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COMMENTARY by Benny Johnson — "The Final Political Order Charlie Kirk Gave Me...How to WIN in 2028" (published 2026-09-10).
This is third-party opinion/analysis ABOUT State of Utah v. Tyler James Robinson — NOT the court record. It is indexed for comparison against the primary transcripts/filings. Transcript is the YouTube auto-caption track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFTJNF-DAgw) — verbatim ASR.
John, welcome back to the program. >> Hey, thank you for having me. >> What is the legacy of Charlie Kirk one year out? >> You know, it's really tough. A lot of people have tried to define it for him and for his friends and for his organization. I think ultimately, like you've been talking about, is that he wanted to be remembered for his faith and for his reverence. And like you were going over with the statistics about church attendance, I mean this country really is experiencing, I think, a deeply spiritual crisis. And especially in the aftermath of the assassination, I mean everybody was very much ready to go back to church. And I was being reached out to by people I haven't spoken to in 15 years, old playground nemeses even. And we were just all coming together in this moment that could have been a real real moment of unity for the country, perhaps not seen since maybe even the September 11th attacks. But right now a lot of people are working to try to tarnish that legacy or dissipate its its energy into just complete nonsense. And of course the left is taking victory laps at that. >> The left is celebrating. They call this the Kirk-iversary. And they've showed us who they are and they're asking us to stop them. And instead, I we've so many people have spent the year inviting and bickering and establishing what I call the Charlie Kirk Industrial Murder Complex. >> Yeah. >> Where they where they profit off of attacking or asking questions about anything other than the actual motivation that killed Charlie. And I >> Yeah. >> I I disavow that. I was worried that that was what was going to happen. Um and we've done our best to try and keep eyes on target. But maybe you can explain like what do you think that why do you think that landscape developed? And what is the way that we can reorient ourselves in this one-year anniversary? >> I think it's probably just the influencer economy. I mean there's a general problem we have with cynicism as a country where nobody wants to take anything seriously. But then too, the the dynamic we have on the right is very decentralized and focused on influencers and finding the real truth. And so it's almost like a natural kind of breeding ground for this kind of thing to happen. However, there should be some kind of like morality and editorial standard that would perhaps compel one to not create, as you're saying, the Charlie Kirk murder industrial complex. But nonetheless, that's what happened. And And Blake Neff has said something really smart about this, which is that the act of doing this to Erica and to the organization, to Charlie's friends is actually like of equal immorality to the act itself. Like in terms of the the wrongness of the assassination is almost equal to the wrongness of deciding that you're going to destroy this man's legacy and try to burn his organization down because you want like, you know, engagement on Instagram or something. I think that's that's true. And it also speaks to just how bizarre the behavior is, you know, murder is obviously evil, but you can at least understand why you might want to murder somebody like Charlie Kirk. I mean, if you can't debate him, you'll never stop him. You You really don't have any option left but to take the guy out. But I don't have a theory of mind for monetizing contents that would you know, serve to dissipate all the momentum and unity following the assassination just to to aggrandize my personal brand. That is actually much >> How would you reorient the party and conversation one year out in order to eliminate that economy and that ecosystem and in order to recenter on Charlie's message? >> I I really think that we need to stop associating with bad actors. We We wouldn't tolerate this behavior if we were running a restaurant together. We certainly shouldn't tolerate this kind of behavior if we're involved in what is literally a like civilizationally scaled life or death struggle for the soul of the nation. And it's not, you know, we're very diplomatic about it because we don't want to get involved in the drama or anything. But you know, we're talking about all the bickering and infighting. That's not coming from the Benny Johnson show. That's not coming from my show. It's It's a one-way thing with all of these kinds of people starting these problems because they want the drama. They want the clicks. I never see the people maybe more on our side of things doing that. They defend themselves occasionally because, you know, you have to defend yourself from these lies, but it's all of these other people who are trying to sow the division. And I think that we're learning that they don't have the influence they think they do. They're just trying to ruin it for us on the margins because they want the left to get back into power. Because when the left is in power, they do better on social media because everybody's freaked out, anxious, looking for answers, and they'll be happy to provide them those answers even if the state of the country is declining and things are getting more calamitous and dangerous for well-meaning American Christians. >> These people are helping out just the left. And that is the That is the antithesis of Charlie's life. And that would be Charlie would be very, very disappointed. I think he'd be he'd be horrified to find that people that he considered close friends, people that he considered uh loyal to the cause, that shared the stage with him at Turning Point events, are helping the left to win. One year out. >> Yeah, and it's not >> One year out from the left killing Charlie. >> Yeah, and Hasan celebrates this. He says, "Thank you for doing this. Thank you for making it so that the left is not blamed." I just saw a poll just this morning that only 24% of the country knows that the assassin was a leftist. So, the average American, because of the these kinds of like media trends, believes that it was just a some maniac maybe. Or they believe it was some conspiracy or something like that, but nobody knows. And so, we had the this moment where you had unprecedented unity not only on the right, but normal people were feeling very alienated about the left because they were watching all of their co-workers and friends and relatives, people that they thought were normal, all of a sudden they're celebrating that the guy they'd seen on Instagram trying to talk to kids about ideas just got assassinated. And so, there was this like wave of alienation felt by normal Americans towards the radical left combined with a real unity behind the right. We we had a very special moment where something could have been done and it seemed like these people wanted to squander it, which if I were a leftist operative, that's of course what I would do. You know, I want to redirect the blame. I want to sow division, cause infighting. Um, you know, it was interesting too, you're mentioning the nature of how the devil operates. What is he if not the father of lies? He's He's the accuser. He bears false witness. He accuses his brother or he accuses others of doing wrong simply to sow division among otherwise good people oriented toward a good cause. So, these people, whether or not they understand it, are ultimately like serving the agenda of the devil by doing this kind of stuff, which you know, get you your clicks, get your money, but this is not worth staking your eternal soul on. >> What would we do to continue to build the way that Charlie built for the kingdom of Christ? I think that these are the single most encouraging data points in the entire ecosystem right now, which is that young men voted in an absolute majority for Donald Trump. That young men and women are returning to church and Orthodoxy, in fact, has seen skyrocketing popularity. And that young men and women on the right and the right exclusively are finding marriage and the creation of families and having children to be the top priorities of their lives and those are self-reported. And we've never seen those as number one self-reported Gallup priorities ever in the history of the country and I believe that is the living that is the living Charlie effect. People try and imitate Charlie out of context a lot, but he laid it out very clearly what his priorities were and they were they were cultural more than they were political. I think that Charlie would trade wouldn't trade for a second like a point of GDP if he could encourage more young people uh to have families. >> Yeah. >> And I think that that that it's truly that what everybody everybody's going to be talking about Charlie's legacy today, those are the three defining points that mean Charlie is living today in our culture. >> Yeah. Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. And you know, obviously we're never going to replace him and and I think we know that now uh quite clearly. I remember in the aftermath of the assassination, all of these influencers were doing this like, "Who's going to be the next Charlie Kirk? Is it me? Is it me?" And uh we clearly we have our answer. There there is none. It was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of guy, cut from a similar cloth as someone like Donald Trump. Like a larger-than-life kind of figure who just commanded respect, inspired those around him. And and you don't get those guys very often. They don't make them anymore. And uh I if we can't replace him, which obviously we can't, we have to try to recreate him in the aggregate, which is to say we need more good people getting involved. And you know, obviously you're never going to fill the shoes. Nobody can. But we have to try because that's what Charlie would want. That is what he dedicated his life to, forwarding the cause of good American Christians being able to live in a country that isn't trying to uh persecute them around every corner. And uh I have been very inspired to see the outpouring and and still the remains of that kind of energy being channeled into something productive culturally, politically, and spiritually. Um and I think that because it is still so effective, that is why we are seeing all of the attacks from the left, you know, trying to uh really demoralize us today especially. But you know, they've been doing this nonstop since the >> What must the Trump administration do? They have obviously released plenty of banger video mashups, and they've released great statements on Charlie, and I think made great motions towards his memory when it comes to awarding you know, Erica Kirk presidential medals and honoring Charlie in the posts, but what about the actions? What actions must the administration take in order to honor Charlie's legacy? >> That yeah, that's that's the real thing too because you know, as much as I'm sure he would appreciate reverence, he certainly would rather have the administration, you know, crack down on certain things and actually move the ball down the field more than anything. I think, you know, and I talk about this on my program a decent bit. I I think the administration's basically doing a good job. I think that there are some things that need to be fine-tuned and worked out, but you know, you talk to the guys we have in DC and it's not as though they're just like kicking their feet up on their desks. I mean, they're really working hard to try to undo what has literally been this like 60-year construction of a machine meant specifically to persecute American Christians. And so, trying to reconfigure that kind of leviathan into something that can actually serve that population is very difficult. And so, I think as long as the administration can kind of keep its head on straight and and work through all of this while presenting itself as normal, I think that things will be very successful because Americans, you know, we don't really like the bull in the china shop. I mean, we like that Trump went into DC and he was going to drain the swamp, but ultimately, Americans tend to do better when they think the political project is stable. This is the new normal. It's not something that's trying to be insane and chaotic and define itself as a kind of middle finger to Washington. And I think the second Trump administration has done a good job with that, especially with bringing someone like J.D. Vance into the mix. You know, it's it's more polished, it's more articulate. And I think as a result, it's better functioning than we saw in the first Trump administration. So, if we can keep that up and then bring gas back down, I think things are going to look very good for us. >> Yeah, you've been at this GOP convention here in Dallas. Will you be there today? >> No. >> Okay. Well, we are going to be there today and I'm very interested to see J.D. share the stage. I think Erica will perhaps speak. I encourage everybody to watch. Um What's the energy What's the energy been like? It's been something that I I think is quite fascinating, the resiliency of the Trump energy. And I saw that yesterday, and it's something that makes Trump and Charlie very similar in their ability to organize and electrify and to pull that kinetic energy into action. And I saw that and I I was like amazed when Trump took the stage and I just looked around and said, "Man, this is like this is more than 10 years." I mean, 2015 is when Trump took that golden escalator. >> Mhm. >> And this is more than 10 years out, and this arena is packed. This is a professional sports arena. This is the floor of the professional sports arena, not just the stands. And it's packed to the risers. There's There's people standing and cheering, and they stand for the first 20 minutes of Trump's speech. And the energy hasn't gone away. And it would it it it would be nice to see it as disciplined as possible executed, I think to the well, final political order that I got from Charlie, which was we must get J.D. Vance elected. The last time I saw Charlie was in the halls of the White House. We were there to ask a question during the press conference for the new media seat, and Charlie was there to, of course, stalk the president. He was He was there to stand outside of Donald Trump's office and to to burst in, you know, when he get first got the chance. And he just said, "We must get J.D. elected." I was like, "We must continue the MAGA movement through J.D." This was like the fi- This was Charlie's final sort of political order. >> Mhm. >> And I view this convention as sort of an a an like a bridge to that. And so, I'm very interested to see what happens tonight, but I I would Your takeaways, John. >> Yeah, I I think it's been great. You sometimes you go to these events and and they're a little uh little stuffy, but I didn't get that impression from uh from this at all. I mean, the energy was great. And Trump, you know, sometimes I'll see clips of him and it seems like maybe he's tired. And so, I think, "Ah, you know, he's he's getting up there." But no, he had a great energy. It reminded me of one of his uh his old, you know, 2016 note card style rallies. And everybody's laughing and cheering and they love him. And there's just so many beautiful faces on the tele- or not the teleprompter, the jumbotron behind him. It was just a It was a great showing from everybody. It was great to see the vice president. It was great to see Erica. Um everybody was there. And that's the thing, too. All of this division is so online. Like, of course The New York Times and The Atlantic and The Washington Post want to write about it and say this is definitely happening because they need their readers to rest assured that the liberals are still in control. But there's unprecedented unity behind Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. They have not, obviously, high approval ratings at the moment in terms of the general population, but in terms of the base, people who actually show up to vote for Republicans in elections, it's unprecedented how the degree to which these people are like supported. So, there really is no division in so far as that's concerned. It's just a matter of how do we How do we uh pass that baton? How do we get that from Trump to Vance? Because, as I'm sure you've seen, uh the knives are already kind of coming out in preparation for 2028 against Vance by all the usual suspects. >> Yes. How do we Vance guard, John? >> Uh that's I I think >> This is my video from last night. This is This energy is it was on level with 2016. It was on level with 2020 and 2024. 2020 was a little weird, but like 2024. And you know, I think that tonight they're going to do I I know a number of things that they're going to do to honor Charlie. And I think they're going to do an incredible job. And J.D. will be taking the stage tonight with Trump. There's going to be a major baton handoff. So, what's next for the movement, John? >> Yeah, I I think that's that It well, the thing with Vance is he is the obvious choice. Not only does the base like him, but he's the vice president. He's an Ivy League lawyer. He's phenomenal on the issues. He's very articulate. He's willing to engage with even critics in a way that you know, you don't typically see like remember not too long ago he did that college event and he fielded questions from students who were skeptical about certain things that he was associated with you know, Peter Thiel and Palantir and all this other stuff which he was he was able to answer those questions maybe more patiently than than I would have were I in his position. So he's very good on on the issues and he's good at sort of handling himself and presenting himself. I mean we saw in the debate with Tim Walls which makes for some great content, but he he can't be beat on the issues alone. None of his critics who call themselves conservatives can actually engage with him and so they have to lie and say that he's some kind of socialist or they have to smear him by association. These are the kind of tactics that you'd expect to see from the left. Of course these people want the left to win anyway, so you know, that makes sense, but JD is going to do a phenomenal job because he he is just a incredible political talent and I think our job is to just keep a level head and communicate that to people like hey, you know, they're lying about him, but that's not true. He's not this. He's actually this and so on and I think it'll be a pretty easy and smooth handoff if we're able to do that. >> I uh from from your mouth to God's ears. I would really love to see that happen tonight on the stage. It's going to be a very interesting evening. I will be bringing you coverage from the floor to tonight and last night was just it's very interesting. The the I I was I was stuck I mean I I honestly I I was stunned, John. I just I didn't I I wasn't sure what to expect and it's just like another massive energetic stadium arena for the president and for the MAGA movement. It's just inspiring to see it 10 years out. The left can't do this. Obama can't do this, Obama events are pathetic. Now the DNC convention was pathetic. No Democrat candidate can do this, no one on the left can bring this type of organization and energy. And so, I would really, you know, it'd be really nice to keep it to keep it rolling. Maybe a final word on that, John, like Um yeah. In remembering Charlie, in remembering Charlie, what is it, you know, through 2028, what is it that must be done? >> I I think that we need to take an inventory of who we're up against with the Democrat Party and understand that they are having their own big problems right now where you have the sort of ascendant theater kid class, the DSA types, the young radicals. They're at war with like the elder swamp creatures. That aside, the party has no money. They're losing seats because of redistricting efforts. They have no political talent. They have no candidates. They don't even have a message. Remember when the world was going to end because of climate change? And I I don't even mean like in the Al Gore iteration. I mean the AOC, we have 18 months to pass the Green New Deal or we're all going to die. That was like 7 years ago, nothing's happened. That was almost their last real attempt at running on like an issue. Now it's just anti-Trump. Now it's punishing people who align themselves with Trump. That maybe worked in 2017, that maybe worked with the midterms in 2018. You know, we had the women's march with all the pink hats. It doesn't happen anymore. I mean even when Trump won in 2024, they didn't have the mass demonstrations. Whereas the first time you won, they were lighting police cars on fire in Washington D.C. So we may be in a rough spot right now. However, what we're up against, which is to say the political force that is wanting to do the most evil to American Christians, they are unprecedentedly, um I guess, broke, confused, disorganized, confused, like like everything is is in a a very good position for us to succeed and them to fail, which by extension means America to succeed and evil to fail. >> Ladies and gentlemen, you've seen here in this interview why you must follow John Doyle, why you should watch his show, why we need people that are uniting in our side and in our movement, keeping the energy going, and willing to uh continue the fight and not help the left. Please unsubscribe from the people who over the last year has shown that their sole objective in life is to help the left win. Do it for Charlie. Do it today. Go follow John instead. Thank