The Charlie Kirk Show - A Chinese Coronavirus Accountability Audit
Aired: 2022-03-10
Duration: 33:17


=== Learning From Our Own Mistakes (08:26) ===

[00:00:00]  Hey everybody, today in the Charlie Kirk show, it seems as if the elites are trying to make sure we don't learn our lesson from COVID.
[00:00:06]  Where is the audit of our response to the Chinese coronavirus?
[00:00:09]  That and so much more.
[00:00:10]  Also, we're joined by my friend Rick Grinnell to go through our response to the Russian-Ukrainian situation.
[00:00:17]  You can email me your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.
[00:00:20]  Subscribe to the Charlie Kirk Show podcast by taking out your podcast app and hitting subscribe.
[00:00:25]  If you want to support our show, go to charliekirk.com/slash support and get involved with Turning PointUSA today at tpusa.com, where we play offense with a sense of urgency to win the American Culture War.
[00:00:35]  You can start a high school or college chapter today at tpusa.com.
[00:00:39]  At tpusa.com, it is your place to be able to start high school and college chapters all across the country.
[00:00:45]  At Turning Point USA, we are making hope happen.
[00:00:47]  So get engaged, get involved with Turning PointUSA today, tpusa.com.
[00:00:52]  Buckle up, everybody.
[00:00:53]  Here we go.
[00:00:54]  Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
[00:00:56]  Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
[00:00:58]  I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.
[00:01:02]  Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.
[00:01:05]  I want to thank Charlie.
[00:01:06]  He's an incredible guy.
[00:01:07]  His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
[00:01:15]  We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
[00:01:24]  That's why we are here.
[00:01:27]  Brought to you by Andrew and Todd at Sierra Pacific Mortgage.
[00:01:30]  For personalized loan services, you can count on.
[00:01:32]  Go to andrewandtodd.com, the wonderfulandrewandodd.com.
[00:01:39]  Okay, I want to dive into this story here that I wanted to get to yesterday from the New York Times.
[00:01:44]  It's not always that we lead with stories from the New York Times, but this story is so extraordinary and it paints a broader picture, a more important point that I think we want to put forward.
[00:01:57]  So look, the New York Times article says this.
[00:02:00]  It says, good morning.
[00:02:01]  Life in Red America and Blue America is quite different.
[00:02:03]  What about COVID caseloads?
[00:02:05]  It says this, that there's a modest gap.
[00:02:08]  This is the New York Times writing.
[00:02:09]  Daily life in red and blue America has continued to be quite different over the past few months.
[00:02:14]  It is a reflection over the partisan divide over COVID-19.
[00:02:17]  So the New York Times is writing this, David Leonhart, and he goes through this article and he admits the following, quote, in the country's most liberal cities, many people are still avoiding restaurants.
[00:02:29]  The number of seated diners last month was about 40% below pre-pandemic levels in New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and San Francisco and Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to Open Table.
[00:02:38]  By contrast, Nashville, Phoenix, Charlotte, and Austin, as well as in Oklahoma, Nebraska, and New Hampshire.
[00:02:44]  Residents in liberal cities like New York, Washington, and San Jose are still spending significantly more time at home and less time at the office.
[00:02:52]  In more conservative places, the rhythm of daily life has returned to nearly normal.
[00:02:58]  So the New York Times is diving into the data here, and they say, quote, during the Omicron wave, schools in heavily Democrat areas were more likely to close.
[00:03:06]  Some classrooms require students to stay at home for extended periods of time.
[00:03:10]  Mask wearing was very common in liberal areas, far more common in liberal communities than conservative ones.
[00:03:15]  These are a stark difference that have created a kind of natural experiment.
[00:03:19]  Did the Omicron variant spread less in parts of the United States where social distancing and masking were more common?
[00:03:26]  And the New York Times says the answer is surprisingly unclear.
[00:03:31]  They say, quote, the number of official COVID cases has been somewhat higher in Democrat areas that masked and had lockdowns and lower in Republican areas according to the New York Times data.
[00:03:44]  Now, the New York Times doesn't want to say this definitively, but they're shocked and they're confused.
[00:03:48]  They say this is unclear.
[00:03:49]  Now, there's a reason why this is so important.
[00:03:51]  We just locked down our civilization for two years, put vaccine mandates on people that did not need to get a vaccine against a virus that did not significantly threaten them, locked down our entire civilization and created $6 trillion as a result.
[00:04:05]  But I'm very concerned by the lack of interest from the people in charge to have an honest diagnosis of what we just put our country through.
[00:04:15]  What I'm talking about is where is the audit of our COVID response?
[00:04:20]  The New York Times is kind of stumbling into this, and this is kind of on their back page.
[00:04:24]  Like, oh, yeah, by the way, now that we compare liberal areas to conservative areas, none of the mask mandates, none of the vaccine mandates, none of the lockdowns made any difference at all whatsoever in virus transmission rates.
[00:04:34]  Actually, according to the New York Times, the red states actually had lower virus rates and did a lot better.
[00:04:40]  Now, when we jump quickly from COVID to Ukraine and all these other types of issues from one hysteria to the other, it prevents us the opportunity as a nation and as a society to learn from our own self-inflicted response.
[00:04:56]  Now, we've never received a mea culpa or an apology or any form of a audit from the people in charge or from the public health officials.
[00:05:07]  Many people are starting to ask, where is the justice?
[00:05:09]  And I would join that chorus.
[00:05:11]  But instead, it seems as if there's an intentional and a deliberate cover-up campaign to make sure you don't associate the sort of tyrannical government action that we just lived through with the pain and suffering that you just experienced.
[00:05:25]  So here's the New York Times saying, quote, nationwide, the number of official COVID cases has recently been somewhat higher in Democrat areas than in Republican ones.
[00:05:37]  And they say, quote, the lack of a clear pattern in itself is striking.
[00:05:40]  Remember, not only have Democrat voters been avoiding restaurants and wearing masks, they're also much more likely to be vaccinated and boosted.
[00:05:48]  Combine these factors seem as if they should have caused a large difference in case rates.
[00:05:56]  The New York Times writes, quote, but they have not.
[00:06:00]  They have not offered any sort of clarity about the real effectiveness or the efficacy of COVID interventions.
[00:06:09]  So wait a second, the New York Times just said that the COVID interventions that we went through over the last two years might have just been all for nothing.
[00:06:15]  This is the New York Times writing this.
[00:06:19]  And instead of a nationwide moment of pause and of reflection, it seems as if we're moving on to the next crisis and the hysteria.
[00:06:28]  And this is where I'm really concerned.
[00:06:30]  The people in charge are intentionally interrupting the collective learning process of our country.
[00:06:38]  Nations need to learn things just like human beings need to learn things.
[00:06:42]  Same, in a micro level, it's when you touch the stove and you burn yourself, you associate the action with the pain.
[00:06:50]  I'm not going to do that again.
[00:06:51]  That was really stupid.
[00:06:54]  But we don't actually, we've not afforded ourselves that similar type of opportunity when it comes to our COVID response.
[00:07:01]  The New York Times, quote, not only do we not have clarity about the effectiveness of different COVID interventions, but red states seem to have substantially reduced the chance of infection.
[00:07:14]  If we as a civilization or a country do not gain a proper understanding of the implications of our actions, lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and mask mandates, not only will we repeat the same sort of absurd and ignorant response, but it will prevent other lessons from being learned.
[00:07:34]  Societies can learn lessons.
[00:07:35]  They can.
[00:07:37]  Countries that embrace communism and socialism and then reject it, they learn lessons the hard way.
[00:07:43]  Meet any sort of immigrant from Cuba or Venezuela, they learned their lesson.
[00:07:48]  Fortunately, their leaders continue to participate in these experiments.
[00:07:53]  Americans in the recent time in modernity post-1980, lessons seem to not want to be conveyed properly to our population.
[00:08:03]  It's as if we don't want to associate massive government intervention or certain public policy decisions because if America were to internalize the mistakes being made by our leaders and rulers actually might interrupt the very same sort of programs or ambitions that they have for our country.
[00:08:24]  They don't want other lessons to be learned alongside of it.

=== Society Grows When Responsibility Is Taken (07:54) ===

[00:08:26]  And it's not even a question of it.
[00:08:28]  The New York Times is writing extensively that every one of the interventions that we did in the last two years made zero difference.
[00:08:36]  In fact, the Republican states that have open restaurants, open schools, no mask mandates, no vaccine mandates are doing better than the blue states.
[00:08:42]  It's their own writing.
[00:08:45]  Do we have an apology from Anthony Fauci or Francis Collins or the CDC of the NIH?
[00:08:49]  Of course not.
[00:08:50]  They don't want you to learn that lesson.
[00:08:51]  They don't want you to be like, touch the stove, I get burned.
[00:08:54]  We lock down the nation.
[00:08:55]  Things get really bad.
[00:08:58]  And the reason, of course, is this is because they're going to keep on making the same sort of pattern of mistakes.
[00:09:03]  They don't want the population to say, no, no, no, I know what happens when we do that.
[00:09:07]  We're not going to put up with it anymore.
[00:09:09]  Societal improvements occur.
[00:09:12]  Society gets better when mistakes are admitted and responsibility is taken.
[00:09:20]  Humanity is at its best when we say that was a mistake.
[00:09:24]  We're not going to do that anymore.
[00:09:26]  Slavery, a mistake.
[00:09:27]  We're not going to do that anymore.
[00:09:29]  Instead, the public propaganda campaign that we're all experiencing right now, it's deliberate, is trying to make you forget about the last two years.
[00:09:39]  But this New York Times article is screaming in detail that everything your child went through, everything that your school went through, the local community was all basically for nothing.
[00:09:52]  There's another lesson from that that I want to dive into.
[00:09:55]  And we're going to put that article on charliekirk.com.
[00:09:57]  And the lack of humility from our leaders is just striking.
[00:10:03]  Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk here.
[00:10:05]  As you know, Mike Lindell has a passion to help everyone get the best sleep of your life.
[00:10:08]  He created the Giza Dream bed sheets.
[00:10:11]  They look and feel great, which means an even better night's sleep for me.
[00:10:14]  Mike found the world's best cotton called Giza.
[00:10:17]  Mike's latest incredible deal is the sale of the year.
[00:10:21]  For a limited time, you'll receive 60% off the Giza Dream Sheets that come with a 60-day money-back guarantee and a 10-year warranty.
[00:10:28]  You receive a set for as low as $39.99 for a limited time with a purchase.
[00:10:32]  You will receive Mike's soft cover book free when you use promo code Kirk.
[00:10:35]  Go to mypillow.com and click on the Radio Listener Square and use promo code Kirk.
[00:10:40]  Along with this offer, you'll also get deep discounts on all MyPillow products and MyPillow talent sets and so much more.
[00:10:46]  Call 1-800-875-use promo code Kirk on mypillow.com.
[00:10:49]  That's promo code Kirk.
[00:10:50]  I just bought a dog bed.
[00:10:51]  It's amazing.
[00:10:52]  Check it out right now, mypillow.com, promo code Kirk.
[00:10:56]  Mike Lindell is a great American.
[00:10:58]  He sits on the Turning Point USA Advisory Board.
[00:11:00]  Go to mypillow.com, promo code Kirk, mypillow.com, promo code Kirk.
[00:11:06]  It's really difficult for me to go through this story because I know the damage that these lockdowns did to our society.
[00:11:12]  I know the young people that suffered.
[00:11:16]  I know the families that lost young people to suicide.
[00:11:18]  I know the events, the, let's say, generationally impactful events of prom and spring and fall sports and summer camps that were canceled.
[00:11:29]  All for what?
[00:11:30]  The data says nothing.
[00:11:31]  That's what the New York Times now says.
[00:11:32]  No difference.
[00:11:34]  The Republican response actually lowered virus rates.
[00:11:37]  Now, we're not even getting into not just not having the intervention, not just having the lack of lockdowns, but also the lack of interventions, azithromycin, ivermectin, vitamin D, hydroxychloroquine.
[00:11:51]  So, here we have a tape I want to play.
[00:11:54]  CDC director Cut 14, Rochelle Walensky, says, Look, the science is gray.
[00:11:58]  It's not black and white.
[00:12:00]  Now, people like Rochelle Walensky need to start to be held accountable.
[00:12:03]  There needs to be responsibility taken for the mass societal pain and suffering that was inflicted.
[00:12:10]  And I understand that some people say, Charlie, it's time to move on from COVID.
[00:12:14]  It's over.
[00:12:15]  And this is not about COVID.
[00:12:17]  It's not.
[00:12:18]  It's about whether or not a lesson will be learned collectively by a society, whether or not the truth will be properly conveyed to a population to associate the disruption, the inflation that we're seeing is largely because of our response as well.
[00:12:32]  By the lack of wisdom from our leaders and the malevolence from our leaders.
[00:12:37]  If we do not gain a proper understanding of the implications of our action, then not only will we repeat it, but we won't learn lessons from any sort of issue or campaign that we get behind.
[00:12:49]  Play cut 14.
[00:12:51]  And then maybe the other thing I'll say is this area of gray.
[00:12:55]  I have frequently said, you know, we're going to lead with the science.
[00:12:59]  Science is going to be the foundation of everything we do.
[00:13:01]  That is entirely true.
[00:13:03]  I think public heard that is science is foolproof.
[00:13:07]  Science is black and white.
[00:13:10]  Science is immediate and we get the answer.
[00:13:12]  And then we, you know, make the decision based on the answer.
[00:13:15]  And the truth is, science is gray.
[00:13:17]  And science is not always immediate.
[00:13:19]  And sometimes it takes months and years to actually find out the answer.
[00:13:25]  And now another extraordinary piece of tape that I want to play from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' roundtable.
[00:13:32]  So there's Dr. Joseph Freeman, very similar to the New York Times article.
[00:13:36]  He comes out and he says, Look, I want to apologize to the other scientists with me here on Zoom, the proponents of the great Barrington Declaration.
[00:13:46]  You guys were right.
[00:13:48]  Now, thankfully, this doctor has the courage to admit that the people that were talking about the lockdowns that are going to harm, the need for interventions, this Dr. Joseph Freeman, has the courage to take responsibility and to apologize and to be a better human being because of it.
[00:14:04]  Our public health officials are doing no such thing.
[00:14:08]  And the data is there in striking colors.
[00:14:11]  Now, I know the temptation to want to say, let's move on.
[00:14:15]  It's time to get past it.
[00:14:16]  We just went through a civilization altering event that we did to ourselves.
[00:14:22]  It wasn't like an asteroid came from outer space and hit us.
[00:14:25]  We said, you know, next time we could break apart that asteroid a little bit differently, or maybe we could consolidate our programming and our response.
[00:14:32]  No, no, no, we did this to ourselves.
[00:14:34]  Has the lesson been learned?
[00:14:35]  Do you think our public health officials and our government officials are now less likely or more likely to put forward a response that we just lived through?
[00:14:43]  Play cut 51.
[00:14:45]  Personally, I would like to apologize to the three other scientists sitting with me here on Zoom, the proponents of the Barrington Declaration, because initially I did think you all were crazy or dumb, or maybe you just didn't understand what I was seeing.
[00:15:02]  But I now realize actually I'm sorry, because I believe now you guys were correct.
[00:15:09]  And you were correct from the beginning.
[00:15:12]  And I wish that more people, including myself, have realized that sooner.
[00:15:19]  So that's a doctor that has come out and has said the signers of the Barrington Declaration, which of course was censored by social media, which said, as infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists, we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies.
[00:15:34]  Almost a million people signed it, 928,000 public health experts, and the doctor signed it.
[00:15:39]  Most people didn't even know it existed.
[00:15:41]  Now, this doctor said, Look, I was told to believe that you guys were nuts and crazy, but in reality, you were right.
[00:15:49]  You're going to start to see crumbs of this and little signs of this.
[00:15:53]  But the question is: the people, the stakeholders in charge, have they issued the public polology report?
[00:15:59]  Have they issued the audit to the American people saying clearly, we not only messed up, we promised to you we're never going to do it again.
[00:16:07]  That was the purpose of Nuremberg, by the way, was to make sure that we never do that again.
[00:16:14]  Now, The Economist, Financial Magazine, and newspaper has said the stock market lost over a trillion dollars so far this year.
[00:16:20]  You heard that right?

=== The Strategic Nord Stream Error (12:57) ===

[00:16:21]  A trillion dollars.
[00:16:22]  Facebook has fallen out of the top 10 of tech stocks, and all the markets have the jitters.
[00:16:26]  Like you, people are really worried.
[00:16:28]  Except those with gold and silver as their backup plan.
[00:16:31]  They know that with precious metals in their IRA, they'll be fine.
[00:16:34]  Noble Gold has thousands of clients who have safely invested with them.
[00:16:38]  Most heard an ad like this and called the experts, not a call center, but specialists who will give you your options.
[00:16:43]  And for the month of March, with any qualified IRA above 20,000, you get a three-ounce silver American virtue coin or a five-ounce American the Beautiful Silver coin for anything over $50,000.
[00:16:54]  You know what to do.
[00:16:54]  Call 877-646-5347 now to find out more or visit noblegoldinvestments.com.
[00:17:01]  That's noblegoldinvestments.com, noblegoldinvestments.com.
[00:17:08]  With us right now is a friend of mine who has guts.
[00:17:10]  I got to tell you, he was one of the most important members of the Trump administration and quite honestly, one of the least appreciated members of the Trump foreign policy successes, especially in Europe and deterring Putin's aggression during Trump's term.
[00:17:26]  And that is Rick Grinnell.
[00:17:27]  Rick Grinnell was the U.S. Ambassador to Germany and was also the former acting director of national intelligence.
[00:17:32]  I've got to know Rick really well over the last couple of years.
[00:17:34]  And I could tell you that the difference between what our government has right now and the wisdom and the work ethic and the prudence of Rick Grinnell, it really, it's not just night and day.
[00:17:46]  It's also the difference between war and peace is really the difference.
[00:17:50]  So he's with us right now.
[00:17:51]  He's a great friend.
[00:17:52]  Rick, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.
[00:17:54]  Charlie, thanks for having me.
[00:17:55]  It's a pleasure to be here.
[00:17:56]  So, Rick, the floor is yours.
[00:17:59]  Just walk us through just some of the history in the last couple of years when you were U.S. Ambassador to Germany of the differences in policy and also tone of how Trump was able to prevent Vladimir Putin from ever making a single incursion into Ukraine versus what this regime is unfortunately doing right now.
[00:18:17]  Yeah, Charlie, I mean, as you know, from 2016 to 2020, Putin was not on the offense like he is now in Europe.
[00:18:27]  And we have to look at what's been happening in Europe over the last decade or so.
[00:18:35]  And what I would say is that Merkelism, the idea that Chancellor Merkel put forward of being friends with everybody, and I would argue, moving away from the Western alliance and trying to change the transatlantic alliance, which has traditionally been Western-facing, to just a transatlantic alliance.
[00:18:56]  And the difference is: if you have an alliance between Europe and America that just is on paper that we're friends, that's one thing.
[00:19:04]  If you have an alliance that clearly says we're going to be Western-facing, we're the Western government, and we are going to stand up for the West and stand against the East, then there's no other way to say it other than Merkel moved away from a Western-facing alliance and just tried to paper over it with this phony transatlantic alliance.
[00:19:30]  And I blame Charlie a lot of the NGOs, to be honest, the German Marshall Fund and others that sat by and allowed this slippery slope to happen.
[00:19:39]  And you ask, what is that slippery slope?
[00:19:41]  Well, it's the idea that we keep saying that America and Germans are great friends and we have a long history, but we let the Germans not pay their fair share at NATO.
[00:19:52]  We let the Germans build a pipeline of not only gas, but a pipeline of influence in with Russia.
[00:19:59]  And by the way, I think one big mistake that the NGOs in America make and the media in America make and a lot of the official Washington types make is that they look at Europe and they just think that it's Berlin, Paris, and Brussels.
[00:20:14]  And Europe is much more diverse and much different.
[00:20:18]  Remember that the European Parliament on multiple occasions told the German government, don't build this Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
[00:20:25]  It's unacceptable.
[00:20:27]  You should do some other things to diversify your energy.
[00:20:31]  And they made some specific proposals, including buying liquid natural gas, not only from America, but from other sources.
[00:20:39]  There are some Middle East countries that are selling liquid natural gas now.
[00:20:43]  And there was a move to push Germany to have a diversification, but Merkel was really hell-bent on keeping the Green Party in Germany from getting close to her party and toppling her.
[00:20:57]  And to do so, she had to triangulate on some of these green issues.
[00:21:01]  She got rid of nuclear power.
[00:21:03]  She has committed to getting rid of coal, which I highly doubt they'll ever be able to do.
[00:21:10]  But Merkelism put Germany in the position of being able to get leveraged by Putin.
[00:21:18]  There's no other way to say it, and there's no question about it.
[00:21:22]  And so there's now beginning to be a very healthy argument in Germany to say, did Merkel put us in this position of being at the mercy of Russia and causing this Ukraine crisis?
[00:21:37]  And I would say yes.
[00:21:38]  You think about beholding to the Russians on energy.
[00:21:45]  And make no mistake, the Germans are.
[00:21:47]  They've put themselves in the position where they rely on Nord Stream I and Nord Stream II.
[00:21:52]  I like to remind people that our U.S. policy of diversification of energy for Europe does include some Russian oil.
[00:22:01]  We agree that there should be some Russian energy, and that's Nord Stream I.
[00:22:06]  But that Nord Stream II goes too far and gives the Russians too much leverage.
[00:22:10]  Thank God for Ted Cruz standing up and trying to really push hard on sanctioning this issue.
[00:22:16]  But let me just finish this part by saying we have to be very clear that the German government, the then German government of Angela Merkel, and the Senate Democrats and the Biden administration all came together to drop the sanctions.
[00:22:32]  And they did this because Joe Biden wanted consensus with the Europeans.
[00:22:37]  He felt like having an agreement with the Europeans is better than having a strong U.S. policy.
[00:22:43]  And so he sacrificed America first for consensus with the Europeans.
[00:22:49]  That was the strategic mistake.
[00:22:51]  Now that the Germans have flipped in this new government from a socialist leader, Olaf Schultz, has said, we made a mistake with Merkelism.
[00:23:02]  We got to scramble to pay our 2%.
[00:23:04]  We've got to now stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
[00:23:07]  That admission from the Germans has not permeated to the Senate Democrats or the Biden administration yet.
[00:23:14]  They've flipped on Biden from Merkel to Olaf Schultz.
[00:23:18]  This is an enormous story to go from the Christian Democrats to the socialists having a better policy in Germany.
[00:23:26]  There is more information, Rick, in that answer than anything I've heard from the State Department or anything that we have running our government.
[00:23:34]  So, Rick, I want to ask you: there's been a lot of back and forth on this very specific topic.
[00:23:38]  And if you're not at, if you're not able to dive into some of the details, I understand, but I'm personally confused about it.
[00:23:45]  We did a podcast on it yesterday and a broadcast on it yesterday when Senator Marco Rubio asked Victoria Newland about the biolabs in Ukraine, asking, does Ukraine have chemical or biological weapons?
[00:23:56]  And Victoria Newland answered, Ukraine has biological research facilities, which in fact we're now quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces may be seeking control of.
[00:24:05]  So we're working with the Ukrainians on how to prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach.
[00:24:12]  Senator Rubio responded by saying that there's Russian propaganda groups putting out that these have been uncovered and America might be connected with them.
[00:24:20]  So Rick, can you help us separate fact from fiction on this topic?
[00:24:23]  There's been a lot of chatter about this.
[00:24:25]  Some people say it's no big deal.
[00:24:27]  Other people are so outraged.
[00:24:29]  Is the U.S. involved in this?
[00:24:30]  Are we funding this?
[00:24:32]  Walk us through this, please.
[00:24:34]  Well, as you pointed out, it's going to be a challenge to talk about this issue as the former acting director of national intelligence.
[00:24:42]  But let me give it a shot of trying to talk generally about this to give some direction without going into any intelligence.
[00:24:52]  I think the short answer for what you just said is it's a little bit of all of the above.
[00:24:58]  And there are too many sides that are trying to pretend like it's all or nothing.
[00:25:03]  I think the Pentagon's briefing and the media swallowing everything that the Pentagon said, dismissing this, calling it just simply Soviet-era labs.
[00:25:16]  You know, look no further than the Pentagon statement where they say this is just Soviet-era labs.
[00:25:23]  And then they say, well, in 2015 or 2005, so they really go into modern times.
[00:25:32]  And I would say that we also need to resist the attempt to think that this is totally nefarious.
[00:25:41]  I think it's like the situation where the United States partners with other countries and over time loses the regulatory and responsibility of making sure that what that joint partnership is doing today is the equivalent to what we wanted it to be originally.
[00:26:05]  I give you a specific example of the United Nations.
[00:26:08]  In theory, 50 plus years ago, the UN was a great idea of, oh, let's have countries come together and solve problems.
[00:26:17]  The way that it is today, the UN is literally a total failure unless there is total U.S. leadership.
[00:26:26]  Without U.S. leadership at the UN, the programs tend to immediately become problematic and a waste of money.
[00:26:34]  And so what I would just say simply is: unless we stay on top of our partnerships in labs around the world, we don't know exactly what's happening.
[00:26:46]  And I think that we have a situation where we haven't been watching enough and working closely enough.
[00:26:55]  And so the simple answer is sometimes these partnerships get away from us.
[00:27:01]  And Rick, we appreciate you answering that because I know there's some sensitivities there given your former job.
[00:27:07]  So that was very helpful.
[00:27:08]  So we have about a minute and a half remaining.
[00:27:10]  Rick, you're in charge.
[00:27:11]  Let's say Trump was president right now.
[00:27:13]  What do we do right now to respond to the Russian-Ukrainian situation?
[00:27:16]  Is the Biden regime doing anything right?
[00:27:18]  And what on the table is the obvious point of action that is not currently being done to stop Russian aggression?
[00:27:24]  It's such a good question, Charlie.
[00:27:25]  And I really, honestly, I have to start and I have to say that, you know, first of all, we wouldn't be in this position.
[00:27:31]  I'm really saddened and maybe even pissed off that we have to answer questions like, well, what would you do now?
[00:27:40]  And now we have a terrible and a really terrible choice.
[00:27:43]  And so my first reaction is to say, well, we wouldn't be in this position.
[00:27:46]  We certainly wouldn't have had the disastrous Afghanistan look and withdraw because that sent a powerful message.
[00:27:55]  And I always have to say when talking about these issues, there's an issue that nobody is covering.
[00:28:00]  And that is that the Biden administration took the Houthis off the terrorist watch list.
[00:28:06]  And in a short period of time, the Houthis were bombing Abu Dhabi.
[00:28:11]  Think about that.
[00:28:12]  The consequences of weak foreign policy are played out.
[00:28:16]  Our allies see it.
[00:28:18]  It's really hard to answer the question of what would you do now?
[00:28:21]  Because we wouldn't be in this position if Donald Trump were in charge.
[00:28:24]  And we certainly now have terrible choices.
[00:28:26]  I will finish by saying this.
[00:28:29]  We cannot do a no-fly zone in Ukraine.
[00:28:33]  We should not have American boots on the ground.
[00:28:36]  But everything changes if a member of NATO is attacked.
[00:28:41]  If this conflict moves into Poland, then unfortunately, America is going to have to deal with the terrible weak responses of the Biden administration getting us into a conflict.
[00:28:54]  Man, I think I speak for our entire audience, Rick.
[00:28:57]  You know, we wish you and your team was in charge.
[00:28:59]  I mean, you did some phenomenal things.
[00:29:01]  The world was a safer place, and America was strong, and there was less war.
[00:29:06]  Go figure.
[00:29:08]  So, Rick, you're a great friend.
[00:29:09]  Thank you for that wise analysis, and thank you for being so generous with your time.
[00:29:12]  We'll talk to you soon.
[00:29:13]  Thanks, Charlie.
[00:29:16]  Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk here.

=== Pledges Define Our Culture (03:58) ===

[00:29:18]  I love supplements.
[00:29:19]  If you could see my supply of area supplements, you'd think I was training for something.
[00:29:23]  But if I had to pick one supplement that transcends all the others, it would be Balance of Nature.
[00:29:27]  I struggle sometimes to get my fruits and vegetables.
[00:29:30]  Very hectic schedule.
[00:29:31]  I'm always traveling, boarding planes, taxis, Ubers, checking into hotels, or being screamed at by angry leftists.
[00:29:37]  It's really hard to go to the farmer's market to get greens, beets, pineapples, oranges, and kiwis.
[00:29:41]  However, if you aren't getting a lot of daily fruits and vegetables, I can tell you balance of nature is the thing for you.
[00:29:46]  Get your immune system up and running by taking Balance of Nature's 10 servings of fruits and veggies, all in six tiny capsules.
[00:29:52]  For a limited time, all new preferred customers will receive an additional 35% discount and free shipping on your first Balance of Nature order.
[00:29:58]  Use discount code Charlie.
[00:30:00]  Call 800-2468-751 or go to balanceinnature.com and use discount code Charlie.
[00:30:05]  For a limited time only, preferred customers will receive a 35% discount and free shipping on your first Balance of Nature order.
[00:30:11]  Use discount code Charlie.
[00:30:12]  That's balanceinnature.com, discount code Charlie.
[00:30:18]  Okay, I want to get to this tape here.
[00:30:20]  So when we teach our children the Pledge of Allegiance, we want them to pledge to their nation, to their fellow countrymen, and of course, pledge to God that has given them their natural rights.
[00:30:30]  When you take a pledge, it's a big deal.
[00:30:32]  Taking a pledge to something can tell you a lot about the society and the culture that you live in.
[00:30:36]  It can tell you about the type of nation we want to be, the nation we have been, and the nation that we currently are.
[00:30:41]  It reinforces the three-tied knot of what has happened before, what is happening now, and what will happen in the future of many different generations working in tandem and working together for a broader and specific purpose.
[00:30:54]  A new video has now come out of this man by the name of Chastin Bootedjej, who is the husband of Pete Bootedjej of Transportation Secretary.
[00:31:02]  It's such an extraordinary video, it's hard to even comprehend.
[00:31:05]  It's hard to even process.
[00:31:08]  And it is a video that it appears that Chastin Boutijej is leading children in the gay Pledge of Allegiance.
[00:31:17]  This is happening more and more at schools across the country.
[00:31:21]  This further reinforces why everyone should get involved and engage with Hillsdale College, CharlieForhillsdale.com, and also Turning Point USA and the work we are doing.
[00:31:28]  I'm going to play this tape right here.
[00:31:30]  And if you send your child to public school, there's a risk, there's a chance that they might have already been exposed to this very sort of type of activity of Chastin Buttigedge, the husband to the Transportation Secretary of the United States government, leading children in the gay pledge of allegiance.
[00:31:46]  Play cut 10.
[00:31:47]  All right.
[00:31:48]  I pledge my heart.
[00:31:50]  I pledge my heart to the rainbow.
[00:31:52]  To the rainbow.
[00:31:53]  The not-so-typical gay camp.
[00:31:55]  The not-so-typical gay camp.
[00:31:57]  One camp, one camp.
[00:31:59]  Full of pride, full of pride.
[00:32:01]  Indivisible, indivisible.
[00:32:03]  Affirmation and equal rights for all.
[00:32:06]  Affirmation and equal rights for all.
[00:32:08]  Watch your heads.
[00:32:13]  So these are children.
[00:32:15]  So this is Chastin Bootedge, who was doing this for gay teenagers in a pledge of allegiance to the gay pride flag.
[00:32:23]  He said that we pledge allegiance to the gay pride flag of allegiance or something.
[00:32:29]  This is during an Iowa Safe Schools Pride Camp that says, quote, campers will meet with other LGBTQ and allied youth who are passionate about creating change in their communities through activism and building relationships.
[00:32:41]  It's called Pride Camp, an annual camp held in Iowa, hosted by the nonprofit organization Iowa Safe Schools.
[00:32:51]  What you pledge allegiance to matters a lot.
[00:32:54]  You have children pledging allegiance to the gay flag, not the United States of America.
[00:32:59]  That's where identity politics leads you.
[00:33:02]  Thanks so much for listening, everybody.
[00:33:03]  Email us your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com and subscribe to the Charlie Kirk Show podcast today.
[00:33:08]  Thanks so much for listening.
[00:33:09]  God bless.
[00:33:13]  For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.