John Hinderaker Reflects on Charlie Kirk's Assassination and Legacy of Free Speech and Youth Leadership

[00:00] Joining us now from the center of the

[00:02] American experiment. It's president and

[00:04] our great mate John Hinderkaker.

[00:07] John, we normally well there's often

[00:10] things that are tragic and terrible that

[00:12] we have to talk to you about, but this

[00:14] one is probably one of the worst. Uh you

[00:16] knew Charlie Kirk. What are your

[00:18] thoughts, John, on his passing and his

[00:20] assassination?

[00:22] Well, there's so much that you could

[00:23] say, Rowan. Yeah, I knew Charlie. my

[00:26] organization and his his organization

[00:28] Turning Point collaborated on a number

[00:30] of things over the years. I saw Charlie

[00:33] for the last time earlier this year at

[00:35] the Turning Point headquarters down in

[00:37] Phoenix. And all the things that people

[00:39] are saying about Charlie are true. Of

[00:40] course, here's the one thing I would

[00:42] add, Rowan, and that is that Charlie was

[00:45] one of the most energetic people I have

[00:48] ever known. Just looking at his schedule

[00:51] would make you feel tired. He was all

[00:54] over the place. He's one of the most

[00:55] hardworking people, energetic people.

[00:58] And you know, one way of looking at it,

[01:00] Rowan, is that Charlie lived the way a

[01:02] man might live if he knew that he was

[01:05] only going to have 31 years.

[01:08] Wow, Rita.

[01:10] Yeah, that's um that that does make you

[01:13] think there he was talked about as a

[01:16] future leader in politics. people said

[01:19] he was has the perfect uh uh background

[01:23] to become president one day. Did you

[01:26] believe that when you met with him and

[01:28] you dealt with him? Could he have been

[01:30] president?

[01:32] Well, Charlie was a very talented guy

[01:34] and he had a wonderful knack for for

[01:36] dealing with people and and leading

[01:38] people and of course that's the ultimate

[01:40] skill you you need if you want to be in

[01:42] politics. You know, recently people have

[01:44] been saying that uh Charlie had been

[01:47] talking about his future maybe lying not

[01:50] in politics but in the ministry and and

[01:53] going to becoming a religious leader on

[01:56] a full-time basis. I I would say that

[01:58] whatever Charlie had decided to do uh he

[02:01] would have succeeded at. James,

[02:04] you know, John, I've been thinking a lot

[02:06] about this for the last three days,

[02:08] trying to make sense of all of this and

[02:11] where what the historical parallels are.

[02:13] I know Rowan made a sort of Christlike

[02:15] analogy, but I think really there's also

[02:17] another analogy with Socrates because of

[02:19] course Socrates was killed for

[02:21] corrupting the youth of Athens, for

[02:24] giving them bad ideas that were against

[02:26] the establishment and against, you know,

[02:28] what we call the lefty establishment of

[02:30] the universities, the Democrats today.

[02:33] And he connected and he connected so

[02:35] well to those young people. And I would

[02:39] just like your thoughts on how that

[02:42] connection that he had to young people

[02:46] and the younger people, the people under

[02:48] 30 I talked to who are really big fans

[02:49] of his, you know, they were all upset

[02:50] because they all said he was so

[02:52] passionate about making us believe again

[02:55] and figure out a way out of the problems

[02:57] in this system that we've been born into

[03:00] that's not serving us well. And you

[03:02] know, was he in a sense a martyr for the

[03:06] fact that he was able to give the youth

[03:09] another way out from what the hard-left

[03:13] establishment, the universities, the

[03:15] media, the teachers unions, all of them

[03:17] had told them was their fate.

[03:22] Well, that's a really interesting

[03:23] question, uh, James. I mean, there's

[03:25] there's no doubt that the the ideas that

[03:28] Charlie stood for, patriotism and and

[03:31] faith and and really kind of

[03:33] old-fashioned values are in today's

[03:35] world are are countercultural. You know,

[03:38] he was he was the guy who stood apart

[03:40] from the establishment, apart from the

[03:43] received wisdom, apart from the

[03:46] professors who many students realize

[03:48] don't really know what they're talking

[03:49] about. And uh so I think you're right. I

[03:51] think Charlie did did play that role.

[03:54] But I would say if he was a martyr to

[03:56] anything, he was a martyr to free

[03:57] speech.

[03:58] He he didn't just advocate free speech,

[04:01] he practiced it. He spent his life

[04:03] practicing. And you know, I was thinking

[04:05] about this and I thought, if you if

[04:06] you're if you're opposed to free speech,

[04:09] what are you in favor of? And the answer

[04:11] is you're in favor of censorship. And I

[04:15] think in in Charlie's killing, we were

[04:17] reminded once again that the ultimate

[04:20] sensor is a bullet. M now now John uh I

[04:25] just want to ask you

[04:27] you know the universities James

[04:29] mentioned Socrates and the universities

[04:31] intellectual thought and free speech

[04:33] Charlie wouldn't have needed to go out

[04:35] there if our modern education system if

[04:38] our universities were living up to the

[04:40] ideal that most parents think the

[04:42] universities are delivering. Uh so is

[04:45] this the wake up moment? Is this

[04:47] actually can you foresee maybe those

[04:50] university professors suddenly going,

[04:52] "Hang on, we've lost the plot here. We

[04:54] need to change. Donald Trump is trying

[04:56] to change them. Can they be reformed?"

[05:01] Rowan, I don't know. Maybe you're more

[05:03] optimistic than I am. I can believe it.

[05:06] These institutions are are so set in

[05:09] their ways and so isolated. Um, you

[05:12] know, we've seen reactions to Charlie's

[05:14] murder from a number of college

[05:16] professors, college administrators, as

[05:18] well as high school teachers and

[05:20] elementary school teachers, and they're

[05:23] among those who are rejoicing at his at

[05:25] his killing. I think what what's

[05:28] happening more than reform of those

[05:30] institutions, and we certainly hope for

[05:32] that, but I think what's realistically

[05:34] happening more is young people deciding,

[05:36] look, I don't have to go to college.

[05:38] There are other paths to a successful

[05:40] life. And you know, it's well known that

[05:42] Charlie didn't go to college, but it

[05:43] wasn't because he didn't get in. He got

[05:45] into a a very fine university. And he

[05:48] sat down with the president of that

[05:49] university. And said, you know, I I I'm

[05:52] not sure I really want to go to college.

[05:53] I have this vision for what what I want

[05:55] to do. I want to start this

[05:57] organization. I want to lead young

[05:59] people in a different direction. And the

[06:01] president of the university said,

[06:02] "Charlie, you do what you think you need

[06:04] to do. If you ever decide you want to

[06:06] come to school here, there will always

[06:08] be a place for you." So, I think

[06:10] Charlie's a great example of somebody,

[06:12] yeah, he could have gone to college, but

[06:13] he he thought a different path made more

[06:15] sense.

[06:16] I want to ask you about the profound

[06:18] change we are seeing in America because

[06:20] the culture has shifted. We saw that

[06:22] even before Charlie's murder. We had

[06:24] Donald Trump at at um uh in in New York

[06:28] being cheered. We've seen since then uh

[06:31] him at Yankee Stadium and and chance of

[06:35] Trump and USA. We've seen uh NFL Major

[06:39] League Baseball hold a moment silence

[06:41] for Charlie Kirk. A couple of years ago,

[06:44] that wouldn't have happened. Do you feel

[06:46] that change happening in the US? And

[06:49] where else is it evident?

[06:52] Well, I sure hope so, Rita. I agree with

[06:54] your point. You know, a few years ago,

[06:55] the National Football League, they had

[06:57] these end racism slogans, you know,

[07:00] different ones written in the end zone

[07:02] and on players helmets and so on. and

[07:05] they're finally getting away from that.

[07:06] And yeah, I was impressed that the New

[07:08] York Yankees had a tribute to Charlie

[07:10] Kirk before their game the other night,

[07:12] the NFL Thursday night game. They

[07:14] stopped with a tribute and a moment of

[07:16] silence for Charlie Kirk.

[07:18] I think you're absolutely right. I I

[07:20] don't think that would have happened a

[07:21] few years ago. I also think it

[07:23] illustrates the the impact of this

[07:26] event, how shocking it was, the fact

[07:27] that we all saw it. I mean, I think I

[07:30] think it really has had a had a profound

[07:32] impact and we see that in the reaction

[07:35] the vigils, you know, these vigils and

[07:37] people at concerts and so on and they're

[07:40] totally peaceful. I I wondered, you

[07:43] know, was there going to be a violent

[07:44] push back here, but everything we've

[07:47] seen has been totally peaceful and we've

[07:48] seen it across the United States. We've

[07:50] also seen it in Europe and so I think

[07:52] it's been really really interesting just

[07:55] to see how people have responded. John

[07:58] Hinderka, always great to chat to you

[07:59] and to get your insights there on the

[08:02] passing and assassination of Charlie

[08:04] Kirk.