September 11, 2025 • 39 mins
This podcast edition of Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness features Texas Youth Summit founder Christian Collins and journalist Brandon Waltens. ( @KennethRWebster )
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The giganic government sucks pseud of happiness. Radio is dus.
Liberty and freedom will make you smile of a suit
of happiness on your radio toil, just as cheeseburger is
a liberty rise at food happen.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
The day was April fourth, nineteen sixty eight. Martin Luther
King Junior just got shot. He was shot with a
deer rifle in the neck severity spine. Martin Luther King
Junior was a polarizing figure, obviously, but he was a
great speaker who was principled, and he was a Christian.
(00:42):
When he died changed the world, changed the world because
people didn't like how black people were being treated in
the United States of America, and he became a martyr
for their rights and for their existence. And as weird
as it is to think yesterday, Charlie Kirk, the young
conservative activist, he became that for twenty first century right wingers.
(01:03):
We live in a day and age when the liberal media, academia,
professional sports, Hollywood entertainment, the music industry, they have all
said that you're bad for being a patriot, that you're
not equal to the word. You deserve to be mocked,
you deserve to be mistreated. You're in the one group
of people that haven't committed a crime or heard anybody.
(01:24):
But yet if you die, they'll celebrate and laugh at you.
We don't do that to him. We don't do that
to them. Now we all know what came next after
Martin Luther King John died. The fallout from his assassination.
We still feel it today. September tenth, twenty twenty five,
Charlie Kirk got shot in a great distance away with
(01:47):
a rifle in the neck, probably severing his spine. And
now Americans are fervently praying for his family as friends,
but not everybody is, weirdly enough, summer celebrating his death.
Was he a polarizing character? Sort of? I never really
thought of him as being that controversial. If you're offended
(02:08):
by just traditional American patriotic Christian beliefs, what does that
say about you? Nothing good, Nothing I'd want to be
a part of. There's an author named Chad Crowley, and
he pointed out how Charlie Kirk is dead. He was
shot in public view, and there's a reason he was.
(02:29):
We may not know the name of the killer, we don't,
but the reaction of certain circles to his death tells
us more than any investigation ever could. The laughter, the cheers,
the ghoulish delight people celebrating murder something darker than politics.
It exposes the spirit that exalts in cruelty, that rejoices
in the suffering of wives and children, a cruelty that
(02:51):
finds triumph not in creation but in destruction. We've seen
this before. During the Spanish Civil War, they unearthed the
bodies of nuns and paraded their remains through the streets.
They mocked the dead, as though holiness itself could be
desecrated even after burial. The same impulse that once set
fire to churches and slaughtered priests now dances on the
(03:15):
grave of a political opponent. It is not in the
spirit of debate or dissent, but of the vilest hatred,
unleashed and unmasked. We are no longer dealing with political adversaries.
We are confronted with those who despise dialogue itself and
who glorify violence as the only language they recognize. We
(03:36):
are dealing with those who, in celebrating murder, renounce their
own humanity. They align themselves with what is evil, with
what is demonic, and when men give themselves over to
that power, they cease to be neighbors or fellow citizens
in any meaningful sense. This isn't about politics. This is
more than politics. This strikes at the foundations of the
(04:00):
fate of civilization itself. A society that celebrates murder reveals
what it has already become and what it is willing
to endure. The line has not only been crossed, it
has been erased. What remains is the choice of whether
we allow the descent to continue or whether we finally
recognize it for what it is and respond accordingly. If
(04:25):
we choose silence, then the grave they celebrate today will
be ours tomorrow. We'll be talking about Charlie Kirk throughout
the show this afternoon. I'm sure you can understand why
Pursuit of Happiness Radio. I'll be honest with you all.
Before before yesterday, I never thought about Charlie Kirk dying.
(04:48):
I never thought about that. I guess I would just
assume that if something like that happened, it would be bad.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
This is.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
So much worse than what I ever would have even
could possibly imagined. The fact that he was murdered. This
is not a controversial person Charlie Kirk in the Conservative
met was criticized by members of conservative media in the
conservative activism world for not being conservative enough right. I
would say he was a perfect example of somebody that
(05:18):
was center right right, like he's you know, we're not
exactly talking about Nick Fuentes or David Duke or something
like that. Charlie Kirk wanted gay people in Turning Point, USA,
he wanted He was pro immigration. He wasn't pro open
borders or illegal but he was very very much a
child of God. His political opinions were all motivated by
his Christian beliefs, which are very much welcoming to the neighbor.
(05:42):
You know, that was his ethos, it was his ideology,
It was his philosophy friendly political civil discourse. And then
what happened, And then he got murdered, and then one
third of the country started celebrating his death. I don't
just mean mocking him or like celebrating it. Celebrating his
death yesterday on the floor of the House of Congress.
(06:02):
They were trying to have a prayer for him. And
American Democrat lawmakers elected officials wouldn't let that happen. Why
is he what did he do that was so bad?
That's somebody's dad, that's somebody's wife. Every week I invite
Brandon Walton's on the show from Texas scorecard dot Com
and we usually talk about what's going on in the
(06:23):
state of Texas. Well, what's going on in the state
of Texas right now is this. It is impossible to
ignore this, Brandon. You know, you and I were just
talking off the air a minute ago. I mean, you
and I know good people, people that devote their life
to helping other people who are arguably more conservative than
Charlie Kirk was. Isn't it crazy to think that if
(06:43):
you or I or any of those people were to
get killed right now, there are people we don't even
know that would celebrate that. It sickens me.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It's disgusting, and I mean to see the reaction from
the left, not everybody on the left right, but way
too many. Not a small amount. It's not just like,
oh small amount that's making the left look bad. It's
a very sizeable percentage of the left, be it on
social media or heck, even on television on cable news,
(07:12):
essentially celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk for what for
being out there on a college campus and speaking and
talking and answering questions and having a conversation, having a
debate with people on a college campus. For that, they
celebrate the death. And it's this, you know, I can't
help but think it's this very, very alarming shift that
(07:36):
we've seen happen, especially over the last year. You kind
of can tie it back to the assassination attempt on
President Trump last summer, where you certainly had a small
amount of the left sort of hinting that they were,
you know, celebratory about it. That grew even more with
(07:58):
the Luigi Mangio case right in December, where you had
more people who were more you know, quote unquote mainstream
Democrats being more open about celebrating the death of somebody.
And now we have seen that ramp up even more.
That's been the most concerning part about all of this
is that it used to be you know, maybe you'd
(08:18):
say okay with a less putting out some dog whistles here.
Right now they're not even dog whistles. They're like full
blown air horns. They're just saying it. Now they're just
out there celebrating it. And that is probably the most
concerning part about all of this. It used to be
that people would at least pretend if you were on
the other side, they would at least pretend to be concerned.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Right. I don't remember celebrating in the streets when George
Floyd died. You know, that was sad, Right. And then
the more you learn about him, what he robbed a
pregnant woman at gunpoint, he was on feentanyl, he was
a gangster rapper who did porn or whatever. Well, I
still didn't celebrate his death. That's still sad. That's human life.
It's disgusting. Yesterday, in the wake of this happening, im
(08:59):
media social media news speeds were filled with bad political
takes from people that shouldn't have even had an opinion
about it. Here in the Houston area, public school teachers
celebrating his death on social people we pay to educate
our kids. Brandon, there's a prosecutor in Harris County. I
posted images. I'm not going to say her name on
the radio, but people can go look if they want,
(09:21):
and she's on. A woman who investigates and prosecutes murders
for a living in Harris County is on social media
celebrating and mocking somebody who is murdered celebrating the murder.
So I would argue that that's what she was doing.
That's my opinion. And Brandon, I got to think that's
not an isolated incident, is it.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
No, We've seen fort Worth City councilor doing the same thing,
essentially celebrating Charlie Kirk's death on social media just minutes after.
I mean, I'm not even sure he had been declared
dead yet, but was celebrating yesterday afternoon and on social media.
And then there's also reports, I mean, they keep coming in.
(10:03):
You almost don't want to you almost don't want to
give it too much attention. But the amount of professors,
you know, different people who are working for public universities,
or teachers in school districts, et cetera, that we're seeing
now that we're celebrating on social media is absolutely alarming.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, and you know, not even much has been said
yet about how this all went down, Like what what
could it possibly take for that guy to get that
shot off? People have said, over and over again, Oh yeah,
this guy must have been a train marksman, this guy
must have been really skilled at shooting a rifle. But
That's the thing that confuses me so much. Brandon. If
(10:43):
he was, that would imply where was he trained in
the military. If if he was in the military around
other military type people, then me I would assume he
would have somewhat conservative beliefs. How could someone do such
a thing?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's beyond beyond my
comprehension of understanding you know why that happens. But you know,
I think, you know again, I think if we see
these these reports come in, I think this is just
I think this is going to be I mean, others
have said it. I mean, but it sort of there's
no other way to say it. I mean, this really
(11:18):
does feel like a turning point, right of of of
kind of where where the discussion is now? I mean,
what do they always say after these things? They say, well,
we need to like have better more you know, open
dialogue and then way we can understand the other side.
That's literally what his entire stick was, right, That was
this entire thing was. It was going on campuses and
(11:40):
having a dialogue and you get shot for.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
That, Yeah, exactly. And you know, we all have a
different way of approaching what we do. I you know,
on this more on thiss silly radio show that we do.
We try to analyze the news and we make fun
of it. We go out and we do comedy shows
and you know, we can't. We feel like sometimes we
don't know much power over what's going on, so we
try to laugh at and another person that does, Alex Stein,
as someone you and I are both mutual friends with,
(12:04):
there's a similar approach with his web show that he does.
You know, if Charlie Kirk's getting murdered for civil discourse,
what are they going to do to the comedians? You
know what if Charlie Kirk's getting murdered for civil discourse,
what happens to journalists like you, Brandon? I mean, what
does have you guys considered a texted You guys are
considered to be very controversial to some people because you're
(12:24):
in news outlet that reports on things that the liberal
media or mainstream media won't report on. Do you feel
like you and the rest of the team there have
to start approaching the safety and security issues a little
differently around your office, boy?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I mean, I can assure you, you know, we already
of course, you know, keep an eye on that before
before yesterday. I mean, we certainly have that in mind.
But it's a real shame that I think a lot
of people now, in all sorts of lines work, are
thinking the same thing, just simply for being conservative. This
is something that's happening on one side and one side only.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, it's true. And when they look and when political
violence happens, you assume most people would have an issue
with it. This is a there's a real litmus test
here right now for humanity, especially in political discourse, where
you see how people responded to this, and there are
liberals that looked at this and said, I didn't agree
with Charlie Kirk, but and then they'll say something about
how it's terrible, and it's like, fine, good for them,
(13:21):
I'm I'm okay with that. But but such a large
number of people out there looked at this and they
said they said good. And I got to think that's
that's the barometric reading in this country of who's a
normal person and who's a full fledged communist, which of
these people are close to the left of center, and
which of them are all the way on the other side.
It is left wing fascism.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Brandon, That's what we're saying, all.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Right, well, with all that being said, Look, we appreciate
your time here today. I always want people to check
out what Brandon does. Brandon Waltons can be found on Acts.
They have a story today about how political leaders around
the state are responding to this news, and a lot
of them are saying exactly what you would assume. Follow Brandon,
Follow Michael Quinnsullivan, Follow Texas scorecard dot com. They want
to silence us. I knew Andrew Breitbart before he died.
(14:09):
He's one of the reasons I moved to Texas and
I started this radio show. I'm sure a lot of
you heard me tell the story before. What would Andrew
Breitbart be saying today, I'll tell you what he would
say with more voices. We are stronger, We are stronger together.
Check out Texas scorecard dot Com and the work that
Brandon Waltons does. Brandon, thanks for your time this afternoon.
This is Pursuit of Happiness Radio. All right, So I'm
(14:32):
sure you all know what happened. We've been talking about
it throughout the show. It's all anyone could talk about.
Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking
at a college in Utah, and he was only thirty one.
We still have not found the suspect. I haven't looked
at the news here in a few minutes. I've been
just doing this and maybe they have found him. I
haven't heard anything. But here's some of the eyewitness accounts
(14:52):
of the shooting. All of a sudden, I heard just
one pop.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
His head kind of fell back, and then I saw
everybody's dropping, so I dropped down, and then the next thing,
another said run, so we all took off, run in.
We heard two pops and we ran. Some people were
standing there still taking videos, so I went back out
to look over the railing to see like maybe someone
just did some firecracker or something like that, but more
and more people were screaming, crying, dispersing super quickly from
(15:17):
the scene.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
Charlie hit the ground. We saw him fall, but it
looks like the.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Shot came and it hit.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
He was facing us, and it looked like it hit
the left side of his neck, and then we all
took to the ground.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I hate that audio. I want to play something else instead.
This is one of my favorite videos of Charlie Kirk.
Charlie Kirk having a conversation with a leftist an atheist
about why America is or isn't a Christian nation. Listen
to what the leftist says, and listen to how Charlie responds.
Speaker 6 (15:47):
Our country was shown on common law because the Declaration
only refers to God four times, and the Constitution doesn't
refer to God at all, and it only articulates the
structure of government.
Speaker 7 (15:58):
So, first of all, ember that we were a collection
of states and colonies, and you need to read the
state constitutions or anything else.
Speaker 8 (16:05):
Thirteen or thirteen required a declaration of faith.
Speaker 7 (16:07):
In almost every single one of the original state constitutions,
they had I profess Lord in Jesus Christ as my
Lord and Savior. Secondly, fifty five fifty six of the
original as signers of the declaration were Bible believing Church
of Penny Christians. You ask about common law, let's go
to three principles of common law. Presumption of medicines, due process,
and jury of your peers, all three of biblical principles,
(16:28):
so and all wrapped into the ultimate Biblical principle that
you shall not favor justice if you are richer report,
which is in Leviticus nineteen, which is the idea of
blind justice, which is incorporated also in the New Testament ideal.
Neither slave, nor Greek, nor Jew, you or all one
in Jesus Christ, if you had any human equality. These
are all biblical ideas. But more importantly than that, they
say that God was only mentioned four times in the
(16:48):
Declaration of Independence. Well, that's a big deal. John Adams
seemssly said the Constitution was only written for a moral,
religious people. It was wholly inadequate for the people of
any other. The body politic of America was so Christian
that our warmon structure of government was built for the
people that believed in Christ, our Lord. One of the
reasons we're living through a constitutional crisis is that we
no longer have a Christian nation, but we have a
(17:09):
Christian form of government, and they're incompatible. So you cannot
have liberty if you do not have a Christian population.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Goy, that's such a good rant, That is so good.
Nick Fredis is a state lawmaker from Virginia. He's a
Green Beret combat veteran, and he made the point he
said that as a state representative, this is the moment
where we're supposed to express our heartfelt condolences and then
stand in solidarity with the other side because we're supposed
(17:36):
to be one people. Are we one people? It feels
like the other side is laughing at us right now?
Are we one people? I don't know if we've been
one people for a while. It seems like as Americans,
you know, there's three groups of people here. There's the
moderates and the centrist and the people that aren't really
that involved most of the time, and then the right
(17:57):
wingers and the left wingers. We're as different as water
and oil, right, fire and ice. We are two very
different groups of people. We may occupy the same piece
of geography, but that is where the similarities abruptly end.
Like a lot of you, I convince myself when they
call us a racist or a bigot, or a sexist
or a fascist, it's just hyperbole. You know, they're just
(18:22):
doing it for an effect. Well, now, the effect is
that there's a widow and two orphaned kids because the
left couldn't handle the thought of listening to somebody peacefully
debate them and win. I don't think they realize it yet,
but murdering Charlie Kirk, this is going to be remembered
for a long time it has galvanized us. They have
awoken a sleeping giant. I'm a Christian. My faith requires
(18:46):
me to love my enemies. I have no interest in
hurting others. I pray for those who curse me. But
my religion doesn't require me to idly stand by in
the midst of savagery and barbarism and do nothing. In fact,
quite the opposite. I'm tired today, like a lot of you.
I was up late last night. It's discouraging and it's overwhelming.
(19:11):
But we will fight, and we won't fight with violence.
Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk. The fight is definitely not
over coming.
Speaker 9 (19:20):
Up more Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness A safe space
for those who love liberty and try not to take
themselves too seriously, even if your name is Karen.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yesterday afternoon, like most days, I went home from the
radio station. I take a little midday nap. I love
a midday nap. Usually it's at a point of the
day when there's not really going on right, So laid
my hand down on the pillow, close my eyes. About
twenty minutes later, my phone starts ringing off the hook,
(19:55):
text messages, phone calls, DMS. People were asking me if
I was okay, I'm fine, what's going on? So Charlie
Kirk just got shot. I hated. I hated my instincts.
What my instincts were to go to the internet and
look at what everybody was talking about, and I wish
(20:17):
I had never seen it. When you watch the video
of what happened to him, we're not going to share it.
We're not going to post it. Nobody needs to look
at that. It's pretty obvious. Statistically speaking, the odds of
survival were pretty unlikely. A young conservative activist who has
spent his life engaging in civil discourse, polite political debate.
(20:40):
That was his ethos that was his personal philosophy. That
is what Charlie is known for. That was the thing
that got him murdered. The world, I mean, at least
the country changed yesterday as we know it. Charlie Kirk's
political opinions are not controversial. He is as mainstream center
(21:00):
right as it gets. He has been criticized by members
of the conservative media for not being conservative enough. You know,
I'm not going to mention too many names here, but
there are people out there, Nick Fuenttz, people like that
who didn't think Charlie Kirk was far enough to the right.
His version of American conservativism was palatable. It was relatable.
It was common sense stuff, kitchen table issues. That's why
(21:24):
he was so popular. It was great at debating. He's
a little younger than me, but he and I come
from the same place in the country. I grew up
in the suburbs of Chicago, attended the same college, and
when I went to college, we didn't have anything like
Turning Point USA. If you were right wing conservative, libertarian,
if you were a populist, a constitutionalist, and orthodox conservative, Christian, jew, whatever, what,
(21:47):
you just kept your head down and you shut up.
You didn't say anything because you didn't want to get
into a fight with your fellow students, much less one
of the professors I've had professors. I had professors in
college who were aware of my political beliefs and held
them against me more than once. So that's a lesson
you learn. Charlie was brave. He approached it differently. He
(22:11):
didn't look at it the way previous generations did. He
trained young Christians, Conservatives, Jewish students, whatever you were, how
to handle yourself in that environment. And he was a
nice guy. Whatever's coming next, whoever comes next, whoever that
figure is, it's going to start leading young people. Even
if the person's not a terrible person, it's hard to
(22:32):
imagine he'll be as nice as a guy as Charlie Kirk.
I met Charlie Kirk before it's speaking events that we did,
but I didn't know him. I don't claim to have
known him. My friend Christian Collins knew him. Christian booked Charlie.
They'd worked together. Christian Collins, for those who don't know,
he created the Texas Youth Summon. I don't brag about
Christian enough, and I ought to. Christian is a guy
(22:52):
who I call on the phone when I need spiritual advice.
He's a Christian. I'm a Catholic. He's a Christian. Similar enough,
right when I needed when I need a little insight.
Christian is one of the most honest, down to earth
nicest people I have met working in political media. I
Christian is such a nice guy. I sometimes even wonder
why he's in politics. Anyway, he's on the line right now.
(23:14):
I called him, Christian man, thanks so much for your
time this afternoon on k P here. So you were
friends with Christian, with Charlie obviously, you know, let's start
off with this. How will you remember him?
Speaker 5 (23:27):
Well, thank you so much for having me on, Kenny.
I didn't sleep at all last night and Jens and
I when we found out the news that he was shot,
we were just on our hands and knees, you know,
pleading and crying out to God to save Charlie Kirk
and spare his life.
Speaker 8 (23:42):
And unfortunately it didn't go that way.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
But you know, we we you know, we greeted that
entire day and it was just it's been a rough
twenty four hours, to say the least. And Charlie will
be remembered as a conservative. There's nobody who did the
work of his magnitude with the youth in America. He
(24:07):
is incredible, a master of his trade and just so articulate,
so intelligent, so gifted. He was so well studied. He
was just such a great communicator. And to lose somebody
like that, but more than that, he was a human being.
He was a father, he was a husband, and it's
(24:32):
just unconscionable. It's so devastating to learn of this. And
I can say assuredly his legacy will live on and
I think about the situation. I've been going through this
grieving process myself, and one of those stages of grief
is called bargaining. And I just said to myself, I said, why, Charlie,
(24:55):
why did you have to be out in a tent?
Why couldn't you been you know, a secure auditorium, you know,
And I and I answered my own question because, you know,
as I was thinking about it with jen Z, you know,
we realized he was outside because.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
He wanted to be where the students were.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
And when someone was walking to class, they could just
simply look at the spectacle and say, well, what's going
on there, and they'd come up and maybe they'd want to.
Speaker 8 (25:19):
Ask Charlie Kirk a question. And he did it so civilly, respectfully.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
He listened before he talked, and he always had, you know,
an intelligent thing to say. And he was what was
referred to by Ronald Reagan as a happy warrior. He
was truly happy in fighting the war. And we are
in a war in this country, and it's as much
spiritual as it is political. And what happened yesterday was
(25:45):
totally demonic. And we need to pray for Charlie Kirk
his wife, Erica, and two children in the movement that
he's built Turning Point USA.
Speaker 8 (25:56):
We've got to continue to lift him up.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
And I'll tell you, you know, natural reaction by some people,
myself included, when that happened, you know, your your gut
reaction is the way that Riley Gaines answered this. But
she's been in the tent with Charlie Kirka, and Charlie
Kirka's you know, spoken at our conferences multiple years, and
I've been blessed to speak at his conference. But she was,
(26:19):
you know, in the tent with him at different times
before she was pregnant. She said on Sean Hannity last
night that she just maybe didn't want to do this anymore,
you know, but she caught herself and she's saying what
we're saying. It's it's that we've got to continue to
fight the good fight of faith, the stand up for
Christian and conservative values.
Speaker 8 (26:37):
We've got to reach the youth.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
And the reason why Charlie was targeted is because he
is a threat.
Speaker 8 (26:45):
He is a real threat because he is so very
effective at what he did.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
And so Harris want us not just to stop what
we're doing or do it more quietly. They you know,
they want us, you know, to to just go away entirely.
Some of these leftists really do. They want to take
us out violently. And I wouldn't say that's the entire
Democrat Party, but you know, as I've heard reports of
(27:13):
the jeering and congress that went on because of the
name Charlie Kirk was mentioned, I recognize that they, many
of them, really do want us dead. And that is
the political reality that we are living in as conservatives
at this point. And so that's one of the reasons why,
you know, I'm in the same space as Charlie Kirk
(27:35):
working with the youth. I go to college campuses and
I'm speaking there. I'm speaking at a college campus today,
and I'm I'm I'm involved in our community working with
young people and hosting these conferences. I take this so
personally just because I recognize that we are in a
real dangerous time and we have to make sure that
(27:57):
we are preyed up and and that we're careful about
the places that we go to and take all the
precautions that we can. But at the end of the day,
we have to continue to fight the good fight, and
we can't allow these terrorists to win.
Speaker 8 (28:11):
We cannot let them keep us silent.
Speaker 5 (28:12):
We have to keep fighting and keep building on the
movement that Charlie Kirks built.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
You know, you explain that perfectly, and I'm glad you
mentioned Riley Gaines. Riley Gaines didn't necessarily want to be
in this industry. You know, it's no wonder that she's
reluctant to stay. She wanted to be an athlete, and
I get that. I wanted to be a rock and
roll DJ Christian. That was what I was trying to do.
And everything was political everywhere I looked, everywhere we went.
You and I existed a time we came of age
(28:38):
at a time when everything became very political. It's hard
to believe. Back in the eighties of the nineties, Republicans
and Democrats they weren't that different. Now it's like living
in two different countries, right, So, you know, Riley didn't
necessarily want this. She ended up there, started by accident.
Same with me. I ended up here by accident. Charlie
was different. Charlie was involved in politics in high school.
(28:59):
Charlie was letters as a high school kid to Glenn
back and you know, tuning into talk radio, and I
mean he was way ahead of any of us during
during the you know, the chronological order of how your
life is supposed to go. What do you think about that?
Speaker 5 (29:14):
I think it's a special person that Charlie Kirk truly was,
you know what most people are playing video games. You know,
he was building something at a very early age. And
some of the smartest people I know actually didn't go
to college. And you know, myself, I did go to college.
(29:35):
That's not my story. And I actually teach out to college,
by the way, and I don't think and I think
that's you know, great for some people, but I understand
and respect that not everybody's story is they should go
to college.
Speaker 8 (29:48):
And Charlie was so brilliant.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
He started Turning Point USA in his garage, as he
tells the story, and his parents' garage at you know,
seventeen eighteen years old, and he built something that was
truly special. And he will always be remembered. And I
believe that Turning Point USA will go on. You know,
I don't know what that'll look like at this time.
Speaker 8 (30:12):
Nobody does.
Speaker 5 (30:13):
But right now it's just about honoring and remembering Charlie
Kirk at the man but you know, we're not really
thinking about what happens to turning point, but I will
say that, you know, what he's built has to continue
through all of us, and I think this changes everything
in our country. And this is really a turning point,
if you'll allow me to use that word, you know,
(30:35):
in all our all of our lives, because we realize
that this is something that we've never seen before. You know,
when Kobe Bryant died, I felt like this was really
really sad. I grew up watching Kobe Bryant. It's a tragedy, right,
And the difference between Kobe Bryant and Charlie Kirk is
(30:56):
this is an assassination. This is an assault on our
freedom of speech. And Charlie did nothing wrong. And a
lot of people, a lot of evangelical Christians spoke out,
you know, against what happened to George Floyd, right or wrong.
You know, they spoke out against what happened. But you know,
George Floyd, arguably he really did do something wrong right right,
(31:19):
And Charlie Kirk did nothing wrong. He didn't deserve this,
and he treated everybody respectfully and civil and civilly, and
this is not how someone should be treated who does
everything right.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Next week is the Texas Youth Summit twenty twenty five.
The lineup very impressive, Christian. You guys do such a
good job organizing it, and you know you really are
like Texas's own version of Charlie Kirk. And of course
that's how I know him. I met him at your events.
He's not going to be there this year. You know, sadly,
he'll never be there again. It's impossible now I mean
I of course I say that, but in reality, he'll
(31:56):
always be there in spirit. When I talk at your events.
One of the things I always try to tell young
people is when people get into conservative politics, they want
to go be a staffer, they want to be an activist,
they want to go be chief of staff, or they
want to be, you know, be the candidate or whatever
it may be. We need people like you to go
out and get into academia. We need conservative college professors,
(32:17):
we need conservative members of the media. We need conservative
stand up comedians, we need conservative musicians and actors and
people in the entertainment industry. And we need people like
Charlie Kirk. I don't know who the next Charlie Kirk's
going to be. I don't know, but I know out
there yesterday when they tried to kill him, they have
Their thought was they were going to silence his ideas
(32:39):
with a bullet. No, his ideas have been amplified times
a thousand yesterday. I can't even imagine how many countless
number of young men and young women in this country,
and there's no other third option, have been pushed hard
to the right because they saw how their vaguely conservative
beliefs were being vilified and even celebrated for hurting people
(32:59):
that believe those things on the far left or even
on the center left. If there's anybody out there that
shares those beliefs, they think this is the way to
stop us. They are wrong. We are galvanized. We are
stronger than ever now. Charlie Kirk has become He's he
is the civil rights hero of our movement right now.
He is the Obi wan Kenobi of young conservative thought leaders.
And I have to think that now he's stronger now
(33:21):
than he ever was before. As strange as it is
to say out loud.
Speaker 8 (33:26):
I think you're exactly right.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
It was really refreshing to see that the Yankee Stadium,
the New York Yankees honored and remember Charlie Kirk. And
you know, I would like to see more of that
from mainstream America.
Speaker 8 (33:38):
I think that's the type.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
Of attention that he deserves because on this despite whatever
I'll you know, you come from, Democrat or Republican, we
got to come together and agree that political violence has
no place here in America. It's September eleventh, and we remember,
of course, a tragic time. We all remember where we
were on September. Love him, and that's something to remember.
(34:03):
But you know, September tenth, what happened at Charlie Kirk.
This must be a rallying to pray for America and
pray that God will have mercy on American and bring
our nation together. And we have to recognize that leftists
in some ways do never they will never want to
(34:23):
be unified with us.
Speaker 8 (34:24):
They want to kill us.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
And so we have to stand up to these cowards
that took out Charlie Kirk and continue to fight his
good fight with the same boldness and digger that he did.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
You know, Christian, Obviously the point of this interview wasn't
to promote the Texas Youth Summit, but I can't help
but think that's probably what Charlie would want us to do.
He was a proud participant in it. You know, he
was there, He was on the front lines. He stood
on that stage. And if people do want to get
involved in the kind of work that you do that
Charlie obviously did, how can they help you guys out?
Speaker 5 (35:00):
Well, you know, I just don't have a whole lot
to say about the Texas Youth Summit right now, you know,
but if you would, I mean, just just pray with us.
Speaker 8 (35:08):
Pray for Charlie's family, Pray for his parents, his children.
Speaker 5 (35:15):
You know, they're all growing up without a father, and
you know Erica por Erica's lost her husband, and I
just I'm brought to tears, you know, thinking about what
they're dealing with. And so you know, I know you're
a big supporter of me, and and please encourage your
listeners to follow me and as I as I pray,
(35:36):
you know, for Charlie Kirk.
Speaker 8 (35:38):
If we could just pray real quick. I've never done
that on.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
The radio before, but if you would, Charlie Kirk's family,
I just want to pray for them real quick. A father,
thank you so much for the life of Charlie Kirk.
He is a hero of the faith. He's a martyr
for the conservative and Christian beliefs that he instilled in
so many young people. And it was just common sense.
There's one man, one woman. He was pro life from
(36:04):
the woman's of the grave. He believed in religious liberty.
He just wanted young people to have good jobs and
to get married and have children because he knew that
was a recipe for Republicanism. And if you go to church,
even better, your life is going to be so much better.
And so thank you for everything that he stood for.
Thank you for the courage that he had to go
(36:27):
on college campuses. And I pray that other leaders will
rise up around the country to stand up for truth
and be crusaders for truth the way Charlie Kirk was.
Speaker 8 (36:37):
I pray that, you.
Speaker 5 (36:38):
Know, we lost him, but there'd be thousands of people
that would take his place and stand up and fight
for what's right. Lord, Thank you for his family, and
I just pray for a hedge of protection around Erica
and their children.
Speaker 8 (36:50):
I pray God over his parents and all.
Speaker 5 (36:53):
This friends and all the people that have been affected
by including me, and I just pray for comfort and
in encouragement.
Speaker 8 (37:01):
During this time.
Speaker 5 (37:02):
We pray for them, and we ask that God you'd
wake up America and help the Democrats and the leftists
to see the aerror of their ways and recognize that
their ideology is a part in the media. The mainstream
media has played a part in vilifying people like Charlie Kirk,
which has led to his death. And I just pray
(37:24):
that they'd see that. I pray that you'd open up
the eyes of these wicked people. We pray this in
Jesus' name.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Amen am into that Christian. I think you said it perfectly,
and you know, I really don't have anything else I
would want to add to that. I think you said
it all right there. I will add this. You know,
I remember after Donald Trump was shot. Hard to believe
it's been a little over a year since that happened.
Catholics all over the country and Christians alike, we're doing
the Saint Michael's prayer. Saint Michael the Archangel defend us
(37:50):
in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares
of the devil. May God rebuke him. We humbly pray
and do Thou, o, Prince of the Heavenly host by
the power of God thrust and to hell, Satan and
all evil spirits who prawl about the world seeking the
ruin of souls. Amen.
Speaker 8 (38:09):
And I really like that prayer.
Speaker 5 (38:11):
And you know, we just got to come together and
push back against evil. But we have to continue to
do so in a civil ways as Charlie did, as
happy warriors, and fight the good fight and be crusaders
for truth.
Speaker 8 (38:24):
And we cannot be quiet, we cannot be silent.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Amen to that, my man. Christian. You are you are
my brother from another man. You are one of my
allies in this fight. And I'm grateful that you're out there,
my man. You know it's because of you that so
many of us were able to go out and help
to motivate young people and young conservatives. And you know,
we'll talk more about the Texas youth some of it later.
It is next week. And obviously our friend Charlie was
(38:47):
there in the past. But I think you put it perfectly.
We need to just leave it at that right now.
Christian Collins follow him on social media. I'm County Webster.
I love you all. Thank you so much for tuning
in this afternoon. It is a dark day and America
on September eleventh, the day after the passing of Charlie Kirk.
Will be back tomorrow, thanks for tuning.
Speaker 4 (39:05):
In Pursuit of Happiness Radio
The giganic government sucks pseud of happiness. Radio is dus.
Liberty and freedom will make you smile of a suit
of happiness on your radio toil, just as cheeseburger is
a liberty rise at food happen.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
The day was April fourth, nineteen sixty eight. Martin Luther
King Junior just got shot. He was shot with a
deer rifle in the neck severity spine. Martin Luther King
Junior was a polarizing figure, obviously, but he was a
great speaker who was principled, and he was a Christian.
(00:42):
When he died changed the world, changed the world because
people didn't like how black people were being treated in
the United States of America, and he became a martyr
for their rights and for their existence. And as weird
as it is to think yesterday, Charlie Kirk, the young
conservative activist, he became that for twenty first century right wingers.
(01:03):
We live in a day and age when the liberal media, academia,
professional sports, Hollywood entertainment, the music industry, they have all
said that you're bad for being a patriot, that you're
not equal to the word. You deserve to be mocked,
you deserve to be mistreated. You're in the one group
of people that haven't committed a crime or heard anybody.
(01:24):
But yet if you die, they'll celebrate and laugh at you.
We don't do that to him. We don't do that
to them. Now we all know what came next after
Martin Luther King John died. The fallout from his assassination.
We still feel it today. September tenth, twenty twenty five,
Charlie Kirk got shot in a great distance away with
(01:47):
a rifle in the neck, probably severing his spine. And
now Americans are fervently praying for his family as friends,
but not everybody is, weirdly enough, summer celebrating his death.
Was he a polarizing character? Sort of? I never really
thought of him as being that controversial. If you're offended
(02:08):
by just traditional American patriotic Christian beliefs, what does that
say about you? Nothing good, Nothing I'd want to be
a part of. There's an author named Chad Crowley, and
he pointed out how Charlie Kirk is dead. He was
shot in public view, and there's a reason he was.
(02:29):
We may not know the name of the killer, we don't,
but the reaction of certain circles to his death tells
us more than any investigation ever could. The laughter, the cheers,
the ghoulish delight people celebrating murder something darker than politics.
It exposes the spirit that exalts in cruelty, that rejoices
in the suffering of wives and children, a cruelty that
(02:51):
finds triumph not in creation but in destruction. We've seen
this before. During the Spanish Civil War, they unearthed the
bodies of nuns and paraded their remains through the streets.
They mocked the dead, as though holiness itself could be
desecrated even after burial. The same impulse that once set
fire to churches and slaughtered priests now dances on the
(03:15):
grave of a political opponent. It is not in the
spirit of debate or dissent, but of the vilest hatred,
unleashed and unmasked. We are no longer dealing with political adversaries.
We are confronted with those who despise dialogue itself and
who glorify violence as the only language they recognize. We
(03:36):
are dealing with those who, in celebrating murder, renounce their
own humanity. They align themselves with what is evil, with
what is demonic, and when men give themselves over to
that power, they cease to be neighbors or fellow citizens
in any meaningful sense. This isn't about politics. This is
more than politics. This strikes at the foundations of the
(04:00):
fate of civilization itself. A society that celebrates murder reveals
what it has already become and what it is willing
to endure. The line has not only been crossed, it
has been erased. What remains is the choice of whether
we allow the descent to continue or whether we finally
recognize it for what it is and respond accordingly. If
(04:25):
we choose silence, then the grave they celebrate today will
be ours tomorrow. We'll be talking about Charlie Kirk throughout
the show this afternoon. I'm sure you can understand why
Pursuit of Happiness Radio. I'll be honest with you all.
Before before yesterday, I never thought about Charlie Kirk dying.
(04:48):
I never thought about that. I guess I would just
assume that if something like that happened, it would be bad.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
This is.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
So much worse than what I ever would have even
could possibly imagined. The fact that he was murdered. This
is not a controversial person Charlie Kirk in the Conservative
met was criticized by members of conservative media in the
conservative activism world for not being conservative enough right. I
would say he was a perfect example of somebody that
(05:18):
was center right right, like he's you know, we're not
exactly talking about Nick Fuentes or David Duke or something
like that. Charlie Kirk wanted gay people in Turning Point, USA,
he wanted He was pro immigration. He wasn't pro open
borders or illegal but he was very very much a
child of God. His political opinions were all motivated by
his Christian beliefs, which are very much welcoming to the neighbor.
(05:42):
You know, that was his ethos, it was his ideology,
It was his philosophy friendly political civil discourse. And then
what happened, And then he got murdered, and then one
third of the country started celebrating his death. I don't
just mean mocking him or like celebrating it. Celebrating his
death yesterday on the floor of the House of Congress.
(06:02):
They were trying to have a prayer for him. And
American Democrat lawmakers elected officials wouldn't let that happen. Why
is he what did he do that was so bad?
That's somebody's dad, that's somebody's wife. Every week I invite
Brandon Walton's on the show from Texas scorecard dot Com
and we usually talk about what's going on in the
(06:23):
state of Texas. Well, what's going on in the state
of Texas right now is this. It is impossible to
ignore this, Brandon. You know, you and I were just
talking off the air a minute ago. I mean, you
and I know good people, people that devote their life
to helping other people who are arguably more conservative than
Charlie Kirk was. Isn't it crazy to think that if
(06:43):
you or I or any of those people were to
get killed right now, there are people we don't even
know that would celebrate that. It sickens me.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It's disgusting, and I mean to see the reaction from
the left, not everybody on the left right, but way
too many. Not a small amount. It's not just like,
oh small amount that's making the left look bad. It's
a very sizeable percentage of the left, be it on
social media or heck, even on television on cable news,
(07:12):
essentially celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk for what for
being out there on a college campus and speaking and
talking and answering questions and having a conversation, having a
debate with people on a college campus. For that, they
celebrate the death. And it's this, you know, I can't
help but think it's this very, very alarming shift that
(07:36):
we've seen happen, especially over the last year. You kind
of can tie it back to the assassination attempt on
President Trump last summer, where you certainly had a small
amount of the left sort of hinting that they were,
you know, celebratory about it. That grew even more with
(07:58):
the Luigi Mangio case right in December, where you had
more people who were more you know, quote unquote mainstream
Democrats being more open about celebrating the death of somebody.
And now we have seen that ramp up even more.
That's been the most concerning part about all of this
is that it used to be you know, maybe you'd
(08:18):
say okay with a less putting out some dog whistles here.
Right now they're not even dog whistles. They're like full
blown air horns. They're just saying it. Now they're just
out there celebrating it. And that is probably the most
concerning part about all of this. It used to be
that people would at least pretend if you were on
the other side, they would at least pretend to be concerned.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Right. I don't remember celebrating in the streets when George
Floyd died. You know, that was sad, Right. And then
the more you learn about him, what he robbed a
pregnant woman at gunpoint, he was on feentanyl, he was
a gangster rapper who did porn or whatever. Well, I
still didn't celebrate his death. That's still sad. That's human life.
It's disgusting. Yesterday, in the wake of this happening, im
(08:59):
media social media news speeds were filled with bad political
takes from people that shouldn't have even had an opinion
about it. Here in the Houston area, public school teachers
celebrating his death on social people we pay to educate
our kids. Brandon, there's a prosecutor in Harris County. I
posted images. I'm not going to say her name on
the radio, but people can go look if they want,
(09:21):
and she's on. A woman who investigates and prosecutes murders
for a living in Harris County is on social media
celebrating and mocking somebody who is murdered celebrating the murder.
So I would argue that that's what she was doing.
That's my opinion. And Brandon, I got to think that's
not an isolated incident, is it.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
No, We've seen fort Worth City councilor doing the same thing,
essentially celebrating Charlie Kirk's death on social media just minutes after.
I mean, I'm not even sure he had been declared
dead yet, but was celebrating yesterday afternoon and on social media.
And then there's also reports, I mean, they keep coming in.
(10:03):
You almost don't want to you almost don't want to
give it too much attention. But the amount of professors,
you know, different people who are working for public universities,
or teachers in school districts, et cetera, that we're seeing
now that we're celebrating on social media is absolutely alarming.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, and you know, not even much has been said
yet about how this all went down, Like what what
could it possibly take for that guy to get that
shot off? People have said, over and over again, Oh yeah,
this guy must have been a train marksman, this guy
must have been really skilled at shooting a rifle. But
That's the thing that confuses me so much. Brandon. If
(10:43):
he was, that would imply where was he trained in
the military. If if he was in the military around
other military type people, then me I would assume he
would have somewhat conservative beliefs. How could someone do such
a thing?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's beyond beyond my
comprehension of understanding you know why that happens. But you know,
I think, you know again, I think if we see
these these reports come in, I think this is just
I think this is going to be I mean, others
have said it. I mean, but it sort of there's
no other way to say it. I mean, this really
(11:18):
does feel like a turning point, right of of of
kind of where where the discussion is now? I mean,
what do they always say after these things? They say, well,
we need to like have better more you know, open
dialogue and then way we can understand the other side.
That's literally what his entire stick was, right, That was
this entire thing was. It was going on campuses and
(11:40):
having a dialogue and you get shot for.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
That, Yeah, exactly. And you know, we all have a
different way of approaching what we do. I you know,
on this more on thiss silly radio show that we do.
We try to analyze the news and we make fun
of it. We go out and we do comedy shows
and you know, we can't. We feel like sometimes we
don't know much power over what's going on, so we
try to laugh at and another person that does, Alex Stein,
as someone you and I are both mutual friends with,
(12:04):
there's a similar approach with his web show that he does.
You know, if Charlie Kirk's getting murdered for civil discourse,
what are they going to do to the comedians? You
know what if Charlie Kirk's getting murdered for civil discourse,
what happens to journalists like you, Brandon? I mean, what
does have you guys considered a texted You guys are
considered to be very controversial to some people because you're
(12:24):
in news outlet that reports on things that the liberal
media or mainstream media won't report on. Do you feel
like you and the rest of the team there have
to start approaching the safety and security issues a little
differently around your office, boy?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I mean, I can assure you, you know, we already
of course, you know, keep an eye on that before
before yesterday. I mean, we certainly have that in mind.
But it's a real shame that I think a lot
of people now, in all sorts of lines work, are
thinking the same thing, just simply for being conservative. This
is something that's happening on one side and one side only.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, it's true. And when they look and when political
violence happens, you assume most people would have an issue
with it. This is a there's a real litmus test
here right now for humanity, especially in political discourse, where
you see how people responded to this, and there are
liberals that looked at this and said, I didn't agree
with Charlie Kirk, but and then they'll say something about
how it's terrible, and it's like, fine, good for them,
(13:21):
I'm I'm okay with that. But but such a large
number of people out there looked at this and they
said they said good. And I got to think that's
that's the barometric reading in this country of who's a
normal person and who's a full fledged communist, which of
these people are close to the left of center, and
which of them are all the way on the other side.
It is left wing fascism.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Brandon, That's what we're saying, all.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Right, well, with all that being said, Look, we appreciate
your time here today. I always want people to check
out what Brandon does. Brandon Waltons can be found on Acts.
They have a story today about how political leaders around
the state are responding to this news, and a lot
of them are saying exactly what you would assume. Follow Brandon,
Follow Michael Quinnsullivan, Follow Texas scorecard dot com. They want
to silence us. I knew Andrew Breitbart before he died.
(14:09):
He's one of the reasons I moved to Texas and
I started this radio show. I'm sure a lot of
you heard me tell the story before. What would Andrew
Breitbart be saying today, I'll tell you what he would
say with more voices. We are stronger, We are stronger together.
Check out Texas scorecard dot Com and the work that
Brandon Waltons does. Brandon, thanks for your time this afternoon.
This is Pursuit of Happiness Radio. All right, So I'm
(14:32):
sure you all know what happened. We've been talking about
it throughout the show. It's all anyone could talk about.
Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking
at a college in Utah, and he was only thirty one.
We still have not found the suspect. I haven't looked
at the news here in a few minutes. I've been
just doing this and maybe they have found him. I
haven't heard anything. But here's some of the eyewitness accounts
(14:52):
of the shooting. All of a sudden, I heard just
one pop.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
His head kind of fell back, and then I saw
everybody's dropping, so I dropped down, and then the next thing,
another said run, so we all took off, run in.
We heard two pops and we ran. Some people were
standing there still taking videos, so I went back out
to look over the railing to see like maybe someone
just did some firecracker or something like that, but more
and more people were screaming, crying, dispersing super quickly from
(15:17):
the scene.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
Charlie hit the ground. We saw him fall, but it
looks like the.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Shot came and it hit.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
He was facing us, and it looked like it hit
the left side of his neck, and then we all
took to the ground.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I hate that audio. I want to play something else instead.
This is one of my favorite videos of Charlie Kirk.
Charlie Kirk having a conversation with a leftist an atheist
about why America is or isn't a Christian nation. Listen
to what the leftist says, and listen to how Charlie responds.
Speaker 6 (15:47):
Our country was shown on common law because the Declaration
only refers to God four times, and the Constitution doesn't
refer to God at all, and it only articulates the
structure of government.
Speaker 7 (15:58):
So, first of all, ember that we were a collection
of states and colonies, and you need to read the
state constitutions or anything else.
Speaker 8 (16:05):
Thirteen or thirteen required a declaration of faith.
Speaker 7 (16:07):
In almost every single one of the original state constitutions,
they had I profess Lord in Jesus Christ as my
Lord and Savior. Secondly, fifty five fifty six of the
original as signers of the declaration were Bible believing Church
of Penny Christians. You ask about common law, let's go
to three principles of common law. Presumption of medicines, due process,
and jury of your peers, all three of biblical principles,
(16:28):
so and all wrapped into the ultimate Biblical principle that
you shall not favor justice if you are richer report,
which is in Leviticus nineteen, which is the idea of
blind justice, which is incorporated also in the New Testament ideal.
Neither slave, nor Greek, nor Jew, you or all one
in Jesus Christ, if you had any human equality. These
are all biblical ideas. But more importantly than that, they
say that God was only mentioned four times in the
(16:48):
Declaration of Independence. Well, that's a big deal. John Adams
seemssly said the Constitution was only written for a moral,
religious people. It was wholly inadequate for the people of
any other. The body politic of America was so Christian
that our warmon structure of government was built for the
people that believed in Christ, our Lord. One of the
reasons we're living through a constitutional crisis is that we
no longer have a Christian nation, but we have a
(17:09):
Christian form of government, and they're incompatible. So you cannot
have liberty if you do not have a Christian population.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Goy, that's such a good rant, That is so good.
Nick Fredis is a state lawmaker from Virginia. He's a
Green Beret combat veteran, and he made the point he
said that as a state representative, this is the moment
where we're supposed to express our heartfelt condolences and then
stand in solidarity with the other side because we're supposed
(17:36):
to be one people. Are we one people? It feels
like the other side is laughing at us right now?
Are we one people? I don't know if we've been
one people for a while. It seems like as Americans,
you know, there's three groups of people here. There's the
moderates and the centrist and the people that aren't really
that involved most of the time, and then the right
(17:57):
wingers and the left wingers. We're as different as water
and oil, right, fire and ice. We are two very
different groups of people. We may occupy the same piece
of geography, but that is where the similarities abruptly end.
Like a lot of you, I convince myself when they
call us a racist or a bigot, or a sexist
or a fascist, it's just hyperbole. You know, they're just
(18:22):
doing it for an effect. Well, now, the effect is
that there's a widow and two orphaned kids because the
left couldn't handle the thought of listening to somebody peacefully
debate them and win. I don't think they realize it yet,
but murdering Charlie Kirk, this is going to be remembered
for a long time it has galvanized us. They have
awoken a sleeping giant. I'm a Christian. My faith requires
(18:46):
me to love my enemies. I have no interest in
hurting others. I pray for those who curse me. But
my religion doesn't require me to idly stand by in
the midst of savagery and barbarism and do nothing. In fact,
quite the opposite. I'm tired today, like a lot of you.
I was up late last night. It's discouraging and it's overwhelming.
(19:11):
But we will fight, and we won't fight with violence.
Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk. The fight is definitely not
over coming.
Speaker 9 (19:20):
Up more Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness A safe space
for those who love liberty and try not to take
themselves too seriously, even if your name is Karen.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yesterday afternoon, like most days, I went home from the
radio station. I take a little midday nap. I love
a midday nap. Usually it's at a point of the
day when there's not really going on right, So laid
my hand down on the pillow, close my eyes. About
twenty minutes later, my phone starts ringing off the hook,
(19:55):
text messages, phone calls, DMS. People were asking me if
I was okay, I'm fine, what's going on? So Charlie
Kirk just got shot. I hated. I hated my instincts.
What my instincts were to go to the internet and
look at what everybody was talking about, and I wish
(20:17):
I had never seen it. When you watch the video
of what happened to him, we're not going to share it.
We're not going to post it. Nobody needs to look
at that. It's pretty obvious. Statistically speaking, the odds of
survival were pretty unlikely. A young conservative activist who has
spent his life engaging in civil discourse, polite political debate.
(20:40):
That was his ethos that was his personal philosophy. That
is what Charlie is known for. That was the thing
that got him murdered. The world, I mean, at least
the country changed yesterday as we know it. Charlie Kirk's
political opinions are not controversial. He is as mainstream center
(21:00):
right as it gets. He has been criticized by members
of the conservative media for not being conservative enough. You know,
I'm not going to mention too many names here, but
there are people out there, Nick Fuenttz, people like that
who didn't think Charlie Kirk was far enough to the right.
His version of American conservativism was palatable. It was relatable.
It was common sense stuff, kitchen table issues. That's why
(21:24):
he was so popular. It was great at debating. He's
a little younger than me, but he and I come
from the same place in the country. I grew up
in the suburbs of Chicago, attended the same college, and
when I went to college, we didn't have anything like
Turning Point USA. If you were right wing conservative, libertarian,
if you were a populist, a constitutionalist, and orthodox conservative, Christian, jew, whatever, what,
(21:47):
you just kept your head down and you shut up.
You didn't say anything because you didn't want to get
into a fight with your fellow students, much less one
of the professors I've had professors. I had professors in
college who were aware of my political beliefs and held
them against me more than once. So that's a lesson
you learn. Charlie was brave. He approached it differently. He
(22:11):
didn't look at it the way previous generations did. He
trained young Christians, Conservatives, Jewish students, whatever you were, how
to handle yourself in that environment. And he was a
nice guy. Whatever's coming next, whoever comes next, whoever that
figure is, it's going to start leading young people. Even
if the person's not a terrible person, it's hard to
(22:32):
imagine he'll be as nice as a guy as Charlie Kirk.
I met Charlie Kirk before it's speaking events that we did,
but I didn't know him. I don't claim to have
known him. My friend Christian Collins knew him. Christian booked Charlie.
They'd worked together. Christian Collins, for those who don't know,
he created the Texas Youth Summon. I don't brag about
Christian enough, and I ought to. Christian is a guy
(22:52):
who I call on the phone when I need spiritual advice.
He's a Christian. I'm a Catholic. He's a Christian. Similar enough,
right when I needed when I need a little insight.
Christian is one of the most honest, down to earth
nicest people I have met working in political media. I
Christian is such a nice guy. I sometimes even wonder
why he's in politics. Anyway, he's on the line right now.
(23:14):
I called him, Christian man, thanks so much for your
time this afternoon on k P here. So you were
friends with Christian, with Charlie obviously, you know, let's start
off with this. How will you remember him?
Speaker 5 (23:27):
Well, thank you so much for having me on, Kenny.
I didn't sleep at all last night and Jens and
I when we found out the news that he was shot,
we were just on our hands and knees, you know,
pleading and crying out to God to save Charlie Kirk
and spare his life.
Speaker 8 (23:42):
And unfortunately it didn't go that way.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
But you know, we we you know, we greeted that
entire day and it was just it's been a rough
twenty four hours, to say the least. And Charlie will
be remembered as a conservative. There's nobody who did the
work of his magnitude with the youth in America. He
(24:07):
is incredible, a master of his trade and just so articulate,
so intelligent, so gifted. He was so well studied. He
was just such a great communicator. And to lose somebody
like that, but more than that, he was a human being.
He was a father, he was a husband, and it's
(24:32):
just unconscionable. It's so devastating to learn of this. And
I can say assuredly his legacy will live on and
I think about the situation. I've been going through this
grieving process myself, and one of those stages of grief
is called bargaining. And I just said to myself, I said, why, Charlie,
(24:55):
why did you have to be out in a tent?
Why couldn't you been you know, a secure auditorium, you know,
And I and I answered my own question because, you know,
as I was thinking about it with jen Z, you know,
we realized he was outside because.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
He wanted to be where the students were.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
And when someone was walking to class, they could just
simply look at the spectacle and say, well, what's going
on there, and they'd come up and maybe they'd want to.
Speaker 8 (25:19):
Ask Charlie Kirk a question. And he did it so civilly, respectfully.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
He listened before he talked, and he always had, you know,
an intelligent thing to say. And he was what was
referred to by Ronald Reagan as a happy warrior. He
was truly happy in fighting the war. And we are
in a war in this country, and it's as much
spiritual as it is political. And what happened yesterday was
(25:45):
totally demonic. And we need to pray for Charlie Kirk
his wife, Erica, and two children in the movement that
he's built Turning Point USA.
Speaker 8 (25:56):
We've got to continue to lift him up.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
And I'll tell you, you know, natural reaction by some people,
myself included, when that happened, you know, your your gut
reaction is the way that Riley Gaines answered this. But
she's been in the tent with Charlie Kirka, and Charlie
Kirka's you know, spoken at our conferences multiple years, and
I've been blessed to speak at his conference. But she was,
(26:19):
you know, in the tent with him at different times
before she was pregnant. She said on Sean Hannity last
night that she just maybe didn't want to do this anymore,
you know, but she caught herself and she's saying what
we're saying. It's it's that we've got to continue to
fight the good fight of faith, the stand up for
Christian and conservative values.
Speaker 8 (26:37):
We've got to reach the youth.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
And the reason why Charlie was targeted is because he
is a threat.
Speaker 8 (26:45):
He is a real threat because he is so very
effective at what he did.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
And so Harris want us not just to stop what
we're doing or do it more quietly. They you know,
they want us, you know, to to just go away entirely.
Some of these leftists really do. They want to take
us out violently. And I wouldn't say that's the entire
Democrat Party, but you know, as I've heard reports of
(27:13):
the jeering and congress that went on because of the
name Charlie Kirk was mentioned, I recognize that they, many
of them, really do want us dead. And that is
the political reality that we are living in as conservatives
at this point. And so that's one of the reasons why,
you know, I'm in the same space as Charlie Kirk
(27:35):
working with the youth. I go to college campuses and
I'm speaking there. I'm speaking at a college campus today,
and I'm I'm I'm involved in our community working with
young people and hosting these conferences. I take this so
personally just because I recognize that we are in a
real dangerous time and we have to make sure that
(27:57):
we are preyed up and and that we're careful about
the places that we go to and take all the
precautions that we can. But at the end of the day,
we have to continue to fight the good fight, and
we can't allow these terrorists to win.
Speaker 8 (28:11):
We cannot let them keep us silent.
Speaker 5 (28:12):
We have to keep fighting and keep building on the
movement that Charlie Kirks built.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
You know, you explain that perfectly, and I'm glad you
mentioned Riley Gaines. Riley Gaines didn't necessarily want to be
in this industry. You know, it's no wonder that she's
reluctant to stay. She wanted to be an athlete, and
I get that. I wanted to be a rock and
roll DJ Christian. That was what I was trying to do.
And everything was political everywhere I looked, everywhere we went.
You and I existed a time we came of age
(28:38):
at a time when everything became very political. It's hard
to believe. Back in the eighties of the nineties, Republicans
and Democrats they weren't that different. Now it's like living
in two different countries, right, So, you know, Riley didn't
necessarily want this. She ended up there, started by accident.
Same with me. I ended up here by accident. Charlie
was different. Charlie was involved in politics in high school.
(28:59):
Charlie was letters as a high school kid to Glenn
back and you know, tuning into talk radio, and I
mean he was way ahead of any of us during
during the you know, the chronological order of how your
life is supposed to go. What do you think about that?
Speaker 5 (29:14):
I think it's a special person that Charlie Kirk truly was,
you know what most people are playing video games. You know,
he was building something at a very early age. And
some of the smartest people I know actually didn't go
to college. And you know, myself, I did go to college.
(29:35):
That's not my story. And I actually teach out to college,
by the way, and I don't think and I think
that's you know, great for some people, but I understand
and respect that not everybody's story is they should go
to college.
Speaker 8 (29:48):
And Charlie was so brilliant.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
He started Turning Point USA in his garage, as he
tells the story, and his parents' garage at you know,
seventeen eighteen years old, and he built something that was
truly special. And he will always be remembered. And I
believe that Turning Point USA will go on. You know,
I don't know what that'll look like at this time.
Speaker 8 (30:12):
Nobody does.
Speaker 5 (30:13):
But right now it's just about honoring and remembering Charlie
Kirk at the man but you know, we're not really
thinking about what happens to turning point, but I will
say that, you know, what he's built has to continue
through all of us, and I think this changes everything
in our country. And this is really a turning point,
if you'll allow me to use that word, you know,
(30:35):
in all our all of our lives, because we realize
that this is something that we've never seen before. You know,
when Kobe Bryant died, I felt like this was really
really sad. I grew up watching Kobe Bryant. It's a tragedy, right,
And the difference between Kobe Bryant and Charlie Kirk is
(30:56):
this is an assassination. This is an assault on our
freedom of speech. And Charlie did nothing wrong. And a
lot of people, a lot of evangelical Christians spoke out,
you know, against what happened to George Floyd, right or wrong.
You know, they spoke out against what happened. But you know,
George Floyd, arguably he really did do something wrong right right,
(31:19):
And Charlie Kirk did nothing wrong. He didn't deserve this,
and he treated everybody respectfully and civil and civilly, and
this is not how someone should be treated who does
everything right.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Next week is the Texas Youth Summit twenty twenty five.
The lineup very impressive, Christian. You guys do such a
good job organizing it, and you know you really are
like Texas's own version of Charlie Kirk. And of course
that's how I know him. I met him at your events.
He's not going to be there this year. You know, sadly,
he'll never be there again. It's impossible now I mean
I of course I say that, but in reality, he'll
(31:56):
always be there in spirit. When I talk at your events.
One of the things I always try to tell young
people is when people get into conservative politics, they want
to go be a staffer, they want to be an activist,
they want to go be chief of staff, or they
want to be, you know, be the candidate or whatever
it may be. We need people like you to go
out and get into academia. We need conservative college professors,
(32:17):
we need conservative members of the media. We need conservative
stand up comedians, we need conservative musicians and actors and
people in the entertainment industry. And we need people like
Charlie Kirk. I don't know who the next Charlie Kirk's
going to be. I don't know, but I know out
there yesterday when they tried to kill him, they have
Their thought was they were going to silence his ideas
(32:39):
with a bullet. No, his ideas have been amplified times
a thousand yesterday. I can't even imagine how many countless
number of young men and young women in this country,
and there's no other third option, have been pushed hard
to the right because they saw how their vaguely conservative
beliefs were being vilified and even celebrated for hurting people
(32:59):
that believe those things on the far left or even
on the center left. If there's anybody out there that
shares those beliefs, they think this is the way to
stop us. They are wrong. We are galvanized. We are
stronger than ever now. Charlie Kirk has become He's he
is the civil rights hero of our movement right now.
He is the Obi wan Kenobi of young conservative thought leaders.
And I have to think that now he's stronger now
(33:21):
than he ever was before. As strange as it is
to say out loud.
Speaker 8 (33:26):
I think you're exactly right.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
It was really refreshing to see that the Yankee Stadium,
the New York Yankees honored and remember Charlie Kirk. And
you know, I would like to see more of that
from mainstream America.
Speaker 8 (33:38):
I think that's the type.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
Of attention that he deserves because on this despite whatever
I'll you know, you come from, Democrat or Republican, we
got to come together and agree that political violence has
no place here in America. It's September eleventh, and we remember,
of course, a tragic time. We all remember where we
were on September. Love him, and that's something to remember.
(34:03):
But you know, September tenth, what happened at Charlie Kirk.
This must be a rallying to pray for America and
pray that God will have mercy on American and bring
our nation together. And we have to recognize that leftists
in some ways do never they will never want to
(34:23):
be unified with us.
Speaker 8 (34:24):
They want to kill us.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
And so we have to stand up to these cowards
that took out Charlie Kirk and continue to fight his
good fight with the same boldness and digger that he did.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
You know, Christian, Obviously the point of this interview wasn't
to promote the Texas Youth Summit, but I can't help
but think that's probably what Charlie would want us to do.
He was a proud participant in it. You know, he
was there, He was on the front lines. He stood
on that stage. And if people do want to get
involved in the kind of work that you do that
Charlie obviously did, how can they help you guys out?
Speaker 5 (35:00):
Well, you know, I just don't have a whole lot
to say about the Texas Youth Summit right now, you know,
but if you would, I mean, just just pray with us.
Speaker 8 (35:08):
Pray for Charlie's family, Pray for his parents, his children.
Speaker 5 (35:15):
You know, they're all growing up without a father, and
you know Erica por Erica's lost her husband, and I
just I'm brought to tears, you know, thinking about what
they're dealing with. And so you know, I know you're
a big supporter of me, and and please encourage your
listeners to follow me and as I as I pray,
(35:36):
you know, for Charlie Kirk.
Speaker 8 (35:38):
If we could just pray real quick. I've never done
that on.
Speaker 5 (35:41):
The radio before, but if you would, Charlie Kirk's family,
I just want to pray for them real quick. A father,
thank you so much for the life of Charlie Kirk.
He is a hero of the faith. He's a martyr
for the conservative and Christian beliefs that he instilled in
so many young people. And it was just common sense.
There's one man, one woman. He was pro life from
(36:04):
the woman's of the grave. He believed in religious liberty.
He just wanted young people to have good jobs and
to get married and have children because he knew that
was a recipe for Republicanism. And if you go to church,
even better, your life is going to be so much better.
And so thank you for everything that he stood for.
Thank you for the courage that he had to go
(36:27):
on college campuses. And I pray that other leaders will
rise up around the country to stand up for truth
and be crusaders for truth the way Charlie Kirk was.
Speaker 8 (36:37):
I pray that, you.
Speaker 5 (36:38):
Know, we lost him, but there'd be thousands of people
that would take his place and stand up and fight
for what's right. Lord, Thank you for his family, and
I just pray for a hedge of protection around Erica
and their children.
Speaker 8 (36:50):
I pray God over his parents and all.
Speaker 5 (36:53):
This friends and all the people that have been affected
by including me, and I just pray for comfort and
in encouragement.
Speaker 8 (37:01):
During this time.
Speaker 5 (37:02):
We pray for them, and we ask that God you'd
wake up America and help the Democrats and the leftists
to see the aerror of their ways and recognize that
their ideology is a part in the media. The mainstream
media has played a part in vilifying people like Charlie Kirk,
which has led to his death. And I just pray
(37:24):
that they'd see that. I pray that you'd open up
the eyes of these wicked people. We pray this in
Jesus' name.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Amen am into that Christian. I think you said it perfectly,
and you know, I really don't have anything else I
would want to add to that. I think you said
it all right there. I will add this. You know,
I remember after Donald Trump was shot. Hard to believe
it's been a little over a year since that happened.
Catholics all over the country and Christians alike, we're doing
the Saint Michael's prayer. Saint Michael the Archangel defend us
(37:50):
in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares
of the devil. May God rebuke him. We humbly pray
and do Thou, o, Prince of the Heavenly host by
the power of God thrust and to hell, Satan and
all evil spirits who prawl about the world seeking the
ruin of souls. Amen.
Speaker 8 (38:09):
And I really like that prayer.
Speaker 5 (38:11):
And you know, we just got to come together and
push back against evil. But we have to continue to
do so in a civil ways as Charlie did, as
happy warriors, and fight the good fight and be crusaders
for truth.
Speaker 8 (38:24):
And we cannot be quiet, we cannot be silent.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Amen to that, my man. Christian. You are you are
my brother from another man. You are one of my
allies in this fight. And I'm grateful that you're out there,
my man. You know it's because of you that so
many of us were able to go out and help
to motivate young people and young conservatives. And you know,
we'll talk more about the Texas youth some of it later.
It is next week. And obviously our friend Charlie was
(38:47):
there in the past. But I think you put it perfectly.
We need to just leave it at that right now.
Christian Collins follow him on social media. I'm County Webster.
I love you all. Thank you so much for tuning
in this afternoon. It is a dark day and America
on September eleventh, the day after the passing of Charlie Kirk.
Will be back tomorrow, thanks for tuning.
Speaker 4 (39:05):
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