Brilyn Hollyhand Launches University Tour to Continue Charlie Kirk's Legacy of Campus Conversations

[00:00] All right, we are taking you live inside

[00:02] of State Farm Stadium where a musical

[00:04] performance taking place on stage,

[00:06] warming up the crowd uh as we move

[00:09] forward with the Charlie Kirk memorial

[00:11] service that is set to get underway

[00:12] officially in a couple of hours. And

[00:14] young conservatives still grappling with

[00:17] the loss of political activist and

[00:19] influencer Charlie Kirk. And we've been

[00:21] showing this to you. Thousands are

[00:22] flocking to Arizona for the memorial

[00:25] today. supporters looking to keep Kirk's

[00:28] spirit alive going and encourage

[00:31] opportunities for conversation across

[00:32] the aisle. And one of those young voters

[00:35] is Brian Hollyand. He is a 19-year-old

[00:38] college freshman about to embark on a

[00:40] university tour titled One Conversation

[00:43] at a Time. It's sponsored by Turning

[00:45] Point USA. And the tour is an effort to

[00:48] keep Charlie Kirk's legacy alive and

[00:50] then continue advocating for political

[00:52] conversation among young students. He

[00:54] will travel to schools across the

[00:56] Southeast, including Florida,

[00:58] Mississippi, and South Carolina. And

[01:00] Brian Hollahand is here now. He joins us

[01:03] live. He is the chair of the RNC's youth

[01:05] advisory council and founder of the Gen

[01:08] Z newsletter. What's up, America? What a

[01:11] great name for that. Uh good to see you,

[01:13] Brian. Thank you so much for being with

[01:15] us today.

[01:16] >> Good to see you. Happy Sunday and thanks

[01:17] for having me.

[01:18] >> Yeah, you've uh said that you saw

[01:20] Charlie Kirk as a mentor. So I wanted to

[01:22] ask you what his legacy means to you,

[01:25] how it has influenced this tour uh and

[01:27] your mission moving forward.

[01:29] >> Yeah, absolutely. Today is really hard.

[01:32] I'm grieving a close friend in the

[01:33] political arena and a mentor, but we

[01:35] feel more motivated than ever before to

[01:38] continue on his legacy. You know, you

[01:40] can kill a man, but you can't kill a

[01:41] movement. And the assassin uh that

[01:43] cowardly killed my friend last week

[01:45] attempted to shut our generation up. But

[01:48] Laura, if anything, he woke us up. And

[01:49] that is what this tour is about. We're

[01:51] going to continue Charlie's legacy of

[01:52] going to campuses, dark places, and

[01:54] having hard conversations. I'm

[01:56] partnering with Turning Point chapters

[01:57] all across the country. We'll be going

[01:58] to 10 of these campuses this semester

[02:00] because it's that important to continue

[02:02] on the legacy. It would be super easy in

[02:04] this moment to coward. It would be super

[02:06] easy in this moment to be silent, but we

[02:07] cannot let that happen. And more than

[02:09] ever before, we have to make America

[02:10] talk again, Laura.

[02:11] >> Yeah. And as we take a look at some of

[02:13] these live pictures out of Arizona,

[02:15] we've been watching this stadium fill up

[02:17] with the thousands and thousands, the

[02:19] tens of thousands of people that are

[02:21] expected today. And we're already

[02:22] hearing that people are going to be

[02:23] turned away because the stadium is going

[02:26] to be filled very soon. And then we've

[02:28] got President Trump and Vice President

[02:29] JD Vance speaking at the memorial. U

[02:32] what do you expect the messaging to be

[02:34] um as we move into this? You know, a lot

[02:37] of conversation will be paying tribute

[02:39] to Charlie's life and legacy and

[02:41] political activism, and as it should. He

[02:43] was by far the greatest political

[02:45] activist of our generation. He is the

[02:47] sole reason that my friend, President

[02:48] Trump, is sitting in Oval Office this

[02:49] morning. But I think what we're seeing

[02:51] right now on your screen of this worship

[02:52] service, the outpouring of support that

[02:54] we've seen in revivals on college

[02:56] campuses and even images I'm getting

[02:57] this morning of churches overflowing out

[02:59] into the streets and having to have, you

[03:00] know, secondary locations to meet. I

[03:02] think Charlie's lasting legacy will be

[03:04] exactly the way he wanted it to be, his

[03:06] faith. You know, Lord, politics is

[03:07] temporary. Faith is eternal. And

[03:09] Charlie's lasting legacy will be

[03:11] converting believers to Christ. I have

[03:13] heard story after story after story of

[03:16] Christians on college campuses being

[03:17] able to mentor to other unbelievers that

[03:20] are now we can call brothers and sisters

[03:21] in Christ because they realize that they

[03:22] had this God-shaped hole in their life

[03:24] and that everybody wasn't talking about

[03:26] Charlie Kirk's relationship with Donald

[03:27] Trump, but we're all talking about

[03:28] Charlie Kirk's relationship with Jesus

[03:29] Christ. This revival is making Charlie

[03:31] smile up in heaven right now. And I know

[03:33] that that's exactly what he want us to

[03:34] be talking about.

[03:35] >> You know, you're going out on this tour.

[03:37] You're going to be doing something so

[03:39] similar to what Charlie Kirk uh has been

[03:41] doing uh for these last several years. I

[03:44] want to play you something that Charlie

[03:45] Kirk said about why he believed talking

[03:47] face to face is so incredibly important.

[03:50] Let's listen together.

[03:52] >> When people stop talking, really bad

[03:54] stuff starts. When marriages stop

[03:56] talking, divorce happens. When

[03:58] civilizations stop talking, civil war

[03:59] ensues. When you stop having a human

[04:02] connection with someone you disagree

[04:03] with, it becomes a lot easier to want to

[04:05] commit violence against that group. What

[04:07] we as a culture have to get back to is

[04:09] being able to have reasonable

[04:10] disagreement where violence is not an

[04:12] option.

[04:13] >> So Kirk seemed to be really a unique

[04:15] figure in being open to talking

[04:17] regularly to people on the other side.

[04:20] Um do you think that other leaders in

[04:22] your party are losing sight of that

[04:24] mission? And as you move forward, I I

[04:26] know that you'll be talking to people on

[04:28] the other side of the aisle as well,

[04:30] bringing in all voices. Tell us about

[04:31] that.

[04:32] >> Laura, you know, the reason that we're

[04:34] seeing this crisis in America today, a

[04:36] crisis of a lack of civil discourse, is

[04:38] because our generation was raised to

[04:40] believe that faith and politics were

[04:41] taboo topics. My generation was raised

[04:43] to say that you can't talk about

[04:44] politics or faith at the dinner table or

[04:46] out in public. Therefore, we don't know

[04:47] how to discuss it. My peers know how to

[04:49] dye their hair blue, get a nose ring,

[04:50] grab a bullhorn, and go protest on a

[04:52] college campus. but they don't know how

[04:53] to talk to their fellow Americans when

[04:54] they disagree on something politically.

[04:56] That's what Charlie's life goal was to

[04:58] prevent. Charlie wanted to go to these

[04:59] campuses and prevent a tragedy like what

[05:01] happened to him to talk to each other.

[05:03] And if I can do anything with my small

[05:05] time on these campuses this next

[05:06] semester, we will be going to these 10

[05:08] campuses to make sure that we heal the

[05:10] divide in this country by talking to

[05:11] each other. It sounds super simple, but

[05:12] we're not doing it. We have to make

[05:14] America talk again.

[05:15] >> You know, I wanted to ask you about this

[05:17] surge that we're seeing in Turning Point

[05:19] USA. uh seeing a surge in signup

[05:21] requests on college campuses since

[05:23] Kirk's passing. Um so what are you

[05:26] hearing from young conservatives? Is you

[05:28] know the movement you say is taking

[05:30] shape and a lot of people are saying now

[05:31] now it's going to be stronger than ever

[05:34] and and we're talking about high numbers

[05:35] of people who are signing up.

[05:38] >> You know my friend Charlie was my mentor

[05:40] but now he's a martyr to our generation.

[05:42] And I think that it's really cool to see

[05:44] so many of my peers get off the

[05:47] sidelines. So many young people who

[05:48] previously said, you know, I'm going to

[05:50] worry about politics. I'm going to worry

[05:51] it's about me. Maybe when I get out of

[05:52] college, now say, "Oh, wait. It's

[05:54] important now. This is no longer just a

[05:55] fight of red versus blue. It's a fight

[05:57] of good versus evil." And I think that

[05:58] Charlie is so excited to see all of

[06:01] these campuses have chapters that

[06:03] previously would never even considered

[06:05] having a Turning Point chapter. This is

[06:06] his legacy. This will continue. And I

[06:09] absolutely positively feel hope today in

[06:11] a moment of such grief and sadness

[06:13] because Erica Kirk will bring Turning

[06:14] Point into the future to inspire the

[06:16] next generation. Well, Brian Hollyand, I

[06:18] hope that you will come back on our

[06:20] program and tell us how your uh mission

[06:22] is and how your tour is going. I'd love

[06:25] to have you back on the show. Thank you

[06:26] very much for joining us today.

[06:29] And we do have much