Erika Kirk's Town Hall with Bari Weiss and CBS News

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 aturning point. Yould 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. 00:01:09 Speaker 2: Good evening. 00:01:10 Speaker 3: I'm Barry Weiss, editor in chief of CBS News, and I want to thank you so much for joining us tonight. Let me tell you why we're here. If you're watching this or you're sitting here in this room with me, you know what I know, which is that we live in a very divided country, a country where many people feel that they can't speak across the political divide. Sometimes they feel they can't even speak across their own kitchen table. And one of the goals of the new CBS News is to change that. And this town hall is just the beginning. This is going to be the first of many conversations and debates on CBS News about the things that matter most, which are often the hardest to talk about. 00:01:53 Speaker 2: I can make one promise to. 00:01:55 Speaker 3: You, and it's this, you will not agree with everything you hear tonight or an any of these other broadcasts. And that is exactly the point, because the premise of a democracy is that we persuade each other with words and not violence, and that the only way to get to the truth is by talking to one another. 00:02:15 Speaker 2: And that brings me right to tonight's guests, Erica Kirk. 00:02:19 Speaker 3: Three months ago, Erica Kirk's husband Charlie, was assassinated on a college campus in Utah to some Charlie Kirk was controversial. 00:02:28 Speaker 2: To others, he was heroic. What is indisputable is that. 00:02:32 Speaker 3: He transformed the American rite in the twenty first century. He did it through an organization called Turning Point USA, which he founded. 00:02:41 Speaker 4: When he was only eighteen years old. 00:02:44 Speaker 3: In the wake of Charlie's murder, Erica has now picked up his mantle. The mother of two young children, she is also now the CEO and chairwoman of Turning Point. Now, Charlie's murder was not an isolated tragedy, and tonight in the audience, we have other victims of the political violence that's ripping through this country. We also have religious leaders, college students, young Christians, and others invited by CBS News. You're going to be hearing from some of them tonight. Okay, we have a lot to talk about, so Erica, let's get started. Thank you so much for joining me, Thank you for having me. 00:03:18 Speaker 5: I was very grateful when you had reached out because it was an opportunity to be able to have a conversation that Charlie always enjoyed, being able to have dialogue on both sides so that people could really hear everything that's going on. 00:03:34 Speaker 4: I appreciate it. 00:03:35 Speaker 3: Thank you so much for making the time. There's so many subjects I want to cover. I want to begin with the hours and days after your husband was murdered. Yes, you got up in his podcast studio where he broadcasted from for many hours every day. Yeah, and you said this. You said you have no idea what you have just unleashed. What did you mean by that? 00:04:00 Speaker 5: I give you a little background of that day. We get home, the team goes to dinner. I'm laying in my daughter's bed and I can't sleep. It took me months to even walk into my bedroom. I'm laying in my daughter's bed, I can't sleep. I grab my phone and I start typing. 00:04:21 Speaker 4: Out it and those are my words. 00:04:27 Speaker 5: That morning, the team reached out to me and said, they think they got the guy. You should probably say thank you to the authorities and just make a statement. I said, okay, I wasn't afraid. They said, let's go to the office and let's discuss. We're at the office and they say, do. 00:04:50 Speaker 4: You want to go live or we can easily you know what, Yeah, let's do that. 00:04:54 Speaker 5: We can easily pre record this. I said, absolutely not. My husband always went live. I have nothing to hide. 00:05:01 Speaker 4: We're fully transparent. What you see is what you get. 00:05:05 Speaker 5: If I start breaking down on live TV, I break down on live TV. My husband was assassinated. He didn't die in a car accident. So we go live. I write all of my own speeches. And when I said that, that is the Holy Spirit that is unleashed, that is a revival that's unleashed. That's not meant for called to violence. That's meant for people to understand that the Lord is moving in ways we have no idea, and God is going to use something so tragic to wake people up to realize that our life is short. He only lived thirty one years. Thirty one years, and so yes, you have no idea what has been unleashed. But I will promise until my last breath that I will let the Lord use me in ways that he only can to bring glory to him into the kingdom. And it has been unbelievably powerful, and it's just the beginning. 00:06:17 Speaker 4: Erica. 00:06:18 Speaker 3: One of the most alarming things about Charlie's murder was the way that some people in this country reacted to it. 00:06:26 Speaker 2: Yeah, and not just online. 00:06:27 Speaker 3: This was kind of this was an idea that you encountered a lot, and the idea was this, They kind of justified it. They basically said that because Charlie said or believed things that they believed were controversial or even hateful, that he somehow had it coming. 00:06:45 Speaker 4: What do you say to people who justified his death. 00:06:50 Speaker 5: You're sick. He's a human being. You think he deserved that. Tell that to my three year old daughter. 00:07:06 Speaker 4: Excuse you want to watch. 00:07:12 Speaker 6: And hi res. 00:07:15 Speaker 4: The video of my husband being murdered. 00:07:19 Speaker 6: Then laugh and say he deserves it. There's something very sick in your soul. And I pray that God saves you. 00:07:32 Speaker 4: I pray because that is what is so wrong. 00:07:38 Speaker 5: The internet in this world has dehumanized us. My husband did something very simple. He talked to people. You're going to be murdered for talking to people. He didn't go after people. He went after your ideas. And if you think it's okay to murder someone because you think they had it coming for them, because they took the time to have people come. 00:08:06 Speaker 4: To the front of the line, if they didn't agree with you. 00:08:11 Speaker 5: And you think it's okay because you don't like what they say or how they say it, that they should be murdered and you're enjoying it, and you're rejoicing in that. 00:08:21 Speaker 4: That is evil. 00:08:24 Speaker 2: Evil. 00:08:28 Speaker 3: Excuse me, as you know, and as I know. One of the ideas that has gained a lot of traction among young people, especially in this country, Erica, and this. 00:08:43 Speaker 2: Leads them to this kind of. 00:08:44 Speaker 3: Justification is the idea that words themselves are violence. And that brings us tonight to our first audience question. It comes from Angel EDUARDA. Angel is a senior writer and edit for the civil libertarian group The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression or FIRE, and he writes passionately about issues of free speech. 00:09:09 Speaker 2: Angel, thank you, Parry eric I on my condolences. 00:09:13 Speaker 7: A recent survey that we took after Charlie's assassination found that ninety percent of undergraduates believed to some extent that words can be violence. Another FIRE survey that we took earlier also found that one third of surveyed students believe that using violence to stop disfavored speech can be acceptable, at least in rare cases. What's your response to those numbers and what would you say to those students. 00:09:38 Speaker 5: In particular, well for the people who say that my husband might have incited violence. I know that was not your question, but I'm going to put a squash on it before anyone else can attach to that. 00:09:51 Speaker 4: My husband never incited violence. He never once. 00:09:54 Speaker 5: Said go after them because they're saying XYZ and they deserve to. My husband never once said that, and he never would. What did he say, come to the front of the line. I'll put my mic down. Tell me why you believe that. 00:10:12 Speaker 4: That's interesting. I never thought of that. What have you thought of this? People heckling laughing at them? Stop? They took a lot of courage for them to come up here. 00:10:22 Speaker 5: Stop doing that. He gave them a microphone. He didn't take away a moment for them to speak back. He gave them a microphone. And what they do, they gave him a bullet in the neck. Totally different. But you have secular revolutionaries that want to come out and say you can't say that, and I'm going to stop you from saying it. 00:10:48 Speaker 4: I'm going to. 00:10:50 Speaker 5: Why you don't want to have a conversation, something as simple as a conversation. 00:10:55 Speaker 4: And this is what is so fascinating to me. 00:11:00 Speaker 5: My husband knew that something as simple as having a conversation could change the world. So simple that is an ancient thing. Come and sit down and have coffee with me. Why do you believe what you believe? Eighties and nineties they were doing this in congress, then going to have a subway afterwards. Why don't we do that anymore? Instead, it's. 00:11:23 Speaker 4: Violence, usually one sided. I'm not going to go there. 00:11:29 Speaker 5: But you know what's so interesting about my husband's book, the last book he will ever write. It could have been about politics, it could have been about football, it could have been about every anything. He was multi dimensional. It literally says, stop, in the name of God, stop, stop the violence, stop the hate, have a conversation. 00:11:58 Speaker 4: Stop. 00:12:00 Speaker 5: And what he knew in that book was not just so much stop that. Take a minute to get off of your phone and realize that we are all human operating on this broken planet, all sinful, no one's perfect, and we're not getting out of here alive. But what he knew in that book was the balancing factor of communication. You cannot communicate with someone if you're not at peace with yourself. So he went on campus talking to a kid. They're screaming at him, screaming. Does he scream back? 00:12:36 Speaker 6: Not? 00:12:36 Speaker 5: Once he sits there, and you know what, he's thinking it's in that book. Maybe you need to take a few hours, get off your phone, go for a walk in nature, Go sit and have a coffee, Go and tell your mother you love her. Go do something that is beautiful and healing instead of trying to tear something down that you did not build. 00:13:00 Speaker 4: That's my thought on that. 00:13:02 Speaker 3: We're going to talk about the book in a little bit, but I want to pick up on a theme that you've now hit on twice, which is the idea that the black squares that we all have in our pocket our phones, yes, that they are doing something to us collectively, that they are dehumanizing us. Later, we'll talk about the conspiracies that are spreading right now on those platforms about who killed your husband. What do you recommend to people sitting in this room. What are your practices to disconnect to reconnect by disconnecting? Well, like my husband, I took all of it off my phone, all social media off your phone. 00:13:41 Speaker 5: I don't have it on my phone. I have a team that helps run it. I really everyone has an opinion about me. I could care less. You know what I care about. I care about what my daughter says about me and her running up into my arms and loving on me. 00:13:56 Speaker 4: That's what I care about. 00:13:58 Speaker 3: One of the things that has happened over the three months since Charlie was murdered is that people have gone through the thousands, maybe tens of thousands of hours of words he produced. He said more in thirty one years than most people will say in a life. Titus, and I want to read a few that have captured the most attention, especially on the political left. Okay, yeah, some gun deaths were quote unfortunately worth it to preserve the Second Amendment, he said, acknowledging that he wishes he didn't feel this way. 00:14:28 Speaker 2: He said, I'm sorry. 00:14:30 Speaker 3: If I see a black pilot, I'm going to be like boy, I hope he's qualified. He said the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty four was a mistake. Now I realize that all of those quotes come from longer conversations that he had on his show, but he did say those things. And Charlie is being memorialized by many people as a person who promoted civil discourse, as a person who said, come to the front of the line, let's have a civil conversation. How do you square that with the statements I just. 00:14:58 Speaker 5: Read, Love for everyone to be able to watch the full and entire clip of what he said. Charlie didn't care what skin color you were, He didn't care what religion you were. 00:15:13 Speaker 4: He loved excellence. 00:15:18 Speaker 5: He loved knowing that people His favorite word was earn. He loved knowing that people worked hard to earn what they what they got. He worked so hard to build Turning Point USA. The first statement meant about guns and shooting. I have no idea the context of that, and I have no idea what he was that that whole there's a lot more there than just that one little sentence. My husband is not to be deteriorated to two sentences. 00:15:48 Speaker 4: He's not. He is a thought leader and he was brilliant of a man. 00:15:55 Speaker 5: So that's fine if you want to take words out of his mouth or out of context, without the whole thing in perspective. 00:16:06 Speaker 4: But that's the problem. 00:16:08 Speaker 3: Does it bother you that people are picking out those statements and drawing an entire picture of who he was? 00:16:15 Speaker 4: Again, that's the problem. 00:16:18 Speaker 5: You're not having a conversation, You're having a fifteen second clip on the Internet to define your thought of who someone is, instead of taking the time to educate yourself on truly who that person is, what they thought, because why they challenged you to think a little different. Again, My husband was an amazing man or human, but I do not once for one second think he was anything else than exceptional, Erica. 00:16:57 Speaker 3: As you know, the last person that Charlie ever spoke to was a Utah Valley student named Hunter Kozak. He was asking Charlie a question that day when he was shot, and he's here tonight and he wants to ask you a question. 00:17:15 Speaker 4: Hi there, Erica. 00:17:18 Speaker 8: I want to tell you how much I appreciate your calls for peace and unity. And I'm likewise horrified by the people in my so called camp who were cheering about Charlie's murder. I believe that they stoke the flames of violence. But even worse is when powerful influential people on either side of the aisle stoke the flames. When they do it, the flames can become an inferno. And this leads me to Donald Trump, the most powerful and influential person on earth, who has more responsibility than anyone else to put the flames out. Just last month, President Trump called on six Democratic lawmakers to be tried for sedition, which he clarified was punishable by death. He then repat host it a simple message, hang them. I think that you've been making strides to bring peace to our country, and that turning point has been asking democrats to decry the individuals who cheer for violence. I have and will continue to decry them. But any good faith effort to stop political violence must hold both parties to the same standard and expectation. So in that spirit, will you condemn the violent rhetoric of Donald Trump, the most powerful and influential person on earth. 00:18:29 Speaker 4: I appreciate your question. 00:18:34 Speaker 5: You know, my heart, why would I ever say yes, go murder people? This is so much deeper than just one I understand your sentiment. I do, But this is also so much deeper than just one person. This starts at the home. Okay, This starts with family. This starts with a sea that grows and grows. You can choose to have evil in your heart, or you can choose to have light. What you consume and what you absorb from the outside world will manifest itself. No, I will never agree with political violence. My husband is a victim of it. I'm a victim of it. But what I'm trying to say here is that we can blame everyone else. 00:19:36 Speaker 4: We have to look in the mirror. 00:19:38 Speaker 5: When you become a father, when you become a mother, how are you raising your kids? Are you taking responsibility or are you giving them a device and saying go down that rabbit hole. I'm trying to go to pilates class. You can just sit in the corner and look at your iPad or look at your phone and go down that rabbit hole and see what you can learn from that instead of being a pair. So my call to action from that is, parents, step up. Do you want your kid to be a thought leader or an assassin? 00:20:11 Speaker 4: That's where we're at. 00:20:12 Speaker 3: Do you think our political leaders have a responsibility to turn the temperature down right now? 00:20:17 Speaker 5: Well, I think everyone has a responsibility to do that, and I'm doing my part. 00:20:21 Speaker 4: I'm not in control of other people. 00:20:25 Speaker 3: Bob Milgram is the father of Sarah Milgram. Sarah was fatally shot last May outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, alongside Jerone Leshinsky, her boyfriend. Sarah was just twenty six years old when she was killed. Bob, thank you so much for being here. 00:20:46 Speaker 9: Thank you, Barry, Hello, Erica. Just as our family could not anticipate the pain we've been going through following the murderer of our daughter Sarah. There's no way I can understand the pain that you and your children are going through as a result of Charlie's tragic death. Our daughter was killed because of anti Semitism, hate against Jews, and hate against the Jewish homeland Israel. We know about the growth of anti Semitism on the left, including here in New York City, where the mayor elect still will not condemn the phrase globalize the Infantada. What I want you to address is growing anti semitism on the right, including Holocaust denial, anti Zionism, and the normalizing of centuries old conspiracy theories about Jews. Will you here condemn the individuals spreading that hate and speak out clearly enough against anti semitism so we can prevent another tragedy. 00:21:59 Speaker 4: Yes, sir. First of all, I'm so sorry you and I are a part of a. 00:22:05 Speaker 5: Very small club painful, but you're in good company and I will pray for you. 00:22:17 Speaker 4: Sucks, doesn't it? Hate is hate, It's evil. 00:22:31 Speaker 5: Charlie and I have always been very clear on our stance Israel, Jewish people. It's awful, awful. Anti Semitism is what healing factor comes out of hating Jewish people, What healing factor comes out of hating Christians? What healing factor comes out hate in general? 00:22:57 Speaker 4: Nothing? Nothing. Charlie always would say very clearly, jew hate was brain rot. You would always say it. We've been to Israel. 00:23:10 Speaker 5: Twice together, and to be able to walk in the place where our Lord walked and see the Bible come to life in technicolor, how could you hate that place? 00:23:29 Speaker 4: How could you hate the Jewish people? 00:23:34 Speaker 10: Why? 00:23:35 Speaker 4: Because you need to fulfill conspiracy theory. 00:23:40 Speaker 5: I'm wrapped and people say I'm a part of conspiracy theories. 00:23:43 Speaker 4: All the time. It's sick and it needs to stop. 00:23:49 Speaker 5: We are human. No one is perfect. No Christian is perfect, no Jew is perfect, no Muslim is perfect. We are broken, sinful humans in need of a Lord and savior. And that's why it is so important to give your life to the Lord, because once you do that, and you fully surrender to the Lord, you have no room in your heart for hate. And so, sir, I am so sorry what happened to your daughter. I pray that does not happen, and I pray that that is something that we can somehow extinguish in this world, but we are living an enemy occupied territory in every single day. We need to guard ourselves, guard our minds, guard our heart, and the best way to do that is reading God's word. And you cannot separate the Old Testament from the New Testament. 00:24:42 Speaker 4: You cannot. You cannot, Bob, Do you want to ask a follow up? 00:24:52 Speaker 9: Is there anything specific that Turning Point can do to combat anti Semitism? 00:24:58 Speaker 5: Yeah, so we are on all of our college campus in high school campuses, we have these conversations and our students understand exactly my heart and Charlie's heart and the sentiment of everything I just said. We have Shabbat dinner happening at Amfest. We have individuals in our chapters who are Jewish. We have people that are going to be having booths. We have an exhibit hall at Amfest that are Jewish, that have Jewish organizations. The only way to combat evil, just like Charlie did, is with dialogue and not being afraid to do it. If you have these these things that are being said, you need to counter it with the truth. And if you don't, there's a void and a vacuum and so even though there are a small number, they get louder and louder. So we need to do our best, which we are doing our We're doing our part. We're going to continue to do our part to make sure that the truth is always heard. Will amplify it even more, and we're going to do the best we can. But we need the whole community. We need everyone in on that, Bob. 00:26:11 Speaker 2: Thank you so much. 00:26:12 Speaker 3: I want to talk about discernment, okay, being able to separate truth from lives, reality from unreality. A twenty two year old man named Tyler Robinson has been rested and charged with the murder of your husband, and yet there are a huge number of conspiracy theories you might call them brain rot that are spreading right now online about the actual story behind the reality. One people say that Tyler Robinson was actually a Maga Republican or two. Some people say, you're actually a Masad agent sitting in front of me, and you were Charlie's handler and Israel killed Charlie right. Other people say that a number of men in the crowd we're wearing maroon T shirts and this signifies that his killing was an. 00:27:04 Speaker 4: Elite airborne operation. 00:27:06 Speaker 3: Whatever that means they say that the rings on your fingers, which are. 00:27:11 Speaker 5: My kids and your kid's initials, my wedding band, the Metal of Freedom, my engagement ring, but apparently. 00:27:17 Speaker 3: They symbolize some kind of secret plot. There's also a new theory that Egyptian aircraft have been tracking you. What is going on? Why are there so many conspiracies spreading about what seems to be a pretty open and shutcase. 00:27:35 Speaker 5: This is the first time that we have seen evil on display, where we have social media at our fingertips. Something so evil that happened. People are wanting answers immediately. They are wanting to figure out how to wrap their mind around this. 00:27:53 Speaker 4: Egyptian planes do Let's. 00:27:55 Speaker 3: Just yeah, the Egyptian Do you believe that Tyler Robinson murdered your Yes? 00:28:00 Speaker 4: I do. 00:28:02 Speaker 3: Why do you think it is so hard for so many people to believe that reality. 00:28:10 Speaker 4: Because it's too simple. 00:28:14 Speaker 5: Again, everyone always has to think there's more to the story. 00:28:17 Speaker 4: Well, sometimes there's not. 00:28:18 Speaker 5: I've seen the autopsy report, I've seen our case pull together. 00:28:21 Speaker 4: I've been in constant contact with. 00:28:23 Speaker 5: Our lawyers, are the prosecuting team. 00:28:27 Speaker 4: I've seen it all. And let me tell you this why in the world. 00:28:32 Speaker 5: Why should we, prior to the trial lay all of our hands and cards on the table for the defense team to see to somehow then I don't even know what they would do with it. But what I will say, and I want to get on the Egyptian plane thing take a flight on that for a second. What I will say is what I'm worried about, and I'm fascinated just from a legal standpoint, to see how the United Healthcare try pans out. And I say that because this is the first time where we are seeing the implications. 00:29:07 Speaker 2: You're talking about. Luigi MANGIONI correct. 00:29:09 Speaker 5: I'd prefer never to say any of their names. They do not even deserve the ounce of oxygen and breath out of my body. 00:29:14 Speaker 4: But what I mean is it's. 00:29:15 Speaker 5: Fascinating to see how social media will impact that core case, just how it might impact mine. 00:29:23 Speaker 4: And that is he's not going to. 00:29:24 Speaker 2: Get a fair trial. 00:29:26 Speaker 5: Are I'm nervous that there could be They'll they'll say we can't find a fair jury, like they're going to taint the jury pool. 00:29:33 Speaker 3: And in that case, that's how widespread you think these conspiracies have gone. Yes, that's how mainstream they become. Okay, Egyptian planes. 00:29:45 Speaker 2: You want to have that webs and planes. 00:29:47 Speaker 5: Okay, I was pregnant for ninety percent of those trips. Mind you, I've never all those places they said I've travel. 00:29:54 Speaker 4: I've never been. I mean, i've been, but I'm not within those dates that they've But you even said you need to know. But this is yeah, But I do. 00:30:01 Speaker 5: I do on that one only because only because from a humor standpoint. Humor standpoint, I intentionally when I was pregnant hid not because I was embarrassed, not. 00:30:16 Speaker 4: Because I didn't want anyone. 00:30:17 Speaker 5: Yes, we did keep it very private, but because it was a moment very sacred. I was growing a human inside of me, my baby. The world that Charlie and I live in is very toxic at times, and when you are growing a beautiful child in you, I don't want to be around it. I want to enjoy eating my in and out burger and my hot Fudge Sunday. That's what I want to do. I'm pregnant and I have nine months to own it. You really think I'm going to be on an Egyptian plane while I am wanting to be with my in and out Burger and my chocolate milkshake. No, I'm not so. If you want to go through my flight log, go right ahead. It's very boring you say I was here on this date. I have a photo on my phone to prove that I actually was in the hospital because I was having contractions. 00:31:01 Speaker 4: So game on the pup the podcast. 00:31:08 Speaker 3: Are Candace Owens Okay, at one time a friend of Charlie's, at one time an employee of Turning Point. She has been one of the main peddlers of these conspiracies and she is making a huge amount. 00:31:20 Speaker 2: Of money on it. 00:31:21 Speaker 3: She is building her business off of these lies. What do you want to say to her and the other people that are putting these lies out into the world right now? 00:31:33 Speaker 4: Stop? That's it. That's all I have to say. Stop. Okay. 00:31:41 Speaker 3: The next question comes from a person who may be familiar to you, Erica, because Charlie interviewed him for his show last August. 00:31:50 Speaker 2: Rob Henderson to you, thank you, Berry, and thank you Erica. 00:31:57 Speaker 11: During that discussion with Charlie, neither of us knew that was going to be the last long form interview he would ever conduct. Because his life was cut short by the actions of a very disturbed young man As someone who admired Charlie's ability to offer young people a productive and optimistic path, I wanted to ask, how should the conservative movement think about cultivating leaders and role models for young men and how can it continue offering them a constructive alternative to the toxic currents Charlie so astutely criticized. 00:32:33 Speaker 4: It's a great question. 00:32:34 Speaker 5: First of all, your interview was amazing, so one of my favorite ones to look back on. Charlie connected with you very well, and I can always tell when he does on his show. 00:32:44 Speaker 4: I've always watched his show, and I could always. 00:32:47 Speaker 5: Tell because his questions and his engagement would shift. He always loved, He loved that conversation with you. As the CEO of Turning, it is my responsibility to make sure that our youth is in good hands. Our chapter leaders are amazing, and there's some leaders within those groups. You guys have not even seen or heard about yet, but you will one day and you'll be blown away because they are amazing kids. We had two of them at our Galla event this weekend and they spoke in front of our donors. Is the first time I ever met them. Phenomenal kids. Not only are they smart, they have a heart. Not only do they have a heart, they can understand and see the gen Z landscape in a way that we can't. 00:33:48 Speaker 4: And from a peer to. 00:33:49 Speaker 5: Peer communication level, they're phenomenal. So I personally having a front row seat to the rising generation, the courageous generation, they're amazing. Yes there are bad apples. Millennials, we got them too, So do the baby boomers, so. 00:34:09 Speaker 4: Does Gen X. No one's escaping the bad apples. It's just the batch. 00:34:14 Speaker 5: But it is our responsibility, my responsibility, our team's responsibility. 00:34:19 Speaker 4: To make sure. 00:34:21 Speaker 5: That our chapters are cultivating those leaders. So when they leave high school and they decide not to go to college, they're in the workforce being incredible people and incredible leaders. 00:34:35 Speaker 4: They might not be. 00:34:37 Speaker 5: Influencers, not everyone's meant to. Everyone plays a very specific role, but they'll be someone in something very important and they'll plant seeds and that's all you have to do is plant the seed and then let truth grow from there. But thank you again for the time that you spent with my husband on that on that final conversation. 00:35:01 Speaker 4: It meant a lot to him. It means a lot to me to be able to have that to show my babies one day. 00:35:06 Speaker 3: Thanks Bob, Charlie's last book. It wasn't about politics, it wasn't about policy. It was about the Jewish Sabbath, which he kept for twenty five hours, starting sundown on Friday night through sundown on Saturday night. What made Charlie so passionate about this subject. 00:35:27 Speaker 5: He was on the verge of burnout, and he thought to himself, what can I be doing? And he always loved the Ten Commandments, and then he saw it honoring the Sabbath, and he realized that if you don't this one commandment, this one, if you don't honor it, you're the one who misses out on the gift, not God. 00:35:56 Speaker 4: Are you keeping it? I'm trying my best. 00:35:59 Speaker 2: Is it helped it? 00:36:01 Speaker 4: Is I feel close to him. 00:36:03 Speaker 5: I break it apart, though, so instead of a full twenty fourth straight, I'll break it apart only because my mom's sick and I need to be available because i'm her medical power of attorney, so I need to be available if something happens, and. 00:36:15 Speaker 9: So I. 00:36:18 Speaker 5: Make it what works for me. But that's what was so beautiful about that. Charlie wasn't legalistic about it. He's like, make it your own Erica. 00:36:27 Speaker 3: You have made a lot of comments that a lot of people have noticed about women, suggesting, you know, suggesting that women should get married young, that they should have children young, that they should prioritize family over their careers. And at the same time you are now doing both. You now have two young children, I think, both under the age of three. You're the CEO and chairwoman of Turning Point Square. That for us, some people look at you and say, you know, she's trying to make it a binary choice to be a trad wife for the girl boss, but look at her, she's having both. 00:37:03 Speaker 5: Say to that, right, well, I didn't ask for this. It's a obviously, it's a blessing that I viewed as a blessing. It's a duty to my husband. But I was very happy being a stay at home mom. There's nothing wrong with being a mother. There's actually more beautiful and emotional and powerful job title, if you will, being a mother. And for me, I experienced what it was like living in New York. It's living that boss babe culture. But when I met Charlie and we had our babies, I was in it. 00:37:44 Speaker 4: That was all hands on deck. I would take that world in a heartbeat always. 00:37:50 Speaker 5: But you know what, there was never there was never any daylight between Charlie and I and his mission was my mission. So stepping into this role is not so much a job title. This is not a nine to five for me. This is something that I'm very passionate about because it's still a remaining, breathing version of my husband. This turning point, ussay. So this organization is not just a company to me, and the staff and employees are not staff and employees or family, and so for me, it's a lot different and a lot deeper than a career. 00:38:20 Speaker 4: This is very personal, but yes it is hard. 00:38:26 Speaker 5: But at the same day, it takes a village, and I have one heck of a village. 00:38:31 Speaker 3: We have a woman here that has a question perfectly calibrated to this part of our conversation. I want to hand it over to Isabella Regi. 00:38:39 Speaker 12: Thank you, and Erica, you and your family are in my prayers. 00:38:42 Speaker 4: Thank you. 00:38:43 Speaker 12: I'm a twenty six year old Christian woman living in New York City. I would like to stay here long term, but I wonder whether it's sustainable. Do you believe there's a place for women like myself in modern cities who care about having a career but also marrying a like minded Christian conservative man. 00:39:01 Speaker 4: Well, yeah, so it just depends on where you're looking. 00:39:05 Speaker 5: You know, if you're on the apps, I don't know if you're on the apps, I don't know if I'm not going to ask you your personal journey. But what I will say is when I lived out here, I was here for five years. I never dated here because I saw vicariously through my roommate how terrible it was. Somehow getting drinks was the replacement of having coffee and breakfast. I personally would rather have coffee or brunch with someone than going I just I don't drink. I find it unproductive. Not because I'm holier than whatever. 00:39:36 Speaker 4: That's not. I just don't operate that way. 00:39:39 Speaker 5: But I always thought it was very strange how she would go to drinks with one guy and then go to dinner with another. 00:39:45 Speaker 4: So it goes twofold here. 00:39:47 Speaker 5: So if you're expecting to marry someone that I was blessed with, like a Charlie, you have to be the type of woman that will attract a Charlie. 00:39:56 Speaker 4: Are you going to church? Are you going to Bible study? 00:39:59 Speaker 5: Did you tell your pastor that you are ready for the Lord to bring into your life, the man that you've been praying for. You yourself need to be prepared for that man, and only you will know how to do that. 00:40:11 Speaker 4: Does that mean staying out and going out with the girls. 00:40:13 Speaker 5: I'm not saying you sit on your couch and all of a sudden he's gonna knock on your door and be like. 00:40:17 Speaker 4: Honey, let's rendezvous. Like that's not how it happens. It's not. Granted, my situation was a little different. I went to do it. 00:40:24 Speaker 5: You went to a job and literally, so this is how good the Lord is. He knew that because I was not dating in New York City. He knew that. In order for me to know that that was my man, he had to blanket Charlie as a job interview, because if that went in no joke, if he came to me and said, hey, let's go on a day to Bills Burger's, I'd be like, I am so sorry, I thank you, but no, we're not doing this. 00:40:49 Speaker 4: That was my mindset. I was not in that headspace. I just wasn't. 00:40:55 Speaker 5: But God will work in incredible ways when you surrender the pen for him to write your life story and when you know that, Look, if I remain in the jet stream of God's will, he will provide for me in ways I cannot even imagine. 00:41:08 Speaker 4: And that is my prayer for you. 00:41:10 Speaker 5: My prayer for you is to remain open and to remain prayerful and to let. 00:41:14 Speaker 4: People around you know, old school style. 00:41:17 Speaker 5: I'm ready and I'm looking to get married and having a family. You can always have your career. Being able to have a family, truly is a very limited, short, short window you can start your career if you have people and it's amazing business, have other people run it. You can still manage it, you can still pour into it. But you have your babies. And then once your babies are grown and the nest is empty, go back to your career. 00:41:43 Speaker 4: There's nothing wrong with that. 00:41:44 Speaker 5: If you don't have a career, you have your babies, the Lord's going to inspire something inside of you that you're like, you know what, there's a problem. I have a solution. How many baby companies have been born out of moms, you know, like the little carrier seat or a stroller. 00:41:58 Speaker 4: Or we live for that Carrier's right, one hundred percent. I'm not trying to plug them for like some things. 00:42:03 Speaker 5: So I'm just trying not to even say the name, but you understand my sentiment is that there's something really special and beautiful about making sure that you are the woman that your future husband deserves, and vice versa. 00:42:16 Speaker 4: Do not settle. 00:42:18 Speaker 2: Thank you, Thanks Isabella. 00:42:21 Speaker 3: Up next, the emotional moment that Erica Kirk forgave her husband's alleged murderer. 00:42:28 Speaker 13: I forgive him. 00:42:39 Speaker 4: I forgive him because it was what christ did and is what Charlie would do. 00:42:48 Speaker 3: Erica, that moment that we just watched was unforgettable. I was one of millions of people across the world that watched you get up on that stage and forgive the man who murdered your husband. And I think a lot of people looked at it and thought, this is incomprehensible. It's almost baffling, And I want you to speak to those who are unable to understand really that act of grace. How is it possible that you can forgive the person that murdered your husband. 00:43:30 Speaker 5: I'm not forgetting what he did. I'm not condoning what he did. What he did is sick and evil, so sick and evil. What I am doing is releasing myself from the enemy's hands where he could have a foothold in me and he could be able to Just like I said earlier, you have a choice. Am I going to take that moment? And I will never say anything I don't mean. I really prayed on that moment that that was a game time decision. I'll never say what I don't mean. But am I going to take that moment to say, rally the troops, burn the city down, march in the streets. 00:44:19 Speaker 4: Or am I going to take that moment and unleash. 00:44:21 Speaker 5: Something like we talked about, even greater, more powerful, and say it's a revival, and let that unleash and let the Lord use it in ways that no one else could have ever imagined. 00:44:35 Speaker 3: If you were to meet the man I won't name him again, accused of murdering your husband, Do you know what you would say to him? 00:44:44 Speaker 4: Nothing? He would say nothing. I have nothing to say to you nothing. 00:44:54 Speaker 3: Is there a difference, Erica, between forgiving someone in a religious and spiritual sense, but so wanting justice for them here on earth? 00:45:02 Speaker 5: No, of course, But we serve a just God, and I rest easy in knowing that he's sovereign. But He's just, and so let the Lord handle that. 00:45:16 Speaker 3: I want to bring in our final audience question for tonight, I want to turn it over to Joe LaVoi. 00:45:24 Speaker 4: Hi, thank you. 00:45:25 Speaker 14: Your faith in this process has been inspiring, and that inspires this question. 00:45:29 Speaker 5: How are you able to trust God amidst unfair and immense suffering. One of my favorite books in the Bible is the Book of Job. And what's so powerful about that book is that you read it and you go along and you say, how could bad things happen to good people? But what happens at the end of that book God does restore. He does even more so than Job had prior. But when did that happen? It happened when Job prayed for his friends, even though they were against him, even though there. 00:46:11 Speaker 4: Was all this drama, he prayed for his friends. You can call him enemies. 00:46:18 Speaker 5: That's not saying, oh, Lord, my enemy is like no, there's boldness in being able to say, Lord, do what only you can do. 00:46:30 Speaker 4: And the Lord restored what Job had lost. That's how. 00:46:37 Speaker 3: We just finished our broadcast town hall with Erica Kirk, and she has graciously given us a little bit more time to take a few more audience questions. 00:46:45 Speaker 2: Erica, thank you so so much. 00:46:46 Speaker 3: I want to start with Alex Paul Wilpee, Alex, take it away. 00:46:51 Speaker 14: Hi Bary Erica. My question is from someone coming back to, you know, their faith after what happened, especially to Charlie. So I was raised Christian and then in my young adult life, say, high school, college, I kind of fell off in terms of, you know, practicing, never stop believing. But someone who you know, just kind of stopped going to church and whatnot after the horrible events of what happened to Charlie. That was kind of the moment for me that really sparked my faith to kind of start up again. And since then, I've been attending church almost every Sunday, and I've started to read the Bible again as part of that. I just wanted to ask you, do you have any advice for someone who's you know, reconnecting with God, reconnecting with their faith as to how to deepen that relationship and kind of strengthen that along their journey? 00:47:38 Speaker 4: Of course, is did you recently just buy a Bible. 00:47:42 Speaker 5: I'm just curious because I've known a lot of people who just bought their Bible for the first time or bought. 00:47:46 Speaker 4: A new one that did curious, I did, Yes, is it your first one? It is? I love it. I'm very proud of you. God is proud of you. I want to encourage you to take a minute, whether that's it morning. 00:48:00 Speaker 5: I was a morning person, Charlie was a night person for this, So there's no right answer. There's some people who just do it during the middle of the day to read scripture. 00:48:08 Speaker 4: Where you can do it all. 00:48:09 Speaker 5: Day, but make sure you carve out alone time with the Lord to journal. I personally, personally write to God after I read scripture. You can have a devotional and your Bible alongside it, but don't use a devotional to replace your Bible. They should compliment each other. But take some time to dig a little bit deeper when you're reading. If you find something that catches your interest, pause you. 00:48:34 Speaker 4: Don't force yourself to read a full chapter. 00:48:37 Speaker 5: If there's a word or something that triggers in your soul, stay on that, meditate on it. God's trying to reach you in something and even too. What's really cool. What I love is to find a way a commentary. Personally, I love Matthew Henry. If you can find a commentary that you love. Dive deeper into the words, into further of what that meant in context form. Don't take it out of context, but just dig deeper. Charlie loved doing that at night. He had a long day, but then for him to wind his brain down at night, he opened up his Bible and he would just read and he would pray and meditate. And you know what he did before bed every single night as he would breathe. He didn't listen to music. He just laid there with his eyes closed and he really just did those deep, deep belly breaths and just breathed and just breathed. So whatever that alone time looks for, you, make it personal because it's your time with the Lord. 00:49:29 Speaker 4: Thank you so much, God bless you. Take our next question. 00:49:33 Speaker 2: Yeah, can you introduce yourself? 00:49:35 Speaker 15: Hello, miss Kirk. My name is Marco Munone. I'm a student at Fordham University. Thank you for your time. As you take the helm of Turning Point USA, what is the single most important strategic change you plan to implement to engage young voters like myself on college campuses moving forward. 00:49:51 Speaker 4: It's a great question. 00:49:53 Speaker 5: Before Charlie was murdered, he was very intentional about making sure that I'm going to go the turning point action route right now, saying that just in case anyone tries to conflate the two turning point action side. Charlie from the start, when he started the organization was clipboard and tennis shoes. He knew the importance of getting out there knocking on doors, signing up people to vote, chasing ballots. He loved that work and he wanted to inspire that to the students as well. 00:50:31 Speaker 4: Now what we're doing, there's a lot of things. 00:50:33 Speaker 5: It's funny because some people think, oh, when a CEO comes in, things go crazy, they have to change. 00:50:39 Speaker 4: They don't have to change. If it's not broken, you don't have to fix it. 00:50:43 Speaker 5: Charlie intentionally picked phenomenal leaders in the organization and we're in good hands and everyone is very mission focused. And when it comes to the students and elections and getting ready to vote, we're still going to do what Charlie did. We're still going to be on campus, We're still going to be encouraging you guys, We're still. 00:51:00 Speaker 4: Going to be a resource for you. 00:51:03 Speaker 5: And so yes, midterms, they might get a little messy, but we're ready for it. And we're mission driven for it, and I hope that you'll be a part of it with us. 00:51:11 Speaker 3: Charlie expressed support for JD Vance in twenty eight before he died. 00:51:16 Speaker 5: How about you, Well, yes, I mean I'm following in my husband's footsteps to a lot of extent. But again, I will express this sentiment very clearly. I watched my husband, with his blood, sweat and tears, deliver that youth vote for President Trump, and I am just let me please just basket mat and enjoy that before we start jumping to twenty eight. I would really just like to enjoy that hard work paid. 00:51:44 Speaker 4: Off fair enough? 00:51:46 Speaker 2: Eric, can we have Oh? 00:51:47 Speaker 4: Sorry, no, Michael? 00:51:51 Speaker 2: Hi? 00:51:52 Speaker 4: How are you very good? How are you good? To see you? I wanted to ask. 00:51:55 Speaker 10: There's a lot of young people in the audience here, a lot of college students, and sometimes in college it feels like the walls are caving in, whether that be with relationships, professors who give us a hard time, and anything else the college students experience. What guidance do you have for us when the walls start to feel like they're caving in and there's not a light at the end of the tunnel. 00:52:15 Speaker 5: Don't view them as they're caving in view them that yes, they can fall this way, but they can actually fall this way. Pressure is good for you, gives you a backbone. Don't run from it. There's something that's really interesting in nature. Someone told me this a long time ago, years ago. I'm talking like ten years ago. They told me this, but it stuck with me forever. 00:52:42 Speaker 4: They said that. 00:52:46 Speaker 5: A male lion when they're hunting, the male lion is not the hunter, it's the female. But what the male does is the male comes around this way and does it. 00:53:00 Speaker 4: Very loud roar, which scares the prey. 00:53:05 Speaker 5: Which direction the opposite direction, and who's on the opposite side the female. But instead, if the prey knew that while that lion was roaring, to run towards that roar, and they wouldn't be eaten because they wouldn't turn around the other way, they'd escape. So if there's any encouragement there, I would just run towards that roar and know that the Lord's got your back. 00:53:33 Speaker 4: I hope that helps. Thank you, God, bless you. 00:53:36 Speaker 5: Let's take our next question from Eric the Great, Eric the Taxes. 00:53:46 Speaker 4: Eric. For people who don't know who you are, can you introduce yourself. 00:53:49 Speaker 16: I believe my name is Eric ma Taxis. I host something called Socrates in the city. I've written many books, but most importantly identify as a follower of Jesus. And I loved Charlie so much. I know you loved you that just about every time I saw him might say I love you, Charlie, and I knew it would make him uncomfortable, and I loved that. 00:54:24 Speaker 3: I know that he's like, I'm not gay, not that there's anything wrong with that, not that there's. 00:54:29 Speaker 16: Anything wrong with that, but. 00:54:34 Speaker 4: I did. 00:54:35 Speaker 16: I really loved, loved, loved Charlie. But I want to ask you a question, Erica, since I'm here to ask you a question. When you said, and I was at the memorial service, that you forgave the man that murdered Charlie, I knew what you were. 00:54:53 Speaker 4: Saying, Yes you did. 00:54:55 Speaker 16: But what you said, I know is utterly incomprehensible, and rightly so. To most people, they would say, what in the world, what are you even saying? What does that mean? And I think I would say, that's what separates the sheep from the goats, that to understand what that means, that you have been forgiven and because you've been forgiven, you can forgive and what that means, that to me is just the most powerful evidence for Christian faith. And I said when you when you asked that, when you said that, I thought, that's like dropping a hand grenade into the bowels of hell. It's the most powerful thing. It's evidence for God. That's it's incomprehensible. But I say all that just because I just. 00:55:48 Speaker 4: Want to ask you. 00:55:49 Speaker 16: I'm not familiar with your story. I came to Jesus in a dream round my twenty fifth birthday was utterly miraculous. It wasn't an intellectual journey for me. What is your At what point did you come to the kind of a faith that makes it possible for you to say what you said? 00:56:09 Speaker 4: That's a great question. 00:56:11 Speaker 5: I so I was raised Catholic, My mom was Catholic, come from a very Catholic family. 00:56:19 Speaker 4: Half Italian, Yeah, just very Catholic. And yeah there's an intersect a Christian you know. 00:56:31 Speaker 5: And but you know what's so interesting about when when I was growing up is that my mom actually I didn't have a Bible growing up. It was my mom that was praying. I saw her praying a lot and there was one moment in my life I must have been I want to say I was probably seven. We had just moved to Arizona. It was just me and her. I was very little, and. 00:56:57 Speaker 4: I saw her. She was just about she just started her company, and I was in the pew with her, and I saw her take out her check book and I started watching her write a check. 00:57:12 Speaker 5: Mind you at seven and when you and you know this as a mom, they watch everything. 00:57:17 Speaker 4: Kids see everything, and they hear everything. There's sponges. 00:57:21 Speaker 5: So I knew how hard my mom worked for that dollar because I had to. I went to the Boys and Girls Club after school. I was the last one to be picked up every single day because she was at the office. I saw how hard she worked for that paycheck. So when I would see her write the amount that she wrote and put that in the offering bin as it came around, I grabbed her hand. She looked at me and she said, don't you dare I said, Mom, we can't afford that she goes. 00:57:56 Speaker 4: Baby. The Lord has blessed us in ways that. 00:58:11 Speaker 6: The Lord has blessed us in ways that you can't even imagine and that you can't even see. 00:58:17 Speaker 4: But this is the Lord's money. 00:58:20 Speaker 5: He has blessed us to be a blessing, so you honor him. And as I grew up, you know, I eventually got that Bible and full on display. I mean, yeah, I competed in a pageant. I honestly did not like the pageant world. I I didn't like the pride that came with that. It's so I never talked about it. And during that season of my life, I got a Bible. I found the Bible that my basketball coach gave me when I left to go to college, and I read it and it was beautiful. And from there I had a pastor's wife who was precious from a non denominational church pour into me and it changed my life. And I got to tell you, when you surrender the Lord, and you literally strip your clothes metaphorically not to be clipped out of context, metaphorically, you tear that sackcloth and you say, Lord, use me, take the pride, take anything, take all of this trash out of my heart. 00:59:32 Speaker 4: I don't want it. I want you. 00:59:34 Speaker 5: And when you do that, the Lord will put people in your life that will pour into you and that will mentor to you. 00:59:39 Speaker 4: And that's what happened to me. 00:59:42 Speaker 5: So I had the background in being Catholic, I had the new experience of being a non denominational Christian. 00:59:49 Speaker 4: Blended those together and here I am. Thanks Eric, God bless you. We love you. Eric, You're a tremendous blessing. We love you. 00:59:58 Speaker 2: And our last question. 00:59:59 Speaker 17: Please, hello, thank you so much for the time today. I wanted to ask about something that is of great interest to me, which is the vibe shift. This has been talked about for a couple of years now. I'm sorry you said what the vibe shift? 01:00:14 Speaker 4: Vibe? 01:00:14 Speaker 17: Yes, especially given the re entrance of faith into the public square, which I think has never been on display more than that your husband's memorial. I would love to get your take on what it feels like, what it's like to watch Christianity and politics come together, especially through something that happened to your family. 01:00:36 Speaker 4: Can I just ask your name? 01:00:38 Speaker 17: Yes, my name is Virginia Abram. 01:00:40 Speaker 4: Thank you, Jinia, thank you. It's interesting because. 01:00:45 Speaker 2: Do we want to define the vibe shift? 01:00:46 Speaker 4: Yeah? 01:00:47 Speaker 2: Do you want to put a little meat on that? 01:00:49 Speaker 4: Sure? 01:00:49 Speaker 2: Thanks to mean by it? 01:00:51 Speaker 4: Yeah. 01:00:51 Speaker 17: So what I mean by the vibe shift is that over the past probably two years, and in response to the wokeism of the Biden administration, and even just the last ten years, there has been a shift back towards populism with Trump, and then also a return of religion, which we've seen lots of articles about the return of young men to church, and Charlie Kirk is often said in is often mentioned in the same breath as that. So I work for a magazine that's very interested in those first things, and I'd love to know what you think of this recombination of faith in politics. 01:01:27 Speaker 4: Yeah, no, it's interesting. 01:01:28 Speaker 5: So Charlie used to say on campus and to anyone and everyone that he would start talking about liberty, and he would start talking about justice, and he would start talking about freedom, and people would want more, and they would want more. What's the source of that? And he would provide that. He would provide it. It's in the scriptures. It's God. There's only one answer to those. Charlie lived his life and I lived my life in a way where com comes first and that bleeds into everything else. And I think when you live authentically, you're not trying to be someone else, but you truly live authentically and again, let the Lord use you. It shows on full display that if you want to make a difference in this world, you don't remove that very important piece and point. And everyone saw the type of man that Charlie was and it inspired. 01:02:31 Speaker 4: A lot of people, as it should. 01:02:33 Speaker 5: But notice how when he was murdered, they didn't go and grab a constitution. 01:02:39 Speaker 4: They grabbed a Bible. 01:02:42 Speaker 5: And once you get that Bible in your hands, the constitution makes way more sense. 01:02:49 Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you, and I want to thank you one more time, Erica Kirk, our audience and everyone who has been watching tonight. This has been a town hall with Erica Kirk, presented by CBS News. 01:03:08 Speaker 7: For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to Charliekirk dot com