In this special memoriam episode, we honor the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk, Founder & CEO of Turning Point USA. Charlie shares powerful insights on faith, obedience to God, and the duty every patriot has to fight for America’s future. From his reflections on honoring the Sabbath to his vision for mobilizing the grassroots, Charlie’s words remain a call to action for all who love freedom. Listen now to be inspired by Charlie Kirk’s enduring message of faith, courage, and commitment to preserving liberty.
In this special memoriam episode, we honor the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk, Founder & CEO of Turning Point USA. Charlie shares powerful insights on faith, obedience to God, and the duty every patriot has to fight for America’s future. From his reflections on honoring the Sabbath to his vision for mobilizing the grassroots, Charlie’s words remain a call to action for all who love freedom. Listen now to be inspired by Charlie Kirk’s enduring message of faith, courage, and commitment to preserving liberty.
X/Twitter: @charliekirk11 | @TPUSA | @TPAction_ | @jennybethm
Websites: http://tpusa.com/ | https://www.fightforcharlie.com/ | https://www.tpaction.com/
Jenny Beth Martin (00:01):
Today we're going to do things a little bit different for my podcast. Instead of interviewing someone, I'm going to tell you about Charlie Kirk, the man and the friend that I knew, and then we're going to go back and listen to the podcast that I did with him about two years ago. I first met Charlie Kirk in 2013. I met him through his first and my first donor Foster Freeze, and Foster asked me to help Charlie and I promised I would. Charlie and I exchanged cell phone numbers and we kept in touch over the years becoming friends. Honestly, Charlie did not need much help from me. He was talented and he used his talents faithfully answering God's call for his life. In the last five years, Charlie and I have worked together on several important projects. When T Purdy Patriots Foundation hosted a press conference on the steps of the United States Supreme Court with America's frontline doctors working to stop the spread of fear from COVID, Charlie and his crew flew to DC to interview the doctors for his podcast.
Jenny Beth Martin (01:01):
He helped spread their message as well. Of course, we were all canceled and censored, but we were so successful in getting this message out that we helped spread hope and keep the light of liberty of flame immediately following the 2020 election, Charlie and I talked almost daily for weeks with updates about what was happening in our respective home states, Arizona and Georgia. We helped ensure that we each had facts rather than relying on internet rumors and speculation. As we headed into the 2024 election Turning Point, action and Tea Pretty Patriots Action partnered to develop a relational organizing model to train activists and to mobilize those activists for getting out the vote to conservative voters. It was an innovative program. Charlie and his colleague Tyler Boyer were some of the only other national leaders who understood the importance of modernizing how we get out the vote and the conservative movement.
Jenny Beth Martin (02:04):
But besides our professional partnerships with Charlie and Turning Point, I watched his organization grow and I trusted Charlie and his leadership with my own children. When my daughter started a conservative club in her high school, I encouraged her to plug in with Turning Point USA, which she did. Now I know how to organize and was able to teach her how to organize, but I knew that Turning Point knew how to connect with the young people and with her generation, and I wanted to make sure she had that knowledge as well. She later joined the executive committee on her college campus of the Turning Point chapter. There I watched its Turning Point USA provided support, tools and training to help young people become active. They empowered young people to jump into the thick of cultural battles on the front lines, challenging their peers and bringing them to the right.
Jenny Beth Martin (03:01):
Charlie and the Turning Point team rolled up their sleeves to do really hard work with real people providing real results. Turning Point is not just a website or a social media account, and Charlie was not merely an influencer. He did the real hard work to get real results. Charlie was a man of great faith, a husband and a father. I ache for his family. I take comfort in knowing they love the Lord and are relying on Christ to help them through this horrific assassination. And because they're relying on Christ, I have faith, the heavenly Father will give them peace, only he can give, enfolding them and uplifting them in his love. About two years ago when I interviewed Charlie, I asked him about his digital detox and he talked at great length about how he worships God through the Jewish Shabbat. He has a book on that subject coming out later this year.
Jenny Beth Martin (04:05):
Charlie also talked about his faith, his calling, and how each of us must act in obedience to God. Charlie said, we have to act out of obedience and we have to get our why correct. And I'm of the mindset that if we're not successful, I'm going to get back up and go back to work. And if that's not your mindset, then you're called as the founders had a great term for it. You're a sunshine patriot. You're not built for this, and that's fine. Go do whatever you've got to do, right? Go run a small business or sell insurance or whatever. We are in this for the rest of our lives, but we need you.
Jenny Beth Martin (04:47):
Charlie truly was in it for the rest of his life. We must ensure we all work to fill the void that Charlie's assassination has left in our world. And Charlie was right. We need you. We still need you. We owe it to Charlie and his legacy, but most importantly, we owe it to God, our family and our country. God has blessed this nation and last year he very clearly gave the United States of America another chance to turn toward him. We must set our eyes on Christ, open our hearts to the Holy Spirit and listen to his call for our lives then is Charlie Kirk dead act obediently to fulfill God's calling for your life. As for me and my house, it is to serve the Lord and to listen to his calling for my life, to work tirelessly, to preserve liberty for the next generation and to keep our great republic. God bless you Charlie Kirk. God, please continue to be with Erica and the children and continue to bless the United States of America. Now let's listen to Charlie Kirk in his own words. Charlie, thanks so much for letting me take over your studios
Charlie Kirk (06:09):
That you're location. Yeah, only for you, Jenny Beth.
Jenny Beth Martin (06:10):
Oh, you're very kind.
Charlie Kirk (06:11):
You do wonderful work. We're honored to have you here.
Jenny Beth Martin (06:14):
So how long have you had this place?
Charlie Kirk (06:16):
Oh, well, this particular building, I'm trying to think five or six years now.
Charlie Kirk (06:22):
So it was part of our migration to Arizona. The Lord knew what he was doing. I live here now, so there's no escaping it. I love this state. It's amazing. It's the best of America and it's also the highest stake state in the country. All the bad guys are pouring lots of money into this state. It's changed dramatically politically, unfortunately. And I feel called to do my part to try to change it. We might be successful, we might not. We want to term this more like Florida and less like Colorado and Arizona used to be a real Ruby Red State isn't anymore, but we're in the right place.
Jenny Beth Martin (06:52):
That's good. That's very good. You've got just an amazing operation going on. Thank you. So one of the things that I've noticed that you and Turning Point, turning Point action are doing, you have focused a lot on high school kids and college kids and now you're expanding into churches and what Turning point action even with adults. Can you talk a little bit about some of the changes and how you're reaching out also to adults and not just kids?
Charlie Kirk (07:16):
Yeah, I mean as I get older, the organization kind of grows with us. The church thing's really fun. I never thought I'd be getting into the church world. I've been a Christian since I was in fifth grade, gave my life to the Lord. I kind of stayed away from ever mixing politics and religion how I was raised. And I said, okay, let the evangelical groups do their thing. There's a lot of these DC groups that say they do a lot of stuff with churches. I assume they were doing good work. And then all of a sudden the lockdowns came and 99% of pastors coward in fear when they took Eastern Pentecost away and they said, oh, Romans 13, they got to shut down. Listen to the government. I was like, whoa. I thought you guys were bold and courageous. You guys are cowards. And there were some really good pastors that stood up.
Charlie Kirk (07:55):
I said, we got to get to know them. Traveled the country, spoke at some of their churches in the calendar year of 2020. And then the second reason we got involved in the church space is all of a sudden these churches preaching to empty auditoriums are telling me America's a systemically racist country and white privilege. What is going on here? And so we felt called from our role from a cultural civic engagement role to try to strengthen and wake up the church to Excommunicate woke from the church. And so we're doing our part. We have over 2000 member pastor and churches now. Huge Pastor summits. The Lord has been super blessed. So, and then Turning Point action, watch out. We're taking over state parties. We're holding the RNC accountable. We're getting rid of the Vichy French Republicans. We're not here to try to make a long political career. We're here because I'm sick of losing the country. We want to put the grassroots back in charge of the Republican
Jenny Beth Martin (08:43):
Party. When you do as much work as you do all week long, and I know I have those long, long weeks where you've got 12 and 18 hour
Charlie Kirk (08:52):
Days, you've been doing it forever longer than I
Jenny Beth Martin (08:54):
Have. You don't want to see the people who are just taking it all for granted and throwing it away. And you want to make sure that you're helping the people who care about the country be equipped to take care of the country.
Charlie Kirk (09:07):
Yeah, absolutely. And I really think the Republican party broadly as a huge opportunity in front of us, this primary is largely a distraction. But we're already seeing some really positive themes that the people in charge of the Republican party are not the donors of Aspen or the Hamptons. There's some really good donors in Aspen Hamptons. We have some of them. There's also a lot of not so good donors in Aspen and the Hamptons. We're a people party now, and you have to listen to the grassroots. You have to listen to their concerns. You got to go to the podcast that asks you the tough questions. You just can't keep on going to the same sort of, let's support Ukraine podcast hour or whatever stupid thing that they do on cable television. Now the party has profoundly gone through a metamorphosis and Donald Trump is to credit for that without a doubt.
Charlie Kirk (09:48):
And Jenny Beth, you deserve credit. You were the grassroots movement that really led to Trump. And Trump I think spoke at some of your events like 10 years ago, if I'm not mistaken, right? Yeah, he did. He saw the power of the Tea Party movement before anybody else, grassroots great energy. And it is like Tea Party maga. And now we have this amazing coalition of all those elements together. So that's really exciting and it turning point action. We're really focused on precinct development. And again, people ask me, what does the strategy look like? Well, what does the success look like? I want the Republican party to be as conservative as their voters. That shouldn't have to be a huge ask, right? Yeah,
Jenny Beth Martin (10:21):
It shouldn't be.
Charlie Kirk (10:22):
So you take South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, I wouldn't say that most of their senators are Democrats, but they're certainly not nearly voting as conservative as their voters are. So let's just fix that. That's an easy ask and that's our current mission.
Jenny Beth Martin (10:35):
It isn't that hard to do and it's not that hard to ask for. It's hard to do.
Charlie Kirk (10:41):
It is a challenge.
Jenny Beth Martin (10:41):
It's hard to
Charlie Kirk (10:42):
Do. Yes, it is. You know how
Jenny Beth Martin (10:44):
It's a challenge, a complete challenge. One of the things I heard recently as you were talking about the importance of the grassroots being involved, I think that the RNC, putting a stipulation on the debates that the candidates have to have a certain number of donors actually is a good thing. And I've heard some of the candidates complaining
Charlie Kirk (11:02):
About
Jenny Beth Martin (11:03):
It, and it makes me think, well, yeah, then you're probably not listening to the grassroots.
Charlie Kirk (11:07):
It's a great intention, poorly executed. You just give away gift cards, I guess,
Jenny Beth Martin (11:12):
To
Charlie Kirk (11:12):
Get on the
Jenny Beth Martin (11:12):
Stage.
Charlie Kirk (11:13):
Yeah, that's true. And then I don't know if they're actually vetting it, but I do appreciate the effort, the intention of the RNC. No one takes the RNC seriously. So they're all just kind of gaming. I think half of 'em are lying, but I do want to credit the R nnc at least they tried to say, Hey, we want to be a grassroots party. You have to have at least 40,000 people that have given you
Jenny Beth Martin (11:28):
Money and the candidates who are complaining about it,
Charlie Kirk (11:33):
It tells you everything you need to know. They're showing
Jenny Beth Martin (11:34):
A lot of their true colors right now.
Charlie Kirk (11:35):
That's right.
Jenny Beth Martin (11:37):
I like that.
Charlie Kirk (11:37):
It also shows, I mean, they can't draw crowd. They can't draw support. So look, the Republican party is no longer the party of the Chamber of Commerce, no longer the party of billionaire oligarchs. We've kicked those people out of our party a long time ago thanks to Donald Trump. And that means we are going to be in a funding deficit for a considerable time, but we can't be in an activist or an energy deficit. And so look, they're going to outspend us everywhere. They're going to outspend us on the ballot referendums, they're going to outspend us in ads, but are they going to outwork us? And that's where we come in, both Tea Party Patriots and Turning Point Action.
Jenny Beth Martin (12:09):
And Tyler and I have been working on a lot of things. Some of them will be rolling out more in 2024 to make sure that we are equipped and that the activists are equipped.
Charlie Kirk (12:19):
I'm excited about
Jenny Beth Martin (12:20):
It. It's going to be good. I'm really excited about it as well. One of the things I want to shift gears just a little bit that I've heard you mention and I think that people would be interested in hearing more about is that you were doing basically a digital
Charlie Kirk (12:32):
Detox. Yeah, Sabbath. Yeah. It was funny a couple years ago, I mean, I've been going hard for as like you 11 years, and I was just getting super worn down. I mean, I didn't really stop after the 2020 election. I just kept going. And then we had the awful events of January 6th. It was just a nonstop. So the summer of 2021 was a challenge. It was just like, my goodness, when do you get a rest? And a pastor friend of mine was like, well, you should take the Sabbath. And at the same time, I love Dennis Prager. I listened to a lot his podcasts and I would always be envious. I'm like, wow, the Jewish people, religious Jews are so lucky they get to take a day off. I was like, why don't I do that? I'm a free sovereign being. I could do it.
Charlie Kirk (13:10):
And it says in the 10 Commandments, for six days you shall work and for one day you shall rest. I was like, okay. I got the six days down. So I got the first part of the commandment, but I'm definitely not resting. And so in Hebrew, the word Sabbath, Shabbat means to stop, to cease. And you do it first and foremost in observance that God created the heavens in the earth is the longest standing religious celebration in human history. It's building a cathedral in time. And so I started doing it. The first couple weeks were hard, and the first couple months were difficult because people thought they could reach me. But then after about six months, nine months, honestly, it's like most people know I honor the Shabbat and I go from Friday night to Sunday morning. Some people say, Hey, Sunday's the Shabbat, that's fine. You guys do whatever you want. I'm not even saying you're Honorbound, you're biblically bound to do it. But I know that I rest better on Saturday than Sunday. Sunday is the day before work.
Jenny Beth Martin (13:55):
I'm
Charlie Kirk (13:55):
Already thinking about it. So it works for me. And it's honestly profoundly changed my life. 36 hours, no phone. My team loves it because I kind of lay off in them for a little, little bit can imagine. But it's honestly, I think it preserves us, hopefully the organization and me to come and fight for the next 40 years because we're in this for the long haul. We're not going to save America overnight. We're going to have victories hopefully pretty quick. But the long term accomplishment is going to be multi-generational. And I think the Lord gives us that commandment. He loves us, and it allows you to say, Hey, for six days I'm going to go as hard as I can. And then I'm just going to kind rest stop cease from activity as we're recording having this conversation tonight. I was just planning our shabas dinner tonight and family turn the phones off and I'll be back on the grid Sunday
Jenny Beth Martin (14:43):
Morning. It's great and you've got a very small child and hopefully you'll have more kids.
Charlie Kirk (14:48):
That is the prayer.
Jenny Beth Martin (14:49):
It's a good way to spend that time and to know you're going to have that time with them.
Charlie Kirk (14:54):
And so there's some debates in Christian circles. Are you commanded to honor the Sabbath the way the Jews are? I actually am not that interested in those debates. I'm saying you're missing out if you're not.
Charlie Kirk (15:04):
So in no ways is it against the Bible to honor the Sabbath. Right. But I think you're missing out. I think you're missing out on one of the great delights of life and studying the 10 Commandments, which I think is one of the great moral accomplishments honestly, in the history of our species. I think it's the commandment that allows the other commandments to make possible. So if you honor the Sabbath, you're more likely to have a beautiful family. You're more likely to honor your parents. You're more likely to not covet. You're more likely to honor your God and have no other God's poor him. So I think it's the gateway to the other nine
Jenny Beth Martin (15:34):
Commandments that's really, really good. And I think that a lot of younger people, like in your audience, need to understand that taking a little bit of time off from their phone,
Charlie Kirk (15:44):
It's amazing.
Jenny Beth Martin (15:45):
Yeah, they
Charlie Kirk (15:46):
Need that type away. Your identity is not through your device. And Recenters, you could journal. Some people say, well, Charlie, will you ride in a car? Yeah, I'll ride in a car. I won't work though. That's the difference. I will not do work what the commandment says.
Jenny Beth Martin (15:59):
No
Charlie Kirk (15:59):
Work. And so yeah, I might watch a college football game if it's on something that I enjoy, something that decompresses me. But honestly, the best Sabbath are the ones where I have no devices and I'm just reading and I'm just with family or I'm with friends.
Jenny Beth Martin (16:12):
My son, in the summer of 2021, he is an Eagle Scout and he went up to Northern Tier and worked at Northern Tier. And so that is on the boundary waters in Minnesota. And he took troops out canoeing.
Charlie Kirk (16:25):
It's supposed to be the quietest place in America.
Jenny Beth Martin (16:27):
It was very quiet and he couldn't use the cell phone. And he came back and he went through a metamorphosis and not having that phone, he would have it when he got back on the weekends, but then he'd be out for seven to 10 days with no phone. And it changed him. And I think that more kids really need to get away from their devices. Adults do too. I'm sure I do as
Charlie Kirk (16:49):
Well. Oh yeah. And the differences with kids is that no one should have a phone younger than 18 years old. But that's a separate issue. I've lost that debate. I've tried for a long, I grew up in a different era 10 years ago, but it neurologically changes your brain. And that's the difference is that if a 50-year-old uses their phone, they don't have the same sort of dopaminergic attraction or attachment to it that a 12-year-old will because they're developing long lasting pathways that then addict them to that device for the rest of their life.
Jenny Beth Martin (17:22):
Yeah, it's really scary. So I'm glad you're doing that, and I hope that
Charlie Kirk (17:26):
Yeah, and if you're not, you're missing out. I'm not trying to guilt you into it, it's just your life will be shallow if you don't.
Jenny Beth Martin (17:32):
Yeah. Okay. Now looking ahead in the next year and a half, as we're looking at November 20, 24 and beyond, things can look really bleak the day we're recording this. Things do look pretty bleak, but you have for the future. Why do
Charlie Kirk (17:50):
You have hope? Yeah, I have hope in the ultimate future. So as far as the election goes, 2024, anything can happen. If it's Trump v Biden, it's going to be difficult. The Republican establishment is not playing to win. The Democrats are if other people decide to run, if there's no labels or Cornell West, it could get interesting in your home state of Georgia, Cornell West could maybe pull a couple hundred thousand black voters, and that could be an interesting dynamic to it. But look, I'm driven by my faith and I'm driven by a strong belief that God meets you halfway. And so we must act with obedience and maybe God will act in a miraculous way. Look, I'm not a hopium guy where I don't go on my podcast, my show your show and be like, you know what? We're going to win the election.
Charlie Kirk (18:31):
I don't believe that. I think we could, but we have to work for a miracle. And so that means we have to work the hardest we possibly can. This is the problem with the mindset of the conservative movement. And I hear this, Charlie, what's the point that odds are stacked against us or if we lose, I'm giving up, I'm surrendering. I'm moving to Auckland New Zealand, I'm moving to Zurich, Switzerland. And I said, well, you have your why. All wrong. You do it out of obedience, you do it out of duty. You do it out of gratitude for what happened before. And if we win, then it will be the greatest celebration. But guess what? Maybe God doesn't want you to take credit for it. Maybe all of this, he wants you to say, you know what? I did a little bit, but my goodness. And honestly, there's so many things that could still happen.
Charlie Kirk (19:10):
We have no idea what this race is going to look like. And yeah, it looks bad. And also conservatives not playing to win. We're going to try to do our part. You're going to try to do your part. We're going to try to do our element of ballot chasing and precinct organizing. It really is a three state race. It's Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin. That's it. I believe Donald J. Trump will win Florida. He'll win North Carolina. He'll win Ohio. Win Ohio. And North Carolina is the one that's going to require a little bit of work, but it's structurally a pretty good state. But Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin are tough. And you win those three states. He's the president of the United States. So it's a three state race, really. Nate County race comes down to mainly Maricopa, a little bit of Pinal, a little bit of Pima, and then Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, and then Dane, Kenosha, Milwaukee. That's basically the whole civilization. So if we start talking like that, now let's micro target put our work in, boots on and mobilize the conservative Republican base to try to make an impact. So what might seem daunting, like, oh wow, hundreds of millions of 200 million votes and billions of dollars. Well guys, this is seven counties.
Jenny Beth Martin (20:06):
And in these three, let's do our work states. It was far less than a hundred thousand
Charlie Kirk (20:08):
Votes difference. It was 44,000. Yeah. Here in Arizona wasn't 50. Yeah, in Arizona it was 10,000. Georgia was like 8,000, 22,000 in Wisconsin. And that's with all their crap, right? That's all the fraud, all the ballot mules, all the suppression and all that. So I think that we're right on the margins. I think that if the election were held today, and if it was held ethically, Trump would win. It's not going to be held ethically. So it's a coin tossed. It's coin tossed. So even with that, I think it's like five, 6,000 votes on the margins. So my goodness guys, stop complaining. We have a chance to make history, and maybe God's going to act in a miraculous way. Maybe blacks will come in our way in a three four point way because of the trans issue. Maybe working class Hispanics will come our way. Maybe we'll have a parents realignment in Kenosha or Waukesha or I have no idea. Or maybe these third party candidates will draw hundreds of thousands of younger voters at uw, Madison, Marquette, and in Athens, Georgia. I don't know. You don't know. Nobody knows.
Jenny Beth Martin (20:58):
No one knows.
Charlie Kirk (20:59):
But I do know that if we don't work, we lose.
Jenny Beth Martin (21:01):
And
Charlie Kirk (21:01):
That's the message I'm bringing to the grassroots.
Jenny Beth Martin (21:04):
And I think that's a really important message. And it's not just that the activists don't know, but the talking heads on TV want us to think that it's all settled already anyway. We don't know. So we have to give it our
Charlie Kirk (21:16):
All. No, we have to act out of obedience and we have to get our why. Correct. And I am of the mindset that if we are not successful, I'm going to get up and go back to work.
Jenny Beth Martin (21:25):
And
Charlie Kirk (21:25):
If that's not your mindset, then you're called. And those founders had a great term for it. You're a sunshine patriot. You're not built for this, and that's fine. Go do whatever you got to do. Go run small business or sell insurance or whatever. We're in this for the rest of our life.
Jenny Beth Martin (21:39):
That's right.
Charlie Kirk (21:39):
But we need you, we to knock on doors, peak on a precinct, committeeman, donate the money. You can, whatever it takes.
Jenny Beth Martin (21:45):
Poll, watch, pull,
Charlie Kirk (21:46):
Poll, watch. And everyone has their calling. Right?
Jenny Beth Martin (21:49):
Right.
Charlie Kirk (21:49):
And we're trying to fill the void.
Jenny Beth Martin (21:52):
Well, I am excited about what you're doing. Thank you. And I am excited about the partnership that we have.
Charlie Kirk (21:58):
Yeah. Tyler Tyler's been cooking up some great stuff.
Jenny Beth Martin (22:00):
Yeah, Tyler's really good. And I appreciate the time that you spent with us today. Thank you
Charlie Kirk (22:05):
So much. Yeah, thank you much, Jenny B Love Tea Party Patriots, and we're here to help.
Jenny Beth Martin (22:08):
Thank you very much, Charlie, Kirk.
Charlie Kirk (22:10):
God bless you.