Alex Stein Reflects on Charlie Kirk's Assassination and His Unmatched Campus Debate Legacy

[00:00] And joining us now is a great friend of

[00:01] the show, Alex Stein. Alex, great to see

[00:04] you as always. The piano's there in the

[00:06] background. You're ready to give us a

[00:08] tune, but it's a very sad uh occasion.

[00:10] Normally, you're here to give us a good

[00:12] laugh, but uh today is just uh horrific,

[00:16] the events of the death of Charlie Kirk,

[00:18] the assassination.

[00:20] You knew Charlie well. You spent time,

[00:23] more importantly, you spent a lot of

[00:24] time on these university campuses.

[00:27] That's where you go. You speak to

[00:29] people. You entertain and provoke.

[00:32] You're you're an amazing personality and

[00:35] the work you do. Who can fill Charlie

[00:38] Kirk's shoes? And what was Charlie like

[00:40] as a friend?

[00:43] Well, first of all, Rowan, nobody can

[00:45] fill Charlie Kirk's shoes. I mean,

[00:47] literally no one. Because he had the

[00:50] ability to not only debate with grace

[00:53] and debate respectfully, he had a recall

[00:56] that was unlike anybody else. He was

[00:58] able to quote Bible scripture. He was

[01:00] able to quote, you know, case studies.

[01:02] He literally had the mind of a computer.

[01:05] So, nobody's going to be able to go to a

[01:06] college campus and perform and do the

[01:08] same thing that Charlie did. And of

[01:10] course, Charlie was so incredibly

[01:12] gracious letting me, a crazy edgy

[01:15] comedian, go and actually represent

[01:17] Turning Point because that's what

[01:19] Charlie wanted. He wanted to defend the

[01:21] First Amendment more than anything.

[01:23] Freedom of speech was one of the most

[01:24] important things to him. And uh he was

[01:27] such a great guy. He let me go on these

[01:29] college campuses. He let me act crazy

[01:30] because he knew at the end of the day

[01:32] the message that I was trying to you

[01:35] know proclaim and the same message that

[01:36] he was trying to proclaim is that we

[01:38] need to get on these college campuses.

[01:39] We need to have civil discourse and talk

[01:42] things out. And uh you know Charlie said

[01:44] it best once we stop talking they turn

[01:47] to violence. And that's literally what

[01:48] happened. And uh you know the guy was

[01:50] very prophetic in everything he said.

[01:53] Rita,

[01:55] >> he was the uh happy warrior, wasn't he?

[01:57] He was always so so joyful. People would

[01:59] get in his face and just be uh ugly and

[02:04] scream all sorts of unhinged abuse at

[02:06] him. And he remained calm and polite

[02:09] throughout. Tell me about that because

[02:12] that again is a rare quality to have

[02:14] someone be vile to you in your face and

[02:18] you don't retaliate. you you dismantle

[02:21] their arguments instead of attacking

[02:23] them.

[02:25] >> Well, Rita, I mean, you said it best.

[02:27] All of you guys have known me for years

[02:29] now. It's crazy how time flies. And you

[02:31] guys have seen my videos. When I go on

[02:32] these college campuses, I provoke them.

[02:34] I get in their face, you know, and

[02:36] sadly, but sadly, if you heard that Alex

[02:38] Stein got shot, people would say, you

[02:40] know what, he had it coming. And and I

[02:42] hate that that's the reality, but

[02:44] Charlie never had it coming. Charlie

[02:46] literally never showed anybody one

[02:48] modeicum of disrespect. Even the people

[02:50] that he disagreed with, he was so

[02:53] respectful. So, I don't know. I don't

[02:55] know how he had the ability to keep his

[02:57] cool like that. That's really a

[02:59] characteristic that I'm jealous that I

[03:01] don't have. And Charlie really was just

[03:04] an epic pro when it came to not taking

[03:07] the bait, especially in these debates.

[03:08] He was just the the ultra smooth

[03:11] professional. And I think that is why

[03:13] Charlie Kirk was so successful though is

[03:15] that his bedside demeanor was that of a

[03:18] future president. And I have no doubt in

[03:19] my mind that if Charlie Kirk was still

[03:21] here and here in 10 to 20 years he would

[03:24] be president of the United States.

[03:25] >> He was only 31. He achieved so much. I'm

[03:28] I 100% with you. I think he would have

[03:31] been president one day. I think it was

[03:32] almost certain he But let's just look at

[03:35] the contrasting styles. Let's have a

[03:37] look at you with Charlie Kirk on a

[03:39] university campus. And here you

[03:41] challenge him about deporting your uh

[03:45] housemate. I think

[03:47] >> would you want to kick out my

[03:48] housekeeper because we need to protect

[03:50] all big booty Latinas. If you're a nine,

[03:53] you are fine. You get to stay. If you're

[03:55] an eight, we can have an immigration

[03:57] debate. If you're a six, you can kick

[03:58] bricks. But Charlie, let's protect my

[04:00] housekeeper. Why does Wanita have to go?

[04:01] Charlie,

[04:02] >> you said she's illegal, right?

[04:03] >> She's illegal. Yes.

[04:04] >> Illegal.

[04:05] >> Illegal? Oh, yeah. She's very illegal.

[04:06] No papers.

[04:07] >> I'm sorry. They all got to go.

[04:10] Brilliant. You see Charlie as Charlie

[04:12] Alex you still got a laugh in there

[04:14] which is fantastic James. But you know

[04:17] seriously though on this sort of broader

[04:19] question though where does the whole not

[04:21] just a Charlie Kirk movement go but also

[04:24] in terms of going to campuses and so on.

[04:28] I mean, does the whole complexion of

[04:30] doing what people do, whether it's a

[04:32] what Charlie Kirk did or what you do or

[04:34] conservative speakers in general, is

[04:37] there going to be some reticence now, is

[04:39] this going to achieve some sort of goal

[04:41] of shutting conservatives out of

[04:44] campuses with basically, you know, the

[04:46] left saying, uh, look, we can't have you

[04:48] on our campus because it's not safe

[04:50] because we might do something.

[04:53] >> James, you're exactly right. And before

[04:55] Charlie, you know, Ben Shapiro became

[04:57] very well known from going on campuses.

[04:59] Uh, you know, Steven Crowder, a lot of

[05:01] other people have had these campus

[05:02] debates. Just Charlie Kirk was the best

[05:04] at it. He had basically mastered it. So,

[05:07] you're exactly right. These campuses I

[05:09] have I had over 12 schools scheduled.

[05:11] And what they're going to say is they're

[05:12] probably going to say that there is now

[05:13] a safety concern and make us go inside

[05:16] of a classroom. And the problem is

[05:18] though, James, is the open air debate

[05:19] was the best structure because it it

[05:22] allowed people that weren't even

[05:23] interested, didn't even know Charlie or

[05:25] me or on campus and it and it encourages

[05:27] them and invites him to get engaged with

[05:29] the debate. And once you're in a

[05:31] classroom locked off from the rest of

[05:32] the university, it just doesn't have the

[05:34] same effect. It doesn't have the town

[05:36] hall, you know, public uh you know, it

[05:39] just it just separates it. So, I really

[05:41] hope that they don't shut it down. But I

[05:43] mean just on this whole sort of idea of

[05:45] why he was targeted, it's all pretty

[05:48] clear. It's really jelling why this all

[05:50] happened. We suspected from the start,

[05:52] but this notion now that conservatives

[05:56] are shut down, that they're shut off

[05:58] from the broader debate of ideas, was he

[06:03] targeted, do you think, because he was

[06:04] so successful at these town halls? Was

[06:07] it his success at shifting? We saw the

[06:09] charts of, you know, young male voters

[06:11] in particular shifting, turning red,

[06:13] turning towards Trump over the last two,

[06:15] three years even. Was he a victim of his

[06:18] own success?

[06:21] 1,000% Charlie was a victim of his

[06:24] success because Charlie had become a

[06:26] supernova juggernaut that could not be

[06:28] stopped. And so people were scared,

[06:31] people were mad. And really Charlie, you

[06:33] see all these people that are

[06:34] celebrating his death. They're sick,

[06:36] ignorant people. But they didn't even

[06:37] understood what char they didn't even

[06:39] understand what Charlie stood for.

[06:40] Charlie was a moderate guy. He really

[06:42] wanted to bring people together. He

[06:44] didn't want to divide people. And

[06:45] because he was actually good because his

[06:48] message was actually, you know, based on

[06:50] biblical standards and he's a guy that

[06:52] actually cared about making the world a

[06:54] better place. That's why they had to

[06:55] take him out because there's so many

[06:57] other people that go and, you know,

[06:59] including myself. We have skeletons in

[07:01] our closet. There was no skeletons in

[07:03] Charlie Kirk's closet. And because he

[07:05] was so good and because he was so

[07:07] successful, that is why he was

[07:08] victimized in the ultimate way. So

[07:11] you're 100% correct, James.

[07:12] >> Alex Stein, it's always great to chat to

[07:14] you and next time we'll be getting more

[07:16] humor because we don't want you to give

[07:18] up. You keep people laughing and to me,

[07:20] humor is the greatest weapon of all.

[07:23] Thanks for your thoughts on Charlie

[07:25] Kirk. And keep safe, Alex, but please

[07:29] keep going strong. Great man there, Alex

[07:31] Stein.