Andrew Kolvet on Charlie Kirk's Legacy as Coalition Builder and the Conservative Movement's Path Forward

[00:00] Charlie has always been a coalition

[00:01] builder. He's been able to bring voices

[00:04] together on the right that maybe they

[00:06] don't always agree with each other. And

[00:08] now we see with him gone, there's been a

[00:10] lot of seems to be like a lot of

[00:12] fighting within the movement. What's

[00:14] your reaction to that?

[00:15] >> You know, a lot of people have have made

[00:17] the the observation that they think, you

[00:19] know, Charlie was um sort of holding

[00:22] back some of these fights and it was

[00:24] keeping them from happening or or

[00:26] otherwise holding the coalition

[00:27] together. And I I definitely think that

[00:29] that's directionally true, but as

[00:31] somebody that was having these

[00:33] conversations with Charlie in private, I

[00:34] mean, we could see this stuff coming for

[00:37] years. And I think it's probably more

[00:40] true to say that he when Charlie was

[00:44] assassinated maybe accelerated some of

[00:46] these debates,

[00:48] but they were, I think, inevitable,

[00:50] right? the conversation about Israel,

[00:52] the conversation about foreign policy in

[00:53] general, how and when we use the United

[00:55] States military, uh immigration,

[00:59] uh these were things that were going to

[01:00] happen. And so, in some ways,

[01:04] I'm glad we're having them because we

[01:06] could all if you were inside of this,

[01:08] you could see these these fissures and

[01:10] these dividing lines coming a mile away.

[01:14] I think eventually 2026 when you have

[01:17] Democrat socialists on the ticket, when

[01:19] you have people that fundamentally hate

[01:22] America, that disagree with the founding

[01:24] story and and how we got here, I think

[01:27] there's going to be a new coalition that

[01:29] emerges. It may not look exactly like

[01:32] Trump's winning coalition in 2024. It'll

[01:34] probably look mostly the same, but

[01:36] listen, every couple years, we have to

[01:38] rebuild coalitions. And so I think that

[01:40] for conservatives the key has to be

[01:42] don't be afraid of the fight. Don't be

[01:44] afraid of the debate. Welcome it. Don't

[01:46] try and cancel people. And

[01:49] let the chips fall where they may and

[01:50] we'll find some good answers. We're

[01:51] going to if we really embrace the

[01:53] debate, we're going to find a consensus

[01:54] that people actually can buy into.

[01:56] >> Mhm. So as horrible as that day was,

[02:00] there was this I felt like there was

[02:02] this brief moment of clarity where the

[02:04] right was the the movement, the

[02:06] conservative movement was united for

[02:07] this moment and ready to join forces and

[02:11] close ranks against the left. We seem to

[02:13] be to be distracted since then. There's

[02:16] been some fallout there. How do we get

[02:18] back on track? Is it a phase? Like why

[02:21] do conservatives seem to be so easily

[02:23] distracted from focusing on the left? we

[02:26] are constantly

[02:28] losing sight of that and kind of turning

[02:30] on each other arguing about trivial

[02:32] matters.

[02:34] Yeah, I think it's a it's kind of what

[02:36] do you say it's a multivariant analysis

[02:38] actually there's a there's contributing

[02:40] reasons why one of one of the reasons

[02:42] why is that you know we have this

[02:44] commentator YouTube podcast culture that

[02:47] has emerged and it was a good thing it

[02:49] was important we needed that to push

[02:51] back against the establishment legacy

[02:53] media but even when you have independent

[02:57] voices that have their own independent

[02:58] channels they're still going to be

[03:01] tempted to go down certain paths or

[03:05] react to certain things. Uh and and I'm

[03:07] talking I I'm talking across the board.

[03:09] I'm not pointing this at one person in

[03:11] particular, but the incentive structure

[03:13] is such that we are not necessarily

[03:17] incentivized to call out, you know,

[03:20] truth when we need to. We're not

[03:22] necessarily incentivized to um do much

[03:25] more than sort of get along, ignore,

[03:28] keep keep status quo. And that can

[03:30] ultimately breed a lot of weeds in the

[03:32] garden, right? And I think every so

[03:34] often you need to come to these

[03:36] crossroads where let's have the debate.

[03:38] Again, totally Charlie Kirk was all

[03:40] about more free speech. He was all about

[03:42] more debate. He was all about trying to

[03:43] expand the tent as large and as big as

[03:45] we could uh to to form a winning

[03:48] coalition. So again, it's a balance. And

[03:50] when you have a balance, when you have

[03:51] to live in tension between two sort of

[03:54] wrong answers, two sort of right

[03:55] answers, you just have to you have to

[03:56] learn to live in that tension and use

[03:58] prudence. And Charlie was all about

[04:00] using prudence, right? It's not that

[04:02] everybody's invited to this to the to

[04:04] Afest, but we try and make it as big as

[04:06] as feasible, right? And I think, you

[04:10] know, if you're going to have a debate,

[04:12] if you're going to have sort of a row

[04:13] within the conservative movement, uh

[04:15] this is a good time to have it. This is

[04:17] a uh we're in we're in December, you

[04:19] know, we've got midterms coming up in

[04:21] 2026 and obviously the presidential in

[04:23] 2028. So, we got to get it together at

[04:25] some point. we have to sort of have some

[04:26] of these debates and move on to the

[04:28] extent we can. And then like why is it

[04:30] happening? Well, conservatives are just

[04:32] a rowdy people. We're an

[04:33] independent-minded people. We're not

[04:35] like the left that is high-minded and we

[04:37] tend to we tend to just sort of take our

[04:38] marching orders for the top like like

[04:40] the Borg and and march in one direction.

[04:42] Like we're going to have to hash this

[04:43] out. And um I just think people need to

[04:46] continue telling continue telling

[04:47] themselves you don't need to be afraid.

[04:49] Embrace it.

[04:51] enjoy existing within this within this

[04:53] tension and learn that that's actually

[04:55] what politics is all about.

[04:56] >> Do you think that in some cases we can

[04:58] take some

[05:00] some notes from the left? And what I

[05:01] mean by that is if a prominent left-wing

[05:05] figure were to be assassinated on camera

[05:08] when Democrats were in control. We just

[05:10] we know what they we know how they would

[05:11] react. They've started committees over

[05:13] far less. Are you frustrated at all

[05:15] about Republicans maybe we don't have

[05:17] the same kind of reaction when it

[05:18] happens with us that the you know the

[05:20] left would be reacting they would

[05:22] initiate such a crackdown they would

[05:24] >> yeah I mean listen

[05:27] >> there is a there are certainly political

[05:29] points where I am jealous of the left

[05:30] and their their hive mind their

[05:32] collectivism where they just all get on

[05:34] board and there's no no people even

[05:36] voting against the uh the establishment

[05:39] or you know listen there there's utility

[05:40] in that politically

[05:43] But again, we have to play with the the

[05:45] cards we're dealt. And the cards were

[05:46] dealt as conservatives. You have a bunch

[05:48] of really independent-minded free

[05:50] thinkers that make up our coalition. The

[05:52] ideas are better. The the quality of the

[05:55] people, I think, is better, but it also

[05:56] is prone to some excesses. It's prone to

[05:58] some conspiratorial thinking. It's prone

[06:00] to um rowdy infighting. I mean, you just

[06:03] have to sort of take the good with the

[06:05] bad.

[06:06] But, you know, I'll take our side any

[06:08] days because our our ideas actually work

[06:10] and we we can actually get things done

[06:12] for the country that are are important

[06:13] to get done. But, yeah, sometimes I am a

[06:15] little jealous of the left and I think

[06:16] there is comes a point where we have to

[06:18] say, hey, there there's an ideological

[06:21] debate we can have and then there's a

[06:22] political debate we can have. And when

[06:24] we're operating within the realm of

[06:25] politics, we need to like buckle up. Uh,

[06:27] we need to swallow our pride and get

[06:30] political actions done. Last thing I'll

[06:32] say, and I'm stealing this from Mike

[06:34] Cernovich. Actually, a conversation I

[06:35] had with him this morning, is that

[06:37] listen, we want our lawmakers to stop

[06:39] being influencers. If you're a lawmaker,

[06:42] do congressional things. Do political

[06:44] things like go behind doors. I don't

[06:46] care if it's a smoke filled back room.

[06:48] Just get it right. Get the vote right.

[06:49] Whip the votes and make sure we do do

[06:51] what our our side needs to be done. Stop

[06:53] trying to be influencers. Stop trying to

[06:55] be social media uh you know,

[06:57] provocators. Like, do what you need to

[06:59] do, what we elected you to do. And I

[07:01] think we need to as a movement put them

[07:03] back in their proper boxes now because

[07:05] when they intermingle it gets it gets,

[07:07] you know, it it gets messier. And I and

[07:10] it's not to say you don't have to have a

[07:11] public profile if you're an elected

[07:13] official. That's great. Like you should

[07:14] do that. But let's remember what role we

[07:16] all play in this in this space so we can

[07:18] be most effective.

[07:19] >> Obviously, we all saw when Charlie was

[07:21] assassinated, the left reacted by

[07:23] celebrating. Um,

[07:25] >> not all of the left, but

[07:26] >> not not all the left, but it was it was

[07:28] a major maskoff moment where you saw

[07:30] people in healthcare, people that work

[07:31] in public service,

[07:33] >> schools,

[07:33] >> school, you know, educators, educating

[07:35] people's children. We saw some very

[07:36] grotesque reactions. And even just the

[07:39] other day, I mean, we saw the Target

[07:41] employee harassed in the store. His

[07:43] supporters are harassed seems to be on a

[07:45] daily basis. How do you have political

[07:47] discourse with people who would

[07:49] celebrate if you were murdered over your

[07:50] political?

[07:51] >> I mean, yeah. I mean, you really can't.

[07:53] I mean is the answer the tr it's a sad

[07:55] truth but you know Charlie was a big

[07:57] believer that America was meant for a

[07:59] Christian people and when you have a

[08:01] whole political movement that's

[08:02] essentially kicked God out of its

[08:04] political policies and you know the

[08:07] planks of its campaign and its apparatus

[08:10] like it's not ultimately that is going

[08:12] to corrupt itself and you're going to

[08:14] get a value system that is turned upside

[08:16] down and that's essentially what we've

[08:17] got on the American left right now

[08:20] >> but

[08:22] You have to keep working on it. You have

[08:24] to keep finding sane voices. I'll give

[08:27] you an example. I do not like the way

[08:29] this man votes, but I will give him

[08:31] credit where it's due, and that is John

[08:33] Federman. John Federman has emerged as a

[08:36] reasonable opposition voice that yeah,

[08:39] we have different priorities, but at

[08:40] least he's not ghoulish and vile in the

[08:42] way that he talks about Charlie's death.

[08:44] And I just want to make it clear, it

[08:46] wasn't all

[08:48] the left that celebrated Charlie's

[08:49] murder. Absolutely not. I I think it was

[08:52] so disgusting and vile for for many of

[08:55] us to witness the examples of it.

[08:57] >> Yeah, maybe it's a quarter. Uh but it

[08:59] was so disgusting and vile for us to

[09:01] witness it that we made much of it on

[09:02] social media. We made it loud because we

[09:04] wanted these people to to be, you know,

[09:07] faced with accountability and that

[09:08] exactly what they should be faced with.

[09:10] So I I I I think there's a perception

[09:13] issue with that. But you know, you saw

[09:15] that Yuggov economist poll that came

[09:17] out, I think in the September 13 through

[09:19] 15, just a few days after Charlie was

[09:21] assassinated. And if you were in that 18

[09:24] to 39year-old cohort, and you were

[09:26] self-described as progressive, 30% of

[09:29] that cohort believes that political

[09:32] violence is justified to settle

[09:33] political scores. That is not a country

[09:35] that any of us want to live in. And what

[09:39] really I believe is driving that is

[09:41] algorithms online, taking clips of

[09:44] Charlie, for example, out of context,

[09:46] cherrypicking them, feeding them through

[09:47] the algorithm, and then if you are only,

[09:50] you know, living in that echo chamber,

[09:51] you think Charlie's a vile racist who

[09:53] probably had it coming. You know, it's I

[09:55] could see why you would make that

[09:56] logical conclusion. And so, um, that is

[10:00] obviously not a country I want to live

[10:02] in. The truth is, and we went through a

[10:03] whole episode of the Charlie Kirk

[10:04] debunking, you know, things he said

[10:06] about MLK, about the Civil Rights Act,

[10:08] about Black Pilots, whatever it was. And

[10:11] there was a logical explanation for all

[10:13] of that. And so, we have to we have to

[10:15] look at social media and be like, what

[10:16] are you pumping into the brains,

[10:18] especially Gen Z on Tik Tok and

[10:20] Instagram, and, you know, let's look at

[10:22] Discord there? Maybe there's a better

[10:24] way that this can be done and without

[10:26] censoring people, without uh

[10:27] sacrificing, you know, first amendment

[10:29] rights. I I just you know I know that

[10:32] because it's like I can see these people

[10:33] when they have algorithm brain where all

[10:35] they do is spend time on blue sky and

[10:36] they like you know I mean it's it's

[10:39] really scary when when you meet people

[10:40] like that. I would also say one last

[10:42] thing when I go out in real real life

[10:44] and meet people on the streets like the

[10:46] I I still believe fundamentally in the

[10:48] goodness of the people of America and if

[10:50] we lose that faith if we black pill if

[10:52] we doomer on it it's like that's not

[10:56] that's not a recipe for success for our

[10:58] our team. Our team loves America. I love

[11:00] that about our team. We love America by

[11:02] and large. But our team is also prone to

[11:04] a little bit of nihilism and black

[11:05] pilling and we have to fight that

[11:07] because if we do if we if we give into

[11:09] that, that's why we don't show up for

[11:10] elections. That's why we're hard in

[11:12] offcycle races, right? So the hope is

[11:15] with knocking doors, messaging, you take

[11:19] advantage of all voting month. I would I

[11:20] would love for it to be voting day,

[11:22] voter ID, piece of paper, get rid of the

[11:24] the machines, but you know, we can't

[11:26] seem to get that done cuz we can't seem

[11:28] to get people to to uh reform their

[11:30] elections. And you know, if we have to

[11:32] nuke the filibuster to do it, but hey,

[11:33] this is the system we've got right now.

[11:35] Um you the hope is that when 2026 comes

[11:38] around, it's a little bit more

[11:39] high-profile midterms, maybe we'll do

[11:41] better than people suspect. we get to

[11:43] 2028, the hope is that that will be a a

[11:46] crystallizing focusing moment that will

[11:48] galvanize this large coalition that we

[11:50] put together.

[11:51] >> And Turning Point Action is um pushing

[11:53] Vance.

[11:54] >> Yeah. I mean, I don't think that's uh

[11:56] any secret. Charlie was, you know, it's

[11:57] funny. I've seen cuz Erica said

[11:59] something from stage here at Amfest that

[12:02] Yeah, we're getting behind JD Vance. I

[12:04] mean, and they acted like it was big

[12:05] news. Charlie was saying this for years.

[12:07] I mean, he really was. He was he he had

[12:10] been saying um that we're going to get

[12:12] behind JD Vance if JD Vance is the you

[12:15] know whatever he wants to do politically

[12:16] and then of course when uh the vice

[12:18] president became the vice president or

[12:20] the nominee

[12:22] um he was very open about that you know

[12:25] he was telling people privately and then

[12:27] I remember even um earlier this must

[12:30] have been March of this year he said

[12:31] something publicly very publicly so yeah

[12:34] we we as an organization know where

[12:36] we're going and JD and Usha have been so

[12:38] supportive of Charlie. Just amazing

[12:40] amazing people. And the the moral

[12:42] clarity and the the the courage and the

[12:44] character of JD Vance, I've seen it up

[12:46] close and personal in ways that um let

[12:49] me just attest and for those who have it

[12:51] that the man is just phenomenal. He

[12:53] really is. So, uh Charlie chose well. He

[12:56] he knew what he was doing and the

[12:57] organization is going to continue on

[12:59] with that.

[12:59] >> We're at America Fest 2025. I see, you

[13:02] know, I see a lot of things like, you

[13:04] know, we are all Charlie Kerr coming

[13:06] down the escalator, the freedom, the

[13:08] tent over there. Um, it's kind of it's

[13:10] like somber vibes, but it's also there's

[13:14] so many people here. Um, what is your

[13:17] just what is your read on how this event

[13:19] is going? How has it been so far?

[13:21] >> I I think this event has been an amazing

[13:24] success thus far. Um, now granted, one

[13:26] caveat, we're not at the end of it. So,

[13:28] uh, you know,

[13:29] >> uh, when you see this, maybe something

[13:31] else will have some other news will have

[13:33] happened, but yeah,

[13:34] >> as of right now, I mean, it's been an

[13:36] absolute success. And yeah, I came in

[13:38] kind of unsure. I'll be honest with you.

[13:40] Like day one, I was kind of dreading it

[13:41] cuz the first

[13:42] >> Amfest without Charlie, this is his

[13:44] Super Bowl. Uh, I I there was a part of

[13:47] me that didn't even want to come if I'm

[13:49] being honest. But, you know, I I've got

[13:50] a job to do, so I got to show up. And as

[13:53] soon as I walked in the door, it was

[13:55] like my spirits lifted. I was instantly

[13:57] encouraged. I had all these amazing

[14:00] patriotic people from all over the

[14:01] country come up and want to shake my

[14:03] hand and encourage us and say that, you

[14:05] know, they're behind us 100%. And you

[14:07] just realize so much of the toxicity on

[14:11] social media is not real. So much of the

[14:14] the the doomer attitude on social media

[14:16] is not real. and you come in you and I

[14:18] think in real life events are so

[14:20] critically important for conservatives

[14:22] to experience firsthand because you

[14:24] realize just like how much we have going

[14:26] for us how wonderful the people are, how

[14:28] kind the people are, how how much love

[14:30] they have for each other, for their

[14:31] community, for this country. Um, so I

[14:34] would recommend that and I would just so

[14:35] I would just say, yeah, there's been

[14:36] some spicy things said from stage. I

[14:38] love it. I embrace it. Like we got to

[14:40] hash this stuff out and if we don't say

[14:42] it out loud, we're not going to know

[14:43] where everybody sits on this stuff and

[14:44] people aren't going to believe it

[14:45] anyway. So, we got to do this. Might as

[14:47] well be at Afest. And that's kind of

[14:48] what we built this thing for uh all

[14:50] those years ago was to be have this be a

[14:52] convening place where people could

[14:54] express all the different uh ideas of

[14:56] all the different factions within this

[14:58] big tent coalition we've got.

[14:59] >> Has the left not been held sufficiently

[15:01] accountable for the assassination of

[15:03] Charlie Kirk and the attempt on Donald

[15:06] Trump?

[15:08] >> Yeah, I mean I I completely believe that

[15:10] they have not been held accountable

[15:11] enough for that. And that that's goes

[15:13] for media figures. I mean, I don't know

[15:15] if you know, whole networks should lose

[15:18] their uh broadcast licenses. Uh certain

[15:21] hosts certainly should probably not have

[15:23] a job anymore. What I found

[15:26] what I found most appalling, and it was

[15:29] interesting, my mom kept sending me like

[15:31] news clipping of like Kimmel versus

[15:32] Kovette, you know, during uh when when

[15:34] that whole saga was going on. My

[15:36] perspective on it was very simple.

[15:38] Here's a guy that has this major

[15:40] platform on a taxpayerup supported, you

[15:43] know, network that has a broadcasting

[15:44] license and this guy is pedalling a lie

[15:49] that the Charlie's assassin was of the

[15:52] right was from MAGA, which is a complete

[15:54] lie. Listen to what his parents say

[15:56] about him. And what that sends a message

[15:57] to the country is is that you can lie

[15:59] about char. You can lie about or you can

[16:01] shoot somebody. You can make a political

[16:04] hit on somebody, kill them, and then the

[16:06] media apparatus is going to come in

[16:08] behind you and and sweep it under the

[16:10] rug. They're going to make it appear as

[16:12] if it was just okay and that Charlie had

[16:13] it coming. What a disgusting, absolutely

[16:16] vile thing to do and say. And so I made

[16:18] a big stink about it because I think we

[16:20] need to make a big stink about it. And

[16:21] you know, MRC came out with that poll

[16:23] that said only 25% of people know that

[16:25] that uh Charlie's assassin was a

[16:28] leftist. That's not okay. And when you

[16:31] see the polling that so many young

[16:33] progressives think that political

[16:34] violence is okay, you got to ask

[16:35] yourself where that where's that coming

[16:36] from? It's it's social media. It's the

[16:38] way left uh leftwingers talk about

[16:40] right-wingers that we they dehumanize.

[16:42] It calls Nazis, calls fascists. That

[16:44] stuff needs to be made taboo again. That

[16:47] stuff needs to be completely ostracized

[16:49] from uh polite society. Candidly, I'm

[16:53] not saying you need to censor anybody.

[16:54] What I'm saying is they need to have a

[16:55] comeuppance. People need to challenge

[16:57] it. And yeah, maybe there does need to

[17:00] be some some political some financial uh

[17:03] and win appropriate. Certainly criminal

[17:05] consequences for that. But yeah, there

[17:07] is a very sick sick uh virus going

[17:10] around the political left that is

[17:12] spreading u this hyperbole and

[17:15] justifying and you see it on major TV

[17:17] networks where it's just okay to call

[17:19] President Trump a fascist and a tyrant

[17:21] and a white supremacist all the time.

[17:23] They do the same thing with Steven

[17:24] Miller. That's not okay. They did the

[17:26] same thing with uh Charlie. That is not

[17:28] okay because Charlie was a decent,

[17:31] wonderful, generous human being that

[17:32] loved Jesus, that gave his whole life

[17:35] for this country and to his family and

[17:36] lifted up the best values. And I think

[17:38] everybody kind of like with a brain and

[17:39] two eyes and two ears understands that

[17:41] in retrospect. They see how they see

[17:43] that clearly what what a good man he

[17:45] was. And for these people to go around

[17:47] pedalling lies uh and smears against

[17:50] Charlie, that should come with real

[17:52] consequences. Now, we have to do that in

[17:53] a way that fits within our, you know,

[17:55] with our values, right? We're not just

[17:57] going to go, you know, do what the left

[17:58] does and like cancel people and tell

[18:00] them they can't have a social media

[18:01] account unless they're inciting real

[18:02] violence. I think that's a standard in

[18:04] in our country that that certainly if

[18:06] you're inciting violence, you should be

[18:07] held accountable. So, we do it within

[18:09] our values. Make political

[18:11] assassinations taboo again. Is that too

[18:13] much to ask? And I think I think the uh

[18:16] the decent men and women of America all

[18:18] know that. Uh I would be excited for the

[18:20] Democrats to finally figure that out as

[18:22] well.