Jack Posobiec and Tyler Bowyer Reflect on Charlie Kirk's Assassination and Its Impact on American Politics

[00:00] We begin tonight with Jack Sobic,

[00:01] Turning Point USA contributor, host of

[00:03] Human Events Daily. Tyler Ber, Turning

[00:05] Point Actions Chief Operating Officer.

[00:08] Gentlemen, um, good to see you. To say

[00:11] this has been an awful, awful week for

[00:13] you would be an understatement. So, we

[00:14] appreciate you being here. Um, I won't

[00:17] ask you how you're doing because I

[00:18] already know the question. We can see it

[00:19] in your face. Tyler, you're now

[00:22] organizing the funeral for one of your

[00:23] dear friends. Uh, among those speaking,

[00:26] the president, the vice president, the

[00:28] secretary of state, the list goes on and

[00:31] on.

[00:32] Did you understand during Charlie's

[00:35] life, did you know two weeks ago the

[00:38] kind of influence and effect he had,

[00:40] Turning Point USA had in American

[00:42] politics?

[00:44] Yeah, I mean, we felt the influence for

[00:46] sure. I mean, everything that we've

[00:47] worked for and built, you said it best,

[00:49] that this is one of the largest

[00:51] political operations that the the

[00:53] country's ever seen, certainly in modern

[00:54] American history. And so, we felt that

[00:56] and we knew what we were working towards

[00:58] and what kind of influence that Charlie

[01:01] Kirk had internally within the

[01:03] conservative movement. I I think what's

[01:05] been a surprise is the external the

[01:07] externality of everything. Uh how many

[01:10] foreign countries have paid respects to

[01:13] uh Charlie? That's been a surprise I

[01:15] think for all of us. Uh how this is

[01:18] impacting a lot of Democrats. I mean

[01:19] we've received significant

[01:22] uh return from many Democrats saying hey

[01:24] I'm switching parties or I'm switching

[01:26] independent. Uh I don't like what I'm

[01:28] seeing. Uh and that again that speaks to

[01:31] to Charlie and as you said he he was a

[01:33] man who who never went after people in a

[01:37] derogatory way.

[01:39] No. And I I remembered, you know, that's

[01:42] what this show is, is is tough

[01:44] interviews. Um, not tonight, but it

[01:46] normally is. And

[01:49] he was always willing to have a

[01:53] respectful conversation. And I think,

[01:55] and I hate to say this in this way, but

[01:58] he was so smart, he didn't have to call

[02:00] anybody names or or argue. He could

[02:03] actually argue the facts with you and

[02:05] put you in put you in a corner. Um, Jack

[02:09] You think about moments in American

[02:11] history and you were intelligence

[02:14] officer in the military and you think

[02:16] about moments of of inflection.

[02:21] There is a George Floyd like moment to

[02:23] what we're seeing here that all of a

[02:25] sudden we didn't know anything was there

[02:26] and then all of a sudden something

[02:28] happens in the country something violent

[02:30] and the whole country seems to change.

[02:33] Now there have been no riots that's a

[02:35] significant difference. There have been

[02:37] prayer groups in this case. Do we yet

[02:40] know what the assassination of Charlie

[02:43] Kirk means in the larger American

[02:44] political conversation?

[02:47] I don't think we know yet, Leland. And

[02:49] you know, when you when you look at one

[02:51] of these things, it's tempting to want

[02:54] to try to make pronouncements and

[02:56] predictions as to what's going to come

[02:59] next. But, you know, I don't think that

[03:01] anyone would have predicted, by the way,

[03:03] that you know, 5 years or or four years

[03:06] after George Floyd that Donald Trump

[03:07] would be getting reelected as president

[03:09] and

[03:10] or four years after January 6th

[03:12] or all of the things that have gone on.

[03:14] And so, you know, it's it's tough to

[03:15] make those prognostications, but but I

[03:18] do I would say I have a hope. And I

[03:20] would say my hope is that

[03:24] as horrific as this violence was and

[03:26] this just unspeakable evil that just

[03:29] just look behind us right these this

[03:31] incredible vigil where people come

[03:33] together it's peaceful it's prayerful

[03:36] people are every church in this country

[03:38] and and just here as well as Phoenix but

[03:40] even back home back east people were

[03:42] saying it's the pews are packed like it

[03:44] was Easter Sunday and I hope that if

[03:47] anything as Charlie would have wanted

[03:49] that there's a a positive response that

[03:51] comes out. People opening Bibles again,

[03:54] going to church again, even even if they

[03:56] don't know what to do, you know, you

[03:57] just go and and that it's a positive

[03:59] turn in our country towards an

[04:03] understanding of

[04:04] It's interesting you say that because I

[04:05] think there's a lot of

[04:07] Republicans now who feel a power that

[04:09] they didn't feel before, especially with

[04:12] what's happened with Jimmy Kimmel,

[04:13] especially how we've seen real change

[04:15] sort of in America in the past um 10

[04:18] days. But this from an AP AP poll, GOP

[04:21] thinks US is heading in right direction.

[04:23] September 10th it was 49%.

[04:26] So that's after the assassination. June

[04:28] 4th it was 70%.

[04:31] I haven't seen that.

[04:32] Do we know how do we explain that?

[04:37] Be interested what time of day that was

[04:38] taken by the way because obviously

[04:40] September 10th was the day Charlie was

[04:41] was shot. So

[04:44] you know you could assuming that it's

[04:46] taken that into account. You know, I

[04:48] think it's something where, look, um,

[04:51] Republicans had a huge victory.

[04:53] President President Trump wins, House,

[04:55] Senate,

[04:57] all the swing states.

[05:00] Outside of Trump himself, the only

[05:02] person that you could say who had the

[05:03] biggest influence on that was Charlie

[05:04] Kirk and the work that he and Tyler with

[05:07] Turning Point Action did across the

[05:09] country. And and so, you know, on the

[05:13] heels of such a big victory, you know,

[05:15] you're you're expecting and you're

[05:16] seeing, you know, lots of wins, things

[05:19] that conservatives have been fighting

[05:20] for for so long, and then suddenly to

[05:23] have one of your leading voices, you

[05:25] literal leading voice for for youth and

[05:28] for so many people around the country

[05:29] just so suddenly and viciously ripped

[05:32] out. It it it does feel kind of like the

[05:35] bottom just falls out. Look, I said on

[05:38] air, I think on September 10th, I said,

[05:41] "There is no person in America more

[05:45] politically powerful than Charlie Kirk

[05:47] other than Donald Trump."

[05:48] Right?

[05:48] Was by far the most influential

[05:51] non-political leader we've seen in

[05:53] modern politics in the past 30, 40

[05:56] years. Way more impactful than a Jerry

[05:58] Fwell or anybody um like that. Tyler,

[06:04] what

[06:05] does this intersection that we've seen

[06:08] now about faith? Because I think so many

[06:10] people understood that Turning Point USA

[06:13] was about organizing the college

[06:16] campuses and organizing Republicans and

[06:19] in the youth in in America.

[06:23] Did everyone understand how important

[06:26] the faith part of this was?

[06:29] Yeah, I think the the what people are

[06:32] realizing now is the undertone that

[06:34] Charlie Kirk produced uh was actually

[06:37] really the overtone. It was the it was

[06:40] the leading factor. We talk all the time

[06:42] about uh the Charlie thought process,

[06:45] which is that politics is downstream

[06:47] from culture.

[06:48] Uh Andrew Breitbart,

[06:49] Andrew Breitbart, he was a

[06:51] he was a a student of Andrew Breitbart.

[06:54] He loved Andrew Breitbart and so I

[06:55] helped motivate him to get into

[06:56] politics. Um,

[06:57] okay.

[06:58] We talked about it all the time,

[07:00] but that's why he led so strongly with

[07:02] his faith.

[07:02] Well, and and we said it the other day,

[07:04] it it's like so Breitbart was politics

[07:07] is downstream from culture. If you add

[07:09] Charlie's piece, it's that culture is

[07:10] downstream from faith.

[07:12] Okay.

[07:15] Excellent analysis.

[07:17] The part of this change, and we've seen

[07:19] this happen before in American politics,

[07:21] is there sort of this snap effect. And

[07:23] one of the snap effects has been

[07:25] whatever you want to call it, the

[07:26] suspension, the firing, the cancelling

[07:27] of Jimmy Kimmel. And that has created a

[07:32] I don't want to say schism, but it

[07:34] certainly created a split within the

[07:36] Republican party. This was Ted Cruz um

[07:39] talking about his view of what was

[07:42] happening. Take a listen.

[07:44] What he said there is dangerous as hell.

[07:48] That's right out of a mafio. So that

[07:50] might feel good right now to threaten

[07:52] Jimmy Kimmel, but when it is used to

[07:54] silence every conservative in America,

[07:57] we will regret it.

[08:00] Jack, is there a concern or a thought

[08:03] that Republicans are angry

[08:06] understandably, hurt, understandably,

[08:09] and maybe doing things in that vein that

[08:12] later will turn out to be regretful?

[08:15] Well, look, you know, I I I think in

[08:17] this situation, you know, I I've also

[08:19] seen in the the Wall Street Journal and

[08:21] Hollywood Reporter, they've been talking

[08:22] about how there really was this this

[08:24] backlash from the local affiliates. So,

[08:25] I I think there's a lot going on here.

[08:28] And and at the same time, I I totally

[08:30] get what people are saying. Look, if

[08:32] you're going to wield power and and do

[08:34] so in a correct manner, you need to do

[08:37] so with that understanding of what the

[08:40] after effects are going to be. you have

[08:42] to understand when it's the right call,

[08:44] when it's the wrong call, what uh

[08:47] follow-on effects are going to have. But

[08:48] at the same time, you know, just in this

[08:50] example, I hear this a lot of time from

[08:52] conservatives who say, "Well, what if

[08:54] what if the left were to cancel, you

[08:56] know, were to cancel conservatives? What

[08:58] if the left were to do that?" And

[08:59] they've been doing that for a decade.

[09:00] They've been doing it for a decade.

[09:01] But the argument is it was wrong then

[09:04] and it was something that Charlie spoke

[09:06] out against in in this sense.

[09:08] Yeah. But there's a there's a massive

[09:09] difference here which is that there's an

[09:12] expectation that those that are sitting

[09:15] within positions of authority both in

[09:18] private corporations and then also that

[09:20] are called and assigned to uh

[09:23] governmental positions also are

[09:25] caretakers of those specific entities.

[09:27] And so you know for us the left was

[09:30] attacking the individual. The left was

[09:32] trying to take out people like Charlie

[09:33] Kirk was trying to sideline Charlie Kirk

[09:36] demonize him by name. demonize him by

[09:38] name. Charlie, as you pointed out, never

[09:40] demonized anyone. Agreed.

[09:42] And you still have these people doing

[09:43] it. I mean, even after the fact, the

[09:46] whole purpose that Jimmy Kimmel was was

[09:48] trying to uh he was trying to evoke on

[09:50] his show was to continue to demonize

[09:52] conservatives who have just been

[09:55] murdered. And so

[09:56] to blame conservatives for murdering

[09:59] blame conserv blame conservatives but

[10:01] also put a target on on conservatives

[10:03] and continue that narrative to do what?

[10:07] But to actually sideline those people

[10:09] from conversations to

[10:11] set set them set them aside. So I think

[10:13] it's really important for people to

[10:14] stand up and say no that's wrong. Many

[10:16] Democrats did that and many people that

[10:18] hold positions of authority that are not

[10:20] our friends were the ones that spoke up.

[10:23] Barack Obama, the arguably the leader of

[10:26] the Democrat party, and he he brings up

[10:28] Charlie's name the other day and he's

[10:29] he's talking about my friend who just

[10:31] got killed and the very next breath he's

[10:34] criticizing him and demonizing and

[10:37] adding all he's like, why do you have to

[10:39] do that?

[10:39] I think it's Well, we're going to we're

[10:40] going to get into that to the ne with

[10:41] the next segment because we have a

[10:42] Democrat coming up um to ask that

[10:44] question, too. It's good to see you,

[10:46] fellas. Um

[10:47] thank you. It's rare that you have to

[10:49] say this on TV individually to people

[10:50] who you know, but um I know your guy's

[10:53] heart is hurting for a friend and what

[10:55] you guys have done over the past week,

[10:56] 10 days to honor him and to continue his

[11:00] legacy and and fight in the way he did

[11:03] has been um extraordinarily impressive.

[11:07] So, thank you for that. Thanks for

[11:08] having us.

[11:09] Godspeed.

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