Charlie Kirk’s death has had an impact on Americans and the world that no one saw coming. Reporter Salena Zito joins Glenn Beck to reveal what she’s seen, especially from people who are expected to lean Democrat, like young people and suburban mothers.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Welcome, Salena, how are you?
SALENA: Hey, Glenn. How are you? I'm okay.
GLENN: Yeah. It's been a really tough nine days. Can you believe it's been nine days?
Can you believe it's been 9 days? It feels like it's been six months.
SALENA: Yeah. There's sometimes I wake up, like, "It didn't happen, right? I dreamt it, right? It didn't -- it couldn't have happened."
Because Charlie was such a life force. First time I met him, he was, like, 18 years old.
GLENN: Yeah.
SALENA: And I was just so struck by this -- by this energy and -- and this aspirational quality he had. And one of the things that I think you've done really well -- and it's important to note about Charlie, he never did this for himself.
This was never about him. It was always about bringing people together for -- to be part of something bigger than self.
I think a lot of people in trying to understand Charlie, have missed that. But you haven't.
And I think that's -- I think that's real -- that's a quality, a lot of people don't, you know, confess, right?
There's always an ulterior motive. There wasn't with Charlie. There never was. It was about faith and family.
GLENN: Yeah. He just -- he just wanted to make the world a better place. You know, he had his own ideas how to do that.
He was never about hogging the spotlight. He always shared the spotlight. He always shared -- you -- it didn't matter where he was.
You know, I call him for some advice on something. I don't know, last year, I think.
And I call -- he was in the Oval with the president. Picked up the phone. Hey, what's happening.
And I said, hey, do you have a second. He said, yeah. I'm with the president. We're just working on some stuff.
I'll call you back. He's like, no, no, no. What do you mean? That's the kind of guy he was.
SALENA: So true.
GLENN: Really -- yeah, it's amazing. You tweeted something. I just spent 90 minutes, sitting on the sideline of a kid's flag football practice. And I don't think cable news experts or Democrats have any idea how profoundly impacted suburban moms over what happened to Charlie Kirk, and how much they have noticed how poorly many have behaved. What did you mean by that?
SALENA: So this is something that -- that's in my book, Butler. In that, you know, after the president was shot, right?
I went out and I saw people that I did not expect to see with Trump shirts on, or Trump hats, or put them in their yard, right?
And I remember -- I interviewed people like this. It's in my book. And also, in my book, was all these young people that kept showing up in droves, to his events. And it was Trump. What happened to him?
It was all for Charlie. And so the other day I was -- first, I went to a revival. I don't know if I sent that to you. I went to a revival in the City of Pittsburgh in a majority black, historic neighborhood, called the Pittsburgh Strikes.
And there were kids coming from the busloads on Sunday. Just to -- to witness and to -- and to celebrate Charlie and his life.
But also, to celebrate their faith. With -- with a boldness, that -- that has been inspired by Charlie.
But on -- to get back to your original question. I'm sitting on the sidelines.
With my little grandson's flag football game. And I'm listening to these moms. I'm overhearing their conversations.
And it was all about Trump. How my profession has behaved in reaction to Charlie's murder.
And -- but also, how they've been invigorated and -- and activated. Into -- I mean, three of them had freedom shirts on.
And, you know, I was like, whoa. Something is happening!
This is -- this is very real. This is very tangible, and my profession isn't saying it. On paper, these women should be Democrats.
They're suburban. They're college-educated. Right?
They're the -- and they live -- and they live in the suburbs. They are the demo you expect, Democrats to -- to go towards Democrats.
And instead, they were talking about -- I can't believe that he was murdered. I can't believe how they're covering this.
I want to get my kids out of school. I want to homeschool them. Several of them had just gone away for the weekend, because they couldn't handle the way that things were being talked about.
And there is an awakening going on.
GLENN: There is.
SALENA: And I don't think my profession or Democrats understand, just in the past four days in places like Somerset, Pennsylvania. The city of Pittsburgh. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Hempfield, Pennsylvania. Lincoln, New York, Pennsylvania.
Hundreds and hundreds of hundreds of people have just been showing up in their little town squares. Right?
These are small Pennsylvania towns, most of them, with gazebos in the middle. Right?
And with just candles, and just they're praying. And they're -- a lot of them are really, really young.
And, you know, people talked about -- Glenn, when you and I were talking about. The counter culture. There was the cool people, right?
This is the counter culture.
We're looking at the counter culture.
And it's not -- it's people of faith and purpose.
GLENN: I know. I know.
SALENA: It's not -- it's not the bad guys.
GLENN: How do you think people -- you know, two questions. One, I see these polls that have just recently come out that were shocking, that show young people are much more authoritarian than any of their Gen X and even Gen Z counterparts, that this -- this new generation has been indoctrinated from the beginning.
And they are starting to look at authoritarian rule. How do you square that?
Do you -- do you believe those polls?
SALENA: Well, it's not that I don't believe the polls. It's, where is the polling coming from?
Are you polling in New York City? Are you polling in LA? Chicago?
Are you polling on Chicago campuses. Which, by the way, wouldn't be the easiest way to do it if you're a pollster, right? And you want to capture certain demographics.
But that's not the experience I have had. And we have to remember, Glenn, that oftentimes, what we see coming from our cultural curators, meaning legacy media. Right? Corporations, institutions, academia.
A lot of that is coming from, you know, the super ZIP codes in the country. Except, in the super ZIP codes in the country. Right? Where wealth and power is the epicenter of everything. Those places don't decide elections.
Those people -- those places don't make what makes this country go and move.
And -- and so I think that if you're pulling -- you're not pulling from Somerset, Pennsylvania, then you're not getting full breadth of understanding what is happening in this country.
It was -- I remember last year, we're writing about thinking, nobody is seeing what's happening.
They're really not. They're not understanding how much of a sea change is happening in this country. And I'm standing in the exact same place again. Only, it's bigger. It's broader.
GLENN: So I'm looking at the reaction of those on the left, last week and this week on Charlie Kirk.
And then I'm watching how -- I read a story today, where Steven Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel were literally called martyrs.
(laughter)
GLENN: And, you know, I've been in this business enough, I can read ratings, I know what advertisers. If you don't have advertising, if you're not getting sales, and you're costing more than it cost to put the show on, you're not there long.
And I really believe ABC -- I mean, CBS, they fired Steven Colbert. Because it was costing them twice as much to produce, than what they were making. It doesn't last, unless you're in a communist society.
The thing with Jimmy Kimmel, they were trying to find ways to get rid of him. And I think ABC saw this opportunity and was like, yeah. Community standards. We want them off.
And so they're getting rid of them. And now, Jimmy. The word is, Jimmy is really upset about this.
He's doubling down. He's already looking for a new job. And he's got one. And he's going to tell the public, what really is going down.
And double down for his hatred for Trump and everything else.
I see the reaction of this Jimmy Kimmel thing, and I think, I can't believe the American people are buying into this.
And that this is helping the people on the left at all.
Is it?
SALENA: No. No. It's not.
And they're -- they're reporting this from their bubble, right?
To say a cliché.
It is a bubble.
This is the same thing.
They all talk to and see the same people all the time.
And so, you know, nobody is going to tell them, oh, you're seeing this in the wrong way.
Look, markets change all the time.
And you know that, and I know that. Because we're in a business, that's always fluctuating. But so are American people.
Where -- like think about the steelworker in the 1970s. Did anybody come rushing to save their job, when it wasn't making money for the big company?
No. Did any -- any reporter plop in and say, how did you feel? Are you mad? Are you angry? No. They didn't.
I didn't say -- I lived it. So I know they did it, right? But to -- to lift up and celebrate someone, who -- who is also not needing the moment with -- with the ratings, and then say, "Well, you should still have a job."
Well, you know what, those steelworkers felt they should have a job too, right? But you weren't making the money. And -- and also, more importantly, this is the thing that really bothers me.
It's the affiliates that said, "We're not doing this anymore." It is the affiliates. They have the most power, because they are the ones that need to make money.
GLENN: Right.
SALENA: These -- these are stations across the middle of the country, right? Where -- where -- where -- while DC and New York, those people don't think they have much power, actually they turned out to have power. Not just in the election, but also in this -- in deciding what is right for our culture.
And these affiliates said, "Yeah, we're not doing this, in particular because Kimmel wasn't even going to apologize the next day."
You know, he wanted to come out and clarify. That's not an apology.
GLENN: I want to ask you to hold for 60 seconds. I need to do a commercial, and then I'm going to come back. And then I want to ask you, if this lasts, if what's happening especially with this awakening.
You know, we felt this for ten days, 12 days, after 9/11.