazing experience. But, again, he perhaps got better, but he was always so good. He was just going to be better than everyone else anyway. It didn't take much maturation. He just always had it.
Starting point is 00:05:23 In the past couple of years, Don. You've been subpoenaed and investigated more than any human on earth. So is your family. So is your dad. Your dad, they tried to throw him in prison, not to mention the impeachments and all the investigations and the civil lawsuits. And then on top of that, they actually tried to kill him repeatedly. Twice, yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:45 Yeah. You saw your dad get shot in the ear. You saw three of his supporters get shot, one of whom died, two others of whom got shot as well. and then Charlie got shot and killed and taken from us. This is your life over the past couple of years. How has that changed you? Honestly, it's hard. I mean, there's an element, I guess, you know,
Starting point is 00:06:07 I got some of that trump gene that it just makes you sort of go harder. It's not normal. It's not normal. It's not always good. I have that for better or worse. I think, you know, yeah, I've been more subpoenaed than probably just about any human being and our family certainly has. I think I've done more hours of congressional testimony, you know, for treason, right? I mean, you know, a crime punishable by death that became like my average Tuesday.
Starting point is 00:06:34 You know, it's like, oh, they're going to try to kill you again, Don. I'm like, it's fine. Can I catch lunch first? Most of us are like, I've got to get those Halloween decorations up. It's coming. I'm on deadline. Yeah, no, it was amazing. My lawyer's like, you're the greatest witness ever.
Starting point is 00:06:49 It's like, it's not because I'm actually good at it. I've just done it so much. Eventually you're going to develop some sort of. for it. I mean, it's a, you know... Do you miss it a little? You know, not that so much. No, but, you know, not that, but it was interesting, right? I think, you know, at the end of each one of these election cycles and now, you know, three
Starting point is 00:07:11 presidential cycles and then, you know, six midterm cycles, you know, you combine them all or whatever it may have been, there was a time sort of, at the end of 16, especially, and at the end of 20, you're... you're in the throes of it. And I think it was October 2020. I think I did 104 rallies that month. So that's four a day. And I don't mean like, you know, a lunch or a breakfast. I mean like, you know, 300 to 10,000 people in a room four times a day, 31 days straight. And it's sort of brutal. And at the end of you, you're like, I just sort of want to be done with it. 16 especially, right? Because I got sucked out of like the world in which I lived, you know, real estate. I was, you know,
Starting point is 00:07:53 behind a desk, we're on a job site. And I was like, sort of want to go back to that. And for about a week, it was great. And you were non-controversial before all this, too. Yeah, no, I mean, the Trump's were beloved. Not the same level. Before that, no, it was awesome. I could live in New York City. I got invited to the cool person parties. That all went away. But, no, honestly, but there was a component of that that was also cathartic. Right? It was a, you know, that obligatory lunch you all do with some friend you haven't seen in 10 years, but you do it once every other year. You go and you're like, why am I here? You know, we don't really stay in touch. And it's like, you'd see all these people. And they'd text you like, I love
Starting point is 00:08:32 what you're doing. And you're like, oh, wow, that's great. And you're like, look on their Facebook pages and you're like, Trump's a terrorist, he's a Nazi. So I'm like, I hate these people so much. I'm like, well, which one is it? Because you can't be my friend and also do that. Like, you can disagree with me politically. I mean, I had friends that didn't agree with a lot of what we were doing, but they're still like, I'm writing a check to your campaign because I just believe in you. And even if we don't agree on much politically, like, you're still a friend. And, like, those guys are great. Those guys were... You can handle the honesty. Yeah. That I can deal with. It was the guys, like, clout chasing
Starting point is 00:09:02 on one side and then kissing your ass on the other. That I didn't appreciate. But I wonder, because you talk about the gene, you've got the gene, and it is a crazy gene. It's a great gene. And I really have been thinking about this a lot, because I, now at this point in my life, I think a lot about how do we handle trauma. Like, what's the best way of handling trauma. And I really have come over to my husband's Presbyterian way of just shoving it down. I really do believe, honestly, like leaning into your traumas and they call it ruminating is very bad for you. We've really, we were raised by Oprah and we were raised by wolves. She misled us. The Trump gene is the way. Well, yes and no, right? I was sort of getting there
Starting point is 00:09:44 before, and I sort of ramble, but, you know, you get there. and it feels so wrong, but you also then suppress all of it, and it's just like, it doesn't matter, put it aside, go back and fight. Doesn't matter, put it aside, go fight. Like literally in your dad's case, in the moment where the bullets are still flying. Correct. And, you know, we all sort of did that to some extent, him more than anyone. But then you go back and you have five young kids, you know,
Starting point is 00:10:09 and kids, you know, they have some sort of problem. I'm like, well, they're literally trying to jail me. They're trying to shut down our businesses. They just tried to kill Grandpa. Like, you know, it's just, you know, whatever they're going through, is still a big thing for them, but you can't even think of it as a big thing, because it's like, give me a break. It's nothing, but it's big for them. And so, uh, you, you definitely put a lot of that sort of emotion aside. It's like, you've just been a, you know, a beast in a cage
Starting point is 00:10:31 prodded for a while that you'd sort of adjust to that normalcy, but it makes it actually very hard to be sensitive to other people's ideas and emotions. Of that movie free solo. Did you see the movie free solo? Yeah, 100%. Do you guys see this, I sat on an airplane once, where the guy, I used to do a little bit of free class, so yeah, I have that underdeveloped sense of self-preservation and pretty much, I'm a pilot. I do this. I do this. I do this. I do this. I'm a the trimix to Ivy. So this guy's like climbing mountains, like the most dangerous mountain sides in the world without any suspension, without any rope whatsoever, and it's extremely dangerous. And they talk in that film about how you can kind of burn out your
Starting point is 00:11:02 adrenal gland. And that's not necessarily a good thing. Or it's already underdeveloped, so it takes that much more stimulus to actually get any sort of excitement out of life. And that's what it was like. So like, after 16, you know, you work so hard, you sort of become like, I mean, there's something cool about being pseudo rock star, right? You're on a stage and people, People are loving it, and you sort of feel like, wow, I'm actually decent at this. This is kind of cool. So, but you get like, I got to go back to my regular life. I'm so over this.
Starting point is 00:11:27 And like, two weeks back at a desk, and I was like, yeah, no, this isn't going to work for me anymore. No, no, no, I was, like, borderline depressed. Like, I was like, this sucks. Like, I literally just remade my whole life after that and stayed more involved in this. And just, it was sort of game changing. So what I thought was sort of, like, going to be my destiny for, you know, the rest of my career. it was like, yeah, no, that's not going to work. Like, I literally would not be able to be satisfied
Starting point is 00:11:53 sitting at a desk and doing that forever anymore, so it changed everything. Well, that leads me to my next line of inquiry, which is, is any Trump going to be running for office at any point soon? You know, this is always the trick question, right? Because if you say no, then you decide to do something at another stage in life. I appreciate the applause, and, you know,
Starting point is 00:12:15 someone said, you know, a bunch of friends sent me a poll last week. is, you know, Jady and I are the only guys in double digits. I'm like, I haven't really been, you know, out there all that much for it. But you're the air. But still, well, you know, who knows? You know, honestly, the air is whoever deserves it, really. You know what I mean? There's not an air.
Starting point is 00:12:31 Contrary to what we've seen, this isn't a monarchy, right? Like, I know they're like doing the whole no king's thing and dressing up like, you know, Bozo the clown, and I think that's supposed to be effective. I don't know. It doesn't seem to move the needle much for me, but, you know, it also is sort of ironic that they're talking about not having kings with a president that was elected in a landslide, won the electoral college, won the popular vote, won all seven swing states in a historic fashion. Before that, actually left office. I mean, you know, if you're, he's like a
Starting point is 00:13:11 really shitty king, actually. If he's a king, he's doing a lousy job, because a king wouldn't have done that, a king wouldn't have allowed himself to be prosecuted and persecuted and almost jailed, almost assassinated. A king probably wouldn't allow those protests to happen. And if he was a king, the government would be open and not shut down by Democrats who want to make sure that we're funding health care for illegals. That's right. But, you know, the narrative, as we all know, the narrative doesn't always have to line up with reality. Was that a long way of saying no? You have to see. So not never.
Starting point is 00:13:52 No, well, not probably, no, not now. Not now, but not never. There may be a time, and if it's required of me, and I can do that for my country, it's an honor. The fact that I have this kind of reaction is... Yeah. Oh, thank you. Listen, just that kind of reaction, like, that's sort of... I mean, that's the greatest honor I could receive, right?
Starting point is 00:14:15 so it means a lot to me, and I see that. And it's, I don't know that I have the ego, actually, which is ironic, I understand, coming from a top. You know, but there's, like, a level of hubris you actually need to be president. I think that I'm like, I don't know, I'm just a regular guy. I fight to get where we want to go, but after that, I'm okay going in the background. But what was so great about the last four years under Biden was it's actually what we needed as a country for everyone to understand how fragile
Starting point is 00:14:45 our democracy is, how fragile the Republic really is, how fragile even our economy is, and how the world really needs a strong America. And so it wasn't just the first four years of Trump that showed us that. It was how quickly it all disappeared and went away that woke up so many people. But in that, there was a sort of component of, you know, trial by fire. You know, not just for the American people who got it and experienced it because you saw it with your own eyes. every day, but for those in the cabinet now, for those who are able to be fighters and, you know, we're subject to the same lawfare and whatever. So now we actually, for the first
Starting point is 00:15:28 time in modern history, we have a bench. We have a bench of guys that can do this. And if I'm part of that, that's an honor, but it's not like, you know, even in, you know, after the first term, you're like, well, man, who's next? You know, it wasn't going to be my, Mike Pence. Mike Pence was perhaps like a necessary thing to sort of consolidate other parts of the Republican base that are like, well, this guy from New York, how do we make this happen? How does, you know, perhaps, I don't want to say necessary evil, but like you sort of needed. No, he made sense at the time. It made sense at the time, but it was never going to be the future of the party, right? Like, that was never real. And, you know, now it's great to be like, to see a JD and to see, honestly, you know, Marco's done a great job. Marko's a star, too. And more importantly, they're guys that aren't just sort of playing a role on TV. They've actually changed their worldview to understand that sort of America first, Maga, however you want to look at it, is actually the future of the Republican Party. They're not guys that are dying to go back to the old ways and playing a role.
Starting point is 00:16:35 They actually believe it. They get it now. And that's incredible for the future of our country. Okay. Now, since you and your dad are very similar in many ways, and you're talking about how you were bored sitting at your desk for two weeks. What does Donald Trump post-presidency do with his time? Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:16:56 I don't know, Megan. Yeah, no, you know, it's an interesting one. It's like this was always during the campaign. It's like, you know, are we working him too hard? It's like, no, no, no, keep him going because there's not. Nothing sometimes more scary to us that we're having, you know, perhaps clean up some messes, you know, getting the call at like 5 o'clock in the morning, like, did you see the tweet that went out three hours ago?
Starting point is 00:17:22 Like, no, what happened? Don't worry, you're on CNN in a couple hours. What are the talking points? It's like, honestly, we don't know, figure it out. You know, the scariest Donald Trump is a poor Donald Trump. So we... Real. I got to figure out how...
Starting point is 00:17:38 We all have to figure out how to keep... him busy, but he could pull the Obama, not leave Washington, and be the shadow president for the next day. That would be fun. Listen, I think one way of there, he's always going to keep busy. I mean, you know, you even see the passion of what he has now as he's, you know, doing additions to the White House. I mean, he's always going to be a builder at heart. And I think because he's a builder, it's why he understands how to do these things. It's also why he's so able to relate to regular people. You know, he still always sort of defaults back to his roots. of being a builder, someone who creates.
Starting point is 00:18:14 And so, you know, I imagine he'll always remain politically active because he too likes the action and... And the party likes him. They don't want him to go. So, he's like, they're going to want him around. He's remade that party, and he's always going to have an incredible influence there. And so it'll be interesting to watch, though. But we've got to keep him busy one way or the other.
Starting point is 00:18:33 I'm going to actually take up golf despite all the things that I don't want to do. It's just be like, I just got to go play golf with him because if he's alone and bored, it's going to be. problems. Get him away from the true social. Let's talk about the lawfare that's happening now. What happened your dad was deeply wrong. It was immoral. It was criminal. It really was criminal what was done to him. And you guys saw that, you know, now before Trump took office, he filed a couple of complaints with the DOJ seeking to be made whole on all the money he had to spend to defend himself. And the media has gone nuts with it. Oh my God. It's
Starting point is 00:19:11 Conflict Avengers. How could he? How could he? Do you know, if you listen to AM Update, you do know this? Do you know how much those losers Peter Struck and Lisa Page, those two FBI lovers who were tweeting? You know how much they got from the DOJ? $2 million. And they... For perjuring themselves. Yes.
Starting point is 00:19:29 And setting up a president. I mean, it's a... They're plotting actively against him. So they filed a complaint because they were mad. Their tweets got released. And Merrick Garland's DOJ paid out. So why shouldn't Trump file a crime? complaint and get paid out for all of his heartache. But I'm just speaking of the lawfare and how widespread it was and how bit by bit your dad's trying to make good. The lawfare
Starting point is 00:19:51 that is being unleashed against his enemies, we've had lots of debates about it. I'm totally in favor of it because I really think they deserve it. It's accountability to me. But what's your reaction? Because the argument against it by smart people is, two wrongs don't make a right, and it's not going to stop them. You know, when they get back in power, they're going to do it again. It's actually a nuanced sort of answer because I guess the normal Don Jr. response would be like just go after him. But these guys did break the law. They actually did. There's a difference between what they did to my father where they're literally going back and literally changing the statute
Starting point is 00:20:29 of limitations for a short period of time to be able to try to get him. When they're venue shopping, you notice he was only sued in Atlanta, New York, D.C., You know, there's a difference between creating a thing, the steel dossier. Making it up. When it's manufactured to end a result, that's different than John Bolton taking home classified documents and breaking the law and doing that. That's not lawfare. That's actually called enforcing the law. So there's two different things.
Starting point is 00:21:03 Now, the corollary to all of that is, generally speaking, there's no one weaker than a Republican in Washington, D.C. No, no, no, you've seen it. You can be the most die-hard red meat guy and you get to Washington, D.C., and all of a sudden you're like, wow, I love the perks, I love getting my ass kissed, I love being invited to the cool person party.
Starting point is 00:21:29 You know what? They leave me alone if I'm like 85% Republican. If I fold when it actually matters, to my constituents, but can be beneficial to the Democrats? You have an easy existence. The Washington Post isn't doing their hit pieces. I look at those hit pieces. Chief Justice John Roberts comes to mind.
Starting point is 00:21:51 Yeah, well, no, of course. Robert, but by the way, you know, how many strong Republican senators do we have, like three? You know, that you'd actually want to be in one of these political fights with. I mean, it's pretty plentiful. And so there's a component of me that believes I'd love none of this to ever happen. I'd love it to actually be fair that's not ever been the case
Starting point is 00:22:13 and until we actually start fighting the same way the Democrats do it's never going to stop because they're more than happy to take their wins you know they talk about democracy it's all a sound bite you know they talk about all these things
Starting point is 00:22:26 they're so great until it happens to them and it's like wow this is different you know rules for thee but not for me unprecedented they actually keep using that words as people get indicted on the left they're like on president I'm like what were you doing to me to my father to half the Republican Party. What did you do to Peter Navarro? What did you do to Steve
Starting point is 00:22:43 Bannon? You know, that was unprecedented. Roger Stone. Now that it's happening back to them, it's unprecedented all of a sudden. You know, they can get away with that. And they've gotten away with it because they also control still the mainstream media narrative. They control a vast majority of tech. You know, I think what Elon's done is great to at least people can finally see like, oh, wait a minute. It's not actually unprecedented. But it's hard to believe there are people that see that and they're like, oh my God, it's unprecedented. I'm like, did you like not turn on a TV for a solid eight years? You've been asleep?
Starting point is 00:23:17 Eight years when, you know, Trump, what, 96 indictments? They wanted to put my father away for 750 years. I mean, he's a young and vibrant 79. But I think even for a high energy guy like Donald Trump, like 750 years, maybe a lot. I'm not sure he gets through that. By the way, does he sleep? Because you hear the reporters on Border Air Force One, like, you can't fall asleep because he might come back at any second.
Starting point is 00:23:46 He's constantly, like, talking to his cabinet officials, and, like, you don't want to be the reporter who's asleep when he comes back for the fourth time and you miss the big scoop. Honestly, like, I've rarely seen him sleep. If he does, it's, it is, like, three hours a night. But it's been his whole life. Like, so I remember, you know, coming out of, you know, the Wharton School of Finance and starting to work in the business and stuff like that.
Starting point is 00:24:09 And, you know, a young 20-year-old guy in New York City, I'd go out and I'd be partying with my buddies. I'd probably get home at... 12. 10.30. 10.30. Let's just say that for... And Saturday morning, my phone would ring. You know, Don, why aren't you in the office? I'm like...
Starting point is 00:24:36 Where aren't you in the office? He's like, I'm in the office. That's why I know you're not in it, done. I'm like, shit. Nightmare. I'm like, I'm stumbling over their hairs everywhere. I'm hung over and I'm like, we're going to get to the office. On a Saturday, sometimes Sunday. He's just built this way. He's just always been that way. I mean, perhaps the most, and I've sort of been impressed with his stamina that way for most of my life. But I mean, even, you know, this last election, the days prior to the election, the days prior to the election. I mean, I saw him go two all-nighters in a row. Yeah. Like, it was all day, seven events, and I'd speak at some of them, but when he's there, he's speaking for an hour.
Starting point is 00:25:16 Yes. I mean, it's slated for an hour, and sometimes it ends up being two and a half. The weave. But, you know, you got six of them. And we're in Michigan, and it's 2.30 in the morning, and that's 3.30. By the time you dealt with the time difference or wherever we end up, I think it was Michigan was the last one. and he's still going strong.
Starting point is 00:25:36 Six of these speeches, five of these speeches for two hours apiece. It's 2.30 in the morning. He's going strong. He gets on the plane, and he starts playing music, and I'm like, I just want to go to bed. I literally, for the love of Christ, please just turn off the music, and he's blasting Elton John. It's wild, and then we get there, and it's election day. And I get home, it's 6 a.m. I try to get like an hour or two. I get home, I take a shower I'm about to go to bed and I turn on the TV quickly
Starting point is 00:26:07 and he's doing interviews and I'm like I'm like no I felt like I'm not like living up to you know the state I literally had like two hours till my next thing
Starting point is 00:26:19 I'm like I just can't go to bed because I can't let this guy out do me let's talk about it let's talk about why Nick Fuentes I interviewed Fuentes well I should just give the publicly available information
Starting point is 00:26:33 on this, which is that I was in an extremely personal and bitter war with Fuentes like three weeks ago. It mostly wasn't public, but Fuentes was attacking my father, a subject I have like literally no sense if you were. My father passed in March and, you know, it was really kind of the patriarch, not kind of, he was the patriarch in our family and a hero to every person in our family. And, you know, some of what Fantes was saying about my dad was, you know, true, okay, which made it worse. But I was just so offended by that. I couldn't deal with it. And my son and my wife. So, you know, I was really mad at Fuentes and then I did an interview and just out of the I was so mad at like popped out and I attacked Nick Fuentes. In this interview, this was
Starting point is 00:27:20 last month, I think, ish. And then I got all these calls from people saying, do you know anything about, I don't know anything really about Nick Fuentes, other than he's attacking my dad, my wife, and my son. And it was like, actually, Nick Fuentes is the single most influential commentator among young men. Like, period. He's got five million subscribers on Rumble. It's bonkers. And I didn't know any of it. I'm 56, so I'll just like state the obvious, you know? He's not our demo. My oldest child is 31, like much older than Nick Fuentes. So I kind of missed a lot of this stuff. I pride myself on not missing things. I totally miss that. Really? And then it turns out that, you know, he has no advertisers. They've been trying
Starting point is 00:27:59 to cancel him since freshman year in college. Ben Shapiro actually tried to shut him down freshman year in college. And it didn't work. In fact, it had the opposite effect. So I was like, hmm. And so then I talked to a million people I know. Like, maybe I should interview Nick Fuentes to hear what, like, what is this actually? And so I decided to do it. And I thought it would be controversial. I didn't think it would become what it's become. I'm not going to offer any defense other than, you know, it's kind of interesting. I've literally, I mean, I've interviewed anybody. I'm doing this for 34 years, so I've interviewed everybody, most of them bad people, to be honest.
Starting point is 00:28:34 Right. I interviewed Liberian militia leaders during the Liberian Civil War, all cannibals, every single one of them. It tasted human flesh. And first of all, I kind of like them. I'm just being honest, because I like people. Don't agree with cannibalism, pretty opposed. For the record. But I'm just that way.
Starting point is 00:28:51 I just like people. and the closer, if you can, like, smell someone and talk to him, like, it's hard to not see the human in the person, even if he's a cannibal. Did the Liberian cannibal smell good? Kind of rank, to be honest. Actually, during the interview, this is, I'll never forget this. I was in Africa for, to cover the Civil War, and I'm interviewing this guy, and he was like, you know, Commander Butt-Naked, or it wasn't actually Commander Butt-Naked, who
Starting point is 00:29:13 was a famous militia leader during that war, who fought, needless to say, butt-naked. But I'm interviewing this guy, and his cell phone goes off, and it's the Woody Woodpecker theme song? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And I was like, oh, my gosh, you're human. It was, like, hilarious. Anyway, the point is, none of those were controversial. Like, I interview people who are hated, and in some cases, like, demonstrably evil,
Starting point is 00:29:34 and I asked them, why did you do that? And what, you know, what's your account of yourself? Like, tell me who you are. What do you believe? And I wanted to, that was the first thing I wanted to achieve with Nick one's, like, what is this? Tell me. You know, I'll give you two hours.
Starting point is 00:29:48 I have only watched your clips for, like, a minute long. I want to hear, like, why don't you describe it. Why don't you describe what you think? Because I think that's the small role that I play, which is to get documentary evidence of people describing what they think. I did it with Putin. I'll probably do it with every other bad person in the world because I'm interested. Not because I agree with them, because I think it's interesting.
Starting point is 00:30:06 And second, I wanted to say something very specific to Nick Fuentes, and it's this. And I said it, which is, I think it's totally legitimate to criticize any foreign country from Belgium to Congo to Israel because they're foreign countries. Yes. And I'll never give up that right. In fact, it's an obligation, I would say. And to be reasonable about it and not, you know, but what's in America's interest?
Starting point is 00:30:28 Totally legitimate. It is totally illegitimate and very specifically unchristian to attack people for their DNA. Like, I hate this group. You wanted him to hear that. He has, we all have to hear that. And because that is the basis of Western civilization. Western civilization is derived from. the New Testament. It is based on Christian ethics. And the core difference between the West
Starting point is 00:30:55 and the rest of the world, not just Israel, but every other country, is that we don't believe in collective punishment because we don't believe in blood guilt. We don't believe that you are born guilty, and we also don't believe that you're born virtuous. We believe that God created every person as an individual. God did not create communities. Every woman gives birth to a human being. And every person has the spark of God inside him. I mean, that's what we believe as Christians. person has the possibility of redemption. And in my religion, the great human hero in Christianity, Jesus is God in human form. But the great human hero in the New Testament is its primary author, Paul, who was Saul of Tarsus, who was the primary persecutor as a Pharisee of Christians. He was
Starting point is 00:31:36 murdering Christians. He was Jewish, by the way, like everyone in the New Testament, but he was on the way to go murder more Christians that he met Jesus, and then he became the great evangelist of our faith and wrote the majority of the New Testament. So, like, he's my personal hero, but he's also living testament to the truth about people, which is each one of us was born as an individual, and we will face God alone at the end to account for our lives. And along the way, there is always the possibility that no matter what your genes are, what you look like, or what your religion is, that you can change, and that you can be saved by Jesus. That is Christianity in three sentences. And so that is reflected, even for people who aren't Christians,
Starting point is 00:32:19 reflected in an ethical framework and a legal code that is the only truly unusual and great thing about the West, which is we do not punish the innocent. We only punish the guilty. We do not you commit a crime. We don't throw your kids in jail. We don't execute your cousins. We don't commit genocide against your whole tribe. We punish you because you did it. We treat each person as an individual. That is Western civilization. That's a Christian understanding. It does not derive from any other religion. Christianity alone, alone, unique, makes that claim. And that's the base of our justice system, which, again, even non-Christians appreciate,
Starting point is 00:33:00 that's why they move here, because it's self-evidently more humane. That's where the idea of human rights come from. They're not collective rights. It's not that your tribe has rights, and his tribe does, and it's you as an individual have rights. And that idea is not only being challenged in our country, it's being disregarded. It's disregarded in DEI. It's disregarded an affirmative action.
Starting point is 00:33:23 Identity politics is a refutation of that idea. We are awarding some people something because of how they were born and hurting others for the same reason. That is anti-Western. It's evil. And it leads, in the end, inexorably, to genocide. That is the root idea behind what happened in Europe in the 40s under the Nazis. It's the real idea behind what happened in Rwanda in 1994.
Starting point is 00:33:49 It's the rude idea, just saying, behind what's happening in Gaza right now, where it's like, we're going to kill the kids, too. We don't care. And we're going to, by the way, move everyone out because they're a people that is fundamentally opposed to us. Yeah, well, I'm not for that. Sorry, because that's not the Western understanding of justice. We punish the guilty alone. We do not punish the innocent.
Starting point is 00:34:11 Period. And that's not racism. And in fact, it's the answer to racism. It's the answer to anti-Semitism. It's why anti-Semitism is wrong. It's why racism is wrong. No, you're not better than me. No, you're not worse than me because of how you were born.
Starting point is 00:34:29 You're the same as me because we're both created by God. Period. So the whole idea of thinking of people as members of tribes, any tribe, including my tribe, is prima facie immoral. And yet, it is the operating idea behind so much of our politics. And I reject it. it when it manifests as anti-Semitism. I reject it when it manifests as anti-white racism, which has been pretty common. I know we're not supposed to say it, but it's real.
Starting point is 00:34:57 But I'm not mad about that just because my kids are white, which they are. I'm mad about that because the idea is immoral. It's anti-Christian, and that is the destruction of the West. And so when I see these people, like, we're defending Western, when Mark Levins, like, we're defending Western civilization. Randy Fine, who's like, yeah, we just have to kill every Palestinian because they're Palestinian so we can defend Western civilization. I'm like, no, no, no, you're the enemy of Western civilization because collective punishment is the enemy of Western civilization, period. Wow.
Starting point is 00:35:28 That's what I wanted to say, and I said it, and they called me a Nazi, and I'm like, actually, I hate the Nazis for that specific reason. But wait, what I hear you saying, sort of, is that you wanted to reach him. You wanted him. Of course, I want to reach him and everyone watching. But were you trying to help him in a way? I want to tell the truth as I understand it with the ever-present knowledge
Starting point is 00:35:53 that I'm kind of a buffoon and I'm off and wrong. I supported the Iraq War. I remind myself of that every single day. I've made a ton of mistakes, a ton of errors in judgments. I've been carried away by enthusiasm and particularly by anger many times in my life. So with that knowledge, knowing that I am imperfect and I don't always possess the truth, okay?
Starting point is 00:36:11 You always have to remember that because I'm not God. I still want to tell the truth as clearly and completely as I can in every venue, in every conversation, as fearlessly and without shame as I possibly can. And that's why Nazi Week doesn't bother me anymore, because I'm not a Nazi. I'm a Christian. Of course. So what about, I don't want to spend the whole time on this, but I am curious. The main criticism, as I understand it, has been, well, yes, platforming. They say that I don't accept platforming as a valid objection.
Starting point is 00:36:40 What is that a verb, by the way? You take a noun and you make it into a verb. and nobody says anything? As a former editor, I say no. Yeah, I agree. Honestly, but like, as far as I know, Nick Fuentes hasn't eaten anyone. You know, I mean, Jeffrey Dahmer ate people,
Starting point is 00:36:53 and he was platformed by Diane Soir. We have a sitting member of Congress. I spoke to the Speaker of the House about this today. We have a sitting member of Congress from Florida called Randy Fine, who is literally texted or put on Twitter, we should kill them all, every single one. Someone texted a picture of literally
Starting point is 00:37:09 of a dead baby, and he laughs at it. And it's like, this guy, a lawmaker is appropriating money to a military committing genocide, and that's cool? It's not cool. And let's just be honest, that is much worse than anything Nick Fuentes has said, period. So the main pushback has been when you had Jeffrey Dahmer or the Ku Klux Klan or et cetera, these journalists went after them, like exposed the terrible things. And Nick Fuentes has said a long list of very vile things. Big time, including attacks. backing my dad, which was the most vile of all, in my opinion.
Starting point is 00:37:45 Yeah. I mean, I personally have watched videos of him questioning the Holocaust, likening it to baking cookies in the oven, and there's no way you could have gotten to six million. Seems to be his theory. He seems to think that we've way overstated, the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust. He's ripped on poor Usha Vance in the most offensive terms, which I mean, so what do you say to those people, say, why don't you raise any of that? You know, do your own interview the way that you want to do it. You're not my editor. Buzz off. I mean, I don't know. You want to go yell at Nick Fuentes? I'll give you a cell. Call him. And go sit and yell at him and feel virtuous or whatever. That's up to you. I got the same thing with Putin. Why aren't you yelling at him? Okay. Why? So I can show that I'm a good person. I care about what my wife thinks, my children think, and God thinks. And that's it. I don't need to prove that I'm a good person to you. You may think I'm a terrible person. Okay. I'm just doing my thing, which is I want to understand what people think. And I'm, committed to that, and if you don't like it, don't watch. That's my view. But that doesn't
Starting point is 00:38:47 mean that I share the views. I'm not telling Nazi jokes, obviously, or Holocaust jokes. I mean, please. And I don't, you know, I'm not telling him even in private because I'm not into that at all. But I will say, just since you brought it up, one thing that did bother me was the Ushavans thing. And I did actually, I generally make it a practice not to be like, you said this and da-da-da-da-da, and the internet tells me, or, you know, the ADL says, you said this, it's like, why don't you just tell me what you do think? Like, why don't you speak for yourself because we're adults? That is my approach with everybody, whether I like him or don't like him. But the Ushavans thing did upset me because I know Ushavans and I love Ushavans and I was really
Starting point is 00:39:27 offended by that, just personally because I know her, right? And, um, in a normal way. And I did think about that. Like, that pissed me off. And I, I'm just being as honest as I can be, I didn't want to repeat it. Yeah. No, you're always in that position. Actually, you know? As a journalist, you're always there like, do I repeat it? Well, if you know the person. And spread it? Kind of. And it's like so wounding.
Starting point is 00:39:47 And, I mean, he attacked my wife, as I said. So I don't, I don't know. I'm sensitive on that. So let me ask you. They made the wrong call, by the way, probably. So now having done it, what do you think of him? About Fuentes? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:03 I think, um, it's, it's so funny. Uh, I did not make Nick Fuentes. Nick Fuentes is well he's just enormously gifted as a broadcaster I mean it's unbelievable his talent is I mean I have done that job not the Holocaust jokes obviously
Starting point is 00:40:21 but I mean I've sat in front of a camera and talked he's really good at it he has not been canceled he can't be canceled so I kind of think of Fuentes in terms of like what place does he occupy and what does he say about our society and I'm not making excuses for any
Starting point is 00:40:39 anybody else's views, I'm just saying as a factual matter, if this is the most popular person among young men, young white men, then we need to start thinking about why that is. And we need to reflect on what we have collectively done to young men, which has destroyed them, actually. And no one wants to say that because no one wants to take any responsibility at all for anything ever. No one ever wants to repent. They all want to cast stones. They don't see the plank in their own eye. This is including me. It's just a huge. humans are like this and they want to be like Nazi and it's like oh yeah okay great great but like how did this happen why are they listening to him kind of can I ask you so so and part of the reason is
Starting point is 00:41:21 because the Republican Party completely betrayed its voters by obsessing over Israel that's just a fact like what is this it's a country of nine million people I'm not against Israel I visited on vacation I've always like Jerusalem's my favorite city in the world I'm not against Israel but like why is that the center of our conversation it's nine million people people, no resources, the only strategic value Israel has is the extent to which we have to defend Israel. But take that out and there's no value at all. I'm not against it. I'm just saying like, we're a country of 350 million people. We're the most important country in the world and our politics is, and practically every member of Congress spends all day talking about
Starting point is 00:41:57 Israel. And if you're a normal person, you're like, I don't hate Israel. I certainly don't hate Jews. But what the hell is this? And then it's like, shut up, you can't talk about it. Why? Can you clarify what you mean? Because when you were winding up on, you know, the Republican Party has abandoned young men. I was with you. Both parties have abandoned young men, especially the Democrats, though, for so many other reasons.
Starting point is 00:42:16 But why Israel? You're saying the focus? Because all the energy, yeah. I mean, look, Trump is elected. I campaign for him. And I love Trump. I just want to say that. And I talked to him the other day,
Starting point is 00:42:27 and I love Trump. And I've known him for 25 years, and I mean, I could write many books on Trump, and they would be positive, basically. But the second he gets elected, who's the first person to visit, Bibi? Then he comes again. Then he comes again. And it's like, the energy of the administration and of the entire U.S. government is all of a sudden about Iran. A war with Iran, really? How many people do you know who've been killed by Iran in the United States in your lifetime? Zero, because that's the number. How many people you know who've died of a drug OD? Some. Maybe you have a nephew who did. So, like, what is this? I know you want to have regime change in Iran. I'm not mad at Israel at all. I'm not actually mad at Israel. I'm mad at our leaders for spending.
Starting point is 00:43:09 their time and my money focusing on someone else's country. And then I'm doubly mad because that's a total betrayal of the promise, which is your government works for you because you own the government because it's a, it's a democratic republic. Like, what the hell is going on? And then if you say anything about it, it's like, you're a Nazi, you're an anti-Semite. Well, actually, I'm not. And I'm in a really great place to say that because I actually, I'm really, am not. And no matter how many times they say that, it doesn't bother me because it's, I think it's, in fact, by the way, I think they are attacking me because I'm pretty reasonable. Like, who would disagree with what I'm saying? I'm just, maybe you do. Okay, you do, but you do. You disagree
Starting point is 00:43:52 with what I'm saying? But, like, what is the answer? Why would the U.S. government spend all this time? No, I'm a sincere question. Why is the overwhelming majority of the U.S. Congress taking money from a foreign unregistered lobby. Like, what? Like, what is the answer? From APA. Why is that okay? And they want, they don't, they want to prevent you from asking that question because there really isn't a good answer other than shut up. And if there's, if that's the only answer, I just, by my temperament and my age, I'm just not going to shut up because that's not hate, it's sincere. What is that? What do you make of the folks who say Israel is our most important ally in the Middle East? They're in a very tough neighborhood.
Starting point is 00:44:34 They have our shared Western values. They have our back. We have their back. And that we have much more in common with the people in Israel than we do with some of these surrounding countries. I would say, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? Which I heard of comment. Okay.
Starting point is 00:44:48 What's happening in Gaza, which is the killing of civilians because they are related to terrorists. They've said that. This is not a left-wing talking point. Have you read what Israeli- It's just a fact. Act is read Ben-Givir Smotrich on this. These are sitting cabinet ministers in the current government saying starve them out, kill them, kill their children. This is like a cabinet secretary in the current government in Israel, saying this out loud. That is not Western. That's
Starting point is 00:45:20 Eastern. That is totally incompatible with Western civilization. We don't punish the innocent, period, under any circumstances or else we're as bad as the people were fighting. And that, by the way, the U.S. government has done the same and I've complained about it a lot and no one has ever called me names for criticizing my own government so why is it verboten to criticize somebody else's government thousands of miles away?
Starting point is 00:45:45 What the hell are you talking about? I just believe in the principle and second tell me why they're our most important ally right down the road you've got countries that have like the bulk of the world's energy supply. That's not an important ally? What?
Starting point is 00:46:01 If you're looking at foreign policy through the lens of what's good for America. You don't want to make unnecessary enemies. I like Israel for the eighth time. How many people have been there on vacation just because they like it? I have. I took my kids. I'm not against it.
Starting point is 00:46:13 I don't want it to get hurt. But from a geostrategic point of view, your duty, if you're running the State Department or running the White House or a member of Congress, is to serve the people who elected you in your country. So you need to think seriously as you do with your own children. What's good for them?
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Starting point is 00:47:33 I would hate for people to believe that the Nick Flentes sort of, my problems of Nick Flentes are about me because they really are not. They are about the fact that Nick Flentes is a truly horrifying person who believes truly horrifying things. And again, there is a reason why Charlie Crick despised him. There is a reason why every mainstream political commentator has been highly critical of him. It's the reason why. These are not arguments. There's not a person who's making arguments. He is a Hitler-loving troll.
Starting point is 00:48:07 And I say that advisedly. He literally says on his show that he loves Adolf Hitler. So the reason this has come up in recent weeks is because Tucker, your guest last night, decided to have him on last week and to completely gloss him, in my opinion. And you can make up your own opinion as to what you think Tucker was doing during that interview, but I know what it looks like when Tucker Carlson decides to be an aggressive interview or when he decides to ask difficult questions of people. Tucker is eminently capable of doing that.
Starting point is 00:48:34 He did it to Ted Cruz quite thoroughly. But he decided for any number of reasons, and I try not to attribute motivations to people, that he was going to treat Fuentes with kid gloves, that he was going to not ask him about any of the things that I've just mentioned, literally any of them, and to essentially normalize Fuentes, act as a sort of gateway drug or as a,
Starting point is 00:48:56 what I've called Tucker, as an ideological launderer of bad ideas over the last couple of years. And this is not coming from a place of animus for Tucker on a personal level. I've known Tucker for a very long time. Tucker whenever we're in personal situations, we get along great. I think I saw that Tucker talked about how we were at Charlie's Memorial in the vice president's box together, and he's correct. I mean, we saw each other, we said hello, we talked, it was very friendly, and all of that.
Starting point is 00:49:19 And it's also true that a couple of days after Charlie's murder, he reached out and he called me, and he said, listen, I know that we're at odds, and we've been at odds. for a number of reasons, mainly political. I mean, again, on a personal level, I'd go fishing with Tucker any time. The real question is, for me, I got into this business because I care about the ideas and I care about the ideals. And so when you're determining, what is conservatism? What should the future of America look like?
Starting point is 00:49:44 And where do you draw the lines? Those are the questions that I need to answer in my job. For me, my business is really not about friendship. I have lots of friends, people who I love, with whom I disagree in politics and don't believe they should be leaders in the conservative movement, for example. And that to me is the real question. In any case, Tucker reached out. He said, you know, we've had a bunch of disagreements and, you know, what if we could put those aside and align toward the DSA in particular, is what he mentioned. And I said,
Starting point is 00:50:12 you know, Tucker, you're totally right. Let's do that. That would be great. In fact, the TSA? The DSA. The Democratic Socialist America. How did that bring you together? The Democratic Socialist America. And the reason I know. Yes. And the reason that I'm taking out my phone is because, yes, the reason I'm taking out my phone is because it's, I don't just, you know, I like to evidence what I'm saying with, you know, actual evidence. So I texted him. And the text exchange was very nice. I mean, here's what the actual text exchange went like after the call. So I texted him. And I said, thanks so much for calling. It means the world. It truly does. Should we do a show together talking about the DSA threat, Democratic Socialist of America threat, and orienting in the same direction? Happy to do whatever it takes. to bring everyone back together for the fight that matters. And Tucker then wrote back, Thanks, man, I appreciate it. I'm going to spend the next week or two
Starting point is 00:51:01 thinking about how to be most effective that the country is clearly on the brink. I reached out repeatedly after that, nothing happened. And again, I thought it was a good idea at the time. I think I felt differently after I saw what he did with Nick Fuentes and after he proceeded, in my opinion,
Starting point is 00:51:18 to spend these subsequent weeks doing literally nothing to fight the left. Again, I say this with sadness because Tucker used to be, I think, a deeply important part of the conservative push to win. The number of times that Tucker Carlson has mentioned, Zorn Mamdani, since October 5th, on his show is once. And it was in the context of Marjorie Taylor Green and Tucker Carlson talking about the appeal of Zorn Momsani. Just by way of contrast, not because I'm a perfect representative here, but because you've talked about Zorn Maldane a lot. A lot of us have. since October 5th, I did 17 separate shows on Zoroamandani,
Starting point is 00:51:53 including four in the last week before the election. Because when you're orienting against the left, you really should orient against the left. Okay, so there's a lot in there. I think, just to be clear, so the breakdown from the, like, detente after Charlie was him interviewing Fuentes? Like, was that the next thing that happened
Starting point is 00:52:17 that led to the blow up? I mean, yes. I mean, I had not spoken a word. So wasn't that he attacked you, like, you had something. No, I don't care about people attacking me. And I don't think Tucker cares about people attacking him. I mean, again, we're professionals. We're in a business where people comments on what we say publicly.
Starting point is 00:52:34 You know, again, this is why, you know, I think you and I differ on our angle with regard to, for example, Candace Owens. I think that what Candace Owens is doing right now is evil. It is evil what she is doing right now. Okay? And I say that, again. But what, like, I didn't know opine on whether. it's evil or not, but my position is it's really none of my business.
Starting point is 00:52:53 I have a question. Why is it none of your business? I mean, you comment on these things for a living. I'm not mother of the internet. No, but if this were on the left and somebody were accusing Charlie Kirk of his wife having murdered him, I assume that you would be talking about it. Is that what Candice is accusing Erica of? Yes.
Starting point is 00:53:10 Of murdering her own husband? She's accusing TPSA Insiders and other members of the right wing, including Seth Dillon, of being involved in the murder of Charlie Kirk, yes. Okay. Like I said, I don't take in that content, which is an honest statement. I don't have time to watch Congress. No, I believe you.
Starting point is 00:53:25 I believe you. But the point that I'm making is that when we're doing, that friendship should not, in our business, I think it's important. Listen, I'm, and Kenneth should not Trump. We don't even know each other. I understand, but even with Tucker, friendship should not Trump are manifest requirement to speak out when people do and say things that are both detrimental to conservatism and morally wrong. So I don't totally disagree, but I think the way of handling that, at least for me, is much
Starting point is 00:53:49 different. So I saw things go south between you and Tucker, at least from my vantage point, when you disagreed on Israel. That was obvious. And he was, well, let me just make my point. And so he was saying things that were critical of Israel and our policy towards Israel. And then you did one show where you did what I thought you should have done, if you disagreed with him, which clearly you did,
Starting point is 00:54:09 which is say what you believe and what you think is factual and, like, educate your audience on what you think are the real facts and give them the evidence for it. But you named him, and it felt like an attack. And that, to me, was the beginning of the end, where he was like, now it's on. Because he felt personally attacked by you, as opposed to just challenging his idea. I think you named him, and you kind of diminished him. And, you know, he's an 800-pound gorilla.
Starting point is 00:54:33 And if you mess with a gorilla, he's going to fight. And to me, that's where it started to go south. And because I remember that day being like, oh, shit. Like, I don't want to see this. But here's the thing. I would urge everybody to go back and listen to the show that you're referring to, where I criticize Tucker's ideas, not Tucker as a person. Tucker then responded by claiming that I do not love America, that is a direct quote,
Starting point is 00:54:53 that I do not love America because I was spending too much time covering the October 7th attacks, and then proceeded in January to then say that I wanted his children to die in a foreign war. Okay, so those are different. That's a rhetorical point. No, it's not. I'm sorry, it's not. An attack on motivation is a very different thing from an attack on an idea. His point was that you were sounding like a neocon,
Starting point is 00:55:13 and he's upset with anybody who wants us to get too involved in Israel's conflict, because he feels it endangers American children. Okay, the idea that, number one, the idea that I want the United States to be directly involved in Israel's conflict is not true. No, I know that, Ben. I've been urging Israel to get off of American aid for literally as long as I have been active in politics.
Starting point is 00:55:33 But I'm making clear what his point was. No, no, but my point is that that's not his point. And again, none of this blew into... So we disagree. Well, no, we disagree on the interpretation of what Tucker has been doing for the past two years. And it's very difficult for me to believe. that Tucker is merely anti-Israel when, for example, today, in his newsletter, I mean, I can directly quote it, if you'd like, in his newsletter today, he claimed that Zoran Mamdani is not
Starting point is 00:55:59 anti-Semitic. This was his newsletter today, this morning. I mean, I'm happy to read the text. It's a little extraordinary because, again, it is kind of shocking stuff. So here's what Tucker Carlson wrote in his newsletter today, or what his newsletter says under his name. He said, is the incoming mayor a fan of Israel? Does he want America to fight its wars? Not particularly, but a Jew hater. That's a different conversation. We've never seen anything to suggest he falls into that ugly camp.
Starting point is 00:56:26 If we're talking about fighting the left, defending Zarmam Dhani, who literally said that Khamas, he has no opinion whether Khamas should disarm, who posed alongside the 1993 World Trade Center unindicted co-conspirator, who would not have to sound globalized the intifada, who suggested that whenever there is in a New York Police Department boot on somebody's neck, it's an IDF lacing the strings,
Starting point is 00:56:45 to suggest that that's not anti-Semitic in any way? No way? Okay, but listen. I'm going to give you a defense of Tucker here, and I don't need to defend Tucker because I'm not Tucker. Tucker can perfectly well defend himself. But I'll just say, I think in general, because I know him, and I listen to him, and I understand generally where he's coming from,
Starting point is 00:57:00 he would say his problems are with Israel, and he would say that that shot that Mamdani laid against the IDF is a shot against the IDF, and Israel and how he thinks they're pro-war, not against Jews. And I think... All I can say is when... Tucker Carlson finds himself in complete alignment with Zoran Mamdani. It is very difficult for me to believe that he does not agree with Zorn Moundani.
Starting point is 00:57:21 I think Tucker is in a place right now of the same place that Charlie was getting to toward the end of his life, the same place that some people had tried to drive me, which is you're under withering, non-stop accusations of being something you know you're not. But from some people who you love and who you've been protecting, at least in my case in Charlie's case, for two years, who you've been completely defensive of. And Charlie and I both felt, because we talked about this on my show, like, what's happening here? Why are they dropping charges of anti-Semitism against us when we love Jews and we're both open semites? We're Zionists.
Starting point is 00:57:58 So, Megan, you may notice. I'm just talking about me here. Are there people who are over Zellishore? Have I ever attacked you? No, no, never. Did I ever attack Charlie publicly about any of this? No, no, no, no. Okay, he and I had disagreements behind the scenes.
Starting point is 00:58:09 You're like, you get defensive, and I think Tucker's feeling defensive. By the way, I waited to attack Tucker until he glossed Nick Fuentes, who is, that has nothing to do with Israel. Nick Fuentes hates Jews. I'm not saying you didn't have a right to go after him. I mean, I think you did, you know it was right, and you felt, and he mentioned you a few times in his interview with Nick Fuentes. He did, but again, I don't think it's about that. Because if he had not mentioned me in that interview with Nick Fuentes, I still would have said something about it. Because, again, glossing people who are white supremacist is bad electorally on a pragmatic level, a right wing that embraces its own fringes.
Starting point is 00:58:42 will end up in the same position as the left wing that has embraced the trenches. Okay, so that's why I want to get into it. He embraces. Yes. So now having spoken to Tucker, I actually see that interview very differently, and I did listen to the interview, and I knew what Nick Fuentes was, and I think he did show himself to be who he is. It wasn't his most vile stuff, but you got the feel for what this guy was.
Starting point is 00:59:01 But I really think Tucker was talking to him, Ben, to put like a bumper on this guy. Because what Tucker was urging him the whole time was to understand that collective punishment for any one group of people is wrong. It's deeply immoral, and it's anti-Christian, which this guy is supposed to be, and reminding him of how deeply immoral that is, that you should not be looking at a group of
Starting point is 00:59:24 people, whomever it is. The left does it to everyone, whites mostly, but like this collective shame, white men in particular, and there's a group of people like Nick Fuentes that does it to groups of Jews. And he was making the case throughout
Starting point is 00:59:39 the whole interview in the way that Tucker does. not like you or me. He's not like pointed and cross-examining. That is not true. And was making- That is fundamentally untrue. No, no, no. Senator Ted Cruz, whether that is true. He gave it to Ted Cruz because Ted Cruz is a politician. That's, oh, hold that. Hold on, hold on. So only politicians get cross-examined?
Starting point is 00:59:56 You don't, well, look, it depends on the person. Tucker, Tucker would never cross-examine a person who is not a politician. That's his rule? Tucker has excoriated public figures who purport to speak for us and represent us for many years. Nick Fuentes is a podcaster, civilian.
Starting point is 01:00:12 Okay, I just have a question. We all in our industry are constantly excoriating people who are in our industry. It happens all the time, every single day. Okay. Again, we're talking about his interviews. Again, we can agree to disagree on your interpretation of what Tucker was doing there. I think everybody should watch and determine for themselves what they think Tucker was doing in that interview. And I urge you to watch it back to back with the Ted Cruz interview to determine whether you think that that was an aggressive Tucker Carlson interview.
Starting point is 01:00:39 And you can judge yourself. I didn't say it was aggressive. I didn't say it was aggressive, and I don't think he would say it was aggressive. And I think his point was this guy, first of all, he's become a behemoth, sadly. He's got 5 million viewers on Rumble. He's got a million followers on X. I agree. This is all before Tucker Carlson.
Starting point is 01:00:54 And he was platformed, I hate that verb, but he was platformed by Patrick Bet David. And he went on Dave Smith show, and he went on another big show. He's been getting more and more purchase in the political ecosphere, including right wing. And I think that's bad. Patrick Beck David has a huge show. I know, but did you know that Patrick Bet David had him on? Did his life blow up? Patrick Beck David did a significantly more aggressive interview with Nick Fuentes than Tucker did.
Starting point is 01:01:16 Okay, but my point is simply he's growing. He's growing in stature. And so what I saw Tucker do was not whitewash his ideas, but try to put bumpers up on the guy. I know Tucker well, and I think that was his approach. And the way, if you want to put a bumper up on Nick Fuentes, is it helpful to say, you're fucking vile, you're an anti-Semite? Yes. No, it isn't. That doesn't put a, yes, it is.
Starting point is 01:01:38 No, it isn't. That makes the audience feel good because you have hands. hand-to-hand combat, but it doesn't help change that guy's view or his extremeness at all. Okay, I'll tell you what doesn't change Nick Fuentes' view. Tucker Carlson, with his arm around, Nick Flentes, grinning for the camera while Nick Fuentes tweets out America first and then triumphantly goes on the air of the next day to explain that he has essentially used Tucker Carlson as a vehicle for manipulating other people. Okay, that's what Nick Fuentes is saying. Not me. Nick Fuentes. Okay, and Nick Fuentes, and
Starting point is 01:02:09 And, by the way, I will, again, say that Tucker Carlson, when you say to somebody in an interview, do you condemn anti-Semitism? And then the person says, sure, which is what Nick Fuentes said. He said, I'm not an anti-Semit, which is blatantly untrue. A responsible journalist would then follow up demonstrating that that is false. Tucker did not do that. He allowed him to get away with that. And then he allowed him to talk about, quote-unquote, organized a jury, followed by Nick Flentes, being treated to a disquisition by Tucker Carlson about why Christian Zionists of all human beings, on earth are the people that he hates the most.
Starting point is 01:02:41 He took that back. You can't take that back. You can't, too. How do you take that back? How? Then he went, he spoke. Then he should explain why it was wrong. He should explain how Christian Zionists are actually wonderful people. Tucker is very quick to self-flagellate, and he went on with Dave Smith the next day, the next week, whatever, Monday, Tuesday this week, and said, that was stupid.
Starting point is 01:03:01 I didn't mean that. He said, I'm angry at people like Lindsey Graham. I'm angry at people like Ted Cruz because he thinks they run head first in these conflicts, and they don't think about it. what's going to happen to American kids. If we're talking about firing inside the tent, what everything, Lindsey Graham, okay, and I'm not a huge Lindsey Graham fan. He votes with the President of the United States 100% of the time,
Starting point is 01:03:18 and Tucker spent yesterday's show excoriating him as a psychosexual death worshiper. Does that sound like firing outside the tent? Again, these are the questions... I'm not offended. Again, the questions that I'm asking here, I'm not asking you to do anything, Megan? No, I know.
Starting point is 01:03:32 Okay, I'm not. Our beep is not with each other. I'm not, okay? When I draw a line with regard to what I believe Tucker Carlson is doing to the, conservative movement and what he is fomenting. That is because that is my influence. And everyone can make their own decision as to whether they think that I am right or whether I'm wrong and where they choose to draw the line with regard to the conservative movement. The question for me is always
Starting point is 01:03:51 whether somebody's statements are forwarding moral values that I think are worthwhile. I did not get into this business for the money or for the clicks. You didn't either. Neither did he. What was that? Neither did he. I mean, he may not have. That's fine. I certainly did not. I'm only going to speak for myself. And what that means for me is that if I see somebody breach basic moral values by having on a Nazi, and in my own view, you can take your own view, in my own view, gloss the Nazi, then I'm going to speak out about that. And I'm going to point out that there is a long pattern of him ideologically laundering terrible ideas over the course of the last two years, ranging from traveling to Russia to sniff the bread and explain why the Russian regime is actually wonderful,
Starting point is 01:04:32 Two, saying last week that the Venezuelan regime of Nicholas Maduro is actually not that bad because they're being attacked by, in his words, Globo-Homo. Tucker's made the point,
Starting point is 01:04:45 I'm not going to hear to be Tucker's defender, but he's made the point that Maduro is culturally conservative. Who gives us shit? The guy's a communist dictator. Everyone in his country is eating dog. He's shipping fentanyl to the United States to kill Americans.
Starting point is 01:04:58 Why don't we give a shit whether he's, whether he's anti-LGB. right. This is the number one thing about Nicholas Maduro. You know how far down the list you have to get before you can get to anything remotely recommendable about Nicholas Maduro? I did ask him yesterday about the criticism that he didn't give Nick Fuentes a hard time, right? He didn't bring up the stuff that we were talking about. No, he didn't. And here's what he said. It seemed to think that we've way overstated the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust. He's
Starting point is 01:05:30 ripped on poor Ushavance in the... most offensive terms, which I mean, so what do you say to those people say, why don't you raise any of that? You know, do your own interview the way that you want to do it. You're not my editor. Buzz off. I mean, I don't know. You want to go yell at Nick Fuentes? I'll give you a cell. Call him. And go sit and yell at him and feel virtuous or whatever. That's up to you. I agree with him. I agree with him. I agree with him. He did the interview that he wanted to do for a reason. well who has it worse the katie porter staff or the megan markel staff
Starting point is 01:06:06 yeah who'd you who'd you rather work for katie right or megan because at least you could like spy on them and see their weird little life do we have to do we have to we definitely have to there's only one megan i can actually still be civil to and it's the one sitting to my left uh the other one she's getting back into acting peers i'm sure you saw that she's shooting a movie now. She's playing herself in a movie.
Starting point is 01:06:33 Yeah, she's, which is, I guess, acting. Yeah, look. I'm actually genuinely curious. Are there any fans of Megamarkle in tonight? No. Oh, hang on.
Starting point is 01:06:46 There is a one that lone hand has raised up here. Actually, that's one, but that is one more than I expected, I have to be honest. Do you think she's going to make it in the acting world? I mean, remember, I used to do a show
Starting point is 01:07:00 called Good Morning Britain in Britain. And I love that show. That was a great show. And in five years, we trebled the ratings. It was on fire. Everyone loved it. And then came the Oprah Winfrey winathon, as I call it. You and I were on together the morning after that. Remember that? I had no show. I was sitting in my living room. We took that thing down. Well, because there were certain things she said in that, and Halfway Harry, her husband. And one of the things they said was that the Archbishop of Canterbury, had secretly married them in their back garden three days before the wedding on TV. So we did a quick check, because I thought, that can't be right.
Starting point is 01:07:38 We did a quick check. It turns out that had the Archbishop of Canterbury secretly married them in their garden, he would have broken the law and been sent to prison. So I thought, yeah, old Princess Pinocchio is off on a good one here. And then the rest of it was all the racism claims turned out to be bullshit. The mental health claims were bull. All of it was bullshit. designed to damage and attack
Starting point is 01:08:02 the royal family, the monarchy and all of it, and it made me puke. Let's not forget the Oprah performance. What? What? They did, what, these people? What? How dark your baby was going to be?
Starting point is 01:08:17 It was ridiculous. And you know who they were talking about, by the way, because they accidentally put the names of the alleged racist in a, I think it was a Danish copy of the book by Omid Scobie, this little rat bag who writes books supporting him. And the two members of the royal family who apparently expressed concern about the skin colour of their unborn child were King Charles, Prince Charles at the time,
Starting point is 01:08:45 and Catherine, William's wife. Now, how likely do you think it is that either of those two people expressed negative concern about the skin colour of an unborn child? absolutely big fat zero and yet that was what they told the world in that interview that's why I thought it was so disgusting and all right in the end I was told but 57,000 people complained to the television regulators at offcom in the UK a world record I'm proud to say complained about me for not believing Princess Pinocchio so I was then told by my bosses look I'm By the way, rule one here, never apologize, never clarify, never do anything.
Starting point is 01:09:32 I can verify that. But it doesn't work. We know this. So we did a clarification of the next day, and it made no difference. The complaints kept coming in. And eventually my boss has said, can you just apologize to Megamarkle, or you're going to have to maybe lose your job? I went, I'll take the job option, thanks, I'll leave. And I walked off into the sunset.
Starting point is 01:09:51 Right. Because two things about the woke mob. and she's the high priestess of wokeery and her husband's the high high priest half wit of wokeery. And the truth about it is never bow to the mob, never grovel, never apologize, never give them an inch.
Starting point is 01:10:09 And when you have something that's a point of principle, stand up for yourself and walk the fuck out. Yes, yes. Amen, preach. I know you've lived it, I've watched it. She's a bully and her acting career, whatever she's trying to do is going to fail, just like everything else she touched fails.
Starting point is 01:10:26 I thought, didn't you think the, Dodgers video clip from the from their living room with her waltzing around like yes like a hyena literally like a hyena with a spear in its back wasn't it and Harry's face
Starting point is 01:10:42 the half-wit sat there like he was doped out of his brains which he probably was and the whole thing was so cringe wasn't it? It was awful terrible I really want there to be a season three though of with love Megan don't you want to see another do you want to see another Maureen Callahan parody we got
Starting point is 01:10:57 to do it. We did a little parody of it. Ours was fuck off, Megan. And I think I can channel her better than she can channel her. I think I'm a much more likable version of her. As I said in the parody, as she's encouraging people to drink more, people tend to like me better when they're intoxicated. And I think that's really been her experience. So I don't think the acting career is going to do it.
Starting point is 01:11:18 But the name of the movie is close personal friends. And I thought, how ironic peers, because she has none of those. None. Right? I mean, like, you see the parade of people who go through her little TV show, and it's all like, oh, this is the person to my closest and dearest friends, and they're sitting there, and she's like,
Starting point is 01:11:36 oh, do you have children? That's your best friend. What was your name again? It's amazing. You mentioned British television, how poorly you were treated, and it was disgusting, and, like, the UK's even woker than we are, and
Starting point is 01:11:52 they're very annoying, and they're way more Muslim than we are, radical Muslim, way more pro, immigrant. It's bad. It's bad. You guys are a canary in the coal mine in a lot of ways for us. But we saw something happen on the BBC this week that made national headlines, and it was absurd. So this woman, this presenter, as you say, was doing a report about various groups who might be affected by some medical policy, and the list included, should have included, pregnant women, but instead this happened. We have the soundbite. Let's watch it. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has released research, which says that nearly 600 heat-related deaths are expected in the UK.
Starting point is 01:12:38 Malcolm Mystery, who is involved in the research, says that the aged, pregnant people, women, and those with pre-existing health conditions need to take precautions. Would you believe for that they're trying to give her the Piers Morgan treatment. They just upheld 20 complaints against it. Imagine who those 20 people are. Just imagine stuck in their dungeon at home, right, and their joyless, woke dungeon, and decided to complain about a woman presenter being forced to read the words pregnant people. Well, how many times have you seen a pregnant man? In your life, how many times do you think you'll see a pregnant man
Starting point is 01:13:25 in the rest of your life. Here's a spoiler alert. You won't. There aren't any pregnant men. It is bullshit. It's so mad. You know the irony, Megan, the irony, I tell that story in my book,
Starting point is 01:13:41 Woke is Dead, about that incident, and I say, wasn't it great that the BBC didn't bow to the mob and actually didn't take any action against her? As my book is published in America now, they come back and they punish her. I mean, you literally couldn't make it up. Yes, no. I mean, is she going to lose her job over this?
Starting point is 01:14:01 I don't think so, but it's just, I wish every female presenter at the BBC stood up and walked out until they withdrew the ruling against it. Yeah. Because no woman should have to be made to read out the words, pregnant people. And what she got... It's actually about the, it's about the complete disintegration of gendered language that benefits women. You know, we talked about... Truth. It's about the disintegration of truth. My mother became birthing people. I mean, what does it mean?
Starting point is 01:14:28 Nothing. Right? Nor is chest feeding a thing. That's also a lie. Chest feeding. Chest feeding. What the fuck is that? It's also known as child abuse. This poor woman, her sin in that video was not just that she corrected the term pregnant people, but then they said she made a face. she made a face that expressed personal opinion meanwhile the people are all over the BBC expressing opinions especially on race
Starting point is 01:15:00 like when they watch sporting events and so on that they there's never any discipline it's only on something it's a really bad misstep by the BBC I actually like the BBC a lot of great stuff but honestly they've grown very woke and this is an example of why although I say woke is dead it's an aspiration
Starting point is 01:15:17 it still pokes his head up and you've got Rebelly. The reason I think is dead, the story recently of Graham Linehan, the comedian. He came on a show. Pretty fearless guy. He winds people up with the way he says stuff. Fair enough. He can be very abrasive. But he's fought a pretty lonely battle
Starting point is 01:15:33 on behalf of women's rights against the trans activists, and his costume everything. Cost him his marriage, his home, his job, his livelihood. He was a great father, Tate, one of the great comedies. And, yeah, we should give him a round of applause, actually. Yeah, go Graham.
Starting point is 01:15:48 And, you know, not all heroes wear cakes, right? They can come in all guises, and he's an unlikely hero. But he became one for me because the other day, he comes into Heathrow Airport. And it's the first time he's been back to the UK since he put two jokes on X, on his X account, in April. And one joke was, to summarize it, was a bit of a lame gag, but, you know, is it really that terrible? He talked about a trans, a woman coming into a woman. changing room and he said what the best thing to do is kick them in the balls now look some will find that funny some will think it's a bit over the top all right you know if you
Starting point is 01:16:31 go to any comedy club in the world you'll hear jokes like that every 10 seconds that was the joke it sat there on his ex-account people either laughed or didn't laugh as we've done tonight but when he came into Heathrobe three four weeks ago five armed police officers were waiting to arrest him and take him to the cells for his joke. Five-armed police. And in that moment, I realized my country, which was, you know,
Starting point is 01:16:57 Winston Churchill fought World War II with the help of the Americans before you will remind me. And thank you. Thank you. We're pretty proud of that. Thank you. No, genuinely thank you.
Starting point is 01:17:09 It was a great team effort. We repelled them together. It was great. But, you know, that war was fought to save us from the Nazis. Who would have killed free speech in a second? What are we doing in the United Kingdom? And several hundred people have been arrested for tweets and social media posts in the last couple of years.
Starting point is 01:17:26 It is completely ridiculous. You cannot have a free democratic society if you don't aggressively defend freedom of speech and freedom of expression. It is the cornerstone of a democracy. It's, I mean, obviously we love our First Amendment, and I know you and many other Brits are jealous of it. I mean, the First Amendment is being eroded day by day even here, but at least we have it. It's a very important principle of how we live the way we do.
Starting point is 01:17:53 I think the woke mind virus is uniquely tied to a deep unhappiness. You know, you never meet a super happy woke person. They're joyless. Right, utterly joyless. And that brings me... They never laugh at any jokes. Have you noticed?
Starting point is 01:18:05 Yeah, that's true. Nothing is ever funny. No book is ever a good read. They're all toxic. Every movie is toxic. Everything, clothing you wear at Halloween is toxic. And they are toxic. They are, they themselves.
Starting point is 01:18:18 are the toxic ones. They become toxic. So they're always deeply unhappy, which brings me, of course, to Michelle Obama. Again, to quote Stephen L. Miller, read Stee's on X, I regret to inform you, we've disappointed the Obama's again. She's been out there promoting her new fashion book. I know all you ladies look up to Michelle Obama as a fashion icon, do you not? Anna Wintour told us she is. Hello? On the cover of Vogue, four times. Melania Trump, zero. Not as First Lady, anyway,
Starting point is 01:18:54 when she was an actual supermodel and Mary Trump, they gave her one. In any event, so Michelle Obama's been doing a book tour to promote her fashion book. And the latest, she's been making all sorts of news for the wrong reasons. And the latest bit that she offered was how tough it was to be First Lady because of the hair, makeup, and wardrobe team
Starting point is 01:19:16 she had to deal with. Here's just a little sampling of what she's been saying. The job of First Lady is an interesting job, non-job. You know, it doesn't come with a real salary or job description. No one technically elected the first spouse, I'll say. All we've only had First Ladies. You're supposed to be aspirational, but representational, reachable. approachable. You're supposed to be feminine, but not too sexy. Baroque wears the same suit,
Starting point is 01:19:55 changes his tie, buttons up, you know, his decision or a man's decision is, do I go with a striped shirt or a plain white shirt? Do I go with a red tie or blue tie? If the day is long, and there are a lot of events, which was always a challenge for me with Barack, if we'd go from Air Force One to a hike to, you know, a fundraiser. What, what do I wear? Hold on. Stand by. There's another one. SOT three. Stand by. I was accused of being angry. It was shocking to me.
Starting point is 01:20:36 Well, I didn't really have that choices, firstly. Of course, right? Every day, every time I was up, as we called it. You know, I was up for the public, and the days were long. So, as you mentioned, to save time, you know, I know having a glam team, a trifecta, it feels like a luxury, but it was a time necessity. There's absolutely no way that I would be able to do my hair and makeup and have clothes ready that fit, you know, because rare is the woman that can live. off the rack. Right? No one can live off the rack.
Starting point is 01:21:20 I'm sorry, but you have to subject yourself to the burdens of hair, makeup and wardrobe team. By the way, how rich have they become since they left office? I mean, this is the deal, right? They serve their country on a not insignificant sum of money. I think it's about $400,000
Starting point is 01:21:36 a year to present a guest, and they live in unparalleled luxury the entire time they're in office, and when they leave, they make hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. Has anyone got a tiny violin for me? I can start playing here. Ridiculous! Not for nothing, but did you see that hideous outfit she was wearing? I'm sorry. That's what having too much money does for you. I've just never met somebody so ungrateful in all my life, and what did she start
Starting point is 01:22:03 off with? People said I was hateful, because you are. She can't stand America. She definitely can't stand Barack, and I don't think she likes herself very much either. So she's been doing this nonstop to her. And I just think there's a strain. She's woke. He's woke. There's a strain in the woke that leads you to be absolutely miserable, which is why they too should be praying for woke to die. And it's why I know this audience is not woke, because you seem so happy. Yes. Look it. I mean, look. Totally joyful. Genuinely happy people. Or it may, it may be, having come from England recently where it was pouring with rain and freezing cold, as it is for about eight months of a year. It may just be because of the weather.
Starting point is 01:22:43 Yeah, go Miami. The Florida weather. Enjoy it while you're here. I will. Thank you, Pierce Morgan. I love you so much. Grand Canyon University, an affordable, private Christian university based in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona is one of the largest universities in the country. Praised for its culture of community and impact, GCU integrates the free market system, a welcoming Christian worldview, and free and open discourse into more than 360 academic programs, including more than 300 online.
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Starting point is 01:25:18 and it is where you will hear the truth, unfiltered with no agenda and no apologies. Along with the Megan Kelly show, you're going to hear from people like Mark Halperin, Link Lauren, Morin Callahan, Emily Jashinsky, Jesse Kelly, real clear politics, and many more. It's bold, no BS news, only on the Megan Kelly channel, SiriusXM 11, and on the SiriusXM app.
Starting point is 01:25:43 Kim Kardashian is in the news. Forgive me. I try not to never say her name, but she's in the news because she came out on her the show with an admission that she has a brain aneurysm. And it's a sympathy ploy. Like, oh, my God, I have a brain aneurysm. You know, something's going to happen to me.
Starting point is 01:26:02 I'm so worried. Well, it turns out they taped this episode long before it actually hit air. And from the time, she tried to get everybody worked up on her new victimhood status because we know, this is such a currency. She showed up in New York City for the launch of her Skim's partnership with Nike. She went to that fashion show overseas where she had panty hose all over her face. She's been on virtually every red carpet known to man. She's been doing talk shows. She's been doing comedy shows. There's really no stopping her from her public appearances. And as it
Starting point is 01:26:34 turns out, the brain aneurysm is like some teeny tiny little vein thing that virtually everybody has. And it's really not a big deal. It just needs to be monitored from time to time. She just played it up because she, like so many of these celebrities, wants to lean into victimhood status. Your thoughts on whether we should be moved by Kim's story. I always had a brain aneurism watching when she was selling the Merkins last week. When she was selling those fake bush panties, I'm like, I'm too gay for this. With the fur? Yeah, with the fur. I will say she did have like a red curly one for a little orphan Annie. I thought that was generous. She had a red one for Lindsay Lohan. I thought that was nice. But yeah, no, Kim Kardashian. I mean, I have to say, having grown up
Starting point is 01:27:11 in the 70s, I don't remember it ever going that far. I said, Bush is back in office, honey, with that. Anheiser Bush, Jenna Bush, Hager. Okay, there's a lot of Bush going on. So, no, I don't give a shit about Kim Kardashian. I think, honestly, Kim Kardashian, you guys, she has built a career and made billions of dollars off of giving women body dysmorphia.
Starting point is 01:27:36 When Kim came into the game, everybody had to get a big ass. So girls went out there and they put themselves in harmful situations to get big ass They went to foreign countries. They got injections. Now while the Kardashians are on Ozympic, what are those girls supposed to do from around the way who went and got big asses? Yes.
Starting point is 01:27:51 So, yeah, they've just built this career off of giving women body dysmorphia and then with the fake bush panties. So you spend millions of dollars on laser hair removal to just drop a Merkin? That's a scam right there. That's a scam. And a scandal, really.
Starting point is 01:28:08 It's true. Now she's got sheets over her head like freaking Islam or something. I don't know what. going on with her. Oh, it's all the rage in New York City. Let's talk about Michelle Obama. Michelle Obama just, I know you're all watching her podcast. You're the ones. Michelle Obama wants you to feel very sorry for her because it's very hard being Michelle Obama. Everybody wants a piece of Michelle. It's very hard to be so famous. Michael. Big Mike. That's what they're saying.
Starting point is 01:28:43 I will say she might have more testosterone than me, that bitch, honestly. Honestly, she might be packing more than me, that whore. Okay, so she's upset because it's hard to be so famous. And she's upset because it was very expensive to live in the White House. They had to pay for their own food. Who has to pay for their own food? What kind of world is this? And just as soon as you start working up your sympathy glands,
Starting point is 01:29:13 for Michelle Obama, you see her just recently out on Steven Spielberg's yacht, cruising around the Mediterranean, while she literally wants you to feel sorry for her. So do you? No, do I feel sorry for Michelle Obama? Hell no. I have this place where I send women I call the unbearables, the inseferables. I send them in my mind to a place called Bitch Island. Okay, I want to send Michelle Obama to Bitch Island, Megan Markle, Kathy Griffin. That's where I send them in my mind.
Starting point is 01:29:44 The Women of the View, they could host the show on Bitch Island. But Michelle Obama, right, she comes from humble beginnings. And it's always the people who say they came from humble beginnings that forget so quickly. Like she says she grew up on the south side of Chicago. She's around the way girl. She's Michelle from the block. She's Michelle from the block. But then she's like, can you believe I had to pay for my own caviar in the White House?
Starting point is 01:30:08 And I'm like, what? People are starving. We have an invasion at the border. I can't even take her seriously, Michelle Obama, but it's always this victim card. And I think on the left, these Democratic elites have realized playing the victim card is profitable.
Starting point is 01:30:21 It gets you views. It gets people tuning in. But we're just all tired of it. We're so tired of it. Is Katie Porter on Bitch Island? No, I am Katie Porter's number one fan. Now, I need her to do more interviews with the Helga October Fest haircut.
Starting point is 01:30:38 I need Katie Porter. Look, I'm not in a position to a person. pine on hair, I get it. But listen, Katie Porter, that woman, she looks like those women in the circus who could, like, lift 500 pounds, Katie Porter? He's not wrong. Right. So I need Katie Porter out there more. I'm really into her. Like, the more interviews, the better with Katie Porter, right? One hundred percent. Keep her talking like Kamala Harris. Keep her on the road every time she opens her mouth. It's a gift. It's a gift to us. She might. We have news about that. We'll talk about it in a minute with Mark Halperin on Kamala Harris standby. So yeah, I love Katie
Starting point is 01:31:10 Porter because I, like, the funny thing for me in watching all those clips is I understood her anger. Like when the staffer got in the back of the shot, you know, I was like, get out of the fucking shot. The person was in the shot. I would have been like, get, Abby, get out of there. But I, but I would have said it lovingly, you know, harshly, but lovingly, there's a way. You shouldn't swear at your employees is a bad habit. On camera. Yeah. But now the ex-husband's coming out on camera. That's always bad. The ex-husband's now coming out saying, she's a mastermind. manipulator. And now I'm like, all right, well, this is getting a little really interesting, but also untoward, because should we really be taking the ex-husband's word? I do, but should we
Starting point is 01:31:48 be? Oh, God, I don't have any ex-husbands in the audience tonight, do I? No, I don't know if we should take his word. I heard that she poured a scalding cauldron of potatoes on his head, and that's when I knew I loved her. When I poured a scalding, scalding cauldron of potatoes on her husband's head, I said, oh, this woman's interesting. Allegedly. Allegedly. Kamala Harris, I hear you've been enjoying her book tour. Is it just me, or is Kamala Harris' book tour going longer than the campaign? Like, it's going longer, and longer, and longer. And I have these nicknames for Kamala.
Starting point is 01:32:22 I call her Cabernet Kamala. I call her Kamalamedy. I think the sequel, yeah, I think the sequel to 107 days should be 12 steps, maybe. I think Bill W. could be the co-author, and if that, Did you call your sponsor? You can do the forward? Yeah, you can do the forward. But yeah, no, Kamala Harris, I hope this book tour continues.
Starting point is 01:32:44 I want her to run. And what's interesting, in this book, Kamala Harris talks about choosing her running mate. And she says, I did not choose Pete Buttigieg because he was gay. And I thought, okay, you don't choose Pete Buttigieg because he's gay. But then you choose Tim Walls, the gayest man in captivity. Okay? Tim Walls, Tim Walls, Mr. Jazz Hands. He walks into every room like Bob Fossi, okay?
Starting point is 01:33:09 Sorry to get heated. But Tim Walls, this man with a questionable internet search history. Okay, I was speaking to a room of gays last week. I was speaking to a room of gay Republicans. Ruma gays. Yeah. I said, who do you think has slept with more men? Everyone in this room combined or Tim Wals.
Starting point is 01:33:26 Okay, there is something going on there. And they said, we chose Tim Wals because he's the pinnacle of masculinity. I said, no, Michelle Obama is in your party. Not Tim Walls. He could use a few more testosterone. I mean, really, like, the thing with a camo hat was too much. When he couldn't load the gun, I mean, you people down in Texas must have been horrified. We were down in Texas, Doug and I about a couple years ago with a bunch of friends,
Starting point is 01:33:52 and we were going to go motorbike riding, like a dirt bike riding in the woods. It was like midnight, and it was dark, going up to the woods. They were like 15 of us on these motorbikes, and it was summer. So everybody had on shorts and his t-shirt, and our host looked around and he says, Is anybody carrying? I'm like, carrying, we're wearing, like, tiny shirts and shirt. Literally every man was like, I am, I am, I am. Like, I'm in Texas.
Starting point is 01:34:14 I'm not in New York anymore. Yeah, I think some of my... I never felt so safe in my life. If anyone tries to F with us tonight, we got some Texas Patriots in the audience. I think we're good. I think we're good. God bless, Texas, don't mess with it. Although they are trying to mess with it.
Starting point is 01:34:33 What's with Austin? Oh. Yeah. Yeah. I don't get it. I see my MAGA ladies on the front row right here. I got my Trump ladies. Now, who did you vote for in the Trump hat? I love it. I mean, we did get Jasmine Crockett. Oh, y'all heard of this woman, Jasmine Crockett? Okay. Jasmine Crockett, to me, is just appealing to the lowest common denominator at this point.
Starting point is 01:35:01 I mean, she's become one of the most uncouth and articulate. women in politics, and it's all a caricature. It's all a facade with Jasmine Crockett. When you look up her background, right, she grew up in St. Louis. She went to private school. She says she passed the bar exam. I don't know if she was sitting at a bar, or if she actually passed the bar exam. We'd like to see proof. Yeah. She says she's an attorney, Jasmine Crockett. You pull up these old videos of her. She's talking like Eliza Doolittle or Queen Elizabeth. She's like, how do you do? Would you like crumpets and scones? You look up Jasmine Crockett now. She's like, this motho Crocka, lacca, boca, picka, picka, what the hell happened to Jasmine Crockett?
Starting point is 01:35:39 This is identity theft, okay? Identity theft. But the Democrats, okay, this is why I can't stand the Democrats. We got some characters on the right. We love Trump. We've got big personalities. But the Democrats are a bunch of overgrown theater kids. They don't want to work.
Starting point is 01:35:53 They want to twerk and post dancing videos and sing. And the Democrats in D.C., okay, they're always breaking into song on the Capitol steps. They're running and dancing. They remind me of that show, Glee. Remember that show glee where they're running and singing and dancing and there's no plot? That is the Democrat Party today. The Rapid Response Choir. Nothing terrifies Trump more than the rapid response choir.
Starting point is 01:36:15 No, and you've got all these beta males like Chuck Schumer and Hakeemeteries and Corey Booker. It's just beta mail, beta mail, beta mail. Speaking of Cory Booker, what did the gays say about Cory Booker? Well, my lawyer has told me not to opine on that tonight. He was knocking on my dressing room doors. Remember those engagement photos that hit of him and his fiancée? We're joyful. We're definitely really in love.
Starting point is 01:36:43 I was going to say they look like Michelle and Baroque's engagement photos, so maybe it's true love. Unclear. All right, so I did read in my, you know, avid following of Spot On, that you are really happy for George Clooney, who has found Italy just too tough an environment in which to raise his children, at Lake Como is really unfortunate, I guess, and now has moved to France because he wants his kids to grow up in a place that's not obsessed with celebrity culture. Absolutely, Megan. And I know
Starting point is 01:37:15 this will resonate with a lot of folks in the audience tonight. People in Texas, Arizona, Florida, they talk about this all the time. These liberals in states like California, they vote for every Democratic candidate. They shill for Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris. The second those policies come home to roost and they've got homelessness and crime running amok on the streets, they're flee. They move to red states and then they bring their policies to the red states. You're fleeing these blue states to come to red states and you're bringing the same policies. We've had it. Okay, we've had it. Yeah. And that's with George Clooney as well. Completely agree. He's such a charlatan. He's dying to be a journalist. He's not a journalist.
Starting point is 01:37:51 He's got a lot of thoughts about journalism. He of the left. He wants to be hailed as a hero because he wrote that one op-ed telling Joe Biden to drop out after the debate when we all knew he was totally infirm. He's like, aha, I have a big reveal for you. We're like, we already saw the end of his movie. No, Megan, these Democrats got kudos and bona fides for saying, you know, Joe Biden might be in decline. And this is like fall of 2024. The Mars rover could see that Joe Biden was in decline, okay? Like, these Democrats are writing op-its. Y'all are so brave. Oh, you're just so brave calling out Joe Biden. I'm like, the guy is non-compos menace. He's walking off into bushes. We can see with our own eyes what's happening. Yes, we did not need George Clooney's op-ed.
Starting point is 01:38:30 Now, the one person, I think it would be the worst. I mean, like, I would work for Katie Porter before I'd work for this person. Has to be Megan Markle. She literally just lost her 10th head of publicity in, I think it's three years since she opened her little, as ever, business or whatever she's calling it these days. She cannot keep a staff. All of the people writing bios on her talk about what a nightmare she is, how nasty she is. She's smart enough not to get caught on camera.
Starting point is 01:39:01 Get out of there, you fucking bitch! she's smart enough not to do that like Katie Porter but she's apparently even meaner than her because she cannot keep anyone in her employ and she continues to try to mislead us into believing she's got this Netflix series deal even though season two was a fake it was just an extension of season one
Starting point is 01:39:19 that she tried to spin as a second season and now she's trying to spin what's been changed into like and we want a third season into we'll take a first look as though that's like a victory like a promotion no first look is like you can tell them that we made you a first look deal. No, Megan Markle, these two little hucksters over in Montecito,
Starting point is 01:39:38 I cannot stand them, okay? I call her the Duchess of Scam a lot, the Duchess of White Castle, and my thing with Megan Markle is this. She is still dining out on her Royal Highness title. She's been gone six years. You know what I'm saying? She's still dining out to sell her jams, jellies, and dog biscuits, and whatever other crap she's selling.
Starting point is 01:39:57 But my thing with Megan Markle is this. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. There are so many of us who were excited. This American girl is going to marry this ginger prince, the most eligible bachelor on earth. She goes in there. She can't stand it, but more than six months. They abscond to the U.S., and in the Queen's final dying days, what does she do? She goes and accuses them all of racism.
Starting point is 01:40:17 She shanks them. She stabs them in the back, and they welcomed her with open arms. So I will never respect Megan Markle for that. That's not how you treat people who welcomed you with open arms. It gave you a life and a career. Come on. She's not a good person. How long do we give that marriage?
Starting point is 01:40:32 Oh, God, maybe 45 more minutes. We'll check after the show. It's not going to be long. All right, so tell us a little bit about you, Link, because your political rise has been rapid and really impressive. And it was because the RFKJ campaign found you, right? It was your own talents that got you noticed. Well, thank you.
Starting point is 01:40:49 And can I just say, I'm on stage with Megan Kelly right now. This is really cool. That's sweet. I was on her show the first time one year ago this month. Okay, and they passed on me. Megan might not even know this. I had people reaching out, hey, you guys should have link.
Starting point is 01:41:05 I would send cold emails. I said, if we can meet, we will hit it off. So be tenacious people out there. Because now I'm on the tour. I did not know that. So I know that, obviously, you were Miss Arizona. Hello? Nicely done.
Starting point is 01:41:21 That's a very, very top selection. And that you were a businesswoman in New York when you first got interested in Turning Point. So what were you doing in New York? So to go back a little bit further, I mean, right now, first and foremost, I'm a daughter to the king, the most high. That's the most important title, if you will. And my husband, in August, before all this happened, he had a event where he had some donors
Starting point is 01:41:58 at. And one of the first questions they asked was, God forbid, if something happens to you, like, what would happen next to turning point? And Charlie made a really interesting point. He said, companies, you know, example, Apple, Macintosh. He said, their founder led. He said, but what I have built is, well, one day, if I'm not around, be vision-led. And he had made mention at the end, like, you know, Erica will do a great job running it. And when I watched that video this week, it really put into perspective my youth. And what I went through growing up and what I witnessed, you know, my mom having her own company and being a single mother and watching.
Starting point is 01:42:57 her be the blueprint of, you know, I'm not afraid of raising my children alone because I saw my mom do that. I'm not afraid of being a CEO because I saw my mom do that. The only thing that I fear to be fully transparent with you is being out of the alignment of God's will because I feel like that is a very dangerous position to be in. And so for me, growing up, um, When I was in New York, it was one of those moments where I really trusted God. That's where I needed to be. I prayed on it at first because originally I was living in L.A. And I said, Lord, if this is where you need me to be, make it so clear.
Starting point is 01:43:41 I bought a one-way ticket to New York. One suitcase, my mom was like, what are you going to do when you're there? I was like, I'll figure it out once I get there. I just know that's where the Lord needs me. And so many people question that. They said, you're such a strong Christian. Why would you go to such a dark city? And I said, the more that you take the light out of a dark place, the darker it gets.
Starting point is 01:44:01 So that's where I'm going. And I was there. Yeah, but when I moved to New York, my brother said, why would you want to move to New York? And I said, it's the big city of dreams. And he said, scary, nasty, wake up in the middle of the night screaming dreams. So I get it. Right. So you were working in New York for a while.
Starting point is 01:44:21 And then you went back to Arizona to apply for the turning point job? So, I was in New York, I was a casting director, I was assigned with a modeling agency. I had just gotten my real estate license three months prior to meeting Charlie. And rewind a little bit, I went to Turning Points office opening for their first building. And Tyler, he runs Turning Point Action now. and he said you need to meet the CEO I said okay great met him very quickly shook his hand said hi nice to meet you neither of us thought anything of it looking back now he apparently sat down with Tyler and said we need to hire her and he goes mm-hmm then he's like where she live and Tyler said
Starting point is 01:45:16 New York he's like okay I'm going to have a Fox News hit and then I'm going to sit down with her and interview her in New York. So lo and behold, he comes to Manhattan. And I thought, I was so career-minded. My mother raised me to, and this is why I can relate a lot to the Manhattan mindset of a lot of young women where it's career-oriented. Because my mom used to tell me, don't feel like you need to rely on a man for life and work. And so my mindset, my healthy marriage example was my grandparents. But my mindset was career, career, career. When I met Charlie, the only reason I sat down with him
Starting point is 01:46:09 because I thought it was a consulting position for work, I was not thinking, I did not date in Manhattan. I saw the pits of hell of the dating point. through my roommates. And I was not touching that with any longest pole you can imagine. I stayed far away from the dating pool in Manhattan. So I viewed it as obviously the job interview that it was supposed to be. And the Lord knew I just, Charlie, in some way, similar to how, you know, he sees things in a lot of people, in some way beautifully saved me from, a huge mistake of putting career over family and career over husband
Starting point is 01:46:55 because it's easy to do when, as a female, when you see bright lights, big city. But he, the Lord used him. The Lord used him. How long did it take you to fall in love with him? That's the funny thing is it was, it's so interesting because when we were sitting there, fell in love with how brilliant he was to be able to articulate what he believed in. And when he said, I'm not going to hire you, I'm going to date you. I knew that was the Lord because there were so many times where I said my future husband
Starting point is 01:47:39 that's out there, he will literally, it will be the only reason why I look up is because the Lord says to look up, and that was something to look up to when someone's like, I'm going to date you. And so I just, but honestly, it was the constant consistency of, I'm here for you, you know, the little texts in the morning, and then it just continued to grow in a beautiful way. So yes, love at first sight, yes, obviously, but I, again, my mindset wasn't there. His was, so you think of it, you're in an interview, you have to totally do a 180 of a mindset, but I honestly where like the depths of the love started was when we were playing basketball
Starting point is 01:48:20 together at the gym just shooting around together by the time we saw that video where he introduced you as his fiancee and the two of you were staring at each other oh I was upset I'm still obsessed with him not break your gaze I mean that that's I think as the kids would say hashtag goals for virtually everybody who wants love in their life so you you did get married Yes. You have two kids. Two precious babies. And you told me this in private, but how many kids did you guys want to have? We wanted to have four. Yeah. And I was praying to God that I was pregnant when he got murdered. Oh, wow. I thought of that once, just like whether it was meant to be or whether we'd get news like that. I was like, oh, goodness, that would be the ultimate blessing out of this catastrophe. So now when I see young couples, I tell them, please, like, don't put it off.
Starting point is 01:49:26 Especially if you're a young woman, don't put it off. You can always have a career. You can always, you know, go back to work. You can never just go back to having children. And they grow so fast and so quickly. I just I was praying both of us were
Starting point is 01:49:46 we were really excited to just expand our family thank God you have the two I know thank God you know one day they'll find out right now they're just
Starting point is 01:49:55 you know little loves and one day they'll find out that they're Charlie Kirk's children and they'll know what that means so you know so I wanted to ask you, Erica, because you are so faithful, whether you had any premonition
Starting point is 01:50:19 that something was going to happen to Charlie, because I really do see you as connected more so than the average, than the rest of us, to God. And I just wondered, did you have any sort of a feeling? We always, we, see, the thing is, is that I guess we just operate differently. We always knew there were threats. We always knew that there were people out there that hated us with deep, deep passion of hate. But it didn't scare us. Never, he was never afraid of that. Neither was I. Obviously, we protect our children. You know, we don't show their faces on the internet, so that's very intentional. But I think we lived our life in such a way where, if that was our last day, it was our last day, like we always lived
Starting point is 01:51:11 as if it was the last day. That's why Charlie's speeches were so good, because he didn't know if that was going to be his last speech. And he was so intentional about every word, every word had a meaning. And every speech had a connection point for the students and for whoever he was speaking to. And that's why he never missed the opportunity to weave the gospel into what he was saying. Yes, that's what made him so much more powerful than the rest of us. If you see the difference between Charlie Kirk and many of the right-wing pundits or commentators, it's that he supercharged the message that the rest of us were saying with biblical references, with faith-based wisdom, which made it ten times more powerful, and people knew it.
Starting point is 01:52:01 It's one of the things we're all missing right now. But to answer your question, you know, we always knew there were threats. We always knew that that could be a possibility. But obviously, you know, but we never lived in fear of when that day would be. We just trusted the Lord every day. You know, now, of course, in the wake of Charlie's death, many are living under threat. I mean, the nut cases have gotten very loud and emboldened. And I just wonder whether it was the kind of threat, like,
Starting point is 01:52:39 environment that you needed to actually worry that something could happen, or was it just the din of like, there are haters out there, you get these nutcase letters sometimes, you know, was it something like, no, it's actually getting really serious and we need to worry, or was it just the din of like, no, I mean, you would see, obviously leading up to that, there was several shootings, there was several individuals with guns on campus, so you knew that the threat was there and things were starting to heat up. But again, it wasn't anything that, you know, you would think any different. Acute. No, no. I know that the morning he died, he went back in your room. He had slept in your daughter's room because he got up in the middle of the night and she got
Starting point is 01:53:23 up in the middle of the night. There was a switch of room. We've all been there. Yeah. But he came back in your room and he got his necklace and he got his wedding ring, right? And his necklace had a cross on it and it had St. Michael's medal. Yeah. I wear it every day. It's really. Wow. Oh, it's so beautiful.
Starting point is 01:53:41 Yeah. And, Erica, help me understand. I genuinely don't understand. I've asked Frank Turek this. I've asked everyone I can ask this question. I don't understand how you can be wearing your cross and your St. Michael's medal and be shot to death. I feel, as Charlie felt, that that's armor.
Starting point is 01:54:01 You know, we wear that to protect us, and we believe God will protect us. How have you squared that? The Lord is so powerful and we're not meant to understand all of his ways. But there's mercy in that, knowing that God uses evil for good.
Starting point is 01:54:29 I don't know what exactly that is. But I do know that the Lord will use it. And if that means revival, the Lord, I told people, I said, I have never found more comfort in the statement by will be done. Explain that. Why? Because it shows that control is an absolute illusion. The Lord knows.
Starting point is 01:55:03 the number of hairs on our head, and he knows the number of our days. And that's why Charlie was so intentional of making sure everyone knew that their role in life was so important, and that you guys are all the missing puzzle piece to this whole story. And we used to explain it when we would have dinner sometimes about how when you look at a tapestry, on one side you see all of these hanging threads and it doesn't make any sense and all different colored threads all over the place but when you turn that tapestry around
Starting point is 01:55:42 you see how beautifully woven together and how intentional every thread is to that tapestry and yes I fully believe that you put on the full armor of God every single day I mean henceforth all of my braces and rings, like everything has meaning to me, and that's why I always wear my bracelets, always wear my rings, always wear my necklaces. And it's one of those things where
Starting point is 01:56:13 we will never understand God's ways fully were not meant to. We wouldn't be, our mortal brains would not be able to even compute what he has designed and put together. But, What I do know is that the Lord spoke through Charlie in so many ways. And I still feel so deeply connected to him. And I know that the Lord used such evil to bring about something that will eventually come to good. It's already started. I've seen it. I am a big believer in signs.
Starting point is 01:57:11 You know, I think when you lose somebody, if you ask for signs, do you guys believe in signs? Have you gotten any from him? You know, it's so interesting. When we first started dating, this is personal, but I share it only because maybe it'll be a sign for you to know that Charlie's with you. something. When we first started dating, we would walk, we were walking to dinner one night,
Starting point is 01:57:37 and this happened a lot. The lights would start to flicker. And he'd look up at the light and be like, you know, it's so weird, this happens to me a lot. And I was like, really? He's like, yeah. So our whole dating and whole marriage, anytime we'd be a room and a light started to flicker, he would just look at me and wink. It was like our little thing. It's power. It's a total frequency thing. And And so the night everything happened when we were in Utah, I was in a hotel room by myself in the bedroom portion by myself. And the bathroom light was on, and it just was a strobe light all night, just flat.
Starting point is 01:58:18 And I was like, part of me couldn't sleep because it was a strobe light, the other part of me couldn't sleep because of how just my world has just crumbled and the other part of me couldn't sleep because I was like, baby, I feel you. I know you're here. So that was, you know, some signs. But another sign, too, is just my daughter, you know, just saying little things. And, like, I'm okay, I see you. Is she starting to get it?
Starting point is 01:58:46 Yes and no. We talk about heaven. I make it really exciting. I tell her, Daddy had so much fun. today everyone who has written letters and sent gifts to my children thank you i tell her my son he's only a year and a half but i tell both of them um daddy is telling all of his friends to send you gifts and letters and you know daddy is orchestrating from heaven to make sure that you always feel so loved and the other day she was like tell me about daddy's day in heaven so just we talk about that at night and then
Starting point is 01:59:28 sometimes I'll say, well, tell me what you think he did in heaven today. And we just, I just try to make it exciting because it is, it is, heaven is, heaven's our home. And so I just want her to know that daddy is having so much fun and building a place for her and our family in heaven. How do you, yeah. I know that you haven't watched the video and you shouldn't watch the video and you don't never watch that video. And you don't want the kids to watch the video. Yeah.
Starting point is 02:00:09 But how are you going to handle it when they get older, Erica, and they start to learn about the haters? Right? Because there does have to come a time where that needs to be put in the proper perspective. Charlie was so tough. He was hard to get him rattled about these attacks. But, and I can speak to this. having my own children, two of whom are backstage. You know, there comes a time where you have to sort of help your kids understand
Starting point is 02:00:35 the terrible negative messages that are out there about someone they deeply love. Have you thought about that at all? Like how you're going to walk them into that? You know, I first and foremost want my children to have a childhood. So that's another reason why I don't put them on the Internet. It's another reason why I don't expose them to certain screen time. I've said it before, some of the shows, the only shows it would watch is Charlie, Bob Ross, because he has a very nap-inducing voice.
Starting point is 02:01:10 And then, you know, every now and then it would be some of Charlie's events. But I want them to be children first, and I want to teach them so much about God and Jesus so that when they do get older and they do see the hate, they also understand how much good is still out there and they also understand that they could be the antidote to the evil and they can pray for those people and not be afraid I'd never want them to be afraid but I want them to also see that that evil
Starting point is 02:01:47 is because they or their parents or their loved ones is actually doing something to make a difference because if you're not getting attacked or slandered or whatever else out there, you're just looking a lot like the rest of the world, and I would want them to know that that's okay. You know, I have been called so many names. I have been slandered, and none of that means anything to me. It's all just noise.
Starting point is 02:02:23 It's really been crazy. No, it's unbelievable. Watching people turn on you has been one of the most unexpected, strange, terrible things since you died. And I know you get this, because you have a very, you have a thick skin and a soft heart.
Starting point is 02:02:39 The thing is, is that the more that people, and it gets outlandish, more and more crazy as time goes on because there's just a void that apparently needs to be filled. But I'm okay with the world not understanding me.
Starting point is 02:02:53 I'm okay with, with that. I'm okay with, with they, you know, I don't want to look like the world. We're, as Christians were called to be in the world, not of it. And if they could understand me, then I'm not doing something right. That's well said. Forgive me, did you see people didn't understand the hug that you and J.D. had? They went to the weirdest places, Erica. gosh, you guys, please. So for those of you who know me, I never, I'm a very, I love, I hug. Yes, you're an intense huger. It's awesome. Whoever is like hating on a hug needs a hug themselves.
Starting point is 02:03:39 I will give you a free hug anytime you want a hug. My love language is touch, if you will. But seriously, that hug, so I will give you a play-by-play. Like walking, they just played the emotional video. I'm walking over. he's walking over, I'm starting to cry. He says, he's so proud of you. And I say, God bless you, and I touch the back of his head. Anyone who I have hugged that I have touched the back of your head when I hug you, I always say, God bless you.
Starting point is 02:04:10 That's just me. If you want to take that out of context, go right ahead. Again, that, to me, shows that you need a hug more than anyone else. So if anyone... They were acting like you touched the back of his ass. I feel like I wouldn't get as much hate if I did that versus but no seriously so now when I go and hug people I'll bring them back in and be like I obviously didn't give you the right hug like come let me touch the back of your head I don't know what to do with my hands can't touch the head what can I touch I know not me I'm always like if you touch the back of my head I'm like oh she's feeling the extensions
Starting point is 02:04:44 that's another thing people think my hair is fake it is very real my hairstylist told me your hair is real she's like oh no that's all real This is real. I've had some women, they, like, come and touch the back of my head. I'm like, what are you doing to you? They're feeling for the weave. They're patting the weave. I know. How is that real?
Starting point is 02:05:06 Have you just been growing it out your whole life? We want to know. My mother, okay, so I was, I loved sports growing up. I was the, I started playing basketball when I was five. my first coach he was Charles Barkley of all people which is amazing to have as your 5 year old
Starting point is 02:05:29 YMCA coach could just see you with your little Charles Barkley doll that was great he's an awesome man his daughter was a dear friend and so I loved sports and my mom I was swimming all the time
Starting point is 02:05:43 I was always super active and since my mom worked I was always at the boys and girls club always and I was the last kid to get picked up from the Boys and Girls Club every single day. And the poor counselor or whatever you want to call them that had to stand with me at waiting for my mom to pick me up every day. I loved sports. I loved basketball so much. It was such a good escape for me as a child. And I remember my hair from swimming was so ratted because I have very
Starting point is 02:06:17 coarse hair and my mom hated combing my hair. And so her solution was a bowl cut straight across traumatizing to this point my hairdresser knows when we get a trim it is literally like a fraction of my hair
Starting point is 02:06:37 I will never have hair shorter than my shoulders Charlie loved my hair though he just he loved how long it was so what you're saying is you have long thick coarse hair that takes you a while to grow out and take care of and you're not black
Starting point is 02:06:51 or named Michelle Obama, which is fascinating that can happen. With all the conspiracy theories out there, I'm not going to touch that one either. Hopefully you haven't been paying too much attention to the news cycle, but they know what I'm talking about. No, but my hair to get back to that is something that I just,
Starting point is 02:07:12 I'm not going to cut it, I'm not going to, you know. Charlie liked it long, right? He liked it long, and here we are. Yeah. But my mom, if you ask my mom, she'll tell you, it's when she grew up from the standpoint of a Lebanese Italian background, and you're supposed to shave your kid's head when they're two, and then it's supposed to grow back really thick after that. I was a product of the shaved head, so if you would like to try that on your two-year-old, unsolicited advice. Does it work on the 55, you're right? I have no idea. You guys tell me. I don't know. I'm going to try? You know, you raised. the issue of the girls. If you see us a shaved head by December, you know why. Oh, yeah. We all look like Britney Spears. The headline, well, they went full skin head. Right. Yeah. And are listening to Nick Quintas. That'll be. Yeah. No. Yeah. It's a no. Yeah. While we're on the subject, because you really were a very strong female athlete, can I ask you your position on that?
Starting point is 02:08:11 Because, yeah, totally. Like, because that's obviously a dominant thing. We had Megan Rapino in the news just this week saying people are, they don't really mean it. They don't actually have an objection. to men playing in women's sports. They're just using it, like, as an issue. She made all her money. She's sitting pretty, but she wants your daughter to play against boys. Your thoughts on it. So, well, you can take this as a two-fold.
Starting point is 02:08:36 So if you're looking at it from the sports angle where you're playing up against men, I mean, I know this has been said before, but then what's the point of female sports? but to me being an I played in college I worked so hard for that scholarship I knew my strengths as a point guard I hated driving the lane always I always shot the three that was like my thing I'm not driving to have someone who's like six seven just pat this is not happening oh she said it so for me
Starting point is 02:09:19 sports has a very special place in my heart, but as a mom now and watching my daughter compete, it's just, I know they say, you know, life isn't fair. I get that. Life's not fair. But there's certain things that are really special. And women's sports is one of them. And it's really, some people look down on it some people think it's not it but you know those girls have worked so hard for their position and to have it taken away from them by someone who couldn't rank in their own sport and field it's demoralizing and it also weighs on the whole topic of being a woman being proud to be a woman being proud to be a strong female athlete and I wouldn't want to That's right. Having the glorious chance of accomplishment. I mean, we'll never win
Starting point is 02:10:23 if we're playing against biological boys. We'll never have that glorious feeling of crossing the finish line first or being the one who has the game winning shot because it's always going to go to a man. It's just one of the basic things. We always talk about the unfairness of it and the safety of it, but just think about that, like the glorious feeling of winning, which I never had because I wasn't an athlete. But you had it. I don't know. I feel like politics somewhat as form of an athletic feat. So it's... You know, I had it like when Don Lemon got fired.
Starting point is 02:10:53 It depends. That was your moment. Yeah. You know, we all look at for our moments. Yeah, we feel good. If you're ever worried about the safety of your home, you need to hear about SimplySaf's early access Black Friday sale. We're already having Black Friday sales.
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Starting point is 02:13:39 I want to ask you about the book that you're holding in your hands. Yes. book. I took the dust cover off because I carry his book everywhere. Stop in the name of God. It's coming out soon. Charlie's coming out with a book. He's coming out with a book. Stop in the name of God. Which is a great title. Stop in the name of God. And what is it
Starting point is 02:13:56 about? Took him a year and a half to write it. In this book, I mean, when I'm reading it, I'm like, I did not even know you knew that. It is so powerful. Overarching theme of it is the power of honoring the Sabbath and the important of rest. And reading this, and I even brought one of his journals with me to read out of it, because the thing that's so interesting about reading this book and reading this journal,
Starting point is 02:14:26 and I know a lot of you that are Christians will understand this, they tell you that when you read the Bible, it's the living word of God, and it is. And you see the Lord in Technicolor when you read the Bible, and you actually understand those words. And so for me, reading Charlie's journals and reading this book, it's like he's, I mean, he's still, he's present with the Lord,
Starting point is 02:14:56 but it feels like he's still fully here. And that's what's so powerful about this book. And I watched him as a wife completely transform into an already, I mean, he was already amazing and incredible, but I totally elevated him when he was honoring the Sabbath and when he really took that seriously, that time to rest seriously. And I just can't help but things, like everything, and to go to your point of signs, I don't think anything is by coincidence,
Starting point is 02:15:31 but to have this be his last book, and to him totally master what it means to rest with the Lord it's all for us full circle now because it's the ultimate Sabbath where he is right now when did you get to read it
Starting point is 02:15:47 when as much as I can driving into the office or was it written in its entirety before Charlie died yes it was yes it was he finished writing this I believe in
Starting point is 02:15:59 June or July of this year so you had read it but to read it in a book format and not an email format that he would send me is something night and day difference yeah what are the pages that are folded the one that i well all of them are amazing but the one that i wanted to read uh was the part about sleeping because charlie his adrenaline was always going and it was very
Starting point is 02:16:24 hard for him to turn his brain off at night henceforth snacks at like 2 a.m. didn't you tell me olives and bananas? Not together not together but you know but he was like even snacking in a healthy manner. He was snacking. Almond, yeah. Also, we do have to discuss the fact that you said he only had mint chocolate chip ice cream once a year. Twice.
Starting point is 02:16:45 His birthday and Fourth of July and his birthday, right? And no ice cream any other day? His self-control and self-discipline was phenomenal. And to the point, too, where when I was pregnant, 70% of the reason why no one saw me when I was pregnant was because of this situation, the other 30% was because I just was with with my babies, but 70% of it was, I'm really hungry. I think I, should I have a milkshake? Baby, get that milkshake.
Starting point is 02:17:14 But I don't know if I should have that milkshake. You need the milkshake. I'm going to go and get you that milkshake. Do you want a hot fudge Sunday, too? I'm going to get that in and out burger? No questions. I'll be right back, animal style. So he'd come home.
Starting point is 02:17:26 He loved it because he loved driving around at night. So he'd come home with the in-and-out burger, animal style, whatever, mixed in with the hot fudge Sunday, the chocolate shake. and he would be so excited to give it to me and watch me eat it. But that was because he was living vicariously through me. So no joke. I got to like 190 pounds.
Starting point is 02:17:46 I was like, I am literally going to weigh more than you by the end of this pregnancy. And he'd be like, baby, you look great. You don't worry about that. That's just baby weight. I mean, granted, it does go away. It takes a lot of work. He's sitting there eating his olives? No, no.
Starting point is 02:17:58 He's just watching me. And I'm like, I will enjoy this hot fudge Sunday while you wish that you could have. but he was so self-discipline, and he was so good about eating. He was, biohacking was his love language of being healthy, eating clean. He could not operate on fast food the way that he was in general. Like, that's why he never drank. That's why he never, it wasn't from, you know, a motive of I'm better than whoever. It was from the motive of, I need to operate as if I'm going to war every single day,
Starting point is 02:18:29 and I can't operate on this type of food. And speaking of the sleep, that's very... No, right. So the sleep was important because I was like, he loved his sleep. And something that I was very intentional about is when he came home, I would always let him sleep in, always, on the weekends. I would take the kids, go for a walk, whatever it took. And I would want him to wake up when it was time to wake up
Starting point is 02:18:52 because I knew how important rest was for him. And so when I read this in the book, it was on my heart to share it with you because the title of it says, Jesus slept, Elijah slept, and so can you. And he said, so start tonight, close the laptop, power down the phone, let the dishes wait, pull the shades, dim the lights, and give your body permission to do what it was created to do, to rest. Let your bed become an altar of trust as your head touches the pillow and whisper to God, I release it all to you.
Starting point is 02:19:29 you don't need to check one more email, you don't need to prove anything, you don't need to carry the weight of the world, it already has a savior. And it's not you. Sleep is not a distraction from your purpose. It is part of your purpose. It is a sacred rhythm that restores your mind, heals your body, and quiets your soul. The Sabbath is your weekly reminder that you are not a machine. You are a beloved child. And children sleep well when they know their father is near. So go ahead, embrace the gift, make your Sabbath a day not just of rest, but of sleep. Deep, joyful, and replenishing sleep, you're allowed, and more than that, you're invited. Rest isn't weakness, it's worship, and tomorrow will be better because you trusted God enough to rest today. Wow. He was keeping the Sabbath. He was. So with that, since today is his Sabbath.
Starting point is 02:20:29 I wanted to read to you from his journal. Oh, wow, is that it right there? Yeah. Wow. In his handwriting. A note that he wrote to himself to honor the Sabbath. He said, Dear Lord, thank you for a wonderful week. Thank you for your endless protection and provision.
Starting point is 02:20:53 Father God, thank you for your mercy and grace. Lord, I did better this week. Despite the challenges of travel, I miss my wife. It's hard to be away from her for a few days. Thank you for giving us a roadmap of what it means to be obedient and put Christ first. Lord, I have realized the following. The battle against the mind is Satan's playground. He dwells and prows to destroy.
Starting point is 02:21:23 The more in alignment we walk in your command and teachings, the more joy and blessing we experience. experience. Lord, thank you for showing us the way, the truth, and the life. Thank you for blessing our organization. I pray for resolution amongst the divides that Satan is attempting. Lord, we pray for blessing for the people who feel they have been wronged. Father God, we ask for your guidance, wisdom, and direction, your comfort and your healing. We love you, Lord. Thank you for another Sabbath, C.K.
Starting point is 02:22:09 Wow. Erica, I know you touched on it earlier. But I... One of the reactions I have to hearing that is, like, I get angry. how can that man have been taken how he was all goodness the left who are bastardizing his memory have no idea what they're talking about Charlie was all goodness I know we can't understand God's plan but have you had bouts of anger you know I think about what the kids are going to miss what you got jipped out of what poor Charlie now is going to miss and I feel angry sadness of course
Starting point is 02:22:58 obviously, but yes, against the accused shooter, but just, I know you don't ever feel angry against God, but I kind of do. I understand. How do you make sense of that? And do you have any anger when you think about it, not towards the Lord, but in general? The enemy would love for me to be angry. He would love it. He would love it.
Starting point is 02:23:28 Because it would distract me from building what Charlie entrusted to me, raising our babies, turning point, being there for the team, being there for what the future holds. And if I had any amount of anger in my heart and spirit, the Lord would not be able to use me. And every single day, just how Charlie did, stood on stage, he would say, here I am, Lord, use me. And if I had that anger in my heart, that foothold from the enemy, he wouldn't be able to. I know at Charlie's Memorial, right across the way here, there was that extraordinary moment where you forgave his accused killer.
Starting point is 02:24:20 And, I mean, I looked and I said, that's the most powerful, strongest thing I've ever seen anybody do in my life. And then somebody helped me understand because I thought, I could never do it. I could never do it. And somebody said to me, forgiveness is an action, not an emotion. And I was like, okay, that's getting me closer to feeling like I could do it. If I don't actually have to feel loving in my heart toward the person.
Starting point is 02:24:45 But I wonder, like, how do you, if you could say something to him, like if you say something to his parents, like, what would it be? Would it be anger? Would it be sympathy? What would it be? It's a good question. It wouldn't be, it wouldn't be, it wouldn't be sympathy. It wouldn't be anger.
Starting point is 02:25:21 How do you put this? Anything that I could ever. wish upon him or that family would pale in comparison of the justice of God. And so I would look at them almost like, I'm so glad I'm not you. I am so glad I'm not you. And I pray that, you know, you figure out a way to be right with the Lord, but our God is sovereign, but he's also very just. We serve a very just-filled God.
Starting point is 02:26:21 Thanks for listening to the Megan Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear. Thank you.

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