June 7, 2026 • 29 mins
Charlie was always hopeful that the rising generation of American young people would be the one to reverse America's decline. In his speech at the 2023 CLS, Charlie shares this hope with Turning Point's grassroots leaders, telling them to remain committed to truth, purpose, and wisdom. Drawing on the teachings of Aristotle and Plato, Charlie encourages young people to pursue depth over distraction, build strong character, and become the leaders America needs.
Watch every episode ad-free on members.charliekirk.com!
Get new merch at charliekirkstore.com!
Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/support
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
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'll
end up purposeful. College is a scam, everybody. You got
(00:26):
to stop sending your kids to college. You should get
married as young as possible and have as many kids
as possible. Go start at turning point, you would say,
college chapter. Go start atturning point you say high school chapter.
Go find out how your church can get involved. Sign
up and become an activist. I gave my life to
the Lord in fifth grade, most important decision I ever
made in my life, and I encourage you to do
the same. Here I am Lord, Use me buckle off everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of the
Charlie Kirkshaw, a company that specializes in gold I rays
and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you could
protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at noblegold investments
dot Com. That is Noblegold Investments dot Com. Yeah, thank
(01:18):
you guys, Legacy, thank you, thank you. Wow. This is
the by far the largest chapter leadership some we have
ever had. Great to see all of you, but having
a good day. Good Yeah, well I want to say
thank you guys. I see so many familiar faces. We
had a fun year this last year, didn't we on tour?
(01:38):
Raise your hand if I came to a college campus
near you, and yeah, it's about half it's good from
New Mexico to anybody. You see Davis, where's our? Uc Davis? Yeah,
that was that was quite a visit. That was. That
was terrible. Uh but we we survived. And you see
Santa Barbara, where's our? That was? Also that was? And
(02:01):
how about Ohio State the Ohio State University. You don't boo,
you don't boo our chapter leaders. You don't do that.
It's Danny doing a great job. You guys are on
the front lines. Every day. I get asked the question
by people that are thirty or forty years older than you,
and they ask me, how can I save the country?
(02:23):
What can I do? These Some people have private jets, yachts,
second or third homes. Now you are probably like I
want the private jet, the yacht, the second or third home.
You should want that stuff. But guess what, you have
a thing that millions of people wish they had, and
that's you have something you can do every single day
to help save the country. You have an action item
(02:46):
where you could say, you know what, the country's falling apart,
it's collapsing. We're seeing Western civilization basically be stolen from
us by some really, really bad people. But you're going
to be able to say, for the red your life
that you took your college and high school years and
you decided to stand for truth to save the greatest
(03:08):
nation ever to exist in the history of the world.
And not only that, you give millions of people hope,
literally millions of people. Being part of Turning Point USA,
we are the largest organization in the country of its kind,
whether it be on social media, on campus, what we're
(03:28):
doing with TPUSA faith. You are all on the front
lines and making a huge difference of that. And we
have now over two hundred and seventy thousand people that
donate to Turning Point USA that helped make this possible.
That you guys get to stay in hotels, that you
guys get to travel here, that you guys get to
have meals. Why do they give money? Why do they
give ten dollars? Some people give a lot more than
(03:50):
ten dollars because they're betting on you. Like what do
you mean, Like, I'm a high school kid, I'm a
college kid. It's because they know that the great hope
to defeat these godless Marxists is joyful strong conservatives on
high school and college campuses pushing back against this Marxist garbage.
(04:13):
They're betting on you. They're betting on your engagement, your activism,
your recruitment, your courage. That should give you, That should
honestly give you some pride in a good way. Not
the pride that we had in the month of June.
Not good. That should give you some gratitude as well
that I'm sure you have a lot of friends that
(04:35):
are very upset neurotic liberal, but I repeat myself, and
they're on the left and they're looking for purpose. You
have purpose. You get to be part of a movement
that is against everything the world tells you. The world
tells you, and that's fun. Actually, when you're young, what
(04:57):
does the world tell you? The world tells you Your
country sucks. We say America is great. The world says
that your history is full of white men that you
shouldn't study. We believe that our history is beautiful and
needs to be understood and passed down to future generations.
The world tells you take any substance you want to take,
(05:20):
whenever you want to take it, and that will give
you happiness. We believe that that's an empty way to
live your life, and then if you experiment with that stuff,
it's not going to end well for you, and that
hopefully one day you'll realize the people that are best
at saying no actually are the happiest people in the world.
The rest of the world tells you that there is
no such thing as biological men or women. We think
(05:42):
the trans people are tyrants and zealots and need to
be repudiated from decent and civil society. You get to
now be part of something that is not just rebellious,
but honestly it's exciting. It's exciting, and it should be
because you're fighting for things that will honestly decide whether
(06:06):
or not the civilization continues. And it all happens in
the high schools and the college campuses. You are the
left's worst nightmare if you did not exist, which again,
Turning Point USA, it's eleven years old. We first started,
it was like three of us, not three staff members,
like three of us. And now we are a movement
where we have two hundred and seventy thousand donors and
(06:27):
millions of members and thousands of chapters and it's like
beyond comprehension. And before I go any further, I refuse
to take credit for it. You are blessed to have
the best staff in the conservative movement that work their
tail off to make what you do possible, from the
(06:49):
events team, for your regional managers, to your directors, to
the people that show up on campus that are relentlessly
nagging you, come on, let's go table, let's do this event.
They deserve your gratitude and we give us. We give
you our gratitude as well. And I'll get to that
because what you do is very hard. But now you're
part of something that is not a question of if
(07:10):
it will be. Turning Point will be in the history books. Okay,
Turning Point has already played a massive role over the
last decade, is now being this unexpected force that's bigger
than all of us to defend the values of Western
society and civilization.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Today's culture would have you believe that a baby is
only a baby if you decide it's a baby. Sometimes
it's a choice, Sometimes it's a baby. And guess what,
we all know that's garbage. It's not true, and when
it matters most Preborn is making sure that the truth
is known, one woman at a time, one baby at
a time. Preborn provides free ultrasounds to abortion vulnerable young women,
(07:51):
and ultrasounds tell the truth. When that mom sees her
baby and here's her baby's heart beats, she's twice as
likely to choose life.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Life.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
One hundred and forty dollars helps give five mothers a
free ultrasound and saves babies. Two hundred and eighty dollars
can save ten babies, and just twenty eight dollars a
month can save a baby a month for less than
a dollar a day. And I know there's some of
you out there.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
You can do this.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
A fifteen thousand dollars gift will provide an ultrasound machine
that will save lives for years to come. Whether you
want to save one baby or five or hundreds, that
opportunity is just a phone call or click away call
eight three three eight five zero two two two nine,
or click on the preborn banner at Charliekirk dot com today.
(08:35):
That's eight three three eight five zero two two two nine,
or click on the preborn banner at Charliekirk dot com today.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
And we don't know how this story is going to end.
We have no idea. Are we gonna win or are
we gonna lose? I have no idea, no idea. But
here's what I could say, and here's what you'll be
able to say, is we gave it everything we possibly could,
and we did not say on the sidelines as these
people decided to try to ruin our home and destroy
the country. Because I'm sure you have a lot of
(09:08):
friends that are enjoying their summer right now, Losers, you
get to be part of something important, and they're going
to be complaining to you in October November when you
go back on campus, like my life is no purpose,
Get me more antidepressants, or let's go do another weed
or like you think of weed or whatever whatever, and
(09:29):
you're like, okay, hopefully don't engage in that, but you're
doing something here at the Turning Point USA Chapter Leadership Summit.
That is good for your soul. It's good for who
you're going to be twenty or thirty years from now.
And never before has it been as important as it
(09:50):
is to then send all of you back to your
high school and college campuses to say that's a bad idea. No,
there's only two sexes. No, I'm not gonna call you
by those pronouns. No, America is actually a great country. No,
I'm not going to allow the chemical castration of children. No,
(10:11):
George Washington was a badass, and I really like him. No,
Like I'm not gonna go take down a statue because
you're offended by history that you don't even understand. No,
I'm not gonna stop saying that life begins at conception.
I'm not gonna stop doing that. And if every one
of you take that cheerful, joyful attitude back to your campuses,
(10:35):
we are gonna be in a much better spot. I'm
not gonna say we're gonna save the country, because I
don't know. We're up against some big forces, you know it, right,
but there will always be a remnant even if the
bad guys win. We're young, and we're gonna have to
live in this country, and we're gonna build something beautiful,
whether it's now or in five years, or ten years,
or twenty years or in thirty years. I have no idea.
(10:56):
I don't know what this country's gonna look like in
ten years. I hope we could turn some things around
some ways. It looks like the country is just like
so far apart and people don't want to work anymore
in all this. But then I say, wait a second,
there's a lot of goodness happening in the country. We
have six hundred people under the age of twenty two
that are super activists that are deciding. You are all
voluntarily doing something where you saying I want my life
(11:19):
to be harder. It would be easier any one of
you if you were here, and you know, instead of
turning point USA, it was like transit the country USA.
You would get corporate donations, you would get sponsorships with
beer companies, you would get Target would want you to
(11:39):
go model for them. Your administration would give you special privileges.
You would be on the website of whatever godless college
that you go to. At college you go to the
colleague Suffolk, you would be on the front page of Suffolk.
If you if you transition to a woman right now
in war address, you'd be on the front page of
(11:59):
this Suffolk University website or whatever godless school you guys
go to. But you're saying, no, I think that's bad
because I know what's right and I know it's good.
And so when you say I want to start a
turning point chapter leader, all of a sudden, I'm sure,
raise your hands. Have you've been greater? Differently called name,
(12:19):
smear slandered, lost friends? Every single hand goes up. Guess
what good? That means? You're standing for something, That means
that you are not a coward. That means your life
has purpose and meaning. Delight in them calling you names.
Find joy in the persecution because it will come, and
(12:42):
it will come more. We live in a dark world
right now. It's not going to brighten unless we turn
up the lights. And the only way you do that
is with courage. And so I could be like, oh, boy,
life is so tough, and you know, keep your head
down and do all this, and you know, say, you know,
just try to lie to get a good grade. Or
I could tell you know what life goes by like
(13:05):
this and I don't want to live as a coward,
and I don't want that for you either, because you
know what, you know what a coward is. A coward
is someone who is somebody different in public than they
are in private. They're they're different, They have like a like, well,
I have to be somebody in my dorm room, and
then once I'm outside, I have to pretend like I'm
(13:25):
for all the SJW nonsense. What you're deciding to be
is the same person in every environment, regardless of where
you go, all the time. And that's something you know
who that is. That's a person who's free. That's a
person who's free where you don't have to self censor.
(13:46):
And yes, I'm sure we're gonna get a question after question.
We're gonna do questions for some time. But Charlie, how
should I deal with the professor who's gonna grade me differently?
You choose? Have great respect for this man, but I
disagree with him. Ben Shapiro says you should lie your
way through college. He does. He says that you should
lie to the professor and write essays that pandered them
(14:07):
to just get good grades. Some of you might decide
to do that I think that if you lie little,
you lie big, and you should never lie under any
circumstances whatsoever. When it comes to things that matter, I
think grades mean nothing. I think courage and character means everything.
Now some of you are like, uh, but I want
to go to law school. Go lie, go to law school.
(14:30):
Let me know how it goes. Go pander to the corporations.
Tell me how it works the rest of your life,
though you'll be looking around the shoulder. I hope they
don't find out that I like Trump. I hope they
don't find out that I'm a conservative. I hope they
don't find out I'm a Christian. The earlier you proclaim
to the world what you believe in, you won't have
to worry about them coming after you.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Before he ever stepped on to a debate stage or
behind a microphone, Rarie understood something important. If you want
to lead, you have to learn first. Charlie believed that
ideas shaped character, conviction, and give you courage. That's why
he spent years studying the classics, the American Founding, and
the Bible through Hillsdale Colleges free online courses.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
These are real.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
College courses taught by actual Hillsdale professors. One of those
courses is Great Books one oh one Ancient to Medieval,
where you'll study foundational authors like Homer, Augustine, Dante, and Chaucer,
writers who shape Western civilization and still speak to the
deepest questions about human nature, virtue, courage, family, and self government.
The course includes Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the epic stories
(15:38):
of Achilles and Odysseus that have influenced the West for
thousands of years, and this summer, Hillsdale College is releasing
a brand new course dedicated entirely to Homer's Odyssey. Great
Books one oh one is the perfect way to prepare
before the full Odyssey course launches in July. Charlie understood
that learning isn't just about gaining knowledge. It's about forming
the mind and character needed to face the challenges of
(16:00):
life with wisdom and courage. You can enroll today completely free,
one free just by visiting Charlie for Hillsdale dot com.
That's Charlie four Hillsdale dot com to start learning today
Charlie for Hillsdale dot com. Learn deeply, think clearly, lead boldly,
carry it forward with Hillsdale College.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
But you say well, my parents. This. Make your own decisions. Guys.
I'm not telling you what to do, but I will
tell you this. If you think that you're just gonna
kind of slow walk, no one's gonna detect me. And
I'm gonna go become a partner at this law firm
and I'm gonna go to Yale Law and all this
fine if you can live that double life. But that's exhausting.
(16:46):
Why don't you use that energy to go fight these
commies instead of having to like dodge their tyranny. It
reject the terms on face value and be who you
are and what you believe. So and when I talk
to our donors and I talk to the people that
support us, they say, Charlie, what gives you hope? And
(17:09):
some of these people are afraid to voice their opinions
to their neighbors or to their friends. So you know
what gives me hope? Gives me hope When thousands and
hundreds of thousands of young people, the students of Turning
Point USA, say I will take the tough path, but
I want a deep life. Here's one of the things
I'm gonna share with you today. You have a choice,
(17:29):
and you've all made the right choice. But I hope
you go even further in this direction. I encourage for
you to make a conscious decision to pursue depth over shallowness,
and to pursue things that matter over things that are
easier comfortable. That's what you're deciding to do. Ease and
(17:51):
comfort is just checking the boxes of what society wants
for you. Depth requires work, requires understanding why am I here?
Who created me? Is there a God? Why does this
country matter? Should I even care about how my fellow
citizens are created? Or should I just kind of just
(18:11):
go through the motions and try to get the most
stuff and kind of keep my head down. A deep
life means you're gonna have to work for things. But
I think we all understand that your generation is the
most suicidal depressed, alcohol addicted, drug addicted, and porn pornography
addicted generation and history. Why why is that the case?
(18:35):
It's because we have told a generation of young people
no need to dive deep into big ideas, stay shallow,
just kind of do what you're told. Put on the mask.
Fifteen days is slow to spread. Take the shot. Disagree?
You're an anti science bigot? Where's your black square? You
(18:57):
don't support Ukraine. What are you a Russian puppet take
a knee or else you're a bigot. That's not a
deep life, that's a boring, simple, robotic regime, programmed life.
You have a different way. You have an opportunity to say,
(19:19):
you know what, I want to pursue what is good,
true and beautiful in the world. I want to pursue
what things that make my soul activated, not just that
give me immediate pleasure or pursue licentiousness. The mission that
is in front of you, the charge for all of you,
is to go through your life in the next couple
of years and turning point will be a partner with
(19:40):
you in this is to say, you know what, I
want to be a leader in my community, a leader
in my life. But I'm not just going to do
the thing that is the most immediate or that of ease.
And so what does that look like practically? It looks
like first and foremost understanding that if it makes you
feel good immediately in a quick run, uh, it's probably
(20:00):
bad for you. It's saying no hookup culture and that
trash that goes alongside of it. It's understanding that if
you're staring at your screen for hours and hours a day,
that you're nothing more than a product of people who
hate you, and they're programming your behaviors and manipulating your
(20:22):
brain neurochemistry from their dopamine the nour upper referin to
your hormonal reactions. Decide to be a human being, what
a concept, and putting the things that matter that will
matter in eternal consequence. Last thing I'll say is this,
and I want to just tell you my gratitude and
how important you are to what we do for your grit,
(20:42):
for your hustle, for your stamina, and for your commitment.
Is one of the reasons that I'm not a big
fan of college. And I know it's kind of weird
because you guys are half in college, but I'm honest
is because college does not unless you've got to anyone
got Hillsdale Hillsdale people here, no one? Oh, there you go.
(21:03):
You guys are exempt from this. So two out of
six hundred, okay, good, unless there's another good school than
any other good schools here. Liberty is actually pretty good.
Anybody else UCF University, Central Florida. I don't know about
that one, so we'll find out. I'm speaking there. I
(21:24):
think this semester. I'm not no, no University Georgia. No. Yeah,
here's the question, what do you mean by a good school?
In their mission statement at Hillsdale Bragg On Hillsdale, they
say that our job is to make you wise and
full of good character. Most schools that you guys go
(21:46):
through here in this room, that is not their mission statement.
It is to create worldly citizens, activists for a lifetime.
What is wisdom? Wisdom is the knowledge of things that
never change. Wisdom is to understand our human beings, naturally
good or bad. Is there a natural law? How did
(22:06):
this universe come into being? Not everything can be decided
through a study. Not everything can be decided by scientists.
There is a thing called philosophy. Now, some of you
probably are like, oh, I take philosophy. Yeah, it's probably trash.
You're probably learning Jacques Derrida, Herbert Marcusa. We're gonna go
(22:28):
learn Machiavelli and Friedrich Nietzsche. We're gonna go learn about
how the Ancients and the classics are all wrong. Like,
how about you study the ethics closely? Plato's Republic, Aquinas
Augustine understanding the thinkers that built Western society. Where does
wisdom come from? Ultimately, wisdom begins with the fear of
(22:52):
the Lord.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
More Americans are starting to ask an important question, why
is it so difficult to get access to medications you
may already know you need. If your health is your responsibility,
why are outside systems deciding what you can have and
when you're allowed to get it. That's one reason I
recommend All Family Pharmacy. They make it super simple to
order a wide range of medications online, from everyday maintenance
(23:23):
medications to travel an emergency preparedness options. The process is straightforward, secure,
and it's designed for people who value convenience and peace
of mind. Whether you're preparing for a trip, dealing with
pharmacy shortages, or simply want to be proactive for your family,
All Family Pharmacy helps put you back in control and
right now. When you visit All Familypharmacy dot com slash
(23:43):
kirk and use promo code Kirk ten, you'll save ten
percent off your order. Because being prepared isn't political, it's
just responsible. So visit All Familypharmacy dot com, slash kirk
and use code Kirk ten for ten percent off.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
We are not raising a wise generation we're raising a
cocky generation. We are raising a fragile generation. We are
raising a comfortable generation. We are not raising a wise generation.
A wise generation is a threat to tyranny everywhere. You
(24:22):
know why. Whise people say, no, we're not locking down schools.
Whise people say, why do I need to take the shot?
That's weird. Wise people say no, I'm not letting out
a mask. Because wisdom is the knowledge of things that
never change. You could be full of data, full of studies,
(24:44):
full of meaningless crap that they teach you in these colleges.
But if you have no understanding of what is human being?
Are you inclined to terrorize another? What is good? What
is evil? Where does it come from? Is there a
hierarchy to the good? To find courage, prudence, temperance. Name
five people before the year nineteen hundred that were heroic, brave,
(25:06):
and courageous. Name a founding father that wrote something you
can quote. If you can't say those things, you're not
going to an institution that is instilling you in wisdom
going deep. But you could do that yourself. You don't
have to go to college and do that. You could
be self motivated and autodidactic. You could listen to my podcast,
you could read the great books. You don't need to
go two hundred thousand dollars in debt to do that.
(25:29):
You could decide to do it today, to go find
an answer to these questions, to dwell on the deeper things,
where you stop in awe and wonder of things that
are beautiful, that which is perfected in being. What I'm
getting at is the rest of your life. Commit yourself
to wanting to pursue wisdom because we need you wise everybody.
We don't just need you activated, we don't just need
(25:51):
you motivated. We need that. We don't just need you energized.
We need you to be able to tell good from
evil quickly because it's coming back and it's here right now.
We need you to be able to be like, yeah,
it's kind of weird that we're chopping off the genitals
of twelve year olds. Shut up, bigot, no, I like,
that's not right. Who are you to say what is
(26:12):
good or evil or right or wrong? That moral subjectivism
that is being force fed in many of the colleges
that you go in, and this is hilarious at the
moral subjectivists. They're always actually the most moral absolutists, because
then you say, wait, wait a second, is there a
moral standard? No, of course not, But you're a bigot. Okay,
you call me a bigot means that there's an objective
moral standard, obviously, because by some grading scale, you're calling
(26:37):
me less than desirable. You're a hater. By what standard? There?
Everyone is using a standard to judge something every time.
By what standard is the most important question, and so
therefore we need a wise generation. Now, some people will
say you can only get wisdom through life experience. That
is wrong. You can get wisdom through study of the
(26:58):
great thinkers, philosophers. Philosopher literally means the love of wisdom
filos sofos sofo's wisdom. Felos love the love of wisdom.
You should all love wisdom. You should all yearn to
wonder and to know, and to dive deep into things
that capture your imagination, because when you do that, that
will only intensify your resolved to fights, to win this battle,
(27:20):
to start a turning point group, to recruit more kids,
and then you'll find something that your counterparts on the
left will never find. I believe the scriptures will lead
you to this you'll find joy, You'll find peace, and
that is right there in front of you. My message
(27:41):
is not an easy message. I'm not here to tell
you to go follow your heart. Bad advice. Don't do that,
do what you want to do. No, don't do that either.
Press pause and realize you're young, but you're willing. And
I want to figure out if somebody before me wrote
something that could be helpful to me. It's kind of cool.
(28:03):
How often does a college tell you, hey, you're young,
and somebody two thousand years ago might have been able
to write something down so that you don't have to
suffer as much. No, instead, they'll say they're white, so
don't read them. It's probably a bad idea. You guys
are on the front lines. I'm honored to fight alongside
of you. You are America's best hope. The country is
(28:23):
not in a good spot. We're going to talk about
that in the coming days, and I know you guys
are coming to Act Con. It's going to be pretty amazing,
Tucker and Bongino and all of that. It's going to
be great. But you know, the number one reason why
these speakers want to come. When I talk to Tucker,
when I talk to President Trump, when I talked to Bannon,
when I talk to Bongina, when I talk to Megan Kelly,
(28:45):
it's because they say, Charlie, there is a grittiness, there's
an energy, there's a focus, there's an optimism with the
Turning Point students that we don't see anywhere else. They said,
we're coming out of our schedule in the summer to
Palm Beach because we want to speak to your students
to tell them how important they are to save the civilization.
(29:08):
And I agree completely. You guys are America's last best hope.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
For more on many of these stories and news you
can trust, go to Charlikirk dot com.
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'll
end up purposeful. College is a scam, everybody. You got
(00:26):
to stop sending your kids to college. You should get
married as young as possible and have as many kids
as possible. Go start at turning point, you would say,
college chapter. Go start atturning point you say high school chapter.
Go find out how your church can get involved. Sign
up and become an activist. I gave my life to
the Lord in fifth grade, most important decision I ever
made in my life, and I encourage you to do
the same. Here I am Lord, Use me buckle off everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of the
Charlie Kirkshaw, a company that specializes in gold I rays
and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you could
protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at noblegold investments
dot Com. That is Noblegold Investments dot Com. Yeah, thank
(01:18):
you guys, Legacy, thank you, thank you. Wow. This is
the by far the largest chapter leadership some we have
ever had. Great to see all of you, but having
a good day. Good Yeah, well I want to say
thank you guys. I see so many familiar faces. We
had a fun year this last year, didn't we on tour?
(01:38):
Raise your hand if I came to a college campus
near you, and yeah, it's about half it's good from
New Mexico to anybody. You see Davis, where's our? Uc Davis? Yeah,
that was that was quite a visit. That was. That
was terrible. Uh but we we survived. And you see
Santa Barbara, where's our? That was? Also that was? And
(02:01):
how about Ohio State the Ohio State University. You don't boo,
you don't boo our chapter leaders. You don't do that.
It's Danny doing a great job. You guys are on
the front lines. Every day. I get asked the question
by people that are thirty or forty years older than you,
and they ask me, how can I save the country?
(02:23):
What can I do? These Some people have private jets, yachts,
second or third homes. Now you are probably like I
want the private jet, the yacht, the second or third home.
You should want that stuff. But guess what, you have
a thing that millions of people wish they had, and
that's you have something you can do every single day
to help save the country. You have an action item
(02:46):
where you could say, you know what, the country's falling apart,
it's collapsing. We're seeing Western civilization basically be stolen from
us by some really, really bad people. But you're going
to be able to say, for the red your life
that you took your college and high school years and
you decided to stand for truth to save the greatest
(03:08):
nation ever to exist in the history of the world.
And not only that, you give millions of people hope,
literally millions of people. Being part of Turning Point USA,
we are the largest organization in the country of its kind,
whether it be on social media, on campus, what we're
(03:28):
doing with TPUSA faith. You are all on the front
lines and making a huge difference of that. And we
have now over two hundred and seventy thousand people that
donate to Turning Point USA that helped make this possible.
That you guys get to stay in hotels, that you
guys get to travel here, that you guys get to
have meals. Why do they give money? Why do they
give ten dollars? Some people give a lot more than
(03:50):
ten dollars because they're betting on you. Like what do
you mean, Like, I'm a high school kid, I'm a
college kid. It's because they know that the great hope
to defeat these godless Marxists is joyful strong conservatives on
high school and college campuses pushing back against this Marxist garbage.
(04:13):
They're betting on you. They're betting on your engagement, your activism,
your recruitment, your courage. That should give you, That should
honestly give you some pride in a good way. Not
the pride that we had in the month of June.
Not good. That should give you some gratitude as well
that I'm sure you have a lot of friends that
(04:35):
are very upset neurotic liberal, but I repeat myself, and
they're on the left and they're looking for purpose. You
have purpose. You get to be part of a movement
that is against everything the world tells you. The world
tells you, and that's fun. Actually, when you're young, what
(04:57):
does the world tell you? The world tells you Your
country sucks. We say America is great. The world says
that your history is full of white men that you
shouldn't study. We believe that our history is beautiful and
needs to be understood and passed down to future generations.
The world tells you take any substance you want to take,
(05:20):
whenever you want to take it, and that will give
you happiness. We believe that that's an empty way to
live your life, and then if you experiment with that stuff,
it's not going to end well for you, and that
hopefully one day you'll realize the people that are best
at saying no actually are the happiest people in the world.
The rest of the world tells you that there is
no such thing as biological men or women. We think
(05:42):
the trans people are tyrants and zealots and need to
be repudiated from decent and civil society. You get to
now be part of something that is not just rebellious,
but honestly it's exciting. It's exciting, and it should be
because you're fighting for things that will honestly decide whether
(06:06):
or not the civilization continues. And it all happens in
the high schools and the college campuses. You are the
left's worst nightmare if you did not exist, which again,
Turning Point USA, it's eleven years old. We first started,
it was like three of us, not three staff members,
like three of us. And now we are a movement
where we have two hundred and seventy thousand donors and
(06:27):
millions of members and thousands of chapters and it's like
beyond comprehension. And before I go any further, I refuse
to take credit for it. You are blessed to have
the best staff in the conservative movement that work their
tail off to make what you do possible, from the
(06:49):
events team, for your regional managers, to your directors, to
the people that show up on campus that are relentlessly
nagging you, come on, let's go table, let's do this event.
They deserve your gratitude and we give us. We give
you our gratitude as well. And I'll get to that
because what you do is very hard. But now you're
part of something that is not a question of if
(07:10):
it will be. Turning Point will be in the history books. Okay,
Turning Point has already played a massive role over the
last decade, is now being this unexpected force that's bigger
than all of us to defend the values of Western
society and civilization.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Today's culture would have you believe that a baby is
only a baby if you decide it's a baby. Sometimes
it's a choice, Sometimes it's a baby. And guess what,
we all know that's garbage. It's not true, and when
it matters most Preborn is making sure that the truth
is known, one woman at a time, one baby at
a time. Preborn provides free ultrasounds to abortion vulnerable young women,
(07:51):
and ultrasounds tell the truth. When that mom sees her
baby and here's her baby's heart beats, she's twice as
likely to choose life.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Life.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
One hundred and forty dollars helps give five mothers a
free ultrasound and saves babies. Two hundred and eighty dollars
can save ten babies, and just twenty eight dollars a
month can save a baby a month for less than
a dollar a day. And I know there's some of
you out there.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
You can do this.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
A fifteen thousand dollars gift will provide an ultrasound machine
that will save lives for years to come. Whether you
want to save one baby or five or hundreds, that
opportunity is just a phone call or click away call
eight three three eight five zero two two two nine,
or click on the preborn banner at Charliekirk dot com today.
(08:35):
That's eight three three eight five zero two two two nine,
or click on the preborn banner at Charliekirk dot com today.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
And we don't know how this story is going to end.
We have no idea. Are we gonna win or are
we gonna lose? I have no idea, no idea. But
here's what I could say, and here's what you'll be
able to say, is we gave it everything we possibly could,
and we did not say on the sidelines as these
people decided to try to ruin our home and destroy
the country. Because I'm sure you have a lot of
(09:08):
friends that are enjoying their summer right now, Losers, you
get to be part of something important, and they're going
to be complaining to you in October November when you
go back on campus, like my life is no purpose,
Get me more antidepressants, or let's go do another weed
or like you think of weed or whatever whatever, and
(09:29):
you're like, okay, hopefully don't engage in that, but you're
doing something here at the Turning Point USA Chapter Leadership Summit.
That is good for your soul. It's good for who
you're going to be twenty or thirty years from now.
And never before has it been as important as it
(09:50):
is to then send all of you back to your
high school and college campuses to say that's a bad idea. No,
there's only two sexes. No, I'm not gonna call you
by those pronouns. No, America is actually a great country. No,
I'm not going to allow the chemical castration of children. No,
(10:11):
George Washington was a badass, and I really like him. No,
Like I'm not gonna go take down a statue because
you're offended by history that you don't even understand. No,
I'm not gonna stop saying that life begins at conception.
I'm not gonna stop doing that. And if every one
of you take that cheerful, joyful attitude back to your campuses,
(10:35):
we are gonna be in a much better spot. I'm
not gonna say we're gonna save the country, because I
don't know. We're up against some big forces, you know it, right,
but there will always be a remnant even if the
bad guys win. We're young, and we're gonna have to
live in this country, and we're gonna build something beautiful,
whether it's now or in five years, or ten years,
or twenty years or in thirty years. I have no idea.
(10:56):
I don't know what this country's gonna look like in
ten years. I hope we could turn some things around
some ways. It looks like the country is just like
so far apart and people don't want to work anymore
in all this. But then I say, wait a second,
there's a lot of goodness happening in the country. We
have six hundred people under the age of twenty two
that are super activists that are deciding. You are all
voluntarily doing something where you saying I want my life
(11:19):
to be harder. It would be easier any one of
you if you were here, and you know, instead of
turning point USA, it was like transit the country USA.
You would get corporate donations, you would get sponsorships with
beer companies, you would get Target would want you to
(11:39):
go model for them. Your administration would give you special privileges.
You would be on the website of whatever godless college
that you go to. At college you go to the
colleague Suffolk, you would be on the front page of Suffolk.
If you if you transition to a woman right now
in war address, you'd be on the front page of
(11:59):
this Suffolk University website or whatever godless school you guys
go to. But you're saying, no, I think that's bad
because I know what's right and I know it's good.
And so when you say I want to start a
turning point chapter leader, all of a sudden, I'm sure,
raise your hands. Have you've been greater? Differently called name,
(12:19):
smear slandered, lost friends? Every single hand goes up. Guess
what good? That means? You're standing for something, That means
that you are not a coward. That means your life
has purpose and meaning. Delight in them calling you names.
Find joy in the persecution because it will come, and
(12:42):
it will come more. We live in a dark world
right now. It's not going to brighten unless we turn
up the lights. And the only way you do that
is with courage. And so I could be like, oh, boy,
life is so tough, and you know, keep your head
down and do all this, and you know, say, you know,
just try to lie to get a good grade. Or
I could tell you know what life goes by like
(13:05):
this and I don't want to live as a coward,
and I don't want that for you either, because you
know what, you know what a coward is. A coward
is someone who is somebody different in public than they
are in private. They're they're different, They have like a like, well,
I have to be somebody in my dorm room, and
then once I'm outside, I have to pretend like I'm
(13:25):
for all the SJW nonsense. What you're deciding to be
is the same person in every environment, regardless of where
you go, all the time. And that's something you know
who that is. That's a person who's free. That's a
person who's free where you don't have to self censor.
(13:46):
And yes, I'm sure we're gonna get a question after question.
We're gonna do questions for some time. But Charlie, how
should I deal with the professor who's gonna grade me differently?
You choose? Have great respect for this man, but I
disagree with him. Ben Shapiro says you should lie your
way through college. He does. He says that you should
lie to the professor and write essays that pandered them
(14:07):
to just get good grades. Some of you might decide
to do that I think that if you lie little,
you lie big, and you should never lie under any
circumstances whatsoever. When it comes to things that matter, I
think grades mean nothing. I think courage and character means everything.
Now some of you are like, uh, but I want
to go to law school. Go lie, go to law school.
(14:30):
Let me know how it goes. Go pander to the corporations.
Tell me how it works the rest of your life,
though you'll be looking around the shoulder. I hope they
don't find out that I like Trump. I hope they
don't find out that I'm a conservative. I hope they
don't find out I'm a Christian. The earlier you proclaim
to the world what you believe in, you won't have
to worry about them coming after you.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Before he ever stepped on to a debate stage or
behind a microphone, Rarie understood something important. If you want
to lead, you have to learn first. Charlie believed that
ideas shaped character, conviction, and give you courage. That's why
he spent years studying the classics, the American Founding, and
the Bible through Hillsdale Colleges free online courses.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
These are real.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
College courses taught by actual Hillsdale professors. One of those
courses is Great Books one oh one Ancient to Medieval,
where you'll study foundational authors like Homer, Augustine, Dante, and Chaucer,
writers who shape Western civilization and still speak to the
deepest questions about human nature, virtue, courage, family, and self government.
The course includes Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the epic stories
(15:38):
of Achilles and Odysseus that have influenced the West for
thousands of years, and this summer, Hillsdale College is releasing
a brand new course dedicated entirely to Homer's Odyssey. Great
Books one oh one is the perfect way to prepare
before the full Odyssey course launches in July. Charlie understood
that learning isn't just about gaining knowledge. It's about forming
the mind and character needed to face the challenges of
(16:00):
life with wisdom and courage. You can enroll today completely free,
one free just by visiting Charlie for Hillsdale dot com.
That's Charlie four Hillsdale dot com to start learning today
Charlie for Hillsdale dot com. Learn deeply, think clearly, lead boldly,
carry it forward with Hillsdale College.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
But you say well, my parents. This. Make your own decisions. Guys.
I'm not telling you what to do, but I will
tell you this. If you think that you're just gonna
kind of slow walk, no one's gonna detect me. And
I'm gonna go become a partner at this law firm
and I'm gonna go to Yale Law and all this
fine if you can live that double life. But that's exhausting.
(16:46):
Why don't you use that energy to go fight these
commies instead of having to like dodge their tyranny. It
reject the terms on face value and be who you
are and what you believe. So and when I talk
to our donors and I talk to the people that
support us, they say, Charlie, what gives you hope? And
(17:09):
some of these people are afraid to voice their opinions
to their neighbors or to their friends. So you know
what gives me hope? Gives me hope When thousands and
hundreds of thousands of young people, the students of Turning
Point USA, say I will take the tough path, but
I want a deep life. Here's one of the things
I'm gonna share with you today. You have a choice,
(17:29):
and you've all made the right choice. But I hope
you go even further in this direction. I encourage for
you to make a conscious decision to pursue depth over shallowness,
and to pursue things that matter over things that are
easier comfortable. That's what you're deciding to do. Ease and
(17:51):
comfort is just checking the boxes of what society wants
for you. Depth requires work, requires understanding why am I here?
Who created me? Is there a God? Why does this
country matter? Should I even care about how my fellow
citizens are created? Or should I just kind of just
(18:11):
go through the motions and try to get the most
stuff and kind of keep my head down. A deep
life means you're gonna have to work for things. But
I think we all understand that your generation is the
most suicidal depressed, alcohol addicted, drug addicted, and porn pornography
addicted generation and history. Why why is that the case?
(18:35):
It's because we have told a generation of young people
no need to dive deep into big ideas, stay shallow,
just kind of do what you're told. Put on the mask.
Fifteen days is slow to spread. Take the shot. Disagree?
You're an anti science bigot? Where's your black square? You
(18:57):
don't support Ukraine. What are you a Russian puppet take
a knee or else you're a bigot. That's not a
deep life, that's a boring, simple, robotic regime, programmed life.
You have a different way. You have an opportunity to say,
(19:19):
you know what, I want to pursue what is good,
true and beautiful in the world. I want to pursue
what things that make my soul activated, not just that
give me immediate pleasure or pursue licentiousness. The mission that
is in front of you, the charge for all of you,
is to go through your life in the next couple
of years and turning point will be a partner with
(19:40):
you in this is to say, you know what, I
want to be a leader in my community, a leader
in my life. But I'm not just going to do
the thing that is the most immediate or that of ease.
And so what does that look like practically? It looks
like first and foremost understanding that if it makes you
feel good immediately in a quick run, uh, it's probably
(20:00):
bad for you. It's saying no hookup culture and that
trash that goes alongside of it. It's understanding that if
you're staring at your screen for hours and hours a day,
that you're nothing more than a product of people who
hate you, and they're programming your behaviors and manipulating your
(20:22):
brain neurochemistry from their dopamine the nour upper referin to
your hormonal reactions. Decide to be a human being, what
a concept, and putting the things that matter that will
matter in eternal consequence. Last thing I'll say is this,
and I want to just tell you my gratitude and
how important you are to what we do for your grit,
(20:42):
for your hustle, for your stamina, and for your commitment.
Is one of the reasons that I'm not a big
fan of college. And I know it's kind of weird
because you guys are half in college, but I'm honest
is because college does not unless you've got to anyone
got Hillsdale Hillsdale people here, no one? Oh, there you go.
(21:03):
You guys are exempt from this. So two out of
six hundred, okay, good, unless there's another good school than
any other good schools here. Liberty is actually pretty good.
Anybody else UCF University, Central Florida. I don't know about
that one, so we'll find out. I'm speaking there. I
(21:24):
think this semester. I'm not no, no University Georgia. No. Yeah,
here's the question, what do you mean by a good school?
In their mission statement at Hillsdale Bragg On Hillsdale, they
say that our job is to make you wise and
full of good character. Most schools that you guys go
(21:46):
through here in this room, that is not their mission statement.
It is to create worldly citizens, activists for a lifetime.
What is wisdom? Wisdom is the knowledge of things that
never change. Wisdom is to understand our human beings, naturally
good or bad. Is there a natural law? How did
(22:06):
this universe come into being? Not everything can be decided
through a study. Not everything can be decided by scientists.
There is a thing called philosophy. Now, some of you
probably are like, oh, I take philosophy. Yeah, it's probably trash.
You're probably learning Jacques Derrida, Herbert Marcusa. We're gonna go
(22:28):
learn Machiavelli and Friedrich Nietzsche. We're gonna go learn about
how the Ancients and the classics are all wrong. Like,
how about you study the ethics closely? Plato's Republic, Aquinas
Augustine understanding the thinkers that built Western society. Where does
wisdom come from? Ultimately, wisdom begins with the fear of
(22:52):
the Lord.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
More Americans are starting to ask an important question, why
is it so difficult to get access to medications you
may already know you need. If your health is your responsibility,
why are outside systems deciding what you can have and
when you're allowed to get it. That's one reason I
recommend All Family Pharmacy. They make it super simple to
order a wide range of medications online, from everyday maintenance
(23:23):
medications to travel an emergency preparedness options. The process is straightforward, secure,
and it's designed for people who value convenience and peace
of mind. Whether you're preparing for a trip, dealing with
pharmacy shortages, or simply want to be proactive for your family,
All Family Pharmacy helps put you back in control and
right now. When you visit All Familypharmacy dot com slash
(23:43):
kirk and use promo code Kirk ten, you'll save ten
percent off your order. Because being prepared isn't political, it's
just responsible. So visit All Familypharmacy dot com, slash kirk
and use code Kirk ten for ten percent off.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
We are not raising a wise generation we're raising a
cocky generation. We are raising a fragile generation. We are
raising a comfortable generation. We are not raising a wise generation.
A wise generation is a threat to tyranny everywhere. You
(24:22):
know why. Whise people say, no, we're not locking down schools.
Whise people say, why do I need to take the shot?
That's weird. Wise people say no, I'm not letting out
a mask. Because wisdom is the knowledge of things that
never change. You could be full of data, full of studies,
(24:44):
full of meaningless crap that they teach you in these colleges.
But if you have no understanding of what is human being?
Are you inclined to terrorize another? What is good? What
is evil? Where does it come from? Is there a
hierarchy to the good? To find courage, prudence, temperance. Name
five people before the year nineteen hundred that were heroic, brave,
(25:06):
and courageous. Name a founding father that wrote something you
can quote. If you can't say those things, you're not
going to an institution that is instilling you in wisdom
going deep. But you could do that yourself. You don't
have to go to college and do that. You could
be self motivated and autodidactic. You could listen to my podcast,
you could read the great books. You don't need to
go two hundred thousand dollars in debt to do that.
(25:29):
You could decide to do it today, to go find
an answer to these questions, to dwell on the deeper things,
where you stop in awe and wonder of things that
are beautiful, that which is perfected in being. What I'm
getting at is the rest of your life. Commit yourself
to wanting to pursue wisdom because we need you wise everybody.
We don't just need you activated, we don't just need
(25:51):
you motivated. We need that. We don't just need you energized.
We need you to be able to tell good from
evil quickly because it's coming back and it's here right now.
We need you to be able to be like, yeah,
it's kind of weird that we're chopping off the genitals
of twelve year olds. Shut up, bigot, no, I like,
that's not right. Who are you to say what is
(26:12):
good or evil or right or wrong? That moral subjectivism
that is being force fed in many of the colleges
that you go in, and this is hilarious at the
moral subjectivists. They're always actually the most moral absolutists, because
then you say, wait, wait a second, is there a
moral standard? No, of course not, But you're a bigot. Okay,
you call me a bigot means that there's an objective
moral standard, obviously, because by some grading scale, you're calling
(26:37):
me less than desirable. You're a hater. By what standard? There?
Everyone is using a standard to judge something every time.
By what standard is the most important question, and so
therefore we need a wise generation. Now, some people will
say you can only get wisdom through life experience. That
is wrong. You can get wisdom through study of the
(26:58):
great thinkers, philosophers. Philosopher literally means the love of wisdom
filos sofos sofo's wisdom. Felos love the love of wisdom.
You should all love wisdom. You should all yearn to
wonder and to know, and to dive deep into things
that capture your imagination, because when you do that, that
will only intensify your resolved to fights, to win this battle,
(27:20):
to start a turning point group, to recruit more kids,
and then you'll find something that your counterparts on the
left will never find. I believe the scriptures will lead
you to this you'll find joy, You'll find peace, and
that is right there in front of you. My message
(27:41):
is not an easy message. I'm not here to tell
you to go follow your heart. Bad advice. Don't do that,
do what you want to do. No, don't do that either.
Press pause and realize you're young, but you're willing. And
I want to figure out if somebody before me wrote
something that could be helpful to me. It's kind of cool.
(28:03):
How often does a college tell you, hey, you're young,
and somebody two thousand years ago might have been able
to write something down so that you don't have to
suffer as much. No, instead, they'll say they're white, so
don't read them. It's probably a bad idea. You guys
are on the front lines. I'm honored to fight alongside
of you. You are America's best hope. The country is
(28:23):
not in a good spot. We're going to talk about
that in the coming days, and I know you guys
are coming to Act Con. It's going to be pretty amazing,
Tucker and Bongino and all of that. It's going to
be great. But you know, the number one reason why
these speakers want to come. When I talk to Tucker,
when I talk to President Trump, when I talked to Bannon,
when I talk to Bongina, when I talk to Megan Kelly,
(28:45):
it's because they say, Charlie, there is a grittiness, there's
an energy, there's a focus, there's an optimism with the
Turning Point students that we don't see anywhere else. They said,
we're coming out of our schedule in the summer to
Palm Beach because we want to speak to your students
to tell them how important they are to save the civilization.
(29:08):
And I agree completely. You guys are America's last best hope.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
For more on many of these stories and news you
can trust, go to Charlikirk dot com.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.