Donald Trump Jr. on Charlie Kirk's Murder, Political Persecution, and the Future of the MAGA Movement

[00:00] We were going to do this tour. We

[00:01] announced this tour two days before

[00:02] Charlie was killed. And then the

[00:04] question was raised by basically

[00:06] everybody. Do we still do this tour? And

[00:09] I know how I felt and I know how you

[00:11] felt. It's not exactly how my husband

[00:14] felt. Um, but we're here and it it's

[00:17] it's more important right now to be here

[00:19] than ever.

[00:20] >> 100%. I mean, the best way to honor

[00:23] Charlie's legacy is to actually be out

[00:25] here to doing this, to be unafraid, to

[00:28] not back down. I think Yeah. Thank you.

[00:35] I know. I was supposed to do something

[00:36] with him literally the week after that.

[00:38] And as as you mentioned sort of in the

[00:40] intro, you know, I met Charlie, I think

[00:42] he was 19 or just turned 20 and it was

[00:45] 2015 at the beginning of that cycle. And

[00:48] a couple friends of mine actually from

[00:49] Texas were like, you know, you have to

[00:51] meet this guy. He's great. He's

[00:53] charismatic and he knows everything

[00:55] about politics. I'm like, wow, that

[00:57] sounds great cuz no one here knows

[00:58] anything. Uh yeah, I've told you this

[01:02] before, but it was like when they were

[01:03] like, "You're colluding with Russia."

[01:04] I'm like, "Guys, if you knew what was

[01:05] going on in that campaign, like we

[01:07] couldn't collute to order a

[01:08] cheeseburger." Okay, so like it's like

[01:10] like relax,

[01:12] >> slow your roll.

[01:12] >> Relax, Adam shift. Like give me a break.

[01:16] But, you know, they're they're going on

[01:17] and on about how great this guy is, and

[01:19] they're like, "Okay, well, he's, you

[01:21] know, he just turned 20." I'm like,

[01:22] "Just okay, enough." Like, stop.

[01:26] >> You know, if if there's one thing we had

[01:27] no shortage of, it was guys that didn't

[01:30] know what the hell they were doing. We

[01:31] didn't need someone else who also didn't

[01:33] know what the hell they were doing. Uh,

[01:35] but these guys were persuasive. And I I

[01:37] sat down and in five minutes I was like,

[01:39] "Oh, oh." describe that Charlie versus

[01:43] the Charlie we knew before he was taken

[01:46] from us.

[01:47] >> Honestly, it was the same. You just knew

[01:48] it was a generational talent. Uh, you

[01:50] know, I I don't know much, but I think,

[01:53] you know, if there's one thing I've

[01:54] probably proven to be fairly decent at

[01:57] in the last decade or so is sort of just

[01:59] understanding talent. Uh, and I

[02:01] recognized it in an instant. I mean, it

[02:02] was literally 5 minutes. I'm like,

[02:04] "Okay, interview's over." Like, you're

[02:06] traveling with me. And, you know, he

[02:08] spent the next, you know, six, seven

[02:10] months. It was everything. I mean, he'd

[02:12] be making calls. I mean, I have great

[02:14] pictures of election day 16 and I think

[02:18] I did it was close to like 75 radio

[02:20] interviews. We were just sort of moving

[02:22] east to west as the polls were shutting

[02:23] down. I'm, you know, screaming at Sean

[02:25] Hannity be like, "Just get me on in

[02:27] Western Florida because there's a time

[02:28] difference there and I can still get a

[02:30] couple people to the polls cuz, you

[02:31] know, whatever wasn't showing up." And

[02:33] you know, Charlie was basically just in

[02:35] the background operating, you know, my

[02:37] Twitter and other social media handles

[02:39] from my desk in my office as I'm going

[02:41] through this. And it was just uh such an

[02:44] amazing experience. But again, you know,

[02:46] he he perhaps got better, but he was

[02:48] always so good. He was just going to be

[02:50] better than everyone else anyway. It

[02:52] didn't take uh much maturation. He just

[02:55] always had it.

[02:56] In the past couple of years, Don, you've

[02:59] been subpoenaed and investigated more

[03:02] than any human on earth. So is your

[03:04] family. So is your dad. Your dad, they

[03:07] tried to throw him in prison, not to

[03:10] mention the impeachments and all the

[03:11] investigations and the civil lawsuits.

[03:13] And then on top of that, they actually

[03:15] tried to kill him repeatedly

[03:17] >> twice. Yeah.

[03:18] >> Yeah. You saw your dad get shot in the

[03:21] ear. You saw three of his supporters get

[03:24] shot, one of whom died, two two others

[03:26] of whom got shot as well, and then

[03:29] Charlie got shot and killed and taken

[03:30] from us. This is your life over the past

[03:32] couple of years. How has that changed

[03:35] you?

[03:37] >> Honestly, it's hard. I mean, there

[03:38] there's an element, I guess, you know, I

[03:40] got some of that Trump gene that it just

[03:42] makes you sort of go harder. Um, it's

[03:45] not normal. It's not always

[03:46] >> It's not normal.

[03:46] >> It's not normal. It's not always good. I

[03:48] have that for better or worse. I think,

[03:50] you know, yeah, I've been as more

[03:53] subpoenaed than probably just about any

[03:54] human being in our our family certainly

[03:56] has. I think I've done more hours of

[03:59] congressional testimony, you know, for

[04:01] treason, right? I mean, you know, a

[04:02] crime punishable by death. That became

[04:04] like my average Tuesday.

[04:07] You know, it's like, uh, they're going

[04:08] to try to kill you again, Don. I'm like,

[04:10] it's fine. It's like, can I catch lunch

[04:13] first? This, you know,

[04:15] >> most of us are like, I got to get those

[04:16] Halloween decorations up. It's coming.

[04:18] I'm on deadline.

[04:19] >> Yeah. No, it was it was my lawyer's

[04:21] like, "You're the greatest witness

[04:22] ever." It's like, "It's not because I'm

[04:23] actually good at it. I've just done it

[04:24] so much. Eventually, you're going to

[04:26] develop some sort of talent for it." I

[04:27] mean, it's uh, you know,

[04:30] >> do you miss it a little,

[04:32] >> you know? Not that so much.

[04:35] No, but, you know, not that, but it but

[04:38] it was interesting, right? I think, you

[04:40] know, at the end of each one of these

[04:41] election cycles and now, you know, you

[04:44] know, three presidential cycles and

[04:45] then, you know, six midterm cycles, we

[04:48] you combine them all or whatever it may

[04:49] have been. Uh there was a time sort of

[04:52] at the end of 16 especially and at the

[04:55] end of 20, you're you're in the throws

[04:58] of it. And I I think it was October

[05:00] 2020, I think I did 14 rallies that

[05:04] month. So that's four a day. And I don't

[05:06] mean like, you know, a lunch or a

[05:08] breakfast. I mean like you know 300 to

[05:10] 10,000 people in a room four times a day

[05:14] 31 days straight and it's sort of brutal

[05:17] and at the end of you're like I just

[05:19] sort of want to be done with it 16

[05:21] especially right cuz I got sucked out of

[05:23] like the world in which I lived you know

[05:25] real estate and I was you know behind a

[05:27] desk or on a job site and I was like

[05:29] sort of want to go back to that and for

[05:33] about a week it was great

[05:34] >> and you were non-controversial before

[05:36] all this too like

[05:37] >> yeah no I mean were beloved.

[05:39] >> Not the same level. It was Yeah. Before

[05:40] that, no, it was it was awesome. I could

[05:42] live in New York City. I got invited to

[05:43] the cool person parties. That all went

[05:44] away.

[05:46] >> Um, but no, honestly, but there was a

[05:49] component of that that was also

[05:50] cathartic,

[05:51] >> right? It was a, you know, that

[05:52] obligatory lunch you all do with some

[05:54] friend you haven't seen in 10 years, but

[05:56] you do it once every other year. You go

[05:58] and you're like, "Why am I here?" You

[06:00] know, we don't really stay in touch. And

[06:01] it's like, you'd see all these people

[06:03] and they'd they'd text you like, "I love

[06:05] what you're doing." And you're like,

[06:06] "Oh, wow. That's great." And then you

[06:07] like look on their Facebook pages and

[06:08] you're like Trump's a terrorist. He's a

[06:11] Nazi. So I'm like I hate these people so

[06:13] much. I'm like well which one is it?

[06:15] >> Good to know

[06:15] >> because you can't be my friend and also

[06:17] do that. Like you can disagree with me

[06:19] politically. I mean I had friends that

[06:20] didn't agree with a lot of what we were

[06:22] doing but they'd still like I'm writing

[06:23] a check to your campaign because I just

[06:25] believe in you and even if we don't

[06:26] agree on much politically like you're

[06:28] still a friend and like those guys are

[06:30] great. Those guys were

[06:31] >> you can handle the honesty.

[06:32] >> Yeah. That that I can deal with. It was

[06:34] the guys like clout chasing on one side

[06:36] and then kissing your ass on the other

[06:38] >> that I didn't appreciate.

[06:40] >> But do you I I wonder because you talk

[06:42] about the gene. You've got the gene and

[06:43] it is a crazy gene. It's a great gene.

[06:45] Um and I really have been thinking about

[06:47] this a lot because I now at this point

[06:49] in my life I think a lot about how do we

[06:51] handle trauma? Like what's the best way

[06:53] of handling trauma? And I really have

[06:55] come over to my husband's Presbyterian

[06:57] way of just shoving it down. I really do

[07:00] believe honestly like leaning into your

[07:03] traumas and they call it ruminating is

[07:06] very bad for you. We we've really we

[07:09] were raised by Oprah and we were raised

[07:10] by wolves like she misled us. The Trump

[07:14] gene is the way.

[07:15] >> Well, yes and no, right? I was sort of

[07:17] getting there before and it you know I

[07:19] sort of ramble but um you know you you

[07:22] get there and it it feels normal. You

[07:24] also then suppress all of it and it's

[07:26] just like it doesn't matter. Put it

[07:28] aside. go back and fight. Doesn't

[07:30] matter. Put it aside. Go fight.

[07:31] >> Like literally in your dad's case in the

[07:33] moment where the bullets are still

[07:34] flying.

[07:35] >> Correct. And you know, we all sort of

[07:36] did that to some extent, him more than

[07:38] anyone. But then you go back and you're,

[07:40] you know, I have five young kids, you

[07:42] know, and kids, you know, they have some

[07:44] sort of problem. I'm like, well, they're

[07:45] literally trying to jail me. They're

[07:47] trying to shut down our businesses. They

[07:48] just tried to kill grandpa. Like, you

[07:50] know, it's a, you know, whatever they're

[07:52] going through is still a big thing for

[07:54] them, but you can't even think of it as

[07:55] a big thing because it's like, give me a

[07:56] break. It's nothing. But it but it's big

[07:58] for them. And so uh you you definitely

[08:00] put a lot of that sort of emotion aside.

[08:02] It's like you've just been a you know a

[08:03] beast in a cage prodded for a while that

[08:05] you'd sort of adjust to that normaly but

[08:07] it makes it actually very hard

[08:09] >> to be sensitive to other people's ideas

[08:11] and emotions

[08:12] >> of that movie free solo. Did you see the

[08:14] movie free solo 100%

[08:15] >> where do you guys see this? I saw it on

[08:16] an airplane once where the guy like

[08:18] >> I used to do a little bit of free climb.

[08:19] So yeah I have that underdeveloped sense

[08:20] of self-preservation in pretty much I'm

[08:22] a pilot. I do the traxx diving. So this

[08:24] guy's like climbing mountains the like

[08:25] the most dangerous mountain sides in the

[08:27] world without any suspension without any

[08:29] rope what whatsoever and it's extremely

[08:31] dangerous and they talk in the in that

[08:33] film about how you can kind of burn out

[08:35] your adrenal gland.

[08:36] >> Yeah.

[08:36] >> And that's not necessarily a good thing

[08:38] >> or it's already underdeveloped so it

[08:40] takes that much more stimulus to

[08:41] actually get any sort of excitement out

[08:43] of life. And that's what it was like. So

[08:44] I after 16 you know you you you work so

[08:47] hard you you sort of become like I mean

[08:48] there's something cool about being

[08:50] pseudo rockstar right? you're on a stage

[08:52] and people are loving it and you sort of

[08:54] feel like wow I'm actually decent at

[08:55] this. This is kind of cool.

[08:56] >> So, but you get like I got to go back to

[08:58] my regular life. I'm so over this and

[09:00] like two weeks back at a desk and I was

[09:02] like yeah no this isn't going to work

[09:04] for me anymore. No, no, I was I was no

[09:05] no like like borderline depressed like I

[09:08] was like this this sucks. Like I I

[09:10] literally just remade my whole life

[09:12] after that and got stayed more involved

[09:14] in this and just uh it was sort of

[09:16] gamechanging. So what I thought was sort

[09:18] of like going to be my destiny for, you

[09:21] know, the rest of my career, it was

[09:23] like, yeah, no, that's not going to

[09:24] work. Like I literally would not be able

[09:25] to be satisfied sitting at a desk and

[09:27] doing that forever anymore. And so it

[09:28] changed everything.

[09:29] >> Well, that leads me to my next line of

[09:31] inquiry, which is, is any Trump going to

[09:34] be running for office at any point soon?

[09:39] >> Uh, you know, this is always the trick

[09:42] question, right? Because if you say no,

[09:43] then you decide to do something at

[09:44] another stage in life. I appreciate the

[09:46] applause and you know someone said you

[09:48] know bunch of friends sent me a poll

[09:51] last week is you know JD and I are the

[09:52] only guys in double digits. I'm like I

[09:54] haven't really been you know out there

[09:56] all that much for it.

[09:58] >> But still well you know who know you

[10:01] know honestly the air is whoever

[10:02] deserves it really. You know what I

[10:03] mean? There's not an air contrary to

[10:05] what we've seen. This isn't a monarchy,

[10:07] right? Like I I know I know they like

[10:11] doing the whole no kings thing and

[10:12] dressing up like, you know, Bozo the

[10:14] clown and I I think that's supposed to

[10:16] be effective. I don't know. Doesn't seem

[10:18] to move the needle much for me. But, you

[10:20] know, it also is sort of ironic that

[10:22] they're talking about not having kings

[10:26] with a president that was elected in a

[10:28] landslide, won the electoral college,

[10:31] won the popular vote,

[10:34] won all seven swing states, uh, in a

[10:37] historic fashion

[10:39] before that actually left office. I

[10:43] mean, you know, if you're he's like a

[10:44] really shitty king, actually. I mean,

[10:46] for if he's a king, he's doing a lousy

[10:48] job because a king wouldn't have done

[10:51] that. A king wouldn't have allowed

[10:52] himself to be prosecuted and persecuted

[10:55] and almost jailed, almost assassinated.

[10:58] Uh, a king probably wouldn't allow those

[11:00] protests to happen. And if he was a

[11:02] king, the government would be open and

[11:04] not shut down by Democrats who want to

[11:06] make sure that we're funding healthcare

[11:07] for illegals.

[11:08] >> That's right.

[11:11] But, you know, the narrative, as we all

[11:14] know, the narrative doesn't always have

[11:16] to line up with reality.

[11:17] >> Was that a long way of saying no? You're

[11:21] >> you have to see uh you know,

[11:24] >> so not not never.

[11:25] >> No, but not not pro. No, not now. Uh but

[11:29] but

[11:29] >> not now, but not

[11:30] >> there may be a time. And if it's

[11:31] required of me and I can do that for my

[11:33] country, it's an honor. The fact that I

[11:34] have this kind of reaction is

[11:36] >> Yeah.

[11:39] All right.

[11:41] >> Thank you. But listen, just that kind of

[11:44] reaction like that sort of that I mean

[11:47] that's the greatest honor I could

[11:48] receive, right? So it means a lot to me

[11:50] and and I see that and it

[11:52] >> it's I don't know that I have the ego

[11:54] actually, which is ironic. I understand

[11:56] coming from the top,

[11:57] >> you know, but there's there is like a

[11:58] level of hubris you actually need to be

[12:00] president. I think that I'm like I don't

[12:01] know. I'm just a regular guy. I fight to

[12:03] get where we want to go, but after that

[12:04] I'm okay going in the background. But I

[12:06] what was so great about the last four

[12:10] years under Biden was it's actually what

[12:14] we needed as a country for everyone to

[12:16] understand how fragile

[12:19] our democracy is. Uh how fragile the

[12:23] republic really is. How fragile even our

[12:26] economy is and how the world really

[12:29] needs a strong America. And so it wasn't

[12:31] just the first four years of Trump that

[12:33] showed us that. it was how quickly it

[12:35] all disappeared and went away that woke

[12:37] up so many people. But in that

[12:40] there was a sort of component of you

[12:42] know trial by fire. Uh you know not just

[12:44] for the American people who got it and

[12:46] experienced it cuz you saw it with your

[12:48] own eyes every day but for those in the

[12:51] cabinet now uh for those who were able

[12:54] to be fighters and you know were subject

[12:58] to the same lawfare and whatever. So now

[13:00] we actually for the first time in modern

[13:03] history we have a bench we have a bench

[13:06] of guys that can do this and if I'm part

[13:07] of that that's an honor but it's not

[13:10] like you know even in you after the

[13:13] first term you're like well man who's

[13:15] next you know it wasn't going to be Mike

[13:18] Pence Mike Pence was perhaps like a

[13:21] necessary thing to sort of consolidate

[13:23] other parts of the Republican base that

[13:25] are like well this guy from New York uh

[13:27] how do we make this happen? How does you

[13:29] know perhaps I don't want to say

[13:31] necessary evil but like you sort of

[13:33] needed sense coalition. It made sense at

[13:35] the time, but it was never going to be

[13:36] the future of the party, right? Like

[13:38] >> uh that that was never real. And you

[13:41] know, now it's great to be like to see a

[13:43] JD and to see honestly, you know,

[13:45] Marco's done a great job.

[13:47] >> Star Marco's a star.

[13:48] >> And uh

[13:50] and more importantly, they're guys that

[13:52] aren't just sort of playing a role on

[13:55] TV. They've actually changed their

[13:57] worldview to understand that sort of

[13:59] America first, MAGA, however you want to

[14:01] look at it, is actually the future of

[14:04] the Republican party. They're not guys

[14:05] that are dying to go back to the old

[14:07] ways and playing a role. They actually

[14:09] believe it. They get it now.

[14:11] >> And that's incredible for the future of

[14:12] our country.

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