Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA, spoke on the first night of the Republican National Convention on Aug. 24, 2020.
Transcript
Good evening. It is an honor to be with you tonight. My name is Charlie Kirk. I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country, Turning Point USA, fighting for the future of our republic. Speaking to you in my personal capacity tonight as a 26-year-old, I see the angst of young people as well as the challenges facing new parents. I am here tonight to tell you, to warn you, that this election is a decision between preserving America as we know it and eliminating everything that we love. For decades, ruling class leaders in both parties sold out our future to China, to faceless corporations, and to self-serving lobbyists. They did it to preserve their own power and enrich themselves, all while rigging the system to hold down the good, decent middle class patriots striving to build a family and pursue a decent life. All of this changed dramatically in 2015, when a billionaire named Donald Trump put his own life of luxury on the line. From that moment he came down that famous escalator, he started a movement to reclaim our government from the rotten cartel of insiders that have been destroying our country. We may not have realized it at the time, but Trump is the bodyguard of Western civilization. Trump was elected to protect our families from the vengeful mob –
… was elected to protect our families from the vengeful mob that seeks to destroy our way of life. Our neighborhoods, schools, churches, and values. President Trump was elected to defend the American way of life. The American way of life means you follow the law. You work hard, you honor God, you raise your kids with strong values and you work to create a civil society. The American way of life means you speak your mind without retribution, without being kicked off social media by a self-righteous censor in Silicon Valley. It means you can freely practice your religion and that church is more essential than a casino. And it means that we judge people on their actions, not on their immutable characteristics. The American way of life is being dismantled by a group of bitter, deceitful, vengeful, activists who have never built anything in their lives. They have us locking up pastors while releasing violent criminals from prison.
We are kicking doctors off of social media, yet promoting Chinese state funded propaganda on major tech platforms. This election is the most critical since 1860, when a man named Lincoln was elected to preserve the Union from disintegration. This election is not just the most important of our lifetime. It is the most important since the preservation of the Republic in 1865. By re-electing Trump, we will ensure that our kids are raised to love our country and respect its founding fathers, not taught to hate or be ashamed of them. We will build monuments to heroes, not burn down our cities. We’ll be a country that rises to higher heights, that dreams big, thinks big, and achieves the impossible. A country that values a remarkable journey, the complexities of our past, but clearly communicates to the next generation that we have to be grateful not angry that we live in the United States.
We will be a country that makes it easier to have many children, live quiet and peaceable lives, and worship your God without a tyrant getting in the way. We will be a country that has its best 100 years ahead. We will build a future where America remains the greatest country ever to exist in the history of the world. All of that is within our grasp if we secure four more years for the defender of Western civilization, our champion, my friend, the 45th President of the United States, President Donald J. Trump.
