(NewsNation) — Reflecting on his late friend, conservative commentator Glenn Beck said Charlie Kirk deserves credit for President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
“I knew that Charlie was different,” he told NewsNation’s Batya Ungar-Sargon. “I had tremendous respect for Charlie. I meant what I said. He was really one of the key reasons why Donald Trump won.”
Beck said it’s easy to become lost in moments but Kirk was always focused.
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“When you’re around somebody who is a peer like Charlie was … around somebody who’s just doing what they do and kind of what you do, you don’t necessarily recognize the time you live in and how important what that what that person is doing, how deeply important that is,” said Beck.
Looking to channel his political inclinations into action after a rejection from West Point, Kirk was 18 when he launched Turning Point USA, a grassroots organization formed in an Illinois garage that would grow alongside the rise of Trump and fuel the “Make America Great Again” movement.
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Beck criticized New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani for “not having a bad thing to say about Hamas,” a U.S.-designated terror group that Mamdani has disavowed. Beck also chastised Mamdani for “wanting to globalize the intifada,” an expression for Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.
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Mamdani previously said on “Meet the Press” that the term was “not language that I use” but that “I don’t believe that the role of the mayor is to police speech.”
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Beck warned President Trump that this week’s elections in New York, Virginia, New Jersey and more that Americans are increasingly concerned about the cost of living.
Beck defended Trump’s use of tariffs but questioned whether Americans will wait years for the benefits.
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“Look at what happened in this last election,” Beck cautioned the president. “(Candidates) weren’t talking about big things, they were talking about ‘How do I pay my bills?’ ‘How do I make the pain of my everyday stop?’ It’s the hierarchy of needs. The problem is: To get to the place where Donald Trump knows we can have a successful country for decades to come, they’re not going to be quick fixes.”
