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Charlie Kirk Reveals How Turning Point USA Beat Billionaire Democrats at Their Own Game
Charlie Kirk breaks down two revealing New York Times articles that expose the Democrat Party's post-election crisis. At the Salamander Hotel in Washington DC, major Democrat donors including Reid Hoffman and Alexander Soros gathered for what attendees described as a funeral, trying to understand how they lost despite their wealth and institutional power. Kirk explains how Turning Point USA's influencer network and grassroots strategy outmaneuvered the Democrat establishment, turning smartphones into political weapons while Democrats relied on outdated door-knocking campaigns. The piece reveals billionaire Democrats contemplating leaving the country, desperately trying to replicate the conservative media ecosystem that defeated them, and coming to terms with a fundamental reality: they were outflanked, outplayed, and outsmarted by a bottom-up movement they never saw coming.
The Salamander Hotel Funeral
Charlie Kirk opens his discussion by highlighting two remarkable pieces published in the New York Times that reveal the internal crisis within the Democrat Party following their election loss. At the Salamander Hotel in Washington DC, the Democracy Alliance, a network of major liberal donors, convened for what multiple attendees described as a funeral. The typically sedate biannual meeting became a four-day group therapy session, with dejected Democrats debating what happened over early morning breakfasts and evening drinks around fire pits.
Kirk emphasizes what this gathering represents: "When the Democrats would say that our democracy is under attack, what they were really saying is that our oligarchy is under attack, that the rule of the few, that those of us in the Council of experts that know better than you." He draws parallels to the Kash Patel appointment, explaining how it represents an effort to restore the founders' vision by bringing law enforcement back into alignment with the consent of the governed rather than allowing it to operate as its own unregulated, distant branch of government.
Billionaires Contemplating Exodus
The first New York Times piece, titled "What's a Democratic Billionaire to Do Now," written by Theodore Schleifer, reveals a stunning development: some rich Democrats are contemplating leaving the country. Kirk isolates this detail to make a crucial point about the fundamental difference between Democrat and Republican wealthy donors.
"I do not know a single rich Republican that after Joe Biden became president in 2020 was contemplating leaving America," Kirk states. "It seems as if the Democrats look at their relationship with America far more transactionally than Republicans do. Democrats look at this as a temporary colony to make a bunch of money to exert a fair amount of power. They do not have a loyalty or a fidelity to this country the same way that those as conservatives would do."
The article specifically highlights LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, described as one of the biggest donors in the Democrat Party, who has considered what would once be unthinkable for a billionaire who often talks about his patriotism: leaving the United States. Hoffman, who has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on politics over the last few years, has told friends and allies that he's weighing a move overseas, according to three people with knowledge of the talks who insisted on anonymity.
The Turning Point Advantage
Kirk transitions to the second major New York Times article: "Republicans Built an Ecosystem of Influencers, Some Democrats Want One Too." This piece details how Democrats were badly outflanked online in the election and how progressive influencers are now trying to create networks to be a left-wing answer to Turning Point USA.
Kirk credits his audience directly: "All of you in this audience that support Turning Point USA, all of you in this audience that support Turning Point Action, all of you in this audience that support the Charlie Kirk Show, you're the reason why Democrats are crying into their white wine at the Salamander Hotel."
The article explains that while Turning Point has operated a multi-hundred-person influencer network for the last five years, sourcing and training talent while building a grassroots organization that harmonizes with the influencer program, Democrats are only now recognizing what they're up against. The Times writes that while many on the left spent weeks debating whether Kamala Harris should have granted an interview to Joe Rogan, the world's most popular podcast host, progressive influencers are now more interested in building up a Rogan of their own.
Kirk notes the irony: "Remember, they had Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan endorsed Bernie Sanders. Joe Rogan was a man of the liberal left. They alienated Rogan and Rogan proudly joined our movement." He describes how the regime came after Rogan during COVID, over his use of Ivermectin, and how they tried to smear, censor, and slander him and his followers.
Shell-Shocked Donors and the Soros Connection
Back at the Salamander Hotel, two Democrat donors said unprompted that the scene felt like a funeral. Steve Silverstein, a software entrepreneur who has donated millions to Democrats over the last decade, stated in an interview: "People are kind of shell-shocked, trying to remember what has happened. People are trying to adjust to reality and plot out a path forward."
Among the attendees was Carlota Jitton, a major progressive donor, alongside Alexander Soros. Kirk emphasizes the significance: "Everybody, you beat the wealthiest, most powerful people on the planet. Our grassroots hustle, our bottom-up energy, the infrastructure that we all built together."
Alexander Soros is quoted in the piece: "I was always concerned about Mr. Trump's victory. However, we're not going to give up. We're going to keep our commitment to progressive causes." Kirk positions Soros as "leading the funeral procession" of the Democrat Party's post-election crisis.
The Fundamental Miscalculation
Kirk identifies the core of the Democrat failure: going into election day, Democrats were convinced they were going to win. "We thought we could win, we could lose, we were always in the middle," Kirk explains, contrasting the conservative approach with Democrat overconfidence. "But the American people rose up in numbers that they could never possibly comprehend. This was a revolt against the elites. This was the closest to the reclamation of the Republic we've ever seen."
He then dramatizes the Democrat perspective in the aftermath: "If you're a Democrat, all we can say is we hope that Susie decides that she's going to take a long vacation, that they hire some terrible people and make some mistakes to give us a chance. Right now they have everything. They got the Supreme Court, they got the Electoral College, they got the House, they got the Senate, they got the popular vote, and we're just sitting here with the dunce cap on."
Kirk continues the Democrat internal monologue: "Last week we thought we were the smartest people in the world. We thought Donald Trump was an idiot. We thought his campaign made no sense, and it turned out they were smarter than us and we don't have anything to say."
The Digital Battlefield Victory
The final revelation Kirk shares is how Democrats completely misunderstood the modern political landscape. While Democrats were knocking on doors in Philadelphia and Detroit, mocking Republicans for not having a visible ground game, conservatives were building something entirely different.
"We were making fun of Donald Trump for having thrown away his ground game and doing some weird stuff online," Kirk characterizes the Democrat thinking. "We were making fun of Elon Musk and Charlie Kirk, their PACs don't know what they're doing. We thought that they were idiots. It turned out we were the idiots."
Kirk delivers the final assessment: "We woke up in a body bag because while we were knocking on doors, they were making these phones into 24-hour-a-day political weapons for themselves. And so we got outflanked, outplayed, outbeat by people who told us the whole time that they knew what they were doing."
The piece concludes with Democrats at their donor retreat having no clear path forward, no good ideas on their Zoom calls, and the realization that it will take them a long time to figure out how to compete in the new political landscape that conservatives built while they weren't paying attention.
Video Transcript
[00:00] and I want to begin today talking about
[00:01] this remarkable piece that was published
[00:04] over the weekend in the New York Times
[00:06] and it shows your power it shows the
[00:09] power of everybody in this audience
[00:11] every single one of you that chased
[00:12] ballots and registered voters every
[00:14] single one of you that worked in the
[00:15] Grassroots that started Turning Point
[00:17] USA hubs and became a Grassroots
[00:21] activist it shows what you went up
[00:24] against and The Losers of this last
[00:28] election just recently convened at the
[00:30] salamander Hotel in Washington
[00:33] DC when the Democrats would say that our
[00:36] democracy is under attack what they were
[00:38] really saying is that our oligarchy is
[00:41] under attack that the rule of the few
[00:43] that those of us in the Council of
[00:45] experts that know better than you and
[00:47] this is very similar to the situation
[00:48] that we articulated yesterday of why
[00:51] cash Patel matters so much that the cash
[00:54] Patel appointment is trying to restore
[00:55] the founders vision for law enforcement
[00:57] and for the administration of justice
[01:00] that it will not be its own outof
[01:03] regulated out of Regulation distant
[01:06] branch of government and bring it back
[01:08] into alignment with the consent of the
[01:10] Govern there is a remarkable piece in
[01:13] the New York Times that says this what's
[01:16] a democratic billionaire to do now the
[01:20] party's donor class is still wrestling
[01:21] with Donald Trump's Victory worried
[01:23] about retribution and sluggish liberal
[01:25] energy some rich Democrats are even
[01:28] pondering leaving the country country
[01:30] this is by Theodore schlier who is a
[01:32] very very talented reporter for the New
[01:34] York
[01:35] Times let me Begin by first isolating
[01:38] one of the subheads here some rich
[01:40] Democrats are even pondering leaving the
[01:43] country now I'm sure there is an
[01:44] exception to what I'm about to say but I
[01:46] do not know a single Rich Republican
[01:50] that after Joe Biden became president in
[01:52] 2020 was contemplating leaving America
[01:54] some people would joke about it some
[01:56] people would say oh you know I'm going
[01:57] to leave but it seems as if the
[01:59] Democrats look at their relationship
[02:01] with America far more transactionally
[02:04] than Republicans do Democrats look at
[02:07] this as a temporary colony to make a
[02:09] bunch of money to exert a buch a fair
[02:12] amount of power they do not have a
[02:14] loyalty or a Fidelity to this country
[02:17] the same way that those as conservatives
[02:19] would do the piece Begins by saying this
[02:22] in the weeks after election day one of
[02:24] the biggest donors in the Democrat Party
[02:26] the LinkedIn co-founder Reed Hoffman has
[02:29] considered what would once be
[02:30] Unthinkable for a billionaire who often
[02:32] talks about his patriotism leaving the
[02:35] United States well maybe his patriotism
[02:37] was all a facade Mr Hoffman who has
[02:40] spent hundreds of millions of dollars on
[02:41] politics over the last few years has
[02:43] told friends and allies that he's
[02:45] weighing a move overseas according to
[02:46] three people with knowledge of the talks
[02:48] who insisted on anonymity to discuss
[02:51] private conversations Hoffman declined
[02:53] to comment uh through who declined a
[02:55] comment through a spokesperson um and
[02:57] has helped pay for some of those
[02:58] aggressive private l NE ation against
[03:00] Donald Trump the piece continues several
[03:04] major donors or their advisers have
[03:06] privately floated the idea of moving
[03:10] abroad saying that it would protect
[03:12] their assets from Mr Trump's
[03:15] wrath some are Distributing memos meant
[03:18] to guide the postmortem analysis for
[03:20] Democrats beginning to kick around the
[03:22] ideas for New Media companies or
[03:24] imploring their peers to not let liberal
[03:26] fundraising dry up now this is a perfect
[03:29] segue by the way to another New York
[03:31] Times article that I want to draw your
[03:33] attention to before I continue on this
[03:35] one so Democrats are meeting at the
[03:36] salamander hotel and this is what it
[03:38] says here the salamander Hotel in
[03:40] Washington where the typically sedate
[03:42] biannual meeting of the Democracy
[03:44] Alliance a network of major liberal
[03:45] donors became a 4-day group therapy
[03:48] session dejected Democrats debate about
[03:50] what happened at early morning breakfast
[03:52] and evening drinks around a fire pit on
[03:55] the sidelines of the conference the
[03:56] first Gathering of its type since the
[03:58] election the lobby was B in with
[04:00] Democrat donors operatives and
[04:01] Interlopers caught up with friends now
[04:04] let me just kind of put a pause on that
[04:06] article and then highlight another New
[04:09] York Times article that came out this
[04:11] weekend and it was about turning point
[04:13] USA and turning point action so you have
[04:16] a bunch of donors wondering how did we
[04:17] lose how did we lose how did we lose we
[04:19] need to start New Media companies we
[04:20] need to start our own podcasting well
[04:23] let me draw your attention to this other
[04:25] article that is very very important and
[04:27] all of you in this audience that support
[04:29] turning Point USA all of you in this
[04:31] audience that support Turning Point
[04:32] action all of you in this audience that
[04:34] support the Charlie Kirk show you're the
[04:36] reason why Democrats are crying into
[04:39] their white wine at the salamander
[04:41] Hotel Republicans built an ecosystem of
[04:44] influencers some Democrats want one two
[04:47] Democrats were badly outflanked online
[04:49] in the election and Progressive
[04:51] influencers are now trying to create
[04:53] networks to be a leftwing answer to
[04:55] Turning Point
[04:56] USA the article goes into great detail
[04:59] about how the left and how Democrat
[05:04] operatives have been
[05:06] unable to build an influencer Network
[05:09] like we have on the right now mind you I
[05:11] wish I could take full credit for this
[05:13] and to be fair Turning Point has
[05:15] operated a multi hundred person
[05:16] influencer Network for the last 5 years
[05:18] we have sourced amazing talent we have
[05:20] trained amazing talent we have this
[05:22] Grassroots organization that is that
[05:25] harmonizes with the influencer program
[05:28] The New York Times article rights while
[05:30] many on the left have spent the last few
[05:31] weeks debating whether Miss Harris
[05:33] should have granted an interview on the
[05:34] right leaning host of the world's most
[05:36] popular podcast some Progressive
[05:37] influencers are now more interested in
[05:39] building up a Rogan of their own their
[05:42] goal is to eventually Forge
[05:44] self-sustaining advocacy groups and
[05:45] networks a leftwing answer to the
[05:47] nonprofit Turning Point USA But first
[05:50] they'll need buyin and cash from
[05:52] Democrat donors and institutions to
[05:54] compete in a new attention economy where
[05:57] people's time is the currency now
[05:58] remember they had Joe Rogan Joe Rogan
[06:03] endorsed Bernie Sanders Joe Rogan was a
[06:06] man of the liberal left they alienated
[06:10] Rogan and Rogan proudly joined our
[06:13] movement how they treated him during
[06:15] covid how they treated him because he
[06:16] took Iver mechon how they tried to smear
[06:18] and censor and slander him how the full
[06:20] force the regime came after Rogan and
[06:23] all of his
[06:25] followers now let me remind you of
[06:29] something
[06:30] something very very important that we
[06:33] complain a lot about how they control
[06:35] the media it turns out then going back
[06:37] to the other piece these Democrats at a
[06:41] at a these Democrat donors at a
[06:43] conference and a retreat are wondering
[06:46] how is it that turning
[06:49] point and this Army that we were told
[06:52] didn't exist beat us the piece continues
[06:56] two attendees two Democrat donors said
[06:59] un prompted that the scene of democrat
[07:01] donors in DC felt like a
[07:05] funeral you helped make that funeral
[07:08] happen and what they were eulogizing is
[07:10] the death of the modern Democrat Party
[07:14] People are kind of Shell Shocked trying
[07:15] to remember what has happened St Steve
[07:18] Silverstein a software entrepreneur who
[07:21] has donated Millions to Democrats over
[07:22] the last decade s in an interview quote
[07:24] people are trying to adjust to reality
[07:27] and plot out a path
[07:31] forward carlot jiton a major Progressive
[07:35] donor was was there alongside of guess
[07:39] who Alexander Soros everybody you beat
[07:42] the wealthiest most powerful people on
[07:45] the
[07:46] planet our Grassroots hustle our bottom
[07:50] up energy the infrastructure that we all
[07:52] built together Mr Soros says he's quoted
[07:56] in the piece quote I was always
[07:58] concerned about Mr Trump's Victory he
[08:00] said however we're not going to give up
[08:03] we're going to keep our commitment to
[08:04] Progressive
[08:05] causes there are so many takeaways here
[08:08] everybody but one of the major ones is
[08:10] going into election day Democrats were
[08:12] convinced they were going to win they
[08:15] thought they were going to win we
[08:18] thought the we didn't know the same we
[08:19] said we could win we could lose we were
[08:20] always in the
[08:21] middle but the American people rose up
[08:23] in numbers that they could never
[08:25] possibly
[08:26] comprehend this was a revolt against the
[08:29] Elites this was the closest to the
[08:32] Reclamation of the Republic we've ever
[08:34] seen and now Democrats are confused they
[08:37] are Haywire trying to decide their
[08:40] Direction forward and Alexander Soros
[08:42] the heir to the Soros
[08:44] Fortune is leading the funeral
[08:47] procession if you're the
[08:49] Democrats what are you going to do for
[08:51] the next two years how do you regroup
[08:53] therapy we all going to therapy I don't
[08:56] why why are we here there's nothing if
[08:58] if you're a Democrat all we can say is
[09:01] we hope that Susie decides that she's
[09:03] going to take a long vacation that they
[09:05] hire some terrible people and make some
[09:06] mistakes to give us a chance right now
[09:09] they have everything they got the
[09:10] Supreme Court they got the Electoral
[09:12] College they got the house they got
[09:13] probably they got the Senate they got
[09:15] the popular to vote and we're just
[09:16] sitting here with the dun cap on last
[09:18] this time last week we thought we were
[09:19] the smartest people in the world we
[09:21] thought Donald Trump was an idiot we
[09:22] thought his campaign made no sense and
[09:24] it turned out they were smarter than us
[09:25] and we don't have anything to say you
[09:27] know I can sit here and pretend I know
[09:28] something here's what I know everybody I
[09:30] know is miserable everybody's on these
[09:32] Zoom calls nobody's got any good ideas
[09:34] and we're it's going to take us a while
[09:35] to figure this out and here's how we got
[09:37] beat we got beat because the Republicans
[09:40] and conservatives built a different
[09:42] media system that had to do with online
[09:45] had to do with podcast had to do with
[09:47] with streaming platforms and they were
[09:48] spending their money there we were
[09:50] laughing at them and knocking on doors
[09:52] in Philadelphia and Detroit like there's
[09:53] no Trump people they're not dropping
[09:55] literature they're not dropping dropping
[09:56] knocking on doors ha well in fact it was
[09:58] it was laugh like oh Elon Musk and
[10:00] Charlie KK their packs don't know what
[10:02] they're doing we were making we were
[10:04] making fun of Donald Trump for having
[10:06] thrown away his ground game and doing
[10:08] some weird stuff online we thought that
[10:10] they were were idiots it turned out we
[10:12] were the idiots we woke up in a body bag
[10:14] because while we were knocking on doors
[10:16] they were making these phones into
[10:19] 24hour a day political weapons for
[10:21] themselves and so we got outflanked
[10:23] outplayed outbeat by people who told us
[10:25] the whole time that they knew what they
[10:27] were doing
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