The Josh Hammer Show responding to Charlie Kirk's Memorial Honoring Charlie Kirk
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The Josh Hammer Show responding to Charlie Kirk's Memorial
Honoring Charlie Kirk, Exposing Tucker’s Lies, and Calling Out the UN
Josh unpacks the powerful moments from Charlie Kirk’s memorial in Glendale, AZ, praising the Turning Point team and spotlighting voices like Erika Kirk. He torches Tucker Carlson for trying to rewrite Charlie’s faith and expose yet another attempt to drive a wedge between Christians and Jews. Josh then takes aim at the UN General Assembly as more nations disgracefully move to recognize a "Palestinian" state.
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I want to talk a little bit about one of the most remarkable things I think I have ever seen in all my years of following politics. I was just mesmerized, frankly. I was genuinely mesmerized as I watched alongside my wife and our baby this memorial, this lengthy, I mean incredibly rehearsed,00:00:58incredibly rehearsed and prepared and just over the top impressive memorial for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals NFL team on Sunday out in the Phoenix, Arizona area. I very much wished I could have been there in person. There were any number of friends and others from this space, from the commentary business, the talking punditry business, so many others who were out there.00:01:27I would have loved, loved, loved to have been there. The timing from a Jewish calendar perspective made it logistically very, very difficult, given the fact that it was the Sunday morning after the Jewish Sabbath, and then the Rosh Hashanah holiday, the Jewish New Year actually began last night, today, and tomorrow I am off for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. So the timing was just too difficult.00:01:52Any other timing, and I would have very gladly flown out there to be there, just seemed so incredibly powerful. So first of all, first observation, just incredible credit. Incredible credit to everyone over at Turning Point USA for this. Incredible credit to Mike McCoy, Charlie Kirk's former chief of staff at Turning Point USA, someone who I have gone to know on a personal level. He is the son of Pastor Rob McCoy, who also spoke at this memorial.00:02:22Pastor Rob, Charlie's longtime, decades-long pastor and spiritual mentor. Tremendous credit to him as well. Certainly just massive, massive credit to another friend of mine, Andrew Colvitt, the longtime executive producer of the Charlie Kirk show, and as a Turning Point USA spokesman, and someone who was a mover and shaker for Turning Point USA, and generally just for Charlie's whole sphere of influence. And just credit for everyone else, everyone else both inside and outside Turning Point USA.00:02:52I mean, they were able to pull that off, to pull off that memorial service 11 days, 11 days after Charlie Kirk was assassinated earlier this month at Utah Valley University in Oregon, Utah. That is not a lot of time. That is not a lot of time at all to pull off something like that, to get the entire roster of speakers who spoke at that event,00:03:18from President Trump to Vice President Vance to many others from the administration to public luminaries to folks who were close to Donald, not just Donald Trump, but people who were close to Charlie Kirk. I was mesmerized, frankly, by what I saw. The music and everything there. And it was an incredible tribute to the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. It really was.00:03:46And the specific tenor and nature of the event was interesting. It was undoubtedly beautiful. It was even more religious than I necessarily thought it would be. That's definitely not necessarily a bad thing. We are massive proponents on this show of biblical religion, and we are huge proponents of biblically authentic Christianity and Judaism. So it's definitely not a bad thing. But I didn't necessarily anticipate that it would be that much front and center.00:04:15It almost felt like we were paying tribute and eulogizing, not someone who was primarily known as an extraordinary political activist, a grassroots mobilizer, and a political mover and shaker. It almost felt like we were eulogizing a theologian or a pastor or someone who was known primarily for his faith, which, to be clear, Charlie did say, as I think any religious person would say, that he wanted to be remembered first and foremost as a person of sincere faith,00:04:45which is a pretty common sentiment, right? I think anyone who is a person of faith, Jew or Christian alike, would say that. That certainly is something that I very much would say as well. But just really, really, really interesting. And the speeches oftentimes made direct reference to this, about how this was not just memorializing someone who formed one of the most formidable right-of-center organizations in all America,00:05:13and not just paying tribute to someone who did more than arguably anyone other than Donald Trump himself to get J.D. Vance and Donald Trump into power. It really was paying tribute to someone who was rapidly becoming, in recent years, the Jordan Peterson of the younger generation, of the younger millennials and Gen Z. If you know anything about Jordan Peterson, you know that he has this whole make-your-bed shtick. And by that, I mean that Jordan Peterson is very much known for saying to young people,00:05:43maybe to young men above all, make your bed in the morning, and that will get you off to a good start, and will set the tone of your day. And it's kind of this whole pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality. Well, Charlie was absolutely doing that for an entire younger generation of people, and this was very much part of, I think, his religious mission and evangelism as well. So, I mean, how many clips have we seen gone viral of Charlie Kirk over the past couple of years, two, three years, whatever, on campuses, talking to young men?00:06:12And really, his bread-and-butter audience was young men. It'll be interesting to see how his amazing wife, his widow, Erica, it'll be interesting to see how she's able to communicate to young men. And I would imagine that her most natural audience is young women. It'll be interesting to see that. But when Charlie was speaking to young men across the country, he would kind of pull a slightly different version, but nonetheless similar, just a slight twist, of this Jordan Peterson, make-your-bed approach,00:06:41where Charlie would say to young men, hey, here's a tangible way how you can improve your life. Go to the gym. Eat healthier. Work out. You see that girl that you have your eye on? Ask her to a date. Maybe if it goes well, ask her another date. Who knows? Maybe soon you'll actually ask her hand in marriage. Maybe you'll actually have some children of your own. Raise a family. Be a father. Be a husband. Be a father. Don't just be alone by yourself.00:07:09Drowning in your own woes and your own sorrows. Get a family. Get God in your life. Get scripture. Go to synagogue or church. I mean, these were the things, really, that if you look at the totality of Charlie Kirk's work over the past few years, he very much was starting to emphasize these issues, maybe first and foremost above anything else, perhaps even more so than some of the issues that I think probably most galvanized him and motivated him around the time that he started Turning Point USA,00:07:38which once upon a time was really known as an anti-big government organization. The old Turning Point USA slogans were, socialism sucks, big government sucks, and no doubt that Charlie still held those sentiments towards the end of his life. But, you know, and this is something that I can personally relate to. As he got older and as he married and as he had kids and as he really doubled down in the sincerity of his faith, there were other things that he noticed that he kind of gravitated towards in both a personal and public capacity00:08:05that he cared more about talking about and preaching about as the case may be. So it was just an extraordinary, extraordinary memorial there. And one of the things that I was thinking about as well is who else, I mean, who else in the United States would have that sort of tribute? Who else would have 100,000 people cramming into a 65,000 person capacity NFL stadium to hear all about their life? I really don't know the answer to be honest with you.00:08:34I mean, is there literally anyone other than the President of the United States who we might expect to have that kind of ceremony, memorial, of just extraordinary public demonstration and remembrance? I don't know. So, again, something that we've said on our show numerous times, Charlie was a personal friend of mine, and I look forward to doing whatever I can in my own small capacity00:09:04to help carry on his torch and his legacy. But I guess I don't think I even fully realize just how many people he touched over the course of his extraordinary career. I don't think I realize just how many lives he had. And lives he had impacted very much for the better. And wow, just wow, wow, wow. So right off the bat, just, again, tremendous credit to all the folks at Turnpon USA00:09:29and everyone for the matter who was involved in pulling off that incredible tribute to the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. Diving into some of the speeches here, certainly the speech on something that I was personally most looking forward to was Erica Kirk, the wife and widow of Charlie Kirk. And Erica is a devout Catholic. Charlie was an evangelical Protestant, but they had a mutual love of religion and faith.00:09:57They actually met on a Christian pilgrimage of sorts a trip many years ago in Israel, in the Holy Land, if memory serves. I think that's actually where they first met, which is an interesting anecdotal side note to this broader story, especially as a lot of bad faith actors continue to try to relitigate and posthumously convert Charlie to all these beliefs that he did not hold. It's actually kind of an interesting side note that they actually met for the first time, Charlie and his life partner, his partner in the one flesh bodily union,00:10:24that is biblical marriage, they actually met over in the Holy Land, over in Israel. Erica gave a very, very impressive speech, as she did just two days after Charlie's assassination from his studio in the Phoenix area. She had another very, very impressive speech on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Here are just a couple of highlights that I thought from Eric Kirk's speech at the Charlie Kirk Memorial.00:10:50After Charlie's assassination, we didn't see violence. We didn't see rioting. We didn't see revolution. Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country. We saw revival.00:11:20This past week, we saw people open a Bible for the first time in a decade. We saw people pray for the first time since they were children. We saw people go to a church service for the first time in their entire lives. I mean, this is inspiring stuff. To look into that 100,000 person packed NFL stadium and to talk about how your husband's tragic assassination at the tender age of 3100:11:48has actually inspired not violence and looting but revival to focus on the pauses of the people coming back to God and Scripture. Extraordinary. That is extraordinarily impressive stuff. And it speaks to the character. It speaks to the principle. It speaks to the core convictions, the faith of Erica Kirk, who is rapidly, rapidly emerging as a true leader in real time of this moment. In fact, as Kayleigh McEnany said on the Fox News coverage right after the entire event wrapped up,00:12:17Kayleigh McEnany, another woman of sincere Christian faith herself, Kayleigh McEnany said that Erica Kirk appears to be the Esther of this moment. Something that I can very much resonate with. Our daughter here is named Esther, our first child. And the character of Esther and the book of Esther, one of my favorite books from the Bible. I think what Kayleigh McEnany was getting at is this notion of Esther chapter 4, verse 14, that perhaps you were born for a moment just like this.00:12:46Really, really impressive stuff when it comes to Erica Kirk. Here's a little bit more from Erica's speech, memorializing her husband, Charlie, this past Sunday in Arizona. Charlie perfectly understood God's role for a Christian husband. A man who leads so that they can serve.00:13:07To all the men watching around the world, accept Charlie's challenge and embrace true manhood. Be strong and courageous for your families. Love your wives and lead them.00:13:36Love your children and protect them. Be the spiritual head of your home. But please be a leader worth following. Your wife, your wife is not your servant. Your wife is not your employee.00:14:04Your wife is not your slave. She is your helper. You are not rivals. You are one flesh working together for the glory of God. I mean, what more is there to say? I mean, to have the composure speak like this, let alone speak like this, at a memorial where there are that many people standing in the stadium there, it's just really, really, really impressive.00:14:32And, you know, I don't know Erica personally super well. I definitely don't know her like I knew Charlie. I don't know the exact details of that, what she believes about every single public policy issue. But certainly when it comes to her core principles, her core personal convictions, above all her faith in God Almighty, I mean, I've really, really, really been impressed by Erica Kirk. And I am really kind of convinced, frankly,00:15:01of that Kayleigh McEnany point that perhaps she really is the Esther, the woman who was called for this moment for this exact time. She said one thing, Erica Kirk, that was so fascinating that I have to play and I want to get into a discussion for you because it strikes me as a deeply Christian way of thinking. But as an observant Jew, I'm just not sure that I could really relate to what she said. It was maybe the most poignant and viral part of her entire speech. Go ahead and take a listen,00:15:31and then let's unpack it on the other side. That young man on the cross, our Savior said, Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do. That man, forgive him. So she's talking here about the assassin who per Josh Hammershow policy, we won't name his name,00:16:00and she's talking about forgiving the person who ended the life of her husband, doing so just 11 days afterwards. And wow. I mean, again, not to be a dead horse, but the conviction, the principle, I mean, I genuinely admire the person who was able to say those words at that time. As I said, it is a very, very, very authentic Christian sentiment.00:16:30I am not a Christian. I'm an observant Jew. Off today for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish holiday. But this is definitely my understanding of Christianity and Christian doctrine that you are, in a situation like this, if you are being true to the Christian faith, to forgive in a situation like this. It's definitely my understanding that you are to turn the other cheek, so to speak, and to be very forgiving for the same reasons as she said00:16:58that Jesus was on the cross. I do have to say that I find this personally unrelatable as much as I admire because I think that the Jewish approach is different here. To be clear, we believe on this show strongly, and we'll get into this just a little bit more when it comes to the irksome comments of Tucker Carlson, but we believe strongly in the geo-Christian, biblical, ecumenical fight to save Western civilization. We believe strongly in the overwhelming00:17:27ethical, legal, moral, and political foundational underpinning that is shared and is common to both Judaism and Christianity, both to that original people of the book as well as the great Gentile offshoot, to paraphrase the words of a pope from the past century. But there are some areas where the two traditions and the two religions do tend to disagree a little bit. I can't help but think that when it comes to this, that this would be something of an area of disagreement. From a Hebrew Bible perspective, from an Old Testament perspective,00:17:58we are not necessarily called, that is, we as Jews, according to Judaism, we are not necessarily just called to automatically forgive, to turn the other cheek, etc. There's actually a well-established process for repentance in Judaism, repentance, which is really big now at this point in the Jewish calendar when it comes to the days of awe, the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur above all. This is the foremost time when it comes to repentance, and repentance is indeed a very key concept in the Jewish religion.00:18:27It's called teshuva, is the Hebrew word for it. But we have a well-established process for doing teshuva. It's been written about for millennia. Maimonides, the Rambam, has wonderful writings explicating his exact formulation for how to properly do teshuva. There's another great book from around the same time period, a little after the Rambam, called Shari Teshuva. Judaism, that is to say, more generally speaking, has a very well-established process00:18:55when it comes to seeking repentance and teshuva. And indeed, if someone does that, and then they come to you and they seek your personal forgiveness, then you do have an obligation to forgive them if they have really done the work, if they have really gone through this process and they are earnest and sincere for the right reasons, et cetera, et cetera there. But absent that, we don't have an overarching reason to just automatically forgive someone, to just automatically say, I forgive you despite what you have done.00:19:25You actually have to do the work, at least when it comes to Judaism. You really have to do the work there and put in the effort in order to be deserving of forgiveness along these lines. And then on the contrary, actually, when there are egregious wrongs done, we're actually repeatedly told to remember, to never forget. There's really no probably greater example in the Hebrew Bible, in the five books of Moses specifically, than Amalek. Amalek was the nation00:19:54that cut down the weaklings, the elderly, those who were at the back of the Jews fleeing Egypt during the Exodus there. And we are told that Amalek acted in an extraordinarily cowardly fashion because Amalek, the nation, did not fear God. And it's reiterated all the way up until the final five to ten chapters, give or take, of the book of Deuteronomy at the very end of the five books of Moses. The Jewish people were told to never forget Amalek. And then when the Jews were in the land safely,00:20:23to stamp them off the face of the earth. There are actually many analogies drawn between Amalek in the Bible and Hamas in Gaza. Those are the exact confines and legitimacy of that particular analogy is beyond the confines of today's conversation. But the point is that the Jewish ethical approach, which is a more Hebrew Bible, Old Testament-like approach, is yes, if you do the work from Teshuva and you really, really repent, then yes, you ought to be indeed, you must be forgiven00:20:53if you've really done it. But if not, if not, then there is no overarching obligation to simply forgive for exogenous reasons there. So this is a genuine area of difference actually, but I think it's interesting between the Jewish and Christian ethical approaches there. That's not to issue any kind of judgment. I want to make this very clear. I am absolutely not in any way whatsoever judging Erica. On the contrary, I thought it was incredibly inspiring. I couldn't believe when she said it. I mean, my jaw dropped00:21:22like, wow, wow, wow. I mean, what courage, what an example there. I just don't personally find that relatable and it's not necessarily something that I would have said if, God forbid, I had been in a situation like that. I can't help but say that someone who actually humorously kind of took the more Jewish approach and the Christian approach perhaps to this question was actually none other than President Trump himself. Go ahead and take a listen. He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That's where I disagreed with Charlie.00:21:53I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them. I'm sorry. I am sorry, Erica. But now Erica can talk to me and the whole group and maybe they can convince me that that's not right but I can't stand my opponent. Charlie's angry. Look at that. He's angry at me now. He wasn't interested in demonizing anyone. He was interested in persuading everyone to the ideas and principles he believed were good, right,00:22:23and true. All right. So pretty funny stuff from Donald Trump and whether he realizes it or not, he's actually taking more of an Old Testament Hebrew Bible Jewish approach to this particular question than the profoundly Christian approach of Erica and Charlie. And again, just one final time. I think I've said this already but just to really underscore this, I am absolutely not judging. On the contrary, I was just mesmerized by Erica Kirk's ability to say this in that moment. Again, I just don't personally find the relatable and it's certainly not, God forbid,00:22:53what I personally would have said in that moment.
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Description
The Josh Hammer Show responding to Charlie Kirk's Memorial
Honoring Charlie Kirk, Exposing Tucker’s Lies, and Calling Out the UN
Josh unpacks the powerful moments from Charlie Kirk’s memorial in Glendale, AZ, praising the Turning Point team and spotlighting voices like Erika Kirk. He torches Tucker Carlson for trying to rewrite Charlie’s faith and expose yet another attempt to drive a wedge between Christians and Jews. Josh then takes aim at the UN General Assembly as more nations disgracefully move to recognize a "Palestinian" state.
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I want to talk a little bit about one of the most remarkable things I think I have ever seen in all my years of following politics. I was just mesmerized, frankly. I was genuinely mesmerized as I watched alongside my wife and our baby this memorial, this lengthy, I mean incredibly rehearsed,00:00:58incredibly rehearsed and prepared and just over the top impressive memorial for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals NFL team on Sunday out in the Phoenix, Arizona area. I very much wished I could have been there in person. There were any number of friends and others from this space, from the commentary business, the talking punditry business, so many others who were out there.00:01:27I would have loved, loved, loved to have been there. The timing from a Jewish calendar perspective made it logistically very, very difficult, given the fact that it was the Sunday morning after the Jewish Sabbath, and then the Rosh Hashanah holiday, the Jewish New Year actually began last night, today, and tomorrow I am off for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. So the timing was just too difficult.00:01:52Any other timing, and I would have very gladly flown out there to be there, just seemed so incredibly powerful. So first of all, first observation, just incredible credit. Incredible credit to everyone over at Turning Point USA for this. Incredible credit to Mike McCoy, Charlie Kirk's former chief of staff at Turning Point USA, someone who I have gone to know on a personal level. He is the son of Pastor Rob McCoy, who also spoke at this memorial.00:02:22Pastor Rob, Charlie's longtime, decades-long pastor and spiritual mentor. Tremendous credit to him as well. Certainly just massive, massive credit to another friend of mine, Andrew Colvitt, the longtime executive producer of the Charlie Kirk show, and as a Turning Point USA spokesman, and someone who was a mover and shaker for Turning Point USA, and generally just for Charlie's whole sphere of influence. And just credit for everyone else, everyone else both inside and outside Turning Point USA.00:02:52I mean, they were able to pull that off, to pull off that memorial service 11 days, 11 days after Charlie Kirk was assassinated earlier this month at Utah Valley University in Oregon, Utah. That is not a lot of time. That is not a lot of time at all to pull off something like that, to get the entire roster of speakers who spoke at that event,00:03:18from President Trump to Vice President Vance to many others from the administration to public luminaries to folks who were close to Donald, not just Donald Trump, but people who were close to Charlie Kirk. I was mesmerized, frankly, by what I saw. The music and everything there. And it was an incredible tribute to the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. It really was.00:03:46And the specific tenor and nature of the event was interesting. It was undoubtedly beautiful. It was even more religious than I necessarily thought it would be. That's definitely not necessarily a bad thing. We are massive proponents on this show of biblical religion, and we are huge proponents of biblically authentic Christianity and Judaism. So it's definitely not a bad thing. But I didn't necessarily anticipate that it would be that much front and center.00:04:15It almost felt like we were paying tribute and eulogizing, not someone who was primarily known as an extraordinary political activist, a grassroots mobilizer, and a political mover and shaker. It almost felt like we were eulogizing a theologian or a pastor or someone who was known primarily for his faith, which, to be clear, Charlie did say, as I think any religious person would say, that he wanted to be remembered first and foremost as a person of sincere faith,00:04:45which is a pretty common sentiment, right? I think anyone who is a person of faith, Jew or Christian alike, would say that. That certainly is something that I very much would say as well. But just really, really, really interesting. And the speeches oftentimes made direct reference to this, about how this was not just memorializing someone who formed one of the most formidable right-of-center organizations in all America,00:05:13and not just paying tribute to someone who did more than arguably anyone other than Donald Trump himself to get J.D. Vance and Donald Trump into power. It really was paying tribute to someone who was rapidly becoming, in recent years, the Jordan Peterson of the younger generation, of the younger millennials and Gen Z. If you know anything about Jordan Peterson, you know that he has this whole make-your-bed shtick. And by that, I mean that Jordan Peterson is very much known for saying to young people,00:05:43maybe to young men above all, make your bed in the morning, and that will get you off to a good start, and will set the tone of your day. And it's kind of this whole pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality. Well, Charlie was absolutely doing that for an entire younger generation of people, and this was very much part of, I think, his religious mission and evangelism as well. So, I mean, how many clips have we seen gone viral of Charlie Kirk over the past couple of years, two, three years, whatever, on campuses, talking to young men?00:06:12And really, his bread-and-butter audience was young men. It'll be interesting to see how his amazing wife, his widow, Erica, it'll be interesting to see how she's able to communicate to young men. And I would imagine that her most natural audience is young women. It'll be interesting to see that. But when Charlie was speaking to young men across the country, he would kind of pull a slightly different version, but nonetheless similar, just a slight twist, of this Jordan Peterson, make-your-bed approach,00:06:41where Charlie would say to young men, hey, here's a tangible way how you can improve your life. Go to the gym. Eat healthier. Work out. You see that girl that you have your eye on? Ask her to a date. Maybe if it goes well, ask her another date. Who knows? Maybe soon you'll actually ask her hand in marriage. Maybe you'll actually have some children of your own. Raise a family. Be a father. Be a husband. Be a father. Don't just be alone by yourself.00:07:09Drowning in your own woes and your own sorrows. Get a family. Get God in your life. Get scripture. Go to synagogue or church. I mean, these were the things, really, that if you look at the totality of Charlie Kirk's work over the past few years, he very much was starting to emphasize these issues, maybe first and foremost above anything else, perhaps even more so than some of the issues that I think probably most galvanized him and motivated him around the time that he started Turning Point USA,00:07:38which once upon a time was really known as an anti-big government organization. The old Turning Point USA slogans were, socialism sucks, big government sucks, and no doubt that Charlie still held those sentiments towards the end of his life. But, you know, and this is something that I can personally relate to. As he got older and as he married and as he had kids and as he really doubled down in the sincerity of his faith, there were other things that he noticed that he kind of gravitated towards in both a personal and public capacity00:08:05that he cared more about talking about and preaching about as the case may be. So it was just an extraordinary, extraordinary memorial there. And one of the things that I was thinking about as well is who else, I mean, who else in the United States would have that sort of tribute? Who else would have 100,000 people cramming into a 65,000 person capacity NFL stadium to hear all about their life? I really don't know the answer to be honest with you.00:08:34I mean, is there literally anyone other than the President of the United States who we might expect to have that kind of ceremony, memorial, of just extraordinary public demonstration and remembrance? I don't know. So, again, something that we've said on our show numerous times, Charlie was a personal friend of mine, and I look forward to doing whatever I can in my own small capacity00:09:04to help carry on his torch and his legacy. But I guess I don't think I even fully realize just how many people he touched over the course of his extraordinary career. I don't think I realize just how many lives he had. And lives he had impacted very much for the better. And wow, just wow, wow, wow. So right off the bat, just, again, tremendous credit to all the folks at Turnpon USA00:09:29and everyone for the matter who was involved in pulling off that incredible tribute to the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. Diving into some of the speeches here, certainly the speech on something that I was personally most looking forward to was Erica Kirk, the wife and widow of Charlie Kirk. And Erica is a devout Catholic. Charlie was an evangelical Protestant, but they had a mutual love of religion and faith.00:09:57They actually met on a Christian pilgrimage of sorts a trip many years ago in Israel, in the Holy Land, if memory serves. I think that's actually where they first met, which is an interesting anecdotal side note to this broader story, especially as a lot of bad faith actors continue to try to relitigate and posthumously convert Charlie to all these beliefs that he did not hold. It's actually kind of an interesting side note that they actually met for the first time, Charlie and his life partner, his partner in the one flesh bodily union,00:10:24that is biblical marriage, they actually met over in the Holy Land, over in Israel. Erica gave a very, very impressive speech, as she did just two days after Charlie's assassination from his studio in the Phoenix area. She had another very, very impressive speech on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Here are just a couple of highlights that I thought from Eric Kirk's speech at the Charlie Kirk Memorial.00:10:50After Charlie's assassination, we didn't see violence. We didn't see rioting. We didn't see revolution. Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country. We saw revival.00:11:20This past week, we saw people open a Bible for the first time in a decade. We saw people pray for the first time since they were children. We saw people go to a church service for the first time in their entire lives. I mean, this is inspiring stuff. To look into that 100,000 person packed NFL stadium and to talk about how your husband's tragic assassination at the tender age of 3100:11:48has actually inspired not violence and looting but revival to focus on the pauses of the people coming back to God and Scripture. Extraordinary. That is extraordinarily impressive stuff. And it speaks to the character. It speaks to the principle. It speaks to the core convictions, the faith of Erica Kirk, who is rapidly, rapidly emerging as a true leader in real time of this moment. In fact, as Kayleigh McEnany said on the Fox News coverage right after the entire event wrapped up,00:12:17Kayleigh McEnany, another woman of sincere Christian faith herself, Kayleigh McEnany said that Erica Kirk appears to be the Esther of this moment. Something that I can very much resonate with. Our daughter here is named Esther, our first child. And the character of Esther and the book of Esther, one of my favorite books from the Bible. I think what Kayleigh McEnany was getting at is this notion of Esther chapter 4, verse 14, that perhaps you were born for a moment just like this.00:12:46Really, really impressive stuff when it comes to Erica Kirk. Here's a little bit more from Erica's speech, memorializing her husband, Charlie, this past Sunday in Arizona. Charlie perfectly understood God's role for a Christian husband. A man who leads so that they can serve.00:13:07To all the men watching around the world, accept Charlie's challenge and embrace true manhood. Be strong and courageous for your families. Love your wives and lead them.00:13:36Love your children and protect them. Be the spiritual head of your home. But please be a leader worth following. Your wife, your wife is not your servant. Your wife is not your employee.00:14:04Your wife is not your slave. She is your helper. You are not rivals. You are one flesh working together for the glory of God. I mean, what more is there to say? I mean, to have the composure speak like this, let alone speak like this, at a memorial where there are that many people standing in the stadium there, it's just really, really, really impressive.00:14:32And, you know, I don't know Erica personally super well. I definitely don't know her like I knew Charlie. I don't know the exact details of that, what she believes about every single public policy issue. But certainly when it comes to her core principles, her core personal convictions, above all her faith in God Almighty, I mean, I've really, really, really been impressed by Erica Kirk. And I am really kind of convinced, frankly,00:15:01of that Kayleigh McEnany point that perhaps she really is the Esther, the woman who was called for this moment for this exact time. She said one thing, Erica Kirk, that was so fascinating that I have to play and I want to get into a discussion for you because it strikes me as a deeply Christian way of thinking. But as an observant Jew, I'm just not sure that I could really relate to what she said. It was maybe the most poignant and viral part of her entire speech. Go ahead and take a listen,00:15:31and then let's unpack it on the other side. That young man on the cross, our Savior said, Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do. That man, forgive him. So she's talking here about the assassin who per Josh Hammershow policy, we won't name his name,00:16:00and she's talking about forgiving the person who ended the life of her husband, doing so just 11 days afterwards. And wow. I mean, again, not to be a dead horse, but the conviction, the principle, I mean, I genuinely admire the person who was able to say those words at that time. As I said, it is a very, very, very authentic Christian sentiment.00:16:30I am not a Christian. I'm an observant Jew. Off today for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish holiday. But this is definitely my understanding of Christianity and Christian doctrine that you are, in a situation like this, if you are being true to the Christian faith, to forgive in a situation like this. It's definitely my understanding that you are to turn the other cheek, so to speak, and to be very forgiving for the same reasons as she said00:16:58that Jesus was on the cross. I do have to say that I find this personally unrelatable as much as I admire because I think that the Jewish approach is different here. To be clear, we believe on this show strongly, and we'll get into this just a little bit more when it comes to the irksome comments of Tucker Carlson, but we believe strongly in the geo-Christian, biblical, ecumenical fight to save Western civilization. We believe strongly in the overwhelming00:17:27ethical, legal, moral, and political foundational underpinning that is shared and is common to both Judaism and Christianity, both to that original people of the book as well as the great Gentile offshoot, to paraphrase the words of a pope from the past century. But there are some areas where the two traditions and the two religions do tend to disagree a little bit. I can't help but think that when it comes to this, that this would be something of an area of disagreement. From a Hebrew Bible perspective, from an Old Testament perspective,00:17:58we are not necessarily called, that is, we as Jews, according to Judaism, we are not necessarily just called to automatically forgive, to turn the other cheek, etc. There's actually a well-established process for repentance in Judaism, repentance, which is really big now at this point in the Jewish calendar when it comes to the days of awe, the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur above all. This is the foremost time when it comes to repentance, and repentance is indeed a very key concept in the Jewish religion.00:18:27It's called teshuva, is the Hebrew word for it. But we have a well-established process for doing teshuva. It's been written about for millennia. Maimonides, the Rambam, has wonderful writings explicating his exact formulation for how to properly do teshuva. There's another great book from around the same time period, a little after the Rambam, called Shari Teshuva. Judaism, that is to say, more generally speaking, has a very well-established process00:18:55when it comes to seeking repentance and teshuva. And indeed, if someone does that, and then they come to you and they seek your personal forgiveness, then you do have an obligation to forgive them if they have really done the work, if they have really gone through this process and they are earnest and sincere for the right reasons, et cetera, et cetera there. But absent that, we don't have an overarching reason to just automatically forgive someone, to just automatically say, I forgive you despite what you have done.00:19:25You actually have to do the work, at least when it comes to Judaism. You really have to do the work there and put in the effort in order to be deserving of forgiveness along these lines. And then on the contrary, actually, when there are egregious wrongs done, we're actually repeatedly told to remember, to never forget. There's really no probably greater example in the Hebrew Bible, in the five books of Moses specifically, than Amalek. Amalek was the nation00:19:54that cut down the weaklings, the elderly, those who were at the back of the Jews fleeing Egypt during the Exodus there. And we are told that Amalek acted in an extraordinarily cowardly fashion because Amalek, the nation, did not fear God. And it's reiterated all the way up until the final five to ten chapters, give or take, of the book of Deuteronomy at the very end of the five books of Moses. The Jewish people were told to never forget Amalek. And then when the Jews were in the land safely,00:20:23to stamp them off the face of the earth. There are actually many analogies drawn between Amalek in the Bible and Hamas in Gaza. Those are the exact confines and legitimacy of that particular analogy is beyond the confines of today's conversation. But the point is that the Jewish ethical approach, which is a more Hebrew Bible, Old Testament-like approach, is yes, if you do the work from Teshuva and you really, really repent, then yes, you ought to be indeed, you must be forgiven00:20:53if you've really done it. But if not, if not, then there is no overarching obligation to simply forgive for exogenous reasons there. So this is a genuine area of difference actually, but I think it's interesting between the Jewish and Christian ethical approaches there. That's not to issue any kind of judgment. I want to make this very clear. I am absolutely not in any way whatsoever judging Erica. On the contrary, I thought it was incredibly inspiring. I couldn't believe when she said it. I mean, my jaw dropped00:21:22like, wow, wow, wow. I mean, what courage, what an example there. I just don't personally find that relatable and it's not necessarily something that I would have said if, God forbid, I had been in a situation like that. I can't help but say that someone who actually humorously kind of took the more Jewish approach and the Christian approach perhaps to this question was actually none other than President Trump himself. Go ahead and take a listen. He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That's where I disagreed with Charlie.00:21:53I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them. I'm sorry. I am sorry, Erica. But now Erica can talk to me and the whole group and maybe they can convince me that that's not right but I can't stand my opponent. Charlie's angry. Look at that. He's angry at me now. He wasn't interested in demonizing anyone. He was interested in persuading everyone to the ideas and principles he believed were good, right,00:22:23and true. All right. So pretty funny stuff from Donald Trump and whether he realizes it or not, he's actually taking more of an Old Testament Hebrew Bible Jewish approach to this particular question than the profoundly Christian approach of Erica and Charlie. And again, just one final time. I think I've said this already but just to really underscore this, I am absolutely not judging. On the contrary, I was just mesmerized by Erica Kirk's ability to say this in that moment. Again, I just don't personally find the relatable and it's certainly not, God forbid,00:22:53what I personally would have said in that moment.
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