Do It For Charlie | My Conversation with TPACTION Spokeswoman Driena Sixto | S2 EP 6 - The Dillon England Show

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know what gives me strength, the hundreds of thousands
of you. I'd say, Charlie, keep going.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
What Charlie preached and supported was the complete opposite of that.
It was loving thy neighbor. It was supporting strong family values.
It was saying that everybody has equal value, right and
therefore equal opportunity and equal hope. Everything that Charlie preached
and stood for was from a place of love. You

(00:34):
could apply it to any policy of supported, even immigration, right.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Like, because of these stupid mainstream media stories and lies,
there's a three or four year old that doesn't have
a dad as a result, and it just makes me
so angry. It's so sickening that then there's people laughing.
There's a video of a guy making fun of Charlie
getting hit in the neck on campus, and it's like, yeah,
whenever I get so worked up, is so humbling, And

(01:01):
I'm like, you know what Charlie would say. Charlie would say,
pray for them. How are you doing with everything? First
of all, I guess to start here, who are you?
Remind us who you are with turning point action that
would be helpful, and then we can go into just
as Chad.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, so right now, I'm a media spokesperson for Turning
Point Action. That's the C four. It's different than Turning
Point USA, which has a lot more name recognition. It's
the first organization that Charlie Kirk founded, and I first
worked with Turning Point USA back in twenty sixteen full time.

(01:39):
I transferred over to Turning Point Action in twenty twenty two,
and I've obviously held a lot of different positions between
the two organizations, most of those being in field work.
It hasn't been media. I actually came into my role
as a spokesperson I think no more than four weeks ago,

(02:02):
and so it has been a WorldWind of things. Obviously,
it's this tragedy just shook us all. It shook me
a lot because of the fact that Turning Point has
been in my life for so long. I like to
joke and say that Turning Point is my longest lasting
relationship and it is still to this point. And a

(02:27):
lot of the people that are super close to me
in my life are you know, my best friend, I
met him working with Turning Point. A lot of coworkers
around the country, you know, we're extremely close. The culture
that was fostered within this political organization was unlike any

(02:48):
other because we focused on that on making sure that
we brought in people with good values, with good character,
and so it brought in a lot of people with
very good hearts. And so usually people in politics might
not like each other, or just working within an organization
or a workplace, people might not like each other or

(03:10):
find each other annoying. And that's definitely not the case
because a huge emphasis before we brought in anybody else knew,
was in the culture points that we had.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
And so we started in twenty sixteen, right in twenty sixteen,
what was your connection with Turning Point Bay?

Speaker 2 (03:28):
How'd you get Yeah, So in twenty fifteen, when I
was still a student at FIU Florida International University, I
was invited to this young person's political conference the first
time I ever heard about it. It was called Winter
in West Palm Beach and this was kind of it's

(03:49):
the first origins of what is now the Student Action Summit,
which is one of the largest political conferences in the
entire country. This was held at a little hotel, rinkyd
Ink Hotel and like the hotel lobby, with a couple
hundred students, maybe like three hundred students, and that was
my first introduction to Turning Point. I was still a student.

(04:13):
I was still just you know, an activist. And then
come twenty sixteen, I see a friend of mine tabling
on campus for Turning Point USA, and I walk by
and I see this large foam sign that says big
Gov Sucks. And I'm like, oh my gosh, Like that

(04:34):
absolutely stands out to me. It resonates with me. I
loved the messaging. Mind you. I was in my last
year as a student as a political science slash International
relations major, and I still to that point didn't know
what I wanted to do when I graduated. Those degrees

(04:55):
aren't necessarily STEM degrees, so the applications aren't as many
as somebody with a STEM major. And I just didn't
know where I wanted to go. Go work in DC
as a legislative aid, Go work at a campaign, go
work at somebody's office. Nothing really stood out to me.
And in my last semester, full semester of college, is

(05:19):
that Turning Point appeared on campus, and so between classes
I decided to volunteer. I just wanted to hang out
and help them out and help recruit and bring more
members to the chapter. I found that it was very
easy for me to bring in new people because at
least where I went to school FYU, there's a large

(05:41):
community of Cuban Americans, Venezuelan Americans, lots of immigrants, of
parents that escaped socialism, escaped communism, and so despite it
being a minority majority school, it was very right wing.
It was pretty right leaning, and I think that set
us apart from every other university in the country. We

(06:05):
took off pretty well. It was a very big chapter,
a very successful chapter. I graduated in the summer of
twenty sixteen. I was missing like one class and I
remember taking my last final exam and less than a
week later, I was on a plane to Chicago for
staff training to be a full time staffer for Turning Point.

(06:26):
And so that's how I officially officially started.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
Was what was your first run in with Charlie?

Speaker 2 (06:33):
So it was in twenty fifteen during that conference, but
in a more intimate setting in twenty sixteen, because that
was the official staff training, and back then it was
just a handful of people, and so Charlie himself would
run a lot of those trainings and would part of
what he did was come in to teach us how

(06:55):
to debate, and he gave talking points, and he also
gave tips on how to debate, and the most important
one was to stay calm, to keep collected, to keep
your heart rate down. That way your ideas can translate
a lot better. So it's definitely an honor to be

(07:15):
able to say that that Charlie Kirk helped train me
and some other people on how to debate back in
the day, and we still can carry on that legacy
going forward. And a lot has transpired between now and then.
I worked overseeing South Florida, then Florida, then Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,

(07:38):
then North Carolina, and then you know, back in twenty
twenty two, they're like, Driana, we don't want you to
have too many restrictions on what you say. Turning Point
Action is a pretty new organizations and it's baby stages.
Let's transfer you over there so you can help that grow.
And it was a completely different animal since we worked

(08:03):
more in the political field, more in the elections part
of things and getting out the vote. I oversaw Florida, Georgia,
North Carolina for Turning Point Action. We mobilized a lot
of events. We put together a lot of events where
we would recruit volunteers to learn how to use our
application to then later on when early voting started, they

(08:27):
could use the application to tell their neighbors to go
out to vote. They could use the application to see
which of their neighbors had an absentee ballot at home
that they hadn't turned in, and they could lovingly harass
them to turn it in. And so that's my background.
My background has never truly really been in and media.
It's just something that I have done as a result

(08:50):
of the positions I have been in and giving presentations
and talking to people. Growing up, my parents, especially my dad,
didn't allow me or or my sister to lose our
language Spanish. We weren't allowed to speak English within the
apartment and even like with us in the back, if

(09:10):
you heard us talking in English. And so that definitely
proved useful to this day because obviously now I can
do communications in English and Spanish and represent the organization
both ways. So it's just been so much that has
gone on since the tragedy this last week. It was

(09:36):
definitely a bit of a blur at the beginning I
was in West Palm Beach when I heard of the news,
which was where I had originally gotten my introduction into
Turning Point. The winter in West Palm Beach event was
just you know, a few minutes away from where I was,

(09:57):
and I was with a friend. I was with this
lady who's one of the original like founding donors of
Turning Point USA. And I get a call from my
Fox Northesia's friend that you know usually like schedules me
on to be on the show, and he calls me
and tells me, you know, oh my god, did you

(10:19):
like see what happened? Can you give us a comment?
And I'm like, what happened? He was the one to
break the news to me. And then I went back
to the table where we were sitting and I told
them as well, which obviously ended that afternoon lunch meeting,
and we obviously then just started scrolling on social media

(10:40):
to get the news of what happened. I think at first,
the first thoughts are just like, at least for me,
we recently saw a miracle happen live on TV with
President Trump, and so my original thought was just denial.
It's like, okay, does it matter what happened, Like God's

(11:03):
gotta send Charlie's gonna get through this and he'll be fine.
And then unfortunately I got sent those videos that if
you guys at home watching this haven't seen yet, please
don't look for them, don't watch them, don't watch Yeah,
it's yeah, it's traumatizing if if you guys are if

(11:25):
you guys are sensitive to that. Yeah, when I saw those,
that's when I just broke down and lost it for
a few days. And uh took some time to recover,
and I think I got through it by talking to
other people within the organization, to my coworkers, to friends

(11:46):
that have that can understand the significance of this. I
was not super close to Charlie personally, I, you know,
have just worked for the organization and him for ten years.
But I know that there's people that worked with him
on a daily basis and spoke to him on a
daily basis. And if I was broken up about it,

(12:08):
I cannot imagine how somebody like our COEO for turning
point action Tyler Boyer must have must have felt, his wife,
the kids, the security guys that just traveled the entire
country with him.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
It was it's crazy because like the nation has felt
a weight from this. And like I met Charlie once,
you know, amfest and passing because he was at a
Liberty University booth right next to mine. And and but
I know people that know Charlie and and I you know,

(12:47):
like when it happened, like two days went by, and
my wife and I just couldn't shake it. And and
it's like we didn't we weren't even friends with this guy.
And it's like, why why is this so painful? And
it just I think speaks to impact. It speaks to
Charlie's impact. Like by definition is what impact means, Like

(13:11):
the impact can be felt when something like this happens.
And it just shows you who Charlie was in the
Turning Point organization. Like what's kind of going on right now?
Like is it kind of like a just we're waiting
and we're just putting upon things? Are they doubling down
on what plans are? Like what's kind of going on

(13:31):
the scenes right.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
There's a lot going on behind the scenes. Definitely definitely
doubling down. And while obviously we have been given time
and space to recover and to mourn, you know, the
employees that are remote, like myself, because a lot of

(13:54):
the employees for Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action
are remote because they're on the field. They have given
us some time to mourn, and for the employees that
are working at headquarters, they've opened up the facilities to
allow people to go into work if they want to work.
If they don't, then that's absolutely, you know fine. They're

(14:17):
offering you know, mental health services and you know food
and just a place to welcome people to gather and
talk to each other. I think that's been really important
to kind of just help each other cope. This next Sunday,

(14:38):
Sunday the twenty first, there's going to be a memorial
at the State Farm Stadium close to Phoenix, and they're
flying out all of staff out to that along with
their spouses if they have one, so that we can
all be there to memorialize Charlie, and so they're it

(15:00):
has just been a great sense of unity in this.
But also at the same time, the resounding message is
that this isn't going to slow us down, This isn't
going to stop us. In fact, you know, I'm sure
you've heard we've got more than thirty two thousand different
people that put in a request to start a new

(15:21):
Turning Point USA chapter. There is more people than ever
that have reached out to us asking to get involved.
So do you think we're going to not take advantage
of that and not get back to them and tell
them what it is that they can do. Absolutely not,
We're going to exactly exactly So Charlie would have wanted

(15:49):
us to put pedal to the metal and really just
make the most out of this tragic event to get
as many people who especially previously weren't politically involved to
do so for the first time. Last night, I was
at a vigil for Charlie at my alma mater, FIU,

(16:13):
and I spoke there and one of the things that
I mentioned and I asked the crowd to raise their
hand if they've ever been involved with Turning Point before,
if they've gone to a conference, started a chapter, we're
a member, And a lot of hands went up. But
the next thing I asked was who's here for the

(16:34):
first time ever hearing about Charlie for the first time
ever coming to any kind of quasi political event, And
a lot of hands went up as well. And that
is that is just a testament to the movement to
the fire that has been incited within this country, to

(16:54):
the revival that's coming, and so we're absolutely going to
make the most out of that to make sure that
those people feel welcome, that those people feel empowered to
finally speak out. There's so many people that messaged me too,
saying previous to this, I was kind of scared and

(17:15):
shy about posting my own personal political beliefs. But after this,
I just don't care anymore. I absolutely don't care cost
me what it cost me. Yeah, So it's just been
it's been a wild transformation. I think that we're gonna
look back at this turning point in history obviously name

(17:37):
play there, and I think that this country is going
to be divided, and you know, BC and AD before Charlie.
After Charlie's death, I think the landscape is going to
be completely different.

Speaker 4 (17:51):
You know. It's one of those events you just have
to ask why.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
And there have been so many people that are more
bold in their faith because, I mean, Charlie was a Christian,
and you have so many people going to church for
the first time. You have so many people that are
are willing to talk openly. And you know, even if
like I don't even think the answer is just like
you have to post on socials. I think just even

(18:17):
relationally familiarly people just being willing to talk more. It's
just it's such an impact, you know. I think this
is one of the hard parts. I want to bring
this up. So, like, there's a lot of misinformation going
on about Charlie right now. There's tons, Yeah, And there
are people that are celebrating his death. There are people
that are are lying about.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
Who he was.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
There are people about lying about what he believes, that
he was a race. I mean, this is the same
stick over and over again, right, Why do you think
people are so unwilling to give Charlie a chance and
just take a moment and watch, like not clips taken
out of context, just watch the full thing. Like why
do you think this there are people that are just

(19:00):
so willing to just dance on his grave.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
I think that a lot of it the media is
to blame for it, the left wing propaganda and the
left wing disinformation and the left wing slander defamation that
has gone on for so many years about Charlie and
conservatives in general too. It's almost natural for a lot

(19:27):
of these people that get their sources of information from
this bubble of mainstream media to be radicalized because that's
what they're hearing from what they think are credible sources.
I've mentioned as an example before, Stephen King the other
day tweeted that Charlie Kirk supported gay's being stoned to

(19:51):
death an abject lie. And imagine the person that reads
that sees that it's Stephen King saying, and they're like, oh,
this person's pretty legit, and then you know, obviously their
personal views are formed on Charlie because of it. And
obviously I would think that anybody that believes gay people

(20:12):
being stoned to death is not a good person. But
for them, before that is corrected, before a note comes
out saying hey, this was wrong, a lot of people
then have just already taken that information for themselves and
based their beliefs on it. I think that a big step.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
Stephen Keene like apologized for that, and he's like, always wrong, but.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
It's like, dude, the damage is done.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
The damage is done exactly.

Speaker 3 (20:42):
And a million people saw your original tweet before you
took it down. And I think actually as a result,
his book company, the management company for his new book,
pulled support after that statement, but like, and so he's
now like trying to get more people to read his book.
But I was like, you can't just say that and
with a plaid for that you have and then just say, oops,

(21:03):
my bad.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
I agree, And that's just Stephen King. The mainstream media
has been doing that all the time. We see them
writing insane headlines and then at the very end they'll
write a community note or something in the end that says,
this article has been updated this day. Oops, we spoken
correctly and this is actually the truth. But nobody's going

(21:24):
to go back and yeah and read that. And so
I think going forward to prevent this radicalization of people
that are just you know, getting their information and maybe
God bless them, they might not have bad intentions. They
just think that this is this horrible person that believes

(21:45):
these horrible things, which is false. We need to hold
the media accountable. We should be suing for defamation left
and right. And this is just a personal opinion of mine.
I think Charlie's estate should absolutely be suing for defamation
for any outlet that has spread misinformation about things he

(22:07):
has done, things he has said, and make them feel
it in their pocket because apparently that's the only way
these people learn their lessons. That's something that the Trump
administration has been doing. Well. Trump himself has been doing
as of late. He's gone back and sued a lot
of outlets for spreading fake news propaganda and has taken

(22:30):
in millions and millions of dollars from that. And that
is absolutely money well deserved, and it's more than anything
just to teach them a lesson before they decide to
spread propaganda and incite hate, incite fear, incite division amongst us,
because that is what that's what the left has done,

(22:54):
has been doing. That's their specialty, and it's incomplete opposite
to what Charlie stood for and to what he believed in.
The Left has tried to divide us by genders, right
to have men hate women hate men, to you know,

(23:14):
disassemble the nuclear family, say that that's a bad thing,
to say that having kids is a bad thing, to
drive race wars between us, and what Charlie preached and
supported was the complete opposite of that. It was loving
thy neighbor, it was supporting strong family values. It was

(23:36):
saying that everybody has equal value right and therefore equal
opportunity and equal hope. I think that's another reason why
so many young people nowadays feel so hopeless and therefore
are angered and therefore are radicalized, because the message that
the Left has been driving down their throats or so

(24:00):
long is you're a victim because of X, Y, and Z.
You're a victim because a woman, you're a woman. You're
a victim because you're a man. You're a victim because
you're a minority. You're a victim because you're not a minority.
You know, you have other people that hate you because
you are of this race. You have another gender that
hates you because you are the opposite gender, and so

(24:21):
they see themselves in despair. And the opposing message to
that is that, you know, it's a message of love. Honestly,
everything that Charlie preached and stood for was from a
place of love. You could apply it to any policy
of supported, even immigration. Right. Why is it that we

(24:43):
support strong borders and enforcing our immigration. It's because we
have a love for the people that are in this country.
We have a love of country. We want to keep
it sovereign, We want to keep the values that America
stands for. Why is it that we lock the doors
at night right. Is it because we hate the people
that are outside, or we just love the people that

(25:05):
are inside and we want to keep them safe. Nothing
that he ever advocated was from a position of hate.
Even people he vehemently disagreed with on campuses, he would
allow them to speak and you know, yeah, they.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
Mash their energy right, Like if someone comes at him hard,
you'd come right back at him hard.

Speaker 4 (25:26):
Like he went back down.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
But there was never I was gonna play the video
in a little bit if you if you feel like
you're okay watching it. The White House put out a
tribute video to Charlie Kirk, and I wanted to react
to that with you later. If that's something you feel
like you can do, yeah, because I don't know, Like
every time I watch it, I'm like, I don't know
if I can do this on camera.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
Yeah. I've been wearing waterproof makeup for the last several days.

Speaker 4 (25:52):
That's why I don't wear makeup.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
I'm good, But you're you're You're exactly right. I think
I have a lot of people that like I live
in Detroit. We talked about this last time. I have
a lot of friends that are Democrats, and I have
a lot of business relationships that are on the left
of Democrats. I just am talking to a guy the
other day. He's like, you know, left wing. He knows

(26:15):
I'm right wing, and we talked about it, and I'm like,
does it not bother you at all that your party
thrives online and thrives on Villa finds someone like Charlie
Kirk who you might not agree with their policy. You
might not agree with Charlie, like Charlie Kirk is a Christian, right,

(26:36):
the Bible is what shaped his worldview when it came
to marriage, when it comes to everything right, when it
comes to having kids, not having kids, So like you might,
even within the Turning Point family, there's people that he
disagree with their lifestyle, like he talked about that. But like,
you can't say that Charlie was a wicked white supremacist racist,

(26:57):
like you watch five minutes of him and you realize
that disproven. And you have people like Jimine Hill like
Joy Read, like MSNBC, CNN just vehemently lie. And then
you have people and knit sorry, let me let me
get on tangent for a second. And then you have
people that Charlie, that Charlie's wife Erica goes online, has

(27:20):
a thirty minute speech empowering us to take a step forward,
and people are saying she's acting weird. People are saying
they're they're they're vilifying the widow of the man that
just got murdered in front of America, Like there's no
depth of depravity to some of these people. And it
and it and it just like because Charlie represents me

(27:41):
like I'm a Christian, I'm a thirty one year old
dad of two, Like because of these stupid mainstream media
stories and lies, there's a there's a three or four
year old that doesn't have a dad as a result,
and it just makes me so angry.

Speaker 4 (27:57):
I don't think I told you when I how I've
out about Charlie. So my wife called me.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
She was actually driving on the way to my to
my office, and she's like, hey, Charlie Kirk's been shot.
And I was like, what do you what do you
mean Charlie Kirk's been shot? So I do what everyone did,
you know? I go on Twitter and go on accident.
I start figuring it out. I get a call from
one of my friends and she's like, hey, my brother

(28:24):
was just on campus. He was actually at the event
three like one hundred feet away from Charlie, and she's like,
a Dylant, he didn't make it.

Speaker 4 (28:34):
And I'm like, what do you mean?

Speaker 3 (28:36):
Like, I'm like, get everywhere has been saying that he's
like because there was like this report that went out
that he was fine.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
He was like.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
Stabilized, critical condition, critical condition, but he's been kind of
stay stable. And that report went out and she's like,
Dylan no, like brother saw it.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
It's and I'm like no, no, no, no no.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
And the report happened that he passed and then in
walked my two year old daughter like two seconds later,
and I just absolutely lost it.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah, yeah, I yeah, I'm so sorry. And because I
can't I can't even imagine if you have children. I
don't have children. I'm thirty one years old as well,
so you me, Charlie, we're all thirty one. I don't
have kids. I couldnot imagine the the thought of having children,
you know, not having their their parents in their life.

(29:21):
And what's worse is both Charlie and the kids were
in the crowd watching that happen, and the little girl
especially liked the heard the shot and being scared ran
towards Charlie and he was, you know, obviously the victim
of of what happened.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
And so I'm just saying, it doesn't make you mad,
there's something wrong with you. Yeah, if that doesn't absolutely
enrage you, and if you turn this and like I'm
gonna I'm a controversial there's people that are are on
the right that are turning this into immediately they're you know,
they're like, oh, it's Israel, op, it's this, And I'm like,
I don't really care, dude, Like, just for a second,

(30:04):
show some grief before you get back on your pedestal,
pedaling whatever bull crap you want to do, Like, just
for a second, stop putting whatever right wing propaganda, left
wing propaganda.

Speaker 4 (30:14):
I don't care.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
Just like, if this doesn't piss you off that a
dad was just taken and.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
A four year old girl is like, where's daddy?

Speaker 2 (30:22):
Kay? It just it.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
It's so sickening that then there's people laughing.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
There's a video of a guy making fun of Charlie
getting hit in the neck on campus, and it's like, yeah,
whenever I get so worked up, what is so humbling?
And I'm like, you know what Charlie would say, Charlie
would say, pray for them.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Yeah, that is And it's.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
So hard, and as a believer, I need to say,
you know what, God, I don't understand these evil people,
but somehow you said you loved everyone in this world.
I need to love them while also speaking truth and
both can happen. But it's hard because I see these things,
and I see people like Jamel Hill talk about how

(31:04):
Charlie Kirk's death should be celebrated because he's a white supremacist,
and I'm like, you have a platform of a million
followers just actively lying that should be.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
Shamed, shamed and sued and everything. Like. It wasn't the
same day because I was you know, still too, it
was still too recent. But about a day or two
later after it happened, I I posted for the first
time on on social media, and I posted old pictures

(31:32):
of myself and Charlie and that you know that went viral,
and obviously, at first, since my following is very conservative,
the messages were positive and supportive, but since it you know,
hit the internet, obviously the left saw it. And the

(31:54):
insane amount of disgusting comments that I have you know,
gotten from those from that post that I try to,
you know, go in and delete as many as I can.
It has been insane and it absolutely does anger you
in the moment, and it makes you just want to

(32:15):
I don't know, like I it's hard to have compassion
for people that are laughing and celebrating the death of
what was objectively a great person, a great man. So
makes you think what these people would do if they
were in power, What if they had control of the government,

(32:36):
What if they had control over our lives? How would
they rule? How what kind of mercy would they show
people from our side? What kind of mercy would they
show Republicans just for being Christian conservatives that have strong
family values, Like to what extents would they persecute us

(33:00):
and jail us and allow untethered violence upon us.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
I think the thing was like, Charlie was the moderate one.
This is what people don't understand. Charlie was the moderate, Right,
you killed the best? Yeah, he was the best.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
He was the nice one.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
He was the one wanting to have a conversation, he
was the one going to college campus. And you know
why they killed him is because he was raising the net.
He was raising the next generation actually think for themselves.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
That's what's effective.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yeah, in my opinion, this is Dylan's opinion, and conservatives
might disagree with me. Charlie's death would be more impactful
than Trump being assassin. If that bullet would have connected
with Trump on the campaign trail, it would have it
would have had a major worldwide impact, but nothing compared
to what happened to Charlie. And the answer to why
because Charlie's not even elected political official. Yeah, he's not

(33:56):
even a senator or a president. He's a thirty one
year old dude that had such impact that they had
to take them down.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Yeah. I would agree with that statement too.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
And it's just yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
So like as a dad, like, I mean, you get
like I went home for lunch today and eight lunch
and my daughter, she's two and four months, she comes
up to me and she's like, hey, daddy, could you
read a book?

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Right?

Speaker 3 (34:23):
She didn't speak it that well, you know, she's more like, daddy,
we'd book, you know. And in the past I would
have probably been like, no, you know, I got to
go to work, honey, I'm really sorry, And I was
just like.

Speaker 4 (34:32):
Yeah, of course one.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
And in our family, like this event has made it
so real that life is short that you never know,
and so I would implore everyone that's listening to this,
watching this, if we cut this up, spend time with
your loved ones, spend time with your friends. Don't let that,
don't let a bad day ruin your family, don't let
a bad.

Speaker 4 (34:54):
Day ruin a memory.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
Yeah, And I think that's something that since this event
is just shook it up to our core that like
it's been hard for me to put my daughter down tonight,
I guys want to snuggle like it's just been such
a real thing that you just don't know.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
Yeah. One of the things that me and some coworkers
and it's only a handful of us really that had
been employed with Charlie Ford such a long amount of time,
we were talking about how we really don't have that
many pictures with Charlie. It's only a handful, and it's

(35:29):
because you know, he was our employer, and it's kind
of like imagine you go into work every day and
you see your boss and like, hey boss, you want
to take a picture exactly. But we really did wish
that we had more pictures so that we had more memories.
And so going forward, that's something that kind of stuck

(35:51):
with me that no matter what mundane thing I'm going
to be doing with my friends from now on, if
they're visiting at my place and having dinner, we're just
hanging out watching a movie, to take pictures, to take videos,
to just make memories, and that way we have things
to to really look back on. I think it's definitely

(36:14):
this has definitely made us think of what matters most
in life, and it's it's made me think of, you know,
how much I want to prioritize those things that matter
in life and and tell the people that you love
that you love them to not you know, not skimp

(36:34):
out on it because you think it might be too much.
There's just no such thing root for that exactly.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
So do you have any idea, like, have you heard
through the Turnpoint family how Eric is holding up? Like
I know that she she made that statement, but I
can I just you know, my my wife's father passed
away when she was six, right, dude, he was going
to run and she had a cardiac arrest and passed
away on a bench. And that was tragic. But then
there's another level to watch her husband and and the

(37:03):
videos everywhere, and she's never gonna be able to escape, like,
how is she doing you? Has there been any word
within the Turning Point family and how she's holding up?

Speaker 2 (37:11):
You know, we we get staff memos and you know
it's pretty generic. It's you know the fact that we
were all praying for her. We're all praying for the kids.
She's a very strong woman, as we saw from from
her speech. I can only you know, I can only
imagine she must be absolutely shattered just from you know,

(37:34):
I they haven't sent out anything, so so I can't
you know, I can't tell you that honestly, but just
watching her body language, especially when she was coming down
from that plane accompanied by Jade Vance's wife, the you know,
she just her body language being slumped over, and it

(37:56):
just it was so obvious that they of the world
on her shoulders just weighed very, very heavy. And I
cannot imagine being in her position and losing such an important,
such an important person for her. It's not just like
a husband and a father. It's a best friend, because

(38:20):
that's what your partner is to you. It's the person
you can fight in the most. And so having that
torn from you I could not imagine.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
Yeah, I And it just in the fact that's still
people and political commentators that make her out to be
the villain. Because when she stood up there and said, hey,
we're going to continue to tear the torch that Charlie had,
We're going to move forward. I listened to that, I'm like, wow,
Like it shows you how passionate Charlie was for this,

(38:56):
how passionate he was. He's a true patriot, passionate for
America and bled over to Erica and she's living it,
and her way of loving him, her way of moving
forward is to say, Charlie, I'm gonna keep moving this
forward for you, baby, I'm gonna keep doing this. And
there's people out there that somehow said made her out
to be the villain because she's not grieving, and like

(39:18):
it just I don't know if you've seen those posts,
but it just and I'm talking like big name with millions,
like democrat, left wing extremist on and it's just like,
how are you so hateful there in the head a moment, Yeah,
And it just makes me so before I go off
in a tangent, I wanted to play for if I
guess you guys don't believe me, the people watching this,
we clipped it up of who Charlie was, what Charlie

(39:42):
was about.

Speaker 4 (39:42):
I love to play a minute clip if you're okay,
Drey enough, if you're playing this.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Of course, the White House put this together of Charlie
and then they shared it after his death. And this
is who Charlie was. And I wanted to play this
for my listeners because not all of them do socials.
All my listeners, some of them are older, some of
them are younger. Just I wanted you guys to know
from Charlie himself who Charlie was. So I'm going to

(40:07):
share this video and we're gonna watch it.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
Only in America is it possible to say, you know
what I don't like the way the country is going,
and to do something about it that risk, take that
leap of faith, stay involved, trust God, and act obediently.
Romans twelve two verse that God will use all things,
all things for good for those who love him. It's

(40:33):
bigger than you. I want you to remember them. It
is bigger than you. It's bigger than me. You are
here to make somebody else's life better than chursue of
liberty and freedom. You know what gives me strength? The
hundreds of thousands of you that say, Charlie, keep going
first Corinthians five and fifteen. So that's all pretty amazing evidence,

(40:55):
not just intra biblical evidence, but extra biblical evidence that
Jesus Christ was a real person. He lived a perfect life,
he was crucified, died and rose on the third day,
and he is Lord and donavu.

Speaker 4 (41:14):
Yeah, I mean, guys, that was Charlie.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
M hmm. Yeah. No. He was one of the people
that practiced what he preached. You know. He he told
people go out and have a family and have kids.
He went out and did that at a young age.
He he showed us by example what he meant. You know,

(41:43):
he wasn't a hypocrite. I think that so many people
in general, and especially in politics, they don't. They're not
respected because they're hypocrites because they preached one thing and
practice another. He Charlie lived a life, you know, through
and through that reflected what he said every single day.

(42:10):
And I don't know that within our lifetimes we're going
to get another Charlie. We're going to see another Charlie.
But there's a phrase that I've been, a quote that
I have been that I saw over the weekend and

(42:31):
since then, I have been pretty much parroting on every
platform because I think it's it's the one that kind
of stumps up this moment the best, and it's that,
you know, a tyrant's rule is over with his death,
but a martyr's rule begins upon his death. And I

(42:55):
think that's absolutely true. They've made a martyr out of
Charlie and now as a result, his beliefs, his convictions
are going to rule, you know, heavier than they ever
would have. His message is going to spread to the
four corners of the earth. It's going to get go

(43:17):
far than we could have ever imagined. For me, it's
kind of hard to at first just understand why something
like this would happen. There is only really, I swear
this is dispersonal to me. There's only one other technically
celebrity death that I ever cried for, and that was

(43:41):
steeper when and because Batman was a saint. I don't
know a single person on this earth that can say
a negative thing about stever Win, And so I thought
to myself, like, why why, like, of all people, you
know him, And obviously Charlie doesn't have the same kind

(44:05):
of public support. But that's because a lot of people
don't know who he actually was and his character being slandered.
And so for me to justify why why these greats
go so early, I think that it's because God sees
that they put in so much work in such a
short amount of time, that they did the Lord's work

(44:27):
in such a short amount of time, that they just
get called to rest that they've completed their mission here
on Earth, and so they've just get called up early
to watch what they did unfold. They've they've done the
work of God for several lifetimes. And that's how I

(44:49):
try to like justify it in my mind.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
I well, first of all, is the first time I
ever watched that full video, so I don't think I
was mentally ready for that myself. And I called my
dad like two days after the event, and I hadn't
really let out a good cry yet, you know, I
was just kind of like more in shock. And I'm
the kind of guy that I don't ever really cry,
except for if I watch like animated movies, then I
always cry and animen movies, but I just don't really

(45:13):
make it a happen, you know. Somehow Frozen two always
gets me. It's just like it's a great movie. And
I called my dad and I'm like, and my dad's
a very strong Christian, very strong believer, and I'm like, Dad, why,
And you know my dad just said, you know, God
has a plan. God's played is greater than ours. And
I'm like, Okay, I know I know that to be true,
but it's so hard to believe it. And I was

(45:34):
talking to my wife and I said, it just kind
of clicked with me. I said, you know, it's crazy.
Charlie right now knows why.

Speaker 4 (45:43):
We don't.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
Charlie went to heaven and I can guarantee you. Charlie goes,
why Jesus, why did this have to happen? And then
Jesus opened up and said this is this is my plan.
And Charlie goes, oh, I get it now, And for us,
I just don't.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
We don't we will understand it, you know, we.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
Don't understand why a dad has to go and the
kids won't have a dad. But Charlie gets it out,
and then I think for us, it's now our opportunity
to speak truth, be bold, educate, listen, and have that
humility and kindness for the next generation. Keep that conversation going,

(46:25):
because that's all.

Speaker 4 (46:25):
We can do.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
You know, if we spend too long in the the why,
then no action ever happens. And I think that's that's
the hard part. Is just that's why I appreciate what
Erica did so much. It's almost like she gave America
permission to move. Yeah, it's almost like Erica said, hey, okay,
all right, guys, let's mourn, but let's move. And I

(46:49):
think with that speech that almost gave me permission to like, Okay,
let's let's get this thing done right.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
Yeah. I don't know if there's anything you want to
add to that.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
No, I felt very similarly. I the day that you
know it happened, my phone blew up from you know,
different people reaching out for comment and I was not
honestly in the right mental state for it at that time.
And I, you know, I had every outlet reaching out,

(47:23):
and I finally agreed to the first one on Saturday,
which is after after Erica's speech. I saw it and
I thought to myself, Okay, you know, what are we doing. Yes,
we're morning, Yes we're torn up about it. But what

(47:44):
would Charlie have wanted? Would he have wanted us to
stay quiet and in mourning for several weeks and not
make the most out of this momentum to get our
message across and to bring in people into the movement.
That's not the case and so and so. Yeah, for me,

(48:04):
the first time I spoke out at least on any
media outlets was Saturday, and then everything else was kind
of left for for Monday, and you know, and today
as well.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
Yeah, So is there a part of you? Is there
a part of you that nervous about going back out
in the field.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
I don't feel like I have the kind of target
on my back that Charlie did.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
I have not gotten to the point of, you know
where I have liberal media outlets calling me a racist, homophobe,
evil person, yet to garner that kind of that kind
of a target. So no, I'm not. And honestly, I

(48:58):
also do believe in the Lord's timing and the Lord's
mission for for myself, and I feel that somehow I
would know when it's my time, and I know that
there's still a lot of work to be done, and
so my time will come when it comes. And that's

(49:20):
pretty much how I go about things.

Speaker 3 (49:22):
That's my I mean, it's what my wife and I said,
it is like we control, we can control, and if
it's out of our control, then there's no reason worry
about it. Is there anything as we wrap up first all,
I was just gonna say thank you for doing this again.
I just this to me, this conversation is just special
to me because you know, just you taking the time,

(49:43):
your connections with Charlie me almost kind of getting to
live a little bit vicariously through your experiences with Charlie,
you know, and turning point. It has been special to me.
So I appreciate you sharing those and your history and
your background and what you're doing. And is there anything
that final words or anything that you would like to
leave us with and then we'll wrap up the.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
Pot Yeah, you know, a call to action. That's what
Charlie would have wanted. If you if any of this
kind of matters to you and you want to take
your first steps. If you're a student, you can go
to a TPUSA dot com get started there. You're not
in school, you want to do something else, go to

(50:22):
tpaction dot com. There's something for everybody. Everybody can put
in their grain of sand, and we're here with open
arms to help you guys come into this movement. So yeah,
you know, go on either website and get started, get involved,
do it for Charlie.

Speaker 3 (50:41):
Do it for Charlie. That's the best way we could
possibly in this podcast. Thank you again for the time
and forone listening. If you don't know who Charlie Kirk is,
spend two hours and just spend some videos. Don't watch one,
don't watch one out of context, dig in And if
you're listening to this and you're like, oh, Charlie is

(51:02):
this awful person? I just really hope that you would
actually be objective and change your mind and learn that
Charlie is one of the greatest men that we've ever
seen on his impact that he's left for us. And
whether you're into politics or not, would you pray for
our nation, Pray for the people at TPUSA, the family
at TPUs a t PUSA Action USA, and just pray

(51:27):
for Erica and the kids and that the Lord would
still somehow be honored through all of this. And that's
that's all we can pray for. But again, I think
you drain us so much for the time. This is
a last You can come on whenever you want, we
can always hang whatever. You're always welcome. Thanks and cool
all right, we'll see on the next episode. Thank you

(51:49):
see Yah.

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Do It For Charlie | My Conversation with TPACTION Spokeswoman Driena Sixto | S2 EP 6

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Do It For Charlie | My Conversation with TPACTION Spokeswoman Driena Sixto | S2 EP 6