Michelle Bendele

A Christian full time working wife and mother of one who's life wouldn't be complete without her daily dose of Days of Our Lives and NKOTB.

[Tyler Bowyer @tylerbowyer]

Thank you for bringing our hero home @VP @JDVance.

We are so grateful for you.

[Charlie Kirk @charliekirk11]

Jesus defeated death so you can live.

[JD Vance @JDVance]

A while ago, probably in 2017, I appeared on Tucker Carlson's Fox show to talk about God knows what. Afterwards a name I barely knew sent me a DM on twitter and told me I did a great job. It was Charlie Kirk, and that moment of kindness began a friendship that lasted until today.

Charlie was fascinated by ideas and always willing to learn and change his mind. Like me, he was skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016. Like me, he came to see President Trump as the only figure capable of moving American politics away from the globalism that had dominated for our entire lives. When others were right, he learned from them. When he was right--as he usually was--he was generous. With Charlie, the attitude was never, "I told you so." But: "welcome."

Charlie was one of the first people I called when I thought about running for senate in early 2021. I was interested but skeptical there was a pathway. We talked through everything, from the strategy to the fundraising to the grassroots of the movement he knew so well. He introduced me to some of the people who would run my campaign and also to Donald Trump Jr. "Like his dad, he's misunderstood. He's extremely smart, and very much on our wavelength." Don took a call from me because Charlie asked him too.

Long before I ever committed (even in my mind) to running, Charlie had me speak to his donors at a TPUSA event. He walked me around the room and introduced me. He gave me honest feedback on my remarks. He had no reason to do this, no expectation that I'd go anywhere. I was polling, at that point, well below 5 percent. He did it because we were friends, and because he was a good man.

When I became the VP nominee--something Charlie advocated for both in public and private--Charlie was there for me. I was so glad to be part of the president's team, but candidly surprised by the effect it had on our family. Our kids, especially our oldest, struggled with the attention and the constant presence of the protective detail. I felt this acute sense of guilt, that I had conscripted my kids into this life without getting their permission. And Charlie was constantly calling and texting, checking on our family and offering guidance and prayers. Some of our most successful events were organized not by the campaign, but by TPUSA. He wasn't just a thinker, he was a doer, turning big ideas into bigger events with thousands of activists. And after every event, he would give me a big hug, tell me he was praying for me, and ask me what he could do. "You focus on Wisconsin," he'd tell me. "Arizona is in the bag." And it was.

Charlie genuinely believed in and loved Jesus Christ. He had a profound faith. We used to argue about Catholicism and Protestantism and who was right about minor doctrinal questions. Because he loved God, he wanted to understand him.

Someone else pointed out that Charlie died doing what he loved: discussing ideas. He would go into these hostile crowds and answer their questions. If it was a friendly crowd, and a progressive asked a question to jeers from the audience, he'd encourage his fans to calm down and let everyone speak. He exemplified a foundational virtue of our Republic: the willingness to speak openly and debate ideas.

Charlie had an uncanny ability to know when to push the envelope and when to be more conventional. I've seen people attack him for years for being wrong on this or that issue publicly, never realizing that privately he was working to broaden the scope of acceptable debate.

He was a great family man. I was talking to President Trump in the Oval Office today, and he said, "I know he was a very good friend of yours." I nodded silently, and President Trump observed that Charlie really loved his family. The president was right. Charlie was so proud of Erika and the two kids. He was so happy to be a father. And he felt such gratitude for having found a woman of God with whom he could build a family.

Charlie Kirk was a true friend. The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him. I am on more than a few group chats with Charlie and people he introduced me to over the years. We celebrate weddings and babies, bust each other's chops, and mourn the loss of loved ones. We talk about politics and policy and sports and life. These group chats include people at the very highest level of our government. They trusted him, loved him, and knew he'd always have their backs. And because he was a true friend ,you could instinctively trust the people Charlie introduced you to. So much of the success we've had in this administration traces directly to Charlie's ability to organize and convene. He didn't just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.

I was in a meeting in the West Wing when those group chats started lighting up with people telling Charlie they were praying for him. And that's how I learned the news that my friend had been shot. I prayed a lot over the next hour, as first good news and then bad trickled in.

God didn't answer those prayers, and that's OK. He had other plans. And now that Charlie is in heaven, I'll ask him to talk to big man directly on behalf of his family, his friends, and the country he loved so dearly.

You ran a good race, my friend.

We've got it from here.

[Michelle Bendele @MichelleBendele]

@McDonalds $2.99 used to get you two cheeseburgers, a medium fry and a medium drink. This pricing is nothing to celebrate.

[Michelle Bendele @MichelleBendele]

Happy Independence Day!

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

The American people gave President Trump a mandate — and we’ve got the receipts

The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers on every promise to Make America Great Again. 🇺🇸🧾

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

VICTORY: The One Big Beautiful Bill Passes U.S. Congress, Heads to President Trump’s Desk 🇺🇸🎉

[Turning Point USA @TPUSA]

If someone breaks into your house, you don’t hand them the keys.

Same goes for a nation.

[Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok]

Hakeem Jefrries in 2022: The filibuster is dripping in racist history and defense of slavery and Jim Crow

He’s been speaking now for nearly 9 hours

[Michelle Bendele @MichelleBendele]

@dirtGrrrl @defense_diaries Some of the victim's families have posted about it and about how angry they are.

[Michelle Bendele @MichelleBendele]

@Gap422 @mikerreports @BillMelugin_ Make that Wednesday, the plea hearing will be on Wednesday.

[Michelle Bendele @MichelleBendele]

@Gap422 @mikerreports @BillMelugin_ Sounds like plea hearing is on Thursday.

[Michelle Bendele @MichelleBendele]

@Gap422 @mikerreports @BillMelugin_ More like they had him dead to rights and he wanted to avoid the death penalty at all costs.

[Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh]

🚨 BREAKING: SecDef Pete Hegseth stares right at the press and goes scorched earth, spelling out their insanity. I could watch this all day.

"You, and I mean specifically YOU, the press, you cheer against Trump so hard, it's in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump, because you want him not to be successful so bad, you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes. You have to hope maybe they weren't effective."

"Maybe the way the Trump administration is representative isn't true. So let's take half truths, spun information, leaked information, and then spin it, spin it in every way we can to try to cause doubt and manipulate the mind, the public mind, over whether or not our brave pilots were successful."

"How many stories have been written about how hard it is to, I don't know, fly a plane for 36 hours? Has MSNBC done that story? Has Fox? Have we done the story how hard that is?"

"There are so many aspects of what our brave men and women did that because of the hatred of this press corps are undermined because people are trying to leak and spin that it wasn't successful. It's irresponsible."

"You're undermining the success of incredible B-2 pilots and incredible F-35 pilots and incredible refuelers and incredible air defenders who accomplished their mission."

"How about we talk about how special America is, that only we have these capabilities? I think it's too much to ask, unfortunately, for the fake news. So we're used to that."

[Lawrence Jones III @LawrenceBJones3]

The Biden administration posted a photo of Delta Force Operators (you know, the ones who don’t exist), which they later deleted. However, the damage had already been done. Many of the operators’ parents were unaware of this. The enemy now knows their faces, and there was no pushback from the press)

[Mike Lee @BasedMikeLee]

Thank you, @nayibbukele, for receiving Tren de Aragua members in El Salvador

You’re a great friend to the United States

[Michelle Bendele @MichelleBendele]

@_SiakaMassaquoi What a wonderful testimony.

[Charlie Kirk @charliekirk11]

Gas-prices dropped for a third straight week.

Egg prices are dropping like a rock.

New jobs for native born workers finally outpaced foreigners for the first time in a year.

There were 10,000 new manufacturing jobs after Biden averaged a loss of 9,000/mo.

Trillions of dollars in new foreign direct investment in high tech industries and auto manufacturing.

Government workers lost 10,000 jobs in February vs. last two years of Biden where one-in-four new jobs created under Biden were government jobs.

Tariffs will cause short-term ups and downs, but they also have the potential to force huge, long term benefits.

Trust the process.

A made in America economic boom is the prize.