In short
Megyn Kelly and Dave Rubin discuss the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder attempt/assassination, focusing on whether reconciliation with the political left is possible, what they believe caused the violence, and how security and public discourse may change. They also argue that the broader cultural decline of religion enabled “wokeism”/identity politics and that faith-based messaging is resurging.
Key claims
Rubin predicts no reconciliation or behavior change from the other side; he rejects “both-sides” framing of political violence and cites examples of attacks involving Democrats. Kelly says Charlie’s outreach to the left was a major risk, including his apparent bulletproof vest and insufficient secured rooftops.
Notable examples
Charlie’s campus work; the Trump/ABC News soundbite; alleged Minneapolis shooting; Paul Pelosi attacker; “Tim Walz told him to kill demons” claim.
Guests
Megyn Kelly (media host/commentator) and Dave Rubin (podcaster/host).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOProcessing Recent Events
0:00 to 1:04
Hosts express their struggles with recent tragic events and their impact on discourse.
“I've tried a lot of seafood over the years, guys, and truly it's been hit or miss.”
Processing Recent Events
2:10 to 4:19
Hosts express their struggles with recent tragic events and their impact on discourse.
“I'm finding it very difficult to do my show for the first time in my life.”
Call for Reflection and Change
4:20 to 6:28
Discussion centers on the need for accountability and self-reflection in political discourse.
“Right now, I feel like every day I've come on the air.”
Violence in Political Climate
6:29 to 8:13
Hosts analyze the nature of political violence and its implications for society.
“So we, on our side, which is not the side committing the political violence.”
The Absence of Religion in Society
8:14 to 14:00
Discussion about the impact of secularism and the rise of wokeism on American culture.
“And that's fine by me because you know what?”
The Absence of Religion and Its Consequences
14:00 to 19:00
Explore the detrimental effects of the absence of religion in society and the rise of 'wokeism'.
“I mean, I, for one, was as outspoken as it's possible to be on Fox News.”
Megan's Reflections on Charlie's Impact
19:26 to 23:54
Megan discusses the personal impact of Charlie's death on her family and young boys today.
“And it's the first time I've had the two of them, just us, with nobody else here.”
Transcript
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1:51Uh, Megan, when we do these normally, we connect for a minute or two first and we say hi and we talk about the kids and life and all the other stuff. And all we did this time was 10 seconds of kind of each pausing and taking a breath and you saying, well, we're about the same. where do we go from here? I don't know. I'm finding it very difficult to do my show for the first time in my life. I feel like in some way we're like narrating the end of the world. And that's not what I want to do. And it's not what you and I have tried to do. I, you know, I put you on the top of the list of the people that have tried to make some sense of the madness.
2:27I'd like to believe I'm on that list and it's not easy at the moment. Really, it's just not easy. I know I feel as you do I'm definitely struggling to get past my own emotions in response to Charlie's murder in a way that will allow me to just do the news about the case and about other news like normally and I just you know that we're not there yet and I don't know how long it'll take today on the show we just finished doing it and for the first time I actually laughed at a laugh and that's the first time I've laughed since you know last week when it happened it was a Trump soundbite it was great he was in the face of Jonathan Karl of ABC News I recommend you watch it because you'll laugh too but okay I don't know Dave I I guess like you've got the Marjorie Taylor Green approach which is I just want a national divorce you know I just want these hateful people to be like part of a different country and I want to be part of a different country and then you've got stories, and I did tell this on my show today, like, believe it or not, Tommy Veder from the Pod Save America guys, who wrote me like one of the sweetest, most heartfelt, most beautiful notes I've received.
3:39And it was, there was no like, I didn't agree with Charlie and everything, but there was none of that. It was just like, this is so awful. I'm so sad for his family. You know, I'm going to try to talk about the news in a better way now as a result of listening to him. Like it was all the things that you would hope Charlie would inspire in somebody, left or right. And those things inspire me a little. Those things make me feel like maybe there is something we can hold on to on the other side that's human like we are, that is reacting like we are, that hasn't been totally corrupted by some brain rot of politics and hate.
4:16I guess I just don't feel the need to totally have it figured out right now. Right now, I feel like every day I've come on the air. I want to talk about who Charlie actually is. I want to not deal with the blue haireds who are celebrating him, but deal with more like the lies that are being told about him. And I want to talk about the investigation. And beyond that, I don't really have a lot of appetite for the others. yeah i'm desperately trying to stay above it and not focus on the blue hairs either and do just that and and it's interesting you brought up sort of so there's like a dichotomy here there's sort of a set of people that are like okay let's separate that's kind of what you said the marjorie ideas and then maybe there are some people on the other side who realize what's happened here and and maybe we can start agreeing to disagree in a healthier way let me ask you this for the for the people on that side of it, in this case, you mentioned Tommy, but it doesn't have to be about him specifically.
5:10Do you think there has to be a mea culpa before we're fully open arms with them? You know, so many of the people that have called us all Nazis and all of the stuff that everyone knows, like to me, I don't know that I can welcome them yet unless there was a true moment of self-reflection and then get on board. And by the way, I think Charlie would feel that way because when I was on the left and I would be debating with Charlie, he would always be like, Dave, you know, for now we have to kind of keep it at an arm's length because I don't know if I trust you yet. And then over the years we built a relationship based on trust and mutual respect.
5:46But I am hesitant actually right now to just be like, okay, come on down when you called me a Nazi for the last 10 years. I'm not even in that charitable a place, you know, notwithstanding the nice reach out. I don't actually see any kumbaya moment coming, and I frankly don't see any real change coming either. I guess I just, you know, if I had to predict what's next, and this could change when I'm like less full of emotions that are, you know, personal to me, I don't see any reconciliation coming. I don't see any change of behavior coming whatsoever. Maybe some decent people will, but not enough to actually change the national conversation or tone.
6:32I see them doing more of what they have done, and I see more young 22-year-old men who are susceptible to manipulation online or in the trans community or what have you, or just more prone to psychotic breaks being easily exploited and falling prey to the messaging. And it's just a new daunt. So we, on our side, which is not the side committing the political violence. And I'm sick of the lies that we are, that this is a both sides thing. It's not. That woman in Minneapolis got shot by somebody or killed by somebody in her home who was a complete absolute nutcase, who, by the way, said that Tim Walz told him to go out and kill demons.
7:10It was not a Republican thing. A Democrat was killed, but this is not some Republican killing her for political violence. And Gutfeld made a good point on Fox the other night, which was, by the way, had she been demonized by everybody coast to coast repeatedly in every soundbite you can find from, you know, cable punditry like Charlie had? No. So just stop. OK, just stop. Did they have their presidential candidate shot at twice and almost killed a third time, too, reportedly? Like, no, it's this goes one way. And even the even the guy who broke into Paul Pelosi's house and attacked Paul Pelosi, they're like, what about that?
7:43Like, OK, so it was a Democrat who got attacked there. But that was a nutcase who had a Black Lives Matter and a pride flag on his two belongings that he owned. Like, what are you saying? This is totally different. An assassination caused by somebody who had an agenda and repeating the exact same things that the left says every day all over the news is a very different situation. Like, if you can't acknowledge that, we can't talk to you. If you cannot just see those basic facts about this case and you continue to go out there and say, we may never know the motivation, then we have nothing to talk about.
8:17And that's fine by me because you know what? We have the airwaves now. We're the ones who matter. Our conversations are the ones that people are listening to. The digital lane is king. Cable news is dead. It's irrelevant. So fuck off. Like, I don't care. I don't have to explain it to you. If you don't want to do what's right and stay fact-based, that's a problem of you and your audience. And for me, in my audience, I'm just going to have to, like Dave Rubin is, like Ben Shapiro is, like Piers Morgan is, like Tucker will, have to batten down the hatches and make sure I can stay alive while I continue saying what's real.
8:52Because I'm going to do both. My plan is to do both. But now because of people like that, we're going to have to go around and have to think about things like bulletproof glass and, you know, extra magnetometers and whatever it is we're going to have to think about. and that's their fault. But if that's what we have to do to continue saying the things that must be said, then that's what we will do. I'm Hannah. I've lost 75 pounds in 20 months with GLP-1s plus diet and exercise. On Rowe, I've gone from struggling to run a mile to running farther every day. You can access FDA-approved GLP-1s online.
9:25Get the support you need to reach your weight loss goals. Go to row.co slash weight to see if you qualify. I'm a paid Rowe partner. 20 % average weight loss in one year and non-diabetics with obesity or overweight with a weight-related medical condition versus 3.1 % in placebo arm. Rx only. To stay informed about serious side effects, go to roe.co.safety. Where do you think that resolve comes from within you? I heard you talk about how you're taking the show on tour and you're not going to change anything. And yes, you just illustrated that they'll probably have to change some security things.
9:53Ben talked about continuing the college tour but not doing outdoor events. I'm about to go to Australia. We're on the phone about all the security stuff. I mean, they've put all of us into an unbelievably horrific situation. And if I don't want to make this about me, but when I think about my career, I was the one years ago that was before Charlie trying to bring everybody together. That's what Charlie saw in me. You've tried to reach out to everybody on every which way. And now we're the ones that have to be on our back foot like, oh, yeah, maybe I have to think about an extra security guard or I mean, it's just insane.
10:26It is insane. And I resent it. I resent the hell out of it. But it's, you know, on a personal level, it's changed something that I was looking forward to that's going to be fun that I can't wait to get out to into something that, you know, obviously now has caused some serious worry for, for example, my husband, my family. But it's also turned it into something that is was going to be fun and a good time into something that's actually important. You know, like you going to Australia, me doing this tour, Ben doing what he's going to do. It's actually important now. It actually is a way of thumbing the middle finger in a massive way to everybody who would mean to silence Charlie or anybody who sounds like Charlie.
11:08I mean, Charlie, you're not wrong to point out that Charlie was killed in part because he did reach out to the other side. Charlie was killed on a college campus because that's what he was doing, because he went there to say, prove me wrong. Let's talk about your ideas versus my ideas and see if you can prove me wrong. See if you can change my mind or I change yours. And in doing that, he got a lot of exposure to the left. And that's dangerous. A lot of exposure to the left wound up to be a dangerous thing for Charlie. And not only the left, but the contingent of the left that is probably most likely to turn violent.
11:45I mean, there is a rash of 18 to 25-year-old men in this country who have some sort of a break and go postal, as we used to say, commit a mass shooting or some disturbing assassination attempt like with Trump or of Charlie, something they actually succeeded in. And so to go into the belly of the beast on college campuses where, yeah, you're exposing yourself to people on the radical left regularly and making yourself a household name in their homes. And also you factor in you're going to the age demo that does produce the most shooters, the most assassins. It was a serious risk. and one of the things that I was shocked to see Dave was that you know you I'm sure you saw that Charlie appeared to be wearing a bulletproof vest and that the bullet hit him first in that in the chest and it ricocheted into his neck and I thought to myself my god like he's he was wearing a bulletproof vest like they knew that the threat level was there and he was still doing it you know Like, that's crazy to me.
12:54And it's also crazy to me that if they knew it was that level, they didn't have those rooftops secured. I'm not trying to bash Charlie's security. It's just, you know, hindsight's 20-20. But it's just crazy to me that the threat level was that high that he knew he had to wear a bulletproof vest to speak. Not to run for office, not to ask to be put into the halls of power, but just to speak on a campus. Let me ask you one that I think is tough that I'm trying to grapple with, too, which is, do you think we have all failed here to some extent? You know, when I started doing these tours with Charlie at colleges, everyone, when we would get hate from New York Times or usual lefty whatever, they would always say the same thing.
13:36It's like, oh, you guys are just making fun of a bunch of college kids for trigger warnings and all of that stuff. And it was before we even called it woke. We called it identity politics. And they would always say, oh, but when they get to the real world, they'll realize what's up and everything will be fine. I never felt that. But maybe we didn't raise the alarm enough. Maybe we, for even the ones of us that saw this early and tried, and I do include you in that as well, maybe we actually weren't as out there, as outspoken as we should have been. I don't see that as the cause. I mean, I, for one, was as outspoken as it's possible to be on Fox News.
14:13And I remember saying, I don't know that I could have done anything else in the not too distant future. But I don't think identity politics are exactly at the heart of what's wrong here. I think the biggest thing is the thing that also got Charlie killed and that is coming back now and fixing itself in a way, which is the absence of religion in the public square and in people's hearts. I think the absence of religion is the most pernicious, dangerous thing that's happened in America in its history. And it's happened over the past 30 years. It's been absolutely, willingly, actively erased. And it's been replaced by this vacuous evil that now is called wokeism, where we have these identity politics, whatever gods, these identity gods that are so empty and dangerous.
15:06The new God tells you to cut up your own body, to cut up your child's body. The new God tells you to hate or resent or feel guilt about race, something you're born with and cannot change. The new God has all the wrong messages. It's satanic. And we made room for this devil by chastising people for saying a prayer before a public meeting or at school or uttering the words under God in the pledge, so the pledge had to go, or just mocking religion, you know? I mean, at every turn, it became fashionable to the Catholic Church after its terrible pedophile scandal. Like, it just became the butt of all these jokes, and people never forgave the church and never understood that there were millions of good priests out there who would never have done such a thing.
15:55And it was just one thing after the other led to the absence of religion from people's lives and in the public square and the loss of our identity as a Christian nation, which we used to lean into. And that's why there's so many references to God and the Bible and Christian principles and our founding documents. And it's, to me, one of the ironies of Charlie's assassination is now everybody's watching these videotapes where, above all, he was a proselytizer for the Christian faith. People are feeling it. And not just Christians, you know, Jews too, feeling like they want to get back in touch with their faith, which is the answer.
16:32That's the answer. So are you hopeful at this moment? You know, you sort of started where it sounded like, okay, this isn't going to reconcile. We're not going to get past something. Now you just gave me something pretty hopeful. I mean, how do you hold those two things? I'm just not hopeful of getting along with the other side or convincing them how wrong they are. I know I've only seen them deteriorate over the past 25 years. I have not seen them ever come to an aha moment. Right, every stop. I've only seen them, right, downward, downward, downward. So I don't have that hope now, but I have hope that our side, our silent warriors, are finding the temerity to stand up now.
17:12And like, one of the reasons why the left had the monopoly has on college campuses, and Charlie had to go to each one of them and try to say these things which are considered so controversial is because too many are staying silent, that they totally agree with every word he uttered, but they didn't want to admit it. High schools, colleges, you know, young people in the workforce. And if you can get those people to start speaking sanity, like, and you can get those people to not sit there silently as people are saying these nutty things in their class or pretend that they believe somebody wearing, you know, tiger ears is a tiger, right?
17:50Seriously, like this is happening. It's an incredible act of courage. And bit by bit, they won't control every circle in America. They won't control the media. They won't control, you know, the corporate America, sports, the Hollywood, and in particular, the academy, you know, K through 12 and colleges. That is where the indoctrination factory is at its strongest and best. And so like the best thing that's come out of this week has been the 32 ,000 new applications to turning point for the college and the high school groups that want to form. So I do not feel like the solution is working with the left or letting our guard down or starting to see them all as more reasonable and giving them the benefit of the doubt so they'll do the same for us at all.
18:37I see the answer as doubling down on our principles, being more compelling in our messages and increasing our ranks so that we will win, that we will win by sheer force of will and power of the angels who back us. Cozy season is ahead and you'll be spending way more time inside. Is your home ready? Don't worry. With Wayfair, you can upgrade your space without breaking the bank. Score up to 70 % off during their Labor Day clearance on furniture, area rugs, mattresses and more. Plus, surprise flash deals you can't miss. Whether it's one room or the whole house, Wayfair has pieces for every style and budget.
19:19Shop Wayfair's Labor Day clearance now through September 7th at Wayfair.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. Let me ask Megan, the mom, the final question here because this past weekend I was in New York for a couple days doing all this hit, all the media about Charlie and then I came home this weekend and actually David was out of town for something so I had the kids alone this weekend. And it's the first time I've had the two of them, just us, with nobody else here. And I was very aware of that to the backdrop of Charlie, that there are now these children that don't have their father. And even last night when I was reading them a story going to bed, like, I was thinking about that.
19:53And so for Megan, the mom, you have young boys. Like, how has that been as a mother talking about it? And were they influenced? I assume they were probably somewhat influenced by Charlie to some extent. Now, like, how are you dealing with that? Not the media portion, but just like what goes on in your home portion. Well, not only was Charlie beloved by my boys, but my daughter, who's 14 now, loved Charlie. And he was the person she most wanted to meet, who I knew. You know, they met Elon. And they were like, but when can we meet Charlie? And, you know, because he was in their algorithm. And they all saw him more than they saw any other talking head.
20:33And so they, especially my older two, really admired Charlie and have taken this hard. They're really sad about it. And for the first time, like, actually wanted to sit down and talk about it. Like, not just to say, oh, that's terrible, but like, really wanted to talk about it. And it got me thinking, like I say, my daughter's also been affected. But I was thinking about my son and everyone's sons. And, you know, Dave, there's so few people, I know you're good friends with Jordan, but like there's so few people who our young boys have to look up to and who have been out there fighting for them and who stand as an example of how to live and what decisions are good for you on the right.
21:15You know, there's just so few. And Charlie was huge, huge for them. You know, you've seen all the videos of these young men saying, I'm this one guy, like I'm wearing a suit now. I'm wearing a suit for the first time and I'm going to church and I'm going to take my wife and I'm gonna take better care of my wife. And I've seen so many similar videos. And I just, I do, my heart breaks for, of course, Erica and their children and Charlie's parents and his sister. But I have been thinking so much about these young men who like have been bastardized, just so wronged by Biden, Harris, and the left, and Obama, and all these lefties who have been telling them they're the problem and they're toxically masculine.
21:57And then you have Charlie come along. And my God, talk about like not saying that. He says, you know what, guys, like you're the boss in your house and women submit, right? Like totally the opposite of what you would hear from these toxically masculine accusers. And he meant it in the most loving and biblical way. And I've defended him at length on these comments before, even though I'm not much of a submitter, but I totally get it. And I love where he was going with him. And so they have Charlie, you know, telling them like, dress up, take good care of yourself, like brush your teeth, come up with a lifetime plan, be assertive, open the car door, pay on the first date.
22:33You know, all the things he said, protect your women because women deserve protecting. And somebody who told them, if you don't value yourself, and he said this to women too, now, don't give up on yourself. You know, Jesus is still there. He cares about you. He'll change you. Just be open-minded to it. This total like believer in young people, taken from them, stolen by some absolute motherfucking demon who I cannot wait to see executed. I truly, I will celebrate. I would love, I will do the firing squad myself between now and then. I don't care. I have no empathy for this killer. I believe in the death penalty and I cannot wait to see it carried out on this man.
23:13I'm sorry. He's somebody's child too. And I'm sure the parents are very sad. I don't care. I don't feel any empathy for him right now. I feel empathy for Charlie's people and the millions who are feeling so incredibly lost and sad as a result of what that guy did. Well, Megan, I suppose it's incumbent on us to be a little better at what we do in the midst of all this. I have no doubt that you will do that. I have no doubt that I will try as hard as I can. And I love you. And let's just keep going and honor Charlie. Love you too, my friend. I'll see you out there.
23:51Thank you.
From the publisher
Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" talks to Megyn Kelly about the emotional impact of Charlie Kirk's tragic murder; how his advocacy for traditional values and open dialogue inspired young men; the difficulty of processing such loss while maintaining public platforms; the growing need for security in a polarized society; the role of religion and morality in countering divisive ideologies; the hope found in renewed interest in Charlie's message; and their shared commitment to honor his legacy by defending truth, free speech, and cultural renewal; and much more.
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