Donald Trump Jr. on Charlie Kirk: "His Only Threat Was That He Was Incredibly Effective, and Because of That They Killed Him"

[00:00] But we want to have remembrances of our

[00:03] friend to start the show. And I am so

[00:05] honored uh today to be joined by Donald

[00:08] Trump Jr. who uh sir, thank you for

[00:11] joining us and I know you're on travel

[00:13] and um you're dealing with a lot of

[00:15] emotions like the rest of us. You said

[00:17] yesterday that Charlie Kirk was like a

[00:19] little brother to you and this is an

[00:22] incredibly difficult moment. I just want

[00:23] to start the show today by asking you

[00:25] how are you doing? How is your father?

[00:29] and uh give us your processing of the

[00:31] last 24 hours in America.

[00:35] >> Oh, thank you so much, Scott. I

[00:36] appreciate it. Uh, no, it's been uh it's

[00:38] been pretty brutal. Uh, you know, I said

[00:41] in my tweet yesterday, you know, Charlie

[00:42] was like a little brother. That's when

[00:44] it all sort of started and he was, you

[00:46] know, this is 2015 and he, you know, a

[00:49] couple friends convinced me to take a

[00:50] meeting with his young guy and I'm like,

[00:52] come on, guys. Like, none of us know

[00:53] what the hell's going on in this thing.

[00:54] We don't know anything about politics. I

[00:56] don't need to meet with a 20-year-old

[00:57] kid that doesn't know anything about

[00:58] politics. But they were uh they were

[01:00] pretty persistent. So I sat down with

[01:02] Charlie and in five minutes I was like,

[01:04] "Oh god, this guy this guy's forgotten

[01:05] more about this than perhaps I'll ever

[01:07] even know." And you know, from that

[01:09] point on he joined my team. He traveled

[01:11] with me for everything from fundraising,

[01:13] speaking to, you know, getting coffee

[01:15] and carrying bags. I mean, there was no

[01:16] job that was too dimminimous. Uh he he

[01:19] did it all. And I think I've probably uh

[01:21] you know, had spoken to him probably

[01:23] practically every day for the last 10

[01:25] years. uh did every major turning point

[01:27] event, watched that grow from, you know,

[01:30] 200 people in a small little room to uh

[01:33] you know, literally selling out what

[01:35] feels like stadiums. Uh he he was truly

[01:37] a remarkable guy and I, you know, I had

[01:39] that conversation. I spoke with my

[01:40] father a couple times yesterday. Um

[01:43] about it, I think, you know, perhaps by

[01:45] accident because, you know, Charlie's

[01:47] team, I just work with them on so many

[01:48] things. uh you know I'd found out right

[01:51] right before my father called me back on

[01:53] something you know about about this but

[01:56] I'd found out that he had passed and I

[01:57] think I was the one that broke the news

[01:59] to him. Um and it it was a rough day. I

[02:02] mean he was a true uh incredible warrior

[02:05] but just someone who was so kind in the

[02:08] way that he did that. I mean, when you

[02:09] think about Charlie, uh, as much as they

[02:13] hated him, I mean, he literally gave the

[02:15] biggest platform, one of the biggest

[02:17] platforms in conservative, uh, America,

[02:21] the people that hated him most, and he

[02:22] did that every day on college campuses

[02:25] all over the place. And he had a

[02:26] conversation and he had discourse and he

[02:28] kept his cool. And he was able to do

[02:32] that day in and day out. He was able to

[02:33] win over so many millions of uh,

[02:35] especially young Americans, but

[02:37] Americans in general. Uh because in

[02:40] having that conversation and having that

[02:42] dialogue uh people realized very quickly

[02:44] that the ideas of the left were not only

[02:47] bad, they were asinine. Uh I know you

[02:50] have a lot of experience this with CNN.

[02:51] I love I love seeing your clips daily

[02:54] when it's you versus four lunatics and

[02:56] you know with common sense and a smile

[02:58] and some just straight up facts. Uh

[03:02] you're able to shut them out day in and

[03:04] you day out and Charlie did that. uh his

[03:07] only threat was that he was incredibly

[03:09] effective and because of that they

[03:10] killed him.

[03:12] >> Thank you for your uh your words uh

[03:14] about what we're doing here. I think as

[03:16] conservatives you said it debate uh

[03:20] using our common sense doing it with a

[03:22] smile. This is the behavior that Charlie

[03:24] modeled for us on these uh college

[03:26] campuses and I think that's the reaction

[03:28] I'm having is we got to be more like

[03:30] Charlie, you know, more Charlie in the

[03:32] world and and acting like Charlie is is

[03:34] a good thing. You mentioned um Don that

[03:37] you broke the news to your father that

[03:39] Charlie had passed. When you did that,

[03:41] what was the president's immediate

[03:42] reaction?

[03:46] >> Listen, I think he was shocked. Uh you

[03:48] know, he'd gotten to know Charlie so

[03:50] well. Uh you know, I sort of uh probably

[03:54] created that relationship, you know,

[03:55] very early on in 16 and uh you know, he

[03:58] saw that movement grow and he saw uh the

[04:01] needle move. Frankly, I don't think

[04:02] there was anyone more effective uh than

[04:04] Charlie Kirk in uh you know, moving the

[04:07] needle in their in their specific

[04:09] demographic. I mean, what he was able to

[04:10] do with the youth vote, you know, 20

[04:13] something% overall change, almost 40% in

[04:16] 8 years, um you know, in in the young

[04:19] male vote and again with no violence, no

[04:22] no talking of violence, just common

[04:24] sense uh and discourse. And uh I think

[04:28] it was truly shocking to my father

[04:29] because I think he really was amazed uh

[04:32] at Charlie's talents, what he was able

[04:33] to accomplish um you know between 20 and

[04:37] you know 31. you know, the time that I

[04:39] knew him, uh, most people couldn't

[04:41] accomplish in multiple lifetimes. And,

[04:44] uh, I think he was just truly shocked

[04:46] and saddened and, uh, I think he's sort

[04:49] of, you know, upset about the place that

[04:51] America is because they tried to doing,

[04:52] you know, the same thing to him twice,

[04:55] uh, because he was effective, because he

[04:56] was willing to stand up uh, and speak

[04:59] the truth and not just go along with the

[05:01] sound bites because, you know, the elite

[05:03] would love him for it. Uh, he did what

[05:05] was right for hardworking Americans. he

[05:08] did what was right for uh the the silent

[05:11] majority. And so, you know, I I I don't

[05:13] know that there I don't believe there is

[05:15] another Charlie Kirk out there, but I

[05:17] think if we collectively band together,

[05:20] uh and and keep doing that, not not take

[05:23] our ball and go crawl in a corner and

[05:26] not be silenced, uh and not go hide. Uh

[05:30] we have a great future and I think

[05:31] that's probably the best way to honor

[05:32] Charlie's legacy. It was your dad last

[05:35] summer. We all watched in horror when

[05:37] that happened. Today it's Charlie. Your

[05:39] voice for conservatives is one of the

[05:42] most important in the country. So I see

[05:44] a lot of anger online. I see a lot of

[05:46] people who were freaked out. I see a lot

[05:48] of, you know, a range of emotions for

[05:51] conservatives, for the conservative

[05:52] movement. How should we be reacting

[05:55] today? And, you know, where do we go

[05:58] from here? I mean, I feel it feels like

[06:00] we've crossed the line. I don't know

[06:01] what that means, but it it feels like

[06:04] Yeah.

[06:04] >> everything has changed today.

[06:07] >> Yeah. No, don't get me wrong. I'm I'm

[06:09] I'm plenty angry because, you know,

[06:11] we've we've allowed this to happen to

[06:13] ourselves. We, you know, every time they

[06:15] do this, you know, when we when we talk

[06:16] about, you know, trans violence and the

[06:19] fact that, you know, per capita that

[06:21] demographic is the most violent. I mean,

[06:23] it feels like they make al Qaeda seem

[06:24] like kindergarteners uh with the shoot,

[06:26] but you're not allowed to talk about it

[06:27] stuff because, you know, the science and

[06:29] you know, they're they're just a little

[06:30] different. So, it's f you know, they're

[06:32] not different when they're shooting up

[06:33] children in schools. Uh you I found out,

[06:36] you know, a little while ago that

[06:38] apparently the the cartridges in the

[06:40] rifle that were used to kill Charlie had

[06:42] all sorts of trans paraphernalia

[06:43] inscribed on them. Uh you know, we we

[06:46] can't just sit back and say, "Okay,

[06:48] well, we we're going to agree to

[06:50] disagree." Charlie agreed to disagree

[06:52] and he had those conversations and they

[06:54] still killed him. Um, if they can do

[06:56] that to Charlie Kirk, they can do that

[06:57] to anyone. Uh, if they will do that to

[06:59] Charlie Kirk, they will do it to anyone.

[07:02] Uh, they just perhaps don't know your

[07:03] name yet. Uh, so, you know, we we can't

[07:07] allow them to win by being silenced, by

[07:09] being put into a corner. We have to

[07:10] continue to have those conversations. We

[07:12] have to continue to speak about facts.

[07:15] And you know, as Charlie so uh proved so

[07:18] well, if you do have those

[07:20] conversations, you do talk those facts.

[07:22] Even kids in college that have been

[07:24] frankly, you know, indoctrinized and

[07:26] propagandized for, you know, decades,

[07:29] probably since kindergarten in many

[07:30] places in America these days, uh you can

[07:33] win them over and they can they can wake

[07:34] up and they can change their mind and

[07:36] they can come around to uh you know, our

[07:39] view of the world. I mean, you know,

[07:40] what was so radical about anything

[07:41] Charlie said? He talked about God, our

[07:44] constitution. He said men can't be

[07:46] women. He talked about family, work

[07:49] ethic. I mean, you these are not exactly

[07:51] radical ideas. And yet, to the radical

[07:53] left today, they are very radical and

[07:54] they they must be silenced and stopped.

[07:56] And so, uh you we can't allow that to

[07:59] happen. And we can't pretend uh that

[08:01] there's not a problem with the radical

[08:02] left. Uh we can't pretend that they're

[08:05] they're peaceful uh and you know,

[08:08] they're welcoming of everyone. I mean,

[08:09] you know, you see it every day. Oh, you

[08:11] know, it's it's the party of tolerance.

[08:13] There's nothing tolerant about them.

[08:14] They're only tolerant with you. You if

[08:16] you agree with 100% of what they say,

[08:19] and you've seen that even with a lot of

[08:21] ardent leftists who are like, you know,

[08:22] I I agree we got to do something. Maybe

[08:24] we shouldn't be jacking up

[08:25] three-year-olds uh with testosterone and

[08:28] trying to, you know, change their gender

[08:30] chemically. Maybe we shouldn't

[08:31] chemically castrate our children or or

[08:33] physically mutilate uh them at at three.

[08:35] Maybe we should think of how dare I mean

[08:37] they go after their own for for

[08:40] something as simple as that. So, um you

[08:42] know, pretending that that they aren't

[08:45] radicalized and violent is is not the

[08:46] way. We just have to make sure we keep

[08:48] getting out there and and we have to all

[08:50] band together and have these

[08:51] conversations. And I think if we do, you

[08:53] know, perhaps collectively, uh we we can

[08:56] we can do at least some of what Charlie

[08:59] was able to accomplish, which is just a

[09:00] truly astounding feat. That voice you're

[09:03] hearing on the radio today is that of

[09:05] Donald Trump Jr. who is joining us here

[09:07] on the Scott Jennings show with his show

[09:09] with thoughts and reaction and

[09:10] remembrances of Charlie Kirk. Um Don,

[09:14] thank you for your time today. I know

[09:15] you're in anguish. A lot of us are in

[09:17] anguish. And as we go to commercial

[09:19] break here, I just want to tell you how

[09:20] much you mean to us, how much your

[09:22] father means to us, how much Charlie

[09:25] meant to us. And uh we know you were

[09:26] close. And so uh please stay safe. Uh,

[09:31] please stay safe. Uh, this is a moment

[09:33] where where uh we pray for your safety

[09:35] and we pray for comfort for everyone in

[09:38] the union. It's common sense for the

[09:39] American people. This is the Scott

[09:41] Jennings show. Be safe.

[09:44] I'm a believer.