The Battle for the Senate + AMA 279

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 going to end up miserable. But if the most important thing is doing good, you will end up purposeful. 00:00:24 Speaker 2: College is a scam, everybody. 00:00:26 Speaker 3: You got to stop sending your kids to college. 00:00:27 Speaker 2: You should get married as. 00:00:28 Speaker 1: Young as possible and have as many kids as possible. Go start a Turning Point USA college chapter. 00:00:33 Speaker 3: Go start a Turning Point USA high school chapter. 00:00:35 Speaker 1: 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. 00:00:45 Speaker 4: Here I am. 00:00:46 Speaker 2: Lord, use me. 00:00:48 Speaker 3: Buckle up, everybody. Here we go. 00:00:56 Speaker 1: Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of The Charlie Kirk Show. a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you could protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at noblegoldinvestments.com. That is noblegoldinvestments.com. 00:01:17 Speaker 2: All right. Welcome, everybody. 00:01:18 Speaker 5: It is Friday, September 18th, 2026. We're here at the YRefi Studios in Phoenix, Arizona. Honored to be with you. And we are getting this show started off with a bang. because we have Andy Biggs, Congressman Andy Biggs, future governor of the great state of Arizona, State 48. He's on the road, and he said, well, I can't do video because I'm going to be in a car headed to an event. And I said, that's exactly where we want you to be. So he's calling in. Congressman, future governor, Andy Biggs, welcome back to the show, sir. 00:01:50 Speaker 6: Thanks, Andrew. Good to be with you. Good to be with you. 00:01:52 Speaker 2: Well, it's great to be with you as well. 00:01:54 Speaker 5: Why don't you give us a Big overarching view of the race, where we're at, the current state of play. I want everybody to feel like they're in this moment with you because we are, Congressman. 00:02:06 Speaker 6: Yeah, you guys have been great. I appreciate it. 00:02:08 Speaker 4: Look, we're neck and neck with someone who has spent $ 20 million defaming me. 00:02:15 Speaker 6: Okay, so that's been her modus operandi. She refuses to debate. 00:02:21 Speaker 4: I just did a 45-minute segment on Spanish language issues. and she won't step out to talk about any policy. 00:02:35 Speaker 6: She can't defend any of her policies. 00:02:37 Speaker 4: My guess is she can't even understand what her administration's doing. So we are everywhere in the state. When we're not fundraising, we're actually at events talking to people We did a mock debate, Andrew, that's going to be coming out pretty soon for people to see. 00:02:59 Speaker 6: So busy as can be, you know. 00:03:02 Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. We know you guys are barnstorming the state. 00:03:05 Speaker 5: I hear about it all the time. Oh, I saw Biggs over here. I went to this event with Biggs over there. See the signs everywhere. I want to address a video, though, that I saw an ad that her campaign put out. I was going on YouTube, minding my own business, Congressman, and all of a sudden, I see this Katie Hobbs ad and she says that you are actually the one that's going to raise taxes and that she's going to cut taxes. I don't know if you've seen this ad, but I was like, like, first of all, does anybody believe this? And what the heck is she even talking about? And I hope you've called her out on this because it was the most absurd thing I've seen. 00:03:45 Speaker 6: Yeah, I've called her out repeatedly. Here's the deal. 00:03:47 Speaker 4: For 24 years or so, I've been always number one, two, or three as the friend of the taxpayer by these organizations that rate you. 00:03:57 Speaker 6: I have never voted to raise a tax. I've never, and I never will. 00:04:02 Speaker 4: She has actually introduced legislation to raise the double the gas tax in Arizona. She's supported legislation that would have raised the sales tax. 00:04:12 Speaker 6: 66% in Arizona and And, uh, then she has the audacity. 00:04:18 Speaker 4: And by the way, and she also vetoed the no tax on tips bill. She vetoed that three times. And she has the audacity to say, Oh, Biggs is the one that's going to raise taxes. I view it as projecting. And, um, you know, you tell a lie long enough and loud enough. I suppose some people will believe it, but anybody who's aware and sentient should know that, um, that it's totally fabricated. But that's where she is. 00:04:48 Speaker 5: Well, so here's an interview that you did, I think, before this ad dropped. So it's proof that she's a giant liar. 00:04:56 Speaker 2: Surprise, surprise. 00:04:56 Speaker 5: But to your point, Congressman, I sort of wonder if she even knows what's going on with her campaign. She doesn't strike me as somebody that's very in the weeds. I think she's a puppet, but that's my take. 00:05:09 Speaker 2: Stop 14. Stop 14. 00:05:10 Speaker 7: If we don't eliminate income tax, we're going to lose out on competition. As you reduce those taxes, you stimulate the economy. Everywhere we see it, Tennessee, Texas, Florida. The other thing is, you've got a lot of states that actually. 00:05:22 Speaker 6: Eliminate or reduce their property taxes. 00:05:24 Speaker 7: Our property tax load is one of the lowest in the country, but we. 00:05:28 Speaker 8: Could probably do better. 00:05:30 Speaker 2: I love that. 00:05:31 Speaker 8: You're like, hey. 00:05:31 Speaker 5: Our property tax is probably one of the lowest in the country, but we could probably do better. So it's just it was striking to me, sir, that she was so willing to lie, or at least her campaign was, whether she knows it or not. It's so willing to lie about one of the most obvious lies. It's so brazen. So what else is she lying about? 00:05:49 Speaker 6: Oh, my goodness. 00:05:50 Speaker 4: I mean, she she said that she reduced utility costs in Arizona. 00:05:54 Speaker 6: Untrue. Utility costs are up. 00:05:56 Speaker 4: She said she fixed the a housing affordability crisis in Arizona. 00:06:02 Speaker 6: Untrue. 00:06:03 Speaker 4: She said she fixed the water problem and she released, she released that three days after Arizona had its allotment on the Colorado river reduced by. 00:06:14 Speaker 6: 750,000 acre feet. 00:06:16 Speaker 2: I mean, I. 00:06:18 Speaker 4: Was just, it's just absolutely, you know, she just keeps going and it's, and then she says outrageous things, you know, The truth is not in this person. And that's bottom line. And, you know, Andrew, part of this is she's out of money in her own campaign. Most of the ads that you're seeing, these are coming from. 00:06:39 Speaker 6: California and New York donors. 00:06:42 Speaker 4: These out-of-state major donors that have dumped millions and millions in here. So she's oblivious anyway, under the best of circumstances, but she's certainly... Her donors basically want to Californiaize Arizona. 00:07:00 Speaker 2: You know, this is such a good point. 00:07:03 Speaker 5: We're talking with Andy Biggs, who's going to be the next governor of State 48 here in Arizona. He's going to— the floridification of Arizona is underway if we get this great man elected to office, which we will. What strikes me is that it just— you know, I didn't live in Arizona, Congressman. Obviously, I've known you for years. and been coming to Arizona for years. But I moved here officially in November. I've been here basically since we lost Charlie. But it just feels like there is this void of leadership. It feels like there isn't a governor of this state. 00:07:37 Speaker 2: It's hard to explain. It's like she's a non-entity. 00:07:41 Speaker 5: There's no vision. There's no direction. It's just sort of like we every so often hear about her because she you know, is involved in some scandal. 00:07:49 Speaker 8: Yeah. 00:07:50 Speaker 2: She screwed up the water or she's involved in some scandal with some sunshine group that, you know, she, she kicks, gives some kickbacks too. 00:07:58 Speaker 5: That's basically all I hear. And then she vetoes good bills. That's literally all I know about Katie Hobbs. 00:08:04 Speaker 2: That's it. 00:08:04 Speaker 4: Well, that's all I know. 00:08:06 Speaker 6: Well, Andrew, I mean, that's, that's what most of the state gets. 00:08:10 Speaker 4: And then we, we have a vacuum of leadership. If you were to say, well, who's, who's leading the state? Well, you got, Oh, your chief of staff does some of this stuff. And she's got a special assistant here. Oh, on, on her environmental and water policy. She's got somebody who was in the environmental defense league. So you got some radical nut up there. And, and they're just dealing within their own little sphere. And they tell her, hell, you need to veto this bill. Oh, you need to veto that bill. She's, she's incapable of actually doing anything. Now I want to say something that we just, it's real easy to excuse her and say, well, she's just incompetent. But at bare minimum, she's dangerously incompetent. But if you look at the bills that she vetoes, that's her signature on there. And those bills that she's vetoing would prevent Arizona from turning into California on everything from trans grooming in schools to sex offender registries. All of these things, she's vetoing them And so those are bad bills, not bad bills, bad vetoes, because the policy would be there to stop us from becoming Californians. 00:09:28 Speaker 6: That tells you what she would be like. And the third thing I'd say is this. 00:09:32 Speaker 4: Anybody that won't debate you but is willing to slander you and lie about you when she knows they're lying, she knows that virtually everything she's saying is a lie, that reflects on her character. She is a person of bad moral character. 00:09:48 Speaker 6: And so I want to. 00:09:49 Speaker 4: Say, yeah, she's incompetent and she's probably dangerously so, but it's more than that. Her character has been revealed by how she's conducting this campaign. If you want to make up stuff, why don't you come on stage, make it up, tell it to my face, and then we'll have a debate. And it's not like she doesn't know who I am. When I was Senate President, Andrew, I had her into my office every week for two years so she could tell me what was going on. 00:10:20 Speaker 6: Oh my gosh, it's crazy. 00:10:24 Speaker 1: I am jumping in formally. 00:10:26 Speaker 8: I did a race for governor for 2026. 00:10:31 Speaker 1: Here we are, and it makes for a governor rally. 00:10:34 Speaker 9: Can we support Andy, everybody? 00:10:37 Speaker 1: What I love most about Andy, this guy is disciplined, he is focused, and what do you want as a politician? 00:10:43 Speaker 2: More than anything else. 00:10:43 Speaker 10: You want an astronaut? 00:10:44 Speaker 3: Let me give you a break. 00:10:45 Speaker 4: No. 00:10:45 Speaker 1: He has been a tried and true conservative when the heat was the most intense. Because it's time for us to not just make America great again, but make Arizona great again and make Andy Biggs the next governor of this great state. 00:10:59 Speaker 9: Vote Andy Biggs, baby. 00:11:05 Speaker 2: Love that. 00:11:06 Speaker 5: I don't know who put that together, but Andy Biggs joins us. That was Charlie Kirk singing your praises. And I can just tell you, as somebody who saw it up close and Blake saw it up close, Actually, I guess our team made that. 00:11:17 Speaker 2: That's a great job, team. Very good. 00:11:20 Speaker 5: But I can just tell you, somebody who saw it up close, sir, Charlie wanted you to be governor of Arizona more than anything else in 2026. 00:11:29 Speaker 8: He did, and it wasn't just that, okay, he liked you on the issues. He thought you'd be great, but he talked so much that he'd moved to Arizona. He'd made this his home. He wanted a state that his children could grow up in, and he knew that they would be safe from all the trans mania out there. They'd be safe from the left loving crime. He wanted to make this the sort of place where people could raise families. And he saw you as integral to that project. And I think that's the best Testament to you. 00:11:58 Speaker 5: Do you want to reflect on, on what Charlie endorsing you like that meant? 00:12:03 Speaker 6: Oh, it was awesome. 00:12:05 Speaker 4: Charlie, Charlie was a friend, but he was somebody that I had incredible respect for because, uh, Charlie, uh, quite frankly, created a movement that I think will. 00:12:17 Speaker 6: Go on as his legacy. 00:12:20 Speaker 4: But he was actually a generational change agent. And to have him endorse me and believe in me, and we were simpatico on these issues. 00:12:32 Speaker 6: I believe in these things as well as he does. 00:12:35 Speaker 4: And that was awesome. 00:12:38 Speaker 6: And, you know, these things are under threat in Arizona today. 00:12:42 Speaker 4: I learned yesterday, just yesterday, you guys. Blake, I'm sorry I didn't say hi to you, but I didn't know you were on. So here's the deal. I learned just yesterday, Mesa, Arizona is going to have a drag queen Christmas show. 00:12:59 Speaker 6: Can you believe that? I can't believe that. 00:13:01 Speaker 2: Mesa is like family central. 00:13:04 Speaker 8: They want to go after the families. 00:13:06 Speaker 5: That's how you know it's diabolical is that they always seem to target kids. He's got that James Talrico guy that just off the tip of his tongue knew his favorite drag queen in Texas. Come to find out that drag queen is a 48-year-old man who likes to target children with his drag. 00:13:22 Speaker 2: That's what he does. And so it just doesn't surprise me. Mesa. 00:13:26 Speaker 5: So our audience is listening nationwide. Mesa is like ground zero for the family here in the Valley, in Phoenix. That is where, I mean, everybody loves it because it's great for families. And that's, of course, where they're targeting it. 00:13:39 Speaker 2: That's unfortunate. Really unfortunate. 00:13:41 Speaker 4: Yeah, but I mean, I think it's reflective of a lack of something we were talking about, a vacuum of leadership in our state. 00:13:52 Speaker 6: And I think that we need that. 00:13:55 Speaker 4: And Charlie understood that too. You guys understand it, that we have to stand up for our moral values and principles just as much as we stand up for no taxation and markets. Everything is under attack from the left today. And we get back to a vacuum of leadership in Arizona at the top, allowing these attacks to go forward. 00:14:23 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're totally right. I think it's a really apt point. 00:14:26 Speaker 5: It's not just that you never hear from Katie Hobbs that she basically is missing in action. It's not that you only see her when she vetoes a good bill out of the House and the legislature here. But It's that there is a values vacuum and you just there's no sense of we know where the state is headed. It just is sort of lost in this in this no man's land. Here's I want to play for you a couple of ads that Turning Point Action put together. Obviously, we do this, not you, but they're great. So I'm going to play them. And I know you can't see them, but you can listen. Listen along. One fifty one. This oh, this was apparently B-roll, but throw it up anyways. It's, you know, higher grocery prices, higher gas prices, higher home prices, higher utility prices, vetoed tax cuts three times. Worst public schools in America, which is just that really shouldn't be the case. Lost 250 billion gallons of your water. 00:15:22 Speaker 2: How about this? SOT 8. Here's another one for you. SOT 8. 00:15:26 Speaker 11: Because that doesn't do any service to the voters of Arizona to hear from us. 00:15:30 Speaker 12: Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs will not debate her Republican opponent. 00:15:34 Speaker 11: Not one debate in nearly a decade. So what is Katie Hobbs hiding? 00:15:39 Speaker 9: Her record. 00:15:41 Speaker 11: She vetoed tax cuts for waiters and bartenders three times. She's refusing to debate her opponent, but she's really just hiding from us. If she can't face the voters, she can't run Arizona. 00:15:56 Speaker 5: And that end of that... is really, it sums it up for me. If she's unwilling to defend her ideas or, as you said, to defend her lies about you, I mean, she's blatantly, brazenly lying about you, then she's not fit to run this state. I mean, there's a thousand reasons you could say it, but that is very true. So what's your message to Katie Hobbs right here, right here, right now? 00:16:20 Speaker 6: Katie Hobbs, Katie, you need to come. Let's have a debate. You know me. I'm not mean to you. I'm not creepy to you. I've always been fair and honest with you. Come and have a debate. If you really believe that I'm bad. 00:16:38 Speaker 4: For the state, tell the state why. And then let me respond. And then let's talk about your policies. Let's defend yourself. Defend yourself. 00:16:48 Speaker 6: But come out. And you know, I will say this too, Andrew. 00:16:54 Speaker 4: She has adopted what we see around the country today, as I look around. 00:16:58 Speaker 6: This is the Democrats' new move. You know what the Democrats' new move for a campaign is? They have no ideas. 00:17:05 Speaker 4: They have nothing that is popular with the public. So you take any issue that you and I talked about this morning, and you run a poll on it, about 75% of Americans. 00:17:17 Speaker 6: Are going to agree with my position on it. The Democrats... Yeah, they're just in trouble. They're in trouble. 00:17:24 Speaker 4: And so now that's why they attack people personally, try to destroy them reputationally. 00:17:29 Speaker 5: Well, the fact that she's lying about being a tax cutter when she's a tax raiser is proof that it's kind of like a backhanded compliment, that she understands that your ideas are the more popular ideas in the state, and she's trying to lie about her own policy and background and resume here. I just want to say, Congressman, future governor of the state of Arizona, we have your back 100%. 00:17:50 Speaker 2: I know you know this. 00:17:51 Speaker 5: And I want everybody within the sound of my voice go to tpaction.com slash 100. Come volunteer. We'll put you up in a hotel room. If you're listening to this in California, come get Andy Biggs elected governor. We'll put you up in a hotel. We'll get you here. And you can go chase 100 ballots. And if you do so good that you get through that 100, we'll give you 100 more. tpaction.com slash 100. 00:18:16 Speaker 2: Hotel. 00:18:17 Speaker 5: It'll be the time of your life. And you're going to be contributing to something great. that is bigger than yourself, which is what Charlie always wanted, tpaction.com slash 100. 00:18:27 Speaker 2: Come volunteer. 00:18:28 Speaker 5: Congressman, future governor of the state of 48, Andy Biggs, thank you, sir. We have your back. 00:18:33 Speaker 6: Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. 00:18:37 Speaker 5: I want to talk to you about an issue so many Americans face, and that's health insurance. There's an organization I really, really appreciate called Christian Healthcare Ministries. CHM is a faith-based alternative to health insurance. And this is real stuff, folks. Like, you've got to listen in. With CHM, you're not paying into a company's profit margin. You're investing in a community with less overhead than the competition. You get reliable support through the giving and prayer of fellow members. Members contribute every month to help pay for each other's medical bills, allowing believers to afford the care they need. Because they're not insurance... You get access to your preferred doctor or hospital without network restrictions. You heard that right. If you want to see massive savings in your healthcare budget, CHM has four low-cost programs for every stage of life, starting at just $ 115 a month. 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That is very, very difficult indeed. 00:20:29 Speaker 13: So if the map looks anything like it did in 2024, well, Democrats definitely have their work. 00:20:35 Speaker 2: Cut out for them in the Senate. 00:20:36 Speaker 5: All right, Mark Halperin joins us, 2A TV, next up on the Megyn Kelly Network, a great friend of the show. And this day, I will tell you, I dropped the ball, and yet he still found a way to be here. 00:20:48 Speaker 8: What a champ. 00:20:48 Speaker 2: What a champ, Mark Halperin. 00:20:50 Speaker 12: I mean, I don't know how you're in charge of anything, dude. You're as organized as my nine-year-old. 00:20:55 Speaker 3: Two quick things. 00:20:56 Speaker 12: First of all, I have to do an incredible imitation of my friend from CNN, Harry. 00:21:02 Speaker 3: And it all starts with the key, the word, woof. 00:21:04 Speaker 12: Can you imagine being a political analyst and one of your go-to phrases is whoop? And the other thing is, Blake, man, that profile of you. I mean, there's only one metaphor I can use to describe how that reporter feels about you. And all I'll say about it, it involves the use of knee pads. My God. 00:21:27 Speaker 8: This is a family-friendly show, Mark. I know. 00:21:30 Speaker 3: That's why I was oblique. 00:21:31 Speaker 9: No, no, no. 00:21:32 Speaker 3: I'm talking about being a catcher. 00:21:33 Speaker 2: Catcher is critical. 00:21:35 Speaker 12: My goodness, dude, the legacy media treats you like you're Sean Cassidy and you don't even know what that means because you're a child. 00:21:47 Speaker 3: My goodness. 00:21:48 Speaker 14: I know. 00:21:49 Speaker 12: Google Sean Cassidy. I mean, I've read glowing profiles of principled conservatives. in traditional media on occasion. But that thing, my God, how are you even still hosting the show? 00:22:02 Speaker 5: I just want to make it very clear. So I didn't know really about this. And I come into the office one day and there is this reporter. 00:22:11 Speaker 2: And I was like, oh, hi. Hi, Mr. Reporter. Thanks for the heads up, Blake. I did give you a heads up. No, you didn't. Yeah, I did. 00:22:21 Speaker 12: Blake gave a level of cooperation. That goes beyond the word full. I mean, does he have access to your bank accounts? Does he know your pin number? 00:22:30 Speaker 2: My favorite part was when Blake was sipping a s'mores. 00:22:34 Speaker 8: I don't even think I picked that. I think the staff just, I think one of the crew went and they just got one. 00:22:40 Speaker 12: Well, the last thing I'll say about it, because I know you don't want to do the whole discussion about this, but. I hope you got that thing printed out and framed, man, because you'll never get an article that good again. 00:22:49 Speaker 8: My mom will probably go do that. 00:22:50 Speaker 5: I was going to say, it feels like one of those pieces you do for the parents. You know, Blake is a free speech absolutist, and so I just want to give him the opportunity to ask you the first question. 00:23:02 Speaker 3: To rebut my mocking. 00:23:04 Speaker 8: Okay, so to get back to the woofster, he's saying they need to win a plus 13 state. That feels. 00:23:12 Speaker 2: Why does that not feel that hard? 00:23:13 Speaker 8: It doesn't feel– it feels like that should make us feel very secure, but we know this is a combative midterm, and a lot of people are freaking out. You know a lot of people on all sides. What's the mood in Washington, and do you think that mood is accurate? 00:23:28 Speaker 12: I haven't lived in Washington in 35 years, so I can't tell you what the mood in Washington is. But I'll tell you what the mood in America is. The mood in America is gas prices are too high. Everything costs too much. The Iran war was a big mistake. and a message should be sent to the president. I have a very bifurcated view of where we are and where we're going. Unless James Blair makes the best negative ads of all time and builds the best turnout operation of all time, there will be a blue tsunami that will wipe out not only nearly everyone, not everyone, but nearly everyone being discussed as in danger of losing as a Republican, but people who aren't even being talked about now. I'm not predicting that, and I'm not rooting for it, obviously. My reporting extensively with Republicans and looking at the current data is Republicans could lose nine Senate seats. Republicans could lose 35 House seats. This tsunami is massive right now. But James Blair has some unprecedented advantages. The president's top political lieutenant has command and control over more than a billion dollars than the other side. It might go up to more than a billion and a half. He has a turnout operation. And he has in the Democrats weak candidates. Most of these candidates are weak. So let's see where we are in two weeks. But today it would be a wipeout. 00:24:46 Speaker 2: So you said nearly everyone. 00:24:48 Speaker 5: Now, some of the bright spots on the map, Sununu in New Hampshire, Michelle Tafoya surprising some people. El-Sayed is still answering questions about Hassan Piker. Where would you look at some exceptions to that rule? 00:25:03 Speaker 12: You I believe it's a mistake for people in the party to say Sununu, Tafoya, Rogers, Lawler must mean the tsunami is not that big. I believe that's a mistake because you two, as well as I can, can go through all four of those races and explain quite clearly. Michelle Tafoya is a fantastic candidate. Flanagan, the Democrat, horrible candidate. Flanagan is in that state is not running primarily about a referendum on Trump, even though she's running for a federal office. It's a referendum on the corruption of the Democratic Party. So we can go through the exceptions. And those four may do better than others in a tsunami. And Lawler may survive a tsunami. Susan Collins may survive it. But if it's big enough, Republicans will lose all those races. And it's a mistake to disregard It's a mistake, I believe, for the party, if they want to be realistic, to cherry pick four or five races and say, hey, if these five are going OK, it must mean it's not so bad everywhere else. 00:26:11 Speaker 3: Wrong. It's really bad right now everywhere else. 00:26:14 Speaker 8: So if we're talking, as you said, minus nine seats, what are seats you maybe don't hear people talk about that suddenly could be a flashing light as we approach election night or on election night out of nowhere for a lot of people? 00:26:28 Speaker 12: Just go to the Cook Political Report and look at the seats that are called lean Republican and solid Republican. Every one of those could be wiped away. I mean, the analog on the Senate side is Roger Marshall. He's a perfectly good Republican incumbent senator in a red, red state, redder than the YouTube checkmark, supported by both MAGA and the establishment, raised plenty of money, working hard, running against the guy who's the first president time candidate, he'd lose today. 00:27:02 Speaker 3: He'd lose today. 00:27:03 Speaker 12: So the House equivalents of Roger Marshall, it doesn't matter if it's plus Trump 15. There's a Republican consultant who tweeted the other day, if you're working for a Republican and you haven't polled lately, I recommend you do. And another Republican consultant subtweeted him. They were doing all this in public, ladies and gentlemen, like the private conversations. Another Republican consultant tweeted him and said, That applies to Trump. 00:27:28 Speaker 3: Plus 15 districts. 00:27:30 Speaker 12: If you're in a district that's plus 15, you better poll because right now there's a good chance you're losing. 00:27:36 Speaker 5: You highlighted Iran. Is that what it is? It's Iran, basically? If you take Iran out of the equation, things are significantly improved? 00:27:46 Speaker 12: I think for different voters, it's different things. The most striking piece of data of the week, public data, was the Fox poll that asked, has Trump made the economy worse? 00:27:55 Speaker 3: Better or worse. Do you know what percentage of Republicans in that poll said worse? 25%. You know what percent of independents said Trump made the economy worse? 00:28:06 Speaker 10: 75%. 00:28:06 Speaker 12: Do you know what Donald Trump's best issue besides immigration was as he got elected for a second term? 00:28:13 Speaker 3: The economy. 00:28:14 Speaker 12: A quarter of Republicans say Trump has made the economy worse. You think there's going to be no blue tsunami when a quarter of Republicans think that? 00:28:23 Speaker 3: It's Iran. 00:28:25 Speaker 12: As a manifestation of higher costs. It's tariffs as a manifestation of higher costs. But I believe both those things funnel into higher costs. Guys, you see it in your own lives. Things cost a ton. 00:28:37 Speaker 5: I'm the $ 20 burrito guy, Mark. I'm the $ 20 burrito guy. 00:28:42 Speaker 15: I know. 00:28:43 Speaker 5: By the way, have you heard about the $ 30 hamburger? That's the new frontier. 00:28:50 Speaker 3: I live in Manhattan, dude. That's what hamburgers cost to do sometimes. 00:28:53 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. You know about high prices. You've been living it. 00:28:56 Speaker 10: Yeah. 00:28:57 Speaker 2: All right. 00:28:57 Speaker 5: So, you know, all across the country, our audience now is feeling depressed. And that is exactly why we work our tails off all the time. And we have commit 100. Everybody can volunteer. We're getting the vote out. I mean, it was interesting. Rich Barris was reflecting on the numbers from the primaries that he saw across the country. And he basically said Arizona was one of the few states. bright spots where turnout was where it should have been. And that's a result because we're investing in the machinery of getting votes out. 00:29:29 Speaker 2: And so that's what we have to do. 00:29:30 Speaker 12: I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just want to be clear. As I said before, I'm not rooting for this outcome and I'm not predicting it because I believe James Blair and you all and efforts like yours, this is unimaginable. There's never been a cash advantage under the command and control of an experienced, aggressive operator who's running against a party who's aligned with the socialists, running against a party who's nominated in almost every significant race weak candidates. So let's wait and see where we are in three weeks, because... because Turning Point has proven that well-organized efforts to contact voters, register them, and get them to the polls can make a real difference in the outcome of elections. 00:30:07 Speaker 5: Mark, you brought up this point. So in the past, it was like kind of a, you know, you think back to the 90s, early 2000s, you get frustrated with one party, you make them pay, you send a message, you go for. 00:30:18 Speaker 2: The other party. 00:30:19 Speaker 5: But you basically had the assumption that even though you could disagree with some of the policies, you were still going to have a functional republic. 00:30:27 Speaker 6: Yeah. 00:30:28 Speaker 5: And what has changed is, yes, there is a big cash advantage for Republicans, which is unprecedented. 00:30:33 Speaker 2: It's usually the other way around. 00:30:35 Speaker 5: But you also don't have a party that's like the way it was, you know, in the past. This is a much more radical, much more left wing party now that is run by the activist base. And I believe that if you are a normie kind of low information, I don't mean that as pejorative. You're busy living your lives. You're assuming the people are adults and they're serious. that you just vote the other way to send a message and get your message across. However, I don't think people are internalizing the way the Democrats have shifted. 00:31:04 Speaker 2: I don't think that that's true. 00:31:06 Speaker 12: Well, it's up to the Republican apparatus here to make the case. I was so surprised this didn't get more attention. Gavin Newsom was asked about how the party was going to deal with the socialists in their midst. 00:31:21 Speaker 3: And he said, Oh, I'm used to this. And we agree with the socialists about a lot. 00:31:27 Speaker 12: We agree with them about health care and child care, et cetera, et cetera. The theory of how the blue tsunami is tamed involves getting word out about the nature, not just of the handful of socialist candidates, but how far left the Democratic Party's gone. 00:31:47 Speaker 3: It's not a slander or a slur or a piece of spin. 00:31:51 Speaker 12: None of us have been alive when the Democratic Party has been this left. 00:31:55 Speaker 3: None of us. 00:31:56 Speaker 2: That's a powerful way to frame it, Mark. 00:32:01 Speaker 8: What are the best things to emphasize in terms of getting that point across? 00:32:06 Speaker 2: Is it police abolition? 00:32:08 Speaker 8: Is it taxes? Is it just bring out the gender stuff again, point out that that stuff is still going on? Is there a track record? 00:32:16 Speaker 2: The party platform. 00:32:16 Speaker 8: Yeah, but what stuff actually. 00:32:20 Speaker 12: What would the experts say? 00:32:24 Speaker 3: I'm not a political strategist, but what I see in the ads is two things. One is everything you just said, some of the culture stuff. 00:32:32 Speaker 12: The governor, a gubernatorial candidate in Texas, Hinojosa, she was on Morning Joe, and they asked her if all the cultural stuff was still a factor. She said, no, voters have moved past that. I don't think voters have moved past trans athletes and women's sports and locker rooms and girls. So I think you'll see a lot of that, a lot of economics. But it's also, I think, the idiosyncratic weaknesses of individual candidates, right? Some of these Democrats are so inexperienced. Like, for instance, the woman running against Mike Lawler in New York, she took a couple hundred grand from the AI industry right before she started running. That seems like in the current climate kind of a vulnerability. But that's idiosyncratic to her. 00:33:17 Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think that's smart. 00:33:18 Speaker 5: So it's got to be an air war that's national, trans issues, the fact that these people are openly talking about abolishing the Senate, abolishing prisons, abolishing ICE, abolishing the court, abolishing the Senate. 00:33:33 Speaker 2: It's just crazy. 00:33:34 Speaker 3: Taxes, taxes. 00:33:35 Speaker 5: Taxes, taxes, taxes. And they want to seize the means of production. This is stuff that they actually talk about. They actually talk about it, which should be shocking to an average American. But yet there is the micro-targeting, right? There is the idiosyncratic issues that are addressing individual candidates, right? So let's go to El-Sayed. Hasan Piker was just asked, why don't you tamp down some of your rhetoric? It seems like you're going crazier even after all this attention. 00:34:04 Speaker 2: And his answer is. 00:34:05 Speaker 5: Like, they're going to lie about it anyways or they're going to cover it anyways, so I'm just going to be me. But that is a huge, huge problem for El-Sayed, who does not want to put daylight between them, at least not in any official way. He's calling it some streamer in California, but that's about as far as he'll get. A man that he's campaigned with a half dozen times. Do you think that that issue plays in Michigan, or is it played out? 00:34:28 Speaker 3: The streamer in California will play. It's amazing. 00:34:32 Speaker 12: It's an exception from the liberal press bias of letting Democrats off the hook. That guy's been asked the question a thousand times. He gets asked it everywhere he goes by the press. The press still thinks it's an issue. Some voters definitely in Michigan think it's an issue. Do you know Ronald Reagan had the very best answer to this question when he was asked about the support he had from the John Birch Society? He said, they support me. I don't support them. They support me. 00:34:59 Speaker 3: I don't know why. 00:35:01 Speaker 12: El-Sayed doesn't just say that, but He just, for whatever reason, he's not created the distance that the press and a lot of voters think he needs to. And it seems like it's going to be an issue all the way through the end. 00:35:12 Speaker 5: Mark, that was what you said I think is going to stick with me for a while. None of us have lived through a Democrat party that is this radically left. 00:35:21 Speaker 2: That is a fact. 00:35:23 Speaker 5: And we need to, as somebody that's very committed to my conservative principles and supporting conservative candidates, I can tell you that I think you're right. And I think we need to do a better job messaging that. Mark Halperin, thank you for making time today, giving our auspicious start. 00:35:41 Speaker 3: Great to see you, and please handle all my media relations. 00:35:47 Speaker 2: This is the home of free speech absolutism. 00:35:53 Speaker 5: If you're looking at your investment portfolio and feeling pretty smart right now, remember, a bull market can make anyone look like a genius. If you've had a good run, the question is whether you keep it. The people who act early do it from a position of strength. The ones who wait act out of fear. There's nothing worse than turning a great trade into a break even because you didn't act in time. Taking chips off the table isn't quitting. It's protecting what you've earned. Visit noblegoldinvestments.com slash kirk and find out whether helping to protect your profits with gold makes sense for you. And to celebrate America's 250th, open a new qualified account and Noble Gold will send you a free 10-ounce silver bar. noblegoldinvestments.com slash kirk. The information is free, but the knowledge is priceless. All right, welcome back, everybody. It's hour two of Friday. which means it's our Ask Us Anything Hour. Apparently, you guys love these things, so we love doing them. Members.CharlieKirk.com. Members.CharlieKirk.com. If you want to subscribe and be a member, you guys are near and dear to us. You are our closest family. Plus, at AmFest coming up in December, we're going to have a big podcast room. 00:37:03 Speaker 2: You guys get exclusive access to. 00:37:04 Speaker 5: That and a lot more other goodies if you join us at Members.CharlieKirk.com. 00:37:08 Speaker 2: Members. 00:37:10 Speaker 5: And you get to call in every Friday, ask us questions directly, and we bring in special guests like Daisy over here. 00:37:17 Speaker 2: How are we doing, Daisy? 00:37:18 Speaker 9: Good, I haven't been on in a second. 00:37:19 Speaker 2: By the way, you got name-dropped on Thought Crime yesterday. 00:37:22 Speaker 8: Wait, okay, this is awesome, but I wasn't paying attention. We talked about Narnia. They're making this new Narnia movie. It's apparently woke. Well, we don't know. It's not out yet, but it will almost certainly be woke. It's set in the 50s. It's now... Inspired by David Bowie and rock operas. 00:37:37 Speaker 2: And Meryl Streep is the voice of Aslan. 00:37:39 Speaker 8: And Meryl Streep is voicing Aslan because Greta Gerwig, I said this, I saw this today. I didn't see yesterday. Apparently she said, I wanted someone over 70 who's a great actor and that there's just no one. So I just had to pick a woman, even though Liam Neeson, who did Aslan. I believe it's now over 70 and is still available. 00:37:56 Speaker 2: You couldn't use the same voice, I don't think. 00:37:58 Speaker 8: I feel like you could have. I don't think anyone would have minded. 00:38:00 Speaker 9: He's such a well-loved character. 00:38:03 Speaker 8: Yeah, it's a little upsetting. But anyway, they show, if you look at it, they show Aslan's face and it has heterochromia. 00:38:11 Speaker 9: That is so random. 00:38:12 Speaker 6: Why? 00:38:12 Speaker 5: Daisy has a blue eye and her right eye is blue and her left eye is brown. 00:38:17 Speaker 8: And weirdly, it took me about six months to notice this or something. 00:38:20 Speaker 14: It's either, like, people will notice it, like, I'm in the gas station, and they'll notice it and say something, or I'll know someone for years before they ever even realize. But I, truthfully, I sometimes don't listen to Thought Crime Live when we're in the office because I know I'm going to have to edit it in the next few days. I'm like, I'd rather be surprised. 00:38:37 Speaker 2: There you go. 00:38:38 Speaker 9: Be surprised. 00:38:38 Speaker 2: Be surprised. 00:38:39 Speaker 14: Or if I'm listening to it live, I'll be like, texting you guys. 00:38:42 Speaker 9: Be quiet. If you go and. 00:38:44 Speaker 8: Hit yourself in the head with a hammer repeatedly, you could be surprised again. 00:38:47 Speaker 14: Well, there are so many times, Blake, as you know, inside baseball for y'all that Blake and I do have to listen to the same episode four or five times or we'll like do it live and then we'll have to listen to it. And then there'll be something that we like have to add in or we're writing copy. And I'm like, I forgot what they talked about. I have to listen to it again. 00:39:03 Speaker 8: I think nobody has listened to more charlie kirk show than daisy and i because we have to listen to most episodes. 00:39:10 Speaker 5: I remember the early days where i was booking it editing it yeah writing the copy uploading it but then. 00:39:17 Speaker 14: We got to three hours and then it's like you have to you're you're prepping for it then you're listening to it live helping him live while he's on air and then you split it up into all three hours and you're editing each one individually and kylie does such a phenomenal job editing all the episodes, too. 00:39:31 Speaker 9: I mean, she listens to them constantly. 00:39:32 Speaker 2: Shout out to Kylie. 00:39:33 Speaker 9: Constantly. 00:39:34 Speaker 14: But it got to the point where, like, Charlie would say the most profound, amazing things, but I've heard it in the same episode four times, and it just kind of... Now, when I'll go back and listen to something, I'm like, wait, this. 00:39:45 Speaker 9: Is actually really good. 00:39:46 Speaker 12: Yeah, I know. 00:39:46 Speaker 5: I have the same thing when I go back and listen to Charlie. I'm like, man, I didn't even have eyes to see it because it was so good. 00:39:53 Speaker 8: I've sometimes stopped on the random Sunday episodes and I've just said, actually, everyone should go listen to this. There was one, I think it was Chapter Leaders Summit or Student Action Summit 2022, and he talks about why you need to be courageous regardless of what the consequences were. And I was like, Oh, my gosh. 00:40:11 Speaker 9: Those Sunday episodes, you all should go listen to them. 00:40:13 Speaker 8: Go look at the Sunday episodes. 00:40:15 Speaker 9: They're all titled, like, in the archive. 00:40:16 Speaker 5: By the way, like it, rate it, give us five stars. Helps us a lot, so check it out. Charlie used to always say that. You know, leave a comment and a review. 00:40:24 Speaker 8: Before we get to the callers, I think I want to open with this read one that we got from Kyrie. And she asks, would you please read my question? On September 10th, a year ago, the last full question and answer exchange Charlie had with anyone... was about the truth of the gospel. 00:40:42 Speaker 6: That's true. 00:40:42 Speaker 8: He was debating something about Mormonism, I believe. I have seen some tiny clips, but not the full one. Is it possible ever going to be posted as other things from that campus event were? I have been hesitating to ask this, but I know it must certainly be painful for those of you who knew Charlie personally and loved him most, though I do feel it was surely providential that a defense of the gospel was Charlie's last answer before meeting the Lord. 00:41:09 Speaker 5: I agree, it is providential, and I just, I feel so split on it, because I will tell you, the hardest footage for me to watch is that footage of Charlie approaching UVU, and he's seeing the crowd, and he starts, because you just know that in minutes, mere minutes, everything changes, and it's really hard for me, and. 00:41:32 Speaker 2: I think she's right, though, I think that a lot of people, or he, I'm sorry, is Kyrie a Because a girl, yeah. Girl, yeah. So she's right. 00:41:39 Speaker 5: I think a lot of people would love to see that footage. It's just so hard to watch. 00:41:43 Speaker 8: It's tough. 00:41:45 Speaker 2: But I do agree. 00:41:45 Speaker 8: I mean, I literally. 00:41:46 Speaker 2: The last question. 00:41:47 Speaker 14: Andrew, you can see on my computer. I just pulled up from our tour chat. It's that morning. And Charlie's texting. He's sending videos. It's like 30 minutes out. This is so amazing. 00:41:55 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:41:56 Speaker 9: It's going to be so big. It's crazy. 00:41:58 Speaker 14: The picture of the crowd is so good. Anything from that day is. 00:42:02 Speaker 9: It just. 00:42:03 Speaker 2: Gives me chills. It would be. 00:42:05 Speaker 8: It would be tough for me to watch it again. We've released a lot of stuff that is from shortly before. We've released the restaurantology interview. We played the clip where he's answering, what are your favorite quotes, your favorite Bible verses? And it's incredibly meaningful what he chose. And we've released his speech that he gave in Japan where he mentions the gospel. Mikey posted about this, that it wasn't going to be in there because Japan is... a 1% Christian country, if that. But Charlie said, I want to make this a part of what I do wherever I go. And so I want to mention the gospel even in passing in Japan. We talked about where to put it in and he ad-libbed it in to the speech and got some applause from the crowd. It was very tremendous. So we do have some of those late things. We'll have to think about it. It would be tough. 00:42:56 Speaker 5: And it's not necessarily our call. Erica would have to get involved. 00:43:00 Speaker 14: Yeah, I also think though, especially like reliving a lot of it last week, like, looking at some of that footage, even though you know that what happens isn't in any of, like... Like, it's not in any of the pictures I have on my phone, any of the videos. Like, you know that it's coming, that it's, like, you want... Like, I'll be watching a video of him walking out, and I have to stop it, because I'm like, I know that what happened is not in this video, but it feels like it's coming. 00:43:20 Speaker 8: And it would just... It would be tough for me, yeah, like, you... You know, that transition sound we have on our episodes, like, I can't imagine us just having that after a question like that. 00:43:30 Speaker 9: Right. 00:43:30 Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. 00:43:31 Speaker 8: It'd be... Honestly, email us what you think about it. 00:43:33 Speaker 6: Yeah. 00:43:34 Speaker 2: What does the crowd think? By the way, J.D. 00:43:38 Speaker 5: Vance is giving a speech right now, so we're monitoring that. If he makes some news, we're going to be on that very quickly. 00:43:46 Speaker 2: Let's get to Abby, right? Abby, welcome to the show. Please unmute yourself. 00:43:50 Speaker 10: You guys hear me? 00:43:51 Speaker 6: Yes. 00:43:52 Speaker 2: Hey, Abby. 00:43:53 Speaker 6: Okay. 00:43:54 Speaker 10: How much do you guys know about what's going on in the Florida political scene? 00:43:59 Speaker 2: I know some. 00:44:00 Speaker 6: Yeah. 00:44:01 Speaker 7: Yeah. 00:44:01 Speaker 2: What in particular? 00:44:04 Speaker 10: I've seen on social media, and I know some people personally who their dislike for Byron Donalds is outweighing their wanting to vote Republican. So I see a lot of people who are saying that they're going to vote Democrat. I just think a lot of people are not informed about what the opposing party, what their views are. So any advice on how to maybe inform people or what we can do? 00:44:34 Speaker 5: Yeah, no, I mean, listen, Byron Donalds is in a, is in a dead heat right now, um, against David Jolly. 00:44:41 Speaker 3: Right. 00:44:41 Speaker 5: So it's, you know, it's in the statistical air kind of category. Um, he's either just tied or, uh, or just slightly down or I guess it's actually, he's got ones that are all over the place. Um, so yeah, I mean, listen, he's in, he's in a dog fight, you know, and I, I think there's a lot of undecided voters in Florida, um, Can. 00:45:01 Speaker 8: You tell us what specifically is off-putting about what they're concerned about, where they'd say, I'm going to go vote for a Democrat? 00:45:07 Speaker 10: The biggest thing is they don't like what he said about AI data centers. So his first stance was he wanted AI data centers here, and then he kind of retracted his statement. So people just don't really trust him not flooding Florida with AI data centers. But we can't 100% stop them from coming here since AI is, you know, everyone uses it. But That's just the main thing that people don't want. 00:45:33 Speaker 5: Well, this goes back to the conversation we were having with Mark Halperin in Hour One, Abby, and that is even in a Trump 15 district or a Trump 15 state, we have to poll it again because there's a lot of headwinds, namely affordability, Iran. 00:45:50 Speaker 2: Voters want to send a message. 00:45:51 Speaker 5: And what's crazy is that even in Florida— Florida, which has been one of the best governed states in the country, balanced budget, no property tax, no income tax, rather. All the things that so many conservatives want, I mean, they have dealt with illegal immigration. The schools are good. Everybody has choice, freedom. They did great during COVID. And even in a well-run state like Florida, voters are not connecting the dots there because there does seem to be a visceral emotional response there. to just sending a message, right? And so what's happening to Byron is it's probably less to do with Byron and more to do with a larger sentiment across the country. 00:46:33 Speaker 8: If you're encountering this in person, I'm thinking on the best way to push back on this. And one of those things is you have to puncture these emotional, these kind of emotionally incontinent reactions where they think, I'm going to vote for a Democrat to send a message. Okay. If you live in Florida, it's a state a lot of people have moved to. So Pretty strong odds that a person you know may not have been born in Florida. They moved there for some reason. Well, why did they move there? They moved there probably because they came from a state like New York, like Illinois, like Pennsylvania, like states that had left-wing government that messed those states up. I'll be frank. Florida has– it's not pleasant a large part of the year. It's really hot. It's pretty swampy. It's very humid. Why do people move there? They move there because it's amazingly governed. It's amazingly governed. Your services work great. Your taxes aren't that high. And you can go to the beach. But your taxes aren't that high. It is a functional, well-run state. It's the state that didn't ruin your life during COVID. It's a state where schools basically work. They're not going to shove propaganda down your throat. We got that because we have had sustained, successful, conservative government. Florida's Republican Party, I'll be frank, is one of the best Republican Party's In the country, it's the envy of everyone else. And to throw it out and say, actually, let's bring in a Democrat who's going to be whatever he says ideologically is going to be absolutely aligned with the people who have ruined California, ruined New York, forced people to move to Florida because those states were so unlivable during COVID, during Floydapalooza is irrational. It is irrational to do that. even because you're concerned about that, if he said one thing about data centers and then realized there was massive public backlash, and so he says, okay, actually, I see what the public is saying, so I'm going to moderate my view. That's a normal reaction to realizing that public sentiment is shifting on an issue that's not, you know, in comparison to some of the other things we feel of profound, deep moral importance. 00:48:37 Speaker 5: Yeah, I concur with all of that, that there is a part of this that there is a cognitive dissonance happening in the electorate And the question is, how are we going to counter it? And the countering it is something that Halperin said as well, and I'm about to post it on social, is that we have never lived through a Democrat party this far left. And so you do not want to break something that's working so well. So it's a great question. You know, I think here's what I would say on the AI data center specifically. Republicans are learning how to message around this. I thought Vivek gave a strong first volley where he said, you know, they have to be adding something to the local community. 00:49:16 Speaker 2: Right. 00:49:16 Speaker 5: Maybe that's bringing down energy costs. Maybe that's bringing down property. 00:49:20 Speaker 2: Taxes. 00:49:20 Speaker 5: Maybe that is a way, if you're going to have one of these in your community, that these are things that would be a benefit to locals if you're going to have them. Maybe locals need to have more power to have a say in whether or not they're allowed to move in. All of those things are fair, but I think Byron is probably very willing to adjust things some of those policies based on what his voters are telling him. And that doesn't mean he's a fraud. That just means he's listening and responsive. So that would be my critique of that position. 00:49:51 Speaker 2: Thank you, Abby. Who's next? 00:49:53 Speaker 9: Thank you. 00:49:53 Speaker 14: We did get a write-in from Kelly that I think makes sense to end out this segment with. She wants to know how she can sell family members and friends from other states to travel to Arizona for Commit 100. And we have a couple graphics if we want to throw up, but... I think that we have we are all three people who are not from Arizona. So I think as someone who is from Texas, I love Texas. I came to Arizona. I was like, it is disgusting here. We are just now getting to the part. It is the best weather. I mean, I went on like a 45 minute walk. 00:50:26 Speaker 2: I think Arizona is just like the weather. 00:50:28 Speaker 8: The weather. 00:50:28 Speaker 16: Yeah. 00:50:29 Speaker 8: Just yes. 00:50:30 Speaker 14: Everyone has that like just that preconceived notion of Arizona that it's just so hot. And we've gotten to the point now where if you want to come now for Commit 100, I mean, you could not find a better time. 00:50:40 Speaker 2: The weather in November is phenomenal. 00:50:42 Speaker 8: And what I will say, I believe they've made that pitch that you can do your Commit 100 stuff primarily during the weekdays. And so if you block out the time on the weekend, rent a car, go to Sedona. Go to the Grand Canyon. I went to Tombstone. 00:50:58 Speaker 9: Blake is always doing road trips. 00:51:00 Speaker 8: I do road trips all over Arizona. It's an incredibly beautiful state. 00:51:02 Speaker 2: Go to Prescott. Go to Flagstaff. There are so many beautiful places. 00:51:07 Speaker 8: If you go up to Flagstaff and you don't take the interstate... Take the state highway that's a bit to the east. You go through incredibly scenic country. You go through mountains. You suddenly feel like you're in a totally different state because the elevation changes so radically. 00:51:20 Speaker 5: The step in the state. They call it the continental shelf, basically. The Mogollon Rim right there. And that's kind of Sedona's built into where the drop off happens. That's why it's so beautiful. But it's a tale of two states. You've got the heat in the valley down here and then the higher elevation. 00:51:36 Speaker 14: But even now in the valley, it's getting so beautiful outside. You can work so hard all day and then you go home after your work at Turning Point Action and you can go for a hike. You can go to amazing restaurants. It's beautiful sunsets. You should totally come. 00:51:51 Speaker 2: Yep. tpaction.com slash 100. That's the pitch. All right. We are talking with Dawn. We're talking about AI. So, Don, are you still there? 00:52:03 Speaker 8: I don't think yet. 00:52:03 Speaker 4: Oh! 00:52:04 Speaker 8: We haven't brought in. 00:52:05 Speaker 2: I just know it's about AI. 00:52:07 Speaker 8: All right, Don, what's your question? 00:52:10 Speaker 15: Yes, thanks for taking my call. My local radio station this morning was talking about how the government is using AI to discover a bunch of fraud. The last four or five years, they've discovered that there's about... $ 200 billion a year in fraud that they're going after. I wondered if you'd heard about that and what you know about it. 00:52:34 Speaker 8: I don't know the full specifics of it, but I 100% know you're correct. They are doing that. This administration, our last question asked about, you know, she mentioned that Byron Donalds has faced heat over data centers. We know there's a big debate over AI within the conservative movement, but President Trump himself, he's emphatically pro-AI. He says we're going to win the AI race with China. Whoever wins that race wins everything. He loves to use that wording. And his administration, they see a lot of opportunity in AI. So the Defense Department thinks we can use AI to win wars, make our military more effective. And finding fraud is one of the great potential uses for AI because how do so many of those Somali fraud daycares, fraudulent Medicare companies, fraudulent home, adult daycare companies, a million different scams out there, they're able to get away with it in large part just because there's so much money going to so many places and there's just a limit to how many people we have auditing that stuff, checking that stuff, looking for patterns in that stuff. And now there's the potential with AI to automate a huge amount of that, to find discrepancies. And so one person can be vastly more efficient in finding that sort of thing. And that's great in so many ways. We can reduce fraud. It means we can reduce federal headcount, and that means that's not, oh, we lost jobs. That means we don't need to tax everyone to pay for these employees who will live in D.C. leeching off of you being permanently recession-proof. That's money you put back to the American people. I think it's a tremendous opportunity. 00:54:09 Speaker 5: And by the way, the more federal bureaucrats there are, the more they're going to want to spend. So it's not even just their salaries. It's the programs that they support and all that sort of thing. So the most widely cited official annual losses of fraud estimate across the U.S. federal government ranges between $ 233 billion to $ 521 billion. So it's even bigger than that, right? And then there are improper payments that are estimated to be around $ 180 billion a year. 00:54:36 Speaker 2: So you're. 00:54:40 Speaker 5: Once you add those up, if you think the top line estimates are potentially true, then you're getting close to a trillion dollars a year. 00:54:47 Speaker 2: Not quite, but that. 00:54:48 Speaker 5: Is a legitimate and realistic estimate of how much fraud there could be in the system. So I know that the Department of Treasury is using this. I know that the DOJ is using these tools. And there is a push to use AI to kind of improve the databases across the federal government to get them all talking. Now, some people have a problem with this. I don't happen to be necessarily one of those, though I keep an open mind. I'm willing to hear the arguments to and for or for and against. But I think, listen, if you're using it in the hands of the right person, this is kind of like the flock camera argument in the hands of the right people. Flock cameras can be a wonderful tool in the hands of the wrong people. They could be used as a surveillance mechanism. They could be used to invade your privacy. you know, as conservatives, we always have to be aware of the fact that the federal government could use this to try and crack down on conservatives. So listen, in, in a limited scope, if you're using it to suss out fraud, I, I'm a, I'm a big, big proponent of it. 00:55:49 Speaker 2: And I think it's a great advancement in the space. Thank you, Don. Uh, who's our next, uh, our next guest. 00:55:55 Speaker 14: We have a, another write-in from Mick. He said, please read for me. As I mentioned last week, I'm on my road trip across the country, uh, to South Carolina. I'm currently in Dallas. If you guys remember, he called in with Alex and Joe Bob that he's moving. What was your favorite part of the country that you traveled to with Charlie and do you have a particular memory from then? I feel like you always say Korea, so you need to say something. 00:56:17 Speaker 8: From America? 00:56:18 Speaker 6: Yes. 00:56:18 Speaker 8: I was just thinking about this because I've been in contact with someone we met on that. I'm really fond of the time that this was in about September of 24 and Charlie went to Nebraska. to try to make that push to get them to call the emergency session, get the winner take all passed, which we still want them to do. That is unfinished business with the state of Nebraska. But it was so fun. One, I did actually, he went and he met with the governor, and I wasn't in that meeting, so I went with one of our team. I think it was Brian, and we went to the Nebraska State Capitol. I'm a big sucker for state capitals. They're usually a great way to see how a state sees itself. There's usually something distinctive about them. So that was very fun. I think they had all these fossils and dinosaurs. They were digging them up in Nebraska. So they were like, we're not just flat, featureless plains like South Dakota. We have fossils. But then on top of that, we then went to the tailgate for the Nebraska game. 00:57:16 Speaker 9: I just found the video. 00:57:17 Speaker 8: They did the man on the street stuff. And it's so perfect because they're the big red. So everyone's wearing red. And this is the presidential election season. People realize Charlie's on campus. Thousands of them. They just mob around him just organically. huge crowd of people. He's given out hats to everybody. They're all fired up. Then we go into the game. We almost providentially have a run-in with one of the state senators that Charlie was trying to lobby, and on top of that, we were in the box of Larry the Cable Guy, who's a big Nebraska fan, and he knew that we were trying to get this done. He's like, I'm happy to help you. You can come be my guest. That's your excuse to be at the game. So we're there, and he had so much interest. It was just such a great experience, and you saw Charlie and his element as a political operator trying to get things done. Charlie as this man of the people who has had so much appeal to college students. It just it captured so many elements of what made Charlie a dynamic figure. And it was a lot of fun on its own merits. 00:58:16 Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say so. I don't really have a favorite. 00:58:18 Speaker 5: And I've thought about this question before, but there's ones that I haven't thought about for a long time. And I was just reminded of a trip that Charlie and I did. It was a multi week trip, actually. And it was right before covid. 00:58:30 Speaker 2: Started. 00:58:31 Speaker 5: So this whole trip was launching his book, MAGA doctrine, which ended up on the New York times bestseller. So we just had, it was like one interview after the next, we were all over, um, New York city. We were all over DC. We flew down to Florida and, and part of that trip I'll never forget was when we went to Mar-a-Lago and it was just before it was like Don, it was, um, it was, uh, KG's birthday at Mar-a-Lago. 00:58:56 Speaker 2: Don was there. Some other of the Trump family was there. 00:58:58 Speaker 5: And then like, lo and behold, There was Tucker Carlson there, you know, and so I remember talking with Tucker right before and he was trying to warn about COVID. So that was a big that was like kind of a, this one weird moment right before the world shut down and traveling all across the country with him, going restaurants, eating, hustling. And it was something I just haven't thought about for a while. And it was a, it was, you know, it was still early days. And the fact that that book made the New York times was a really big deal to Charlie and to me at the time, because I was kind of lining up his whole, his whole tour. So that was one I hadn't thought about for a while and lots of memories from that trip. 00:59:31 Speaker 14: I was just recently, I don't remember what, who I was talking about. It was probably Mikey. We found a video of Charlie signing hats. And I don't know if everyone remembers in 2024, Charlie greatly over-promised signed hats to thousands and thousands of people. And so it was coming down to the wire. We like needed to get these hats done. And we were all in DC in January for the inauguration. And I mean, Mikey and I had, like over 6,000 hats shipped from HQ to DC. And it is like the dead of winter. And we're just bringing all these hats to him and Erica. And I mean, it was like, I, we. 01:00:11 Speaker 9: Always, Charlie would get. 01:00:13 Speaker 14: Frustrated with me sometimes because I would repeatedly have to like tell. 01:00:17 Speaker 9: Him what to do in a sense. 01:00:18 Speaker 14: Like when he would be recording something, I'm like, no, you did that wrong. 01:00:21 Speaker 6: Nope. 01:00:21 Speaker 9: You have to redo that one. 01:00:22 Speaker 2: The hats. 01:00:22 Speaker 14: I'm like, Charlie, you have to sign all of these hats. And his hand was cramping. I mean, it was, Hours. 01:00:29 Speaker 15: Hours. 01:00:29 Speaker 9: He was like, can I see you tomorrow? 01:00:30 Speaker 14: I'm like, we have to get all these hats out today. And it just turned into a much bigger thing. And that DC trip in general was so fun. I mean, it felt like we ruled the school. Like, anywhere that Charlie went, it was. 01:00:44 Speaker 9: So, like, it was freezing. 01:00:46 Speaker 2: He was the belle of the ball. 01:00:47 Speaker 9: Of all the balls. Yeah, I just have the best memories from that time. 01:00:51 Speaker 2: That was good. Who's next? 01:00:54 Speaker 9: We have Elizabeth next. 01:00:55 Speaker 2: Elizabeth. Unmute yourself. Welcome to the show. 01:00:58 Speaker 16: Hi, how are you today? 01:00:59 Speaker 2: Doing well, Elizabeth. How are you? 01:01:02 Speaker 4: I'm well, thank you. 01:01:03 Speaker 16: I guess I was a little bit irritated this week with what happened with the Ed Sheeran concert. 01:01:09 Speaker 8: Oh, yes. 01:01:10 Speaker 16: The entire pre-show people leaving. And this was like, And I'm not saying anyone has to be pro-Israel, but did they know that Hamas has child soldiers and they train them in training camps for terrorists starting from age 10 to 17? And that's why people under 18 die in these conflicts at such high rates? 01:01:32 Speaker 2: Yeah. So there's so much to this story. 01:01:35 Speaker 9: We were just talking about this. 01:01:36 Speaker 8: Yeah. 01:01:37 Speaker 5: So I guess I have met both McLemore and Ed Sheeran. It's a weird factoid. One of my friends is really close with both of them. But did they ever do your dishes? 01:01:48 Speaker 16: No. 01:01:49 Speaker 2: No, that was not either of them. 01:01:51 Speaker 8: Taylor Swift did his dishes once. 01:01:53 Speaker 2: No, because I knew Ed, actually. 01:01:56 Speaker 5: But anyways, the point is, Ed's a really nice guy. And I went to school at the University of Washington when Macklemore was coming up. 01:02:04 Speaker 2: And he was sort of still unknown. So I met him in those days. 01:02:07 Speaker 5: Anyways, the point is, my whole take on this is if you're– Robert Kraft, and your goal is to get rid of anti-Semitism, essentially, I would just say there was a tactical error, okay? 01:02:21 Speaker 2: Because he doesn't, there's. 01:02:22 Speaker 5: A disconnect between what the older generation thinks about Israel and what younger people think about Israel, first of all. There's also a disconnect because he doesn't understand the way social media works. So as soon as I saw this happening, I knew for a fact that McLemore was going to come out on top on this, and that Robert Kraft and everybody, because immediately when We heard that Macklemore was kicked off the tour. There was all the usual suspects on social media going, yay, we did it. We got him kicked off. And I was like, oh, oh, because you got to realize you're dealing with people that think Jews run the world, that there is this billionaire cabal and that they control everything. 01:02:58 Speaker 2: And guess what? Robert Kraft did. He he did the meme. 01:03:02 Speaker 5: He did the thing that they are claiming that they do, that they deny that they do, that they control everything and can, you know, Change world events or whatever. And he got him kicked off. You are pro-Israel. 01:03:14 Speaker 2: If you're pro-Jewish people, all of those things, that's perfectly fine. 01:03:19 Speaker 5: There's a right way to go about it in a wrong way. Playing into a stereotype that rich billionaire Jews like Kraft can control events and get people removed from tours is probably not the right strategy. And I think I speak for everybody. I don't know. Maybe, Daisy, you might have been different. You might have heard about it. I did not hear that he did this free Palestine rant Macklemore did it. 01:03:42 Speaker 9: I didn't hear about it until after he was kicked off. 01:03:44 Speaker 2: Until after he was kicked off. So this is the key. 01:03:47 Speaker 5: If you, he was speaking into the ether. He was an opening act on a, a big North and South American tour. Nobody that I, I didn't even hear about it. The only reason I heard about it was because Robert Kraft stepped in and got in with all of his other stadium buddies and got it taken. It got him removed from the tour. What, Ed Sheeran has now been... I actually feel the worst for Ed Sheeran. 01:04:12 Speaker 14: It is a complete lose-lose situation for Ed Sheeran. 01:04:15 Speaker 9: His statement. 01:04:16 Speaker 14: I don't know if we've pulled it yet, but his statement basically said the same thing. 01:04:21 Speaker 9: He was like. 01:04:23 Speaker 14: It was a notes app swipe through of just nothing because he's trying to make all sides happy. He's trying to make Israel happy, Palestine happy, and also the promoters and crew people on his tour. 01:04:36 Speaker 9: Because it's like... Those are people's jobs. 01:04:38 Speaker 2: We can't cancel. Exactly. 01:04:40 Speaker 5: So what what probably happened here, Ed did not contract with Macklemore was a promoter. 01:04:45 Speaker 6: Right. 01:04:46 Speaker 5: But what Ed Sheeran should have done. And again, I'm kind of getting away from your question here, but I do really feel bad for Ed Sheeran. And I have reason to believe that Macklemore feels bad for Ed Sheeran, too, because Ed's whole thing is like, listen, I love you. I love my fans. I'm not trying to get political. People come come here for escapism. 01:05:03 Speaker 2: I have a tour tour. 01:05:04 Speaker 5: To keep employed all the people that work it, all the ticket sales, everything. I mean, it's a, it's basically a billion dollar industry on the back of one guy and he's trying to honor everybody the right way. 01:05:13 Speaker 2: Okay. 01:05:14 Speaker 5: What he should have done is instead of saying, I'm, you know, essentially, sorry, he's been kicked off. He should have said, listen, without taking a position on all this politics, what I will take a position on is that I can't let my artists be kicked off a tour. Like that's a bad precedent. I'm going to stand with them. We're going to, Do refunds for all the tickets, and we're going to start a new tour. 01:05:37 Speaker 9: If you don't want to come, you don't have to come. 01:05:39 Speaker 5: But we're going to try our best to make sure everybody can get a ticket. Because what's happened here is you have one of the best artists or most well-known artists, most popular artists in the world. He's now getting canceled. For example, if he was to go to an award show, let's call it the Grammys or something like this, he would be booed by the Hollywood elite. So here's a guy that's doing it the right way, not making it political, and he's now the collateral damage here because all of the other acts decided to drop off as well. He should have probably just said, hey, listen, I'm not taking a position on this. I'm not getting political, but I'm going to stand by my artists. We're going to find new venues, and we're sorry about the inconvenience. That's what would have been the smart move for Ed. but I'm not really addressing her. 01:06:24 Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, the bigger thing on just Hamas, the thing that's sad is it's almost besides the point. The whole Israel-Palestine issue, I think one thing that stands out for it, it's so enduring, and it just kind of becomes a symbol. I always get a kick out of that chart that says, like, LGBT, trans, immigration, capitalism, Palestine is what unites them all. It's entirely transcended any facts about that conflict. the history of it, what the claims are. You just have to take a side to prove that you're a good person and it like devours people's brains and drives them a little insane. 01:07:02 Speaker 14: Which I think usually in Hollywood, it is pretty easy. Like you can pretty easily like give up your morals and just say whatever to make the right people happy and you will be successful. Like the right side for them is usually pretty easy to distinguish. In this situation with Ed Sheeran, it's like I don't know what he could have done to have made people happy. It is such a polarizing topic, and that's why his statement was like, I stand with both sides. I stand with Macklemore, and I stand with the people who canceled the tour. I stand with the promoters, and I stand with the crew. He can't say anything. 01:07:37 Speaker 5: So Macklemore here is the interesting angle because he started all of this. He was invited on that tour by Ed Sheeran, who's a much bigger artist than he. And his star was fading, let's be honest. He had a really nice run there for a while, no disrespect, but he's a self-promoter, and when you give him this opportunity, you are playing right into his strategic hands. He is very good at seizing a moment like this and making the most of it, and that's what he did. So Robert Kraft probably doesn't know this. I looked at it, and I was just like, oh my gosh. So what is his Instagram follower? His Instagram follower is probably... Macklemore's has grown by, what, 300,000, 400,000 now? 01:08:17 Speaker 14: I am not sure, but I will say Ed Sheeran did. I think he made it sound casual, but I think there was a point in there in his statement when he said, when Macklemore asked to join me on tour. 01:08:26 Speaker 6: Yes. 01:08:27 Speaker 14: Like, I think he was trying to say, I was not trying to make this a political thing. He's really, I mean, it's crazy that someone like Ed Sheeran, who is, Ed Sheeran doesn't even have a cell phone. Like, he is the most. No, he is the most off the grid person. like not political whatsoever, and is somehow at the helm of this ginormous political divide. 01:08:49 Speaker 8: We have a couple write-ins I want to get. First, I believe Don, who we spoke with a moment ago, you said he wrote in asking, what did he say? 01:08:57 Speaker 14: He said, what is the green and orange? poster behind Charlie's chair, which I'm assuming he means the flag. 01:09:03 Speaker 2: Green and yellow. 01:09:03 Speaker 8: He's probably colorblind. That is, like Andrew, that is an Oregon Ducks flag. Charlie is a huge Oregon Ducks fan. I believe some members of his family went there. 01:09:12 Speaker 9: Yes, and we are now all in support of the Oregon Ducks. 01:09:15 Speaker 8: Yes, which is rough because they were in the title game last year. But this year, were they the title game or were they the semifinals? They lost to Indiana either way. 01:09:26 Speaker 2: Yeah, last year. I can't remember. 01:09:27 Speaker 8: Yeah, whatever it was, they lost to Indiana. Now they're back. They had a rough game the other week, didn't they? 01:09:32 Speaker 5: Yeah, they lost, and they shouldn't have lost. And I think they were ranked sixth or fourth in the country, and now they're not. 01:09:40 Speaker 2: Very rough. 01:09:40 Speaker 9: I was going to say, we all are in support of the Oregon. 01:09:43 Speaker 5: So Charlie's parents went there, so he grew up a big Oregon Ducks fan. 01:09:46 Speaker 2: Yeah. Anytime the Ducks are playing, we had to hear about it. 01:09:49 Speaker 8: In this office, we stan the Ducks. We stan the Cubs. 01:09:53 Speaker 9: That's what I was going to say. We do stan the Ducks, except for Danny. 01:09:55 Speaker 8: I will not back the Bears. 01:09:56 Speaker 9: Danny is an Ohio fan, and I know that they play. 01:09:59 Speaker 2: I sort of weirdly root for the Cubs, but I'm a Dodger. All right, next question. 01:10:05 Speaker 8: We got a very brief write-in. We'll have to hit this very quick. But she asked, what should Canadians do? What do we think about the trade war? 01:10:10 Speaker 2: Oh, this question? 01:10:11 Speaker 8: Because now, well, we've gotten it a few times. I think it's from a different person this time. 01:10:14 Speaker 2: I think Canada, it's like a much bigger story in Canada than it is here. 01:10:17 Speaker 8: Well, that's the thing. But it's totally taken over. If you're in Canada, your politics are dictated far more by how you feel about Donald Trump, really, than how you feel about anyone in Canada, it seems. And now, like, we're beefing with the European Union, so... Canada is now talking about being an associate member of the European Union. And I feel for Canadian conservatives because it's very tough. Because if your country's defining identities are we're more liberal than America and we're anti-Donald Trump, it's difficult to break away from that. And you might have to ride that out, I suppose. 01:10:53 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. 01:10:55 Speaker 5: You are defined by President Trump as much as... The conservative movement in America is in some ways, maybe more. But you're going to have to write it out and just keep the faith. America and Canada will get back in a groove. It's just this is a momentary bump in the road. 01:11:09 Speaker 8: All right. 01:11:10 Speaker 5: All right, guys, have a great weekend. Take care of yourself. Go touch grass. Go be with your family and take some time. 01:11:16 Speaker 2: Pray. Read your Bible. We'll see you guys on Monday. 01:11:23 Speaker 8: For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.