Charlie Kirk Charlie Kirk Show Tribute and Response to Political Violence Against ICE Officials in Texas

[Music] The Charlie Kirk show begins in 10 seconds. [Music] [Applause] The Charlie Kirk Show starts now. Today, Charlie Kirk rests in glory in heaven for all eternity. He has gone from speaking on campuses in Wisconsin to kneeling at the throne of God where he is right now. Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is Christ speaking, except a corn of wheat fall onto the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. And I want to thank Charlie for his sacrifice because much fruit is going to be realized. Now, I want you to know that Charlie right now is in heaven. Not because he was a great husband and father. Not because he saved millions of kids out of darkness on college campuses. Not because he changed minds and chased votes to save the country. Not because he sacrificed himself for his savior. Charlie Kirk is in heaven because his savior sacrificed himself for Charlie Kirk. But the main thing about Charlie and his message, he was bringing the gospel to the country. He was doing the thing that the people in charge hate most, which is calling for them to repent. I believe Charlie is still urging us on, urging us not to sit back, not to be quiet, but to carry on his mission forward, loudly, proudly, and with the same conviction he showed. Sacrifice is a gift. Sacrifice is that last full measure of devotion for God, for country, and for his people. We will devote the rest of our lives to finishing the causes for which Charlie gave his last measure of devotion. You cannot defeat us. You cannot slow us. You cannot stop us. You cannot deter us. We will carry Charlie and Erica in our heart. But we go forward strengthened by his faith and bolstered by his courage and inspired by his example to defend the country. He lived for. You see, Charlie Kirk was a true believer for the cause of freedom, for the power of young people, belief in our republic and our founding principles in America first and make America great again. But more importantly, he was a true believer. Only Christ is king, our Lord and Savior. The lesson of Charlie's life is that you should never underestimate what one person can do with a good heart, a righteous cause, a cheerful spirit, and the will to fight, fight, fight. Charlie lived what our founders envisioned. Freedom, the right to speak even when we disagree. Freedom. I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to defend to the death with my very life your right to speak. Now, our whole administration is here, but not just because we love Charlie as a friend, even though we did, but because we know we wouldn't be here without him. In the words of Saurin Kiergard, the tyrant dies and his rule is over. The martyr dies and his rule has just begun. On the cross, our savior said, "Father, forgive them for they not know what they do." That man, that young man, I forgive him. [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] Every day there's a battle for your mind raging. Information coming from every angle with the will to deceive. Fear not. You found the place for truth. The voice of a generation that still has the will to believe in the greatest country in the history of the world. This is the Charlie Kirk Show. Buckle up. Here we go. Everybody, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show. This is Andrew Kvet, executive producer of this show. And that empty chair reminds us of Charlie's legacy, his memory, and the fact that political violence took his life and assassination did. And this morning we awoke to more news of political violence targeted at ICE in Texas. And to start off the show and we we had a whole show planned, but I thought it was important that we do this simply. It it hit hits very close to home for this team, I can tell you. And so I wanted to have Borders Tom Hman kick off the top of the show with us. So uh Bordersar Homeman, uh thank you for joining us. Uh what can you tell us about what happened in Texas? Well, this morning a lone gunman uh was targeting an ICE facility in Dallas, Texas. Uh it's where aliens are processed either for removal or transfer to a facility. Uh and it like again, it's the third shooting that's occurred in Texas against immigration officials. And we had a shooter show up at a border trying to kill Bord Patrol agents. He was killed by agents. Then we had a a group of people show up with weapons at ICE detention facility in Alvaralda, Texas, and tried to kill ICE agents. And they did shoot one officer, a local police officer who's also responding to the scene. And now we have this today where a lone gunman uh stood at perch and and opened up on um ice during a transportation transfer. And uh we know we have at least two dead and uh uh officers are uninjured. And it later was announced by Cash Patel that one of the bullets had an anti-ICE slogan on the bullet. So this was clearly a targeted attack against ICE. Well, um, Borders are I I I just know that Charlie, this is his show, he was such a supporter of yours and was worried for our brave men and women in law enforcement that were doing what the voters had voted for and very very clearly to remove illegal aliens from this country. And we've seen these stats uh that the targetings are on the increase that assaults against ICE officers. Are we still seeing a ramp up? I mean, this instance is awful. Thank God no law enforcement were harmed or injured, but you know, our prayers are with the families of the detainees that have lost their lives, but are we seeing this continue to ramp up across the country? Are we still seeing it go up? Are we seeing any calming down of the violence and the attacks against ICE officers? First of all, you're right. I've had I had many discussions with Charlie and he always end the discussion to be safe and uh and that ICE officers should be safe because the rhetoric has continued to increase. Assaults on ICE officers are up over a,000%. And know that rhetoric hasn't stopped. And I said months ago, months ago that the hateful rhetoric didn't decrease, it's going to end in bloodshed. someone's going to die. And of course, I was called a fearmonger. You know, the left says I was, you know, making irresponsible comments. Unfortunately, I was right. And uh just this past weekend, we saw protest turn criminal. Chicago and in Boston. I mean uh in Chicago, the ICE facilities under attack. Portland in Portland, Oregon, the ice facility there has been under attack for months. So, you know, no, it has not slowed down. either has the hateful rhetoric from some up on hill, some our congressional representatives and and and other people who are in a position where that that small that small fraction I'll say on the left that you know not every not you know not everybody on the left is a bad person. Most of them you know aren't but there's that fraction that listens to this rhetoric and they feel empowered to take action against ICE. If you got a member of Congress comparing ICE to the secret police, which is a direct affiliation with the Nazis, or call them straight out Nazis to terrorists, or Governor Nuomo just recently said the secret police, I mean, he just he just passed legislation about secret police. I mean, bottom line is that rhetoric is causing some of this um violence and and and I've been calling for people stop the hateful rhetoric because it's it's more are going to be hurt. And matter of fact, when we talked about the person that was shot uh at the Albert Bravo City and we talked about the the the gunman that was killed at the Bor Patrol City, I said at that time there's going to be more if the rhetoric doesn't stop. I've seen this I've seen this game before. I've seen this story before and I just hate to see it right now. I hope you know between what you know happened to our officers across the country, what happened to Charlie and what's happened today. I mean, you know, at what point do people just, you know, stop the hate? You can disagree what ICE does, but taking those sort of actions, there's there's it's just it's unbelievable. There's no excuse for it. I want to show you a graphic. I'm going to put up a graphic. It's it's basically who which groups justify violence based on age and political affiliation. And if you could put up 141, this is the question, is it ever justified for citizens to resort to violence in order to to achieve political goals? And this is the percentage responding yes. And you can see there uh Tom at 18 to 39year-old liberal progressives. That's 30% believe that sometimes violence is justified to achieve a political goal. And I believe, you know, that matches with what happened to Charlie. I don't know the, you know, the age of this particular shooter in Texas, but we are seeing a an alarming rise. And and by the way, it's worth noting conservatives 18 to 39 are the most peaceful node on there besides moderates over 60. So, we're doing our part on the right to quell the violence, to quell the rhetoric, to to to say, "Lean into Jesus. Do not give into hate. forgive your enemies. We have to find a solution here. And yet that one node, you can see it. It sticks out like a sore thumb there, Tom. Uh 18 to 39 30% of them believes just violence can be justified. Your thoughts? Well, it's it's not the country I grew up in. I mean, you never heard of this when I went to college. You never heard kind of this. It's justification for violence ever. Uh I really think that uh many of the colleges have failed us on you know and also think that the the negative publicity being pushed by 90% of the media 90% of the media constantly attacking this administration and the work we're doing and I've said it before I think there's groups out there that hate President Trump more than they love their communities and more than they you know have any common sense. It's there's no reason for it. I mean, it's just it's out of control. And you're right, the last four years under Biden administration, everybody was angry about the border. Everybody was angry about what he the number of Americans dying from fentanyl, the the the vast increase in sex trafficking, the cartels have placement in this country, killing millions millions of Americans with poison. You didn't see that counterprotest that turned criminal. So, it's it's mainly on one side and and again, I'm hoping today on top of everything that's happened in the last few months. Just let's stop the hate. Well, let's have a let's have a meaningful debate, which Charlie was all supportive. Let's have a debate about the issues. Let's get back to talking. Yep. Rather than putting bullets in a firearm. Tom, I want to make this personal. About one minute remaining. I know that you this kind of rhetoric has directly impacted your life and your family. if you if whatever details you can share. I want the audience to know what the real impact is for real people like yourself. One minute. I have a 247 uh security detail because of threats against me. I don't live with my family because um I don't want them around danger as much as I can. So, you know, it's it's it's tough, but I'm not going away. I'm not shutting up. I'm going to continue fighting to make this country great again. President Trump made a promise to American people. He brought me to help him in that promise to make America safe again and we're going to continue working to remove the worst of the worst illegal animals in this country to make our community safer. Hard stop. Well, God bless you, sir. Thank you for joining the show. I thought it was important to lead with that and uh on behalf of a grateful nation, Tom, thank you for your service. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your voice and thank you for the results because this is what the American people voted for and we will not be deterred. The truth will be the truth and we cannot be cowed by these vigilantes and we got to do something about it but we will not be cowed. Tom Hman, thank you so much. Borders are for the Trump administration. Thank you, sir. More when we get back from break. We'll be right back. I think it should be but it's not being enforced, right? So why shouldn't why should we let our cities be ransacked but not um legalize it and make it safer and make it regulated? There is no safe fentanyl. There is no safe heroin. doesn't exist. But pure heroin, if you sold it in a store, would be safe, right? Again, not only can you still overdose, let's just talk the more moral that what an ugly society that would be if heroin is considered to be something commercialized. All of a sudden, you're going to see heroin commercials. Like, oh yeah, you think that your day is bad, it's okay. Go get a little bit of heroin at the local Walgreens. We laugh, but that's where we're headed. That's the society. That's not where we're headed. You can you can um keep living your life and and living by your body. Law is a teacher. The law should reflect morality. Okay. Definitionally. So, thank you. Okay. Yeah. Can I get a hat? Yes. I'll sign it. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Yes. Other questions that disagree? Go to the front. Yeah. Yes. Go ahead. Got it. Don't touch it. Okay. All right, Charlie, you had done a show on your or a segment on your show about uh Governor Tim Walls. You know, it was it was funny. It was cute. He was looking at the um the excuse me, it was looking at his uh podcast appearance with Gavin Newsome. He said he wanted to get into a fight. It was it was just goofy gesting. And you know, you showed a video of him trying to shoot a shotgun. It didn't work out well, but I just figured he didn't know how to load a shotgun. There you go. So, my point is though, I figured as a political commentator, you would prefer to have a substantive discussion about the economic policies that he has passed. And I have some listed here. Forgive me, the list is a little long, but it has price tags on what it would be estimated to cost to implement these policies in the United States. And I just would like to get your opinion on a few of them. Free breakfast and lunch for kids. Making sure that children can eat in school. That's not what it $20 billion per year. Legalizing marijuana. I've gotten your opinion on that. That's a net savings of8 billion per year. Carbon-f free electricity by 2050. Terrible. $41 billion per year. We have 12 weeks paid family sick leave costing 45 billion. Is this what he did in Minnesota or what he That's correct. It's what he did in Minnesota. And these costs are the projected costs of what it would cost to implement these things. Keep keep working through the list and then I have a question. Okay. So banning gay decon conversion therapy a savings of9 billion an attack on freedom of speech. How does that save $9 billion? You got to explain that one. So So banning having the de the deconversion therapy. No explain. No don't just read off the p explain to me. Use your reason how banning therapy saves $9 billion. Let's go through the rest of the list. I'll come back to that point as well. Now I still have a few more red flag laws. If someone says that if they want to shoot up a school, then they the government has a right to confiscate that person's That is not what a red flag law is. For the record, a red flag law is that somebody like a spouse who's in a dispute could wrongfully accuse their husband who's a veteran. Oh, he's violent or whatever, even though he isn't, and his rights get taken away. Or even worse, a husband can say it against his wife and she's not able to protect herself. Red flag laws are not that at all. And by the way, if someone says they're going to shoot up a school, they're going to get arrested. They're not going to have their guns taken away. This has happened in the past and it they have Yeah. You know who's friends with school shooters? Tim Walls is friends with school shooters. That point, but let's Oh, yeah. They bring up that point because that's what he said. He's like, I'm friends with school shooters. That's really creepy and weird. of all of these are wrong to put your political opponents in jail. I believe it is wrong. And we saw that right before he got elected that they said turn it all off all. I think that we should have had a much deeper investigation. Okay. Thank you very much. Have a great day. Yeah. Who wants a hat, everybody? [Applause] All right. I had a question about uh I'm Tyler, by the way. I had a question. My girlfriend and I have differing political beliefs. We voted differently. Uh we're both Christians. We have a lot of the same beliefs about how humans should be treated, abortion, that type of thing. But, uh, identity politics a little bit. Um, not liking candidates based on their personality versus their policy kind of divided us. Also, prioritization of policies. So, she's a little more foreign helping. And I think we should be more focused domestically right now with the damage we've, you know, taken on the last four years. So, how should we handle our relationship when we have a lot of the same values but differing political beliefs? It's a really good question. So, would you say that even outside of Trump, would you still largely agree on politics or No. [Music] All right, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk show. This is Andrew Kovvet, executive producer of this show. I am uh joined by Blake Nef, one of the producers, as well as the great Dr. James our honored to have you, doctor, on the show. I I'm candidly of all the conversations I've had and I've had we've had some amazing guests and some amazing conversations over the last uh couple of weeks, this is probably the one I'm most excited about because of the way that you and I got to meet. Charlie was there. Uh you met Charlie on his when he went to Cambridge and Oxford uh Oxbridge as you guys I guess call the grouping. But we then spent a weekend together in Aspen and we shared some just truly amazing moments. And you also sat down with Charlie for an interview which will now sort of in a in a haunting way but in a beautiful way because I know how much Charlie loved you. Your interview with Charlie on that Aspen trip was actually the last episode that went on the Charlie Kirk show broadcast before he was assassinated. So, it's a it's a weird thing, I'm sure, to for me for to hear that from me. It's weird for me to say it out loud, but it's true. And I just knew Charlie so well that again it's sort of fitting because you were like this academic ideological spiritual just shining light for Charlie. So much so that I was jealous when we got back from Aspen. Charlie looked at you and he was like can you hang out with me on Sunday and just like be my professor for a day? And as far as I know, you guys hung out on Sunday and you talked about the classics and about the cannon of Western civilization. And I love that because I know that that was bas basically the happiest you would ever see Charlie Kirk. So, thank you so much for giving him that day so close to the end and for just being somebody that he deeply deeply loved and appreciated. Well, Andrew, thank you. It's just so good to be with you despite the circumstances. And gosh, what a what a surreal few days it's been. What an extraordinary achievement you guys pulled off. I was so thrilled to have been able to make it to the stadium on Sunday for that that extraordinary day. And just so many thoughts going through my mind, but you know, I've been teaching undergraduates, graduate students at Oxford and Cambridge on and off for 15 16 years. And I can say, you know, hand on heart, I had never come across a young person with that that thirst for knowledge, that thirst for intellectual formation, spiritual wisdom. You know, I spent weeks trying to trying to get him to call me James, but it was always always Dr. Ow. It's always this sort of extraordinary respect and humility that he had. And you're right, that last afternoon, just before I was getting off to the airport, uh I think that morning, a car was supposed to pick me up to take me to his apartment and uh uh um Mikey, Charlie's chief of staff, rang me and said, "I' I've cancelled the car." Said, "What? How am I going to how am I going to get to Charlie's apartment?" He said, "No, no, no. He wants to come and pick you up from the hotel so that he can have more time with you." And uh you know, we had we had a day together. We had a wonderful morning and uh went into his apartment and yeah 2 three hours of just philosophy just grilling me on his that big big whiteboard. He wanted me to you know map out moral philosophy helped. He was just prepping prepping prepping. What if I get this question? What if I get that question? It was just extraordinary and uh absorbing it all taking notes grilling me. Yes, I understand that point but how do I make it accessible? And there was always this sense of this the audience that he wanted to reach and and and not and not be in conflict with not not to not to sort of uh dunk on them at all but to but to but to inform them to educate them to to to to enlighten them just extraordinary. Then got back to London I'm getting texts from him Bible verses from him and then a text on oh that that lecture by Jean Paul Sry you mentioned on existentialism in 1946. can you send me a copy and can you explain to me that point okay let's do it and did that and then on the first my last text from him was on the 1st of September saying can you send me a lecture on natural law and and uh God help me I never got back to him. It was yeah it was it was a busy week and I thought I got to sit down and do this properly and and then you know by the time things had calmed down it it it had happened and um yeah I I'd never met anyone like him and you know you meet people you know that there's just you're going to be friends for for years and years and years and you're going to learn so much from each other and we had we had great plans. He was so excited about Britain. He loved it so much was staring now at this this photo of Winston Churchill and was so excited about what was happening on the right in in Britain and wanted to know exactly what all the kind of all the polling dynamics were and how he could help. Uh extraordinary. You were a a really important bridge for him and he was an Angloile begrudgingly but he he genuinely was and we'll get into more of that and what his trip to England I think really was all about. We'll be right back. Mhm. [Music] So yeah, I mean I mentioned just before we hit the break that Charlie was a a real anglophile. Mhm. I don't think that many Brits maybe appreciated that because he came into England and really lit up the leadership, lit up the current zeitgeist in the country. But I it has become clear to me that Charlie and I've said this a bunch of times and I'm just going to say it again for the sake of this conversation that Charlie was a modern prophet and he was going around campuses this country calling our leaders to repent calling our citizens to repent to remember themselves. And he went straight into the belly of the beast in Oxbridge and called on Brits to remember themselves. Stand up man. put your shoulders back. Remember who you are. You're a great people. Like, wake up. And just like they do with prophets, not only is Charlie dead, but in England, they rejected him. Tell me about your perspective on that. Well, I I think it was it I think it was Jordan Peterson who first connected us. I think about a year ago, I think, and so he was Charlie had been on my radar for a while. We had a lot of mutual friends, but he was very excited about his trip to England and started peppering me with texts and requests like what will the audience be like? What are the kinds of questions that I should be thinking about? What are the topics? You know, he was just prepping, prepping, prepping. And um yeah, so he came to Cambridge. I went to to the Cambridge Union to just give him some moral support uh with my with my son and half a dozen students and we were the the only ones supporting. I mean, my goodness, it was Oh, and Blake. And Blake, you were there, of course. And the team, you and you and you and the team were there. And uh and uh it was it was it was impressive. I mean, it was he was combative, he was quick, he was um I don't think anyone any of those students, and they were bright students. I was quite, you know, in a funny way proud of those those students. I mean, they were, you know, off the cliff progressive on a whole load on all the issues, but I thought they they stood their ground well. And um and then we went for this meal afterwards and just again 2 three hours of just talking and talking stats and I got a call from one of the this big media platform GB News just desperate to get half an hour of Charlie's time but it was it was down in London. It was just awkward to get to. Uh I said look I know this is difficult but if you could just you know would you consider this? And he said absolutely no problem. And you managed to fit it in to that very tight schedule. That was with Ben. Yes. That's right. With Ben that clip went viral. It was a good thing he fitted it. It's great he did it and it was much appreciated and uh so you know I think it was it was great and I sat in that debating chamber and thought this this is a proper debate. You know this is what this place was designed for and uh and this is really puncturing the group think in a way that is is pretty rare these days on elite campuses on both sides of the Atlantic. And uh it was we were fortunate to have him and uh images and then we've got some we got some images there. Yeah, there we go. The bouncy brick. The bouncy brit. Oh, bless him. Yeah, he he uh that was Charlie found that so funny. We got because he looks like a Harry Potter figure like character ass, you know. That's it. He was uh yeah uh quick on his feet just jumping up and down and uh yeah, amazing. I remember that so well. And uh it was it was just great to see. And as I said, it punctured the group think. And you know, I've I've said this before that that the trouble with uh with group think is that wrong think becomes evil think. You know, when there's just just this tiny minority opinion, then that it it just becomes subversive. It becomes something that is that is threatening. It's it's and so it's so easy to demonize. And what we saw both on both those debates was um Charlie's ability to put across cases and positions in a winsome, civil, respectful way. And you know, I think the assassination has is just it's triggered off a whole lot of very interesting debates on the free speech side of things, of course, and Charlie's great free speech warrior. We've been fighting a lot on free speech battles on university campuses. And uh but you know, if this is if this is how it ends, if one side is so quick to resort in the end to lawfare or warfare or violence, what do we do? Where does that leave liberalism? Where does where does that leave on? I don't you know we've seen the reaction around the world but those Cambridge students who came out to support Charlie last May how how have they reacted to this? Well they've I tell you they've been in they've been in in pieces they've they've it's it's been very upsetting for them and my son in particular who just worshiped Charlie and uh Charlie recorded a little video for him actually when we I was here at the offices uh a month ago. It's been very hard and even those who who didn't know him at all. I mean, we gathered the two days after it happened, Friday, it was the Friday evening outside Downing Street, a pretty spontaneous vigil, thousands and thousands of people around the Senate off and Whiteall just so moving, just this very kind of very unusual to see that in in London. It just sort of um it was there was there was a sense of great great kind of peace and love. Take radio back here. Yeah, we'll we'll we'll take radio back, but I love where this is going. Uh stay right there. Welcome back to radio stations across the country. We have Dr. James our who is a brilliant man and a u you're a professor at Cambridge University and you welcome Charlie to the UK. you helped with get these these debates set up for Charlie, which would be one of his last big trips and it's hard to think about that. He loved that trip. He loved meeting you. you were so dear to him and I know that you guys had great plans to to keep learning from each other and you are yourself uh becoming sort of known politically in the UK and I know that uh you you enter into that with fear and trembling and a great and a great weight on your shoulders and we can get into that a little bit later but I love what we're talking about. you were you were witnessing the immediate aftermath of the assassination and there was huge vigils throughout the UK and I said something that before that prophets are rejected that is sort of the model and he was a prophet taking the the truth around the world even to the UK but there was a remnant that heard what he said and then you had Tommy Robinson lead this huge march Elon Musk called in they talked about Charlie I saw so many people with Charlie's picture and they are chanting chanting Charlie. It was really beautiful for me to see this outpouring of love for Charlie even across the pond. What What was that like? Take us into that moment. Yes. Well, I I didn't go on on that much, but I know that over the summer there was a lot of anxiety in the press within the establishment about about it. And I remember talking to Charlie about it last last month and uh you know there were just sort of you know premonitions people thinking that this this is going to this is going to end violently. It was it was it was demonized. Um and I think you know one silver lining you might say is that that I think the march from what I can tell was broadly peaceful. I mean, I think there were about 100,000 people um marching through the streets and I think there were something like 25 arrests, which I think, you know, you compare it to similar kinds of events, it's not not out of the ordinary at all. And it was from what I could tell from just just looking at the footage, it was it was peaceful. And I'm sure that that sense of it being a vigil for Charlie, of being a a sort of witness to Charlie, as you say, his face was all over, you know, posters everywhere of him. And uh I think that would have had a calming effect on the march. And uh and I think, you know, there was there was a great atmosphere from what I could tell. Um you know, it was broadly demonized in in the mainstream media afterwards as far as I could tell. But I but I I think it went off a lot better than many people were worrying about over the summer. Yeah. Well, and I to to the point about violence I and I know that the there's an establishment press that is even more entrenched in the UK than there is in the US and they still have more power to sort of set narratives and things and so that's certainly something that needs to be addressed in the UK. But the point is, you had all these people that have a lot of reason to be upset about things, but they're largely peaceful. And that's the actual truth. The actual truth is that it was sort of beautiful and and and really respectful. And we got a note yesterday. I can't divulge who this is from, but this note was passed along. Says, "Just got off the phone with a friend, won't say the name, who is SWAT and was tasked with working the memorial for Charlie here in Glendale, Arizona. He said they were all briefed to 100% expect something major to happen and the whole event came and went without one arrest between Peoria, Mesa, Glendale, and Phoenix PD all assisting. A complete anomaly for an event even 10% this size. Even the Super Bowl would have someone get drunk and like punch a guy. Yeah. They didn't have one arrest. And and the power of prayer, you know, I keep saying this over and over again. I the first time in my life that I've I can feel the prayers of strangers just sustaining this whole team through turning point turning point action the Charlie Kirk show you can feel it and you could feel the prayers inside the memorial and you were there you actually made it back which is a whole other saga which is incredible and I think such a honor Charlie would have been just so honored to know what you went through in order to get like planes trains and automobiles for you uh in that trip but I I want to do I do want to stay on the UK Okay. Do you think, you know, a lot of people are talking about this as a revival moment in the US? A lot of people are talking about this is the turning point. This is a politically galvanizing moment. Do you feel like this is having at least some sort of the same effect in the UK? It's had extraordinary reverberations all across Europe, I think, and definitely definitely in Britain. I'm having conversations with people about about faith, about family, about about freedom, about loving your country that that I simply, you know, was just very very difficult to to to have before. And he's he's unleashed something extraordinary. A lot of people didn't really know who Charlie was, I think, in in Britain. And it was only, you know, when when the news broke, people started, you know, you know, the the the framing, I think even on the BBC, the BBC to start with at least was saying this is a far-right character. Some of the some of the press would just uh were demonizing him. But very quickly that that shifted and it was just just just obvious. He was you couldn't mistake it. He was an extraordinary husband, loving father, civil, respectful in his engagement with with young people. And that came across very very quickly. And so it's it's been it's it's been remarkable the kind of conversations that have opened up and um I think his legacy is going to be a remarkable one. think uh uh you know we're having these big debates in Britain at the moment around exactly these kinds of issues and all all of those all of those sort of um those great sort of four cornerstones I think of you know the faith family flag and freedom that would just uh celebrate in that extraordinary way in the stadium on Sunday and uh those it's very difficult still in Britain to have conversations around around those um but something's shifted and I'm sure that Charlie's legacy will be to to catalyze that and and and to put those issues back on the table and they're going to be right, you know, front and center of the British political landscape over the next 5 years. You have I just want to make sure you're getting because you you and James, you and James, you were in England with James, so I just want to make sure I'm giving views on what's happening over there. Of course. Of course. Um, you know, before we move on too far from the debate, I know this is I followed this, you definitely followed it, but I don't know that a lot of people in the US know about this that one of the Oxford Union people that Charlie met when he debated there. He posted something about Charlie's death that was that was pretty bad and there's been a backlash to that. Yeah, absolutely. So, the in I think it's the incoming president of the Oxford Union. Do we have that? uh who who debated uh Charlie back in May uh I think said something I can't remember the words he said he so president-elect George Aberon who there is an image of them debating I'll get that loaded uh to our team so they can put this up um get that ASAP guys so he posted uh he debated he was one of the people who debated him and he appeared to c he shared multiple celebratory remarks remarks about the shooting on WhatsApp. According to the Oxford student, uh, one message said, "Charlie Kirk got shot. Let's effing go." And the other said, "Scoreboard FN." I I don't know what that means. I think Ryan would probably be able to tell me what that means, but basically scoreboard. I mean, it's like basically put a point on the board because we took one down and uh you can probably tell us more about what happened. Has he been punished for this? Uh so there was a the big debate uh kind of blew up afterwards. I to be honest I I was so upset at the time. I was just trying I was tuning out of the the negative reactions and I was trying not to dwell on it too much. But I was getting a lot of texts from people who were signing a letter of effectively a letter of no confidence. Uh and I think the threshold is I think it's something like 150. So if you were an officer of the Oxford Union in the past you would you could you could force um you could force a resignation. Uh I'm not I think they've hit about 70 signatures and uh we are I mean it's a very damning. Yeah. I mean it I think it it go it it's touched a nerve because you know the worry is is this you know is this legitimate speech? Is this is this he was you know should he be should he be expelled for this? Should he be rusticated? But but hold on that this is one of these stupid academic culde-sacs that people that are, you know, educated but beyond their intelligence get themselves into. And this is like, I'm sorry, Charlie Kirk was murdered, assassinated. Mhm. Do you think it's okay that Martin Luther King or JFK or Lincoln or whoever was assassinated? Do we think that this is okay? Do we think political violence? Okay, listen. I understand if some fringe character on some Discord chat thinks that it's, you know, is gleeful, but that is that person does not represent Cambridge or Oxford that is supposed to be a premier institution. I'm calling I hope this gets clipped. I I am calling on you sane leftwing students that are still, you know, advocates for civilization to sign that petition, that letter, whatever it is, get it to 150. That is not okay. Even if you disagree with Charlie, Charlie was a fundamentally good and decent, loving husband and father who believed in the building blocks of Western civilization. He did not deserve this. And for somebody that to represent your school that would celebrate his death is shocking that you cannot get 150 people to put their name to disciplining or at least or whatever. I don't even know what this but the fact that that can go unchecked is abysmal. It is such an indictment of the moral character and the lack of moral clarity that exists at the the UK's elite institutions. I just have to say that. Get it over 150. Absolutely right. You know, language like that, it lays down the enabling conditions correct for violence. And I it it dehumanizes conservatives that if you are a conservative, you're less than human. You don't deserve to live. And it, by the way, if you if you if somebody kills you, you had it coming. Yeah. To be clear, the unanimous reaction on left and right in Britain was one of condemnation and anger. Good. And so, just apparently not unanimous, but yeah. Why are there not 150 signatures? When somebody actually has to put their name to it, they get weak in the knees. Yeah. What is there to be weak in the knees about political assassinations? Yeah. I I I couldn't agree more. And I mean, two days later, I remember we were I was having lunch with with Nigel, Nigel Farage, and and uh people this this group walked out and screamed fascist at us. And I just thought to myself, you know, and he gets that all the time, of course, but I just thought to myself just, you know, Charlie's blood had barely run cold and still they would have known exactly what had happened. they would have known the kind of rhetoric and the demonizing that can let lay down, as it were, the conditions for uh uh uh for for for for violence on the left. And uh I just, you know, I don't see I don't see how we come out of this. You know, I don't see what solutions liberalism liberalism has. You know, I I want to I didn't mention this, but it's worth mentioning that that go up and go ahead and put up 141 again. You can do it in on the screen. And this is this poll about political violence being justified 141. And you look at the date that this was conducted, September 12th through September 15th. Charlie was murdered on the 10th. Yeah. This is a poll conducted after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And 30% of young liberals still believe that. That is extraordary. That'll make Yeah, that should that should be a sobering sobering stat for anybody. Uh we've got to take a quick break. We'll be right back with Dr. James our from the UK. [Music] It would be one thing if President Trump signed an executive order saying CNN, you can't say this. That would be a violation of freedom of speech. It's like it's very simple. It's access. Access to the White House is a is a privilege, not a right. You have to apply for it. To get on White House grounds, you have to behave a certain way. You have to hopefully dress a certain way. You have to be with a certain honorable understanding that you don't run the White House. You cover the White House and if you act like a jerk, you might get kicked out of the White House. So, what do you think the Associated Press has been doing wrong to get kicked out of the White House? In that specific instance, they decided to not use official government terminology, which was the Gulf of America, right? The official terminology that just got changed. That's how it works. Well, personally, I think that if you are a major press organization, you should be allowed to have So, we're clear, Joe Biden used billions of dollars to fund actual censorship of Americans rights to speak. The Joe Biden White House went after anybody who questioned the efficacy of the COVID vaccine. Joe Biden personal White House went out to Twitter and Facebook trying to silence anyone for saying that. Thank you for your time. I got to get to the next question. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Let me just get my girls one sec. Me? I'm talking. How many people we got here? We're three. But they're just uh they're just my entourage. Okay. Thank you. Don't worry about the girl. Get the middle. Thank you. Be more respectful. Come on. Oh, they're my girls. I'm always respectful. [Laughter] Anyways, I have a big quick question is about private colleges. Why should they be able to bench the rules of Donald Trump when they get to decide the curriculum? I know. I started off with my co my college Oh, sorry about that. I started my college career in a private university on Lacy like St. Martins's and they're a big Catholic university where they get to decide their own curriculum, their own way of teaching and especially it was religious. And so now Harvard is being struck with a bunch of like um deals where they're not allowed uh they're being rehold $2 billion worth of research funds or was it 200 millions? I'm sorry if I'm two billion right. Thank you. Sorry. Um, but they're a private university. Why should they bend to the knee? Because they're private. I get why public universities because we're funded by the government. But why should private universities vow to the knee of the president? Well, first of all, private universities receive a lot of government money, too, uh, through federal student loans called FAFSA, right? So, FAFSA is all federal student loans. Secondly, that's taxpayer money that is being sent to Harvard, $2 billion. Thirdly, Harvard has a $50 billion endowment. they can pay for their own research. We don't need to be financing research at Harvard when they're sitting on a $50 billion cash pile. Okay. But at the same time, it is like a private university. Like even with if it's like Catholic or not Catholic because I know Harvard is not like a like a religious school, right? It used to be, but now it used to be. Not anymore. Like I went to a fully religious Catholic college, but I bet they still took federal money. Uh you use FA? No, we use WA FASA. Yeah. FASA. Yeah. Was FA? Okay. Yeah. Again, FAFSA. Yeah. So that's that's federal money. Yeah. So the idea of a private school is actually a very questionable idea. But why can't we teach different ideologies at different times? I don't I'm not combating like you know whatever your ideology or whatever behind me's ideology is. That's fine. Harvard can do it at once. We just don't we as taxpayers don't have to finance it. That's the question. Yeah. But at the same time you don't have to finance it. But why is there going to be so much backlash behind it? Why do we must combat them? If they want to teach their way, so be it. There is such a problem with people come constantly combative. Can't we just have a problem where we can disagree and then also I'm not What was your question? Does anyone following this? I'm not. Yeah. No, girl. I was expedited. I'm just trying. It's all good. Thank you very much. Thank you. Can I get a hat? Sure. You were you were very polite. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Nice to meet you, Entourage. [Music] All right, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk show. Time is flying with you, by the way, Dr. James our uh it's truly amazing. I we have actually Charlie's debate with the It's coming. I I don't know that we have it yet uh with the new incoming president. President. Yes. Uh, so we'll play that before this segment ends. But I mean, give us I don't know your your your just sum it all up. Charlie, England, the UK, free speech, wherever you want to take this because we have actually we were just discussing in the break all these other things we're going to get to, but I think it I think we need to put a capstone on this hour. I once made the mistake of asking Charlie what part of the the motherland he he he was from, his family was from. He said, "My surname's Kirk. where do you think I'm from? I said, "Yeah, okay." Right. He's a He's proud of his Scottish heritage. He's he he he he he loved Britain and he had this sort of, you know, I think sometimes in in in our country, we we we get a sense a note of uh almost kind of a smug contempt from from America to to what's going on over here. But but it's just not true. And I think and Charlie sort of personified that. He he Charlie was somebody who he loved the country. He was he was sort of heartbroken at what he saw was happening to it. The fact that it was just losing, you know, that it was no longer the cradle of those founding values that he believed made America great that that that gave America its DNA. And um you know, he was so passionate about about us and and not just, you know, not just recently. I mean, I can't remember when he set up Turning Point UK. I think it must have been in 2017, 2018. Uh I don't know if he's done that in did that in any other country. I mean, he he he had a just a, you know, fierce desire to to to kind of connect that sort of Anglo-American axis and um I think it's been pretty successful. TPUK, they they're the ones who organized that vigil outside Downing Street just just you got a good social media following. Absolutely right. And so it's something we we talked about it a lot actually last month and you know how how to help you know ramp it up and and how to kind of develop this sort of you know a youth movement on the right in Britain and so he was passionate about and I think felt you know the rights in a little bit of chaos at the moment in some ways I think it's kind of fruitful fruitful chaos we talked a lot about it there's all sorts of um emerging movements there's a lot of vitality now I think on the right a lot of philosophical energy a lot of political energy and you're seeing that now reflected in the polling. Do you think that reform do you think Nigel Farage is the likely next prime minister if things hold? Yes, I do. I think he is set to be the next prime minister of the United Kingdom. Whenever the election is going to be held, I think the latest it could be held is is August 2029. That's a long time. That's a long way. That's an eternity in that. Was it Adam Smith who said there's a lot of ruin in a nation? Well, I just don't know how much how much ruin there is left in ours with the current government certainly. Um but yes, I I think if if you were the betting markets and and the polling would suggest that that that Nigel is set. K's very unpopular. Extremely unpopular. Yes, absolutely. I think he's just this week his approval rating sank to below what I think Boris Johnson had at his very you know at the Nadier at the Nater. Exactly. And and um so it sounds better. There's there's there's a lot, you know, there's a lot of maneuverings now on the left, uh, which is now fragmenting into the kind of the rainbow caucus, the crescent caucus, the, uh, the star, the old school socialists. And, uh, it's it may be that he gets start almost very likely that Starmmer gets unseated. I mean, we're good at ditching prime ministers. Yeah. I was going to say, what triggers it? Well, so we're a parliamentary democracy. So what that means is you've got you know the party that can command a majority and command the confidence of the House of Commons is the government and uh now Star's got a majority in the I think 154 and so Turkeys don't vote for Christmas even if the Turkeys really really hate each other and and so it's very likely very likely that the government will survive in some form till you know till the end of the electoral cycle but I suspect um Stal is not going to be that long in in Downing And one could hope. So Nigel's well positioned. By the way, I we were going to play sweat pants, bro, but I actually like this better. Let's Let's play the clip from the UK of Charlie paying you quite the compliment, Blake. 162. Blake is like the smartest person I know. We're going to We're all plenty prepared to like That was uh Sorry, I just had to do that for you. You know, Charlie Charlie uh was very impressed by Blake's intellect and by your memory. And uh that was you traveling with your your travel buddy. You guys were international travel buddies at the end. I mean it really it really was. I I picked up on that reverence for for for Blake over our dinner in Cambridge and uh whenever there was this kind of difficult moment a difficult discussion or we needed some facts of Charlie would turn turn to his left say Blake and he'd always have the answer. Uh well it's true you do have a a weird weirdly photographic memory for history. Maybe it's not photographic. Whatever it is, you have a great recall. You have a great recall. We're going to we're going to transition an hour or two and we're going to talk about this Jimmy Kimmel controversy and we're going to we're going to start debunking this both sidism uh with some some actual facts and uh I think that's important. We'll be right back with Dr. James or don't go anywhere. [Music] not agree on what daily news channel to watch. I'm going to be honest. Yeah, we can talk about it and we all we agree that you know a lot of the mainstreams on you have to agree on it. I'm telling you right now, as someone who is married, when you have to instill values in a child, you cannot have the first elemental issue at 7 a.m. when you turn on the radio or a podcast to be disagreement. You got enough of that already in a home. Yeah. You need to have harmony. Can I ask you like specific issues like we agree on abortion? There's been we've talked about immigration and I've said, you know, Trump's not anti-immigrant. is anti-legal immigrant and we need to protect our own citizens and we need we do need to bring in people from other countries but only when we can actually give them opportunities and we agree on that type of thing. So what what would be dividing belief? Well I asked some what was the revealing I asked would she vote more Republican than Democrat and you and you said again I don't want to put words in your mouth but you said not really. Yeah. And again, I'm only saying build a life with someone where you have agreement on the macro issues. You can have disagreement on the micro issues. You need to agree on religion. You need to agree on eternity. You need to agree on political matters. You could disagree on what type of food you like. That's micro. You could disagree on bedtime, right? You could disagree on the type of cars or where you vacation. That is micro. macro, you must be in alignment. And understand, let's just take for example, you're raising a child and you she's like, "Hey, you know, you you take the son in the morning and then he'll be with the mom." Is that kid going to hear two different things? A house divided can't stand. And that's the point is that there must be harmony because if all of a sudden for example, your wife will be like, well, you know, we Trump is XYZ or and you say, well, no, he's actually this. At some point, it's like they'll look and they'll say, well, there's disunityity there. So, I'm a big believer in macroaggment. I'm not trying to like rock your world here. Yeah. But do not try to change your girlfriend or your future fiance or wife politically. Does not work. Yeah. Yeah, I'm telling you right now, this would actually be a good segue. So, I I was going to come here to Wazu. I go to Spokane Falls Community College. I didn't want to live the party life, the college frat life, and I didn't want to be influenced by liberal universities. I wanted to kind of just work and go to school. And I think a big piece of her political beliefs, I I hear her, she has an open mind to what I say and she starts to agree with things. I think a lot of her life has been influenced by having two liberal parents and then now she's in school. Do not marry this girl. Like you do not want liberal in-laws. Like this is you do not want this. I'm telling you, run away. Find somebody else. In-laws are very important. I'm telling you right now, as someone who's married to two kids, in-laws become embedded. You almost inherit them as pseudo parents. And like if all of a sudden you're going to be like, "Oh, here's Thanksgiving. Here's Christmas." You should be excited about Thanksgiving. You should be excited about it, not like begrudging against it. And so if you want warfare in the family, because here's the sad truth. You want like the more blunt truth? Why not? Is she have a good relationship with her dad? Yeah. She'll side with him over you every time. Yeah. She she she will leak to her parents against you if all of a sudden she feels as if the politics is going under the marriage. Her first love is her dad and if she has a good relationship with her dad and she feels as if that you're like bringing bad ideology in there. I'm sure your mind is turning a little bit because you might have seen some examples of this. She will go back to the liberal parents against you and you'll be on an island. Yeah. And I say she has an open mind. Like I don't want to put her under the stereotypical liberal. And I'm not saying that parents matter though. Yeah. But with her dad, I'll just like give you this anecdote. Uh her dad knows how I voted and we've um and he's a pretty strong advocate against Trump. Uh he hasn't ever brought it up to me. We but we've had a good relationship and she has called out her dad for not having enough of an open mind. and she says that, you know, I'm torn between you two and I think you should be less hateful. I I know. I'm just I'm telling you though, Ty goes to the runner, which means Tai goes to the biology. And because it it's unfair for her to choose like, you know, which one or the other one. I you might think like I'm generalizing. This comes from over 10 years of seeing and doing this that political agreement is a necessary foundational element when you want to try to build a family. Got it. Thank you, man. You got a lot to pray about and wrestle with. Thank you. Yes, sir. [Applause] Thank you. I love my in-laws. My in-laws are great. They're all MAGA. All right. So, that green shirt guy from a little while back got me thinking. How in your mind can someone be a dictator when they willfully gave up their office? I mean, you can act like a dictator. And I mean, Joe Biden didn't even know he was president, right? I mean, so for him, he might still think he didn't sign any documents. I mean, this guy's a joke, right? I mean, and by the way, dictators give up power a lot. Bashar al-Assad willingly gave up power in Syria. That's a bad example. Well, not necessarily. I mean, a dictator implies that there's assumed power there that they have absolute control over. No, not not necessarily. Again, what I was saying is that, let me be even more clear. When you use the law, the law legal apparatus to go after your political opponent that is acting like a dictator. In what way? Because there's a dissident, Donald Trump, that's about to encroach on your power and you're cheating. You are using what should be impartial justice as a way to favor, as a way to give yourself an advantage. So, how was the justice impartial when the warrants used to search his Marilago mansion were in fact issued by an impartial neutral judge? Okay, search warrants are very different than indictments, but we shouldn't be searching Trump's residence in the first place. Former presidents should be off limits, period. Unless they're doing something, I don't like flying to Epstein's Island, then you actually don't get anything wrong that happens to you. So, it's like the point being is that we shouldn't be going after former presidents. Well, can former presidents not engage in corruption then? Of course they are. But we didn't go after Bill Clinton on the Clinton crime initiative for this example. It sets a bad precedent. Well, should we didn't go after Bill Clinton for Epstein Island for this reason because it sets a bad precedent. Shouldn't we set a good precedent though by going after the former presidents who are in fact corrupt? No, actually because almost every president is corrupt and we as a country have never done this before. We basically say these are largely off limits because it will be so divisive and destructive. People want to know why the country is so divided. They tried to put Donald Trump in prison for half a century. What does that do to the country? It's an insult to all of us. As if, oh, you guys are going to have a voice. So sorry. We're going to go lock him up in prison. It doesn't take a lot of schooling to know that that's cheating. That's unfair. That is not playing by the rules. Well, to be fair, right, like it's it's not necessarily not playing by the rules because it wasn't Biden himself that issued that order. It was a Biden appointed his person. No, no, no. It was Merrick Garland that orchestrated the whole thing. And Merrick Garland reported to who? To Joe Biden. Yeah, but they still have their own unique opinions and opinions and ideas. Merrick Garland cannot do something that's not in harmony with the president. Period. Well, no, that's not true because judges are supposed to be in not judges. DOJ, he's the attorney general of the United States. But that's that's still like that's that's someone who's supposed to be impartial. And no, the AG is not impartial. That's not true. The AG is the top law enforcement officer of a president. The president can order cases to be dropped, increased, decreased. That's the thing is the the Department of Justice can't have an opinion on a case, but the president can stop the case, right? Like the president has power to put things to an end, but he doesn't have the power to start things in the DOJ. Yes, he does. You're wrong. He just did that with Miles Taylor. That's not correct. The president the full authority over the attorney general's office. DOJ is completely under the authority of the president of the United States. It's not its own branch. It's not. By the way, tell me what branch of government is it then? What article the Constitution of the DOJ judicial branch? No, it's not actually. It's an article department in a department that's supposed to be neutral to to adequately distribute justice to people who deserve it. Right. Is it not wrong to try and press charges on a former president and then if it comes out that they're innocent, then it's just all said and done? I mean, Trump's trial didn't like get him put in prison for the rest of his life like because the trial never actually came to fruition. Again, I don't even know what we're debating here. It's hard to kind of take what you're saying seriously because you don't even know the branches of government to be honest. So, like here's the here it's like let me just make this as simple as possible. All [Music] [Music] right, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk show. This is Andrew Kulov, your executive producer. I am joined by the great British patriot, Dr. James our uh who it was interesting actually when we hung out in Aspen, there had just been this piece that came out about you calling you the mentor of JD Vance. And you are friends with JD. We are friends with JD. He actually hosted this show the Monday after September 10th and it was a great honor, great tribute. But you you took umbrage with that, didn't you? that framing of things cuz JD hung out. He went on vacation or something and he with in the Cotswwell. Yeah, I've known him known him for a few years. He had a a trip to England over August. It was supposed to be a family holiday, but it it just worked the whole time. It turned into a media circus and he had to cut it short. He did some golf up in up in Scotland, I think. And um no, yeah, I to umbrage at the description. This idea that I'm somehow mentored to the vice president of the United States is not true at all. I've learned a great deal more from him than than he's ever learned from me. Uh but the last time I saw him in Washington must have been just a few days before it happened. I think it was about a week before it happened. And I just said I look I was out in Arizona and spent some time with Charlie and his team and it's my goodness, you know, you're in you're in good shape for 2028. That that that machine is going to be uh is is roaring and with with energy and enthusiasm. We hope he dives in. I mean, every indication would you would think a vice president would be primed for that, but he's very koi about, you know, he's being very respectful and of course we we appreciate that. It's it's it's still the era of Trump and we are we're into that, too. But but yeah, and tell us about your relationship with him. I think that's interesting. Well, we met uh gosh, I think yeah, a few years ago, I think summer of 2019, I think it was through mutual friends and uh yeah, we hit it off. He was he was a private citizen at the time. I'd read Hillbilly is when it came out I think in 2016 out a Tex in front of mine I think it was end of October 2016 pressed a copy into my hands and said Trump is going to win and this is why uh you need to read this and I read it loved it. Wow. So he was on my radar um early on and then had the chance to meet him in 2019. We we hit it off. We talked a lot and not not actually very much about politics at all although you know we did a lot of philosophy talked about talked about faith talked about theology and um I thought gosh this guy this guy's promising he could be a congressman one day congressman looks like he got a bright future. Yeah, everybody. By the way, you know, I usually don't share numbers, but that him hosting Charlie's show, and I I hope people understand there's a there's a difference between a million views on YouTube and a different uh and a million downloads of a podcast. I I've never seen a podcast. Let's just say it's true. It's our most downloaded podcast. It's the most downloaded podcast episode. And I will just say that ever of all time. And JD does such a magnificent job. And I was thinking about that this morning, what he said on his episode when he hosted, he said, "Yes, we want unity, but first we have to have truth." And I think that is really relevant to something that's happening in our own news cycle right now. And the truth is, and and I think we're going to discuss both this hour about this both sidesism. It's a lie. But also Jimmy Kimmel said that, you know, he essentially inferred stated I think very clearly that the shooter was came from MAGA. And that really upset me. And I'll explain why. Because if you can lie about something so fundamental where this, you know, this individual had a trans boyfriend or whatever, however you supposed to say it, I think that's probably the right way to say it, that he was into all this weird stuff. He was writing all of all of these notes on these these bullet casings and things like that and his own parents were worried about his radicalism. And then to go on the air and say no actually it was from MAGA. MAGA killed him. What that means to me is that you can lie with impunity that there is a machinery in place that will defend you. your life is not important that I'm I'm free to desecrate you know your memory because conservative is bad and what you had it coming and more should you know it's basically a license to say we're going to support you guys if you guys go do this stuff out in the out in the real world and that's not okay and so we have clips Blake I don't know which clip it is the Jimmy Kimmel in response to the backlash you received I yeah uh we can just play one of these I mean, it doesn't matter. Uh, 132. I don't think what I have to say is going to make much of a difference. If you like me, you like me. If you don't, you don't. I have no illusions about changing