Mike Huckabee Reflects on Charlie Kirk's Legacy and Faith Before Memorial at State Farm Stadium

[00:00] So, right, keeping an open dialogue.

[00:02] That was Charlie Kirk's message and he

[00:04] lived by it until his dying day. And

[00:07] tomorrow, of course, as we said, tens of

[00:09] thousands are going to be at State Farm

[00:11] Stadium in Glendale, Arizona to honor

[00:13] and mourn a man who stood up for

[00:15] traditional values and free speech. Here

[00:18] with us now is US Ambassador to Israel

[00:20] and former Arkansas Governor Mike

[00:22] Huckabe. Uh it is so good to see you,

[00:25] Ambassador.

[00:26] I mean, you know, obviously we've been

[00:28] mourning so much here. you have clearly

[00:30] I it's um it's it's really strange and

[00:33] delicate times right now in this country

[00:36] and I want to get into that with you

[00:38] from your perspective being over there

[00:39] in a little bit but first tell me about

[00:42] Charlie Kirk the Charlie Kirk that you

[00:44] knew and the impact that he had.

[00:47] Rob I knew Charlie since he was around

[00:49] 19 years old and it really first started

[00:51] at Turning Point. I was impressed with

[00:54] him from the first time I ever met him.

[00:55] He was incredibly charismatic,

[00:57] brilliant, and had an extraordinary

[01:00] ability to communicate. I honestly think

[01:02] Charlie Kirk could have been president

[01:04] someday. He had that kind of capacity.

[01:06] But for him to go to college campuses

[01:08] all over this country to speak so

[01:11] calmly, so effectively to people who

[01:15] were coming to a microphone essentially

[01:17] to try to challenge him and to trip him

[01:20] up, they just couldn't do it. Uh, in

[01:23] fact, when I was leaving to come to

[01:25] Israel, Charlie took my time slot on the

[01:28] daily uh, television program that I had

[01:30] been doing for TBN, I went to Phoenix.

[01:33] We went out to his headquarters. It was

[01:35] my last show for that series and his

[01:38] first. And so, we kind of did the

[01:40] handoff. This was such a shock when it

[01:43] happened. But here's what I'm noticing.

[01:45] The message of Charlie Kirk is being

[01:48] heard by millions and millions of people

[01:50] who would have never listened to him. So

[01:53] if the intent was to silence his voice,

[01:56] it's only been amplified exponentially

[01:59] as people now are realizing why he was

[02:01] such an incredibly effective, powerful,

[02:04] and quite frankly uh just I would say

[02:09] this uh really a cuttingedge figure of

[02:14] giving a viewpoint but doing it in a way

[02:16] that was just winsome and captivating.

[02:21] So true. And you know, one of the main

[02:23] things that Charlie talked about was his

[02:25] devotion to faith. And it turned out to

[02:28] be his final message to Americans. If

[02:30] take a listen.

[02:33] Corinthians 5 and 15. So that's all

[02:36] pretty amazing evidence, not just

[02:37] intrabiblical evidence, but extra

[02:39] biblical evidence that Jesus Christ was

[02:41] a real person. He lived a perfect life.

[02:44] He was crucified, died, and rose on the

[02:46] third day. And he is Lord and God

[02:48] overall.

[02:50] You know, we this country there there is

[02:54] a there is a growing cancer, you know,

[02:57] nihilistic, atheistic push in this

[02:59] country. Uh Cardinal Dolan mentioned it

[03:01] too the other day that, you know, he

[03:03] kind of sees Charlie as a modern-day

[03:05] martyr, you know, uh evangelizing in in

[03:08] really in the true sense of the word. Do

[03:10] you see that?

[03:12] Absolutely I do, Rob. In fact, I'm not

[03:15] sure that anyone since Billy Graham has

[03:18] been as clear about presenting the

[03:20] gospel as Charlie Kirk has. And his

[03:23] first job really was not a preacher or

[03:24] evangelist, but he was far more

[03:26] effective than most any preacher or

[03:28] evangelist that I know. Certainly in

[03:31] this current generation, there's no one

[03:33] even close to it because he his message

[03:36] was authentic. It wasn't something he

[03:38] said. It was who he was. It was what he

[03:41] believed. He spoke about it with such

[03:44] ease, such a sense of comfort. A lot of

[03:47] people when they try to talk about their

[03:48] faith, they do it, but they stumble

[03:50] through it because they're a little

[03:52] nervous about it. There was nothing

[03:54] about Charlie's faith that he was

[03:55] nervous about. He was grateful that he

[03:58] knew who he was, who God was, who Christ

[04:01] was in his life. And so when he talked

[04:04] about his relationship to Jesus Christ,

[04:06] it was not something that he kind of

[04:09] cowed for. He went straight on, but he

[04:12] did it with an extraordinary sense of

[04:14] knowledge, understanding, and biblical

[04:18] conviction. Very strong.

[04:20] Yeah. I mean, it it it really is. And I

[04:22] I asked people to go and see some of his

[04:24] videos of him on campus having an actual

[04:28] debate like debates are supposed to

[04:29] happen with people who had a completely

[04:32] opposing point of view. Maybe they left

[04:34] same, you know, thinking the same way,

[04:36] but it was fun to watch their arguments

[04:37] fall apart. I have to tell you that

[04:39] much. Um, let me ask you, so from your

[04:43] perspective now, your perch in Israel,

[04:45] as you look at the United States from

[04:48] afar, if you will, what are you seeing?

[04:53] Well, it breaks my heart to see college

[04:55] campuses that once were the bastions of

[04:57] free speech become now places where

[05:00] people are told to shut up. It's also

[05:02] very troubling to see anti-semitism rear

[05:05] its ugly head on places that should be

[05:08] places of intellectual curiosity, places

[05:11] of knowledge rather than places of

[05:14] ignorance and hate. Those are things

[05:16] that Charlie was so effective in

[05:19] standing against, pushing back on. I do

[05:22] know this, Charlie is loved in Israel.

[05:24] Uh you wouldn't think that 8,000 miles

[05:27] away uh that somehow Charlie's death

[05:29] would have such an impact, but I was at

[05:32] a Shabbat dinner just last night in

[05:34] Jerusalem, and there were several

[05:36] teenagers, part of the family. Every one

[05:40] of them were big fans of Charlie Kirk.

[05:43] Charlie has been to Israel many times.

[05:45] He was here when the embassy was moved

[05:47] in 2018, but he was beloved here and for

[05:51] good cause. He was a strong supporter of

[05:54] the relationship with Israel and Charlie

[05:56] just understood biblical convictions

[05:58] like no other. Uh he is going to be

[06:01] missed incredibly. But I'm so glad that

[06:03] we have hours upon hours of his

[06:05] messaging because that's messaging that

[06:08] is timeless. And one of the things that

[06:10] I so appreciate about Charlie is that

[06:13] when he spoke to people who disagreed

[06:15] with him, he did it with kindness and

[06:17] compassion. He never belittle people. He

[06:20] didn't berate them. Unlike a lot of the

[06:22] late night comics, so-called comics on

[06:25] TV, he genuinely cared about people,

[06:28] even the ones who hated him. That's what

[06:31] made him so effective. So, a couple

[06:33] blocks from here, starting next week,

[06:35] we're going to have the miscreants, the

[06:37] anti-semmites, the rotten apples of the

[06:39] world gathering at the United Nations.

[06:42] Obviously, they are not pro-Israel. Uh,

[06:45] and then you have the countries that

[06:47] should know better. you know, the

[06:48] Portugals, the Spaines, the the Great

[06:51] Britain, the Frances who are saying, you

[06:54] know, two-state solution and recognizing

[06:57] Palestine and all this kind of stuff.

[07:00] Um, what's the latest on on the on the

[07:04] conflict in Gaza? And, you know, what

[07:07] can you tell us that that we should know

[07:09] here? Because obviously the Gword

[07:11] genocide is being thrown around way too

[07:14] much.

[07:16] Rob, it's the dumbest thing I've ever

[07:17] heard to say that Israel is committing

[07:19] genocide.

[07:19] I know.

[07:20] I told Peter Morgan, I said, "If if

[07:22] Israel is committing genocide, they're

[07:24] really really bad at it." Look, the all

[07:26] of Gaza is the size of Las Vegas. This

[07:30] is a country that put to their knees

[07:32] Iran, which is 10 times their size. The

[07:35] fact is that the reason this has gone on

[07:38] as long as it has, and it's way too

[07:40] long, is because Hamas is so stubborn.

[07:43] They're not listening to what President

[07:44] Trump and what the Israelis have told

[07:46] them. Hamas has no future here. They're

[07:48] not going to stay. They're not going to

[07:50] govern any more than it would made sense

[07:51] to let the Nazis have a role in the

[07:54] future of Germany after World War II.

[07:56] They've got to go. They slaughtered,

[07:58] massacred, mutilated, humiliated people

[08:00] who were civilians, babies, pregnant

[08:03] women. They raped women in front of

[08:05] their families for heaven's sakes. They

[08:07] took hostages, tortured them, murdered

[08:09] them. They still have hostages that

[08:11] they're holding. They've murdered their

[08:14] own citizens and put their citizens in

[08:16] harm's way. They can't stay. And the

[08:18] fact is there's so much pressure being

[08:21] put on Israel. This is insane. And if

[08:25] Mcronone and other European leaders want

[08:27] to have a Palestinian state and want to

[08:29] reward Hamas for their actions, which is

[08:31] what they're doing by this little stunk

[08:33] they're pulling at the UN. And by the

[08:35] way, the UN ought to stand for uh

[08:37] useless nonsense. But if they really

[08:40] want a Palestinian state, I would

[08:41] suggest that Mcronone might give up some

[08:44] pieces of his land to create one right

[08:46] along the French Riviera. It's a nice

[08:48] piece of property and it wouldn't take

[08:50] that much land from the French Riviera

[08:52] and he could have his Palestinian state,

[08:55] but he shouldn't impose it upon Israel

[08:57] when right now they're trying to fight

[08:59] for their lives against people that

[09:01] every day every day try to kill them.

[09:04] Yeah. Too many too many people who

[09:07] should know better have lost the sense

[09:08] of right and wrong in this world right

[09:10] now. And hopefully that gets corrected

[09:11] soon. Ambassador, I can't think of a

[09:13] better person to represent our flag in

[09:15] Israel than you. And it's so good to

[09:16] talk to you again,

[09:18] Rob. Always a pleasure. Great to be with

[09:20] you. Thank you, my friend.

[09:21] Thank you.

[09:25] [Music]