The Charlie Kirk Show - Beethoven is Better with Senator Josh Hawley
Aired: 2023-01-31
Duration: 34:10


=== America First Ukraine Strategy (08:47) ===

[00:00:00]  Hey everybody, today in the Charlie Kirk show, we start with Senator Josh Hawley and then we talk about Beethoven and your take on Lindsey Graham getting behind Donald Trump.
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[00:00:46]  Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
[00:00:47]  Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
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[00:00:53]  Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.
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[00:00:57]  He's an incredible guy.
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[00:01:27]  Batting first in the lineup today, right off the bat, batting leadoff, you could say, is the great senator from Missouri, Senator Josh Hawley, joins us right now.
[00:01:38]  Senator, welcome back to the program.
[00:01:40]  Charlie, thanks for having me.
[00:01:42]  Senator, a lot of topics I want to touch on.
[00:01:44]  Let's first talk about Ukraine.
[00:01:46]  You have an America-first approach to what's happening in Ukraine.
[00:01:52]  And I want your opinion of what is the Washington, D.C. consensus right now.
[00:01:57]  The Uniparty seems to want to escalate what's happening in Ukraine.
[00:02:01]  How should we think about what's happening in Ukraine?
[00:02:03]  Well, what we should think about is the trade-offs, what it means for America.
[00:02:06]  And what we should be doing, first of all, Charlie, is prioritizing America's national security, America's standing in the world, America's prosperity.
[00:02:17]  So listen, here's how I think about Ukraine.
[00:02:19]  We can continue writing blank checks to Ukraine, which is what the establishment of both parties in Washington want to do, or we can secure our own border.
[00:02:29]  And when it comes to overseas threats, we can do what we need to do to counter China, which is our number one foreign threat.
[00:02:35]  Our number one foreign threat is not in Ukraine.
[00:02:37]  Our number one foreign threat is in Asia.
[00:02:39]  It's China.
[00:02:40]  And right now, they're running rampant, and we're not doing anything effective to deter them.
[00:02:44]  And we just can't do all of the above.
[00:02:45]  So, I mean, what happens here is what is happening is that the D.C. establishment says, let's just keep spending.
[00:02:50]  Let's keep sending tanks.
[00:02:52]  Let's send F-16s.
[00:02:54]  Let's send, let's basically fight a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
[00:02:58]  And, you know, my view of that is that if we do that, that will be another forever war.
[00:03:02]  We will be tying down there potentially for a generation.
[00:03:05]  It'll be Afghanistan and Iraq and nation building all over again.
[00:03:08]  Well, and so what do your colleagues in the Senate say success looks like in Ukraine?
[00:03:13]  When you talk about Ukraine, I mean, it seems as if abstractions are their answer.
[00:03:17]  Like, well, we want to drive the Russians completely out of Ukraine.
[00:03:20]  That's not a strategy.
[00:03:21]  That's not a plan.
[00:03:22]  In fact, that could be a recipe for disaster.
[00:03:24]  What do your colleagues say in private, deep, their deeply held beliefs of what success would look like in Ukraine?
[00:03:30]  Oh, I don't think they know.
[00:03:31]  I think that's part of the problem.
[00:03:32]  I don't think they know what success looks like.
[00:03:33]  You know, you hear them say things like, well, we want to win.
[00:03:36]  You know, we want Ukraine to win.
[00:03:39]  Well, I mean, I don't know what that means.
[00:03:41]  I mean, listen, I've got no love for the Russians.
[00:03:43]  I mean, I'd love to see the Russians lose.
[00:03:45]  I mean, you know, anything we could do to bleed Vladimir Putin is totally fine by me.
[00:03:49]  I mean, I think the guy's a bad actor, but let's look at this through a realistic lens that puts American interests at the top of the list, that puts America first.
[00:03:58]  If you do that, you say we cannot nation build in Ukraine, write blank checks to Ukraine, fight a proxy war in Ukraine, and do the other things, Charlie, we have to do to keep this country safe.
[00:04:10]  So my view is that I'm a nationalist when it comes to foreign policy.
[00:04:14]  I evaluate everything that's happening overseas and in the world through the lens of what makes America strong, what keeps the American people safe and prosperous.
[00:04:23]  And I can tell you that writing blank checks to Ukraine and fighting a proxy war there is not the answer.
[00:04:28]  And so I think there is no strategy.
[00:04:29]  That's what concerns me.
[00:04:31]  It is a policy of incremental escalation with no strategy for an ending or for a conclusion.
[00:04:38]  And that's why I say this will end up as another forever war.
[00:04:41]  Yeah.
[00:04:41]  And I, I mean, first I want to applaud you for your courage and your clarity on this.
[00:04:45]  It's super rare to have actually somebody that comes out in the U.S. Senate and says, I don't think this Ukraine thinks makes any sense at all.
[00:04:52]  Let's play Cut 36.
[00:04:54]  Raytheon, CEO, says Ukraine has depleted the weapon stocks faster than expected.
[00:04:59]  Boy, this is a gift to the weapons manufacturers.
[00:05:02]  They're going to have record profits.
[00:05:04]  I'm not telling anybody what stocks to buy, but if you were to buy Northrop Grumman or Lockheed Martin or Raytheon, I can't imagine you'll do poorly even in a recession.
[00:05:12]  Play Cut 36.
[00:05:14]  So as we think about it, all of the weapons that have been delivered to Ukraine have come out of, I would say, current inventory.
[00:05:21]  We're not building any of those or replenishing any of those today, although we're working on it.
[00:05:26]  The fact is we are drawing down weapons stocks much faster.
[00:05:30]  And I think I said this last week.
[00:05:31]  We've gone through in the first 10 months of the war, five years worth of production on javelin anti-tank missiles, and we've gone through 13 years worth of Stinger production.
[00:05:40]  So it's going to take us some time to catch up.
[00:05:44]  And I mean, it's great for business, obviously, for Raytheon, Senator, but that's not good for our national security.
[00:05:50]  No, it's terrible for our national security.
[00:05:52]  And what it's really terrible for is our effort and our desperate need, Charlie, to deter China.
[00:05:57]  If you think about our foreign policy threats here, where is our greatest foreign policy threat?
[00:06:02]  It is an imperialist China that wants to dominate our supply chains, that wants to shut down our ability to trade on fair terms, that wants to steal our jobs and steal our technology.
[00:06:13]  What are we doing to counter that?
[00:06:14]  Basically nothing.
[00:06:15]  And what China sees right now is the Americans are completely tied down in Europe.
[00:06:19]  The Americans are spending all of this money and using all of their munitions on Ukraine in this proxy war with Russia.
[00:06:26]  And therefore, the Chinese are concluding they can run rampant in Asia.
[00:06:30]  They can continue their efforts at imperial domination.
[00:06:32]  Taiwan will be next.
[00:06:33]  And why do we care about any of that?
[00:06:34]  Well, because it's about our security and prosperity.
[00:06:37]  I mean, if you think the supply chain crunch is a problem now, wait until China invades Taiwan and shuts down our shipping lanes.
[00:06:44]  Wait until they kick us out of our trade routes in the Pacific, which is what they want to do.
[00:06:49]  And we're not doing anything to counter that.
[00:06:51]  So I just say to my friends, my Republican friends who say, well, we've got to engage with the world.
[00:06:55]  They'll find.
[00:06:56]  Let's engage with the world in a way that puts American interests first.
[00:06:59]  And that would mean deterring China to present a war with them to protect our interests and our trade and our prosperity.
[00:07:06]  And that would mean telling the Europeans, hey, listen, Ukraine is on your continent.
[00:07:11]  You need to take first responsibility for Europe.
[00:07:15]  You need to stand up and take the lead there.
[00:07:17]  But that's not what the Europeans are doing.
[00:07:18]  They're sandbagging, Charlie.
[00:07:20]  Yeah.
[00:07:20]  So does anyone, is anyone talking about peace?
[00:07:23]  I mean, I haven't heard that word at all.
[00:07:24]  It's only about escalation.
[00:07:25]  Are there peace talks?
[00:07:26]  Are there negotiations?
[00:07:28]  Are the Americans in some ways?
[00:07:29]  I mean, I see Lindsey Graham, one of your colleagues, go to Ukraine and just talk about raising the temperature while flanked by the two most liberal senators in the Senate.
[00:07:39]  Why is it that the consensus in DC is not talking about some sort of resolution here?
[00:07:46]  I mean, it's puzzling when you have such a high-stakes conflict, the proxy war, where Germany says a NATO country, we're involved in this.
[00:07:55]  Are there active peace talks that are being facilitated by the Americans, Senator?
[00:08:00]  Or are we missing something?
[00:08:02]  If there are, Charlie, I don't know about them.
[00:08:04]  I don't know about them.
[00:08:05]  I think what's happened here is a couple of things.
[00:08:06]  I think that the administration, the Biden administration, stumbled into a quagmire that they don't know how to get out of now.
[00:08:12]  They now realize that, oops, Europe has left us holding the bag on Ukraine.
[00:08:17]  There was all this big talk a year ago, oh, grand coalition.
[00:08:19]  You know, the Europeans are really going to step up and they're going to send arms and munitions to Ukraine.
[00:08:24]  Well, not so much.
[00:08:25]  Now the Europeans are predictably backing away.
[00:08:28]  Germany wouldn't even send tanks until we committed.
[00:08:31]  The United States committed to sending tanks.
[00:08:33]  Germany now is like, well, you send them first, and then maybe we'll send a few things.
[00:08:37]  We have spent more in Ukraine and sent more arms and munitions, Charlie, than all of Europe combined.
[00:08:44]  So now the administration realizes, oh, this is now our fight.

=== Strong Cell Energy Boost (02:47) ===

[00:08:47]  I mean, we're the ones who are holding it back, and they don't know what to do about it.
[00:08:50]  They don't know how to get out of it.
[00:08:51]  And then you've got the Democrats, the liberals, who, of course, were pro-Soviet for decades.
[00:08:56]  I mean, these are the people who are basically for the Soviet Union.
[00:08:58]  Let's remember back to the Cold War.
[00:08:59]  Did they support Reagan and his fight against the Cold War against the Soviet Union?
[00:09:03]  No.
[00:09:03]  So I think there's a little bit of, you know, trying to make up for past misdeeds.
[00:09:07]  Oh, we'll talk tough on Russia, you know, and people maybe forget that we've always been soft when it comes to communists in the past.
[00:09:13]  But what's happening is the communists today in China are running rampant.
[00:09:18]  They're getting ready to eat our lunch.
[00:09:19]  They're getting ready to take away our jobs, to kill our economy, and we are not prepared to do anything about it.
[00:09:25]  And that's before we even talk about the domestic issues like our southern border.
[00:09:29]  I couldn't agree more.
[00:09:30]  And they act all tough when it comes to Russia, but they're perfectly fine with the Chinese Communist Party taking over the world.
[00:09:37]  Perfectly fine with that.
[00:09:38]  Fine with them dumping products in our nation, fentanyl, amongst many other things.
[00:09:45]  Okay, Kirk fans, I need you to stop and pay attention to this.
[00:09:49]  It's a new year, and you may be trying to make some positive change in your life.
[00:09:53]  New resolutions, habits, and thought processes.
[00:09:56]  But let's be honest, these efforts do not always pan out.
[00:09:59]  Have you ever given up after a few months because you don't see the results you were hoping for?
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[00:10:18]  Look, Strong Cell is a scientific formula that helps boost your body's natural energy and restoration at the cellular level.
[00:10:26]  So look, NAD is a crucial coenzyme that is critical for creating energy in your cells.
[00:10:32]  Now, you might say, Charlie, this sounds too good to be true.
[00:10:34]  NAD, go look it up online.
[00:10:36]  Go do five minutes of research on NAD.
[00:10:39]  It is a miracle coenzyme.
[00:10:41]  Some people call it the anti-aging enzyme.
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=== Stop Insider Trading Deals (06:29) ===

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[00:11:43]  They have made me a believer.
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[00:12:33]  Senator, you have recently introduced a piece of legislation to make sure we no longer have people like Nancy Pelosi making all this money on alleged insider trading or congressional deals.
[00:12:46]  I am curious, though, and perhaps you can help me understand.
[00:12:50]  Wasn't there a piece of legislation that was signed into law back in 2012 called the Stock Act, the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act?
[00:12:58]  How is your bill different?
[00:13:00]  Or do we not enforce that other bill or does it not have teeth?
[00:13:04]  Please explain it to me.
[00:13:06]  Yeah, so the old law, Charlie, just requires members of Congress to disclose when they trade stock.
[00:13:12]  It doesn't prohibit them from owning individual stock, doesn't prohibit stock trading, but it says when you do it, you've got to disclose it within a certain number of days.
[00:13:19]  And of course, it reiterates with already the law for everybody, which is that insider trading is illegal.
[00:13:25]  Now, get this, though.
[00:13:26]  Many members of Congress, and including the Senate, don't comply with the Stock Act, Charlie.
[00:13:31]  They don't even pretend to.
[00:13:32]  They just don't file their disclosures.
[00:13:33]  I mean, so there's no enforcement mechanism that's serious in that act.
[00:13:36]  And so basically, members of Congress not only own the stock, not only trade the stock, they don't disclose it.
[00:13:42]  And they just say, oh, screw you, basically.
[00:13:44]  We're not going to do it.
[00:13:44]  So here's what my bill does.
[00:13:45]  My bill says no more stock trading at all by members of Congress.
[00:13:50]  In fact, no more stock ownership.
[00:13:52]  If you come to Congress, you ought to be focused on doing what the people sends you here to do, not playing the stock market.
[00:13:57]  So listen, if you want to save, great.
[00:13:59]  You can buy mutual funds.
[00:14:01]  That's what most Americans do with their savings, but you shouldn't be buying up stock in individual companies.
[00:14:06]  And you shouldn't be doing what Nancy Pelosi and her family have done, which is making millions off of their position on the stock market.
[00:14:12]  And so, Senator, is it fair to say that Pelosi and her husband or just kind of all their friends that they'll go into a committee, sometimes with classified information, and then sell or buy stock, acting on the information?
[00:14:27]  How is that not, forget the congressional side of it?
[00:14:30]  How is that not a blatant violation of the Security Exchange Commission's rules on trading on non-public information?
[00:14:39]  Well, you've seen multiple members of Congress of both parties, I have to say, investigated for this, Charlie, just in the last few years.
[00:14:45]  There were a flurry of trades around COVID, you might remember, where a whole bunch of reps and senators who got briefings, right, all of a sudden North Carolina.
[00:14:53]  That's right.
[00:14:54]  Yep.
[00:14:54]  Yeah, that's right, among others.
[00:14:55]  Yeah, that's right.
[00:14:56]  And so here's what I take away from that.
[00:14:58]  And I should say that Senator Bird, he was not prosecuted.
[00:15:01]  None of them were.
[00:15:02]  And so, you know, I assume that's correct and there was no wrongdoing.
[00:15:05]  But here's the deal.
[00:15:07]  A lot of times what happens is members of Congress in briefings are given information that may not be classified.
[00:15:12]  It may be technically public.
[00:15:14]  But what happens is experts gather that and present it all to the member of Congress in a way that it's pretty hard for a member of the public to get it.
[00:15:21]  So is it out there?
[00:15:22]  Well, maybe.
[00:15:24]  But has any member of the public served it up on a silver platter and given all of the implications and said, you know, here's what we think is going to happen.
[00:15:31]  Did they have access to these same so-called experts?
[00:15:33]  They really don't.
[00:15:34]  So insider trading is pretty tough to prove.
[00:15:37]  And that's why I say, listen, let's just cut the Gordian knot here.
[00:15:40]  Let's end this appearance that members of Congress are getting specialized information.
[00:15:45]  I mean, that's not an appearance, that's facts.
[00:15:47]  And then going out and trading on it, let's just put a stop totally agree.
[00:15:51]  No stock trading.
[00:15:52]  And, Senator, but it's even worse than that because then there are people that then advocate for pieces of legislation that then help their portfolio.
[00:16:01]  So, for example, it just so happens Nancy Pelosi bought Tesla stock while simultaneously advocating for the infrastructure bill that heavily subsidized electric vehicles.
[00:16:13]  So, that's not even necessarily add that that's not trading on non-public information.
[00:16:18]  That's trying to steer the public treasury to benefit your personal portfolio.
[00:16:23]  And this happens a lot, Charlie.
[00:16:24]  And this is another reason.
[00:16:26]  It's the conflict of interest.
[00:16:27]  It's another reason why members shouldn't own individual stocks.
[00:16:30]  And by the way, just in case people are saying, oh, well, what about you, Josh?
[00:16:33]  My wife and I made the decision before we even got elected to the Senate when I first ran.
[00:16:37]  We just said, you know what, we're going to put all of our savings for our kids' college and for our retirement.
[00:16:41]  We're just going to put them into broad-based mutual funds.
[00:16:43]  I mean, for this reason, so there'll be no appearance of conflict.
[00:16:46]  And so we won't ever have anybody come to me and say, well, what about this piece of information or that?
[00:16:51]  Like, no, Let's just, let's, let's sell all of the stock and let's just put it in mutual funds.
[00:16:56]  And that's what everybody should do and be required to do by law in order to avoid conflicts of interest so that no member is ever tempted to think like, oh, well, I have a lot of money in this particular industry.
[00:17:08]  It sure would be good for this industry if I supported this bill.
[00:17:11]  Let's just take that off the table.
[00:17:12]  If you have broad-based mutual funds, you're not going to be concerned because by definition, you don't have any holding big enough in any one industry or any one company to have it have an effect.
[00:17:22]  You know, that's why that's the value of a broad-based mutual fund.
[00:17:25]  Let's do that and take away the conflict of interest.
[00:17:28]  Senator, thank you for your courage in the Senate for picking the tough fights and winning.
[00:17:32]  I believe you are in cycle this election season.
[00:17:36]  Is that right?
[00:17:38]  Yeah, 2024.
[00:17:40]  You bet.
[00:17:40]  I haven't gotten the chance to stand for re-election already.
[00:17:42]  Yeah, tell me about it.
[00:17:43]  Yeah.
[00:17:44]  So I hope the voters of Missouri will allow me to continue to serve them in the Senate.
[00:17:49]  And I look forward to it.
[00:17:50]  They will.
[00:17:51]  And we're going to be behind you, Senator, and make sure that you are well supported and you have a good platform to share your message because you've been fighting for all of us.
[00:17:58]  Senator, thank you so much.
[00:18:00]  Thank you, Charlie.
[00:18:03]  Hey, everybody, Charlie Kirk here.

=== Beethoven and Cultural Brilliance (07:21) ===

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[00:19:06]  Beethoven's Fifth, one of the greatest pieces of classical music ever composed.
[00:19:12]  Yesterday, we were talking and having a dialogue with Heather McDonald.
[00:19:18]  And I closed the interview by saying, show me anything the third world that the third world has produced that is nearly as beautiful as Beethoven's Fifth.
[00:19:28]  And obviously, the apparatchiks in the media didn't like that because you're not allowed to say that certain cultures are better than others.
[00:19:35]  Now, all human beings are made equal.
[00:19:37]  All human beings are the same thing.
[00:19:39]  We're the speaking beings.
[00:19:40]  We have souls.
[00:19:41]  We are made in the image of God, but not every culture is equal, period.
[00:19:44]  Some cultures are better than others.
[00:19:46]  The culture that gave us Beethoven, we should probably understand why you were able to get that incredible amount and mark of brilliance.
[00:19:56]  And obviously, the third world has produced many beautiful things, just nothing close to Beethoven, especially in the music realm.
[00:20:04]  Nothing close to Shakespeare, nothing close to the great works that have built the basis of the West.
[00:20:10]  So, why is it that we should appreciate Beethoven?
[00:20:12]  He's going to teach our children this.
[00:20:14]  And do I absolutely believe that Beethoven and his Fifth Symphony and his works, and not just Beethoven, but the canon of classical music, Mozart, the Bach, but in particular, Beethoven.
[00:20:28]  Of course, I believe it.
[00:20:30]  Look, this is not something that I just pulled out of nowhere.
[00:20:32]  Beethoven is probably the single most important figure in the history of music, period.
[00:20:36]  He basically created the modern symphony: the instruments that are used, how they're structured, and how ambitious they can be.
[00:20:45]  Before Beethoven, composers might write a couple dozen symphonies.
[00:20:49]  After Beethoven, even excellent composers would just write a handful in their entire lives because Beethoven upped the game so much.
[00:20:57]  It was like everyone else was doing drawings in crayon, and Beethoven then invented painting.
[00:21:03]  Now, everyone has known this from Beethoven's life to today.
[00:21:07]  Franz Schubert, or Schubert, himself, one of the greatest composers ever, said after hearing a Beethoven quartet, quote, after this, what else is there left for us to write?
[00:21:17]  Or after this, what left is there for us to write?
[00:21:20]  When Beethoven was first performed in America, he was declared an equal of Shakespeare, and his popularity has never declined.
[00:21:28]  According to music professor Michael Broils of Florida State, Beethoven single-handedly made Americans see classical music as something possessing moral and spiritual value, not just aesthetic value.
[00:21:41]  Music is the literature of the soul.
[00:21:43]  It commences where speech dies.
[00:21:46]  Alphonse de Lamatine.
[00:21:48]  Did I say that?
[00:21:49]  Okay, I think it was actually pretty close.
[00:21:51]  Points for trying, said that.
[00:21:53]  And look, Beethoven is not just a good musician.
[00:21:56]  He's one of the towering geniuses of civilization.
[00:22:00]  So why does this matter?
[00:22:01]  I mean, I just said this is kind of a flippant comment, but I didn't, I meant it deeply.
[00:22:06]  It matters because as we're trying to save Western civilization, we should appreciate the giants, the legends, the titans that have produced art, art which is the celebration of the divine that transcends our existence.
[00:22:21]  And boy, did Beethoven do a good job of that.
[00:22:24]  You see, in the modern era, we're supposed to believe that all art is equal.
[00:22:29]  This is one of the fallacies of postmodernism.
[00:22:33]  For example, they put a crucifix in a jar of urine and they call it the piss Christ, and that's supposed to be art.
[00:22:42]  Or they sign a urnal.
[00:22:45]  Blake would know the name of this.
[00:22:46]  What was his name?
[00:22:47]  It was Duchamp or something in the 1920s.
[00:22:50]  I can never remember his name.
[00:22:52]  He was one of the first postmodern defecators.
[00:22:55]  Thank you.
[00:22:56]  Marcel Duchamp.
[00:22:57]  I wasn't that far off.
[00:22:58]  That's right.
[00:22:58]  And he famously, of course, in France, signed a urnal and he said, this is art.
[00:23:05]  And people said, wow, that's so amazing.
[00:23:07]  That's beautiful.
[00:23:08]  No, it's not.
[00:23:08]  It's trash.
[00:23:09]  It's defecation.
[00:23:10]  Art used to glorify the divine, literally.
[00:23:15]  I'm not sure if Beethoven did this, but I do know for certain Bach and Mozart did, is they used to write in Latin, glory be to God, on the top of all of their music.
[00:23:24]  And yeah, that's what passes as art.
[00:23:26]  I think in the 1920s or 1930s, well, that was the beginning of the end.
[00:23:29]  And have you noticed how ugly our society has become?
[00:23:33]  Have you noticed that we are an increasingly ugly architecture, ugly paintings, ugly drawings, ugly statues?
[00:23:43]  1917, thank you.
[00:23:44]  I was off a little bit.
[00:23:46]  And so, when you say something as clear as Beethoven's music is better than anything the third world has produced, the left has to lose their mind because for them, they do not believe in a hierarchy of culture.
[00:23:58]  No culture could be better than the other.
[00:24:00]  And actually, we should defend Western culture.
[00:24:03]  We should defend the culture that protects children from predators, defend cultures that understand God-granted natural rights, that appreciate the moral premise behind separation of powers or consent of the governed.
[00:24:15]  We should appreciate the idea of private property and commerce and free enterprise.
[00:24:20]  And here's the proof.
[00:24:22]  When the Tokyo Philharmonic performs, they are playing Beethoven.
[00:24:30]  When the Manila Philharmonic performs, they're playing Beethoven.
[00:24:34]  Some music is better than others.
[00:24:38]  There is not this vast egalitarianism that the left wishes to impose on us.
[00:24:44]  And so, I just wanted to make sure we're defending the inheritance that we have received.
[00:24:50]  And boy, if we do not take pause every so often to do that, I'm afraid we'll squander it.
[00:24:55]  We're getting a lot of emails on the Beethoven topic.
[00:24:57]  Someone says, Charlie, where can I read more about this?
[00:24:59]  There's a fabulous author.
[00:25:00]  He's passed away.
[00:25:01]  Roger Scruton is one of the most articulate, talented, wise, accomplished writers in recent memory that really understood the Western canon and made very clear arguments about how our society was becoming uglier for consumerism and was really turning its back on this idea of glorifying the divine, the truth, the goodness, and beautiful.
[00:25:21]  Okay, let's get into this topic that I introduced briefly yesterday.

=== Lindsey Graham Trump Concerns (08:44) ===

[00:25:26]  Lindsey Graham endorsed Donald Trump this last weekend.
[00:25:30]  As someone who enthusiastically supports Donald Trump in 2024 for 2024, this makes me concerned.
[00:25:39]  And I'm curious how you feel about it.
[00:25:42]  Lindsey Graham, who seems to want perpetual war in Ukraine, who said last week, flanked by two of the most liberal senators in the U.S. Senate, that we're going to play offense in Ukraine.
[00:25:58]  He was John McCain's best buddy.
[00:26:00]  This is Lindsey Graham endorsing Donald Trump play cut 18 this last weekend.
[00:26:07]  There's one thing I want to talk to you about.
[00:26:12]  How many times have you heard we like Trump policies, but we want somebody new?
[00:26:20]  There are no Trump policies without Donald Trump.
[00:26:25]  Now, did you hear a little bit of that heckling at the beginning?
[00:26:28]  This is the buried lead that no one talked about.
[00:26:30]  These are Donald Trump supporters in this small room heckling Lindsey Graham, calling him a rhino, saying, get off stage, you're a rhino, you're a moderate.
[00:26:40]  The media didn't really cover that.
[00:26:43]  Lindsey Graham continues, play cut 46.
[00:26:46]  But I do know this.
[00:26:47]  We're lucky as a party to have Mike Pompeo, who was a terrific Secretary of State.
[00:26:52]  Nikki Haley, a strong voice in the UN for American First Agenda, my buddy and Love Tim Scott, all talking about running for president.
[00:27:01]  Here's why I'm with Trump.
[00:27:03]  I know the downside of Trump, but let me tell you about the upside of Trump.
[00:27:08]  There are no Trump policies without Donald Trump.
[00:27:11]  You know why NATO gave $431 billion in defense spending increases?
[00:27:16]  Because they thought that Trump really meant it when he said he was going to pull out.
[00:27:20]  So I see it both ways.
[00:27:22]  If you're running for president and you're going to have a highly consequential South Carolina primary and Nikki Haley's probably running, you probably want to get more people, not less people, to endorse your campaign.
[00:27:32]  I do understand that.
[00:27:34]  At the same time, has Lindsey Graham been consistent to the Trump agenda?
[00:27:43]  Has Lindsey Graham been a fighter to secure the southern border?
[00:27:47]  Has Lindsey Graham been a fighter to try to bring American manufacturing back domestically?
[00:27:53]  Has Lindsey Graham had a heart and a passion for de-escalating foreign quagmires and wars?
[00:28:00]  Has that been the track record of Lindsey Graham?
[00:28:04]  I'm a little concerned that Lindsey Graham entering into the Trump campaign orbit this early might actually defang the populist nationalist impulses that Donald Trump, who we all love and adore, naturally has.
[00:28:24]  Now, maybe that's incorrect.
[00:28:25]  Maybe you say, Charlie, come on, this is good for Trump.
[00:28:28]  It's good for him to be on the stage with Lindsey Graham.
[00:28:30]  We should have Lindsey Graham involved.
[00:28:32]  You might be right.
[00:28:33]  But it does make me pause and be concerned that if President Trump is going to be at least giving a platform to the foreign policy views of Lindsey Graham, I don't think that's where his base is at, especially based on the emails I received on Ukraine earlier.
[00:28:51]  I'd love your thoughts on that, especially many of you who are Donald Trump supporters.
[00:28:55]  Freedom at CharlieKirk.com.
[00:28:57]  Does this bother you?
[00:28:58]  Does this worry you?
[00:28:59]  Or do you think this is a good thing?
[00:29:00]  Donald Trump is increasing his support.
[00:29:02]  He needs it.
[00:29:03]  He knows what he's doing.
[00:29:04]  Or are you worried that this might be another character in the never-ending chapter of people you should not trust that get too close to Donald Trump's orbit?
[00:29:19]  What I would have loved to have seen President Trump do this last weekend when he had Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, say, yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks, Lindsey, for the endorsement.
[00:29:27]  But boy, you like to start wars.
[00:29:29]  And when I'm president, we're not going to be doing that.
[00:29:31]  Just a little bit of a sharp.
[00:29:32]  He does that stuff all the time.
[00:29:35]  I mean, but look, remember Gary Cohn?
[00:29:37]  Remember all these guys that were working against Trump's agenda in the White House time and time again.
[00:29:42]  I don't want to see a 2.0 of that.
[00:29:44]  Here's Lindsey Graham, fresh off the trail.
[00:29:47]  He's in the most important constituency.
[00:29:49]  Lindsey Graham is serving his constituents.
[00:29:53]  He's right where he needs to be.
[00:29:54]  No, no, no.
[00:29:55]  It's not the meth clinics in South Carolina.
[00:29:59]  It's not the homeless in Charleston, South Carolina.
[00:30:02]  It's not the fact that kids are killing themselves at record rates.
[00:30:05]  No, no, no.
[00:30:06]  His constituents in Ukraine, specifically the Ukrainian government, they're thrilled that he made the trip.
[00:30:12]  Play Cut 48 of Lindsey Graham, next to the two most liberal senators that you could find in the U.S. Senate, talking about how we need to drive those Russians out of Ukraine.
[00:30:20]  Play Cut 48.
[00:30:22]  Kevin McCarthy said no blank checks.
[00:30:25]  That makes sense to me.
[00:30:26]  We're not asking for a blank check.
[00:30:29]  I'm not.
[00:30:29]  I'm asking for military aid to accomplish the purpose of driving Russian invaders out of Ukraine.
[00:30:37]  If Putin gets away with this, there goes Taiwan.
[00:30:41]  If Putin's successful in Ukraine is not prosecuted under international law, everything we said since World War II becomes a joke.
[00:30:50]  He will continue beyond Ukraine.
[00:30:54]  Why do you keep on talking to Sheldon White?
[00:30:56]  I mean, he's like turning 180 and panting to Sheldon White House.
[00:30:58]  It's very bizarre.
[00:30:59]  Someone says, Charlie, it did work, actually, Donald Trump having those snakes around him, let them expose themselves.
[00:31:07]  I'm going to disagree.
[00:31:08]  I don't think having Anthony Fauci on the COVID tax force was a success.
[00:31:13]  I don't.
[00:31:14]  I do not think having the scarf woman, Dr. Deborah Burks, was a success.
[00:31:19]  I don't.
[00:31:19]  I don't think that I think you could learn a lot from how personnel is policy and how, especially with COVID, that's not exactly a shining success.
[00:31:32]  Someone says here, Charlie, I actually love Lindsey Graham.
[00:31:35]  He's a true conservative, and I'm really glad to see Donald Trump finally having true conservatives around him.
[00:31:41]  That is a strange opinion.
[00:31:43]  Here we have Charlie, Lindsey Graham is using Trump once again for votes in his next election.
[00:31:50]  Why don't people see this?
[00:31:52]  Good question.
[00:31:54]  Charlie, I think Trump knows he needs some of the Rhino support too.
[00:31:56]  Remember just a little ago that DeSantis had an event and in the crowd was none other than Jeb Bush.
[00:32:01]  Well, it was his inauguration.
[00:32:02]  And that's a little more complicated because former governors usually go to inaugurations, but point taken.
[00:32:06]  I think Trump fears this, and that is why you're seeing him make deals with rhinos, Graham and Ronna Romney.
[00:32:14]  You know, that's interesting too, isn't it?
[00:32:15]  Because you have the kind of Trump dispatching surrogates and lieutenants to support Ronna Romney and then increasing support in that way.
[00:32:28]  You got to.
[00:32:29]  I would have loved to have seen Donald Trump said, Lindsey, I don't need your endorsement.
[00:32:35]  But maybe the path that needs to happen here is you need more of that support.
[00:32:42]  All right, let's take a caller really quick.
[00:32:44]  Tony, on Lindsey Graham, what's on your mind?
[00:32:47]  Do you like the fact Lindsey Graham is palling around with Donald Trump?
[00:32:49]  What's your thoughts?
[00:32:50]  I can't stand it.
[00:32:53]  This disgusts me with Ronna Romney, and I will never give a penny to the Republican National Committee.
[00:32:59]  It's hard to believe that President Trump is supporting these rhinos, but unfortunately, they're in power, and at some point you have to utilize them for what you can get out of them and disregard them when you actually get back in.
[00:33:17]  Is your support for Trump changing or constant or questioned because of this?
[00:33:23]  No, I support him 100% because he's gone through the fire.
[00:33:26]  He stands up for us, and I just hope he makes better decisions in positions of power.
[00:33:33]  You and I are both supporting the same man.
[00:33:35]  Thank you for your call, Tony.
[00:33:36]  God bless you.
[00:33:36]  Thank you.
[00:33:37]  Email me your thoughts, freedom, at charliekirk.com.
[00:33:39]  I'm curious.
[00:33:41]  This is a serious conversation that we're having here of who should President Trump surround himself with.
[00:33:47]  And I understand a counterargument.
[00:33:48]  Hey, he needs more support, not less support.
[00:33:50]  Shouldn't you increase your ranks, not decrease your ranks?
[00:33:53]  I think that's an interesting argument.
[00:33:57]  Thanks so much for listening, everybody.
[00:33:58]  Email me your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.
[00:34:01]  Thank you so much for listening, and God bless.
[00:34:06]  For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk.com.