Erika Kirk's Opening Speech at AmFest 2025

00:00:03 Speaker 1: My name is Charlie Kirk. I run the largest pro American student organization in the country, fighting for the future of our republic. My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth. If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're gonna end up miserable. But if the most important thing is doing good, you'll end up purposeful. College is a scam, everybody. You got to stop sending your kids to college. You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible. Go start at turning point, you would say, college chapter. Go start at turning point, you say high school chapter. Go find out how your church can get involved. Sign up and become an activist. I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade, most important decision I ever made in my life, and I encourage you to do the same. Here I am Lord, Use me. Buckle up, everybody, Here we go. The Charlie Kirk Show is proudly sponsored by Preserved Gold, leading gold and silver experts and the only precious metals company. I recommend to my family, friends and viewers. 00:01:19 Speaker 2: This is a full circle moment for me. Two years ago, my husband stood on this stage and said, here I am lord, use me, and boy did he You know, it's really interesting. 00:01:51 Speaker 3: The enemy has thrown a lot of curve. 00:01:54 Speaker 2: Balls at us today and this week, in the past three months, and one of them is the fact that my entire speech has been wiped because my iPad won't even turn on. So that's a fun technical difficulty. 00:02:07 Speaker 3: That we can figure out. So we're just gonna wing it. We're just gonna wing it. 00:02:17 Speaker 2: I was gonna share with you stats, I was gonna share with you all the things that we have going on buildings. 00:02:25 Speaker 3: So I'm gonna just start it off with this. 00:02:27 Speaker 2: So last year, Charlie, I'll rewind ampest is Charlie's Super Bowl. 00:02:37 Speaker 3: Thank you. These are the stats. 00:02:39 Speaker 2: I got the stats, no speech, So again, we're gonna wing it. 00:02:44 Speaker 3: So amfest. 00:02:46 Speaker 2: Last year, Charlie reminded me that this was his Super Bowl. And for those of you who are sitting in the back, my husband was very intentional about making sure he was in the back because he wanted to sit and what he considered maybe the worst seat in the arena. And he made it a point to listen to the whole intro video, every speaker video, and he would tell the team louder, more bass, more noise. He would say, there's a treble and a base knob turn the ones to make it right. So even if you feel like you're in the worst seat in the house, you're not because Charlie sit in one of those. So you're in good company up there. But what's also very interesting is that when Charlie first and the team first came up with since I don't have a speech, I might as well just walk around. When Charlie first came up with Amfest, he thought to himself, who would not love to celebrate America? 00:03:52 Speaker 3: So we're gonna name it Amfest And that's what he did. 00:03:57 Speaker 2: And I'll never forget last year we were blessed to have President Trump come and speak. And afterwards, Charlie turns to me starts running, like where are you going? He's like, I'm about to go on Air Force One. I'm in heels trying to chase him to figure out what is going on. 00:04:23 Speaker 3: He goes, okay, so I. 00:04:25 Speaker 2: Got to get on Air Force one. 00:04:26 Speaker 3: I was like, good for you, baby. 00:04:27 Speaker 2: He's like, okay, So I need you to close out the Amfest and I need you to do the staff meeting afterwards, and I was like, excuse me. He's like, yeah, you're closing out Amfest and I was like, I am not closing out Amfest. He's like, yes, you are in here. And I said what am I supposed to say? And he goes, You'll figure it out. That's why I married you. I was like, you always say that to me whenever we're in a position where we won't like there's no script, there's nothing. He's like, baby, you'll figure it out. That's why I married you. So again, here we are. 00:04:59 Speaker 3: Right. 00:05:00 Speaker 2: So now we're opening Amfest. But what's so interesting and what I have learned so much within these past three months. Again the enemy, but he will never win. We know we're on the winning side. God is so good. So Charlie loved to share Amfest stats. 00:05:24 Speaker 3: So that's what we're going to do really quick. 00:05:27 Speaker 2: He would love for you guys to know that eighty percent of the attendees have never attended a tep USA event before. So thank you for everyone who is new. Welcome home. Turning Point USA is your home and we're loving that your year. One third of the attendees are students. Fifty yeah, we love our students. Fifty four percent are female attendees. Okay, we have forty breakout sessions, one hundred and seventy eight sponsors, all fifty states represented. We have twenty five countries represented, plus Puerto Rico. But I have the list here. Don't worry, guys. Egypt is not on the list. Don't worry about that. But oh, how funny I say Egypt and my iPad turns on. 00:06:35 Speaker 3: That's fun? Where were we? Okay? 00:06:40 Speaker 2: So anyways, the past three months, I have learned a lot. 00:06:46 Speaker 3: You learn very quickly who is ready to go to war with you. 00:06:50 Speaker 2: You learn very quickly who thinks emotionally versus logically. When you go through something as horrible that not only myself went through, but every single one of you in here that loved my husband, you find out who. 00:07:08 Speaker 3: Stays with you, who leaves. You find out a lot. 00:07:13 Speaker 2: You find out who's going to pray with you when there's no words left. And you also learn some unexpected things, like the fact that joy Reid probably needs a really, really good hug, and honestly, I'm here for it if she needs it. I got a good hug for you, good hug for you. I'll even touch the back of your head. 00:07:46 Speaker 3: But I love you, guys. 00:07:48 Speaker 2: But here's what I've learned the most in these past three months is that my husband, he deeply mattered on a multitude of levels, so much so that it proved even more once he was assassinated, how much of a keysemaker he was and how much of a coalition builder he was. Because when he was assassinated, we saw in fighting, We've seen fractures, we've seen bridges being burned that shouldn't be burnt. 00:08:26 Speaker 3: We saw a lot on full display. 00:08:29 Speaker 2: And what I knew as a wife, and I'm the same exact way as him. If you are trying to put up fight or flight mode, we're always fight mode. 00:08:42 Speaker 3: We don't retreat. Charlie would go wherever. 00:08:45 Speaker 2: He needed to go, and I'm the same exact way, same exact way. And you'll learn that. You'll learn that about me the more that you get to know me. I know I'm new here, I'm new here, but you'll learn you'll learn Him and I were not afraid of that. And that's also why the past several months, several weeks, I honored my husband by completing all of he's pre planned fall media toward hits for his book, his any commitment he had. I wanted to honor that for him. I wasn't going on a media tour myself. This was for my husband because in our household, our word is our bond, and when you give it, you uphold it. 00:09:35 Speaker 3: So I honored my husband that way. 00:09:39 Speaker 2: And so what I'm inspired by is the fact that Charlie and I. 00:09:44 Speaker 3: Again will go wherever we need to go. But so will you. That's why you guys are here. 00:09:50 Speaker 2: All of you are here because you know that you're sitting saying I want to do something. 00:09:56 Speaker 3: So that's why you came here. You came here to. 00:09:59 Speaker 2: Meet other peop to know that you're not in this fight alone. You were here for a purpose. God made you for a purpose. Students, raise your hands. Out of those students, drop your hands, if put your hand up. If you're in high school, Okay, all of you. 00:10:19 Speaker 3: I love it. I love my high school. 00:10:21 Speaker 2: As Charlie had a very special place in his heart for Club America. Who's like, how could you not love Club America? All of you again going where you need to go. If your Club America is not set up, or you want to set one up, step right into your admin's office. 00:10:42 Speaker 3: College students, raise. 00:10:43 Speaker 2: Your hands, got a lot of them. So where you got to be willing to go is on your campus. 00:10:54 Speaker 3: That means either. 00:10:55 Speaker 2: Starting a chapter, joining a chapter, maybe even one day putting up a tent in the quad. 00:11:02 Speaker 3: We're not afraid for church goers. Hold your past. 00:11:08 Speaker 2: You're accountable for biblical citizenship. Okay, there are so many ways to get involved. That's why Charlie built Turning Point USA the way he did. He didn't care your race, your age, your background. If Charlie listened to every single person that told him you're too young to make a difference, you don't have enough connections, you're not going to do it, he would have let that noise consume him, and he would not have built the machine that he has built today. So don't you dare let anyone tell you you're too young, you're not smart enough, and you're not connected enough. As long as you're a part of Turning Point in usay, we will empower you and give whatever you need to be able to make that come to life. Okay. Charlie wasn't just a speaker. He wasn't just a political thinker. He wasn't just a thought leader. Again, he was a bridge he was a pathway, He was a connection point to generations. He was a pathway and connection point communication to inner politics. And he also looked at a generation that has been mocked, that has been dismissed, that has been discouraged, and told them you matter, your ideas matter, your decisions matter. And he would say this country is still worth defending and still worth sacrificing for. So, like all of you, this is our turning point as well, especially as we move into twenty twenty six. And I want to share with you off this paper. I'm not going to wing it this one because I want all of you guys to absorb the magnitude of these numbers. The number of student requests to get involved since nine ten, One hundred and forty thousand plus get involved request have been submitted since nine ten, one hundred and forty thousand. Total number of students involved this is involved within Turningport USA. One million plus students involved in Turning Point USI. Current chapter numbers as of December eighteenth, twenty twenty five, three thousand and eighty two Club America chapters, one thousand, four hundred and thirty two College chapters, so that leaves four thousand, five hundred and fourteen total chapters as of today, and we are starting fifty chapters per day at turning point USA. It's amaza. Something I also love right now is how we are getting some amazing state partnerships with Club America. I want to give a huge shout out to Oklahoma. Oklahoma's in the house, Florida, Okay, Indiana, Texas of course, and Tennessee. Another turning point for us for twenty twenty six is the Make Heaven Crowded Tour, something I'm very excited about for those of you who attended the memorial service, that revival is a slice of Heaven that I'm going to make sure we take around this whole entire country. So we have difference tour, what stops that are going to be coming up that I want you guys to be aware of. Feel free to take a picture whenever they put it up there. But if you're in any of these cities we are bringing that to you, It's going to be amazing. God is so good. God is so good. I also want to note that our church partnership since nine ten, we have over eight thousand church partnerships and counting. 00:15:35 Speaker 3: This one's very special to me. 00:15:38 Speaker 2: Charlie's love for debate will always be the DNA of Turning Point USA. We believe in debate because we believe in truth, and we believe in civil discourse because we believe that truth can withstand scrutiny. So that is why we will be launching the Pick Up the Mic initiative and getting back on campus for Prove Me Wrongs and campus tour events this spring and fall of twenty twenty six. I'm also really excited about everything that we're doing at Turning Point Action. We are locked in and mission focused for both twenty twenty six and twenty twenty eight. We're investing in states and not just in races. So what I mean by that is we are building the Red Wall Arizona, Nevada, New Hampshire. 00:16:41 Speaker 3: That's going to be very important to us. 00:16:43 Speaker 2: We're going to ensure that President Trump has Congress for all four years. We are going to get my husband's friend JD Vance elected for forty eight and. 00:16:59 Speaker 3: The most were down New Way passable. 00:17:08 Speaker 2: And for our hometown Arizona folks. So you guys in the house Arizona, go bigs or go home. 00:17:15 Speaker 3: Is where we're at right now mentally. 00:17:20 Speaker 2: But my husband didn't build this movement so people could feel comfortable. He built this movement so people could feel. 00:17:27 Speaker 3: Brave and to be brave with action, so. 00:17:32 Speaker 2: People could see on full display that when you stop talking to people, especially those that you disagree with, you are the one that actually becomes weaker. 00:17:43 Speaker 3: Let that sink in. So you may not agree with everyone on. 00:17:50 Speaker 2: This stage this weekend, and that's okay, Welcome to America. 00:18:03 Speaker 3: Charlie would have welcomed that. 00:18:06 Speaker 2: He believed disagreement was something not to be canceled. It was something to confront with clarity, courage, and grace. And Charlie loved truth way more than conformity. So this weekend for me personally is laced with nostalgia. 00:18:27 Speaker 3: And it's laced with hope. 00:18:30 Speaker 2: But deeper than that, it's about carrying forward what Charlie built and ultimately what he gave his life for. And I've said it before and I'll say it again. The mission didn't end with Charlie's life. It's being lived out through each and every one of you in your own way. Again, it doesn't matter, your age, doesn't matter, your race, doesn't matter, your background. Amfest is about echo chambers. It's very important to know that because it's about sharpening one another, it's about digging deeper into ideas instead of retreating into slogans, and it's about remembering that freedom requires responsibility and truth requires courage. So my challenge to you this weekend is very simple. Don't just attend Amfest. Let it mark you, let it stretch you, Let it challenge assumptions, strengthen convictions, and maybe even make you a little uncomfortable, because that's where growth happens in those moments. Let it be another turning point in your life, another moment where you decide not to a drift, not to disengage, not to give into cynicism, but to stand up boldly, to be brave, to speak clearly, because that is how we are going to honor Charlie. We are going to honor him not just. 00:20:18 Speaker 3: With words, but with action. So with that, welcome to Amfast. For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to Charliekirk dot com