[00:00] [Music]
[00:05] Welcome back to this Real America's
[00:07] Voice News Breakak. I'm Terrence Bates.
[00:09] The assassination of Charlie Kirk is and
[00:11] will likely continue to grip the
[00:13] nation's consciousness. Utah Governor
[00:15] Spencer Cox saying the man accused of
[00:18] killing Charlie is not cooperating with
[00:20] investigators.
[00:21] >> He has not confessed to um to
[00:23] authorities he he is he is uh he is not
[00:26] cooperating. uh but uh but but all the
[00:28] people around him were cooperating and I
[00:30] I think that's uh that's that's very
[00:32] important. Um there were reports
[00:34] yesterday that that that uh that we can
[00:37] confirm that uh that his roommate was
[00:39] indeed a boyfriend uh who who is
[00:41] transitioning from uh from male to
[00:44] female. Uh that's that's information
[00:46] that the FBI had uh had mentioned
[00:48] yesterday. Uh we can confirm that as
[00:51] well and that that uh that he is
[00:53] cooperating with uh with authorities as
[00:55] well. The 22-year-old accused assassin
[00:58] remains in in custody. Formal charges
[01:01] are expected tomorrow. In the meantime,
[01:04] federal agents are reportedly zeroing in
[01:06] on whether the assassination was part of
[01:08] a broader plot. Investigators are now
[01:11] saying that they're looking at the
[01:13] suspect's network and online footprint.
[01:16] Meanwhile, funeral arrangements for
[01:18] conservative activist Charlie Kirk are
[01:20] underway and set. The assassinated
[01:23] 31-year-old will be funeralized next
[01:25] Sunday with the service being held at
[01:27] State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
[01:30] President Trump says he'll be on hand
[01:32] for the final goodbye. Next week's
[01:34] ceremony reportedly being organized by
[01:36] Turning Point USA, which is the
[01:38] organization Charlie Kirk founded. We're
[01:41] also hearing that several private
[01:43] memorial events are scheduled leading up
[01:45] to the funeral, including some in the
[01:47] nation's capital. On Sunday, a who's who
[01:50] of Washington DC came together to
[01:52] remember Charlie Kirk at the Kennedy
[01:54] Center. The list of speakers included
[01:56] Congress members Anna Paulina Luna, Andy
[01:59] Biggs, as well as House Speaker Mike
[02:01] Johnson. Health and Human Services
[02:03] Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as well
[02:05] as Director of National Intelligence
[02:06] Tulsi Gabbard also took the microphone.
[02:09] But it was White House press secretary
[02:11] Caroline Levitt who brought a message
[02:13] from both the White House as well as
[02:14] from her heart. That's a quick check of
[02:17] your headlines. I'm Terrence Bates.
[02:19] [Music]
[02:38] Shortly after Usha and I left Charlie's
[02:41] family and Charlie's remains in Arizona,
[02:45] I wrote a story in The Nation magazine
[02:48] about my dear friend Charlie Kirk. Now,
[02:50] The Nation isn't a fringe blog. It's a
[02:53] well-funded, wellrespected magazine,
[02:56] whose publishing history goes back to
[02:58] the American Civil War. George Soros's
[03:02] Open Society Foundation funds this
[03:04] magazine, as does the Ford Foundation
[03:07] and many other wealthy titans of the
[03:10] American Progressive Movement. The
[03:12] writer accuses Charlie of saying, and I
[03:15] quote, "Black women do not have brain
[03:18] processing power to be taken seriously."
[03:21] But if you go and watch the clip, the
[03:24] very clip she links to, you realize he
[03:26] never said anything like that. He never
[03:29] uttered those words. He made an argument
[03:32] against affirmative action as a policy.
[03:35] He criticized a specific Supreme Court
[03:37] justice as an individual. He never said
[03:40] anything about black women as a group.
[03:42] He made an argument for judging people
[03:45] of all races and backgrounds by their
[03:47] own individual merits.
[03:50] The very evidence she provides, this
[03:53] hack of a writer, shows that she lied
[03:55] about a dead man. And yet, she wrote it.
[03:59] An esteemed magazine published it. It
[04:01] made it through the editors. And of
[04:03] course, liberal billionaires rewarded
[04:06] that attack.
[04:09] Now, of course, even if Charlie had
[04:10] uttered those words, it wouldn't mean
[04:12] that he deserved his fate. But consider
[04:15] the level of propaganda at work. Charlie
[04:18] was gunned down in broad daylight, and
[04:21] well-funded institutions of the left
[04:24] lied about what he said so as to justify
[04:27] his murder. This is soulless and evil.
[04:32] But I was struck not just by the
[04:34] dishonesty of the smear, but by the glee
[04:37] over a young husband's and young
[04:40] father's death. Quote, she says, "He was
[04:44] an unrepentant racist, transphobe,
[04:47] homophobe, and misogynist."
[04:50] The nation wrote, who often wrapped his
[04:53] bigotry in Bible verses because there
[04:55] was no other way to pretend that it was
[04:58] morally correct. He had children as do
[05:02] many vile people. That's what they said.
[05:04] He had children as do many vile people.
[05:08] Now, hours before this smear was
[05:10] published, my wife and I had the honor
[05:13] of escorting Charlie's body back to his
[05:15] home in Arizona. We took his wife,
[05:19] Erica, We Love you, his parents, his
[05:22] sister, and a few of his best friends
[05:24] with us. And as they offloaded Charlie's
[05:26] casket from Air Force 2, I worried that
[05:30] Erica would collapse with grief. Now, I
[05:33] am a very lucky husband to a very
[05:36] wonderful wife, but I have never been
[05:38] prouder of my wife than that moment as
[05:40] she held Erica in Erica's very darkest
[05:43] hour. And I thought of Erica as I read
[05:46] that disgusting attack on Charlie. He
[05:49] had children as do many vile people.
[05:53] That's what they said about him. I said
[05:57] the Lord's prayer. Our Father, who art
[05:59] in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy
[06:02] kingdom come, thy will be done on earth
[06:05] as it is in heaven. And I asked Usha
[06:09] what Erica had said to her earlier in
[06:11] the day in a private moment. And I asked
[06:13] Erica's permission to share this. My
[06:17] wife told me,
[06:19] she asked me
[06:21] for advice. Erica asked me for advice on
[06:25] how she should tell her children that
[06:28] their father had been murdered.
[06:30] She asked my wife how to tell her
[06:34] beautiful kids that their father and my
[06:36] dear, very dear friend, is no longer
[06:39] with us. And as she was doing it, there
[06:43] were people dancing on that father's
[06:46] grave.
[06:47] Now, I have heard many calls in the last
[06:50] few days for unity and for healing in
[06:53] the wake of Charlie's assassination. You
[06:55] have no idea how desperately I want
[06:59] that, how gratified I was when
[07:01] Democratic friends and even former
[07:03] Senate colleagues reached out to offer
[07:05] their condolences to me. I'm so thankful
[07:08] and I know there are so many like them
[07:10] all across our great country. I am
[07:14] desperate to wrap my arms around them as
[07:17] we all unite to condemn political
[07:19] violence and the ideas that cause it.
[07:23] Psalm 133 tells us, "Behold, how good
[07:26] and how pleasant it is for brethren to
[07:29] dwell together in unity. It is like the
[07:33] precious ointment upon the head. Oh, how
[07:36] badly have I craved that precious
[07:38] ointment in recent days. And I believe
[07:41] we can have it. But first, first we must
[07:46] tell the truth. It's the only way to
[07:48] honor Charlie. For what was he if not a
[07:52] man who told the truth in every place,
[07:55] in every environment? Now, the most
[07:57] important truth Charlie told is this.
[08:01] that long ago a man begotten not made
[08:04] came down from heaven and by the Holy
[08:07] Spirit
[08:08] was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and
[08:10] became man for our sake he was crucified
[08:14] under Pontious Pilate and suffered death
[08:16] and was buried and rose again on the
[08:19] third day.
[08:20] Charlie believed as I do that all the
[08:24] truth he told flowed from that
[08:27] fundamental principle.
[08:30] I really do believe that we can come
[08:33] together in this country. I believe we
[08:36] must. But unity, real unity can be found
[08:42] only after climbing the mountain of
[08:44] truth. And there are difficult truths we
[08:47] must confront in our country. One truth
[08:51] is that 24% of self-described, quote,
[08:55] very liberals believe it is acceptable
[08:58] to be happy about the death of a
[09:00] political opponent, while only 3% of
[09:03] self-described very conservatives agree.
[09:05] 3% is too many, of course.
[09:09] Another truth is that 26% of young
[09:12] liberals believe political violence is
[09:15] sometimes justified and only 7% of young
[09:18] conservatives say the same. Again, too
[09:21] high a number.
[09:23] In a country of 330 million people, you
[09:25] can of course find one person of a given
[09:27] political persuasion justifying this or
[09:30] that or almost anything. But the data is
[09:33] clear. People on the left are much
[09:36] likelier to defend and celebrate
[09:38] political violence. This is not a both
[09:41] sides problem. If both sides have a
[09:44] problem, one side has a much bigger and
[09:46] malignant problem. And that is the truth
[09:49] we must be told.
[09:52] That problem has terrible consequences.
[09:56] The leader of our party, Donald J.
[09:58] Trump, escaped an assassin's bullet by
[10:00] less than an inch. Our House Majority
[10:03] Lever, Steven Scaliz, came within
[10:06] seconds of death by an assassin himself.
[10:09] And now, the most influential
[10:11] conservative activist in generations,
[10:13] our friend Charlie, has been murdered.
[10:16] This violence, it doesn't come from
[10:19] nowhere. Now, any political movement,
[10:23] violent or not violent, is a collection
[10:24] of forces. It's like a pyramid that
[10:27] stacks on top, one support on top of the
[10:30] other. That pyramid's got a foundation
[10:33] of donors, of activists, of journalists,
[10:36] now of social media influencers, and of
[10:38] course, of politicians.
[10:40] Not every member of that pyramid would
[10:42] commit a murder. In fact, over 99%, I'm
[10:44] sure, would not. but by celebrating that
[10:47] murder, apologizing for it, and
[10:49] emphasizing not Charlie's innocence, but
[10:52] the fact that he said things some didn't
[10:54] like, even to the point of lying about
[10:57] what he actually said. Many of these
[10:59] people are creating an environment where
[11:01] things like this are inevitably going to
[11:04] happen. A couple of months ago, I
[11:06] headlined a fundraiser in Southern
[11:08] California. And since, you know, we'd be
[11:10] out there anyways, my wife and I decided
[11:11] to take our kids to Disneyland one
[11:14] weekend. We had fun and to be clear,
[11:16] most of the guests said very nice things
[11:18] or they just left us alone. But there
[11:21] was a loud and very cool minority that
[11:23] would shout at my children who were 8,
[11:26] five, and three whenever they got the
[11:28] opportunity. You should disown your dad,
[11:30] you little, one middle-aged woman yelled
[11:33] at my 5-year-old. Tell the Secret
[11:35] Service to protect the Constitution, not
[11:37] your father, screamed another. Are these
[11:40] women violent? Probably not. Are they
[11:42] deranged? Certainly. And while our side
[11:45] of the aisle certainly has its crazies,
[11:47] it is a statistical fact that most of
[11:50] the lunatics in American politics today
[11:53] are proud members of the far left.
[11:56] After Charlie died, one of his friends
[11:59] and one of our senior White House
[12:01] staffers had left-leaning operatives in
[12:04] his neighborhood passing out leaflets
[12:06] telling people what he looked like and
[12:08] where he lived, encouraging neighbors to
[12:11] harass him or, god forbid, to do worse.
[12:14] While he was mourning his dead friend,
[12:17] he and his wife had to worry about the
[12:19] political terrorists drawing a big
[12:22] target on the home he shares with his
[12:25] young children. Are these people
[12:27] violent? I hope not. But are they guilty
[12:30] of encouraging violence? You damn well
[12:33] better believe it. We can thank God that
[12:36] most Democrats don't share these
[12:37] attitudes. And I do while acknowledging
[12:40] that something has gone very wrong with
[12:44] a lunatic fringe, a minority, but a
[12:46] growing and powerful minority on the far
[12:50] left.
[12:52] There is no unity with people who scream
[12:54] at children over their parents'
[12:56] politics. There is no unity with someone
[12:59] who lies about what Charlie Kirk said in
[13:01] order to excuse his murder. There is no
[13:03] unity with someone who harasses an
[13:06] innocent family the day after the father
[13:08] of that family lost a dear friend. There
[13:11] is no unity with the people who
[13:13] celebrate Charlie Kirk's assassination.
[13:16] And there is no unity with the people
[13:18] who fund these articles, who pay the
[13:20] salaries of these terrorist
[13:22] sympathizers, who argue that Charlie
[13:24] Kirk, a loving husband and father,
[13:27] deserved a shot to the neck because he
[13:30] spoke words with which they disagree.
[13:34] Did you know that the George Soros Open
[13:36] Society Foundation and the Ford
[13:38] Foundation, the groups who funded that
[13:40] disgusting article justifying Charlie's
[13:43] death, do you know they benefit from
[13:44] generous tax treatment? They are
[13:46] literally subsidized by you and me, the
[13:50] American taxpayer. And how do they
[13:52] reward us? By setting fire to the house
[13:55] built by the American family over 250
[13:58] years. I am desperate for our country to
[14:01] be united in condemnation of the actions
[14:04] and the ideas that killed my friend. I
[14:06] want it so badly that I will tell you a
[14:09] difficult truth. We can only have it
[14:12] with people who acknowledge that
[14:14] political violence is unacceptable and
[14:17] when we work to dismantle the
[14:19] institutions that promote violence and
[14:22] terrorism in our own country. Now, our
[14:25] government, you heard me talk to Steven
[14:27] Miller about this, will be working very
[14:29] hard to do exactly that in the months to
[14:31] come. We're not always going to get it
[14:33] right. We will sometimes move more
[14:36] slowly than you would like. We will
[14:37] sometimes move more slowly than I want
[14:40] us to. But I promise you that we will
[14:42] explore every option to bring real unity
[14:46] to our country and stop those who would
[14:48] kill their fellow Americans because they
[14:50] don't like what they say. But you have a
[14:54] role, too. Civil society, Charlie
[14:56] understood this well, is not just
[14:58] something that flows from the
[15:00] government. It flows from each and every
[15:05] one of us. It flows from all of us. So
[15:09] when you see someone celebrating
[15:11] Charlie's murder, call them out in hell.
[15:13] Call their employer. We don't believe in
[15:15] political violence, but we do believe in
[15:18] civility. And there is no civility in
[15:20] the celebration of political
[15:22] assassination. Get involved. Get
[15:24] involved. Get involved. It's the best
[15:27] way to honor Charlie's legacy. Start a
[15:29] chapter of TPUSA or get involved in the
[15:32] one that already exists. If you're
[15:34] older, volunteer for your local party.
[15:36] Write an op-ed in your local paper. Run
[15:38] for office. I can't promise you this is
[15:41] going to be easy. I can't promise you
[15:43] that all of us will avoid Charlie's
[15:45] fate. I can't promise you that I will
[15:47] avoid Charlie's fate. But the way to
[15:50] honor him is to shine the light of truth
[15:53] like a torch in the very darkest places.
[15:57] Go do it. We owe it to our friend to
[16:00] ensure that his killer is not just
[16:02] prosecuted but punished. And the worst
[16:04] punishment is not the death penalty, but
[16:07] the knowledge that Charlie's mission
[16:09] continues after he's gone. St. Paul
[16:13] tells us in the book of Ephesians to put
[16:16] on the full armor of God. Let all of us
[16:20] put on that armor and commit ourselves
[16:22] to that cause for which Charlie gave his
[16:24] life to rebuild a United States of
[16:28] America. And to do it by telling the
[16:31] truth
[16:38] [Music]
[16:46] Heat.
[16:48] [Applause]
[16:49] [Music]
[16:57] Heat.
[16:59] [Music]
