NTD NYHETER: VECKA 44

And welcome back to our special coverage tribute to Charlie Kirk. I'm Steve Lance. Charlie was a voice for conservatives on college campuses across the nation and an inspiration for many students who aligned with his values and always showing respect to those who didn't. We spoke with students and locals at Utah Valley University, where Charlie's last event was cut short by his assassination. Take a look. Charlie Kirk, I think, to most Americans, or especially his followers, was a symbol of free speech. All he was doing, all he's ever done, was speak freely. And we're allowed to do that in America. That's what America is. So for him to get shot, it's ridiculous and it's disgusting. I loved everything he stood for. You know, he was just somebody wanting to start conversations in the pursuit of not violence and in the pursuit of helping out college kids. And it's just, it's insanely tragic what happened. And I think Charlie Kirk was a shining light in all of this, you know, in this chaos that we live in right now, just because he was, he gave people the chance to speak. And that's when violence starts is when we don't, you know, we don't speak and we don't talk about stuff. I saw this video of Charlie saying, you know, if he passed away, what's something he could be remembered for, right? And it was his faith. And I think that, that was a, he truly did do that. His dedication to our country and what, what it should stand for, loved his Christian values as well. Listening to Charlie, I just gained so much respect for the man because he practiced everything he believed in. He was a true Christian. He, he did everything he could that was right. I'm from Colombia and just two months ago, a political leader was killed and I was like, oh, I'm so happy to be here. What a wonderful opportunity. I have to be here in the middle of like a political environment and be safe. Then when everything happened and I just couldn't believe it. I think he was the leader of our generation. Me and my family watched his videos almost every day. It was a, he was a bright light for sure. In a world that seems to have kind of lost its way. Sorry. It's, it's definitely heartbreaking for sure. I feel very saddened for his family. I think that he brought so much good and so much truth into the world that I truly hope that we can really treat him as a historical figure. You know, seeing some of these signs here and stuff that his voice will be louder than ever now. And I think wherever he is and he's looking down and I hope he's at least happy that this message is getting spread to people. Charlotte, oftentimes we don't fully understand the impact that people had on others until they're gone. We can see there that Charlie was surely impacting all of those people before he was killed, but even more so now. What were some of the qualities that you saw in Charlie that you loved most that will leave a lasting mark on you? I think Charlie's work ethic was one of my most favorite qualities. I think his tenacity, never taking no for an answer you know, making, making things happen. I think one of Charlie's best qualities was just, you know, wanting to have a conversation with people and just again being so kind and standing up for the right thing. And I think Charlie, I mean watching those students talk so highly of Charlie, you know, the girl said that he's the leader of our generation and I 100% stand behind that. I think seeing the response to this horrific tragedy has been kind of comforting in a way to know that Charlie had so much influence on these people and he will continue to have influence in the way that he did on myself and Malia as well. Malia, what impact did Charlie have on not just everybody, but particularly right now in the context of young men? And do you have a story of someone that you knew that he was, you know, that he significantly impacted? Yeah, absolutely. I think that, you know, for the past over a decade now there has been a war on men waging and the branding of their masculinity as toxic when if it's true masculinity in the way that Charlie was, it is with a servant's heart and it is of protection and providing for others, especially, you know, your wife and your family and taking care of people and being a leader. And I think, again, Charlie just lived by example. He gave young men a person to look up to that lived out traditional values and had great relationships, was well respected, well spoken, but was always respectful and kind. And he just genuinely was someone that they could look up to and rally behind. And the impact he has had on young men, especially as we've seen in the past election, has been insurmountable. I know my little brother, for example, he's four years younger than me. And I kind of mentioned earlier, I got involved in politics when it wasn't really cool at all. And I used to try and get him to, you know, come to political events with me or just be involved. And he was always, no, no, no, that doesn't sound fun. That doesn't sound cool. And I was actually at an AmFest event in Phoenix and was walking just down the halls and I ran into my little brother and he didn't even tell me he was there. But I just looked at him and his friends. I was like, what are you doing here? And he said, oh, well, we love Charlie. And, you know, he has gotten so involved. He mobilized so many of his friends who were very apathetic or apolitical to go vote in the last election. And I know that that's just one example of thousands across the country. And you have now given them a martyr in Charlie and they are going to forge ahead for him. And the left doesn't know what they've done here. You heard President Trump the other day actually reflecting on his son, Barron, and how he said, you know, Dad, I want to meet someone. And President Trump said he thought it was going to be somebody of great stature, like the king of somebody. It turned out it was Charlie Kirk. And after that meeting that the president arranged, Barron Trump, according to the president, spoke extremely highly of Charlie and was impacted by him as well. You know, Charlie really believed that ideas were meant to meet in the public square, in the open, on campuses that were sometimes hostile to those ideas. He invited those challenging questions, allowing for moments of civil, sometimes candid, sometimes impassioned debate. Let's take a look at a few clips of him in his element. Religion gets entangled into a culture and even government. Most wars have started because of that. So that's a talking point that has no basis. And that's OK because a professor told you that. So let's go to the truth. What religion did Mao Zedong believe in the great murderer of China who killed 50 million people? He was an atheist. What religion did Joseph Stalin believe in who killed over 30 million people of the Soviet Union? He was an atheist. So that's 80 million people murdered in two countries in just the 20th century that did not believe in any religion. Do you want me to explain psychology? You can't explain it to the depths of a bachelor's degree or a Ph.D. Well, hold on a second. Time out. I've sat here with no notes, no phone and debated people with Ph.D. studies because it's your job. Hold on. I didn't go to college, man. That's the point is you can do whatever you want without a college degree. You can listen to podcasts, read books. How do you feel about the black community receiving reparations? Here's my view. And I want to hear yours, which is that I did not own slaves and you were not a slave. Correct. Right. So we are individuals and therefore we cannot be held accountable or should receive something from some that didn't happen to us or something we did not do. Secondly, we need to put fathers back in the home. Yeah, I agree with that. 70 percent of black kids are raised without a stable father in the country. So if we can find common ground on that, I think that would go a lot further than just giving cash for people that happen to be related to something evil that happened a little while ago. I just want to say I'm a transgender male. What age should kids be able to get things like hormone therapy? Because I don't know what's true, what's not. I'm going to have an opinion that very few people will ever tell you, which is I want you to be very cautious, putting drugs into your system in the pursuit of changing your body. My prayer for you. And again, very few will say this. I actually want to see you be comfortable in how you were born. Yeah, I saw you the egg in the first couple of days. No. Well, OK, but let's go through that. Isn't that when your DNA was formed? Yeah. But then aren't you fundamentally at its core? You are. The DNA is your blueprint for your life. That's who you are. It's a unique marker. It's my DNA. Yeah. Yes. So if it's not your DNA, why is it your choice? What's the moral difference between a small baby in the womb and a grown Jew who was killed at Auschwitz? What's the moral difference? One is a person. What species is the baby in the womb? It's a human, but therefore they should have human rights. No, they should have human rights. I do not agree. Oh, so so small humans, no human rights, grown humans, not a small human. It's an embryo. You just said it was a human species that Christ is not just grace focused. He's simultaneously truth focused. He goes up to the woman who had a career in selling herself for sex and said, sin no more. Now, imagine today how much trouble you would get in if you would go up to somebody and say, stop sinning, that you're being too judgmental. No, no, you're actually being Christ. I mean, Charlotte, we saw Charlie's brilliance and, you know, sort of what made him who he is shining right there in some of those exchanges. How was Charlie's approach to open discussion and debate different from anyone else? Well, I think one, watching those videos is just incredible. And it's so funny to watch. It's so funny to watch Charlie sit there and talk to these people and watch the other side agree with him. I mean, we just watched three of those people agree with him. They're like, yeah, I agree with you. And then that one clip of the girl from Tennessee realizing that she got caught and, you know, she's like, oh, wait, I think I just agreed with Charlie Kirk. Like, you know, totally probably ruined her day. But I think also something that Charlie always did was even when, you know, the kids that were on his side were booing, you know, the people that would come up to the mic that obviously didn't agree with Charlie. He consistently reminded them, we're here to have a conversation. Let's be respectful and let's listen to what they have to say. And I think Charlie always wanted to hear from other people's perspectives. I mean, he asked the guy that asked about reparations, you know, here's my opinion and I want to hear your perspective. And then they ended up agreeing on something. I think, you know, Charlie had the ability to have people somehow agree with him because he was, you know, right. Pretty much all the time. I think Charlie is one of the smartest human beings I ever met. And I think that, you know, and I think people can disagree with that. And so he definitely opened the door and the floodgates for people to start having discussions. You know, he says, when we stop talking, bad things happen. And I think that that's something that we have to continue forging forward on. That's so true. Something that Charlie said exactly what you're saying is that, you know, when we resort to getting our information in these echo chambers online and don't engage in civil dialogue with others to see their humanity, that's when civil war can actually potentially take place. Malia, with that said, what do we gain as a society from frank, open discussion and direct civil engagement? As Charlotte also just referenced, I'm sure almost everybody has seen by now that clip of Charlie going viral that he said, when we stop talking, bad things happen. And I think in having open, honest discussions, maintaining decorum and being respectful, it humanizes the other side. And that's why they want us to stop talking because they want to dehumanize us. They want to categorize us as unhuman or, you know, whether it be Nazi, fascist, this, that, they'll attribute anything to us as opposed to humanizing us because then it makes it okay, quote unquote, to carry out horrific acts of violence against us, as we of course have just seen. And I think that in furthering dialogue and in continuing to talk to each other, Charlotte referenced this as well, where we find ourselves agreeing at least on something more often than not. And when we can come together and find at least a starting point, we can make progress from there and we can move towards a common goal. And that only happens through open and honest dialogue. Yeah, I think it's important to remember that a lot of the, you know, Marxist influence that's, you know, really infiltrated a lot of our education that sort of deems certain language as microaggressions, people need to take a step back and realize that at the end of the day, a lot of it is calculated by people that don't have the greatest intentions and put you in a box to think a certain way. Charlie's message really resonated with students and alumni around the world. Turning Point chapters here in the United States and internationally have really been holding all of these grand commemoration events over the last few days. Let's take a look at some of those. And he was an example to the someone else that was in our age range that understood the generation that we were in. He was an example to us that we don't have to be afraid that we can stand up for our beliefs eloquently and peacefully without fear. His intention was to keep free speech prevalent and operational on college campuses where it should be most protected, right? This is what this, that's what a university is for. Today is because there's two sides to every story, but both sides won't respect the other side's opinion. And I think it's tragic what happened to Charlie Kirk, what a wonderful young man he was. Really to commemorate his life, what he stood for, what he stood against and really an end to political violence because it shouldn't be that we should live in a world where, you know, just for having an opinion you should be killed. I think that's abhorrent and it's a, it's a really negative turn for Western civilization. That we will all start speaking out. We will all become a Charlie. Malia, Charlie was a leader. Why was his movement and message able to resonate with people, not just in the United States, but as we just saw there around the world? I think because he simply spoke the truth and he spoke common sense values and that transcends even political ideology, or it should. And people find solace in someone that is willing to forge ahead and say what might be unpopular because it's true and because the truth matters. And I think that in a world as crazy as ours right now, I know something Charlotte said earlier was kind of the last normal year it feels like that we had was 2019. And so for the past five years, just insane things have been happening, whether it's been, you know, targeted assassinations of our president or of prominent political leaders like Charlie or, you know, masking our children and locking down businesses and just nonsensical things that have been happening for five years at this point. I think people look to what is true and what is right. And Charlie was the embodiment of that. And I know we, you know, just showed a few clips and we're rolling tapes of vigils across the country and across the world. And I just wanted to let everyone know if they're in the D.C. area that we are having a D.C. vigil for Charlie tomorrow at 6 p.m. The location is yet to be announced, but you can find it online. My Twitter, Malia, M-A-L-I-A underscore Shirley, S-H-I-R-L-E-Y, or I'll let Charlotte plug her as well. We have the registration link there. And registration is required and it will be safe and secure. And we hope that anyone in the D.C. area will come celebrate Charlie's life and legacy with us. Charlotte, as somebody who participated at Turning Point, you've seen this movement grow beyond our nation with Charlie's message, you know, spreading across the world. I actually was getting text messages this morning from people in South Korea, absolutely devastated by it. And they're having their own vigils there and parades and marches just for Charlie Kirk in South Korea. How has he been able to penetrate and touch people from all across? And tell us a little bit more about what people can expect at that vigil right here in the nation's capital tomorrow. Yeah, absolutely. So I think it's astounding to watch Charlie's influence spread across the nation. I honestly think that people knew Charlie had the possibility of being president one day. And they couldn't allow that to happen. I think something Malia touched on was that, you know, Charlie brought back common sense, common sense values. He made it cool to be a conservative. You know, when the attack on white men was happening, especially from 2020 to 2022, I think, you know, Charlie gave, you know, straight white men the ability to, you know, be confident that there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with being born in the body that you're in and having respect for others. And, you know, talking the truth and always doing the right thing is the most important. And, you know, I think over the course of, you know, the last 10 years and the legacy that Turning Point has built, Turning Point USA, I mean, we've seen it grow from Turning Point USA to Turning Point Action, Turning Point Faith, Turning Point Academy. I mean, I could go on about all of these different Turning Point organizations that have spread not just across the United States, but across the nation. I mean, we see Turning Point UK, you know, putting on, you know, vigils for Charlie. And, you know, especially over there, I think it's super important that we understand how influential Charlie was. And yes, like Malia said, with our vigil in D.C. tomorrow where, you know, we are devastated that we absolutely have to be doing this on a Sunday and that this is what our Sunday looks like tomorrow. But, you know, you were showing pictures of the Turning Point USA, you know, all the flowers that are outside the headquarters. You know, I literally just left there from back in May. And it's really heartbreaking to watch all of that. But our vigil tomorrow, yes, it's going to be it's going to be indoors and we are really looking forward to seeing everybody there. If you're a D.C., you know, Turning Point alumni or just, you know, a regular conservative who loved Charlie or just anyone who wants to celebrate Charlie's life, you know, please join us. We are, you know, Malia and I put this on what, two days ago? Two days ago. And it has absolutely exploded into this massive event. And, you know, that honestly is just me and Malia going back to our roots and doing what we know best, which is, you know, mobilizing people, getting them engaged, getting them involved. And we don't know how there's nothing else we know how to do except do that and to honor Charlie's legacy. So please come. My Twitter is at underscore Charlotte Press. I'm pretty sure that's the right one. Just C-H-A-R-L-O-T-T-E-P-E-R-E-Z. And so we definitely look forward to seeing everybody there and, you know, looking forward to it. And it sounds like it's going to be a message of hope and love and peace. And it's funny too, Charlotte, as you mentioned, Charlie's political prospects, you know, when you look back and think of everything that he's achieved, which is so much, he wasn't even of legal age to be the president of the United States or run for president and wasn't going to be there for quite some time. 35, the age, died at 31. You know, amid her grief, Mrs. Erica Kirk reflected on Charlie's legacy and said the work he began will continue. Here's a look. If you thought that my husband's mission was powerful before, you have no idea. You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country. In this world, you have no idea. You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry. To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die. Charlotte, we heard from Charlie's widow, Erica, that we just saw and heard from right there last night. A lot of questions that many in the conservative circle were wondering is, you know, we're going to carry the torch, but who would be the torch bearer? Erica Kirk, extremely powerful words. How can Charlie continue to be an inspiration as supporters take up his mission? You know, I think Erica said it perfectly. You know, Charlie has an army of people behind him who are ready to go to war for him at any date and time, and that will, that has not changed, and that will never change. You know, Charlie's inspiration, I think we saw that we've had 18,000 people reach out to people over at Turning Point USA, Turning Point Action. How can we get involved or Turning Point Action? My old co-workers are telling me today they've had so many people apply to come and work for Turning Point. You know, we've had multiple students reach out about how to create a chapter on campus. You know, I don't know if it's possible to create more chapters. They cover everywhere. So, you know, I think that's going to be incredible to watch. I mean, the movement is only just beginning, and like Erica said, they have no idea what they have unleashed, and she is speaking the truth. You know, they watched us back in November, you know, 24, after they tried to take out our incredible president, and they watched us get him across the finish line no matter what. They are going to see a vengeance from the conservative movement and from the Turning Point family like they've never seen, and quite frankly, I'm very excited for it. To that point, Malia, Charlie launched Turning Point out of his parents' garage as an 18-year-old with no money, no name recognition, really just a thought and a dream. Since then, Matt from Turning Point USA has a message out on X saying that they have 18,000 new chapter requests since Erica spoke. He said that Turning Point had 9,000 college chapters and 1,100 high school chapters prior to this. Really an astronomical uptick of requests for chapters. Where do you see Turning Point USA going from here? The only place to go is forward, and as Charlotte said, there are so many people committed to continuing Charlie's legacy. Of course, Erica will be such a prominent part of this, and everyone in the current Turning Point family, but everyone who, you know, might have been a little politically apathetic before, this has ignited something within people the likes of which we have never seen. And as Charlotte said, I look forward to seeing people's involvement, seeing the way that they get involved through establishing chapters, signing up with their local county parties, chasing ballots in midterms next year, whatever that looks like, whatever their abilities and strengths and talents and capacities are, Charlie was an example. He started Turning Point with nothing out of his parents' garage, and he is the epitome of what it means to work hard, to put your nose to the grindstone, and as he always said, be better, work harder. And that's what we're going to continue to do, and that's what everyone who knew him, loved him, or even just admired him and looked to him, we're all going to do it for him. Charlotte Perez, Malia Shirley, we just want to thank you sincerely for coming on at this really difficult moment as you continue to mourn a very close friend that you knew so well. We really appreciate your perspective tonight. And we're going to leave the audience tonight with a clip from a tribute video for Charlie Kirk put out by the White House earlier yesterday. Only in America is it possible to say, you know what, I don't like the way the country is going, and to do something about it. Take that risk, take that leap of faith, stay involved, trust God, and act obediently. Romans 12, two verse, that God will use all things, all things, for good for those who love him. It's bigger than you. I want you to remember that. It is bigger than you. It's bigger than me. You are here to make somebody else's life better, the pursuit of liberty and freedom. You know what gives me strength? From the nation's capital in Washington, D.C., I'm Steve Lance. Thank you so much for joining us tonight to honor Charlie Kirk's short life of remarkable conviction. As we mourn his loss, we come together to carry his legacy forward, to heal division through open discussion, and to turn to faith amid confusion.