Michael Knowles Explains Why Trump's Tribute to Charlie Kirk Offers Rhetorical Lessons for Right-Wing Influencers

[00:00] Democrats themselves pose a threat to

[00:03] our safety. They keep trying to kill us.

[00:05] There was a recent assassination attempt

[00:07] on Trump. This is what the third major

[00:09] one. One of them came so close it

[00:10] actually blew off part of his ear. And

[00:12] then there was the successful

[00:13] assassination just 6 months ago of our

[00:17] pal Charlie Kirk. uh an assassination

[00:20] that was excused, justified, even

[00:25] celebrated in an uncomfortably large

[00:28] swath of the Democrat party.

[00:31] >> I'm very proud to say that during my

[00:33] time in office, both the first four

[00:36] years and in particular this last year,

[00:39] there has been a tremendous renewal in

[00:41] religion, faith, Christianity, and

[00:44] belief in God.

[00:46] [applause] Tremendous renewal.

[00:50] This is especially true among young

[00:52] people and a big part of that had to do

[00:54] with my great friend Charlie Kirk. Great

[00:59] guy, great man. [applause]

[01:02] So last year Charlie was violently

[01:04] murdered by an assassin

[01:07] and martyed really martyed for his

[01:10] beliefs.

[01:12] >> His wonderful wife Erica is with us

[01:14] tonight. Erica, please stand. [applause]

[01:23] Thank you, Erica.

[01:25] Been through a lot. In Charlie's memory,

[01:28] we must all come together to reaffirm

[01:30] that America is one nation under God,

[01:34] and we must totally reject political

[01:36] violence of any kind. Okay, before we

[01:39] get to what happened after that last

[01:41] statement, because that was key, just

[01:43] want to point out this was a beautiful

[01:45] tribute from President Trump to his late

[01:47] friend, our late friend Charlie, and to

[01:50] his widow, Erica, who who was sitting

[01:53] there. And her being there, I thought,

[01:55] was very important even just as a matter

[01:57] of justice, but it was very important

[01:59] for Democrats to look at her. And it was

[02:01] very important for the Trump

[02:03] administration and the Republicans and I

[02:05] don't know, maybe some of the Democrats.

[02:06] I hope I didn't I I was mostly looking

[02:08] at Erica. I wasn't really looking at

[02:09] them at that moment. Uh to pay tribute

[02:11] to her. This is how we should be talking

[02:15] about Charlie's legacy and Erica and the

[02:17] Kirk family and TPUSA.

[02:19] And really this whole episode, I guess,

[02:22] is just rhetorical oral lessons from

[02:26] President Trump that many Republicans

[02:28] could learn from. This is one that I

[02:31] hope uh right-wing influencers pay close

[02:33] attention to because I've noticed it in

[02:37] recent days, recent weeks.

[02:40] I want to be charitable about this

[02:41] because I think it comes from a normal

[02:43] part of human nature, but it's worth

[02:45] paying attention to. It's worth learning

[02:47] good oral lessons from the president

[02:48] here. Some right-wing influencers seem

[02:52] to think that the best way to honor

[02:54] Charlie's legacy and to support Erica

[02:57] and the family is to uh spend all of

[03:01] their time talking about the people

[03:04] criticizing and antagonizing Erica and

[03:07] Charlie's friends and family. Does that

[03:10] make a lot of sense to you? There are

[03:11] people who seem to think the best way to

[03:14] honor Erica

[03:16] and TP USA and Charlie is to focus all

[03:21] of the attention all the time on the

[03:24] relatively few people who are

[03:26] criticizing and antagonizing Erica. The

[03:28] most famous, of course, being Candace,

[03:30] who I guess has a new series about

[03:31] Erica, but some other people too, some

[03:33] smaller accounts as well.

[03:36] This theory, this strategy seems to be a

[03:39] little bit misguided, wouldn't you say?

[03:43] Whether you love Candace, whether you

[03:45] hate Candace, whether you think Candace

[03:47] is sincere, whether you think she's

[03:48] insincere, whether you whatever psycho

[03:51] bababble analysis you have, do you think

[03:54] it makes sense if you want to support

[03:56] someone, do you think it makes sense to

[03:58] focus all of your attention all the

[04:01] time, uh, talking about someone

[04:04] antagonizing that person, constantly

[04:06] publicizing all of the content that

[04:08] would antagonize that person doesn't

[04:10] make a lot of sense to me. And so

[04:11] there's this meme that's cropped up

[04:13] among the right-wing influencers, which

[04:15] is we must stop Candace and others, but

[04:18] she's the most famous one. We must stop

[04:20] Candace by whining about her on the

[04:23] internet all the time. I just just want

[04:26] to pause here looking at rhetorical

[04:29] strategy.

[04:31] Is there any evidence that has ever

[04:32] worked?

[04:34] Is there has anyone ever stopped?

[04:37] Candace especially, but other people as

[04:39] well. Has anyone ever stopped

[04:42] these guys from saying something by

[04:45] whining about them more on the internet?

[04:47] That I don't think that's ever worked

[04:49] even one single time. That seems like a

[04:51] bad strategy.

[04:54] On the substantive point, obviously, I

[04:56] mean, I've said this for well, since the

[04:58] beginning, but I think Erica is a

[05:00] national hero. I think she deserves our

[05:02] immense support and sympathy. So

[05:05] obviously I disagree with Candace on

[05:07] that and and you know some other people.

[05:11] I am I am hopeful that Candace and

[05:14] others will be persuaded that you know

[05:16] okay actually maybe maybe Michael and

[05:18] some others are right here and Erica is

[05:19] the victim and we should support her and

[05:21] show some sympathy.

[05:23] One thing I am certain of

[05:26] is that no one will ever get Candace to

[05:29] say or do anything by whining more about

[05:31] her on the internet. No one will destroy

[05:35] Candace or anyone else by whining about

[05:39] them more on the internet and giving

[05:41] them more publicity and attention

[05:44] specifically on the project you

[05:45] supposedly don't want to promote. So

[05:47] where does this come from is really the

[05:50] lesson to take here is not even

[05:52] specifically about Charlie or Candace or

[05:55] this or that. The lesson to take here is

[05:59] why why do people uh engage in this kind

[06:04] of counterproductive strategy? And I

[06:06] think it's a very human thing. I don't

[06:08] put myself above it, but I think a lot

[06:10] of people would rather feel good or seem

[06:15] good than actually do good.

[06:18] I think a lot of people would like would

[06:20] rather feel emotional catharsis,

[06:22] screaming, yelling, this is so awful,

[06:24] this is terrible. Ah,

[06:26] they'd like to feel that catharsis or

[06:29] they would like to posture pin present

[06:33] themselves as the most moral lily white

[06:36] beautiful innocent doze than actually do

[06:40] good. They would rather feel and seem

[06:43] good even at the expense of actually

[06:46] doing good. Even when feeling and

[06:49] seeming good actually promotes the

[06:52] things that you say are bad.

[06:55] even when it it results in a totally

[06:58] counterproductive strategy. And so

[07:00] zooming out from this particular moment,

[07:03] I just want to observe Trump never does

[07:06] that. Trump never does that. When Trump

[07:10] has a disagreement with someone, he

[07:12] tries to persuade them. He doesn't just

[07:14] excoriate them all the time. He doesn't

[07:17] pin. He doesn't He tries to persuade

[07:20] them. He's got all sorts of different

[07:22] tactics for persuading people. Art of

[07:23] the Deal. That's his book. But Trump is

[07:26] interested in getting things done. He

[07:28] never presents himself as some paragon

[07:31] of philosophical or moral purity. Even

[07:34] when what he is doing is actually better

[07:36] than what he says he's doing. You know,

[07:38] even when his actions are better than

[07:40] his speech, he is a guy who just wants

[07:43] to get things done. He's a fixer. Drew

[07:46] said this in the first term. He said,

[07:47] you know, thing about Trump, he's kind

[07:49] of like a plumber. You know, a lot of

[07:51] these pretty boy politicians, they want

[07:52] to go out there and make these

[07:53] beautiful, eloquent speeches and look

[07:55] really nice and quafted. You know, Trump

[07:57] though, he's a plumber. He just wants to

[07:58] fix things. He wants to go out there,

[08:00] get things done. He wants the effect.

[08:02] And the rhetorical effect of this speech

[08:05] was magnificent.

[08:07] And look, it's pretty basic stuff.

[08:11] Put your opponents in a bad situation.

[08:14] Focus on the good things. Focus on what

[08:17] you want to talk about. Don't let your

[08:18] opponents dictate what you want to talk

[08:20] about. You set the agenda, Mr.

[08:22] President, and then provide clarity on

[08:26] the political situation because clarity

[08:28] is charity. Uh the when when we're

[08:31] talking about political violence here,

[08:32] you heard that clip right there from the

[08:34] very end, but you do do we have the

[08:36] longer version of that clip? I'm not

[08:38] sure that we do. President Because you

[08:40] got to see the camera pan around.

[08:42] President Trump says, "We're a nation

[08:45] under God

[08:47] and we should all reject political

[08:49] violence of all kinds." Some of the

[08:52] Democrat, all the Republicans stood up.

[08:53] Some of the Democrats stood up.

[08:56] None.

[08:58] Sorry, not none. Like a a third of the

[09:01] total Democrats, none of the really

[09:03] extreme crazy Democrats stood up.

[09:06] That was astounding because it drives

[09:09] home this point. when I was talking

[09:10] about it in the leadup to the speech.

[09:12] You've got to connect all of these dots,

[09:14] the economy and the migration and the

[09:16] crime. Right now, the Republicans are

[09:17] leading on immigration and especially on

[09:19] border control and especially on crime.

[09:22] It's a little more ambiguous on the

[09:24] economy, on health care, on on

[09:27] government reform or defense of

[09:29] democracy. Republicans are underwater on

[09:31] some of those. So, how do you tie it all

[09:33] in? Democrats are threatening you.

[09:36] They're threatening you at the border.

[09:37] They're threatening you with the

[09:38] criminals they're releasing onto your

[09:39] street. They're threatening your your

[09:41] 401ks. They're threatening your economy.

[09:43] They're threatening you certainly

[09:46] economically, but they themselves are a

[09:48] threat. You got a third two-thirds of

[09:52] Democrats, however many it was that were

[09:54] sitting down on that basic claim.

[09:57] You got them saying, "Yeah, we want to

[09:59] kill you. We want to kill you." And it

[10:01] puts the focus back on there rather than

[10:04] on

[10:06] uh I don't know digressions, rather than

[10:08] on right-wing infighting or influencer

[10:11] wars or whatever. Trump just has this

[10:13] amazing message discipline and he gets

[10:15] no credit for it. They say he wanders

[10:17] off and he's undisiplined. Not not so

[10:20] Trump is not a guy who lets his emotions

[10:23] run away with him. Trump is not a guy

[10:25] who would rather feel good and seem good

[10:26] than actually do good. Trump that was

[10:29] real discipline there. They're going to

[10:30] play that clip throughout the midterms

[10:32] as well.