Transcript of My Last 6 Years With Charlie Kirk | In Memoriam with Alex Clark

I'll never forget being on the plane on my way to meet Charlie Kirk for the first time. I was being interviewed to work for Turning Point USA, and at this I had done my research and I knew that Turning Point USA had something undeniably special and powerful happening in the conservative movement. I'm sitting there and I'm so nervous, and I'm listening to clips of Charlie Kirk, and I'm listening to Ben Shapiro's podcast at the fastest possible speed, trying to memorize everything that I was hearing because I was like, Well, Charlie might be quizz me on current news or conservatism. I naively thought, Charlie probably has some litmus test that I'm going to have to go through so that he can vet me and make sure that I know my stuff. Of course, Charlie wasn't interested in quizz me on news headlines of the week, but was more focused on getting to know me as a person and what my vision was for the show that I wanted to launch through Turning Point USA. Charlie continuously bet on me, defended me, protected me and encouraged me. I took virtually no raise to come to Turning Point USA after leaving my number one rated morning show in Indianapolis.

I actually vividly remember telling Tyler Boyer, who was COO at the time, that I'd be willing to take a pay cut. It was because I believed in Turning Point USA and the mission of what they were doing so much that I was willing to do anything to get here. I think I ended up with a salary of $3,000 more than what I was making to come to Arizona, where I had no friends, no family, only Charlie Kirk's vision for America and a burning desire to have just even a small role in it. I think This is the case for every single person who has come to Arizona to work here. It wasn't about money. It was always about mission. When I got to Phoenix and I started to meet the other employees at our headquarters, I realized immediately that almost everyone was there as their first job out of college, and they were frequently pulling long shifts, staying late, working weekends to just get things done in those early days. Charlie would walk around the office in basketball shorts and dress shoes and hair that didn't look brushed. Every so often during the pandemic, it would trend on Twitter.

Charlie Kirk needs a haircut, or does he have a hair brush? Or something like that. And clockwork, the next day, there would be a little hair cutter lady coming in to cut his hair for him. I remember meeting people at the door, at the front door of the office, and I'm like, Who are you here to see? And she's like, Oh, I'm here to cut Charlie's hair. I was like, Oh, yes. Which makes me laugh now, and I felt so bad for him. That was the only time ever I saw him care what people thought of him. Just like President Trump, Charlie didn't drink, he didn't go out with staff when we went out, he was all business, always focused all the time. During the pandemic, Charlie refused to force staff to get vaccinated. He also refused a very hefty stimulus check from the government that could have really helped us out at the time. He also promised us that we would not be participating in mass company layoffs like a lot of businesses were doing at the time. And recently this year, Charlie started asking us to email him weekly with three things that we accomplished this week and what we were working on next.

It was always, what are you working on? What is next? I think it was everyone's greatest fear to disappoint him in any way, not because we were afraid, but because we deeply respected him. I mean, you had to be on your toes because you never knew when he was going to ask you to do something that probably would have been impossible for any other organization under way weaker leadership, like the President is coming last minute, or you need to get ready to go on the news in one hour, we must write an op-ed, or make this video go viral of a leftist punching one of our TPUSA students in the in place. Everyone wanted to make him proud because it was obvious from the get-go that Charlie didn't do things to bring glory to Charlie. He did them to bring glory to God and the greatest country in the world. Charlie was always told to brace himself for my crazy ideas and stunts, whether it was a theme for YWLS, a controversial episode that I wanted to put out, or a new show idea I wanted. He trusted me, he believed in me, and he encouraged me to speak my mind and share my personal opinions.

I know of all the horror stories of censorship with other conservative media companies, and that has really never been my experience here. I've never told this story, but there was only one time that TPUSA ever even flirt with the idea, at least just with me, and it was squashed very quickly. I know that there has been talk about whether or not Charlie may have felt like he had to do things that he didn't want to do to appease donors. There were people who didn't want him to allow Tucker to speak at our events, but Charlie was adamant that he was going to let him anyway. I tell you that because in late 2024, I had a controversial podcast interview, and there were some people higher up at Turning Point that were telling me, You're going to be barred from putting this out at the very last minute. It was five minutes before the episode was supposed to publish because my guest talked critically about some people who happened to be donors. So they were nervous. Do we really want to ruffle these feathers? It may be just a better idea to not put it out at ever.

And this ended up being the only time I ever threatened to quit. I sent a statement to management and I said, this is verbatim, I would be very sad as a talent to learn that free speech can be bought for the right price at a conservative company. I feel like if someone complained, The stance of the company should be to defend me as a talent and the free exchange of ideas between speakers and guests that we host, and that disagreement is welcome. They could make a video responding if they want, and I would be happy to share that to our stories. I cannot go on campuses and tell students to join a TPUSA chapter to protect their free speech if my speech isn't even protected within our walls. I remember pushing send on that, and I was so scared because I was like, They could just fire me for even challenging this. But Charlie agreed to me publish the episode, and nothing was ever said about it again. I believe Charlie was alerted with what I had to say and my thoughts on the matter, and he agreed with me. I know that there's been a lot of chatter online about a recent Hamptons trip that Charlie was on before he died.

While he was at this event, I just think I should share my experience, I ended up doing a Q&A on my Instagram stories where I was asked about my thoughts on the tensions in the Middle East and Israel. I had responded by saying, I am sick of talking about it. My only stance is I don't want America meddling with any country, period. Charlie saw that while he's on this trip, literally debating Israel and all these things and asking influencers in the conservative movement what they think about Israel. He messaged me and he said, Good for you. I support your right to speak out. It wasn't, I agree or I disagree. It was, You should be able to say whatever you want to say. That is really the core of who Charlie was. If you look at any lineup of every event that TPUSA has ever done, there would be speakers representing every single ideological faction of the conservative movement and Republican Party. There were Catholic, there were Jews, there were atheists, protestants, normands, agnostics, and more. Charlie was in the business of bringing people together, which is why he never spoke poorly about anyone. He was 100% transparent with his beliefs, and he shared them openly and honestly, very often, all the way up to his assassination.

He did not say one thing publicly and another privately. He said what he meant, and he meant what he said. He was certainly open to other viewpoints and evolving information. With more time on this Earth, who knows what he would have changed his mind on or become, likely President, for one. I remember a time earlier in 2024, Charlie had me on his show. During commercial breaks, you should know, if you ever e-mailed the Charlie Kirk show, he really did read it. He doesn't really like to talk much on commercial breaks. He sits there and he reads a listener e-mails that come in and checks breaking news. But we're sitting there in silence and he's like, I see him scrolling and reading e-mails to see what people are thinking about, whatever we were talking about. I go, Charlie, I think we should really be nervous about RFK. This was before RFK agreed to partner with and endorse Trump. Rfk is running as a candidate on his own. Charlie immediately looks up and he's like, What do you mean? I had his attention. I said, Charlie, conservative women love RFK, maybe even more than Trump. I think women will be split on who to vote for, and we will lose to Harris if they do not band together.

I know after that point, Charlie was adamant with RFK, Man, you've got to take up Trump's offer. Suspend your campaign. Vow to make America healthy again. Rfk did. Rfk, in his speech, right after Charlie was murdered, said that, that Charlie played one of the biggest roles in him agreeing to endorse Trump. Charlie and I both agreed that the Maha Movement was one of the most powerful modern-day political coalitions to ever exist, and that it would be crucial to the future success and sustainability of the GOP's relationship with women in particular. It's very important to me to continue my activism for the Maha movement. Now you've heard some of my stories, and I hope that you have a more well-rounded picture of what he was like as a person, not just the political superstar. There's so much more I want to share. Next week, I have three very special episodes with people that knew and loved Charlie very well, where you will hear even more about the husband, the father, the political organizer, and Christian that he was. Then we're going to take a week off just to let myself and my staff take at least somewhat of a breather as much as we can, a little baby breather, maybe.

We got to get caught up. Then we're going to be back with Normal Culture Apothecary programming on Monday, October sixth. In those tribute episodes, they're going to come out Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday next week. We are going to address everything. Charlie's thoughts on Israel. If he was offered $150 million in hush money. How him and Erica handled disagreements, what his vacations were like with his family, if he was in the process of converting to Catholicism, his last week on Earth, his last hours on Earth, if Erica feels good about the suspect who was arrested, and his thoughts on education and so much more. Now, I do chime in and I share in these episodes, too. So this isn't the last you're going to hear from me about him. But I just want you to know that One, I have appreciated every single person who has texted or called me, if you know me personally. I have appreciated every single DM that has been sent, every comment, every like, every heart. I feel more motivated than ever to work with these incredible people at Turning Point USA, all handpicked by Charlie himself to continue fighting to save the greatest country in the world.

Working with Charlie Kirk at Turning Point USA the past six years has been the greatest honor of my life, and I owe everything I have to God and Charlie in that order. I love you, Charlie. We love you. And Erica, you're going to rock this. We will continue on this show to make America healthy again in Heal A sick culture. The sick culture who killed my boss, my friend, a husband, and a father. And I will not rest until my dying breath to do it.