Charlie Kirk on the Republican Party After Trump and What It Means to Be Conservative

[00:00] as Democrats continue their impeachment

[00:02] inquiry into President Trump the

[00:04] Republican Party certainly appears to be

[00:05] solidly behind him of the three men

[00:07] vying for the GOP nomination only to say

[00:10] that they support impeachment so what

[00:12] did the Republican Party actually look

[00:13] like after President Trump I actually

[00:15] spoke with the founder of turning-point

[00:17] USA charlie kirk about the direction of

[00:19] the party and what he thinks that it

[00:21] means to be conservative

[00:22] take a listen charlie thank you so much

[00:24] for joining us really appreciate it I

[00:26] love love the program so Charlie you're

[00:28] here politican tell us a little bit

[00:29] about why you're up to what are you

[00:31] trying to do well capping off a pretty

[00:33] exciting week did a multi-state campus

[00:36] tour started at Grand Canyon University

[00:38] with Donald Trump jr. did Colorado State

[00:40] Iowa and New Hampshire flew back for our

[00:42] Western Regional Conference in Newport

[00:43] Beach and here we are in Nashville I'm

[00:46] participating in a debate against Kyle

[00:47] kolinsky

[00:48] so that should be quite interesting

[00:49] what's the debate gonna be about what

[00:51] Islam so it's actually gonna be about

[00:53] president Trump a lot of it we'll see

[00:55] where it goes I mean these things kind

[00:56] of shape-shift in their own way but the

[01:00] premise is supposed to be has President

[01:01] Trump made America great again

[01:03] I guess the debates going to be more can

[01:05] I at least get Kyle to admit there's

[01:07] been some marginal improvement in

[01:09] America's condition over the last three

[01:11] two and a half years because it's

[01:12] something tells me based on where he's

[01:14] coming from he's not gonna want to give

[01:15] much credence to the argument so Charlie

[01:19] tell us about I guess the support of

[01:21] President Trump right so like Turning

[01:23] Point USA it's almost intrinsically

[01:25] linked to the administration at this

[01:27] point what is it about Trump in

[01:29] particular that makes you guys fused

[01:31] together so we have a 501 C 4 which is

[01:34] students for Trump and that's outwardly

[01:36] pro Trump the 501 C 3 does educational

[01:39] events we've done a lot at the White

[01:40] House but we have to stay very

[01:41] disciplined on an education you know the

[01:45] importance of me with that disclaimer I

[01:46] totally get it so what are you trying to

[01:48] educate people about thank you so I

[01:50] appreciate that so first and foremost I

[01:52] say this at every speech I give I say

[01:54] that America is the greatest country

[01:55] ever to exist in a history of the world

[01:57] and when you start from that perspective

[01:59] you want to defend restore and hopefully

[02:02] revitalize America if you think it's

[02:04] going in that in the wrong direction and

[02:06] the argument that I will make tonight

[02:08] personally is that President Trump has

[02:10] revitalized America now we still have

[02:12] some very pressing challenges

[02:13] I think one of the most unaddressed ones

[02:15] would be the national debt and deficit

[02:17] as a fiscal Hawk myself and as kind of a

[02:19] as a fan of Rand Paul I just kind of get

[02:23] worried when we have one trillion

[02:24] dollars in debt but that's the question

[02:26] right it's like how how do you were fan

[02:28] of Rand Paul and a fan of Donald Trump

[02:30] well I could tell you exactly so I began

[02:33] with one thing that I found to be a

[02:34] challenge but now I'm going to tell you

[02:35] all the things I love I love Gorsuch I

[02:37] love Cavanaugh I loved 150 Circuit Court

[02:39] judges I love a more restrained foreign

[02:41] policy and reconsidering these foreign

[02:43] occupations and those success insight in

[02:45] Afghanistan I love the tax cut bill I

[02:47] love deregulation I love the

[02:48] appreciation for the American

[02:50] entrepreneur and free enterprise and so

[02:52] look i-i've said you know once I'll say

[02:54] it again that I think one of the biggest

[02:56] one of the things that we have to

[02:58] address most urgently is our debt and

[02:59] deficit and I think we as conservatives

[03:01] we made our brand and our nationwide

[03:03] kind of call to action under Obama under

[03:06] that and I think the president

[03:07] recognizes this in the sense that he

[03:09] submitted budgets that would eventually

[03:10] balance Congress has just thrown those

[03:12] out the window and you know he's been

[03:13] kind of Stonewall about men what about

[03:15] with the voters though right cuz you

[03:16] look at that you look at the election I

[03:17] mean they basically what they wanted was

[03:19] less immigration and better trade no I

[03:22] mean Mitt Romney ran on a lot of what

[03:24] you're talking about here and he didn't

[03:26] win so well so right I mean I I don't I

[03:29] agree on the I agree that we should have

[03:31] less illegal immigration and in some

[03:32] ways less chain migration Visa Lottery I

[03:34] think look if I had your analysis is not

[03:37] incorrect I don't think but I think it's

[03:39] multi I think 2016 is multifaceted if I

[03:41] had to overly generalize which is a very

[03:43] dangerous thing to do I think there was

[03:45] a I don't like the Bush family anymore

[03:47] I don't like the Clinton family here's a

[03:50] guy who says he's gonna go blow it all

[03:51] up metaphorically of course not like

[03:52] Madonna right metaphorically why not

[03:55] let's give him a shot and then if you

[03:56] actually looked there were districts but

[03:58] have not voted Republican in a long time

[04:00] like the districts districts in southern

[04:02] Colorado and districts in northern New

[04:03] Mexico that voted for Donald Trump on

[04:04] those issues of more restrictive

[04:06] immigration and on trade well President

[04:08] Chavez renegotiated trade deals got to

[04:10] give him credit for that

[04:10] he's I think one of the longest-lasting

[04:12] most significant accomplishments of the

[04:14] Trump presidency is our reorientation

[04:17] towards China and I think a lot of

[04:19] people are acknowledged that rich Lowry

[04:21] who's now he wrote the against Trump

[04:23] said my goodness this is one of the

[04:24] greatest things China is the number one

[04:25] enemy

[04:26] the United States I mean what they're

[04:27] doing has to be addressed and so I think

[04:28] that's a huge positive and then from the

[04:30] immigration standpoint the president has

[04:32] tried to put forth least some

[04:33] common-sense immigration reform ending

[04:35] visa lottery chain migration southern

[04:37] board apprehensions are going down

[04:39] finally it took a very asymmetrical

[04:40] approach I would argue that it took

[04:43] threatening to put Mexican tariff

[04:45] tariffs on Mexico to actually get Mexico

[04:47] to help enforce the Sun and border I

[04:49] think the latest board apprehensions is

[04:50] 57,000 people and how do you square that

[04:52] with the Rand Paul you know cuz I talked

[04:54] to Rand Paul on the show two weeks ago I

[04:56] don't believe in everything he says

[04:57] right but I I'm like he's actually my

[04:59] favorite US Senator but I think Rand

[05:01] does believe in a strong southern border

[05:02] I'm more hawkish on I'm more I'm closer

[05:04] to send her cotton immigration posted a

[05:06] Senator Rand Paul on size and scope of

[05:08] governments you know get rid of our

[05:09] education commerce energy I think

[05:11] there's no more if you know get the joke

[05:12] with Rick Perry actually remember l-3 we

[05:14] love Rick Perry here though but no look

[05:16] the point being is I think the trump

[05:18] presidency is a disruptive presidency

[05:21] and people know that I'm a very

[05:22] supportive you know advocate of the

[05:23] president and I don't back down from

[05:25] that but the economic success is pretty

[05:27] unprecedented I love the fact that we're

[05:29] reconsidering these foreign wars it

[05:31] seems that there's been this bipartisan

[05:32] agreement that we have to occupy every

[05:34] country that looks at us little you know

[05:36] incorrectly and I just think that's

[05:37] wrong and with the recent news today it

[05:39] shows that you don't need a huge foreign

[05:41] occupation force to actually go after

[05:42] enemies don't want to kill us with al

[05:45] Baghdadi which is something very very

[05:46] promising there and look also the judges

[05:48] I think one of the longest lasting

[05:49] successes of the trump presidency 150

[05:51] impartial judges Gorsuch and Kavanagh

[05:53] it's pretty big so here's the question

[05:55] what does it all look like after trauma

[05:56] this is what I've been asking all the

[05:58] time so what does it look like I mean

[06:00] you have one of the biggest

[06:01] organizations in the conservative

[06:02] movement

[06:02] what's it what are you guys gonna be

[06:04] pushed so under the assumption he wins

[06:06] re-election

[06:07] let's just play that gaming cuz I don't

[06:09] know I'd say it's probably 50/50 the

[06:11] Democrats gonna throw everything they

[06:12] got at us let's play the theoretical he

[06:14] wins re-election look the conservative

[06:16] movement and I have a book coming up

[06:18] about this I think it's gonna be very

[06:19] positive in a sense that we're gonna be

[06:20] able to have the intellectual space and

[06:23] permission to not have to say we have to

[06:24] declare war in every country that looks

[06:26] at us incorrectly to maybe be against

[06:28] regime change now mind you President

[06:30] Trump was highly critical of John

[06:32] Bolton's Libya strategy which was one of

[06:34] the worst decisions we've ever made and

[06:36] you know recent US history will be this

[06:38] place could

[06:39] Qaddafi's a horrible guy but now we have

[06:40] like an Isis power vacuum in Libya I

[06:42] think that's a good thing because we as

[06:43] conservatives if we believe in limited

[06:45] government we believe in you know

[06:47] restricting government power and

[06:48] government spending war is a big the war

[06:50] machines a big part of that so I think

[06:51] that's a really good long lasting legacy

[06:53] and honestly I don't think that I think

[06:56] there's something positive about the

[06:57] Trump legacy of saying we can be for the

[06:59] American worker again might look

[07:00] differently to every person but I think

[07:02] the technocratic Mitt Romney George HW

[07:04] Bush way of saying that we're only gonna

[07:06] talk supply-side economics at the

[07:08] Manhattan Economic Club that doesn't

[07:10] resonate to folks in Iowa and Colorado

[07:12] and I think there's something okay with

[07:14] that now I'm a free trade guy she's got

[07:15] it how to reconcile the to say how is

[07:17] that reckless about right yeah I think

[07:19] there are ways to say though that there

[07:21] has been a squeezing out of middle

[07:22] America that there has been a turning on

[07:24] the back my argument would be that the

[07:25] power center in the wealth center has

[07:27] gone to Washington DC and you actually

[07:29] put the richest counties in America it's

[07:31] all around causation right right but

[07:34] there was something we said that China

[07:35] has deliberately dumped products they

[07:37] you know they've they've stolen our IP

[07:38] and they waged you Kannamma Quarren us

[07:40] for a long time and I hope that the new

[07:42] China deal reflects at least some for

[07:44] some some form of some form of

[07:47] equilibrium that we're able to sell our

[07:48] products and that you know the American

[07:50] worker can be given at least a fair of a

[07:52] fair shot well Charlie thank you so much

[07:53] for joining us really appreciate ya

[07:54] thank you yeah