Roger Stone Reflects on Charlie Kirk's Murder, Free Speech, and the Future of Conservative Movement

[00:00] Wow. Well, last week we lost Charlie

[00:04] Kirk, a key voice and leader for young

[00:06] conservatives in America, and there has

[00:09] been a lot of discourse surrounding his

[00:11] murder following the extremely

[00:14] distasteful rhetoric on Kirk's recent

[00:17] death. President Trump is getting tough

[00:19] on political violence happening in our

[00:22] country. And for more on this, we are

[00:25] joined by former Trump campaign adviser,

[00:27] longtime friend of the president, and my

[00:30] dear friend there. He is the best

[00:31] dressed guy in America, as you can tell,

[00:33] even right now. Uh the great Char uh

[00:36] Roger Stone. Roger, you know, as we're

[00:39] talking about Charlie, it's still um

[00:41] just really incredible to me. I know you

[00:43] knew Charlie well, too. And as we look

[00:46] at what happened and then we see the

[00:48] vitriol uh and what's happening online

[00:51] and some in the media, what is your

[00:54] reaction to just some of the incredible

[00:56] statements we've heard um from people uh

[00:59] who never even met Charlie Kirk and yet

[01:02] they seem to weigh in in very very

[01:05] vicious ways.

[01:07] Well, Rita, first of all, I'm still

[01:09] really in shock. Actually, I really

[01:11] didn't know Charlie Kirk uh until the

[01:13] FBI raided my home at 6:00 in the

[01:16] morning. 29 heavily armed FBI agents in

[01:20] full SWAT gear swarmed my home in a

[01:23] spectacle that was staged for CNN.

[01:26] Charlie reached out to me. We didn't

[01:28] know each other. And he said, "This is

[01:30] outrageous. You're being framed. There

[01:32] is no Russian collusion. We both know

[01:34] it." uh and he became both a public but

[01:37] probably more importantly a private

[01:39] advocate for clemency for a pardon for

[01:42] me. She's the only reason I'm able to be

[01:44] with you today. I came to love the man.

[01:48] Uh he was enormously talented. Uh he

[01:50] also confided in me. I I think I it's

[01:54] I'm free to say now that he did have

[01:57] political aspirations that he was

[01:59] thinking about a potential future race

[02:02] for governor of Arizona. in yes someday

[02:06] I think he aspired to be president think

[02:08] he had the faith uh and the principles

[02:11] and the discipline and the drive could

[02:14] have been a great presidential candidate

[02:16] could have someday been a great

[02:17] president so I'm I'm still in shock

[02:20] about this uh but I also am concerned

[02:24] that some on our own side will take the

[02:27] wrong conclusions look I was censored uh

[02:31] in 2017 I had almost a million followers

[02:34] on what was then Twitter. And then out

[02:37] of the blue, without explanation, I was

[02:40] banned. Then I was banned on Facebook.

[02:43] Then I was banned on Instagram. Then I

[02:45] was banned on YouTube. What was my sin?

[02:49] Supporting Donald Trump and questioning

[02:51] whether the Russian collusion hoax was a

[02:54] fraud. Charlie Kirk himself said it.

[02:56] There is no such thing as hate speech.

[03:00] In fact, the First Amendment is

[03:02] specifically designed to protect the

[03:05] most repugnant, disgusting, offensive

[03:08] speech. That's the American system. Free

[03:11] speech that we that we uh that we rever.

[03:15] And therefore, those who say, "Oh, the

[03:17] left censored us, so now that we're in

[03:19] power, we should censor them." Charlie

[03:22] would not have agreed. He would not have

[03:24] approved.

[03:25] You know, very powerful statements, too.

[03:28] Um do you think though obviously there's

[03:30] a difference certainly uh between words

[03:33] and clearly actions and also incitement.

[03:37] A explain how you believe the

[03:38] differences because when you hear some

[03:41] of the words and I think of even we were

[03:42] just talking about Alexandria

[03:44] Okasiocortez and Ilhan Omr some of these

[03:47] words and some of the words that I've

[03:49] heard from JB Pritsker and Brandon

[03:51] Johnson like in Illinois in many ways

[03:54] it's inciting. Um, and then we have seen

[03:57] even President Trump going after a lot

[03:58] of these groups that he believes are

[04:00] playing a role too. Explain how that's

[04:03] different because clearly that really

[04:05] reaches a different level than just free

[04:07] speech.

[04:09] Absolutely, Rita. You're exactly right.

[04:10] As they as they say, the right to free

[04:13] speech does not give you the right to

[04:15] yell fire in a crowded theater. And I

[04:19] think where the president's doing the

[04:20] right thing is going after and rooting

[04:23] out those terrorist networks who while

[04:27] they use speech, they use speech to

[04:29] incite people to mayhem, to violence,

[04:32] and to death. That's a very very

[04:34] different thing. I think the president

[04:36] is exactly right about that. Uh if you

[04:40] want to say Charlie Kirk was a horrible

[04:41] person, I disagree with you. I find that

[04:44] disgusting, but you're entitled to say

[04:46] that. If you want to say all of Charlie

[04:49] Kirk's supporters and those who loved

[04:50] him should be killed, you crossed a

[04:53] line. That's incitement. So I do think

[04:56] that there is a line, but by and large

[04:59] when people call us names, it's that is

[05:03] what has created this atmosphere. How

[05:07] long can you call people uh white

[05:09] supremacists, bigots, Nazis, fascists?

[05:13] because the obvious conclusion is okay

[05:16] then it's okay to harm those people or

[05:18] kill those people. So I'm not saying

[05:20] that speech should not be monitored and

[05:23] that there are those who cross a line

[05:25] but wholesale censorship uh I is not

[05:29] acceptable and that's not what we should

[05:31] achieve. the president uh the vice

[05:33] president particularly uh and Stephen

[05:36] Miller very effective on this this week

[05:39] going after Antifa which is a terrorist

[05:42] organization. I also would leave you

[05:45] with with this in the wake of Charlie's

[05:48] brutal assassination.

[05:50] You didn't see Trump supporters and

[05:53] those who love Charlie Kirk burning down

[05:56] cities, destroying public and private

[05:58] property, hurting people, killing people

[06:02] as you saw in the Antifa BLM riots uh in

[06:06] 2020. What you saw were prayer vigils

[06:09] not just in this country but around the

[06:12] world. Could there be any more stark

[06:15] difference between left and right than

[06:18] that?

[06:19] Yeah, absolutely. What a contrast. And

[06:21] Roger, before I let you go, you just

[06:23] said also um that beautiful story that

[06:26] you shared about Charlie coming to you

[06:29] in your most sort of, you know, very

[06:31] difficult dire time and also that you

[06:34] saw big big things for him ahead. Um

[06:37] President Trump is also going to be

[06:38] honoring him of course with the Medal of

[06:40] Freedom. Uh your thoughts about what's

[06:42] ahead and also tomorrow is going to be a

[06:45] very powerful tribute.

[06:47] You know, I think that there are two

[06:49] figures in this country uh who really

[06:52] changed our politics and really

[06:55] mobilized and galvanized the movement.

[06:57] The first one was Barry Goldwater. Out

[07:00] of the ashes of Goldwaterat's defeat

[07:02] came the movement that ultimately

[07:04] elected Ronald Reagan president and went

[07:06] on to elect Donald Trump president.

[07:09] Charlie Kirk now will go down in history

[07:12] as one of those public figures. uh and

[07:15] his tragic death will have galvanized

[07:18] and mobilized an entire generation of

[07:21] young people. Uh, look at the fact that

[07:24] TurningPoint has now had over 48,000

[07:28] people contact them wanting to start new

[07:30] chapters overwhelmingly in high schools,

[07:34] which is an excellent sign because those

[07:36] are the students who are being

[07:38] constantly pushed the Marxist

[07:41] progressive atheist line by public

[07:44] school teachers. So, Charlie Kirk uh in

[07:47] his death will change the course of

[07:50] history. Yeah, I agree. And he's already

[07:53] having that impact already. Roger, thank

[07:56] you. And thank you for just sharing

[07:57] those really beautiful, powerful

[07:59] stories, too, as well. Really wonderful

[08:01] to have you here, my friend. Thank you.

[08:07] [Music]