Montana Talks Host Aaron Flint Catches Up w/ Vivek Ramaswamy

I couldn't imagine what it must have been like for Vivek Ramaswamy. I was hanging out in the hallway backstage before the Turning Point USA event at Montana State University. You could hear the music echoing from the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse before Vivek and Montana Governor Greg Gianforte (R-MT) were set to take the stage.

How do you walk out there, knowing that your dear friend was supposed to be there by your side- before a political terrorist assassination took his life roughly one month earlier?

Charlie Kirk was supposed to be there at Montana State on Tuesday night. He was just at The University of Montana roughly one year ago.

Vivek and his security detail rushed in about 15 minutes prior to the start time. I was able to catch up with him briefly before he took the stage, and I joked with him about how he did the Superman change out of his workout clothes and right into his suit.

Vivek Ramaswamy: "We had a good hike. Did Lava Lake. I love coming out here. Actually- funny encounter in Montana was- I was here in June with Charlie in Dillon, Montana, not far from where we are right now, at a different event where he and I did a little fireside chat together. So it obviously comes with sentimental circumstances that we're here, but it's a hopefully positive occasion where we're going to get a bunch of people together who care about the future of our country, to talk in the open about the future of our country, and even when we disagree, let's do it respectfully. That's who we
are."

Aaron Flint: "What's it like here being in the- I'm just sitting in the tunnel right now at the Brick Breeden Field House. I'm hearing the warm up music out there. I know the place is packed. You got to go out there. You don't have your sidekick with you. This time, I was just watching a video of you with Charlie Kirk. What's it like getting ready to go out there right now?"

Vivek Ramaswamy: "It's a little emotional. I mean, it is...this was when Charlie and I used to have our best conversations- were backstage, before we went out on the front stage. And sitting in that green room without him, it was his presence that was missing. But at the same time, they may have killed his body, but they will not kill his soul, and they will never kill his legacy. And we're going to continue and carry on the mission of open dialog and debate, especially with young people. I probably went to more college campuses with him than anybody else in American politics, and to me, that was both an honor, but a responsibility we have to take that to the next level. And we'll try that tonight."

I also asked him about the turning point facing America as we approach our nation's 250th birthday.

Click below for the full audio of my chat with Vivek and Governor Gianforte. They're both featured in the below podcast from the 9a hour (you can also hear 3 more hours of earlier coverage in that same podcast):