Andrew Kolvet Reveals How Erika Kirk Will Lead Turning Point USA After Charlie's Assassination

[00:00] [Music]

[00:00] If you thought that my husband's mission

[00:04] was powerful before,

[00:07] you have no idea.

[00:09] You have no idea what you just have

[00:11] unleashed across this entire country.

[00:14] So, to all of the young people who felt

[00:15] inspired by my husband's faith and hard

[00:18] work,

[00:21] all of you already know what Charlie

[00:22] would want you to do. The movement's not

[00:24] going anywhere, and it will only grow

[00:26] stronger when you join it.

[00:30] Charlie Cook's wife, Erica, uh, vowing

[00:33] to keep his mission not just alive, but

[00:35] to have it thrive. So, today we learned

[00:39] Erica unanimously elected as CEO of

[00:41] Charlie's company, Turning Point USA.

[00:44] Now, since the assassination, over

[00:47] 50,000 students have supposedly asked to

[00:51] join. Um, what does that mean? What does

[00:54] Erica mean for the future of this? Okay,

[00:57] Andrew Kulovit is not just the

[00:59] spokesperson for Turning Point USA. Um,

[01:02] and he was also the EP of the Charlie

[01:04] Kirk show, but he was one of Charlie's

[01:06] closest friends. I am sorry for your

[01:08] loss and thank you for joining us.

[01:11] Thanks for having me, Chris. And, uh, I

[01:13] just want to say that that number is

[01:15] actually at 62,000 new inquiries to

[01:18] start Turning Point Chapters now. U,

[01:20] that broke about 30 minutes ago. So,

[01:22] 62,000.

[01:25] So, help me understand, Andrew, put it

[01:27] in context for me. How many chapters,

[01:30] how many students did you have before uh

[01:35] this tragedy?

[01:36] Well, we had 900 official recognized

[01:40] college chapters and we had about 1,200

[01:42] high school chapters. So, we were known

[01:45] for the college chapters originally, but

[01:47] then we uh we branched out into high

[01:50] school and Charlie was so proud when the

[01:52] high school chapter number uh eclipsed

[01:54] the college chapter number and we have

[01:56] about a presence on 3500 alto together

[01:59] cuz kids graduate you got to kind of

[02:01] restart but to so to put that in

[02:04] perspective you know that's 900 1,200

[02:08] now we're talking 62,000

[02:10] inquiries uh for to to start a chapter I

[02:14] mean, this this has galvanized young

[02:16] people around the country. And Chris, I

[02:18] know that you know the reach that

[02:21] Charlie was having because you were on

[02:23] with Patrick Bet David on the podcast

[02:25] with Charlie. And by the way, Chris, it

[02:28] it it's worth saying that I actually I

[02:29] asked Charlie after that show. I said,

[02:31] you know, what's Chris like in person?

[02:33] And he spoke very highly of you. He said

[02:35] you were a total gentleman and you were

[02:37] in good faith and he enjoyed it. So, um,

[02:40] you know, but in that episode, you'll

[02:43] remember Chris that that Patrick went

[02:46] through the video count, you know, of

[02:48] all the Tik Tok videos, 50 million, 60

[02:51] million, 30 million, and young people

[02:55] maybe got it first, but this was a

[02:56] message that was reaching people of all

[02:58] ages. And it was uh it's been really

[03:01] incredible to see that Charlie's fans

[03:04] and supporters around the the country,

[03:06] they're not burning buildings, they're

[03:07] not raiding businesses, they're they're

[03:09] praying or they're signing up or they're

[03:12] donating. And you know, it's I know

[03:15] Charlie would be very proud that that's

[03:17] his legacy.

[03:20] I know that uh one of Charlie's quotes

[03:24] uh has been getting a lot of exercise

[03:25] right now, which is you learn a lot

[03:26] about somebody, how they react to when

[03:28] someone dies. Um and certainly uh that's

[03:31] being projected on the whole membership

[03:33] population right now. How does Erica as

[03:37] the head of the organization

[03:40] um keep it the same and how does it

[03:41] change it? Do you anticipate that she

[03:43] will take up the mantle of prove me

[03:46] wrong or do you think you'll use

[03:48] ambassadors for that? I mean, or you not

[03:51] figured it out yet?

[03:53] Well, I don't, you know, I think Charlie

[03:54] was uniquely Charlie and Charlie over

[03:58] time learned how to apply his unique

[04:01] skill set. I mean, he was a fivetool

[04:03] athlete. There's no there's no replacing

[04:05] Charlie. He could debate. He could speak

[04:08] on stage. He could host a radio and a

[04:10] podcast show and he could organize. I

[04:13] mean, there's no putting all that back

[04:15] in one person, but Erica is the beating

[04:19] heart and the spiritual center and the

[04:21] life force. You could just feel it. And

[04:24] you know, Chris, I I hope your audience

[04:26] knows this was exactly what Charlie

[04:27] wanted. Uh he he had made plans because

[04:30] he was, you know, getting death threats

[04:32] all the time. He knew that there were

[04:34] people that wanted to hurt him and

[04:37] obviously we took precautions in that

[04:38] way, but he was prepared. And he told me

[04:41] personally, he told members of the board

[04:43] and other executives at the organization

[04:45] that should something happened that

[04:47] Erica was going to be the person that

[04:50] took over. And he knew, I mean, he

[04:52] started dating Erica when he his life

[04:54] was already a little crazy. Well, it it

[04:56] was a fraction of what it became

[04:58] obviously as the years went on. But

[05:00] Erica, he knew Erica could handle this

[05:03] type of lifestyle. He knew that she had

[05:05] it in her and she was incredibly strong

[05:07] and fierce and true and good. And so, so

[05:13] Erica, she, you know, obviously she

[05:16] wasn't wanting this to happen. She

[05:18] wasn't prepared for this to happen, but

[05:19] in a in a in another way, Charlie knew

[05:21] she could handle it.

[05:23] Look, I I get that it it makes uh sense,

[05:26] and I'm sure it'll make sense to a lot

[05:27] of the membership. And look, the what

[05:30] we've seen of her so far under the kind

[05:32] of duress um to deliver the message she

[05:35] did uh is remarkable. So, are you

[05:39] surprised by all of the additional

[05:43] support even without Charlie at the head

[05:45] of the organization? And does that

[05:48] change what happens going forward at

[05:50] all?

[05:52] I there's not I I think the reaction to

[05:57] Charlie's assassination has been nothing

[05:59] short of miraculous.

[06:02] You know, I I I see God all over it. I

[06:05] am I feel sustained by the prayers of

[06:08] this country, Chris. I can't explain it,

[06:10] but I I have thousands and thousands of

[06:13] texts of everybody saying that they're

[06:14] praying for us and all of these prayer

[06:16] vigils. And I think that this has

[06:19] unleashed something. As Erica said said,

[06:22] this has ignited something deep within a

[06:25] lot of people that were on the

[06:26] sidelines, a lot of people that were

[06:28] looking on from their couch at home.

[06:30] They want to get off the couch. They

[06:31] want to get off the sidelines and they

[06:32] want to get involved. And I see it in so

[06:35] many different ways. Even orgs within

[06:37] the conservative movement that maybe

[06:40] didn't cooperate as as well before. I

[06:42] mean, they're all reaching out saying,

[06:43] "How can we help? Can we can we drive

[06:45] donations to Turning Point? Can we can

[06:47] we lend our talents? Can we can we lend

[06:49] our skills? What can we do to help? I

[06:52] think that this is a really powerful and

[06:54] unifying moment uh for a lot of people

[06:57] and it's beautiful to see.

[07:00] Well, the more positive it can be kept

[07:02] uh the more it's going to fill the need

[07:04] because we need it right now. Um I'm

[07:07] very sorry for your loss and I

[07:09] appreciate you coming on to speak about

[07:11] the organization and I wish you well

[07:13] going forward.

[07:14] Thank you so much, Chris. Appreciate it.

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