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Cenk Uygur and Charlie Kirk Unite on Populist Issues Despite Deep Political Divides
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Charlie Kirk Analyzes Trump Versus Kamala Harris Race and Where Independent Voters Will Decide Election
Charlie Kirk joins The Young Turks at the DNC to discuss the state of the 2024 presidential race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Kirk acknowledges the race has shifted to a tight contest with Kamala holding a slight advantage, analyzes Trump's campaign strategy against the establishment, and debates immigration, economic policy, and VP picks with Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur. The conversation reveals surprising common ground on housing policy and private equity, while exploring fundamental differences on family formation, abortion, and the role of government in the economy.
The State of the 2024 Presidential Race
Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA provides a candid assessment of the presidential race following the Republican National Convention and Joe Biden's withdrawal from the race. Kirk acknowledges that while Trump had significant momentum after the RNC, the race has now become a 50-50 contest with Kamala Harris holding a slight advantage. He attributes this shift to pent-up Democratic enthusiasm that was suppressed during Biden's campaign and was released when Harris became the nominee.
Kirk admits the Trump campaign was somewhat caught off guard by the sudden change in Democratic sentiment toward Harris, who had previously been portrayed as an unlikable candidate but quickly transformed into a popular figure. He notes that the media's relief at having a competent candidate to support, combined with genuine Democratic voter enthusiasm, created unexpected momentum for Harris.
Trump's Campaign Strategy and Messaging
Kirk argues that Trump performs best when positioning himself as an insurgent against the establishment that has allegedly robbed American citizens. He believes Trump should return to his 2016 renegade persona, emphasizing that power centers have consolidated against his campaign in unprecedented ways. Kirk points to Trump's upcoming September sentencing hearing as evidence that will reinforce the narrative that the establishment is using unusual methods to prevent his presidency.
Regarding Trump's recent controversial statements and donor relationships, Kirk defends the former president's positions while acknowledging the campaign faces headwinds. He suggests Trump needs to focus on his core anti-establishment message rather than getting distracted by peripheral issues. Kirk maintains that Trump's base remains resolutely behind him, though he acknowledges the importance of swing voters in key states.
The JD Vance VP Selection
Kirk defends Trump's choice of JD Vance as running mate, calling it a great decision despite the challenging rollout. He notes that Vance faced an immediate hurricane of negative coverage, particularly around his comments about childless Americans. Kirk argues that Vance appeals to Republicans who don't love Trump, providing a sophisticated and smart addition to the ticket that makes voting for Trump more comfortable for some voters.
Kirk highlights that Vance's book has sold over a million copies since the VP announcement, and the Netflix adaptation has been in the top five, providing unconventional ways to communicate with voters. He expresses confidence that Vance will perform well in the VP debate against Tim Walz. Kirk also defends Vance's comments about family formation, arguing that having children profoundly changes one's perspective on multi-generational policy decisions.
Debate on Family Formation and Politics
A significant portion of the conversation centers on whether having children changes political perspectives. Kirk argues strongly that family formation creates better governance because parents have direct stakes in long-term policy outcomes. He contends that when leaders have children, they think more concretely about the future rather than in abstractions.
Ana Kasparian pushes back forcefully, stating that having children did not change her political views or her concern for future generations. Cenk Uygur similarly notes that becoming a parent didn't alter his politics at all. The debate reveals fundamental differences in how conservatives and progressives view family, community, and policy-making, with Kirk emphasizing tight circles of concern and the hosts emphasizing broader empathy.
Immigration as Democratic Vulnerability
Kirk identifies immigration as the Achilles heel of the Democratic Party, arguing that the vast majority of Americans believe too many people are entering the country too quickly in an unvetted way. He suggests Trump needs to focus heavily on this issue, as it presents a difficult challenge for Democrats to navigate politically.
Kirk contrasts this with economic policy, where he admits Kamala Harris has put Republicans on defense with popular proposals about making homes more affordable and addressing grocery prices. While he disagrees with her policies and considers them potentially disastrous, he acknowledges their political appeal to voters struggling with cost of living issues.
Tim Walz and Economic Populism
When discussing Kamala Harris's selection of Tim Walz as her running mate, Kirk argues it was a poor choice compared to Josh Shapiro, particularly from a Pennsylvania electoral strategy perspective. He criticizes Walz for providing taxpayer-funded tuition for undocumented immigrants in Minnesota and having no restrictions on abortion, which Kirk believes muddies what had been a clear political winner for Democrats.
Kirk also raises concerns about Walz's handling of the George Floyd riots, noting he waited 24 hours to deploy the National Guard. He argues this record, combined with what he views as radical policy positions, creates vulnerabilities for the Democratic ticket. However, the hosts counter that voters are more focused on Walz's economically populist policies than these other issues.
Energy Policy and Subsidies
The conversation shifts to energy policy, with Kirk defending oil and gas subsidies as necessary to maintain American energy independence and keep prices low for consumers. He argues that flooding the market with American production allows the United States to determine oil prices rather than OPEC nations like Saudi Arabia.
The hosts challenge Kirk on the $30 billion in annual subsidies and tax credits for oil companies, arguing these profitable corporations don't need taxpayer support. They debate whether subsidies should support nascent industries like solar and electric vehicles versus established industries like oil and gas. Kirk makes the case that energy policy drives the cost of everything, including housing, while the hosts argue for redirecting support to renewable energy and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
Defense Spending and Foreign Policy
Kirk and the hosts find common ground on reducing defense spending, with Kirk stating he believes the defense budget can be significantly reduced. He questions why American troops remain in Iraq and Syria and criticizes the Pentagon's inability to account for half its budget. Kirk particularly condemns the $200 billion spent on the Ukraine war effort, calling it one of the biggest mistakes in recent American foreign policy.
This agreement extends to concerns about defense contractors and their influence on foreign policy decisions. Both sides acknowledge that military interventions often benefit corporate interests rather than serving American national security or the interests of ordinary citizens.
Abortion Policy Nuances
Kirk argues that having no restrictions on abortion, as in nine states including Minnesota under Walz, is politically unpopular and morally wrong. He draws a parallel to his own position opposing all abortion, which he admits is also unpopular with most Americans. Kirk contends that late-term abortions of healthy pregnancies should instead be handled through cesarean sections to deliver viable babies.
The hosts challenge Kirk's framing, with Kasparian questioning whether he genuinely believes women remain pregnant for months only to arbitrarily decide on a late-term abortion. The hosts express support for the Roe v. Wade framework that allowed restrictions in the third trimester while protecting access in the first two trimesters, finding some middle ground with Kirk on this particular aspect of abortion policy.
Finding Common Ground on Housing
The most substantive area of agreement emerges around housing policy and opposition to private equity firms purchasing single-family homes. Kirk proposes legislation preventing firms with over $100 billion in assets under management from buying single-family homes. He emphasizes that his goal is to create a nation of homeowners rather than renters.
Both Kirk and the hosts agree that homeownership allows people to build wealth and equity rather than seeing rent payments disappear. Kirk argues this prevents Americans from becoming indentured servants or serfs to billionaire oligarchs. The hosts enthusiastically agree, with Cenk Uygur noting that while they may disagree on market-based approaches versus government intervention, their common enemy is corporatism that seeks monopolies and control rather than free markets.
Kirk and the hosts commit to working together across the populist right and populist left divide to address what they see as the emerging number one issue in America: housing affordability and the American dream slipping away from ordinary citizens. They agree this issue transcends partisan politics and requires action regardless of who wins the presidential election.
Video Transcript
Charlie Kirk has joined us. You know, Charlie was with us at the RNC.
Is now with us at the DNC. Of course, with Turning Point USA. Chuck. Okay, not talking point USA. Okay. That was what I said last time.
That was hilarious. It is kind of funny. Charlie, I'll start actually real,
real quick. So obviously when we last talked,
you know, you guys were riding high. It looked like Trump was in great shape.
Now it looks like Trump's spiraling. And I'm curious
if you agree with that or not. - It's the best week ever.
- And now we got work to do. I wouldn't say spiraling, but I
mean it's probably a 50 over 50 race. Slight advantage
Kamala like slight advantage. Probably because she has a lot
of momentum, some vibes behind. I think the momentum is slowing. But yeah I mean look you have
to live in reality. And we had a great convention and it's
you know, we've had a couple weeks where they switched out a candidate
and it's never happened before. And we're going to see like how real it is
in the coming weeks. I think the race really starts
on Labor Day. So we're really kind of sets in. But yeah, I mean I think we're going to
see a race that's very tight to the end. You know, it seems like the Trump camp
was kind of caught flat footed by it. Like, I really did assume that the
campaign is like a lot more strategic this time around compared to like 2016. 2016. It was just kind of like chaotic,
but it worked. This time around,
I'm actually a little surprised that you have this strategic campaign. The RNC went really well for Trump. I thought they were kind of preparing
for the possibility of Biden dropping out and Kamala being the presumptive nominee,
and it seems like he was kind of caught flat footed. What are your thoughts? - I mean, we.
- There is some preparation. They should have listened to you guys. You guys were the most confident
when I came on the show. You're like, no chance Biden stays. And because you're actually in touch
with the Democrat base, like, I watched it on TV. So I'm in touch with it at all. And you guys are like, no way these days.
And I was like, really? This late in the game,
you're like, not going to happen? No way. And you're of course, right? I mean, it's hard to prepare for something
that's never happened before. And I will give the RNC credit. There was a fair amount of Kamala
mentions, you know, in the original written speech, Joe Biden wasn't even
in the written speech for Donald Trump. But I think what caught us by surprise,
and I would love your reaction to this, is she was generally appeared
as an unlikable candidate. Would you agree with that, Ana?
Like as far as the media depiction, right. And now she's the most likable person
like Obama 3.0. That's what kind of caught us flat footed,
not even the person, but all of a sudden, and I attribute it to a lot of pent up, Democrat based enthusiasm
that was not allowed to be kind of let out of the volcano the last year and a half. And then all of a sudden there was
somebody that wasn't named Joe Biden. And she had she had a couple weeks
to ride that wave. I don't know if I'm analyzing
that correctly, but. Yeah, I have a couple thoughts,
but go ahead. I just want to say,
I mean, that did surprise me because it did seem like a switch overnight in terms
of the way voters felt about Kamala and the way the media felt about Kamala. Right. Like it seemed to be more critical
when she wasn't the presumptive Democratic nominee. But I really think the psychology
behind it is here. You have an 81 year old man who is
definitely going to lose to Donald Trump, can barely put a sentence together. Every time we would watch him speak, I
mean, my shoulders would tense up because, you know, it's going to be pretty bad. And I think I think the relief
is what led to the excitement. I think that's exactly right. And so I'm curious, do you think it's then
Kamala is a placeholder for Biden relief and is that sustainable? - Yeah.
- No, no, there's something different. So look, first of all,
I agree with both of you guys tonight. But I think the larger point is
the third point that I'm going to make. So was there a moment of like,
relief and ecstatic, like reaction because hey, oh my God, we might win. You know, we were going to lose
so used to the. - Headlines for six.
- Months, right? It was so depressing. And he and Biden was such a terrible
candidate, and even the ones defending him knew he couldn't speak, right. So they knew it inside.
They just wanted it. They were in their loyalist camp.
So part of that is definitely right. And then the media had a reaction
because let's keep it real. They want to support
corporate politicians. And lately they've been in love
with corporate Democrats. So but they were they got mad at Biden
because they thought that he lied to them, but more importantly,
that he made them lie for him. Right? They're like, oh, he's not too old.
He's not too old. And then it was revealed
that he was too old. And so and the media
was like bitter at Biden. But when Kamala Harris is around
and they're like, all right, a corporate Democrat, we like, okay, you can speak.
Yeah, she can speak. But that goes to the third
and most important point. Before I was a little bit
worried about Kamala. I wanted an open convention, not because I
didn't think she would be the best candidate, but I was not positive. I certainly wasn't sure. Right. And I wanted an open competition. And that's because she was doing a lot
of word salads, okay, in the interviews. And so anybody can see
that it's clear as day, right? But now she's not doing it anymore. And so my best guess
is that she had anxiety issues. And that's why she was doing that. And right now that's your her
speeches are lucid clear good. She's putting she. Hasn't done interviews lately
or do you think. Yeah.
No she should definitely do interviews. The reason she wasn't doing interviews
is because they were getting her economic plans ready. And so once she has them,
she could go out and defend them. Before,
she didn't want to do the interviews without having all of her proposals ready. But the fact is, she's been good on
the campaign trail and she made it Tim Walz pick, which we all like. We like her economic populist positions. So it's not just like,
hey, the media likes her. And hey, at least she's not Biden. She's done positive things that have
galvanized all of the Democratic voters. So no, that's helpful to know. And I'm again, I'm literally here to learn
because I'm not in touch with the Democrat base. But do you stick to your position
that she should have won it through an open convention? I mean, for me personally,
I'm not going to speak for Jake. I just think that if you are going
to run a campaign on the importance of saving democracy, then you should engage
in the democratic process. And I do have a problem of feeling
as though she was kind of like foisted on the Democratic voters, but the
Democratic voters seem to really love her. So I guess my question is when they
when Joe Biden won the primary votes, was she also on the ticket
when they voted for the primary candidate? No. So so that would have made
the argument stronger, right? Because they would have said that they
still I think it was just Joe Biden. Right? Yeah. Not. And so, yeah, an open convention probably
would have been a little bit of a mess. - Yeah.
- I mean, that's the reason why. The process would have just I mean,
right now, it would have been the most entertaining television ever. - But.
- Yeah. So listen, the open convention was would
have definitely been the right way to go. And for one of the, one
of the main reasons is what you just said, which is that everybody on the planet
would have been watching. Right. - I think it actually.
- Would have helped. It would have definitely helped. It would have helped,
and it would have featured a lot more Democratic candidates, and it
would have gotten them a lot more hype. It would have gotten a lot more viewers.
A lot more free media earned media, right. So it was the right way to go. But to be fair to Kamala Harris,
the main reason I want an open convention is I wanted a candidate
to be able to prove that they can get the most amount of delegates, and she did that within 24 to 48 hours. So she did actually go and campaign. She had a huge advantage.
She's the vice president. Biden endorsed her. But if you remember, Pelosi,
Schumer and Obama did not endorse her. Do you. Think that was legit
or was that a little bit of a. - No no, that was.
- Legit. It was. They were waiting
to see how it played out. - Yeah.
- Yeah, yeah they were. And so since it was legit and she won
the delegates without Obama's endorsement or Pelosi's endorsement, I said,
well, I mean, that's what I wanted. I wanted her to win the delegates
and she won the delegates. Is it a perfect system?
Not even within a million miles. Would we have been better
with an open convention? Yes. But after she won the delegates,
what would we do with the convention? She already won them,
so it kind of ended the conversation. So I want to go back to Trump
because I you said that you're not in touch with the Democratic base. I kind of feel the same way
about the Republican base. Right? Okay. So this is what I want to understand
because, you know, you watch the media and sometimes I wonder,
am I just buying what they're selling? Is this reality? And what they're selling
is that Trump is flailing. Trump is really struggling
in campaigning against Kamala Harris. And he's really not helping himself
by saying things that turn a lot of voters off, right? Remember, the election comes down to
the independent voters, the swing voters. Those are the people who end up being the
kingmakers, the deciders of the election. And he can't stop himself
from attacking her on her looks, calling her stupid like things that turn
a lot of independent voters off. Right? But how does the Republican base
feel about it? Like, are they eating it up?
Do they love it? Or do they want him to go back
to a more economic populist message? They're definitely, resolutely behind him. There is a different way
to look at it, though. The question is will independence
decide the election? Because you can also run up the score with
your base, which Democrats have proven. You could do that in certain elections.
And I think you guys would agree. If you have a strong base and you're, for
example, getting 60% turnout in a strong county, get 75% turnout, it's actually
sometimes easier, but that doesn't. You're right. You do have at least 10 to 15%
in the swing states of tilt swing independent voters. I think that the media is misrepresenting. I think Trump's had
a fine couple of weeks. It hasn't been the best for the campaign,
largely because the headwinds have been so dramatic. I think he's at his best
when he is making the argument that I am against the establishment that has robbed,
whether you guys agree with it or not, I know you don't, but I'm saying he's at his best when he
makes this argument that the establishment has been robbing you, that this power
regime has been lying to you, and I am an insurgent against those things. I know that is what. So that is a very popular message I agree. Yeah. My my advice to him is be the renegade
you were in 16 because fair or unfair, I think it's, you know, fair to present this argument
that the power centers have consolidated against your campaign in record ways. And he has a sentencing hearing
in September, which will definitely play into his argument
that they don't want me to be president. So they're willing to use unusual ways
to try to prevent me from being president. And so, yeah, look, as far as the month
of August, I think from his perspective, he's like, I beat one candidate,
now I have to beat another. He had the debate with Joe Biden. He saw this thing happening, and he
realizes right now that he's going to have in a compressed time frame, you know, a very, very competitive race where
against Joe Biden, I don't think it would have been very competitive at this time. This convention
would have been so not good. Hey, don't scroll away,
come back, come back. Because before the video continues,
we just want to urge you to lend your support to TYT. You power our honest reporting. You do it at t.com/team
and we love you for it. Charlie, here's the thing again
totally agree that if you run against the establishment,
that's your best chance, right? And I think that before I got the sense
that people loved Trump for Trump on the MAGA side, now I get a sense that
there's even a splinter group that says, I actually don't love Trump, but I love
that he's fighting the establishment and I hate the establishment so much. I'm going to vote for Trump, right?
But he hurts his cause massively when he's constantly pleasuring donors on stage at rallies, when he says like,
oh yeah, I was against electric vehicles. But now Elon Musk is strongly endorsing
me, meaning giving me $90 million, right? Yeah, and it might be more than that.
So now I love electric vehicles. I will give Trump some credit
if you listen to his Twitter space. He was pretty. They had a back and forth. They were talking more at each other
than to each, you know, with each other. But he's still he still says he doesn't
believe the electric vehicle mandate. To be fair. Right. He doesn't believe
in the subsidies for electric vehicles. So I mean, I'm sure there's
other examples you could list. But look, politics is never going
to be pure as much as we'd like it to be. But I think that President Trump
has done a very good job of having this economic populist message. And the other message that needs
to be talked about, which I think is the Achilles heel of the Democrat Party,
where Bernie Sanders used to actually have a great position on his immigration. And the vast majority of this country
thinks that we have too many people coming into the country too quickly
and an unvetted way. And the economic populism
one Kamala Harris I said this on my show. She has put the Republicans on defense. I think her policies are insane,
to be honest. We could debate
that might be not a good use of our time. I think her policies are insane,
but they're very popular. They're very popular. To say, I'm going to make it easier
for you to buy a home. I'm going to, you know,
make grocery prices more affordable. I think it's price controls
are a bad idea. But immigration is a very difficult issue
for the Democrats. It's very difficult for them to navigate
because the body politic thinks that we have too many people
coming into this country. And I think President Trump
needs to lean in on that. So sorry, just real quick. Last thing on the donors.
I hear you on immigration. - I'm happy.
- To. Yeah, yeah. But so, you know, you got Elon Musk,
you got the oil companies where you just keep saying, hey, look,
they're giving me money and we should drill, baby, drill and all this stuff. He just can't help himself
from being obvious. But the number one, like the one that I.
I'm curious as to your take. Miriam Adelson. So when he's saying, hey, I gave her
the Presidential Medal of Freedom, first of all, she's a donor. Why did you give her
the Presidential Medal of Freedom? That's terrible. Right. And and that's better
than the Medal of Honor. That's a disaster. Right. So what do you make of that? Like, are you bothered
that he's saying those things? No I'm not. I mean, he's probably, you know,
he's pro-Israel. He's not he's not going
to share your views on that. But yeah, I mean, he was he was
pro-Israel throughout his presidency. What you're getting at is,
is he pro-Israel because of donor money? I don't believe that. And you don't think do you think
he should have given the Medal of Freedom to Miriam Adelson? - I don't have.
- A strong opinion on that. I think he gave it to her
also because of her philanthropy. I could be wrong. I mean. Philanthropy towards Trump. I mean. She did give billions of dollars to like,
Children's Hospital, stuff like that. I mean, while we're at it,
I mean, actors and actresses get the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Right. Like Tom Hanks got the presidential medal
like legendary ones. And I guess if legendary donors now are. Getting a couple billion dollars,
like children's hospitals and stuff, like a couple billion. I mean, we go through the list of people
who get the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Sometimes it's it's not exactly
the criteria that you're making it out to. Right. But the last part of that, first of all,
I disagree with all of that. I think she got a 100%
because she's a donor. But that's okay. But I mean, you guys are staking her
so much ground on we love veterans, etc. And then when he makes it seem
like the Medal of Honor is no big deal. - Oh, it's a disaster for you, isn't it?
- I'm happy to go through it. I actually don't know exactly what he
said, so yeah, I'm happy to respond to it. So I want to pivot to VP picks because, you know, it does appear that JD Vance was
a bit of a risky pick for Donald Trump. And I get why he chose JD Vance. I get the strategy behind it,
trying to appeal to the Rust Belt voters. And also Trump was more confident thinking
that he's running against Joe Biden. Do you think now, in retrospect,
Trump made a bad decision? I think it was a great decision. I think that he was maybe expecting
a little bit of a honeymoon as a VP, and he received a hurricane. He unearthed some, you know,
clips from my show and others about the childless cat stuff,
which we could talk about, but I think there's more interesting stuff to discuss. But yeah, I mean, the last couple of weeks
I think he's been on point. He went on the Sunday news show
to his great credit, and thank you pressed me on the donor thing. I'll press you on one thing. You say that Kamala
didn't do a sit down interview because she didn't get her economic plan. I mean, she is the sitting VP.
She could take some questions, right? - You know.
- I totally agree. I mean, you got it. She should have been doing the interviews,
even if she didn't have all that stuff ready to go. Because you got to talk to you.
Got to talk to the press. You're totally right. Even if you don't have
your plans together. But to Jade's credit, he sat down
with three Sunday shows on one day and I thought he handled it masterfully. I thought he handled it beautifully. I could tell you what I'm hearing
from Republicans that don't love Trump, because there are Republicans
out there that don't love Trump. JD Vance is a very sophisticated, smart
and appealing candidate to many of them that are making it more even comfortable
to vote for Trump right now. And yeah, look, we're going to see
what ends up happening. We've had a lot of coverage
around both VP's. I think Wallace was an awful choice. I think Shapiro
would have been far better. I'd love to get your thoughts on that. Just looking at it from a Pennsylvania
standpoint, we were like, do not please don't pick Shapiro,
please don't pick Shapiro. And, anyway, and I'm sure you guys
feel the same about Vance, right? You were like, please pick somebody else
or pick Rubio or whatever. I. Thought. But. Vance was an interesting choice. It's a regional pick. Where? Definitely in the Rust Belt.
Let me also say this. You guys have written books before
and published books. I'm sure JD Vance has said
JD Vance has sold over a million copies of his book since the VP.
Now, that's not about enrichment. It's about that's a million voters that
are coming in contact with your story. The Netflix special has been top five
since he's been announced. That is a way to communicate with voters
in an asymmetrical, you know, nontraditional way. What we find, though, is that VP picks
can hurt you more than they can help you. Sarah Palin. Right. So as time goes on,
I'm confident that J.D. Vance can now succeed
in the one remaining spotlight, which is the VP debate against walls. I think he's going to be able
to hold his own, for sure. Much has been made about his pretty
offensive comments about couples or women who don't have children. But the media hasn't dug into Vance
declaring himself a post-liberal conservative yet, and I think that's going to be a problem
for him because, I mean, he is rebuffing the notion of a liberal democracy. Well, or is he rebuffing neoliberalism?
I don't know. That is something entirely different.
No, I don't think so. So maybe that's what he's rebuffing. No, I mean, but post liberal conservatives
is not about neo liberalism. Putting words in his mouth. But he at. Least he hangs out with
the what's the name? Yarvin. Yeah. I've debated with him on my show because
he wants something that I don't want. But neoliberalism, as you all know,
is unfettered free trade, adventurous foreign wars and, you know,
very, very aggressive international policy and also mass immigration. JD Vance definitely disagrees
with all three of those things. I your question is
what as people dive into that, I just. Want to know if you believe that he is
in line with the Curtis Yarvin's who do not believe in our democracy. First of all, no, I don't. I mean, I talked to Curtis Yarvin
and I disagree with him. You could talk to people all the time. JD Vance, his record is
very clear and I don't want to, like, get too down in this rabbit hole. But to understand what he said
about the childless cat women was that he was saying that when you have children, that your society is better governed,
when your leaders are having children, when they're not otherwise,
when they're not having children. I think you guys can
agree with that, right? No, I don't I don't
think that's true at all. - I mean, when I look.
- So can I just ask a hypothetical? Hold on. Let me see. Childless people
and 50 people with families. Which group of people
would make better decisions for the country in the next hundred years? I think that it is. It is totally wrong
to assume that you don't. Think that that having children
makes any bearing on your politics. No, no I don't. I don't think it does something to you
where it like you think about the next generation and I think about the. Next generation all the time.
And I don't have children. Okay. That's fine. I think about educating our kids. I'm worried about the fact
that so many children in America are illiterate and cannot read. I think about the future of this country
all day, every day. Right. Like, I don't think having children is
like the end all be all of whether or not you care about the future of this country. - I love this.
- Country. I want you to be able to have kids.
I don't wanna make this about you on it. I have a lot of respect for you,
but I can tell you, as someone who has had kids and has not had kids,
it does profoundly, deeply change you. Yeah, it changes your politics.
It changes everything. And that's what J.D. Vance was saying, is that when a society
starts having children, it starts to throw off the wiring
of the multi-generational framing of how public policy decisions can be made. We're not going to agree on that,
but I think it's rather common sense that when a society seeks to have
children, the society ceases to exist. Okay. So I'm going to answer that. Sorry. And I want to ask you
about Tim Walz in a second. But I want to let our linear
audience know, like if you're watching on Samsung, Roku, all those places where we're going
to continue, we're going to have speeches, we're going to have more interviews. Titcomb so now it's in the show
is embedded on the home page of Titcomb, so you can keep
watching there all day, every day. Okay, so now Charlie. Yes. So number one, look,
everybody has a different experience. So I have kids, and I have the same exact
way of thinking about things before the kids and after the kids. So it's so interesting. Having kids
didn't change your politics at all. Not once. Or your worldview. - Not 1%?
- No. I can vouch for that. Having kids didn't change, you know? I mean, I love my kids more
than you could possibly imagine. So you didn't you. Didn't learn something about humanity
or, like, how to pass values down or. Yeah. No, I've been thinking
about that all along. Oh, no. - We're.
- Not. That's a that's a that's incredible.
I'm not doubting it. But like you're wide and change.
Like why you fight so hard. - Yeah.
- No, it didn't at all. Yeah. Because I kind of view I mean,
this is really corny, but I view the audience and the voters
and the average American as family. Yeah.
And so I was already looking out for. So if this is a gruesome hypothetical,
but if a shooter came in and would you defend your kids first
or a stranger's kids or are they the same? So, I mean, first of all, that's not going
to change your opinion on health care. It's not going to change. I mean. - You defend your.
- Kids first, right? But of course you're going
to defend your kids. But that's the point is
that you have an attachment to your kids. So it has changed you. - So of course you have.
- An attachment to your own kids. Of course. Well, that's of course
I attack them first, right? No no no, no. But it doesn't change my
view on the world, on humanity, on politics, on policy. I mean, I guess. But if you're if somebody
if there's a shooter, of course I'm going to cover my kids first, I get it. But by the way, like in the scenario. But I wouldn't say, hey, my mom,
other people's kids to protect my. No, no, I don't believe that. But my politics is all
about protecting my kids, so. Okay. That's the difference. Hold on. - And actually, that goes to show that.
- Protecting. Everyone. Right.
And so but that goes to the core, Charlie. But that's why this is such
an interesting conversation between conservatives and progressives. Because progressive ideology
is help someone you don't know. Including non-American citizens. So, I mean, generally speaking,
I want to help the whole world. But of course, you take care of, you know,
you've got these circles that, you know, you've got your family, circles, nation. - Etc., when people don't.
- Have. My point is, you guys circle the wagons
and we think about everybody. In a way that's empathetic. But this is the problem is abstractions
like that is how we end up invading Iraq and forget that our veterans are starving
because we worry more about foreign adventures than the immediate. And so that was that was for the military
industrial complex and the oil companies. - But that wasn't for us or our kids.
- Look at Lindsey Graham. People like that that have like,
very weird personal lives. They tend to not care as much
about the immediate. They care much more about
the foreign and the abstract. But I, I just I'm curious, though,
that you don't think that family formation necessarily creates better politics. - I actually not at all.
- I want to ask you something. So it's what you believe, right? No, sorry. I don't mean to talk. It's okay. Put that aside for a second. What? You personally believe that aside. And think about optics
and political strategy. Do you at least concede that, politically
speaking, when it comes to optics, it is not advantageous
to accuse childless people in America of not caring about the future of the country
because they don't have kids? Like that is an incredibly people
are people find that offensive, right? It's also a very pro-family sentiment
to say that family. No, I yeah, I mean I.
That's also an accusation, right. Like the idea that if you don't have your
own kids, you don't care about family. Like. Well, I'm not saying
that I'm what you're asking me. Is it smart politics? What he said was a couple years ago,
before he was the VP. And I think that's important because first of all,
even before he was a Senate candidate. But even if he said it today, I would
defend the essence of what he was saying, which is that when you have
a group of people that are not attached, their their their public policy decisions
are not immediately impacting the things that they cherish the most. And it's much more distant and much more
detached and much more foreign than public policy feels much more like playing risk
than actually managing your home. And I think that's a big mistake. Conservatism at its best is trying to say,
forget the abstractions, what's happening in the neighborhood, what's happening at
church, what's happening with the family. But yeah, look, I, I share J.D.
Vance's view on these things. Yeah. So I'll say one last thing
that I want to ask you about walls. Because you asked me about walls. So, look, I wrote a lot about this in my
book, actually, justice is coming. Because I that's my main thesis on the
difference between the left and the right, that the right is not indecent. A lot of people on the left think,
oh, they're immoral, they're bad. And of course the right thing
said about the left, etc.. No. The right wing can be wonderful,
but they have tighter wagons, right? But do you understand that, though?
Do you know where that comes from? Yeah, I totally get where it comes from. And I get the energy where it's like,
I want to save the entire world. I'm like, okay, but like,
how about you try to not have 70 shootings a weekend in Chicago before you tell me
you're going to fight climate change? - Well, I say.
- We can kind of see that, right? - No, no, I definitely see.
- But we can definitely do both, Charlie. - It's not either.
- Or. Let's stop the shootings. Yeah, well, look,
I would love to stop the shootings. We're obsessed with them
stopping the shootings, right? Both in Chicago
and the mass shootings and all of that. And they're us populists,
right wing and left wing. Agree. Because we say, like,
why are we spending money in Israel? Or you would say Ukraine, right? When and Israel has universal health care,
they have paid family leave. They have all these things that we would
love and we don't have economic policy. Yeah. And so. Well we can disagree about that. So I got you there. No, I don't know. No deportations. No. Yeah I that's I would argue
that we got you on that. Israel is incredibly harsh
and cruel etc., on those things. But my point is, yeah, I get it. Take care of our families first before you
start dropping bombs in the Middle East. ET cetera. We agree. Yeah. And so there are gradations of it. But don't hate the others. You know, if they're outside
your wagons, they don't. They're not necessarily your enemies.
They. There just happened to be in a little bit
further circle away from you. And we're trying to as progressives,
we're trying to get you to empathize from outside with people outside your rights. But okay, so we've discussed that,
but I wanted to get back to Tim Walsh. Tim Walsh yeah. So you said, hey, you think
that it's hurt the Democrats? I think it's helped the Democrats
tremendously because he's he's done economically populist things,
and now they're championing economically populist things. And you said earlier
that's popular, right? - Housing prices, groceries, etc..
- Venezuela voted itself into slavery. So look, we can argue about the policies. And this has nothing to do with Venezuela
and I can prove that, etc.. No, but no, no, it's not price controls.
She did not. We're definitely against price controls.
So she did not. Propose what she proposed. She proposed.
I'll tell you that real quick then. Sarcastic. No no, no, not at all. So she said she's against price gouging
and left it vague. There's already laws
against price gouging. Like, for example,
in a natural disaster, in a hurricane, you can't charge $200 for water. So she's saying, hey,
I'm going to enforce those laws. By the way, she's not. Because first of all,
the price gouging happened in like 21, 22 and it's abated already. It's already actually gone down.
Second of all, she said grocery stores. That's the wrong target
is actually consumer goods that were doing the gouging, not the grocery stores. Right. All this indicates
she doesn't really mean it. And she's not even going to do it,
even if we wanted her to do it right. And but she definitely
did not say price controls. And none of those policies
are price controls. If she said price controls,
I guarantee you I would say wrong. That is the wrong policy. Okay, did a segment where we spoke out
against the idea of price controls. And I mean, we have fairly recent history
to reference, like what happened in the 1970s with price controls and how that led
to a disastrous economic situation. So we're not in favor of that. However, there are some policies
that she was specific about, especially as it pertains to housing. For instance, Kamala Harris has proposed
laws that would ban private equity firms from purchasing up single family homes. Right. Which has driven
up the the price of homes. And what's really interesting is,
again, going back to Donald Trump, what really worked for him in 2016 was similar. Economic messaging is now something
that he's speaking out against because Kamala Harris is proposing. - Well, really.
- So really interesting dynamic. The the Blackrock thing. I agree with black Blackstone
or black voters too. Yeah. Should not be able to buy
single family homes at least. Oh good. That's great agreement. I've said it repeatedly. Same with foreign countries
coming in and purchasing. Oh, here. Here. Okay. You have a country of ownership,
not renting. As far as the $25,000 per home,
not a great idea. - That will only boost the price of homes.
- I agree with you on that. It's not a great. We need more inventory. Yes, we need more inventory.
So you have to deregulate. You also have to you have
to lower the price of energy, which brings up the price of everything. And you guys aren't going to like that. But that includes drill, baby drill
and bringing down the price of oil and natural gas during this window where
we want to try to have a housing boom. I think we need more nuclear energy. - I agree, nuclear.
- Is a great. We're already number one
in energy production. Energy producers, but we're also the top
energy exporters, which is a problem. Well, I think we should continue
to be an energy exporter. The price of oil is still too high
for too many people to get back down to 40 or $50 a barrel,
which, by the way, that you want to like, stick it to the oil and gas industry. Bring the price of oil down.
Their margins go down significantly. Secondly, what we're talking about
the private equity on board. For that. You should not have major firms
coming in and renting back. One fourth of all home purchases
in Q1 of this year were major, major asset management firms buying homes for
the mere purpose of outbidding Americans so they can rent them back. No, I mean, I have no disagreement there. Oil prices real quick. I mean, you talk about, yeah, we should
continue being the top oil exporters. Yes. That will and producing more
is going to lower the prices. But remember we're talking about
the OPEC cartel where other countries are part of this global market. And if Saudi Arabia decides, you know
what, we're going to withhold production because we want to make as much money
as possible from fossil fuels. They're going to do it.
I mean, they've done it before, of course. And the way by the way, the way
you prevent that is you flood the zone so you produce more oil
and then you become the new Saudi Arabia. So you get to determine
what the price of oil is. - So, so there's a lot of.
- Different ways to do that. I understand that philosophy.
And you also at the. Same time Iran,
which would then spike the price of oil. - We don't.
- Need to go to war in the Middle East. - To prevent the war with Iran.
- No, no, I know what you're saying. Yeah, because you go to. 150 a barrel
if you have war. Yeah. And that's what I'm scared to death
that they're going to go to war now on behalf of Israel. And then we're going to have
$150 gas prices. And so that's a very complicated issue
that a lot of things that drive supply and demand and oil. But but the but the reason that I'm not
in favor of like, for example, $30 billion in subsidies still to this day
for oil companies, oil and gas companies. Why why are we giving $30 billion
of taxpayer money, or are. They subsidies. A combination
of subsidies and tax credits. And so they don't need tax credits. They're the most profitable
corporations in the world. So can you explain in greater detail is
that for start up costs? Is that because I've heard
lots of mixed opinions on it, it's easy to say $30 billion. - What specifically is that?
- Yeah. So they have about $15 billion
to incentivize production. And yeah. - Do you think.
- We should get rid of that? Yeah, because they don't need it. They already have trillions of dollars
in incentives to do production, to do distribution, to do all of those. Things on that. What's the second part? But but no, wait, Charlie,
you can't disagree on that. Capitalism is about profit maximization.
And they maximize profit. They they do it really, really well. We don't need to give them
our money on top for sure. But the thought process was we'd
rather have our explorers, our producers explore then Qatar or Saudi Arabia. Right. So we want to try
to make it easier to drill here. And offering tax benefits in
the production side creates American jobs. No, no American financing. The oil and gas is already under our soil.
So when the gas. But it's very capital intensive,
as you well know. And there's no guarantee when you drill,
you're going to have your profits back in the next 8 to 10 years. Yeah, but there's no guarantee
I'm going to get profits at tight. And they're not subsidizing me
$30 billion a year. With all due respect, though,
tight doesn't keep the entire American economy going. Well, agree to disagree. Well, okay. Fair enough.
So. But let me ask you though. So to be consistent, though, I say yes,
you know, subsidies for oil and natural gas because it's 70, 80% of our energy. You would say though? Yes, subsidies for solar panels
and wind and for electric vehicles. So the subsidies are only for nascent
industries when there's an overall need to get that industry up and off the ground,
up and running for national security reasons, do you think that. - Solar panels are nascent.
- At this point? I think they're on the edge
of nascent still electric vehicles. Yeah. Well, now you can make an argument
that they are not. Right, right. And so, see,
those are good conversations to have. Right? Right, exactly. But for the oil subsidies,
a lot of them are 100 years old. No, industry is not a nascent industry.
And yes, we do care about climate change. And yes, fossil fuel is
destroying the planet. So yeah, so that's the thing we. Disagree with though,
is the other 15 billion of what. So production, which is all American jobs.
But the second part. - Yes.
- And then distribution, which is crazy. - I mean.
- How do we subsidize. So look, you'd have to get into all
the details of a thousand, like, not a thousand, but literally dozens
of laws that are some are left from 100 years ago, some are recent, etc.. But Charlie, these are all
funneled money back to their donors. Like we get into all these wars
because the defense contractors, people think it's mainly because of Israel. No, it's mainly because
of the defense contractors. - And when we do.
- Or defense. Contractors. So I'm saying all the subsidies we do,
subsidies for all of these different types of donors. If you have a principle of we don't want
subsidies for oil and gas, that's fine. It's $30 billion in a $6 trillion budget.
The defense budgets $1 trillion a year. - Right.
- Oh my God, let's. Hey. That's interesting. So do you think we could pare down
the defense budget? Of course. Okay, good good, good. I've said that consistently. Okay, good. I mean, by the way, why do we have
troops still in Iraq and Syria? It doesn't make any sense. - Yeah, I hear you on.
- Syria, but I. So, yeah. And, you know, they can't account
for half their budget. It's an outrage. We spent $200 billion
on this Ukrainian war effort, which was one of the biggest mistakes, I think, in
American foreign policy in recent memory. So I want to end on the last couple
things, especially on agreement. But before we get to the agreement,
I did mention walls and economically populist, Conference, policies
that that led to this conversation. Do you see why we think
that's a good conversation for us? I also I mean, I guess I mean,
we look at it completely different. Again, immigration is a hot button issue
that Democrats tend to not win on right now. He did give taxpayer funded tuition
for illegals in the state of Minnesota. Secondly, he has no restrictions
on abortion whatsoever, which there's some horrific stories
that have come out because of that. So it reenters abortion as being
a little bit murkier because right now it's a political winner for Democrats,
and it's a little bit murkier for Democrats with no restrictions at all. That is not popular
with the American people. Just like my position of no, abortion
is not popular with the American people, and I'm willing to admit that. - Yeah, hold on though.
- No, no. I just want him to finish. Okay. When it comes to the abortion issue
and no restrictions at all, which, by the way, is not realistic. My view happen anytime soon. Doesn't work. Yeah. My view on it is I'm against a late
term abortion of a healthy pregnancy. However, I want to ask you for saying,
do you believe? Do you genuinely believe that women
who get pregnant want to remain pregnant, go through the hormonal changes,
go through the body changes, go through the torture of being pregnant,
and then decide, like literally in the last week,
oh, I think I'm going to have an abortion. - That's a great.
- Question. So instead of an abortion,
they should be given a cesarean section. But that's not what I'm asking you. I'm asking you,
do you genuinely believe that women. First of all, the numbers show that there
are a couple thousand late term abortions every year, but it's healthy, tiny. Healthy pregnancies. Well, that that healthy
is very difficult to ascertain. Interesting. Because because, for example,
if you have pre-eclampsia, you're technically not a healthy pregnancy. But one out of three pregnancies
in America is pre-eclamptic. You can easily deliver a baby via cesarean
section if you're pre-eclamptic. What percentage of those
couple thousand late term abortions are done due to that condition? I don't I don't know the number, but the
point is that instead of aborting the baby, which is not medically necessary. You can still deliver the baby.
That's the argument. Against Wade, right? Like Roe v Wade was first two trimesters.
That's Kamala Harris's policy. The third trimester.
You do not have a right. But but nine. States, no,
nine states do have no restrictions. New Mexico, Colorado
Oregon, Minnesota I agree with Roe. I agree with you there. And that's a that's a
that's a step in the right direction. And that's why I say Walz brings that back
into a place where he has no restrictions whatsoever in Minnesota,
which is where you guys are in you. So that's where the final point on
the Walz thing, though, is the Floyd stuff and the mismanagement of the riots. And he did wait 24 hours
to deploy the National Guard. There was a lot of suspicion around there. A lot of people think of Minneapolis
as a burning, looted city in their recent memory, and he has to answer for that. And his answers have been clumsy. And his wife has had this weird clip
where she's like, I smelled the tires and I rolled down my window,
like very strange stuff. And so looking as an outsider,
as a conservative, we see this as like an all you can eat buffet line
of very radical, unpopular positions that have now been introduced to the ticket. Yeah. So I can debate every one of those
with you, but I think that the country is talking more about his
economically populist positions, and that's winning ground for us and not. Well that's interesting.
It might win ground with younger voters. The question is, will it win win
ground with baby boomers, who tend to be very skeptical of heavy
handed big government economic policies. And I don't I don't think so.
I don't think so. When they hear price gouging
or as it's portrayed, price controls, that's like no go for baby boomer voters,
which interestingly, Joe Biden was doing better with. And maybe now Donald Trump
stands to gain from that. But younger voters, I agree with you. A 25 year old voter will be,
oh yeah, give me free stuff. Like, yeah, give me a house or, you know,
make it easier for me to buy a house. - A of course that's more attractive.
- So yeah. So again, I could debate all
all of like the framing etc.. And I look Trump didn't call out
the National Guard on the Floyd issues and on on the. And they're not saying
give us a free house and you agree with some of their policy proposals. Yeah, yeah. Free stuff socialism. But also like make it easier
to buy a house, right? Sounds so. - Of course.
- It is. Okay. So that's look, I love that. I think that's a huge win for us. - And I think it's.
- Economically good for the country. - Of course.
- Not. Okay.
So but let's end on agreement if we can. - Right.
- We can try our best. Okay. Now I know we already agree on this. I want to see what we
can do about it, Charlie. And I want it to be real. Right. So post-election, because pre-election,
nothing's going to happen, right? But whether Kamala Harris wins
or Donald Trump wins, you don't want private equity buying up our homes. I don't we don't want private equity
buying up our homes. And I think that's actually quickly going
to be the number one issue in the country. Whenever I go and talk to real people that
are not in politics, they're like, oh, God damn it, the housing prices, right? And the American dream
is slipping away from all of us. So is there a way that we can work
from populist right and populist left on this critical issue of pressure,
either the Democratic or Republican president to actually deliver on this. I think it's a very simple bill. If you have assets under management,
over $100 billion, you should not be able to buy
single family homes. 100 billion sounds. It's actually not that much
in the private equity. We're talking about $10 trillion in black
just so we're clear like 100 x that because some people say,
oh, make it 10 billion. Like you got to have the line where you
can still, you know, have appetite there. But you think about it, what's happening. And I will say housing prices
aren't only going up because of that. You're flooding the zone
with a lot of cheap money. And so money needs to find a home. And then you have one off investors
that aren't Blackrock and that aren't Blackstone,
that are also bundling homes three, four, five homes because they need to try
to find a home for their they need to try to find a place for their capital. But yes, I would love to see some
agreement and I would work with anybody on that because the I my heart
is not to have a nation of renters. I think when people own property.
So that's another. So we get one of the family thing. If you have 50 people that own property
or 50 people that don't own property, I think we all agree the 50 people
that own property up there better they have better politics. Do we agree? Or at least they're
better citizens either. No, no, but I want them to own homes. No, no, Charlie. They are. - They have skin in the game.
- No, no, they do have. More skin in the game. That is true. - No, no, guys.
- But they've poured their entire life. Savings. I've been a renter. I've been a renter. I've been a homeowner. - None of my policies changed.
- Nothing. You never changed. No. He's just.
No, no, no, it's not that I never changed. And I in fact, when I do change, I tell
people, I go, hey, listen, I was convinced of x, Y, or Z, but for policy reasons, not
because I personally went through this. I don't know if I think that owning a home
you care more about property taxes. That's definitely true. Right. You care more about the crime
in your neighborhood and if it impacts. Right? Do you agree? No, no. I was a renter twice,
and I moved out because there was literally blood by my doorstep. So I cared about security.
I didn't want to die. Don't you think you take better care of,
say, unit if you own it versus you rent it? Yes. Sure. Yeah. Those there's details like that. - It does.
- Change. And around the property,
but not necessarily about policy. I know, but then policy that says
you get a tax deduction for home improvement, which you do. Yeah. And so we can debate that. But I keep going. I'm trying to say though,
that the deeper point that owning property makes a better country. And renting I think creates very cynical,
radical, nihilistic people. Because here's the point we can. Agree on because because let me the
final point is not debatable, is that if you're paying all of your money for rent, that disappears
and doesn't go into an equity bank, then you're very bitter after ten years. - Yeah, I agree with you on that.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. So whether it's the bitterness or not,
the most important thing is you're not building wealth. Exactly. And it's not your asset. You're you're paying out rent
instead of bringing in assets. The entire political project.
That's my point. - Yes.
- And you become indentured servants. Right. You become serfs. Right. And then you view the world
as you're like. Nothing works for me. It's all rigged. And I think when you own a home,
you're like, well, at least I'm working my tail off. With that $400 of my mortgage payment
is still just kind of going in the piggy bank. One day I can access that equity. So yes, I think we should do everything
we can to increase homeownership. I would like to do it
in market based principles. In addition, we should not all of a sudden
have a couple billionaire oligarchs come in and steal away the American dream
from the next generation's young people? Yeah. Ironically, you know, you asked me
famously and we talked about it last time, you know, how you or you said you
live like a capitalist every day, right? And so the irony of that is that I'm a
capitalist and I see you live like a cat. I live like a capitalist. Every day, owning homes
and flipping them and renting them. - Back.
- No, definitely not doing okay. But so my point though, there is
that in order to protect capitalism in the free markets, I'm not going to I'm going
to agree with market based ideas and, and but our real enemy is corporatism. Yeah. Corporatism then says
we don't want a free market. We want monopolies.
We want control over your system, right? Would you agree? Corporatism.
And also government regulators. Government policy that hurts
the small from achieving something big. Of course, of course. Yeah. So we have agreement there. Yeah. All right. So we hope that whoever wins,
we'll all unite together to very. Clear that I think that
that Harris has a very she has a slight odd odds right now to win. Yeah. All right. There you go.
Another honest conversation I love it. Charlie, thank you for joining us
from Turning Point USA. Talk to you soon. Yeah, we appreciate it, brother. Thanks. Thanks for watching The Young Turks.
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