Join us for a journey through the latest headlines and engaging interviews that shape our world. We start with the alarming yet amusing tales from Florida, where a topknot-touting man and a Jeep aficionado add an unexpected twist to our understanding of social behavior – one throws kids over fences, the other turns a childhood friendship into a crime scene. Switching gears, we delve into a heated discussion about the current state of late-night television, specifically the cancellation narrative around Jimmy Kimmel. His ratings have suffered, but are politics truly to blame? We’ll unravel the many layers of media
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
Dana Lash’s Absurd Truth Podcast. Sponsored by Kel-Tec.
SPEAKER 12 :
It’s his life mission to make bad decisions. It’s time for Florida Man.
SPEAKER 07 :
Worst dad ever, guys. A Florida man… Of course he’s got a ponytail. No, like a top knot. Not a ponytail. A man can wear a ponytail, but a top knot, no. He’s accused of… Hurling his kids over the fence after he wrecked his car. Oh, wow. Dad of the year here. So according to this is in Lee County, Florida, a man was arrested on child neglect charges after being accused of crashing his car with his three kids inside. And then he tried to hide them by literally, literally physically throwing them over a fence. He literally threw them over a six foot tall fence to hide. And then he tried jumping the fence himself. And a neighbor reported that the kids were crying again. Topknot. Does it surprise you? Mr. Topknot would do this. No. Not at all. So he was arrested on three charges of child neglect and cruelty. They have not disclosed his relationship to the kids. So, I mean, are they his? What are you doing? Like, are they his kids? Like, what’s happening? I don’t know. So that’s those poor children. They were given to taken into custody of family. So thank heavens. We talked about the sea turtle guy, but I do want to talk about this Jeep driver. Okay, so the Jeep drivers, they have a whole culture. I had a Jeep, so I know this. And I didn’t realize until, because people bizarrely wave at you. And you’re like, why are you waving? I just immediately am suspicious when people are kind. Isn’t that horrible? And I’m like, why are you waving? And then they leave ducks on your Jeeps. What do they call it, Cain? You get Like they give you the duck on the Jeep. They duck you or something. Yeah. People buy these bags of these things. Anyway. So the reason I say all this is because they seem like nice, friendly people, right? Like they got their Jeep wave. That’s a whole culture. Well, one Jeep driver chased down and shot his childhood friend after he saw him on a motorcycle, and then he texted him, when’s a good time to come over? Oh, this dude has crazy eyes. Oh, completely. Look. Look at his eyes. Those are crazy eyes. Just like a chick can, so can dudes. Florida man, he saw his childhood friend test driving a motorcycle and decided to chase after him, fired a gun at the guy, tried to run him off the road with his Jeep. Oh, he had a Jeep Cherokee, so it’s technically not like the Wrangler sort. He then texted the victim after and said, when’s a good time to come over? 23-year-old Isaiah McDonald charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and drug possession after they found heroin and all kinds of stuff inside his Jeep following the incident. It wound up being the victim’s mother who tracked him down after the event happened. she decided to go look for the vehicle at where she knows he lives. Uh, and then she, uh, called the cops. So Lake County Sheriff said they responded to the call. Uh, and they noticed, he noticed that the guy was, his friend was staying on his tail and being very aggressive. What kind of psycho does that? What in the world? So yeah, this guy’s going to J he looks crazy though. I mean, when you see his crazy eyes, you’re like, Oh, it’s always in the eyes. Yeah. It completely is always in the eyes. Uh, Absolutely. I have to, can I touch on, by the way, the Florida, very Florida discussion we had with Lieutenant Governor Jake Collins yesterday, because we put a clip out where we asked, does every person in Florida have a machete? You guys, I literally like laughed. I actually did laugh. It wasn’t, I didn’t lie about LOLing. Oh my gosh. Your comments were hysterical. Someone’s like a three machetes. And then I think I have a couple more that I lost somewhere on my property. That’s what Jeff says. He goes, when you drive into Florida as a newcomer, they give you a machete at the agricultural products inspection inspection station on I-75 and I-95. Someone said, I have two machetes by the bed. I use them to hide the guns between them. That’s hysterical. Someone said, have you seen the palmetto bugs? Everybody was like, I’ve got one or two machetes. I’m a woman. I have a machete. Oh, my gosh. It’s hysterical. And they I mean, literally everybody, everybody, everybody. Someone said, I got a smaller one when I moved to the villages. There you go. It’s a villager. I’m saying. Someone said, yes, I have one and I need to get a new one. I mean, they are everywhere. And then they talk about what they use them for. Well, we use them to cut weeds. We use them to hack down weeds. What do you chop a dead banana tree with? How do you kill a water moccasin? I don’t get close enough to a water moccasin to hack it to death with a machete, though. That is… That’s a new level of Florida badass right there. You people are just like America’s Australians. God love you. But yeah, I was cracking up at the comments on this. Whether it was on Insta or Facebook or X. And then some of you were emailing where you get your machetes from in Florida. Apparently there’s like some place. I just thought, oh, you know, get a machete. No, no, no. Some are better than others and some stores are better than others. They’re very particular, Kane, about the machetes. I did not realize that was such a thing. Hundreds of comments on this. And everyone’s like, oh, yeah, we have them. We have more on the way as we roll towards headlines and our partners who help bring you the program. It is our friends over at Kel-Tec, the PR57. Rotary barrel pistol chambered in 5.7. It’s the lightest 5.7 that’s on the market, and they achieve this in a couple of different ways. The rotary barrel, number one, but also the unique top-loading design that replaces traditional magazines with stripper clips. So that… Gives you a slimmer carry profile and a 20 plus 1 capacity. Really low recoil for ease of use and accuracy. 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SPEAKER 04 :
I’ve got Dan Morgan here on the pod. Say hi, Dan. Hey, how’s it going today?
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s going good, man. Tell us who you are and what you do. I’m Dan Morgan. I’m an attorney and a managing partner at Morgan & Morgan, which is America’s largest injury law firm.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s pretty awesome. I think I saw a billboard of yours recently that said $20 billion won. $20 billion is an insane number.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, 20 billion recovered. It’s actually, I think, somewhere north, probably closer to 22, 23 after this year. And each year we get bigger and badder and our army grows. So the number will hopefully keep getting bigger and bigger as time goes on.
SPEAKER 04 :
Awesome. So how does someone get in contact with Morgan & Morgan? What would I do if I got into an accident?
SPEAKER 03 :
Probably the easiest way is dialing Pound Law. That’s Pound 529 from your cell phone. We are always open. Our call center is always waiting to take your call. 24-7-365. Wow.
SPEAKER 04 :
Dan Morgan from Morgan & Morgan, America’s large injury law firm. Thanks for coming by the show.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks for having me. Visit ForThePeople.com for an office near you.
SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
I didn’t see anything from the FCC. I didn’t see anything like that. I didn’t see Brendan Carr trying to put pressure on Joe Biden or Trump. Or Trump trying to put pressure on ABC. He would say, oh, I hear Jimmy Kimmel’s next or something like that. But let’s be honest about it. Do you guys know what Jimmy Kimmel’s ratings were? Okay, so his ratings were actually worse than Colbert’s. Yeah. Deadline Hollywood had talked about his tough ratings like some weeks ago. There are several that… And he’s apparently livid over all of this. But at the same time, he had a major drop in viewers. And I’m looking at a couple of different… These are like actual industry reports on this that come from ratings and viewership, etc. So according to Nielsen… Colbert was beating Kimmel. That’s… Wow. He was… I mean… Actually, Colbert was beating… Yeah, Colbert was beating Kimmel. That’s insane because Colbert’s ratings were really bad. They were really bad. And this was even… Let’s see. Even before Colbert left, he was actually dominating Kimmel. Okay, so this also seems kind of like it’s sort of like how Colbert was very upset and how people, you know, Colbert was let go because he ultimately was not bringing in the eyeballs to sustain their ad rates. I mean, I got to tell you, it kind of seems like Jimmy Kimmel’s the same here. Am I wrong, Kane? No, Dana, you’re not wrong. You’re totally right, Dana. You’re totally correct. It just seems like That’s kind of exactly what happened. That’s what Colbert did. Colbert wasn’t getting the eyeballs in. I’m looking at this. There’s a couple of things. Jimmy Kimmel, his show slipped. So Colbert actually almost had a million more viewers. This tracks into the most recent key 18 to 49 demographic with Nielsen data in quarter two. This is why Colbert was still on air. I mean, he was dominating. He was beating Kimmel. And he and Fallon would kind of go back and forth. So Jimmy Kimmel’s ratings were lower than that of Stephen Colbert, who already had bad ratings. I think that Disney and ABC were looking to offload him. And that they’re just using this as an excuse, honestly. I mean, because that is, you know, that is bad. His ratings. What I’m going to do is I’m going to put this piece here. in your prep email for you subscribers so that you can, I mean, it gets into the numbers of it. You’re probably gonna find it boring, but it’s still rather enlightening considering, you know, I mean, it’s very enlightening. So that he can get as mad as he wants to, but it doesn’t seem like the problem is Trump and the FCC or this administration. All Trump did was say great news for America. The ratings challenge to Jimmy Kimmel show is canceled. Congrats for ABC, blah, blah, blah. Kimmel has zero talent, et cetera, et cetera. That doesn’t mean that he got involved and put pressure on it. That just means he’s gloating about it after he’s gloating about the business decision after. Look, if there was evidence that you had this administration in any way, even remotely getting near to what the Biden administration did, that’s one thing. But we there’s that there is no evidence to that. And frankly, I don’t want to hear people like Van Jones and all of these other folks say this is a red line that’s been crossed for our industry. Did you guys say that with Gino Carano? Did you guys say that with Roseanne? Did you guys say that with Matthew Marsden? I mean, do you want to run down the list of all of the celebrities that have been blacklisted because of their their political beliefs? I mean, just look at what they did to Sidney Sweeney over a denim ad. Do you honestly believe that these people give a rat’s backside about it? You know, the line’s been crossed. The line was already crossed by you. You crossed it. Eric Swalwell. Oh, wait, here’s we played Chuck Schumer throwing a fit, didn’t we? We played that already. Correct. Is that what we played? No. Audio somebody 14. This is him having a tantrum. Go ahead. And he’s so livid over this. Schumer, your reaction to this.
SPEAKER 05 :
It is outrageous. It’s a page right out of Xi’s playbook. This is just despicable, disgusting.
SPEAKER 07 :
I’m so sorry, Juan. Juan’s going to hate me right now. I’m really sorry. Okay, so he’s invoking Xi Jinping. You mean the Xi Jinping that you guys literally rolled out the red carpet for in California and you threw all the homeless people out into the woods? And you went and cleaned up the streets just for the brief moment that Xi Jinping was in town. And then you literally flew the communist sickle of the CCP flag right next to the Stars and Stripes when he came because you were so busy kissing his big old CCP butt. Really? That? Okay, go ahead. Sorry. Senator Schumer, your reaction to this?
SPEAKER 05 :
It is outrageous. It’s a page right out of Xi’s playbook. This is just despicable, disgusting, and against democratic values. Trump and his allies seem to want to shut down speech that they don’t like to hear. That is not what democracies do. That is what autocracies do. And it doesn’t matter whether you agree with Kimmel or not. He has the right to free speech. And so it is just outrageous. It is indicative of autocracy. And I am just outraged by it. Again, this is what dictators do. This is what she would do. This is what Putin would do. We are not that country.
SPEAKER 07 :
So, like, what did he do? Does he think that ABC and Nexstar and Sinclair are government agencies? Does he think that that’s part of the Trump administration? You guys know ABC is so conservative, right? Oh, my gosh. So conservative. Come on, people. Come on. This is so ridiculous. It’s not, like I said, that’s why I don’t view it as a free speech issue. I don’t view it as that because it’s not. Now, again, show me where the FCC put pressure. But this is the line that the media, this is all they want to push. Audio Sunbite 15, Tater, I mean, Brian Stelter. He says this as well. He pushes this narrative. They are not learning. They’re not learning. Listen to this.
SPEAKER 02 :
Even though we’re talking about comedy, this is so serious, Erin. America is a less free place if late night comedians cannot do and say what they want. Of course, they can be tuned out. People can change the channel. That’s how we vote. That’s how we have our say in America. But this really does have a chilling effect across the American media. And it’s not just me saying it. We’ve heard from the group FIRE in the past few minutes, the free speech group FIRE, saying, quote, the government pressured ABC and ABC caved. Quote, we cannot be a country where late night talk show hosts serve at the pleasure of the president. But until institutions grow a backbone and learn to resist government pressure, that is the country we are. And just one more note, Erin. But wait a minute. Wait.
SPEAKER 07 :
So he’s like insisting that there was government pressure. But where was the government pressure? I’m curious as to whether or not they all had the same sentiment. This is flashback audio, which cut is this because there’s a million. This is when Kimmel was was laughing about Tucker Carlson being fired. This was pretty crazy. Guys, remember this audio soundbite eight. Listen, this is from twenty twenty three.
SPEAKER 10 :
Fox News has severed bow ties with Tucker Carlson. After all these years, they are parting ways, which means he was fired. I mean, that’s really what parting ways means. Tucker couldn’t be reached for comment. He’s already on a plane to Moscow to meet with his manager. But what a shock. I mean, what an absolutely delightful shock this is. Now Tucker can spend more time at home tanning his testicles and touching himself to that sexy green M&M. Sadly, he’s probably not done poisoning old people’s brains. The question now is, where will he do it next? Will he go to OAN? Will he go to Newsmax? Will he crawl back up Satan’s fiery b-hole from once he came? We don’t know. One of the most despicable mother tuckers ever to appear on American television.
SPEAKER 07 :
I’m curious, did they find, where was everybody at that moment when they were taught, where were the Van Jenses and the Brian Stelters when they were saying that, oh my gosh, a line has been crossed. Where was that? I mean, I’m just curious. Yeah, that’s right. I didn’t hear anything from any of them then. By the way, more Kimmel Audio Soundbite 9. Speaking of cancel culture, this is about the most cancel-y of cancel culture I can imagine. Listen.
SPEAKER 10 :
hospitals get any more overcrowded, they’re going to have to make some very tough choices about who gets an ICU. But that choice doesn’t seem so tough to me. Vaccinated person having a heart attack. Yes. Come right on in. We’ll take care of you. Unvaccinated guy who gobbled horse goo. Rest in peace, Weezy.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, line has been crossed. Blah, blah, blah. These people, they don’t really believe this. The only reason they’re saying these things is because they think you because they know you believe this. And they’re hoping that you’re stupid enough to think that these are the same things. But they’re not, though. They’re not the same thing. The guy sucked in his time slot. He was not performing well for his employer. I think that because his ratings were worse than that of Colbert’s, I think that Disney and ABC were trying to offload him. I think they were looking for a way out. There was a lot of rumors about it for the last couple of years. This even predates Trump’s second election, right? He’s been struggling for a long time. Keep in mind that Jimmy Kimmel was never the funny one. When he got started in comedy, he was always the second banana. He was like the Ed McMahon to Johnny Carson, except Ed McMahon was funny and had some talent. Jimmy Kimmel’s just an oaf who put women on trampolines and yucked it up over everything Adam Carolla said. If Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t on The Man Show, you had no idea. And nobody watches clearly, as evidenced by the ratings, nobody watches his show now. But the only reason that all of these people on the left are saying these things is because they know you value free speech. They themselves don’t. And they think that they get a pass. Because remember, when you can call everything a Nazi, when you can call everything fascist, then you can justify using whatever power you have as a way to disadvantage your opponent. See, this is all linked into their rhetoric. And now you have the media amping up the rhetoric again. They’re acting like the First Amendment is under attack. They are acting like this is an assault on free speech. Oh, my gosh. It’s a constitutional crisis, except for the fact that it was literally three businesses. that chose to make the decision independent of the government. And unlike, once again, the Biden administration and the tech companies and the IRS and the Tea Party and the COVID purposeful disinformation campaign that they were trying to launch and say that people asking questions were traitors, despite all of the evidence and emails and paperwork that prove that, there is nothing that in any way, even remotely, proves their argument that this was from the Trump administration. If it was, I’d be one of the first people to call it out. But it’s not. Well, they are Marxists, though. Hold up. They don’t believe that businesses should be able to be free and make their own decisions. So, of course, they are against these businesses having the right to be able to determine whom they employ and whom they don’t employ. Are you tired of doctors telling you no, can’t get affordable, off-patent medications? You’re not alone. All Family Pharmacy connects you with licensed U.S. doctors who approve prescriptions online, fast, legally, and without insurance gatekeeping. Get hard-to-access medications like ivermectin, starting at just $2 per capsule, now up to 25% off. Plus, Mabendazole, hydroxychloroquine, antibiotics, NAD+, the anti-aging injectable taking the country by storm. Order online in minutes and have it shipped straight to your door. Take back your health at allfamilypharmacy.com slash Dana. Use code DANA10. That’s allfamilypharmacy.com slash Dana, code Dana10.
SPEAKER 04 :
I’ve got Dan Morgan here on the pod. Say hi, Dan. Hey, how’s it going today?
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s going good, man. Tell us who you are and what you do. I’m Dan Morgan. I’m an attorney and a managing partner at Morgan & Morgan, which is America’s largest injury law firm.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s pretty awesome. I think I saw a billboard of yours recently that said $20 billion won. $20 billion is an insane number.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, 20 billion recovered. It’s actually, I think, somewhere north, probably closer to 22, 23 after this year. And each year we get bigger and badder and our army grows. So the number will hopefully keep getting bigger and bigger as time goes on. Awesome.
SPEAKER 04 :
So how does someone get in contact with Morgan & Morgan? What would I do if I got into an accident?
SPEAKER 03 :
Probably the easiest way is dialing Pound Law. That’s Pound 529 from your cell phone. We are always open. Our call center is always waiting to take your call. 24-7-365. Wow.
SPEAKER 04 :
Dan Morgan from Morgan & Morgan, America’s largest injury law firm. Thanks for coming by the show.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks for having me. Visit ForThePeople.com for an office near you.
SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
And now, all of the news you would probably miss. It’s time for Dana’s Quick Five.
SPEAKER 07 :
I love these stories from this website called Study Finds because they always say fact-checked, verified. What’s fact-checked and verified? They go, fatty foods can scramble your memory just days later, but what they don’t tell you is that there’s a difference between good fats and bad fats. There’s unhealthy fats and there’s healthy fats, and the article does not actually differentiate between this, and so it’s not fact-checked and not verified. I’m just tired of these stupid clickbait websites. Did you guys hear about this? I think there’s more drama in this than there was necessary. So a plane, it did not nearly crash. This Daily Star headline is absolute BS. Stupid press hyperbole. Because they said that, oh gosh, Air Force One almost literally crashed into another plane, a Spirit Airlines plane. That’s not what happened. The air traffic control and this is before when when POTUS before POTUS left for the UK air traffic control noticed that there was another plane eight miles away that if it remained on current course would cross the trajectory of Air Force One. So while that plane was still eight, literally eight miles away, Air traffic control had them alter their course. There was no almost crash. I think like Daily Star, you are literally the turd in the punch bowl of like general, like intelligent discourse. Why would you, why would you inflame like that? It actually was over eight miles away. And other people who work in air traffic control and who are pilots are like, that happens actually quite frequently. That’s not anything to be overdramatic about. Probably isn’t the first time that this has happened with Air Force One because there have been instances where they can change trajectory because of weather, etc., And air traffic control has to then, for any plane that might run across that flight path, they have to alter. So it’s not… I don’t understand. The drama is ridiculous. But anything for a click, right? Gosh, I hate this society. We’re smod, please. Cracker Barrel CEO insists the restaurant chain is back on track after their $700 million rebrand failure. I’m sorry. Wait. $700 million? I know. So I said $700 million. So… They paid $700 million to take the old fogey off the logo and then make everything millennial gray. Did Meghan Markle advise them? Because that’s the only kind of like seppuku of a brand that I could see like that would give advice just like that. Speaking of seppuku, Japan sets a record of nearly 100,000 people aged over 100. Their population is aging to where there are more older people than younger people. They also have the world’s longest life expectancy. And it’s the fastest aging society. Residents have a low birth rate, but they have a healthier diet. And a lot of some of the oldest people in the world are Japanese. It’s very interesting. But they said that. They have changed more than any other G7 country remarkably since the 60s in terms of the age of their population, their birth rate, etc. And they said that they have, I mean, heart disease, cancers, I mean, different types of cancers. They have such a higher life expectancy because they have fewer deaths from those. So it’s very interesting. But aging population as well. Washington state has the highest gas prices in the country, surpassing even that of California. Washington State is first in something. They’re holding the highest gas price in the country, $4.66. Jeez.
SPEAKER 1 :
$4.66.
SPEAKER 07 :
They’ve overtaken California, who’s always number one. But I mean, barely. So California’s $4.64, they’re $4.66. So it’s like two cents. I thought that Tori Amos’ Corn Flake Girl was the perfect bumper track for coming into this segment. Welcome back. It’s your Gen X little dissatisfied Daria. Dana Lash, you can listen coast to coast terrestrially. You can also stream us, Channel 3. Watch us do radio, Channel 347, DirecTV. We’re at X, we’re at Rumble, all this good stuff. My next guest is someone who I… I can’t remember. I was actually asking my husband, I’m like, when was the first time I sent you one of her videos? We were actually going back like… way back in our texts. Like she was brand new. Um, and she started with TP USA and she did a podcast about really like culture and humor and it tied politics into it. But it wasn’t overly politically driven, but she was hysterical. I thought she had like the comedic timing of Joan Rivers. And you guys know that Joan Rivers is a goddess and she was my favorite female comedian to ever grace this rock. Yeah. God rest her soul. So I thought she’s hysterical. Her timing is like very Joan Rivers-esque. I’m like, I’ve never seen that in anybody who’s, you know, if she’s a comedian, a commentator, I haven’t seen that in any other female. That’s like really something. And her stuff was just hysterical. And then she’s since grown. She speaks all over the country. She does all of this amazing stuff. She got started with Charlie Kirk and TPUSA, and now she has Culture Apothecary as well. You can follow her on X on Facebook, Instagram. She’s the host of Culture Apothecary. Alex Clark, also at TPUSA. Alex, God love you. You always look amazing. And I just want to say, we have been praying for you and… with everybody at TPUSA, Erica, their kids, Charlie’s family. This is like your generation’s JFK moment, I think. It’s kind of like how Andrew Breitbart was ours, but this is so much more severe, so much different. And we’ve just been lifting you up because it’s not easy being young and being in the public and having to navigate this stuff all at the same time. And you’ve been doing it gracefully. So God bless you. I just wanted to tell you that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thank you, Dana. It means so much. And I just absolutely love you and Chris and Kane. And, you know, I’m the longest fan of yours. When I first got hired at Turning Point USA, Charlie and Tyler Boyer, our COO at the time, asked me, they said, Alex, who are the women that you look up to in the movement? And you were the first name that I said. So it’s just surreal to be on your show right now talking about what we’re talking about. Exactly.
SPEAKER 07 :
And I saw the notice just earlier today, actually right when we got started, that the board over at TPUSA, they voted Erica Kirk as the new CEO and chair of the board. And they said that that’s what Charlie had intended. I have only met her briefly a couple of times. I met her the longest actually just this last time in Dallas when I saw you. And her and Charlie came out at the Young Women’s Leadership Summit and they spoke. And she was just so sweet and so friendly. But what I really liked about her – in addition to her joyfulness, was she was very assured of herself and confident in what she believed in and her faith. And that when you’re married to somebody like Charlie, to be able to go out and share that presence is a tough thing. So when I saw that this announcement came, it didn’t surprise me at all. You know her, though. You kind of grew up with them. What do you think about all of it?
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, well, there is just there couldn’t be a better choice than Erica. And, you know, she didn’t want this. She didn’t plan for this. This was never her goal to be CEO of Turning Point USA. Right. That was always supposed to be Charlie. She loves being a stay at home mom. She loves her two children. You know, they even kept their pregnancies a secret so that she could just really, really soak up that time. And I really feel like looking back, that was totally intentional that they did everything that way. God knew that that was going to be the right thing for them to just enjoy each other in those moments with the small amount of time that she was going to have with Charlie. And now she’s ready to step in the role because it makes sense that the only person that could possibly take over and run this place in the best honor to charlie kirk would be his wife who knew him better than anybody else you know knew his intentions knew his ultimate goals his secrets and so i i can’t wait to see what she does i i know that being a mother matters more to her than anything else though so i don’t anticipate that she’s going to be in the office every single day you know um one-on-one with employees i think it’s probably going to be like more like bigger picture meetings and things like that and then we have you know, tons of directors, other C-level employees and managers that will probably do the more day-to-day stuff.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, that makes total sense. And because they were very family first, you get to see their whole courtship and everything from the beginning. And I was watching a video, well, I heard them talking about it at the event as well. I love the dynamic that they have. And I feel like younger generations are starting to go back and recognize the importance of having that helpmate and the importance of strong families and the stuff that you talk about as well in your show, Culture Apothecary. And, you know, that you and TPUSA and everybody, I think, get a lot of credit for fomenting that. And there there weren’t a lot of examples, you know, as your generation was growing up because you guys were so young, you’re just, you know, graduating college or getting out of high school. And this was kind of like the first it was like the first big couple for that generation. So everybody knew who they were. Everybody in this movement knew who they were. Talk about the impact that you’ve seen that have because you see all of these young women and all of these young men all across the country. You travel more than I do. Tell me what you’ve seen.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, well, first I want to say something interesting, which is that Turning Point USA actually has more female directors in our departments than male. So you have a lot of high-level women working at Turning Point USA, a conservative company. And when Charlie met Erica, I mean, obviously… Believing in family and supporting the idea of a nuclear family was always top of mind for Charlie. But until he had his own, I don’t think that he really even grasped that totally. And once he married Erica and having his own children, I just think that his heart even softened more towards the women in this company. And right before he died, Dana, like a couple days before his death, it was announced that he was giving the women at Turning Point USA six months paid maternity leave. I don’t even know a progressive company that gives that to their female employees. And Charlie Kirk was going to be doing that for us.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow. And without the government forcing him to do it because he just wanted to. I mean, that’s what it’s all about. Are you because I know you do a lot of events and you speak a lot. Are you worried now about safety? Are you worried about your well-being when you when you go to do your next event?
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, yeah. Next time I’m coming to Texas and I’ve got some time to spare, I’m linking up with you and I need you to teach me my whole way around a firearm. Because, yeah, it was that was one of the first immediate thoughts of mine. And now my new normal is that every single time I speak, I have to have two armed security with me driving me to and from and everywhere I go. And I said, yeah. Is this temporary or is this the new normal? And I was told it is the new normal. And that is because, as Don Jr. so perfectly said, the bullets are only going one way. It’s one way. And I don’t know leftist organizations that are having to go through all of these hoops or dealing with this like conservative organizations are. And it’s just absolutely terrifying and it’s sad, but it just motivates us that that shows how much work really has to be done here.
SPEAKER 07 :
That is and that that makes me so angry for you because that should not have to be new normal. It should not have to be the new normal for anyone. I was talking to a friend. I mean, we actually just turned something down because it was outside. And I was talking to another friend, a young woman also who works in the industry. And she was saying that she’s she’s like, well, what what can I do when I go when I have to travel the states that I’m You know, like Illinois, that are gun control states. And the fact that now everyone has to rewire their brains and think about that, it enrages me because I don’t want it to be a chilling effect. Do you from the people that you talk to, do you think that they feel as though their speech will have to be chilled now as a result? What do you mean by chilled?
SPEAKER 08 :
Like they’re like, we just won’t be able to speak.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. Like do you are like your fans and the people who watch everything that you do? Do you get the sense that they’re kind of reacting to this and thinking, wow, I’m not going to be able to speak as loudly as before. Maybe I don’t speak up on this issue or, you know, maybe maybe I wanted to go and be like the next Alex Clark. And now I’m rethinking it. Are you getting that from the folks that you’re interacting with?
SPEAKER 08 :
Hell no, no, the complete opposite. Like Charlie Kirk, every single time, and boy, did I get myself in so much trouble. I mean, not trouble by him, but like controversial things that I would say, you know, my audience would react or the internet would react. And it would be like, you know, he would get so many angry emails like, Charlie Kirk, you need to do something about your employee. She said this, this, or this. And he was always the first person to message me and be like, great work, keep going, keep them talking. He was like, whatever you believe. He didn’t say necessarily I agree or disagree, but he’d just be like, whatever you think, whatever you believe, say it. I know that there’s all this drama about this Hamptons trip that he was on right before he died. If you’re on X and you live online like Dana and I do, then you’re familiar with this stuff. And when he was on this Hamptons trip discussing Israel and all of this, I had done a Q&A on my Instagram stories and somebody asked me, like, Alex, how are you feeling about the Middle East? What’s your opinions on all the Israel stuff? And I said, because my personal opinion is I said, I’m so sick of talking about Israel. I said, I do not care. I do not want the I don’t want the United States of America involved in any country, period. So I just am done with all that. I don’t want us involved anywhere. That was what I said. And Charlie sent a message to me and he said, He said, keep up the good work. Whatever you believe, I support you. Keep speaking your mind. I mean, and this is in the midst of, you know, he’s allegedly like being threatened to be quiet and all this like. So that just wasn’t the case. And he was he was the great guy. coalition builder. I mean, Charlie Kirk, if you look at any single lineup that he’s had at any of our events from Young Women’s to our Student Action Summit to America Fest, every, you know, gold star event that Turning Point USA has put on for the last six years, you had different types of people within the Republican Party with in the conservative movement with all sorts of different ideologies, you know, within that realm, like you and all different types of religion. So, yes, you had Jews, you had Protestants, you had Catholics, you had atheists, agnostics. I mean, everybody was represented at our events. And Charlie never spoke poorly about any speaker. It was always about elevating different voices, giving students that were involved in Turning Point USA and attendees to our events, you know, exposure to different ideas so that they could think for themselves. That was always what it was about. It was always to continue people, you know, encourage critical thinking.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s that’s I mean, I can’t when I first heard the story that you were talking about the Hamptons thing, I thought, well, that I feel like people were sort of underhandedly accused him of being duplicitous, which he never was. He was always exact. From what I’ve known of Charlie, we knew him since. I mean, obviously not every day like you did. But when he first started as a teen. Everything that he was privately, he was publicly. And that’s why that story kind of took me off guard because that sounded very uncharacteristic of the Charlie Kirk that I knew. I mean, if he felt it, then he would tell it. He’d say it. He wasn’t a guy that would get intimidated.
SPEAKER 08 :
And he was open to hearing new information and definitely changing his mind on different things. I mean, I think you saw that throughout the years on different stances with like immigration, for example, like there’s just like some things like that that I think he did kind of shift or evolve on. He wasn’t against that. But if he did, he would tell you, I mean. He every single speech he ever did, every single podcast he ever did, every radio show like he shared his views up until, you know, the day that he died. He was talking about what he thought about religion and the Middle East and foreign relations. It was never like a big secret where he was like, I’m going to say one thing on air because I’m I’m terrified. And then behind the scenes, I’m saying something else. Now, if he would have had longer to live, Dana, if Charlie Kirk would have been on this earth another 10 years, another 20 years, another 30, 40 years. he very well could have changed his mind on things like israel or protestantism i don’t know we’ll never know but that was taken from him and so all we have is what he did share while he was on this earth and until the day he died i mean i believe he was clear about all of his views yeah
SPEAKER 07 :
I completely agree with you. And just like you are crystal clear with all of yours. Alex Clark, you can find her. I love your name, by the way, your name on X. It’s Alex Raps with a Z. You can find her on X, Facebook and Instagram. Real Alex Clark Culture Apothecary as well as TPUSA. And everybody, don’t forget FightForCharlie.com as well. That’s where people can go and you can get the live stream to the memorial and everything this Sunday. Alex, God love you. You are just such a bright light in this dark world right now. And I appreciate your consistency and your talent and your fight. And you are one of the young women, I think, to watch out for. God love you. I’m so happy that you’re so successful in what you do. Appreciate you.
SPEAKER 08 :
I love you so much, Dana. I love you very much and your whole family. Thank you. You’re welcome. We love you, too.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thanks for tuning in to today’s edition of Dana Lash’s Absurd Truth Podcast. If you haven’t already, make sure to hit that subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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