Charlie Kirk’s Cambridge Debate Experience: Challenges and Reflections

[00:00] The Cambridge thing was the hardest

[00:01] thing I've ever done. Okay. Can you

[00:02] tell? You've probably already No, I

[00:04] actually haven't very much on air. So, I

[00:05] mean, so they're they're so deceitful

[00:07] little snakes there, right? So, they're

[00:09] like, "Oh, let's go have a nice

[00:10] conversation at the Cambridge Union,

[00:11] right?" And so, I had a feeling it was

[00:13] more than that cuz someone leaked an

[00:14] email to me that they were like, "Hey,

[00:16] come here to sign up to debate Charlie

[00:18] Kirk." So, they're advertising to do

[00:19] with Not a conversation. No. And so, I

[00:21] was like, "Okay, this is a little

[00:22] weird." As soon as I show up, I could

[00:23] feel like in my spirit, I was like,

[00:25] "Okay, the tension. You think you're

[00:27] going in for like an interview?" I'm

[00:29] like, "This is the Roman coliseum."

[00:30] Yeah. That's what it looks like. And

[00:32] it's so like I'm walking in as like a

[00:34] gladiator. Yeah. And like and I and I

[00:37] you when I Not a single person applauded

[00:39] when I walked in. It's 400 people right

[00:42] now. Remember I'm in a foreign country.

[00:43] Yeah. I just got off a red eye flight

[00:45] that I didn't sleep. Right. I got two

[00:46] kids at home. Like so you're a little

[00:47] bit, you know, just Do you have any of

[00:49] your like is Andrew with you? You got

[00:50] any of your I have Mikey and Blake. And

[00:52] Blake's amazing. Blake is like the

[00:53] smartest person I know. Right. So at

[00:55] least you have like someone. No. And so

[00:56] like and I was like guys we have to so

[00:58] we prepped the best we could right so I

[00:59] do this interview with this it was a

[01:01] ridiculous interview for the head of the

[01:02] Cambridge president and then she like

[01:04] throws me out into the center of the

[01:05] coliseum right and so they start

[01:07] bringing these people up and you know

[01:09] it's very interesting I thought I did

[01:12] very well keeping my calm and composure

[01:14] right because it's like very easy to

[01:16] have an outburst like that the audio I

[01:18] did not have a single person clap for me

[01:20] right and like which is very different

[01:22] than your typical Yes. or at least it's

[01:24] mixed, right? Like some booing, some

[01:26] cheering you. So, usually when I'm doing

[01:28] an event, I could at least like see

[01:29] somebody nodding along like instead it's

[01:32] just like to and so you're you're a

[01:34] little bit disoriented. That is hard.

[01:37] People who don't public speak like it's

[01:39] really hard when you look out into the

[01:40] audience and it's blank stairs and then

[01:42] they're applauding even the dumbest

[01:43] point that this person makes, right?

[01:45] They're like, "Yeah." You know? And so,

[01:47] but I was like, so I'm very I was very

[01:49] happy with how I kind of kept my calm

[01:51] and composure, but understand. So, you

[01:53] have these like high IQ, low wisdom, you

[01:56] know, people at Cambridge and they have

[01:58] all week to prepare for what they're

[02:01] going to say, right? And I don't know

[02:02] the topic. So, they come up and it could

[02:05] be anything, right? It could be

[02:07] abortion. It could be transgenderism. It

[02:09] could be Israel. Okay. So, they've been

[02:11] preparing their best argument. and

[02:12] they're like, "Okay, I'm going to

[02:14] formulate my best argument for Charlie

[02:15] Kirk and he has no idea. I don't even

[02:17] know the topic." Yes. So, I don't even

[02:19] know anything. And like on campus, I'm

[02:21] used to that. But like, this is this is

[02:23] different, right? This was like Yeah.

[02:25] And it's fine by I'm so glad I did it

[02:26] cuz I'll go anywhere and I'll do that.

[02:28] And I hope it sets an example for other

[02:29] people. You shouldn't be afraid. But

[02:31] here I am. I'm like, I'm proclaiming the

[02:33] gospel. And they're like mocking and

[02:34] snickering, right? And like, and I'm

[02:36] like, you know, God is real. And they're

[02:38] like just like literally laughing in the

[02:40] room. And again, I'm unmoved by that.

[02:43] And so it um it went super viral and it

[02:46] was like a it was what they call a rosh

[02:47] shock test, right? Which is like the

[02:49] left is like, "Oh, you know, Charlie is

[02:52] whatever." I was like, "Okay." And and

[02:54] then the right was like, you know,

[02:55] really glad you hung in there. But

[02:56] overall, the consensus overwhelmingly

[02:57] was like, "Charlie, you did great."

[02:59] Well, there's no one else that could

[03:00] have done better. I don't know a better

[03:02] debater than you. And so I'm glad that

[03:05] you were the I mean, I guess you weren't

[03:06] the first cuz I think other people have

[03:07] done it as well. It wasn't in that

[03:09] wasn't that hostile. It wasn't the same.

[03:11] Okay. So, this was the first format did

[03:13] it. Yes. Shapiro did it at Oxford. The

[03:15] one he did at Oxford was super hostile

[03:17] and we kind of flipped. So, I did Oxford

[03:18] and it was very chill and then he did

[03:21] Cambridge and it was chill. So, it was

[03:22] like for whatever reason it was like

[03:24] inverted for us. Yeah. But like it was

[03:26] like a 10 out of 10 and like they will

[03:28] come and they'll insult your

[03:29] appearances. They'll insult like

[03:30] everything. Everything's on the because

[03:32] they want you to try to have an

[03:33] outburst, right? Wow. And like they want

[03:35] to try to get you. And so anyway, I

[03:38] consider it a huge blessing to now

[03:39] you're prepared for anything. Oh no, now

[03:41] it's like okay, I'll go debate at

[03:43] Harvard. Like I don't care or Dartmouth

[03:45] because I mean it is it was like there

[03:47] was an ambush met with like just the

[03:51] whole like configuration of the room and

[03:54] the acoustics that room is from like

[03:55] 1820. So like there's all wood. So it

[03:58] just all like when they applaud it just

[04:00] got so loud. How long was it? Hour and

[04:02] 45 minutes. Pretty long. Yeah. No,

[04:04] that's that's a long time to be kind of

[04:06] on your feet and you know and I and so

[04:08] here's the thing. because we thought

[04:10] that like it would be a little bit

[04:12] nicer. I hosted my whole show right

[04:14] before that, you know. So, I did like a

[04:16] whole show in London and I was like,

[04:17] "Okay." And then as I'm getting closer,

[04:19] I'm like, "We should probably like

[04:21] prepare." You know, we were like

[04:22] somewhat prep. How do you prepare? You

[04:24] don't know what they're going to talk

[04:24] about, right? I sh.