Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Remembering our Friend, the Great Charlie Kirk

Transcript

Remembering our Friend, the Great Charlie Kirk · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome.
0:01
Speaker 2: It is Verdict with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
0:04
Speaker 2: It's nice to have you with us wherever you are
0:06
Speaker 2: around the country. And this is one of those just
0:09
Speaker 2: somber shows. Senator, you and I actually have not gotten
0:12
Speaker 2: to talk since the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk, a
0:17
Speaker 2: dear friend of both of ours. You've known him for
0:19
Speaker 2: over a decade, like I have. You've broken bread with Charlie.
0:23
Speaker 2: We have actually done Verdict live at Turning Point events
0:28
Speaker 2: down in Florida. You've spoken at other Turning Point events
0:30
Speaker 2: as I have as well. I saw him not too
0:33
Speaker 2: long ago and we just talked about our kids. And
0:37
Speaker 2: I think about his kids, and I think about his
0:39
Speaker 2: wife and this tragedy, and it makes me so sad
0:44
Speaker 2: that this is where we are in this country, that
0:46
Speaker 2: there are people that believe that this is the way
0:48
Speaker 2: to do things. And I want to get your reaction
0:53
Speaker 2: to that as well.
0:56
Speaker 3: Look this, I'm heartbroken. Charlie was a good friend. As
1:03
Speaker 3: you noted, I've known Charlie for over a decade. I
1:06
Speaker 3: met him when he was eighteen years old. He was
1:09
Speaker 3: a young kid. He was coming out of Chicago. He
1:12
Speaker 3: was just starting turning point. He had this vision. He
1:15
Speaker 3: had this vision for energizing young people, and he was
1:19
Speaker 3: as an eighteen year old, Charlie was impressive. You could
1:21
Speaker 3: see how smart he was, You could see how driven
1:24
Speaker 3: he was. You could see the clarity that a vision
1:31
Speaker 3: that he had. He knew exactly what he wanted to
1:34
Speaker 3: do to energize young people, and it was something that
1:38
Speaker 3: when he first started talking about it, a lot of
1:40
Speaker 3: people disbelieved him. I got to say this week, this
1:43
Speaker 3: week was a really hard week. It was number one.
1:46
Speaker 3: It was the anniversary of nine to eleven, and that
1:49
Speaker 3: is a national tragedy that you and I both both
1:53
Speaker 3: lived through and lost friends in nine to eleven. But
1:59
Speaker 3: then this out of nowhere watching first seeing the tweet
2:05
Speaker 3: of shots fired, and then Charlie Kirk shot, and then
2:10
Speaker 3: the fog of misinformation. I'll tell you, as soon as
2:13
Speaker 3: I saw just the tweet that he may have been shot,
2:17
Speaker 3: I pulled up my phone and texted him and I
2:19
Speaker 3: just just said, hey, man, are you are you okay?
2:22
Speaker 3: I'm praying for you right now. And I didn't know
2:25
Speaker 3: then if he was. It's hard to tell when the
2:28
Speaker 3: first tweet goes out, what the truth is and what
2:30
Speaker 3: was not. I was obviously hoping maybe there'd been a
2:33
Speaker 3: shot fired, but it had missed him. It wasn't clear
2:35
Speaker 3: he had been hit at the time, so I was
2:36
Speaker 3: really hoping i'd get a text back, yeah I'm fine,
2:39
Speaker 3: I'm here. Obviously I did not get a response to that.
2:44
Speaker 3: You know, I talked to Charlie just a few weeks ago,
2:47
Speaker 3: and it's I got to say, what happened. It is evil,
2:54
Speaker 3: it is wrong. Just about everyone I know is really
3:02
Speaker 3: shaken up by it. I will say. One of the
3:05
Speaker 3: worst parts when it happened pretty quickly, the video got
3:10
Speaker 3: out there on X of his being shot in the throat,
3:14
Speaker 3: and it was I'm sure you've seen the video, it's
3:18
Speaker 3: a graphic video and on X for me, it was
3:22
Speaker 3: on AutoPlay, so like I kept seeing the same thing
3:25
Speaker 3: over and over and over again, Like you couldn't look
3:27
Speaker 3: at X without seeing it auto play. I don't think
3:31
Speaker 3: in my life I've ever seen a friend of mine
3:34
Speaker 3: be killed. And the afternoon had happened, I watched him
3:40
Speaker 3: shot and killed over and over and over again, and
3:45
Speaker 3: it's just screwed up. I mean, he was extraordinary and
3:52
Speaker 3: he leaves a big legacy and on verdict. Today, we're
3:55
Speaker 3: going to talk about that legacy. We're going to talk
3:57
Speaker 3: about who Charlie Kirk was. We're going to talk about
4:00
Speaker 3: what he meant to me, to you, what he meant
4:03
Speaker 3: to millions across the country, and and and and what
4:08
Speaker 3: I gotta say, Ben, what the hell is wrong with
4:12
Speaker 3: this country that you have lunatics who say, I don't
4:16
Speaker 3: like what you're saying, I don't like your politics, and
4:20
Speaker 3: so I'm going to murder you. I mean this, this
4:22
Speaker 3: played out almost exactly like the attempted assassination of President
4:28
Speaker 3: Trump and Butler with with with a gunman with a
4:31
Speaker 3: rifle on a roof. And and had President Trump had
4:35
Speaker 3: had his head been two inches to the side, he
4:38
Speaker 3: would have been killed that day. And and Charlie, was
4:43
Speaker 3: it it it it, it's it's beyond horrific.
4:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is.
4:49
Speaker 2: It is a moment that I I wish I could
4:53
Speaker 2: never remember. But you you, and you said it the
4:55
Speaker 2: best way. It was there you saw it. You watched
4:58
Speaker 2: one of your friends get gunned down, whole blooded murder,
5:01
Speaker 2: assassinated in this way. And it is something that, as
5:04
Speaker 2: you said, what is wrong in this country where we
5:06
Speaker 2: can't have a grand debate of grand ideas, and that
5:09
Speaker 2: is what Charlie's legacy was all about. A lot of
5:12
Speaker 2: people don't understand that we're going to go into that
5:14
Speaker 2: more as well. In a moment, I want to take
5:16
Speaker 2: a moment and talk to you about our sponsor of
5:18
Speaker 2: the show today, and it is a company that is
5:20
Speaker 2: called Rough Greens. And Rough Greens is an awesome company
5:23
Speaker 2: that can really give a new step in the life
5:27
Speaker 2: of your puppy, your dog, your older dog. I've been
5:29
Speaker 2: giving it to my dog, Memphis, and it supports long
5:32
Speaker 2: term health by providing live, bioavailable nutrients including essential vitamins, minerals, probiotics,
5:39
Speaker 2: digestive enzymes, as well as omega oils. If you love
5:42
Speaker 2: your dog like I love mine, you need to try
5:45
Speaker 2: Rough Greens the ingredients they work together to improve nutrient absorption,
5:50
Speaker 2: maintain joint and muscle health, especially with dogs are getting
5:53
Speaker 2: a little older, and they hence the overall vitality of
5:57
Speaker 2: your favorite dog. It promotes longevity, addressing common nutritional deficiencies
6:02
Speaker 2: found in processed dog food. That is why I love it.
6:05
Speaker 2: Now I can tell you I've given this to my dog.
6:07
Speaker 2: He's twelve and a half. It has made a massive
6:10
Speaker 2: difference in his quality of life. We used to have
6:12
Speaker 2: to coach him to get off the couch. Now he
6:14
Speaker 2: is back to jumping off the couch on his own
6:17
Speaker 2: instead of us having to coach him or pick him up.
6:19
Speaker 3: It works.
6:20
Speaker 2: Rough Greens supplements a diet with natural antioxidants and anti
6:25
Speaker 2: inflammatory compounds that helped reduce stress, support immune defense, and
6:30
Speaker 2: slow age related decline of your dog. It helps your dog,
6:34
Speaker 2: simply put, stay active longer and you just sprinkle it
6:38
Speaker 2: on their food. It is not a pill, So I
6:41
Speaker 2: want you to try Rough Greens. You don't need to
6:43
Speaker 2: change your dog food. Just add rough Greens and is
6:46
Speaker 2: offered a free Jumpstart trial bag as well.
6:49
Speaker 3: You just cover shipping.
6:51
Speaker 2: Use the discount code Ben to claim your free Jumpstart
6:54
Speaker 2: Trial bag of Roughgreens at Roughgreens dot com. That's Roughgreens
6:59
Speaker 2: dot com, r U F F Greens, g R e
7:03
Speaker 2: ns dot com promo code Ben, and you don't change
7:06
Speaker 2: your dog's food. Just add rough Greens and watch the
7:08
Speaker 2: health benefits come alive in your dog. Roughcreens dot Com
7:12
Speaker 2: promo code Ben, and you're gonna get that free Jumpstart
7:15
Speaker 2: Trial bag as well, Senator, I want to go back
7:18
Speaker 2: to one of the things that I think people don't
7:22
Speaker 2: understand about Charlie Kirk, and maybe that if you didn't
7:25
Speaker 2: follow him well, his mission and goal was to bring
7:29
Speaker 2: people actually together. If you listen to media, they act
7:33
Speaker 2: like he was some extremist, fringed guy that was trying
7:35
Speaker 2: to break people apart, in pound people in these these debates.
7:41
Speaker 2: He wanted people that disagreed with him to have a
7:44
Speaker 2: conversation with him, a grand conversation. And he started this
7:49
Speaker 2: years ago by himself, with one guy recording and him
7:52
Speaker 2: sitting at it at a card table at university campuses,
7:56
Speaker 2: and it turned into something where three thousand people, for example,
7:59
Speaker 2: showed up in Utah. It changed college campuses with turning
8:03
Speaker 2: point groups that were out there, and that is his legacy.
8:07
Speaker 2: And part of I think what the big lie has
8:09
Speaker 2: been is that he somehow was this aggressive, in your
8:12
Speaker 2: face guy that is literally not his mission in life
8:15
Speaker 2: at all.
8:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot of folks in the media, a lot
8:18
Speaker 3: of Democrats, are trying to portray him as somehow extreme. Look,
8:24
Speaker 3: probably the thing that most characterized Charlie was his willingness
8:28
Speaker 3: and eagerness to engage in conversation with those who disagreed
8:32
Speaker 3: with them, and to engage using compassion, listening to them,
8:37
Speaker 3: understanding them, treating them with dignity, treating them with respect.
8:42
Speaker 3: That's something we need a whole lot more of. It's
8:44
Speaker 3: something we try to do on verdict. But Charlie did
8:46
Speaker 3: it every single day.
8:47
Speaker 2: Senator, you were mentioning that the media tried to turn
8:51
Speaker 2: him into something he wasn't. And this is a individual,
8:54
Speaker 2: a man that wanted to have a debate, and he
8:57
Speaker 2: wanted to fight for the hearts and minds of young people.
9:00
Speaker 1: Yeah.
9:00
Speaker 3: Look, Charlie was. He was brilliant. Uh, he was bold
9:05
Speaker 3: and courageous. It takes guts. It takes guts to go
9:09
Speaker 3: on to college campuses with with screaming leftists who would
9:12
Speaker 3: berate him, who would yell at him. That that takes
9:15
Speaker 3: real courage. Most people are assaulting to times.
9:18
Speaker 2: By the way, people don't realize that he had things
9:20
Speaker 2: thrown on him, drinks, things thrown at him. He was
9:23
Speaker 2: assaulted countless times on college campuses, and he kept going back.
9:29
Speaker 3: He was convinced that the mission was important. I still
9:32
Speaker 3: remember sitting in my friend's living room with that earnest
9:38
Speaker 3: eighteen year old when he talked about a vision that
9:42
Speaker 3: that you know, and this is thirteen years ago, where
9:45
Speaker 3: a lot of young people at the time, it wasn't
9:47
Speaker 3: cool to be conservative. You know, Barack Obama was president,
9:50
Speaker 3: he was hip, he was cool, and Charlie had a
9:53
Speaker 3: vision that that that that he wanted to make it
9:56
Speaker 3: cool to love liberty. He wanted to make it cool
9:59
Speaker 3: to believe in the Constitution, to believe in the First Amendment.
10:02
Speaker 3: He wanted to make it cool to love your country
10:04
Speaker 3: and and and that was his vision was there from
10:08
Speaker 3: day one. A lot of people disbelieved him, but he
10:13
Speaker 3: also he he he approached it with with a with
10:16
Speaker 3: a winsome spirit. Charlie was always smiling. Yeah, he was
10:21
Speaker 3: thirty one years old when he was killed. He's he's
10:24
Speaker 3: a husband and a dad of two little kids and
10:27
Speaker 3: his wife, Erica. His his kids are one and four
10:30
Speaker 3: and and his children will never know their dad. That
10:34
Speaker 3: they will know the legacy of their dad. They will
10:36
Speaker 3: know how it is extraordinary he was. That they will
10:41
Speaker 3: know that he touched and changed literally millions of people's lives.
10:47
Speaker 3: But but this deranged gunman in one instant made it
10:53
Speaker 3: that those children will never get to to have a
10:56
Speaker 3: conversation and know their father growing up. He leaves behind
11:01
Speaker 3: his widowed wife, and it's I will say, it is crushing,
11:08
Speaker 3: I can tell you. So when we heard the news
11:11
Speaker 3: and we didn't know, we didn't know what his condition was,
11:15
Speaker 3: and early on Fox News was reporting that he's in
11:18
Speaker 3: the hospital. He's in critical condition, but he's in the hospital,
11:20
Speaker 3: so we were hoping he's all right. I called Heidi,
11:24
Speaker 3: so Heidi knows knew Charlie very well also, and I
11:27
Speaker 3: called her and she was just stunned. She was just
11:29
Speaker 3: sitting there staring in disbelief at the television. And actually
11:34
Speaker 3: the two of us called a dear friend of ours
11:37
Speaker 3: named Ali, who's whose living room we met Charlie. And
11:40
Speaker 3: Ali is the one who introduced us to Charlie thirteen
11:42
Speaker 3: years ago. And Ali is a strong believer, a strong Christian,
11:48
Speaker 3: and I'll tell you, the three of us just on
11:49
Speaker 3: the phone just began praying for our friend, and we
11:54
Speaker 3: were in tears, and we were praying for him, and
11:56
Speaker 3: we were praying that God would save him and and
12:00
Speaker 3: that that prayer did not come to pass. But we
12:03
Speaker 3: were all just just in shock and disbelieve but I
12:08
Speaker 3: want to say this also, when you look at all
12:11
Speaker 3: of Charlie's characteristics, one that was most extraordinary was he
12:17
Speaker 3: he was a deeply believing Christian. His faith was real,
12:21
Speaker 3: it mattered to him. And and he was a voice
12:25
Speaker 3: for the gospel and and and Charlie is is with
12:29
Speaker 3: Jesus in Heaven right now, and and and his his
12:33
Speaker 3: role of presenting the good news of the Gospel with
12:40
Speaker 3: intelligence and joy, that was a powerful legacy. And I
12:45
Speaker 3: got to say, there are very very few people in
12:48
Speaker 3: particular who were doing that and and spreading the gospel
12:51
Speaker 3: to young people. You have pastors and churches, but Charlie's
12:54
Speaker 3: mission was reaching a whole lot of people who might
12:57
Speaker 3: never go to a church. And and and that's a legacy.
13:00
Speaker 3: That's a legacy. Actually, I want to play a clip
13:07
Speaker 3: of Charlie talking about how he wants to be remembered.
13:11
Speaker 3: Give a listen to Charlie when he's asked that question, you.
13:14
Speaker 2: Want to be remembered?
13:15
Speaker 4: If I die, everything just goes away.
13:17
Speaker 2: How would you if you could be associated with one thing,
13:20
Speaker 2: how would you want to be remembered.
13:22
Speaker 4: To be I want to be remembered for courage, for
13:24
Speaker 4: my faith, that would be the most important thing.
13:27
Speaker 1: Most of you know.
13:28
Speaker 2: There wasn't a time center on college campuses that he
13:31
Speaker 2: wasn't talking about as faith. In fact, I'll go back
13:34
Speaker 2: to the first time I ever had breakfast. Charlie asked
13:36
Speaker 2: me to have breakfast with him. We were at a
13:39
Speaker 2: Sea Pack event. It was about probably thirteen years ago,
13:42
Speaker 2: as I was doing the math and we sat down
13:44
Speaker 2: and he was like, hey, I know you've done a
13:46
Speaker 2: lot of college speaking. I feel like we've lost this generation.
13:51
Speaker 2: I feel like that the left owns them and they're
13:53
Speaker 2: in doctoring them on our college campuses. I'm actually thinking
13:57
Speaker 2: about not going to college because of this mission, and
14:00
Speaker 2: I feel like what God put me on earth to do?
14:04
Speaker 2: And he said what do you think of that? And
14:05
Speaker 2: I looked at him and I smiled. I was like, Charlie,
14:08
Speaker 2: I don't know you, but you can always go back
14:10
Speaker 2: to college. You can go to college at fifty or
14:13
Speaker 2: sixty or seventy. What you're talking about doing is something
14:17
Speaker 2: that I think is more important right now than you
14:19
Speaker 2: going to college. And he was such a faith forward person,
14:24
Speaker 2: even at eighteen years old, and it goes back to
14:27
Speaker 2: what you were talking about. He lived it and you
14:30
Speaker 2: knew what he believed in.
14:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, he never did graduate from college, but he touched
14:36
Speaker 3: enormous number of college students and changed their lives. I
14:39
Speaker 3: want you to listen to Charlie on Bill Maher talking
14:42
Speaker 3: about his faith, because this is really powerful. Give a listen.
14:46
Speaker 1: Is risen? He has risen. Indeed, Bill, why do we
14:48
Speaker 1: say that in the present tense?
14:50
Speaker 4: Because it is a constant truth in our life.
14:53
Speaker 1: He is risen. I always noticed that that that was
14:55
Speaker 1: interesting to me, that.
14:57
Speaker 4: It was a really important question.
14:58
Speaker 1: Actually it is.
14:59
Speaker 4: Tell me, well, because the fact that he has risen
15:03
Speaker 4: transcends time. It's not just in the present sense, it's
15:06
Speaker 4: that of all time. That promise is accessible to all
15:09
Speaker 4: of us, and so it's a proclamation to all people.
15:12
Speaker 4: Because if you said that he was risen, it's like
15:16
Speaker 4: it's just merely a historical event. It almost underplays the
15:19
Speaker 4: metaphysics of it.
15:20
Speaker 5: I'm just always fascinated the way, really really fine intellectual
15:27
Speaker 5: minds employed themselves for the purpose of arguing things that
15:33
Speaker 5: are so inarguable.
15:34
Speaker 6: It's almost that's almost it's almost it does because it's
15:37
Speaker 6: it's almost like it it's almost like a challenge, like
15:40
Speaker 6: I'm so smart that I can make this thing which
15:42
Speaker 6: is so stupid it seems.
15:46
Speaker 1: Like, but you get where I'm coming from.
15:50
Speaker 6: I'm going to take something that is so anti intellectual,
15:53
Speaker 6: even though I can argue like an intel.
15:55
Speaker 4: Ever, but you have to acknowledge even the greatest minds
15:58
Speaker 4: of history have been mesmerized by the scriptures. Isaac Newton,
16:02
Speaker 4: Thomas aquinas well. Isaac Newton wrote more about biblical prophecy
16:06
Speaker 4: than even physics. And so there's something about the scriptures
16:10
Speaker 4: that are intellectual that does push your limits. And that's
16:14
Speaker 4: what I think is so beautiful about our faith, as
16:16
Speaker 4: it can be accessible to everyone but also infinitely nourishing
16:20
Speaker 4: and exploration.
16:21
Speaker 2: Charlie Kirk spraying the Gospel to Bill Maher, that's not
16:24
Speaker 2: something that many people can say, and he did it
16:27
Speaker 2: in such a kind and respectful manner, even as Bill
16:31
Speaker 2: Maher was almost mocking his belief in God.
16:35
Speaker 3: Yeah look, look, I mean it wasn't almost Bill was
16:38
Speaker 3: mocking it. And you and I both know Bill Maher
16:41
Speaker 3: he is a brilliant man in his own right. But
16:45
Speaker 3: mar is not a Christian. He's an atheist, and he
16:48
Speaker 3: proudly proclaims that he's an atheist and he has deep
16:51
Speaker 3: skepticism of faith across the board. And Charlie went on
16:55
Speaker 3: his show and talked with him, and you're right, talked
16:57
Speaker 3: with him with passion, but also talked in a way
17:01
Speaker 3: that was accessible. And actually the clip we just played,
17:07
Speaker 3: the way I found it right now is when I
17:10
Speaker 3: saw it online. I texted Charlie at the time and
17:14
Speaker 3: I texted that clip back at him and I just said,
17:16
Speaker 3: this was beautifully done, bravo, and it it and and
17:21
Speaker 3: that was just just another day with Charlie. That that's
17:25
Speaker 3: what he was doing. Every day. He was making people think.
17:30
Speaker 3: But he was was also look the proposition that he
17:34
Speaker 3: was defending the phrase he has risen, And Bill Maher
17:37
Speaker 3: was saying, well, why is is in the present tense?
17:40
Speaker 3: And and and Charlie's message is because Jesus is in
17:44
Speaker 3: the prison present tense, because it is a fact today
17:47
Speaker 3: in our life. It didn't happen just two thousand years ago.
17:51
Speaker 3: He has risen today. And that message Charlie could deliver it.
17:57
Speaker 3: There were people who were watching Bill Maher who again
17:59
Speaker 3: might ever go to church, might never hear the gospel,
18:03
Speaker 3: and yet that they would hear it from Charlie, and
18:06
Speaker 3: they'd hear it delivered in a way that that that
18:10
Speaker 3: that would make an impression. And and you know, the
18:12
Speaker 3: Bible talks about about planting seeds, and some seeds fall
18:16
Speaker 3: on rocky soil, and some seeds fall on on on
18:20
Speaker 3: shallow soil. But some seeds fall on good soil, and
18:23
Speaker 3: they take purpose that they take root and grow. And
18:26
Speaker 3: and that's a parable Jesus tells uh uh and and
18:30
Speaker 3: and what what Charlie was doing there and what he
18:33
Speaker 3: did every day is planted seeds and and and many
18:36
Speaker 3: of those seeds landed on on fertile ground and took root.
18:41
Speaker 3: And and the number of people whose lives Charlie touched
18:45
Speaker 3: we will never know, but it is easily in the millions.
18:49
Speaker 7: You know.
18:49
Speaker 2: One of the things that he did that was I
18:51
Speaker 2: think incredible was be an advocate for families, for getting married,
18:56
Speaker 2: for having children. I want to get into that, being
18:59
Speaker 2: a dad, being a dad, for being a good dad,
19:01
Speaker 2: being a president, dad, being there for your kids. And
19:05
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about that in just a moment.
19:06
Speaker 2: I want to tell you real quick about our friends
19:08
Speaker 2: over at Patriot Mobile. I tell you now more than ever,
19:11
Speaker 2: I want align my dollars that I spend with companies
19:14
Speaker 2: that are aligned with my values. Patriot Mobile is a
19:18
Speaker 2: company for the last thirteen years that has been giving
19:21
Speaker 2: back every time you pay a bill. Patriot Mobile can
19:24
Speaker 2: save you money on your cell phone bill. But this
19:26
Speaker 2: is where the magic happens. They take about five percent
19:28
Speaker 2: of your bill every month and they give it back
19:31
Speaker 2: to conservative causes that fight for our First and our
19:33
Speaker 2: Second Amendment rights, that fight for the rights of unborn children,
19:37
Speaker 2: that fight for our fallen soldiers and their families to
19:41
Speaker 2: make sure they have what they need and are wounded
19:43
Speaker 2: warriors are men and women in uniform. I love standing
19:47
Speaker 2: with a company that stands with my beliefs. Now, they
19:50
Speaker 2: started this company because Big Mobile had started giving massive
19:54
Speaker 2: donations to democratic causes, candidates and organizations. Why on earth
19:59
Speaker 2: would we want our money going to support and aid that.
20:02
Speaker 2: That is why Patriot Mobile was started. Now, I want
20:04
Speaker 2: to give you a free month of service to try it,
20:07
Speaker 2: and I also want you to understand how easy it
20:08
Speaker 2: is to switch. Now in twenty twenty five, you can
20:11
Speaker 2: switch over the phone in minutes. All you have to
20:14
Speaker 2: do is call them nine to seven to two. Patriot
20:18
Speaker 2: is the number that's nine seven to two Patriot or
20:21
Speaker 2: online at Patriotmobile dot com slash verdict, and you'll get
20:25
Speaker 2: a free month of service with a promo code vertict.
20:28
Speaker 2: So again nine seven to two Patriot or Patriotmobile dot
20:32
Speaker 2: com slash vertict. Use that promo code vertic you'll get
20:34
Speaker 2: a free month of service. And every month when you
20:36
Speaker 2: pay your bill, every call you make, every text you send,
20:39
Speaker 2: you're actually gonna be standing up for what we believe in.
20:42
Speaker 2: And that is why I made the switch. And I
20:44
Speaker 2: love Patriot Mobile. Been using them now for years and
20:46
Speaker 2: the service and the coverage is phenomenal. Patriot Mobile dot
20:50
Speaker 2: com slash vertict or nine seven to Patriot promo code
20:54
Speaker 2: vertict get that free month of service. You know, I
20:56
Speaker 2: want to go back to one of the things. Also,
20:58
Speaker 2: the media is just not talked about. Charlie Kirk was
21:01
Speaker 2: a guy that was a massive advocate for getting married,
21:04
Speaker 2: being equally yoked, marrying the love of your life, having
21:08
Speaker 2: a family, being involved in that family, leading a family,
21:14
Speaker 2: a good husband, being a biblically leader in the household.
21:19
Speaker 3: And he was.
21:20
Speaker 2: He would say that to college kids, don't add garbage
21:23
Speaker 2: to your life, don't be out of here partying and
21:26
Speaker 2: acting a fool and doing stupid things like you can
21:29
Speaker 2: do things great things now at eighteen nineteen, twenty twenty one,
21:32
Speaker 2: you have to wait till you're forty to get it together.
21:35
Speaker 2: Don't add baggage to your life. And I love that
21:37
Speaker 2: that's part of his message.
21:39
Speaker 3: Look, I want to read to you a text I
21:41
Speaker 3: got from a good friend of mine named Dan, and
21:44
Speaker 3: he sent me a text, and he said, I first
21:46
Speaker 3: met Charlie at your dear Valley retreat in October twenty fifteen.
21:51
Speaker 3: I was so impressed and taken by his vision of
21:56
Speaker 3: bringing conservative values to college campuses that I was an
21:59
Speaker 3: early funder and introduced him to many others who had
22:02
Speaker 3: greater capacity than me. We stayed in touch. I mentored
22:07
Speaker 3: him until his knowledge exceeded my own, and I saw
22:11
Speaker 3: him reshape the political balance, particularly but not exclusively, with
22:18
Speaker 3: the under thirties. Looking back at his evangelism, his courage
22:24
Speaker 3: to go to the very heart of the evil that
22:26
Speaker 3: afflicts and brainwashes our youth and give those souls hope,
22:33
Speaker 3: I am wondering this morning if he may have been
22:36
Speaker 3: a saint, not in the sense he was perfect, as
22:40
Speaker 3: none of us are but because God moved through him,
22:45
Speaker 3: and he was the vehicle God chose Jeremiah. Fore Then
22:50
Speaker 3: the word of the Lord came to me, saying, before
22:53
Speaker 3: I formed you in the womb, I knew you before
22:57
Speaker 3: you were born. I sanctified you. I ordained you a
23:00
Speaker 3: profit to the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord, God, behold,
23:04
Speaker 3: I cannot speak, for I am a youth. But the
23:07
Speaker 3: Lord said to me, do not say I am a youth.
23:11
Speaker 3: For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
23:15
Speaker 3: and whatever I command you, you shall speak. God bless
23:20
Speaker 3: our brother in Christ, Charlie, thank you for bringing me.
23:24
Speaker 1: Into his orbit.
23:26
Speaker 2: It's it's the sentiment that so many have had about him.
23:30
Speaker 2: I said last night on Fox News Channel about him.
23:33
Speaker 2: I said, his legacy is going to be one that
23:37
Speaker 2: is going to know no bounds. I am so thankful
23:42
Speaker 2: last time I saw him. We just talked to Mississ
23:44
Speaker 2: earlier about his kids and my kids. I've got three boys,
23:47
Speaker 2: you and I know we do that. And I laughed
23:49
Speaker 2: because I was thinking about funny moments I've had with Charlie. Charlie,
23:53
Speaker 2: I get people give me a hard time a lot
23:55
Speaker 2: because I don't really drink alcohol and I got hit
23:58
Speaker 2: by a drunk driver who died and we lived, and
24:01
Speaker 2: it just had a major impact. Well neither did Charlie.
24:04
Speaker 2: And so we always when he was like twenty one,
24:08
Speaker 2: twenty two, getting a little older, when we saw each
24:10
Speaker 2: other parties, I would look at it like, you want
24:11
Speaker 2: me to get your regular on ice? And he like yes,
24:13
Speaker 2: And that was our joke because we would drink our
24:16
Speaker 2: diet coke with a line together. And and I love
24:20
Speaker 2: that he was not ever given in to the pure pressure.
24:24
Speaker 2: He was gonna be authentic and who he was. I
24:26
Speaker 2: will say, I am so thankful that his children are
24:29
Speaker 2: going to have countless hours of video of him doing
24:31
Speaker 2: what he did. Yeah, because they're going to be able
24:34
Speaker 2: to go see what their dad, who their dad was.
24:36
Speaker 2: There's so many kids that lose parents. They don't have
24:38
Speaker 2: videos like we have videos of Charlie where he was
24:41
Speaker 2: out there spreading the gospel. He was standing up for
24:44
Speaker 2: what he believed in. He was making a difference. And
24:46
Speaker 2: I said this last night on Fox, I said, I
24:48
Speaker 2: truly don't believe Donald Trump would have been elected if
24:52
Speaker 2: it wasn't for Charlie Kirk and turning point and what
24:54
Speaker 2: they did to get out the vote in swing states.
24:57
Speaker 2: I think that's why he was so emotional to night
24:59
Speaker 2: that Donald Trump was reelected. I don't think we'd have
25:01
Speaker 2: control of the House in the Senate if it wasn't
25:03
Speaker 2: for Charlie Kirk and what he did get out the
25:05
Speaker 2: vote in swing states. It had a massive impact in
25:08
Speaker 2: this country. And that's the reason why the President announced
25:10
Speaker 2: his passing and lowered that flag to half mask, because
25:13
Speaker 2: I think Donald Trump.
25:14
Speaker 1: Knows it too.
25:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good question. When is the last time
25:20
Speaker 3: you can remember that somebody's death is announced by the
25:23
Speaker 3: sitting president of the United States. It was the President
25:26
Speaker 3: that let America know that Charlie had passed, and the
25:31
Speaker 3: President he put out on truth social quote, the great
25:35
Speaker 3: and even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead. No one understood
25:40
Speaker 3: or had the heart of the youth in the United
25:41
Speaker 3: States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and
25:45
Speaker 3: admired by all, especially me, and now he is no
25:50
Speaker 3: longer with us. Milania and my sympathies go out to
25:54
Speaker 3: his beautiful wife, Erica and family. Charlie, we love you. Yeah,
26:00
Speaker 3: and that you're right. There's a very good argument that
26:04
Speaker 3: Donald Trump doesn't win, maybe not in twenty sixteen, maybe
26:07
Speaker 3: not in twenty twenty four without Charlie Kirk's incredible hard work.
26:13
Speaker 3: And I got to say, look, you and I have
26:15
Speaker 3: been to a lot of Turning Point conferences. I've probably
26:18
Speaker 3: spoken at a dozen of them. Yeah, this podcast has
26:21
Speaker 3: been intertwined with Turning Point. We have done several verdicts
26:26
Speaker 3: from Turning Point, where virtually the entire podcast is US
26:31
Speaker 3: answering Q and A from the young people there. And
26:35
Speaker 3: I got to say, the atmosphere of a Turning Point conference,
26:38
Speaker 3: it's like a rock concert and you have strobe lights
26:41
Speaker 3: and fires, and you'll have thousands and thousands of young people,
26:45
Speaker 3: high school kids and college kids, and there's energy and
26:48
Speaker 3: you come out to these rock star promos and it
26:52
Speaker 3: was amazing.
26:53
Speaker 2: And that was Charlie's vision center. I also want to
26:57
Speaker 2: talk about there is a question. I'm sure you've gotten it.
27:01
Speaker 2: I've gotten it too, and that is what's next. This
27:07
Speaker 2: is a moment where my nine year old asked me
27:11
Speaker 2: that I think the toughest question I've ever been asked
27:14
Speaker 2: by him. When I put into bed last night, he
27:16
Speaker 2: knew that daddy's friend had died, and he said, Daddy,
27:20
Speaker 2: is someone gonna shoot you for what you do? And
27:24
Speaker 2: I gave him the best answer I could. I said, buddy,
27:26
Speaker 2: you know daddy carries a gun. You know Daddy shoots back.
27:30
Speaker 2: And he just started crying. And I think there are
27:34
Speaker 2: so many people right now that are worried about where
27:38
Speaker 2: we are in this divide and this feeling that the
27:42
Speaker 2: left is just wanting to take out anybody that is
27:45
Speaker 2: successful in articulating conservative or Christian views. I do worry
27:50
Speaker 2: about where we are as a country. I also think
27:53
Speaker 2: that you and I and so many others that do this,
27:57
Speaker 2: everybody that I've been texting and talking with, I don't
28:00
Speaker 2: think any of us are going to back down. We
28:03
Speaker 2: maybe do things a little differently, we may take different precautions,
28:08
Speaker 2: but I don't think they're gonna silence any of us.
28:11
Speaker 2: I'm not backing down. This is my mission field. I
28:14
Speaker 2: think you feel the same way I do.
28:16
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and listen. I think Charlie inspired many people to
28:21
Speaker 3: speak up and to be brave, to be courageous. I
28:24
Speaker 3: think more people will be inspired. I will say his assassination,
28:30
Speaker 3: it wasn't just a murder, it was an assassination. Yeah,
28:34
Speaker 3: he was taken out because of who he is and
28:37
Speaker 3: because of what he was saying, And he was taken
28:40
Speaker 3: out because of fear that what he was saying was
28:45
Speaker 3: so persuasive that people wanted to hear it. Look, when
28:49
Speaker 3: he went to a college campus, he welcome leftists to
28:52
Speaker 3: come argue with him, to present their side of the story.
28:55
Speaker 3: But the power of the truth he was saying was
28:59
Speaker 3: what is dangerous. And look, I gotta say, I feel
29:04
Speaker 3: a little bit you and I were not not alive
29:06
Speaker 3: when when JFK was shot or Bobby Kennedy was shot,
29:09
Speaker 3: or Martin Luther King was shot. But I do kind
29:14
Speaker 3: of wonder if that's a little bit what this that
29:18
Speaker 3: felt like? Just just I have to say, like seeing
29:21
Speaker 3: this happen, particularly the parallel to President Trump's being shot
29:28
Speaker 3: in Butler, that it was the same thing over and
29:30
Speaker 3: over again, and it was it was almost a successful
29:34
Speaker 3: assassination of the president, and tragically it was a successful
29:38
Speaker 3: assassination of Charlie. Like what is going on that there
29:42
Speaker 3: is this hate? And I got to say, by the way,
29:44
Speaker 3: we have seen leftists. We saw people on MSNBC cackling.
29:49
Speaker 3: I saw an image on Twitter of this one soulless
29:53
Speaker 3: young woman dancing and singing that Charlie Kirk had been
29:57
Speaker 3: shot in the neck. I wanted to it made me
30:00
Speaker 3: physically sick, the the the the joy at at his
30:05
Speaker 3: being murdered. But rather than focus on that hate and
30:08
Speaker 3: we we could play those clips, but you don't need
30:10
Speaker 3: to hear those angry haters. I want to focus, actually
30:14
Speaker 3: on on on some people on the left that took
30:18
Speaker 3: a right message, and one of them was was sank Ungiar,
30:21
Speaker 3: who's I don't know him, but he's he's liberal.
30:26
Speaker 2: Hardcore liberal. Yeah, he's the young he's guy.
30:30
Speaker 3: Yeah.
30:30
Speaker 2: And he put and and and he got it right,
30:32
Speaker 2: by the way.
30:33
Speaker 3: So here's what he posted on x. He said a
30:36
Speaker 3: while ago, I put out these rules for the Internet.
30:38
Speaker 3: One when we disagree, we fight. Two we have a
30:42
Speaker 3: beer afterwards. Three when we agree, we unite. I got
30:46
Speaker 3: a lot of flacks, surprisingly for the line about the beer.
30:49
Speaker 3: People would ask, oh, yeah, would you have a beer
30:51
Speaker 3: with Charlie Kirk? Well I did, and I'm glad I
30:55
Speaker 3: did because now I won't get to yes. Charlie and
30:58
Speaker 3: I disagreed a lot about really important things, but somehow
31:02
Speaker 3: we didn't lose our humanity, we were still fellow Americans.
31:06
Speaker 3: We can all choose to hate each other, now that's
31:08
Speaker 3: a normal human reaction. We can choose to blame each
31:12
Speaker 3: other and I'm sure we will endlessly. Or we can
31:15
Speaker 3: defy the voices of division in the country and have
31:18
Speaker 3: a beer together this time in grief. If you really
31:22
Speaker 3: want to strike back at whoever did this, listen to
31:24
Speaker 3: each other. Instead of hating one another. They want us
31:27
Speaker 3: to hate each other. Treating one another as brothers and sisters,
31:31
Speaker 3: as a united America would be an historic act of defiance.
31:36
Speaker 3: Since I'm on the left, I'll go first for everyone
31:39
Speaker 3: on the right, and most especially the Kirk family. I
31:42
Speaker 3: am so sorry for your loss. I share your grief,
31:46
Speaker 3: and I want you to know that our hearts are
31:48
Speaker 3: with you. I appreciate Sank saying that I retweeted it
31:52
Speaker 3: and just said bravo like that. I don't want to
31:55
Speaker 3: focus on the haters, on the anger, on the rage,
31:58
Speaker 3: on the evil bile that we see, because that was
32:03
Speaker 3: not Charlie's message. Charlie's message was one of love. It
32:06
Speaker 3: was one of liberty. It was one of the Constitution,
32:09
Speaker 3: it was one of the Gospel, it was one of
32:11
Speaker 3: hope it was one of faith. That's that's where we
32:16
Speaker 3: should focus. And I hope that that is a powerful,
32:22
Speaker 3: powerful legacy coming out of the thirty one short years
32:26
Speaker 3: that that Charlie had on this earth.
32:29
Speaker 2: You know, one of the one of the conversations that
32:31
Speaker 2: I had was something that was older. They called me
32:33
Speaker 2: and they were like, hey, I'm just checking out you
32:35
Speaker 2: know your friends, And he said, you know, Ben, I'm older.
32:38
Speaker 2: He said, every generation has a leader that leads them.
32:41
Speaker 2: He said, you were lucky enough that you started with
32:43
Speaker 2: Ronald Reagan and then you got Rush Limbaugh. This next
32:47
Speaker 2: generation needed a leader like no one else, and they
32:49
Speaker 2: got Charlie Kirk. Yeah, and and that is a I
32:52
Speaker 2: think to look at it that way and to talk
32:55
Speaker 2: in the sense of like who is really influenced? I
32:58
Speaker 2: look with that, Russimba, I don't think you would probably
33:01
Speaker 2: doing what you're doing right now. I certainly wouldn't be
33:03
Speaker 2: doing what I'm doing right now without the inspiration of
33:06
Speaker 2: Ronald Reagan. I wouldn't have even known what politics was
33:10
Speaker 2: and and to and to fall in love with it
33:12
Speaker 2: the way that you have fallen in love with that
33:14
Speaker 2: I have. It's our mission field, I say, that, and
33:16
Speaker 2: I mean it. I feel like God put me on
33:17
Speaker 2: earth to do what I'm doing right now. I have
33:19
Speaker 2: no doubt God put you on our center to do
33:20
Speaker 2: what you're doing right now, and God put Charlie Kirk
33:23
Speaker 2: on this earth to do what he's doing. But I
33:24
Speaker 2: do think he is a once in a generational leader.
33:27
Speaker 2: That that is that his legacy may change this country,
33:32
Speaker 2: uh in ways that none of us could imagine. And
33:36
Speaker 2: how many warriors for Christ, how many warriors for conservative
33:40
Speaker 2: values and principles. And I think how many young people
33:43
Speaker 2: on college campuses that witnessed a real life assassination in
33:47
Speaker 2: an HD may be inspired to say, I'm Charlie Kirk.
33:52
Speaker 1: Amen.
33:53
Speaker 3: Amen, Amen. I want to close the show today by
33:57
Speaker 3: listening to Bobby Kennedy. Right, Martin Luther King Jr. Was
34:01
Speaker 3: shot and the message of unity that he had is
34:05
Speaker 3: one that I hope and pray we all hear in
34:08
Speaker 3: the wake of the tragic assassination of your friend and mine,
34:11
Speaker 3: the Great Charlie Kirk. Give a listen, Bobby Kennedy.
34:16
Speaker 7: Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to
34:24
Speaker 7: justice between fellow human beings. He died and the cause.
34:31
Speaker 1: Of that effort.
34:34
Speaker 7: In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the
34:38
Speaker 7: United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of
34:42
Speaker 7: a nation we are in what direction we want to
34:46
Speaker 7: move in. For those of you who are black, considering
34:53
Speaker 7: the evidence evidently is that there were white people who
34:56
Speaker 7: were responsible, you can be filled with bitterness and with
35:03
Speaker 7: hatred and a desire for revenge. We can move in
35:09
Speaker 7: that direction as a country and greater polarization black people
35:15
Speaker 7: amongst blacks and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward
35:21
Speaker 7: one another. I would only say that I can also
35:25
Speaker 7: feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling.
35:30
Speaker 7: I had a member of my family killed, but he
35:33
Speaker 7: was killed by a white man. But we have to
35:37
Speaker 7: make an effort in the United States. We have to
35:40
Speaker 7: make an effort to understand, to get beyond or go
35:45
Speaker 7: beyond these rather difficult times.
35:47
Speaker 2: Make sure you pray for Charlie Kirk's family, for his kids,
35:50
Speaker 2: his wife, his in laws, as parents, all the loved
35:54
Speaker 2: ones around him, his staff. Our thoughts and prayers go
35:57
Speaker 2: out to them. We'll see you back here when verdict
35:59
Speaker 2: was us ender Ted Cruz all week long on the podcast.
36:02
Speaker 2: Make sure you follow us and download it. There and
36:04
Speaker 2: we'll see you back here again real soon, God bless