Carson started by talking about a country where political opponents could fiercely disagree without treating each other as enemies. “There was a time, not too many decades ago when people on the right side of the aisle and people on the left side of the aisle could have their arguments, but they were still friends,” Carson said.
“They could still go out and eat dinner together. They didn’t try to destroy each other, because basically, they wanted the same things. It’s just that they had different ideals about how to get it.”
He argued that the era of shared values has ended. “Now we have two sides, and they don’t want the same thing, and that’s a big deal,” Carson warned. “We have a side that is progressively moving towards socialism and communism, and some people think this is of recent origin. It’s not. It’s been going on for decades.”
Carson pointed to the Congressional Record from January 10, 1963, when Congressman A. S. Herlong Jr. of Florida read into the record the “45 goals of communism” listed in W. Cleon Skousen’s The Naked Communist.
“If you look in the Congressional Record, January the 10th, 1963—more than 60 years ago—Congressman Herlong of Florida read into the record from The Naked Communist a book by [W. Cleon Skousen] on the 45 goals of communism in America,” Carson said. “And they included things like getting control of the school system and the teacher union so you can indoctrinate the kids, gaining control of the major media and Hollywood so you could change the culture of our nation.”
Carson argued that many of those goals have already come to pass. “We’re seeing the fruits of those things. And many, many other things that they’ve said that we’ve seen happen as well.”
For Carson, the assassination of Charlie Kirk is evidence of a broader assault on America’s foundations. “We need to understand that we’re under attack. Our system is under attack,” he said. “We can’t passively resist it. We have to actively resist it. This is America that we’re talking about—all the things that it stands for.”
He tied the moment to growing hostility toward America’s founding principles, pointing to recent remarks from a Senator Tim Kaine. “And you heard just last week, a United States senator say it’s foolishness to think that your rights come from your Creator. They come from government. How can that be going on in our country? But it is, because we allow it.”
“We have to make a decision about who we are and what we’re willing to fight for—or do we just want to capitulate?”
Kirk was gunned down on September 10 at Utah Valley University by a leftist shooter. He had built Turning Point USA the most influential organizations in conservative politics, inspiring a new generation of activists.
“This is America that we’re talking about—all the things that it stands for,” Carson reiterated. “We can’t passively resist it. We have to actively resist it.”
