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Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, the largest and fastest growing conservative youth activist organization in the country with over 250,000 student members, over 150 full-time staff, and a presence on over 2,000 high school and college campuses nationwide. Charlie is also the Chairman of Students for Trump, which aims to activate one million new college voters on campuses in battleground states in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election. His social media reaches over 100 million people per month and according to Axios, he is one of the "top 10 most engaged" Twitter handles in the world. He is also the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which regularly ranks among the top news shows on Apple podcast charts.
Charlie Kirk Exposes Professional Protesters at No Kings Rally with Journalist Nate Friedman
Charlie Kirk dissects the No Kings protest with independent journalist Nate Friedman, revealing the reality behind what appears to be coordinated, professional activism. Friedman documents protesters who attend dozens of demonstrations across the country, including one associate director at Lincoln Center found at nearly 100 different protests. Kirk contrasts the protesters' claims of defending democracy with their silence during COVID lockdowns and vaccine mandates. The conversation exposes the funding networks, the predominantly elderly white demographic of protesters who criticize others for lacking diversity, and the organized efforts to silence independent journalists. Friedman shares his experiences being targeted, photographed, and blocked from interviewing protesters, while Kirk celebrates this new generation of grassroots journalists documenting what mainstream media ignores.
Charlie Kirk opened his show by addressing the No Kings protest that took place over the weekend, pointing out what he sees as glaring hypocrisy. He questioned where these protesters were during what he considers the most authoritarian period in recent American history—the COVID lockdowns imposed by Democrat governors, when vaccine passports were required to enter cities like New York and Los Angeles, and when American military members were discharged for refusing the COVID vaccine.
Kirk noted that the same party that selected Kamala Harris as their candidate without a primary election process, and the same party that prevented Bernie Sanders from becoming the nominee in 2016 and partially in 2020, now claims Trump is acting like a king. He argued that no honest person looking at the situation would conclude Trump is a dictator, unless they are part of what he called the "resist AARP crowd."
Demographics of the Protest Movement
Kirk drew attention to images from the No Kings protest, describing the crowd as appearing old and predominantly white. He acknowledged that not all boomers are liberals and that his audience includes many great boomers who watch on Real America's Voice. However, he found it interesting that the same people who constantly complain about things being "too white"—including Turning Point USA events—were themselves part of a gathering with no age diversity, racial diversity, or cultural diversity. Kirk clarified he's not the diversity police and doesn't care if people want to have an all-white gathering, but pointed out the hypocrisy of those who do care criticizing others.
Meet Nate Friedman: Independent Journalist
Kirk introduced Nate Friedman, host of the Nate Friedman Show and independent journalist, who was on the front lines of the No Kings protest. Friedman describes himself as a boots-on-the-ground journalist who speaks to people on the street to understand what's really going on in the country. His YouTube channel is Nate Friedman 97.
Exposing Professional Protesters
Friedman shared a powerful video he captured at the No Kings protest where he identified protesters who do this for a living. One woman, Karen Shawl, attempted to stop his interview. After some investigation, Friedman discovered she is a professional protester whom he found at almost 100 different protests. Her portfolio includes protesting outside Trump Tower, promoting abortion, supporting drag events, and various other causes. Shawl works as an associate director at Lincoln Center in New York City, a prominent theater, but travels all over the country to protest.
Friedman explained that he knew she was a professional protester because "no one behaves like that for free." He has personally met and dealt with an entire network of these paid protesters.
The Coordinated Effort to Silence Independent Journalists
At the Tesla Takedown protest, Friedman encountered an older woman who immediately labeled him a "right-wing troll" and followed him around, asking everyone he tried to speak with not to talk to him. This happened before he had even conducted a single interview. The same arrow and signs appeared at the No Kings protest, printed exactly the same way. Friedman found this original woman at 20 to 30 different protests all over the country, including in DC blocking the Capitol and stopping senators in the cafeteria.
These protesters work as a team, constantly telling each other and potential interviewees not to speak with Friedman. He noted the irony that they "eat their own"—when someone wants to have a conversation with him, their fellow protesters tell them not to. Friedman observed that since the left lost the election, they should know that to win back votes, they need to have conversations with the other side, but instead they refuse dialogue.
Standing with Iran
At an ICE protest, Friedman encountered a man holding a sign that read "I stand with Iran." The man claimed Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon and would never want to nuke America, stating he had been to Iran. When Friedman asked about Iran's supreme leader saying "death to America," the protester dismissed it as propaganda. Friedman later found this man at six or seven different protests with a veterans association.
Despite appreciating that the man was willing to speak with him for over 10 minutes, Friedman noted the interviewee lied every two to three minutes. One of the biggest lies was that Iran is not funding terrorism, despite videos of Hamas thanking Iran for money. When Friedman asked where he got his news, the man said Iranian media.
Friedman's Journey into Journalism
Friedman got his start around the NATO summit when President Biden called Zelenskyy "Putin." He felt he couldn't stay on the sidelines anymore, viewing it as a national security risk with someone obviously not running the country. He became curious whether people on the street would vote for Biden again and wanted to hear from both sides. Friedman wanted to give the country an idea of why people vote for certain candidates, believing that while polls provide data, they don't explain the reasoning behind people's choices. By letting people talk, he allows viewers to make up their own minds.
The Funding Behind the Protests
When asked about financing, Friedman explained that Karen Shawl works for a company called Rise and Resist. Many nonprofits fund these activities, including Jewish Voices for Peace. Their donation links go to ActBlue, which gives a starting idea of who's behind the protests. The protests do skew older, and Friedman met an older woman in her 70s wearing a "Make Mexico America Again" hat who expressed what he characterized as hatred for America.
Friedman pointed out the irony that at a "No Kings" protest, everyone is freely chanting against the supposed king, which doesn't make sense if there were actually a dictator in power.
Coordinated and Financed Operations
Friedman covered the New York City protests, noting that the protests in Los Angeles got very unruly and were obviously choreographed and financed. Kirk complimented Friedman's talent for getting into these situations, noting that protesters are starting to recognize him.
At the Trump Tower occupation protest, Friedman tried to speak with protesters, but they often told him to speak to their "media person" rather than thinking independently. When he asked if Trump is a dictator, they refused to answer because they knew that if he were, they wouldn't be allowed to mass outside his wife and son's home.
Friedman encountered a woman working for Jewish Currents, a magazine company that often works with Jewish Voices for Peace, a far-left radical group that does not speak for the Jewish people and actually celebrated October 7th. This woman was the protest leader and the only one he was "qualified" to speak to, yet she was there in the middle of the day because she works for this magazine.
Intimidation Tactics
At a recent anti-ICE protest, masked men in keffiyehs wearing sunglasses walked up to Friedman, took photos of his press ID, and refused to speak with him despite having "nothing to hide" as press. While it's not pleasant to have masked men photograph his press credentials, Friedman said that's what he's willing to risk when out in the field.
Message to Liberal Jews
As a young Jewish man, Friedman demonstrated what Kirk called "chutzpah" by going into the streets to cover these protests. When asked what he learned about the radical left that he wishes other Americans and liberal Jews would know, Friedman stated that Trump has been the best president of all time for Jewish people. He cited moving the embassy to Jerusalem, his daughter converting to Judaism, his love for the Jewish people, and bringing many hostages home. Friedman believes that bringing those people home should be enough, and Trump said he was going to do it and did.
The Future of Grassroots Journalism
Kirk celebrated Friedman as part of an ever-growing community of young dissident journalists, saying this is what Andrew Breitbart wanted to see. Breitbart always said, "You have a phone, get out in the streets, ask a couple questions." Kirk mentioned other grassroots journalists like Frontlines and Kalin, emphasizing that this type of dissident frontlines journalism helps keep the country free.
Friedman can be found at Nate Friedman 97 on YouTube, where he speaks to everybody on the street from both sides, never showing bias in interviews, and letting viewers make their own judgments. Kirk ended by noting that everyone in his audience has the capacity to be a grassroots journalist, but few will do it, which is what makes those who do so valuable.
