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Spencer Cox: “If you don't like Charlie Kirk, what comes after Charlie…”

Featuring: Spencer Cox, Republican | Governor of Utah

Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show

Published September 19, 2025 | Video Starts at 24:58

I do believe it is more dangerous when we're not talking to each other. Look, there's two ways this can go, and I've warned people before. If you don't like Charlie Kirk, what comes after Charlie Kirk is going to be far, far worse. Charlie had a vision for young men in this country, a vision of self worth, a vision of building, a vision of morality, getting out of the party culture and … (24:58–25:05)

CLAIM

Asserts that successors to Charlie Kirk could be more extreme or problematic.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Spencer Cox

“Threats of political violence to members of Congress and threats against judges had doubled in less than a decade.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 05:03-05:13
“We lead the nation in service every year, we lead the nation in charitable giving.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 09:17-09:22
“70% of Americans hate where we are right now [politically].”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 30:32-30:37
“For years now, I believe the most critical threat in our country today is the belief on both sides that the other side is trying to destroy…”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 01:54-02:04
“I believe [loneliness] is at the core of all of our greatest problems in this country right now.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 01:55-43:43
“Attempted assassinations that we had seen, the different types of shootings, the rise of illiberalism, I guess, for lack of a better term.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 05:12-05:21
“The rejection of Western norms of free speech, for example, others, campus protests coming out of 2020, the January 6th and the George Floyd…”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 05:21-05:37
“This wasn't a local shooting or something that impacts us, that this was much, much bigger.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 09:45-09:52
“The President of the United States [was] on the phone with me within an hour.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 09:52-09:57
“The algorithms, especially, steal our agency and addict us to them and show us the worst of humanity.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 13:23-13:35
“We've lost so much trust in our institutions, so much trust in our elected leaders.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 16:27-16:32
“We do need to try to figure out if there is something we can do societally to prevent these things from happening.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 17:01-17:09
“We have to do that within the bonds of our constitution and within the bounds of the law.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 19:50-19:58
“I don't think that you can remove this radical ideology through just pure repression or the means of government enforcement.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 20:53-21:10
“I will tell you, when I started that Disagree Better initiative, I got attacked on the right and the left.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 23:40-23:46
“I've heard it said that by killing Charlie Kirk you've now created a million more Charlie Kirks.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 25:42-25:48
“The only way we survive as a country...only survives if we can find an off ramp and continue to engage with each other.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 25:54-26:10
“Neither party is offering [Americans] an opportunity for anything different.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 30:39-30:43
“There is a market failure, as we traditionally understand market failures, in both major parties.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 30:42-30:48
“Political violence is an attack on our ideals [and] the founding principles of our country.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 32:59-33:03
“Legislators whose kids have asked them to get out of politics because it's too dangerous.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 33:07-33:14
“The founders gave us the roadmap to [unity] through the constitutional framework.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 35:39-35:45
“One of the big mistakes that we have made over the last 250 years with our country is losing the concept of federalism.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 37:06-37:14
“They gave the federal government a very distinct set of powers, and the rest of that was left to the states.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 37:34-37:42
“California should be very different than Utah.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 38:15-38:18
“When I graduated from Utah State University in 1998, if you took Political Science 101, the first thing you learn is that all politics is…”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 41:13-41:26
“The rise of cable news first and foremost, and the need for content and the understanding by cable news, working with psychologists and…”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 42:23-42:41
“There's no question the algorithms drive us.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 42:54-42:57
“It's well documented [that social media cherry-picks the worst of the other side].”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 43:11-43:19
“My wife and I are 12 years sober when it comes to cable news.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 44:33-44:37
“We had a Fox News addiction in our family.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 44:38-44:43
“We've been happier, healthier, our marriage is better, our relationship with our children are better [since stopping cable news].”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 44:42-44:49
“We passed some of the most comprehensive social media legislation in the country a couple years ago here in Utah.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 49:05-49:19
“We've passed several bills since then that I think are really important to protecting our young people.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 49:13-49:19
“We do not allow historically contractual relationships between corporations and minors for their data.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 50:02-50:10
“I believe these tech companies with trillion dollar market caps combined are doing the same thing [as tobacco and opioid companies].”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 51:12-51:19
“AI is going to make this a thousand times worse.”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 53:51-53:54
“There is a lot of research about this. And again, I would point to Stanford, who's run some pretty interesting experiments with what they…”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 54:45-54:53
“One of the things that can deescalate, and especially, interestingly enough, people's thoughts towards political violence were having…”
Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink | The Ezra Klein Show | Uploaded September 19, 2025 | 55:13-55:29