2,422 videos 1,389,747,653 views US Joined Aug 30, 2018
Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, the largest and fastest growing conservative youth activist organization in the country with over 250,000 student members, over 150 full-time staff, and a presence on over 2,000 high school and college campuses nationwide. Charlie is also the Chairman of Students for Trump, which aims to activate one million new college voters on campuses in battleground states in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election. His social media reaches over 100 million people per month and according to Axios, he is one of the "top 10 most engaged" Twitter handles in the world. He is also the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which regularly ranks among the top news shows on Apple podcast charts.
Newt Gingrich on Trump's Historic Speed and the Remaking of American Foreign Policy Under Marco Rubio
Newt Gingrich provides his analysis of President Trump's administration, comparing the speed and comprehensiveness of Trump's second term to no other period in American history. The former Speaker of the House discusses the transformation of American foreign policy under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the strategic significance of peace talks being held in Saudi Arabia rather than Europe, and why JD Vance's Munich speech represents an intervention with European allies who have chosen regulation over innovation. Gingrich also explores how Trump's near-death experiences may have given him a sense of divine purpose similar to Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.
Newt Gingrich believes the country is witnessing something unprecedented in American history. From November 7th, when it became clear Trump would be president, through the first month of his administration, the speed, comprehensiveness, and clarity of action has no parallel. Gingrich, a historian who has lived through and worked with several presidents, sees a clear sense of entrepreneurial energy, drive, and toughness extending throughout Trump's entire team.
Starting with Vice President Vance, Trump has assembled individuals who share his vision for the kind of America that must emerge for the country to be great again. If Trump can maintain this momentum for four years and win the 2026 election, Gingrich believes he could rank just below Washington and Lincoln, and possibly slightly above Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who created a majority that lasted for 90 years.
The Difference Four Years Made
The contrast with Trump's first term is stark. By this point in 2017, National Security advisers were resigning, the FBI was conducting surveillance operations, Russia gate was dominating headlines, and figures like James Comey and Robert Mueller loomed large. Now Trump remains permanently on offense, while the Democrat opposition appears weak, disorganized, and dispirited.
Gingrich attributes this transformation to what he calls the left's greatest mistake: taking the election away from Trump in 2020. Those four years allowed Trump to reflect on what went wrong and the lessons he learned as president. Simultaneously, the left misunderstood the election results, believing they had a mandate to move further left into what many Americans found truly weird territory.
The result was a country that became angrier at the left, more ready for change, and better prepared for a second Trump administration. Thanks in part to the America First Policy Institute and the work of Linda McMahon and Brooke Rollins, approximately 400 people from the Trump Administration actively prepared for a second term. By November 7th, they had roughly 600 executive orders ready and knew exactly who they trusted.
In 2016, Trump had never run for public office. There was no Trump organization in the traditional sense. MAGA was a movement but not a structure. Now, across America, huge numbers of people identify as MAGA and are prepared to work and help elect candidates who belong to the Make America Great again movement. It represents a totally different world than 2016, with real infrastructure behind it.
JD Vance's Intervention With Europe
President Trump is reformulating Western alliances in a thoughtful way, and JD Vance's speech in Munich exemplifies this approach. Gingrich, who holds a PhD in European history and has lived in France, Germany, Belgium, and Rome, describes what Vance did as similar to an intervention with an alcoholic neighbor. The European system is failing, and their elites have become so isolated from the world and their own people that they maintain power through daily acts of what Gingrich characterizes as cheating.
Vance delivered two speeches—one in Paris on artificial intelligence and the Munich address—both following a similar pattern of frank assessment. The numbers tell a stark story: there are 15 trillion-dollar companies that are American, four that are Chinese, and then Saudi Aramco. There are no European companies that have reached trillion-dollar valuations. The Europeans chose regulation rather than innovation, and it's now destroying the continent, leaving them a husk of their former selves.
The Freedom of Speech Crisis in Europe
Vance made a point of highlighting how European nations are cracking down on freedom of speech. In Germany, extraordinary footage aired on 60 Minutes showed how you cannot insult somebody online or say "get out of my country" without it being considered hate speech. Gingrich questions why Americans should continually subsidize such systems.
He finds it ironic that people reference the Weimar Republic as an example of what free speech produces, when in reality the Weimar Republic had very strict laws. There were 200 legal actions against the Nazis, and Hitler at one point was barred from speaking in Bavaria. The Weimar Republic wasn't a wonderful world of free speech—they were trying to find ways to restrict Communists and Nazis. It ultimately failed because the economy failed and the world had failed from the standpoint of the average everyday German.
In some ways, Britain is worse. The British have experienced a grooming crisis involving Pakistani males and young girls, with nothing being done because reporting it is considered Islamophobia. Parents get in trouble for trying to protect their 13 or 14-year-old daughters. Gingrich describes this situation as crazy.
The Collapse of Trust in American Media
American elites remain in a state of shock from the election. Gingrich points to a CBS performance with Marco Rubio as a disgrace, arguing the moderator should be fired for pure incompetence because the things she said were simply false. He views this as a real crisis, with the 60 Minutes coverage representing pure propaganda.
Jim Clifton at Gallup told Gingrich that for the first time, the news media now ranks below Congress as an institution people trust. As a general rule, the average American now knows that if they're watching CBS, NBC, ABC, or reading the New York Times or Washington Post, it's probably a lie and probably fake. Gingrich considers this sad because Americans deserve better media than what they're receiving.
However, the country is turning to podcasts. Going on Joe Rogan beat anything Trump could have gained by going on the old networks in terms of sheer believability and penetration. Gingrich credits shows like Charlie Kirk's with playing a big part in the rise of younger people supporting Trump. In a sense, the old media is killing itself and driving people to alternative platforms.
Marco Rubio: A Natural Diplomat
Gingrich has known Marco Rubio since before he was Speaker of the House in Florida, and they are old friends. He describes Rubio as a brilliant political leader who was a great Speaker of the House in Florida. Had Trump not overwhelmed him, Gingrich believes Rubio would have been a very good president.
As someone with a background as a Cuban American, Rubio has a deep instinct for Latin America and has thought extensively about communism because he's dealt with Castro and the Cubans. Gingrich and Rubio recently discussed how Rubio is going to remake the State Department into an institution that actually serves American interests rather than the elitist interests of what Gingrich calls the Davos World Gentry.
Rubio is articulate, smart, and knows an immense amount—unlike many reporters who are not only biased but don't know anything. People like Rubio know a great deal.
The Saudi Arabia Peace Talks and Their Symbolic Significance
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff, and Michael Waltz are currently in Saudi Arabia working on peace negotiations. Witkoff has been a huge surprise—Gingrich knew him as a realtor but had no idea of his negotiating talents. Combined with a National Security Adviser who has a real record of being realistic about the world, it will be interesting to see what they can accomplish in talking with the Russians.
Trump's position appears to be that the war is over, period, and now it's down to details. The administration will do what it has to do to convince Putin that he can't keep fighting.
The symbolism of meeting in Saudi Arabia rather than Europe is significant. Historically, such meetings would occur in Switzerland. By going to Saudi Arabia, the team has made the Saudis happy and basically taken a step out of the old world while creating a new one. Saudi Arabia was the first place Trump went when he was sworn in during 2017, so he feels deep affection for the Crown Prince and is trying to get him to sign a peace treaty with Israel. There are many different things moving simultaneously.
Trump's Sense of Divine Purpose
Gingrich senses from talking with the president over a number of years that Trump is increasingly aware of the danger posed by Putin having about 6,000 nuclear weapons, and that nuclear war would be horrifying on a scale none of us can appreciate. Second, Gingrich really thinks Trump wants to be a peacemaker.
Gingrich personally believes that Trump being shot once and almost shot a second time, with the sniper found at the golf course, had a profound impact on him. This reminded Gingrich of two movies he and his wife did: one about Pope John Paul II called "Nine Days to Change the World" about his return to Poland in 1979, and another called "Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny" about when Reagan and John Paul met in 1982.
They were comparing notes because they had both been shot, and they asked why God spared them. They decided God had spared them to defeat the Soviet Empire, and they agreed to make an alliance to defeat the Soviet Empire. In a very similar way, Trump said in his inaugural address that he believes God spared him to make America great again. Gingrich thinks that's about as deep a feeling as you can have.
Trump believes that part of making America great again is not just about home but also about trying to make the world a safer and better place, whether in Gaza, Ukraine, or a number of other places. He's begun to assemble a team—with Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, Steve Witkoff as a negotiator, and Mike Waltz as National Security Adviser—that is pretty remarkable.
The Future of BRICS and American Economic Dominance
Trumpism is having an impact both inside the US and around the world. The Saudi Arabia meeting sends a subtle message to Russia: America's convening here, and while Russia has been pursuing BRICS, the dollar is going to remain supreme.
If the administration can pass a tax cut by May or June and have the economy roaring next year while keeping the House, this administration is going to lead to a boom on such a scale that the United States will simply pull away from the rest of the planet. This was part of what JD Vance talked about in Paris on artificial intelligence.
It won't even be close, and at that point, the idea of someone creating an alternative currency is simply silly. It won't happen and can't happen. The dollar will be dominant certainly for the rest of this generation and probably for generations to come.
