►小川普含淚透露: 你不知道查理如此優秀, 萬斯成為副總統都是因為他的引薦...◄(中英對照-即時新聞)

Let me just ask you first for your reaction to the horrible news. I know you've said that Charlie was like a brother to you. He was. I honestly have no words to describe it. I got the call yesterday and I was in shock. I mean, it's the third time I've got that call in a little over a year about a close friend or loved one almost being killed because that was when we didn't actually know what was going on yet. And so obviously a lot of mix of emotions. Then we got a report that, hey, he's getting blood. It may be stable. Then 20 minutes later, we got the news that he didn't make it. And so it was it was a really rough day for someone who's been a very close friend, confidant, incredible warrior for the things that we all believe in for a very long period of time. So it's been it's been hard. Can you talk about the beginning of your relationship and how you got to know him? It's actually sort of funny. And you remember these days because I was doing your show back on Fox News at the time. And a couple of friends came up to me and said, hey, you got to meet this guy. He knows so much about politics. He wants to help out. And I'm like, OK, give me some more information, because at the time we didn't know anything. We didn't know what was going on. We had no idea about politics. I didn't know what a caucus was when we got to Iowa. It was we were clueless. And, you know, they're like, OK, well, he's 20 years old. And I was like, just just stop. Just like I go, if I need another person that doesn't know what's going on, like I can just go to the room next door. Like we there is no shortage. There's there's no shortage of people who don't know what the hell is going on right now working on this thing. We just had a good message. We had people that could speak. They're like, no, no, no. Trust me on this one. You know, they're good friends. So I took the meeting reluctantly and I sat down with Charlie Kirk for the first time. This must have been, I guess, end of 15. And in five minutes, I was like, oh, my God, this kid's brilliant. I mean, this kid himself could be president one day. You know, I just I saw a talent, perhaps, you know, that's maybe my neck in politics, whether it was Charlie or J.D. or a couple of the others. It's like, wait, it's like I saw something there and I was like, just congratulations. You're on my team. I think Turning Point had a million dollar operating budget that year. And in the decade since, I mean, you know, pushing 200 million, the guy was just incredible. And from that day, I mean, he literally for the rest of the 16 campaign was basically, you know, with me every day, fundraising, speaking, getting coffee. It didn't matter. There was no task that was beneath him. There was there was nothing there. He was just an incredible guy and a true warrior. And to watch how he's matured and had matured, you know, even since then is nothing short of astounding. The amount of growth that he had over the next nine years was just exponential. I mean, I can't think of anybody else who matched it in terms of their influence, their success. His growth as a man, as an orator, as a compelling public figure whose opinion mattered at all levels, at all levels. He had the president of the United States listening to him down to my 14 year old daughter. I mean, there's just not many people who can say that. Why, Don? What was it about him? You know what? He could just relate to people. He could take complex things and explain them simply. He did so so kindly as well. I mean, even, you know, even his biggest detractors. I mean, on a daily basis, Charlie Kirk gave them a platform to debate these ideas. He gave them his platform that he actually worked for, he created. He let them speak. And he calmly, you know, he pushed back with ideas, with words. And, you know, I say, you know, when they talk about him being a threat and you have all these, you know, left wing, radical funded NGOs labeling him a domestic terrorist and these sorts of things. He wasn't a threat. Charlie was the kindest person I probably knew. I mean, Charlie was certainly the calmest, you know, in many cases, the least aggressive of all the people I know in politics. And, you know, I mean, I guess his quote was when discourse ends, violence begins. That was his quote. And they killed him for it, Megan. They ******* killed him. He gave them a platform. I guess the problem was, I guess his real threat wasn't wasn't anything other than he was so effective. You know, he gave them that platform. He pushed back with words and ideas. And in minutes, you'd see this on a college campus, some radical giving, you know, just insane, you know, leftist talking points. And he pushed back and, you know, they were they were left speechless, speechless. Many of them, OK, they'd walk away just humbled. And I think half of them probably became believers. But the people who came to hear him speak, the people who went in there with an open mind, they were like, oh, oh, this is right. The indoctrination that we've dealt with since probably kindergarten is bullshit. The stuff that we're being force fed by our college professors is absolute nonsense. And I remember that I was doing college campus tours with him in 16. And even me, and I'm you know, I don't exactly shy away from these things. You know, I was wow. We're really going to go on a college campus like, OK, let's see what happens. And it was incredible. I remember one of the early ones we did. It was I think it was the University of Michigan. We get to Michigan and we get there. And, you know, of course, the university makes it very difficult for us to get a room that would treat three times oversold. They won't let us even have a platform. And then they got to make sure all the radicals get in. And I remember we're going to go on stage and the Michigan State Police pulled us aside. They were there not because we had them, but they were just monitoring all of it. They basically pulled me and Charlie aside, said, hey, guys, we can't stop you from going out there, but we can't guarantee your safety and we think it's a bad idea. You should cancel. And Charlie and I both sort of simultaneously looked at us and we're like, you know, we rather take an ass kicking than give them that win and be silenced. And we went out there and we pushed back and we had the haters and we had the protesters and we went at them kindly with words. And you could see the entire dynamic of the room. It went from being probably 60, 40 leftist to like 90, 10, 95, five when people were like, wait a second, let these guys have a conversation, let them speak. You could see the shift in the room. And Charlie did that day in and day out for nine years till yesterday when he was killed doing just that. And he changed so many minds. He got people to be unafraid to speak up and to speak out and to actually voice their opinion and to embrace common sense. It's truly a loss for our country. Have you gotten to speak with Erica or his family at all, Don? You know what? I haven't. I called pretty immediately. Erica actually called back when I was with Bettino. She called her back. Somehow it didn't go through, whatever it was. We saw the missed call, but nothing. And we tried calling back. But in that time was when we found out it went from shot to stable and maybe OK to he had passed. And so we have not yet, unfortunately. So we obviously have notes and whatever, but that's not going to matter much. What's going to matter to him in the end is going to be preserving the legacy of what he's created and not going away, not going to cower in a corner and die. We just got to fight back. That's exactly right. I mean, I'll get to that in one second. Let me ask you about your dad, because he said he's going to speak with, I think, the family, Erica, I think, later today. He mentioned that this morning in a 9-11 remembrance event and also announced that he's going to award Charlie the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. He also ordered the staff that the flags to go at half staff, which is very unusual for a private citizen. Can you talk about what Charlie meant to your dad? A lot. I mean, I think, you know, Charlie single handedly, you know, other than probably my father, I guess, would have been the single handed most important player of of the last election cycle and probably, frankly, 2020 as well. I mean, you know, the gains were being made. But I mean, I think he single handedly won Arizona for us, probably probably Wisconsin as well, you know, moved, you know, the youth vote 20 plus points. And again, that's not just youth vote to 18 year olds. This is the 18 to 29 people who could actually vote, you know, so significantly. I mean, especially the male. I mean, the male vote, you know, like a 40 point swing towards common sense and American values and decency. And, you know, what were the things that they hated Charlie for speaking about? I mean, for loving God, your country, you know, as you pointed out in your monologue, sort of, you know, men can't be women. I mean, this isn't exactly rocket science or anything that's all that controversial. He was just willing to say those things that were verboten for so many people for so long. He made it OK for them. So for my father, he meant a lot. I spoke to my I don't know for sure, but I think, you know, sort of unbeknownst to me, I think, you know, my father was calling me and I had just heard, you know, from Charlie's team that was on the ground when it passed. So I think he may have heard it directly, you know, sort of from me first. And he called me back later on that evening and we're just talking about it and how much he meant to my father and how good a fighter he was. And my father truly recognized his genius and his excellence, his work ethic, everything It was amazing. That's the thing is like Charlie had a seat at the table. He had real influence in the administration with you guys. And all of it was earned at just 31 years old. People recognize what a savant this kid was and how special he was and his truly genius like abilities to understand the seams in the story and to communicate with a group that had been totally ignored by most all Republicans, Don, until Charlie came along and said, let's fight for them. Let's why not try to get the youth vote? Maybe we can get it. A hundred percent. I mean, you know, and again, when it's coming from, you know, your peers, you know, Charlie was over that age. Charlie was younger than most college students when he was speaking on college campus and started doing that when we were doing it. You know, he recognized, Megan, that, you know, we can scream in our echo chamber as much as we want. And, you know, everyone can nod along because they agree with what you're saying. But he understood how important it was to go to the places we weren't supposed to be and have that conversation and have that discourse. You know, he went into the lion's den more than anyone. And again, when you're when you're that age, you know, it's a little bit more effective than sending, you know, an 85 year old establishment politician who can't possibly relate, doesn't understand social media, doesn't do his own, doesn't feel the vibe of what's going on. You know, Charlie did those things. I was looking through photos yesterday and it was it was, you know, pretty heart wrenching. But I went back down to Election Day of 2016 and Charlie was in my office at Trump Tower in New York. And, you know, he's there and it's a picture of him on my computer because I was doing radio. I was doing TV. He wasn't he wasn't really even get a presence, you know, in sort of that digital media, obviously had a social following, but was just starting. I remember, you know, screaming at some of your colleagues at Fox News back in that you'd be like, put this kid on. I'm telling you, he's really good. I had that conversation with him. I think the first time I was like, he's like, well, I can't I'm not putting on a kid like what do you I'm like, just trust me, please, for the love of God, put him on. And he did. And that was it. He just went like a rocket ship from there. And I have this picture. He just he was literally sitting on my desktop with access to my Twitter account, just putting out just the tweets, you know, mobilizing people here, whatever message was going to work in whatever place was coming, literally as the time zones were shutting down because, you know, the polls closed on the East Coast at whatever it was, seven o'clock. Well, now we're switching the central time zone and I'm getting on radio and I think I did 100 something radio interviews that day. So he was manning the social feed. And it was just you could see just the willingness to just step into any role, any position, anywhere that he could move a needle. He just jumped in wholeheartedly. He was doing it this election, too. He fought to the last minute and obviously had great results in 24.