‘the Money You Save Is Not Worth The Honor You Compromise’ — Why Charlie Kirk’s Dating Advice Rattled The Internet

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Charlie Kirk, once dubbed the “youth whisperer of the American right,” has some advice for young men — or any man looking for a wife: Pull out the wallet.

The founder of Turning Point USA, Kirk said on a recent podcast that he would “go into debt and scrub dishes” before he would let a woman he was courting pay for a date.

To be clear, Kirk isn’t in the dating pool — he’s been married for four years and has two children. But the subject came up when he was talking to the hosts of The Iced Coffee Hour podcast, one of whom said he splits the check on dates “quite a lot.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to offend you — you guys are great — but that’s incomprehensible for me,” Kirk replied, saying he would find it humiliating for a date to pay. “By the way, the money you save is not worth the honor that you compromise,” he said.

“You see it as such a big deal,” the podcaster replied.

“It’s a massive deal,” Kirk rejoined.

Later Kirk told Megyn Kelly that he had gotten overwhelming support from women who told him “yes, thank you, we need more of this. Why don’t men do this anymore?” But men had complained.

“Listen, a man needs to demonstrate leadership and the capacity to provide early on,” Kirk told Kelly. Previously, he had said, “Women want to be taken care of. I know that’s super provocative, but deep down, they want a man to be able to provide for them financially.”

Megyn Kelly reacts to Charlie Kirk's viral video saying men MUST pay for dinner on a first date. pic.twitter.com/guRSi3lTbL

— Girl patriot (@Girlpatriot1974) August 6, 2025

It may be a provocative take, but USA Today inadvertently offered some evidence of Kirk’s position in an article on why some young women are pursuing “hypergamy” — described in the article as “marrying up.” A TikTok influencer is teaching women how to cultivate relationships with financially successful men, the article explains.

The discussion, as well as a recent spate of viral articles in which single women complain about single men (headlines in The New York Times include “The Trouble With Wanting Men” and “Why Mankeeping is Turning Women Off,”) show that something is off kilter in the dating world today, and it can’t all be explained by politics.

If you’re married, kiss your spouse and be grateful you’re not swimming in today’s dating pool. It seems increasingly complicated out there.

Recommended reading

Sharlee Mullins Glenn asks us to consider why conservatives disagree on whether Donald Trump is one of them.

“As an interesting exercise, my friend and I measured the actions of our current president against ... seven principles — a challenge I’d like to extend to all my fellow conservatives."

Is Trump a conservative?

Asma Uddin looks at the real-time effects of the Supreme Court’s decision to end affirmative action.

She writes: “The Constitution’s promise of equal protection isn’t fulfilled by pretending that race doesn’t matter; it’s fulfilled by knowing when it does.”

Does equal protection require ignoring unequal conditions? I don’t think so

And in her “State of Faith” newsletter, Mariya Manzhos introduces us to Doug Wilson, the Idaho pastor who doesn’t mind being called a Christian nationalist.

“His network of over a hundred churches now stretches from the Pacific Northwest to Washington, D.C., where he recently opened a new congregation. Pete Hegseth, the current Secretary of Defense, attends a Tennessee church that belongs to Wilson’s ministry.”

Is America a Christian nation?

End Notes

Disney can’t stay out of the news, for all the wrong reasons. This week, we learned why a star of “Snow White” thinks the reboot of the beloved classic failed, and also that Gina Carano has obtained what appears to be a generous settlement from her former employer for her firing from “The Mandalorian.” (The terms were not disclosed, but Carano wrote online that she was smiling.)

Here’s my story, which also answers the pressing question: What, exactly, is a grogu?

Is it OK to have Disney+ again? What the Gina Carano settlement means for her fans — and for Disney

In a more serious matter, Illinois has announced that it will be screening schoolchildren for mental health, a move that seems to be about as popular as the new name for MSNBC. Abigail Shrier, who last year spoke to the Deseret News about her book “Bad Therapy,” called the policy “disastrous.” You can read more here:

Illinois plans to screen children for mental health. Why does Abigail Shrier think it's a terrible idea?

And finally, MSNBC’s new name was dead on arrival.

That’s not just my assessment or that of the many people on social media who noted that MS NOW sounds more like a newsletter about multiple sclerosis than a news and opinion brand. The new name was even described as “baffling” by the media columnist at Columbia Journalism Review.

An old saw says, no matter how far you’ve gone down the wrong road, go back. Is it too late for MSNBC to rid itself of a new name that it hasn’t even yet adopted?

The New York Times notes that there is precedent — “Aberdeen, a British investment firm, dropped most of its vowels in 2021 and became ‘abrdn’ in a widely mocked effort to seem more ‘modern.’” The company later changed back to the original, as did Gap when a new logo was not well received.

Then again, it’s hard to find anybody but Elon Musk who was happy when Twitter became X, and that change persists.

If you have any suggestions for a new name, let me know. I’m thinking simply “Maddow.”

As always, thank you for reading and being part of the Right to the Point community. You can email me at Jgraham@deseret.com, or send me a DM on X, where I’m @grahamtoday.