Reflection on Charlie Kirk's Memorial Service

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
As right now, though, I just wanted to kind of
reflect personally on how I saw the.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Charlie Kirk memorial service yesterday. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
How best to put this, because I know there are
people that are not going to I just don't understand
some people's thought process. I think people there are people
certainly that just like to be angry about things on
both sides of the aisle. But there was nothing I

(00:37):
don't think that people could see in yesterday that people
would be like, oh, well, that was like something resembling
a Nazi rally, or this is why nationalism That just
that's not true. What are you looking at? What are

(00:57):
you listening for? Have you ever been to a church?
Have you ever like given yourself the ability to feel
empathy for people you might disagree with? For anybody out there,
specifically on the political left that are tearing apart what
they saw yesterday, I just don't understand, Like, how how

(01:18):
do you live on a.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Day to day basis with yourself?

Speaker 1 (01:23):
You know, like you think you're somehow perfect and the
life that you live is somehow perfect, and you don't
like it when people come together for something that you
don't understand why they're there. You know, thankfully, I did
have a bit of sanity when I was on social media,
which is a very strange and weird place to find it.
But there were a lot of people on social media
yesterday as the service was taking place that said, I

(01:49):
didn't know this is what church was like, because it
is more than anything. It was kind of like a
gigantic funeral. You know, it's a memorial service, but it
also was kind of a glimpse into Christianity and what
church is, especially in the arena church kind of era
that we're in right now, where you have thousands of

(02:12):
people in the same place at the same time there
for the same reason. And I can be pretty critical
of the arena church feeling. I feel like it's built
for profit as much as it is built to help
people with their faith. It's built to make money, make
money for other people. It can do a lot of good,
but it still makes you kind of just wonder, is

(02:35):
this really what we're supposed to be doing. You'll see
and read about things in the Gospel and in the
Bible about church and how people were worshiping then, and
certainly it wasn't about having this incredibly nice facility and
It wasn't about having the ability to have thousands of

(02:55):
people singing the same songs. There's a lot of people
who were kind of traditionalists when it comes to that
critical of contemporary Christian music. It's too loud, there's too
many drums, too many guitar solos. This isn't something that
lifts God up or lifts Jesus up. And my answer
to people like that says, you have to understand who
the audience is. Getting people to the table has never

(03:19):
been a more difficult thing to do because more than
ever we are afraid of getting to the table ourselves.
And that was, I hope what the message was, more
than anything about Charlie Kirk that he wanted to get
people to the table and have discussion. He wanted to
have debate. I was very interested in what Van Jones,

(03:39):
of all people, was saying at the end of last
week and into the weekend, saying that Charlie Kirk texted
him and messaged him that he wanted to have a
debate the day before he was assassinated. That's stuck with
Van Jones, who's he claimed to be Charlie Kirk's mortal enemy.
I don't think Charlie Kirk would say it that way.
But he reached out and he wanted to have a

(04:01):
legitimate debate gentlemen to gentlemen. And I don't know what
took Van Jones a week and a half to share
that information, but he eventually did, and you could tell
that it moved him in some way. I respect that.
I know that doesn't go with his narrative and how
people are viewing him as it relates to Charlie Kirk

(04:24):
and the people who listened to Charlie Kirk in his words.
But I think it was a powerful statement by him
and the people around him to go on CNN of
all places and say he reached out to me. People
are saying so many bad things about this man. There's
nothing This guy wanted to talk to someone who I
thought was his enemy. That meant something, I think to

(04:48):
Van Jones and probably to the people around him, and
said might have had this guy wrong. And I'm sure
they would have taken some of their words back if
they would have been given the opportunity. We do all
this stuff for the sensational headlines, and there's all this
stuff that you see on the legacy media about ways
that people can become more politically active, and it always

(05:11):
has to do mostly these days, on both sides, how
angry you can be at the other side. Yesterday it
wasn't about politics. It was a lot more about faith.
It wasn't even about Charlie Kirk as much as it
was about Charlie Kirk's legacy that he leaves behind. And
that's also powerful. When you're able to leave a legacy
behind and know that your name and your efforts that

(05:32):
you had while you were on earth are going to
be remembered in a way that they're going to be
picked up by people and they're going to carry the
ball further downfield. That is incredibly powerful. And not every
person has that type of legacy. But also the faith
aspect of this I think could be awfully powerful. And

(05:52):
as I alluded to earlier, seeing people that said, Wow,
I didn't know how touched I'd be by the music
and the singing and the remembrance in the smiles, even
if they're sad smiles, and their smiles that hurt as
we memorialize a person who lost their life far too soon.
The feeling of is this what it feels like to

(06:17):
be at church? Maybe that will get some people in
church maybe that can make a difference in their lives.
One can only hope as we are kind of going
through the moments now of yesterday's memorial service for Charlie Kirk,
that just made the biggest difference, the biggest impact, And

(06:39):
there's nothing that's even in the same stratosphere as the
number one moment that changed. I think a lot of
people's opinion about what happened, and I think hopefully, if
I had to guess, it would have made an impact
on a lot of people, very specifically, and that's Erica Kirk,

(07:02):
the widow of Charlie Kirk. You got to remember, it's
been less than two weeks since her husband. It wasn't
a tragic death. It wasn't a car accident or a helicopter,
it wasn't a medical emergency. Someone and we think we
have this person. Someone took a rifle with intent and

(07:28):
shot him, killing him while she was in attendance, while
he was just speaking to college kids. The anger that
I would certainly have in my heart if my significant
other was eliminated by someone for no reason other than

(07:52):
sharing ideas or opinions, I just could not imagine and
yesterday she said, I forgive him. You could tell it
was a difficult thing for her to say, as I
think it would be for everyone, anyone and everyone. And

(08:14):
there's something about saying that, saying out loud, this is
what Charlie Kirk would have wanted, this is what Jesus
would have done.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
Man that.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
If that doesn't put some stuff into perspective for you,
I don't know what would. The reason that that is
the most powerful moment is because I think we forget
that's what our being a faithful Christian is, you know,
And you don't even have to be a devout Christian. Honestly,

(08:53):
there is such a thing as about being the bigger person,
about laying your burdens and your arms down, your armor down,
and you know what to hear a widow, a young
woman in her thirties with two small children, who watched

(09:15):
her husband get assassinated less than two weeks ago, to
find the strength within herself in a moment like that
where you're not just you have tens of thousands of
people packed into an NFL sized stadium, a very large place,
something an in and of itself, and we'll talk in

(09:38):
just a few minutes to somebody who's actually there. But
you're speaking to those people, but you know it's being
televised around the world. And not that Erica Kirk can't
speak or didn't have a voice, she certainly had a
platform through her husband to the world. I don't think

(10:00):
many of us heard her speak with that kind of
passion before. Just a couple of days after the assassination,
she went on social media and posted a video, and man,
that was tough to listen to. You feel so bad
for her, and you can understand the anger especially in

(10:21):
that video that you can just kind of feel radiating
off of her of just like, how could you take
my life like this? How could you take the love
of my life, my family and do this to us.
But to have the strength in that regard on that
platform to say I forgive him, And then it got cheered,

(10:44):
It got cheered by everyone. Man, I can't remember a
moment quite like that before. Now, certainly it helps knowing
who the assassin is and him being custody and we're
trying to learn about what could create such a violent

(11:06):
act in a twenty two year old and maybe we'll
get answers, maybe we'll just be left to speculate, but
I think we have a pretty good idea about how
things went down there. But to say that was just
a remarkable showing of strength by a young woman with
two small children with an audience, I mean, regardless of

(11:30):
what turning point USA does with her now at the helm,
regardless of vow involved into politics that she decides she
wants to be. Because I know there are a lot
of people now all of a sudden saying, oh, she
should run for president or vice president or something like that.
Let's not try to put pressure on her to do
stuff like that. Let's leave the same thing with Charlie Kirk.

(11:50):
Everybody's like, oh, Charlie Kirk, he could have been the
president one day. I'm not saying he couldn't have been,
But is that what he wanted? The reach that he
was made making in his twenties and then early thirties
through a company he really founded and built and kind
of created what it did. He was able to do

(12:13):
that before he was even eligible to run for president.
You know, maybe one day he would have been like, yeah,
I think I could really make some real change as
the president of the United States. Maybe that would have happened.
But I don't want to say that what he was
doing was not working and it wasn't powerful. Sometimes when

(12:35):
you're directly involved in politics or running for office, the
message can get diluted a little bit. There's nothing deluted
about what Charlie Kirk was saying. There was nothing confusing
about it because he wasn't trying to impress people. Yeah,
sure he had people that would donate and be a
part of his nonprofit organization, and maybe he felt like
he had to, you know, be on You could make

(12:57):
the argument maybe he needed to be on certain sides
of the aisle to make sure that he kept all
of those people happy. But you never got that read
by just listening to him talk. He talked like politicians
don't really allow themselves to talk. Now, well, Erica Kirk
do the same. I'm not sure she's you know, I
don't think anybody thought of Erica Kirk as a possible

(13:18):
future candidate for office until, you know, less than two
weeks ago. But man, the way that she spoke and
the power that she had in the command of that
room that she had, and the command of people watching
all over the world that she had, and then Donald
Trump calling her up and having a moment with her.
I mean that moment was pretty powerful. Donald Trump even
acknowledging the fact that you know, Erica's gota. I'm gonna

(13:38):
have to work on this because you know, Erica Charlie Kirk.
They say, don't hate your opponents, but I hate my opponents,
and acknowledging that we know, we know he hates his opponents,
but him acknowledging it, having a chuckle about it, you know,
those you know, chuckling through the tears kind of memorial
services that I think we've all been a part of
at some point during our life. That's what it felt

(13:59):
like at times. Except the President and the Vice president
and the Secretary of State and you know, a lot
of different dignitaries were there and they were speaking. Tulsa Gabbert,
what a speech she had. You know, you had a
big you know, it was a bunch of politicians, but
it wasn't a political rally, and you didn't hear too
much spoken about politics. We were speaking to each other

(14:21):
like we were real people. I don't know if I
can take Donald Trump seriously that he's going to work
with Erica Kirk on him trying to you know, be
less angry and have less hate for his opponents when
he speaks about things. And I guess time is going
to tell on that. But for whatever it's worth politically speaking,

(14:43):
those moments yesterday are a huge step for people from
an independent perspective to see these politicians who are leading
the Republican Party as real people humans, a humanizing moment
of remembering a real person who made an impact on

(15:04):
all of their lives, something we all can absolutely relate to.
And they didn't muddy it with random attacks on hardcore
far left wingers. It went on for a really long time,
and I think the people that were watching it and
who were consuming the social media and who were trying

(15:26):
to keep track of everything that was going on, I
think people feel a radiation of positivity coming out of it.
And if that's not a great indicator of the legacy
that Charlie Kirk left behind, I don't know what is
what A day yesterday was in Glendale, Arizona, home of
where the Arizona Cardinals play football, but wasn't hosting a

(15:47):
football game. I was hosting a memorial service for Charlie Kirk.
Before I get into this, just want to remind you
that Donald Trump's big announcement that A T's yesterday about
autism is scheduled for at three o'clock our time, So
into the next hour, we will have that for you
as it takes place.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
But before I get to.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
That, I wanted to talk to somebody who's actually in
the building yesterday. And joining us once again on the
phone line is a reporter from Fox News Radio who
was actually there, Jeff MINASO. Jeff, thank you so much
for being a part of our show today.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
Amy always going to be with you.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
So you were there.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
So was tens of thousands of people from a variety
of walks of life and people of you know, various
importance in this country. How can you best describe just
what type of crowd this was that showed up to
this event.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
You know, it's it's like when you it's like when
you go into a a football stadium and you're cheering
on your team and people from all over that are
coming with the same jerseys as you. I mean, your brothers,
your sisters. You know, it's it's it's a sense of
being one and and and and and coming together uh

(17:04):
for for one purpose, uh and and and here in Glendale,
it was to carry on Charlie Kirk's mission of faith,
of patriotism, conservatism. Uh and and there's there was a
real feeling that was that was tangible and you you
you could feel it, the the unity uh here and

(17:25):
in really what what was a church revival. Tp U
s A said that they wanted this event. In this event,
they wanted they wanted hundreds of millions of people around
the world to to hear the gospel of Jesus and
faith was the biggest aspect of what we saw yesterday
and and felt. And you know, it brought people here

(17:48):
from from across the country and even from around the world.
One of the guys that I talked to you if
you've seen if you saw some of the coverage, you
may have seen a guy named Dan Beasley with that
big wooden cross that he was that he was carrying
with them, dragging with him. He's from Michigan and and
he brought that cross to to Turning Point us A

(18:11):
last week. Uh and the organization invited him to be
there and and you know he described what Charlie in
his thirty one years of life, they do was essentially
throwing a pebble of goodness and faith and creating a
massive ripple effect with a younger generation. And and and

(18:32):
we've seen we've seen evidence of that the younger the
younger generation is moving closer to their faith. And and
tp USA, by the way, twenty one hundred chapters in
high schools, in uh in in colleges across the country.
After his death, upwards of seventy thousand requests have come in,

(18:54):
So his mission is going to continue, and its requests
for new chapters high school and college across the country,
but also around the globe. So tp USA is now
a global event. And Erica Kirk, his widow, is going
to have her She's got some work to do because
this is a massive undertaking. But I can tell you

(19:15):
based on what we saw yesterday with what they pulled
off in about a week, a Super Bowl style event
with that kind of level one security that usually takes
about a year to plan, they pulled all of it
off in a week, and it was really incredible. But
it was her words when she said that she forgives

(19:37):
her husband's killer, because that's what that's what Jesus would
want you to do, That's what Charlie would want you
to do. Man, it was as a human. It was
a pretty powerful powerful thing.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
Jeff been also joining us from Fox News Radio. He
was at the Charlie Kirk memorial service. That was certainly
the big highlight that was being shared of her forgiving
the assassin of Charlie Kirk, which, again, if you're if
you're a practicing Christian, it's knowledge. It's one of the

(20:11):
first things that you really learn is that you're supposed to,
you know, practice the Ten Commandments, you're supposed to believe
in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But one of the
most practical things that you do is you forgive your enemy.
You you understand that that is what Jesus would do, That
what would Jesus do? Thing is the entire you know

(20:32):
basis for a person who's just being introduced to the
Christian faiths. It was a really powerful moment. But this,
I mean, she was she spoke, certainly, her words I
think were the most important words that we heard. But
there were many, many people of a variety of you know,
job positions and notoriety that spoke. How long overall do

(20:55):
you did you like keep track of this, because it
felt like this thing went on for a long long time.
And how many different people went up to that podium
and had a chance to you know, say a few
words to this gigantic crowd that had assembled both in
person and who was watching all over the world.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
Yeah, it was to tens of thousands inside this massive
football stadium and and tens of thousands more across the
street in an old hockey arena. And so it was massive.
And and you know, we heard from he had dozens
of speakers, from Charlie Kirk's friends to some of the
most powerful people in the world who were there to honor,

(21:38):
to honor Charlie Kirk. And you know, it was it
was it was incredible. And President Trump's saying that Charlie
was assassinated because he lived boldly in honor of his
faith and freedom, and that the gun named at Charlie
was aimed at all of us, that Charlie became a mortal,
and that people around the world will not forget Charlie Kirk,

(22:00):
and that neither will will history. We heard from the
Vice president, we heard from members of the cabinet, UH
and other prominent political figures with with the overall theme
it was faith, and you know, faith really filled that
that room and I described what it was like in

(22:21):
the press area on the floor where generally, you know,
the press, there's there's never any emotion, no matter what
you know. Sometimes you know, many of them don't even
stand for the national anthem. Well, when Charlie, when Charlie
Kirk's widow h that she forgave her her her husband's killer,
we saw members of the press standing and some of

(22:43):
them reaching towards the sky and some of them crying.
It's just something I've I've never witnessed before, and I've
I've seen a lot of stuff.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
It is really really something to hear that. Uh.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Donald Trump was unabashedly himself throughout. But another moment that
had not much to do with the actual ceremony itself,
that I found to be notable was him sitting next
to Elon Musk and Elon Musk posting on social media
and saying for Charlie and things like that, and knowing
the fallout of this, knowing the message, even Donald Trump saying,

(23:20):
you know, the one difference that I had with Charlie
is I actually do hate my opponents, and maybe I
can learn not to hate as much, you know, he
said it kind of tongue in cheek, but it really
does seem like the energy from this isn't in us
versus them mentality. It is now us needing to rally
around each other mentality. And that's kind of what I

(23:41):
picked up from the most notable speakers that includes Donald Trump,
that includes JD. Vance, and includes Marco Rubio, that includes
Erica Kirk. And it's around you know, yes, Christianity and faith,
but it also comes around to the fact that we
are the bigger, the better people, and we can make
America amazing by living the way Charlie Kirk would live.

(24:05):
Is that way you you know, kind of gathered from
this is you know, maybe just a slow even if
it's light, just a small change in tone that that
takes it away from maybe the pettiness that we have
come to know American politics to be, and more towards
just trying to be better people in general.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
I don't look, I don't necessarily know that I have
enough faith to to to think that politics is going
to change, but I think people are people have and
and we did see that. You know Erica Kirk's words,
she said, you know when when when Charlie Kirk died,
there were. There were no riots, there were no buildings,
there were no cities burning, there was no violence. U

(24:43):
there was just real There was just revival and what
you saw yesterday. And as far as coming together and forgiveness,
the theme of faith, Yeah, Charlie Kirk brought the President
and Elon Musk back together, and and Elon Musk, a
professed atheist, on X last night, one of those posts

(25:04):
that you were just referencing, he says, forgive us for
our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us.
So has he found faith? It appears he has, And
so I think that that is that's part of the
movement that tp USA will will continue on, and they're
going to do that. They're going to continue with pre
planned campus tours. I believe there's one tonight in the

(25:28):
Twin Cities and another I think within the coming days
in Utah. So Charlie Kirk's mission continues.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
Jeff Banasso reporting as always, great information from Fox News Radio. Jeff,
thank you so much for being a part of our show,
and I'm sure we'll chat again.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
Sue, thank you, Buddy, appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
Hey, it's Jay Always.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
It is two forty eight we do appreciate Jeff Binasso
for being a part of our program.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
As always,