Trump's Historic Unification of the Republican Party ft. Josh Hammer and Kurt Schlichter 28:21

Hey everybody, it's the Charlie Kirk Show. We recap a historic and joyful and jubilant

Josh Hammer joins us about J.D. Vance. Kurt Schlichter riffs, as always. Become a member at members.charliekirk.com. That is members.charliekirk.com. To get behind the work we are doing, that is members.charliekirk.com. Get involved with Training Point USA at tpusa.com. That is tpusa.com. Buckle up, everybody. Here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here. Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus. I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

I want to thank Charlie. He's an incredible guy. His spirit, his love of this country. He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA. We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country. That's why we are here.

Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of The Charlie Kirk Show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you could protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at noblegoldinvestments.com. That is noblegoldinvestments.com. It's where I buy all of my gold. Go to noblegoldinvestments.com. What a week.

praise be to god glory be to god for what just happened this has not even been a week since donald trump got shot i want to welcome right now josh hammer senior editor-at-large of newsweek and host of the josh hammer show josh welcome to the program josh i know you were very busy with all of your duties at newsweek and your program i actually wanted to have some people on the show that were not in the midst of the chaos

and all of the bedlam of how this presented to the American people. Because, you know, you can kind of get a little high on your own supply when you got the music flowing, you got thousands of people screaming and we're excited. How did this present this convention as someone who had some distance viewing it as tens of millions of Americans did? Josh Hammer.

Yeah, Charlie, look, would have loved to have been there. I was in D.C. for a couple of conferences last week that I had to go back to Florida where I live. I'm actually now in Utah for a third conference. So it's just been kind of a crazy stretch. Couldn't actually make it to Milwaukee. First of all, Charlie, you gave a great speech yourself earlier this week. So congratulations to you. I thought that was fantastic. So great work there. Charlie, look, I don't carry any water for the Republican Party. I've been severely critical at times of my own party over the years since I registered the day I turned 18 years old.

This was probably the most capital R Republican that I have felt since I was in seventh grade, 12 years old, after 9-11, watching George W. Bush with the bullhorn there in 9-11, in the rubble with Rudy Giuliani and all that. It almost feels like a quasi messianic moment, honestly, like in the aftermath of the assassination attempt, this remarkable display of unity. Trump coming up there on Monday with the bandage on the ear. I mean, was there a dry eye on the House?

I mean, and then last night, last night, that speech, the first 10 to 15 minutes of that speech, 20 minutes, maybe going over to the uniform of the firemen, may his memory be a blessing. I mean, my God, I mean, that was gripping television, the likes of which I have not seen in years. So kudos to the RNC. Kudos to the Republican National Committee. As I said, I don't carry any water for the party as a whole, but they went above and beyond this week. I thought it was fantastic television. I can only imagine what it was like in person.

Oh, yeah. No. And it's interesting. I flew back early yesterday. I had to be with the family. I was there all week prepping for my speech. It was a lot. We have two kids under two and a newborn. And so I watched Trump's speech remotely. And I actually thought it was better on television than even in the room.

And let me because the intent of the RNC is to make a for television production. They're not there just to make a live event for, you know, delegates on the floor. And it's very important to understand that the presentation of this RNC was unlike any I've ever seen.

And it was notable who didn't speak Josh Hammer, who didn't speak. Lindsey Graham attended, but he did not speak. Mitch McConnell attended, but he did not speak. We also had nothing from Mitt Romney or from Cheney or from that whole Bush junta. And some people say, well, how is that very unifying? Well,

well, it is unifying under this new Republican Party. The new Republican Party is one that is much broader than just a think tank D.C. Beltway party. Can you talk from a philosophical approach, Josh, what you gleaned from this new Republican Party? Do you consider it to be a positive? You know, Charlie, the last dying breath of

of the old Republican Party was earlier in the day this past Monday when there were still rumors being floated that Donald Trump might go in a certain direction with his vice presidential pick. But the moment that we all saw the Truth Social post and the media started widely reporting that he had selected J.D. Vance to be his running mate, that was the exact moment that the old shattered dead consensus of the old Republican Party and the old conservative elite died.

And to your question, I consider that to not just be a good thing. I consider it to be a fantastic, amazing, a necessary and an indispensable development. The Republican Party, Charlie, in my adult lifetime, has literally won the popular vote, I think, in precisely one presidential election back in 2004 was the time that they actually won an outright majority of the popular vote. I mean, this is a coalition that has been scrambling to try to figure out what it stands for ever since the fall of

the Berlin Wall the year I was born in 1989. And to have people like J.D. Vance up there to give a decisively pro-American heartland, pro-industrial policy, pro-manufacturing, pro-American worker speech. This is a party that understands the failures of the people that you just named, the failures of people like Lindsey Graham, the failure of moralistic interventionism all around the world to spread the

neoconservative ideology to third world Islamist backwaters in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, the failures of free trade absolutism when it comes at the expense of tearing up jobs in the American heartland. This is a political party, Charlie, that increasingly just gets it.

And I am just so excited. I mean, the fact that J.D. Vance is on the ticket is just unbelievable to me. I mean, the guy is 39 years old. I've known him for years, consider him a friend. It feels kind of surreal, to be honest with you, sitting here and talking to you about the man who was likely to be the next vice president of the United States and the heir successor to the MAGA throne, it seems. This party is in a fantastic place right now. The unity on display this week, by the way, the speeches by DeSantis, even Nikki Haley enthusiastically endorsing.

You know, look, everything is going according to plan right now. I mean, it almost seems too good to be true, frankly.

And when things are going that way, maybe we should just enjoy it because we have not had a week this good in eight years. I have not had a week this where I feel this positive. And I'm not saying we're going to win. I still give us a 50-50 chance. I just mean positive about where we're at philosophically, where the party is, that our candidate is alive and breathing. I have not felt this way for eight years. You think about it, eight years since we won in 2016. I want everyone to think about it.

Even in 2017, the inauguration took days before that they had resignations and spying on Trump and Michael Flynn. It's just the presidency got off to a very rough start. We all know that. The 2018 midterms were fine. They weren't great. 2020 was not great. 2022 was not great, you know, at all. And so it's just we've kind of been let on and let on waiting for that time where we feel that our worldview is ascendant.

And it just so happened that the forces to be all combined here. Now, Josh, some people are saying, but Republicans might be peaking too early. I want to list off a couple of things. First of all, it's better to peak than never peak. That is a rule of politics. Let me say that again. You don't always get a chance to peak.

And sometimes you peak and you plateau, and that's okay. And even if you peak and go down three or four points, you're still way up from where you were. So let's first, let me just go through some numbers here, Josh. North Carolina starts voting in 49 days. Pennsylvania starts voting in 59 days. Wisconsin starts voting in 67 days. And Arizona starts voting in 80 days. Josh Hammer.

Yeah, look, I mean, I don't think the party is peaking too early. I mean, it's mid-July of an election year. I mean, Charlie, let's just like step back for a second here and compare where the Republican Party is at this precise moment that you and I are talking versus the Democratic Party. The Republican Party just had its day.

best week probably in my entire adult lifetime, at least since the 2016 election. The unity on display there in Milwaukee is incredible. They have a forward-looking, innovative vice presidential candidate. The platform is remarkable. It is a pro-worker, pro-American heartland platform. I am deeply inspired. Compare that to the situation with the Democratic Party. Charlie, you and I have no idea, no one knows whether or not Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee come Monday morning. I mean, are they going to be able to pull off this palace coup, this coup d'etat?

The unity versus disunity, that juxtaposition is the starkest that it has ever been in my adult lifetime. As I said, I can be very critical of my own party at times. But after this week, Charlie, I am honestly the proudest to be a capital Republican than I have been probably in my entire adult lifetime, at least since September 11, 2001.

I love what you said. If this is what it means to be a Republican, I'm a Republican. And I say this, by the way, obviously as a very conservative person, but as a registered independent in the state of Arizona, because I never felt that the Republican Party spoke for me. But if this is what the Republican Party is, I'm going to change my registration officially to Republican, just as a show of force and a statement, because I never felt comfortable with the Bush, Cheney, Romney party registering as a Republican.

Hey everybody, Charlie Kirk here. Thanks to the team at Hillsdale College, you can now watch an inspiring portrayal of Thomas Jefferson as he reflects on the meaning of the Declaration of Independence in a letter he wrote late in his life. Watch this special short video at charlie4hillsdale.com. Since its founding in 1844, Hillsdale has remained true to its mission of offering the kind of education needed to preserve the blessings of liberty, the blessings that can be traced to the principles of the Declaration signed on July 4th.

At a time where the far left rejects the principles of liberty and equality, we must remind ourselves, our children, and our fellow citizens that those principles are the source of America's greatness and a treasure to be preserved. I invite you today to visit charlie4hillsdale.com to watch Hillsdale's educational and inspiring video, and you'll receive a free commemorative copy of the Declaration of Independence,

From my friends at Hillsdale. But don't delay. This is a limited time offer. Go to charlieforhillsdale.com as we forever and always celebrate Independence Day. charlieforhillsdale.com. Okay, I want to get to this poll here and get Josh's reaction. Josh, this is from CBS. J.D. Vance as VP pick propunks Republican registered voters. 51% Josh are enthusiastic.

43% satisfied, only 6% dissatisfied. Josh, that is an incredible consensus for a vice presidential selection. Please, Josh, look at that poll and what is your reaction?

Yeah, I hadn't seen that poll. I mean, that's remarkable, honestly. I mean, you know, prior to the vice presidential selection, Charlie, you had a lot of kind of the old dead consensus Republican Chamber of Commerce types really fear mongering with the possibility of a J.D. Van Spith. They were like, oh, my God, he's too young. He's too inexperienced. Oh, he has a scary worldview. Oh, my God. Maybe he's an authoritarian. He's a threat to the Constitution. This he's that. Right.

Look, if you don't realize that people like J.D. Vance are the future of the Republican Party, then I don't think you understand what is happening currently on the American right. And not just currently. You don't understand what has been happening for the past eight years. I mean, Charlie, there are some people, I think, who have been in one long extended days going on literally eight years now.

where they think that someday someone's just going to snap their fingers. The next morning, Trump's going to disappear on the old party of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham, John McCain. They're all going to come just, you know, riding back on horseback to reclaim their rightful position at the top of the Republican Party hierarchy. And look, the J.D. Banspig makes very clear it's not happening.

It's not happening. This party, this movement, this national conservative, national populist, America first movement is here to stay. And that is an emphatically good thing. And apparently the voters are receptive to it. This is really a remarkable poll that you're just showing me. I really hadn't seen it prior. Now, J.D. Vance, again, he's three, nine years old.

He's in his first Senate term. I suspect a lot of people still don't know him, right? I mean, he's somewhat of a household name because of the book he wrote, the memoir, the movie, the this, the that. But he's going to have a tremendous opportunity now over the next two, two and a half months or so to get out there on the campaign trail and to really introduce himself, the likes of which he did at the convention in his keynote speech on Wednesday evening.

And fortunately for J.D., he's a fantastic communicator. He's an excellent orator, and he has an amazing, amazing story to tell. So I have very little doubts as to how great he's going to be on the campaign trail. And I just look forward to January 2025 when, God willing, Trump and J.D. Vance are running this country and I guess running the Western world for that matter. And I just cannot wait to see, Charlie, what they do together in office.

I loved what Donald Trump said. He said, I can end a war with a phone call. Boom. That was such a powerful line. I can end a war with a phone call. Josh, last thought here. Joe Biden and the Democrats, what is your analysis of what is going on there? It is complete chaos. Your thought, Josh Hammer.

You know, Charlie, I have been outspoken for over a year now that Joe Biden is not going anywhere. I have said repeatedly he's not going anywhere. This is a guy who's wanted to be president since quite literally before I was born. He first ran for president in 1988. You know, good luck getting him and his Lady Macbeth wife, so-called Dr. Jill, to actually give up the reins of power now that they have it.

I will be honest with you, I'm starting to wobble over the past 48 hours or so. I mean, it really seems like at this point it is Joe Biden versus the entire Democrat media complex. I mean, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, New York Times, CNN, you name it. I mean, they are all in. Now, having said that, their virtual roll call vote is coming up real soon. It's on August 1st. I think if Joe Biden can survive this weekend –

both literally and proverbially, frankly, if he can survive this weekend, then he's probably going to be the nominee. But I actually would not be surprised if he does battle out of the race on Sunday. But push comes to shove, Charlie. I'm sticking with my gut. I've been saying this for over a year. I think that Joe Biden stays as the nominee. But the final point, just to reiterate, you and I already discussed this. Just compare and contrast that with the unity on the Republican side. It is the starkest juxtaposition I have ever seen in American politics in my lifetime.

Josh Hammer, wonderful analysis. Come back anytime and check out your piece in Newsweek about J.D. Vance. It's terrific. The chosen one. Thank you so much. You bet. Thanks for having me.

Email us, freedom at charliekirk.com. I want to encourage you guys to become a member, members.charliekirk.com. Also, breaking news today, Trump to hold call with Zelensky. Is Donald Trump going to end the Russian-Ukrainian war before he's president? Donald Trump is basically acting like president, the president. And he should, by the way, because we don't have a president right now. We have an administrative state. And let's be very clear that...

Donald Trump got RFK secret service protection. Donald Trump very well might end the Ukrainian war while he's a candidate. The forces to be are understanding that our movement is ascendant, but that's not enough. How many new voters have you guys found this week? Get the never surrender shirt.

Go to a grocery store, engage conversation, ask them who they're voting for. Get them registered to vote at tpaction.com. Now is the time for shoulder to the wheel. Get in the trenches, get in the grassroots, work harder than ever. Your president took a bullet for you.

Are you ready to lose weight but not sure where to start? I understand. I was right where you are two years ago. Let me tell you why I chose the PhD Weight Loss and Nutrition Program. First, Dr. Ashley Lucas has her PhD in chronic disease and sports nutrition. Her program is based on years of research and is science-based. Second, the PhD program starts nutrition. There is so much more. They know that 90% of permanent change comes from the mind, and they work on eliminating the reason you gain this weight in the first place. There's no shortcuts, pills, or injections, just solid science-based nutrition and behavior change.

And finally, a probably most importantly, I lost 30 pounds. Look, they're amazing. If you want to lose weight, you got to go to myphdweightloss.com. I was just texting with Dr. Ashley Lucas today. If you're ready to lose weight for the last time, call 864-644-1900. Go online at myphdweightloss.com. Do what I did and what hundreds of my listeners have done and call today, 864-644-1900. I recommend their program. Dr. Ashley Lucas has her PhD in chronic disease and sports nutrition. Her program is based on years of research and is science-based.

Second, the PhD program starts in nutrition, but it's so much more. Go to MyPhDWeightLoss.com. MyPhDWeightLoss.com. Call 864-644-1900. I lost over 30 pounds. Dr. Asher Lucas, great American. Check it out. MyPhDWeightLoss.com.

Joining us now is Kurt Schlichter, senior columnist at townhall.com and author of The Attack. Kurt, I've been dying to get your thoughts and your opinion of this RNC convention. We've been told our entire life, Kurt, that the Democrat Party is the party of Hollywood. The Republican Party, I think, has finally outdone the Democrat Party when it comes to the visual arts. Kurt Schlichter, let it rip.

Yeah, I thought it was sensational. And I feel like an idiot because, you know, I... So people were like, hey, Kurt, you want to come? Here's some credentials and stuff. I was like, nah. Yeah, great. Good choice, Kurt. Next, everybody, take my sock pics. No, it looked amazing. I thought...

I could feel the energy just watching it. I could, this was not, you know, we kept hearing about how this was the dark and scary, dread-filled Republican Party. Where the heck was that? This is a party where our guy got shot, where one of our own got murdered a couple days ago. And we were still optimistic, excited. I mean, obviously, Donald Trump paid an incredible tribute to the president

the murdered patriot last night. And I think that was fully appropriate. But Cory Campitore was an America first guy. He would have been thrilled at what happened from what I know of him. And I just thought they really hit it out of the park. Now, I mean, look, Donald Trump went for a long, long speech. But you know what? As much as the liberal media hated it,

and just saw, "Oh wow, the campaign's turned, David Axelrod's out there saying, 'Wow, this is the best thing that's happened to the Democrats in weeks.'" Well, I'm not quite sure about that. Most normal people saw the first part of the speech, the very moving discussion of the attempt to murder Donald Trump and the actual murder of one of our own people.

And I think they would have been greatly moved. And I think that Donald Trump went along with the energy in the crowd. It was much more of a rally speech than a traditional convention speech, but it got people fired up. Look, I thought they did an incredibly good job. And I'm always happy to criticize the RNC, as you well know.

Well, me too, Kurt. I mean, let's just make sure we're – I mean, seven months ago, if you would tell me I would be praising the RNC –

I mean, I was I was in I was I was hosting a counter RNC event in Las Vegas trying to change the leadership. And so I see that Rana is no longer there. And Erica, my wife, made a great point. She said, you know why that convention was so good? I said, why? She said, because Rana is not there anymore. I said, OK, that might be the case. But, Kurt, I think there's some truth to that. And there's the job. Michael Watley, Laura Trump seem to be doing everything right. Right.

You know, I'd be interested in seeing more about how they're doing the actual groundwork for the election. But, you know, if they're putting as much effort into that as they are into this convention, which was fantastic and completely flummoxed the left, I'm going to be very happy. Now, you know what? You were lucky enough to be there. I had to watch it at home. And for various reasons, I had to watch PBS instead of a real network.

And I thought they were going to start crying half the time. I mean, I've never seen people so disappointed that other people were happy and having a good time and being positive in my life. And of course they were doing little, you know, chicken scratch things like refusing to show Tucker Carlson's speech, which I know knocked everybody's socks off. They just, it's,

They were in mourning. They should have been wearing black at how well the RNC went. It was, it was, Charlie, it was a demonstration of competence and the kind of Reagan optimism that, you know, I grew up with in the eighties. I mean, that was, this is a Republican party that I've always wanted to be, you know, that I originally joined. And Kirk, if this is, if this is what it means to be Republican, I am now a Republican.

And I want to play just some of the highlights here because there were so many highlights. And you know what also is notable, Kurt? Can you name a single media-covered gaffe, mistake, issue? Not a single one. Usually at these conventions, you know, some speaker might go off script or do something goofy. It was flawless from an execution standpoint. And, Kurt, that's a big deal. It is. It is.

It is. They don't have anything to pick apart. And you know what? Donald Trump went one hour, 31 minutes, 55 seconds, if I remember correctly.

That's a long time. And it was after four o'clock in the afternoon. I think he got up there not only to connect with his audience and to let them know that they may have tried to murder me, but I'm still there for you. But what a contrast between him and that desiccated old

this zombie who just breaking, Charlie, announced a few minutes ago, next week he hits the campaign trail and I'm all for it. Run Joe run until four o'clock and then they wrap you in a shawl, put you in a rocker, put you in front of Matlock, give you some money.

So, Kurt, I now want to shift to the Democrats, which we had a great week. We are full of unity and we are full of, you know, just more agreement than ever before. And yet, you know,

Here we are. The Democrat Party is in the midst of a Bolshevik versus a Menshevik civil war. In fact, it's so bad that our sources are saying, and they're very good sources because people say, oh, Charlie, how do you have sources in the Democrat Party? First of all, I talk to a lot of people. Secondly, we have some very wealthy donors who used to be Democrats and they chat to a lot of people.

There's been a lot of very wealthy former Democrats that are now conservatives that still have friendships there. And people are talking. I'll tell you right now, they say loose lips sink ships. This is the easiest time to get data and information. They are leaking like you wouldn't believe. Here is what we have been told. We tweeted this last evening. It's been seen by four million people on Twitter X dot com. Let me read this. Well,

While Donald Trump gives Republican Party the most unity since 9-11, a source who's spoken to Democrats in the last 24 hours says the party is in a state of utter collapse. This is a direct quote, by the way, from well-sourced billionaire donors who used to be in Democrat circles. OK, this is as good of a source as it gets.

Kamala isn't ready and her staff are not ready. They're a bunch of amateurs. They don't know if even Biden has her back. He isn't communicating with her. Democrat lawmakers are 100% sure that Biden is gone, yet haven't actually gotten Biden to submit. They're just confident that increasingly ugly tactics will force him out.

The one word that Democrats keep on using is the verboten word on the Charlie Kirk show, the landslide. We don't say that word. We don't think about that word. I'm just quoting. The entire party is oscillating between panic and doom. Kurt Schlichter. No, they've got huge problems. First of all, Joe Biden was always a stupid, stupid man with an inferiority complex and imposter syndrome.

To drop out of the race, I've always been convinced he's not going to drop out because to do so validates everyone who laughed at him and thought he was a clown. That will be his legacy, the guy who is too senile to govern. I don't think that emotionally he's capable of doing that. And people keep being surprised when he doesn't because he's a bad person and put other people's interests above his own petty ego. And, of course, that will never, ever happen.

So I think it's hilarious that the Democrats think that they can bully this guy out. He's just going to he's just going to keep going on and there's nothing they can really do. And of course, our alternative is Kamala. She's a joke. Everybody knows it. Everybody's always known it. She's Selina Meyer without the charisma or the intellect. It's a joke.

The change of fortune for these guys in the last four or five months. I mean, they saw Trump was indicted. He's going to get tried. Everybody hates him. We're just going to glide to victory. And it's all turned to ashes in their hands. And frankly, couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch. Final thought here, Kurt, you are a man who loves history. The moment Donald Trump got shot, I want a Kurt Schlichter riff on that one.

My gosh, iconic, legendary. You know, people have been very, very, talked a lot about spirituality with it. And I, you know, I can't tell them that they're wrong. One millimeter, one centimeter difference.

a puff of air blowing that bullet along its trajectory. And our entire country could have changed and not for the better, Charlie, for the much, much worse. And then to be shot and then to rise up and to refuse to submit and to look out at that crowd and need to reassure them and then to do that.

That is exactly what America needs. That's the essence of America. Every American, including Democrats, should be proud of Donald Trump because he showed what it's like. And I gotta tell you, overseas, the bad guys, our enemies, looked at that and they were afraid. Amazing. Kurt?

Well done. Check out his book, The Attack. Thank you so much. Well done. Thanks for having me. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. Email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com. Thanks so much for listening and God bless. For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.