Join us as we delve into Mike’s unforgettable day in Arizona, where extraordinary scenes unfolded at State Farm Stadium. From the early hours to the bustling challenges of security and the emotional crescendo during a service marked by deep faith, explore how a day of remembrance turned into a valid spiritual revival. Carrie’s unexpected involvement provided a unique insight into how sometimes, doing things with confidence can be the key to overcoming obstacles.
Mike is here. I’m so glad to see you. I was so glad to see you. My day was so special, and one of the first special things I got to do was take a look at my Twitter feed, my X feed, and see my friend and my colleagues repping my company and these people we work for in what looked very much like a pilgrimage to that stadium. I was so proud of the company we worked for, of which Charlie was a part, and so proud of you, and I just offer you the floor and just tell us about your day and how it began and where it all went because it had to be incredible.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, Mark, you and I were texting back and forth because, as everyone knows, you’re one of my closest friends. And to grieve with friends is important to me. And so I was trying to connect you. And I feel a little bit tacky because our infrastructure is such that we would post things on X. Well, then I would kind of forward the X stuff to you so you could kind of see the end result.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s great.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s great. But I am kind of proud of our presence on X. This has kind of become our go-to place. And so for any events like this, feel free to follow us. Of course, the Eminem Experience is streamed every day on X Live. So right now you can go there, at Gallagher Show, and follow me. Because what we do is, and I’m very proud of the fact that all through… this incredible, extraordinary, historic day yesterday. I was posting pictures and video clips of what I was seeing, what we were experiencing inside State Farm Stadium. Let me share that with 200-plus thousand people showing up at 4 in the morning, as you call it, a pilgrimage, we almost didn’t get in. Now, I want to tell you that I’ve got to give Turning Point USA all the credit in the world to pull this off in a week, in one week’s time, just the security precautions alone with the U.S. Secret Service having to protect the President, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House. all these sitting members of the administration. I mean, they were all there, Bobby Kennedy Jr., Marco Rubio. And so you had security on top of security on top of security. Let me share with you, let me pull the curtain back and tell you how I got in. I saw we couldn’t get in. I mean, we got out of the bus. We were two miles away. Traffic isn’t moving.
SPEAKER 01 :
This is four hours before the event. I was going to say, I know you were early. I mean, I know you were just completely early to avoid just this problem.
SPEAKER 02 :
I mean, four hours. And one of the bosses said, do we really have to leave at 6 a.m.? I said, yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
Because things started at 11 local time, right?
SPEAKER 02 :
11 local time. And so we left at 6. Wasn’t enough time. In fact, I read one post on Twitter where somebody wrote how they spent just hours and hours all through the night. They wound up in the nosebleed seats and they said they would have never… changed that experience for the world or traded it out. So it was worth it. But look, trying to get in, you got 200,000 people, 60-something thousand in the arena, in the stadium, and then the overflow hockey arena next door. It was unbelievable. And it was, you know, organized madness, organized chaos. Well, I see Carrie Lake at the entrance where we can’t get in. Secret Service is, sorry, nobody’s getting through.
SPEAKER 01 :
She’s got some pull in Arizona, I bet.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, the only pull she got was, hey, Mike, hey, Carrie, how have you been? Great. She had an escort. So I said, I’m with her. Now, Mark, here’s what you do. When you’re doing something wrong like that, here’s my advice, life lesson. Do it with confidence.
SPEAKER 01 :
Do it with gusto. Just shoulders back, chest out. I know where I’m going and everything’s fine here.
SPEAKER 02 :
Do it with bravado like you know what you’re doing. And Carrie actually looked back at me like, What in the heck is this idiot doing? And I had like four of us with us. So I’m grabbing all of us. I’m saying, come on, let’s go. We’re with her. We’re with her. And so the seven or eight of us marched in there and we got right through and we got in and we made it. So thank you, Carrie Lake, even though I probably violated 167 laws. It’s not like you were, you know.
SPEAKER 01 :
sideline, bypass the metal detectors or anything. You went through every bit of security. It was just a matter of whether you were going to make the cut to actually get in the door.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. And to the security, maybe you noticed, they had a bulletproof shield in front of the podium in an indoor stadium.
SPEAKER 01 :
Can I ask you about that? Which is very rare. Very rare. It is, and very necessary, I guess. Of course it is. It is. How? How how should we feel about how necessary it is? I saw some I read so many posts, so many posts. And one of them said, I am so uplifted by what I’m seeing. I love it. And yet I am furious that because of leftist violence, every single one of these speakers have to grieve from behind bulletproof glass. Is that person wrong?
SPEAKER 02 :
They’re not wrong. We ought to all be angry. We ought to be angry that there was even a memorial service at all. We ought to be angry at all of this. But when you have every single sitting member of government under one roof, they have to do everything they can to keep people safe because of the violence. that we’re experiencing in this country because of – Charlie Kirk’s death was a political assassination, period. And so ultimately we have to acknowledge that. I’m glad for the security. And by the way, I was sure something was going to happen. I don’t know about you, but I felt like there would be disruptions. There would have been a lot of protesters or whatever.
SPEAKER 01 :
You know what? This is so funny you say that. I can hear people, I bet through your earphones and mine, you bet it’s a political assassination, but also a religious one. He was a faith leader, so we’re covering both those bases. This event was marked not just by the words that were said, but also sometimes by moments of Eloquent, quiet on the part of a lot of the speakers who just paused, and Erica Kirk especially. And I wondered if there wouldn’t – how many total human beings inside the stadium? 65,000, 70,000, right? 70,000 probably. There’s not one jack wagon? There’s not one troublemaker? Not one.
SPEAKER 02 :
Not one. That’s remarkable. And I’m watching on the floor. I’m thinking somebody’s going to unfurl a banner. Somebody’s going to start screaming. Let out of there. But let’s look at the atmosphere. But let’s talk about yesterday. State Farm Stadium became a cathedral. That was not a memorial service. That was not a funeral. That was a revival. Yep. That was, I mean, first of all, when we finally did get in, and we were there, probably got through the door in our seat, and thanks to Turning Point USA and Andrew Colvett and the team, of course, they took care of us, and we were on the floor. We weren’t far away from the stage, and these are moments that I will never, ever, ever forget. I’ll treasure yesterday. It was one of the most important and profound experiences I’ve ever had because from the moment we walked in, there was a worship band on the stage, and it was all worship music. It was all spiritual. It was God. It was the power of redemption and salvation. This was a church service. You have to – and if you noticed, if you happen to be watching, if you were streaming – of course, Salem News Channel carried it all, and a lot of our affiliates carried it as well. If you were watching, if you were observing, between even – even between President Trump and Erica Kirk, between every political speaker was – Worship music. It was spiritual music. It was all about what we believe as a Judeo-Christian nation. Look, my pal Mike Lindell has been saying for many, many years, America needs a revival. Mark, I’m not sure we’re not getting it right now. I think we’re seeing a revival.
SPEAKER 01 :
I think we are. I completely, completely do. And I guess doing what we do for a living and attracting a broad swath of listeners, I’ll say this once. Maybe I only need to say it once. Maybe I need to say it 20 times a week. In no way does this mean here comes the theocracy or you must be forced as an American to believe as we believe. Absolutely not. The founders were people of deep faith themselves and founded a country of complete religious freedom. You can do whatever you want, believe whatever you want, worship however you please. But for those who choose to worship as the founders did, for those who choose to worship in the Judeo-Christian vein, it’s been a tough ride for a few decades. And we’ve been marginalized and sidelined and made fun of by people from the president on down. And those days are over.
SPEAKER 02 :
They are over. They’re gone. They’re absolutely gone. And for that brave young woman who struggled and is dealing with the unimaginable, for her to say to that young man who murdered my husband, I forgive you?
SPEAKER 1 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 02 :
I forgive – she goes, I don’t want that, man. She’s been asked – in fact, the New York Times did a whole extensive sit-down with her in peace. New York Times, keep in mind. And it was actually a beautiful tribute to this – courageous young woman who now is the CEO of Turning Point USA per Charlie’s wishes. He knew that this could happen. He was aware of what could happen to him. And she told people afterwards, incidentally, that when she saw Charlie’s body in the hospital and they gave her the opportunity not to have to see his body and what they did to him. She wanted to. She said, I have to see what they did to my husband. And she reported that his eyes were fixed and he had a little bit of a half smile on his face. Like the Mona Lisa is the way she described it. And to her, that was Charlie seeing God. That was Charlie in the moment because all the doctors admitted he was dead.
SPEAKER 01 :
Instantaneous.
SPEAKER 02 :
Instantaneous dead. One second he was talking to a… Student on campus, the next second he was in the arms of our Savior. And she took comfort in that, actually. She said, I’m glad to see that little smile, that little grin that he had. I mean, all of this was so, so tough. But doggone it, could you forgive the killer?
SPEAKER 01 :
I’d like to think because we’re called to do so. I’d like to think. I can’t sit here and guarantee it, but I’d sure like to think that I could rise to the level to which she rose. And part of the value of this, part of the value of this entire service, this entire thing. You’re a better man than me. Listen, I can’t guarantee you. You’d like to think you could. Could we? I know I could. I know I could. Well, that verdict is in. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t. Because it’s so counterintuitive, and therein lies the definition of grace. How can you? How can you? Because in that moment where she said, first of all, Charlie tried to save men like him. Charlie tried to reach into that twisted culture and bring men like him out, like the man who took my husband’s life. And when she spoke those three words, I forgive him now. She unburdened herself. Forgiveness, I mean, he’s rotten in some cell somewhere. He may or may not care. Lisa turned to me at some point and said, he ought to be chained to a chair and forced to watch this, an idea I love. I don’t know if it would have mattered. I don’t know. But it matters to her. She is thus unburdened, and that’s why we are called to forgive, so that those dark feelings don’t poison us and impede our walk.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I’m a little Trumpian in this regard, and President Trump himself from the podium yesterday was so hysterical when he said, you know, Charlie wanted me to like my enemies. He wanted me to like my opponents because that’s how Charlie was. He goes, I’m sorry, Charlie. You’re mad at me in heaven. I hate my opponents. I hate them. I hate them all. I thought that’s perfect, perfect Trump. But doggone at that moment at the end when he called her back up on stage and she leaned her head into his chest. What a tender moment. And aside, of course, I have to acknowledge that many don’t often say exists for Donald J. Trump. He’s not a warm and fuzzy.
SPEAKER 01 :
Not always the consoler in chief. Not always. He was yesterday. He sure was. What a day.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I will tell you that if you missed it yesterday, if you weren’t, if you were at church and you had other things to do on Sunday, we’re going to do our best today on the show to feature every single speaker. Just a snippet of everybody. Because, look, there’s drama. There’s political intrigue. Many of us think Marco Rubio actually gave a better speech than J.D. Vance.
SPEAKER 01 :
If it was a day to sort of score him like that…
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, he did.
SPEAKER 01 :
We’ve got elections coming up.
SPEAKER 02 :
Vance was always great. Because Vance and Rubio are going to be one. It’s one or the other in 2028.
SPEAKER 01 :
So it would seem. But there’s Trump being Trump, Vance being Vance, Rubio with such uplifting things, incredible moments from Erica Kirk, incredible moments from the pastor. Amen. Pastor McCoy. Amen. Stephen Miller. On fire. You have nothing. You people bring nothing. You build nothing. It was a little bit of everything everybody would have wanted from a Charlie-flavored event.
SPEAKER 02 :
Turning Point is famous for fireworks and stuff and sparkly. They did that yesterday. They should have done a little Darth Vader music when Stephen Miller came out. You should have strode out.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hello, patriots. He was taking no prisoners. Listen, I’m going to play a bunch of this, too, and I know you will, too, because that’s the day to do this and have everybody call Mike and call me and tell us what you thought about it. And I’m just so proud of you, and thank you for being our eyes, our ears in that magnificent setting.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I loved sharing it with you, my friend. Thanks for putting up with my texts and my crazy comments and my selfies and all of that. But what a time. You’re the best. And we’ll share it all. All right. Love you. Back in the home base tomorrow. So we’ll see you then. Have a great one.
SPEAKER 01 :
Mike Gallagher from Arizona. As soon as we’re done at 10 on 660-A, I’ll be answering.
