From the Kirk Memorial to Joe Manchin’s Houseboat: Can We Still Meet in the Middle?

Citizen McCain with Meghan McCain

Citizen Cain Productions

News, News Commentary, Society & Culture

3.9 • 692 Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Meghan and Miranda open with the most-talked-about moment from Charlie Kirk’s memorial in Arizona, Erica Kirk publicly forgiving her husband’s killer, and what that act of faith and restraint means for a grieving movement and a fractured country. They also unpack the media’s reaction, the surge of young churchgoers some listeners are seeing, and whether the Republican Party is entering a more openly Christian era. Then Senator Joe Manchin joins to discuss his new book, Dead Center in Defense of Common Sense, why he chose life on a D.C. houseboat, and the lost art of bipartisan hospitality (yes, he used to host mixed-party dinners: four Dems, four Republicans). Manchin gets candid on closed primaries, the rise of independents, border security vs. legal immigration, putting assets in a blind trust, resisting “party-line” votes, and the McCain/Lieberman model of political courage. He also shares personal stories, from carrying refrigerators up walk-ups as a teen to perfect Italian meatballs (veal/pork/beef) and the history of Harpers Ferry. Plus audience Q&A: a dad on introducing his 16-year-old to public life (and flip phones), a New Yorker on how the press misunderstands Christian worship, and a sober look at rhetoric vs. responsibility after political violence.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Megan McCain has entered the chat.
0:07.0	Megan McCain has entered the chat. Hi, welcome to Citizen McCain.
0:34.6	Don't forget to raise your digital hand if you have a question.
0:38.3	And I know you're going to have a question because we have a very exciting guest today. We have Senator Joe Manchin from the great state of West Virginia. And he has a new book out called Dead Center in Defense of Common Sense. I think we have the photo of the book. We want to put it up or put it up when he comes on. we have a lot of things to obviously ask him. I'm very excited to speak with him.
0:57.1	I know you are too, Miranda. Really quickly,
0:59.9	though, we have to obviously talk about the Charlie Kirk funeral memorial yesterday in my
1:07.2	home state of Arizona. I watched parts of it. I did not watch the entire thing through.
1:13.7	It was, as Ashley reminded me, over five hours. So I obviously wasn't watching straight through,
1:18.2	but I did see a lot of the speeches. And I think we all, probably every human being who watches
1:24.0	an agreement that Erica Kirk, Charlie's widow is a beacon of just strength
1:28.9	and fortitude and courage that I certainly would not have had given the situation.
1:34.9	I don't either. I want to play really quick the clip that not only we're talking about,
1:41.1	but that everyone will be talking about for a long time,
1:44.7	where she talks about how, what she is going to do with her husband's killer.
1:50.7	I don't remember which clip it is. I apologize. Got it. Thank you.
1:54.6	Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do.
2:01.5	That man, that young man,
2:07.4	I forgive him.
2:11.2	Thank you.
2:11.7	Thank you. I think that is so brave and deeply healing for the country.
2:27.4	And obviously that is a woman who is in very deep faith in her life.
2:31.7	And I think to be able to do that, I mean, there's just no explanation
	...

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