Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Apr 18 2025

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show - Daily Review Summary

Episode: Daily Review with Clay and Buck
Release Date: April 18, 2025

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1. Introduction and Overview

In this episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton delve into pressing political and social issues, offering their unfiltered perspectives with a blend of intelligence and humor. Skipping past advertisements and introductory segments, the discussion quickly moves into the heart of current events, focusing on controversial political figures, COVID-19 reckonings, racial tensions, and an in-depth interview with Mike Gallagher from Palantir.

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2. Political Turmoil and Letitia James Controversy

Clay and Buck kick off the episode by addressing the contentious actions of New York Attorney General Letitia James. They criticize her handling of legal matters, particularly her confrontation with Donald Trump and allegations of mortgage fraud.

• Clay Travis (02:01): "This is just President Trump's revenge tour."

• Buck Sexton (07:16): "Let me just say to all New Yorkers and to all Americans, the allegations are baseless."

The hosts argue that James is using her legal battles as political fodder against Trump, suggesting that her actions are more about retaliation than justice. They highlight the skepticism surrounding her claims of harassment and the reduction of bail for individuals involved in legal disputes.

• Clay Travis (13:55): "If you bring charges, I don't think you could stay the Attorney General of New York if you're facing felony charges in the state of New York."

Buck further emphasizes the flawed defense strategies employed by James, comparing her maneuvers to political theater rather than addressing substantive legal issues.

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3. COVID-19 Reckoning and Public Distrust

The conversation transitions to the ongoing discourse surrounding COVID-19, particularly focusing on the website Covid.gov, which the hosts claim has been revamped by the White House to address past misinformation.

• Clay Travis (04:34): "The White House has taken over Covid.gov and their buck are all sorts of things on that website including among others, masks don't do anything to stop the spread."

They urge listeners to visit Covid.gov to uncover what they describe as a "reckoning" for misinformation spread during the pandemic. The hosts express frustration over conflicting guidance and the perceived lack of accountability for officials like Dr. Fauci.

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4. Racial Tensions and High-Profile Violent Incidents

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to analyzing the tragic stabbing incident involving Carmelo Anthony and a 17-year-old in Frisco, Texas. Clay and Buck critique the public and media reaction to the case, highlighting perceived racial biases.

• Buck Sexton (25:05): "They are treating this as though it's some kind of vengeance for previous wrongs."

They draw parallels between this case and historical incidents, questioning the media's portrayal and the societal implications of such events. The hosts argue that if the roles were reversed—if a white individual had committed a similar act—the media response would be drastically different, underscoring their belief in existing racial double standards.

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5. Interview with Mike Gallagher: Accountability in COVID-19 Origins

The show features an interview with Mike Gallagher, head of defense at Palantir, who discusses the origins of COVID-19 and calls for greater accountability.

• Mike Gallagher (37:40): "Accountability starts with getting the information out there, even if it's super embarrassing to the government agencies."

Gallagher emphasizes the need for transparency regarding the lab leak theory of COVID-19's origins, criticizing the government's handling of information and the scientific community's response. He advocates for declassification of relevant intelligence to restore public trust and better prepare for future pandemics.

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6. The Role of Technology in Modern Defense

Continuing the interview, Gallagher explores the critical role of technology in national defense, particularly in the context of geopolitical tensions with China and Russia.

• Mike Gallagher (43:23): "Palantir... believes that America is the greatest country in the history of the world, that we should have the most lethal military in the world."

He discusses how companies like Palantir are essential in advancing defense technology and supporting the U.S. military's capabilities. Gallagher also touches on the shifting attitudes of Silicon Valley towards defense collaboration, citing Palantir's proactive stance as a model for other tech firms.

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7. Reflections on Free Speech and Media Censorship

Clay and Buck reflect on the state of free speech and media censorship, drawing connections between past and present challenges.

• Buck Sexton (66:30): "Don't ever let that go when it really counted."

They reminisce about earlier days of social media censorship during the COVID-19 pandemic and applaud Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter as a pivotal moment for free speech. The hosts stress the importance of accountability and vigilance in preserving open discourse, especially in the face of increasing political polarization.

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8. Personal Anecdotes and Listener Engagement

In a lighter segment, Buck shares a personal story about filling in for Rush Limbaugh, highlighting the support system he has and the memorable moments from his early career.

• Buck Sexton (53:21): "This is what it was like years ago... All the stars aligned."

This segment serves to humanize the hosts and engage listeners with relatable experiences, contrasting the heavier topics discussed earlier in the episode.

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9. Closing Remarks and Upcoming Content

The episode concludes with Clay and Buck promoting upcoming segments, including discussions on financial preparedness and supporting causes like Thrivent. They encourage listeners to stay informed and engaged with the topics that matter most to them.

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Key Takeaways

• Political Accountability: The hosts urge for greater scrutiny of political figures like Letitia James, emphasizing the need for legal and ethical accountability.

• COVID-19 Transparency: There's a strong call for declassifying information related to COVID-19's origins to rebuild public trust and prevent future pandemics.

• Racial Bias in Media: The discussion highlights perceived racial double standards in media coverage of violent incidents, advocating for equal treatment regardless of race.

• Technological Advancements in Defense: Emphasizing the importance of tech companies in national defense, the episode underscores the necessity of innovation to counter global threats.

• Free Speech Vigilance: Reflecting on past censorship during the pandemic, Clay and Buck stress the importance of defending free speech in modern media landscapes.

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the main discussions and insights from the April 18, 2025 episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, providing listeners with a clear understanding of the critical issues addressed without needing to listen to the full episode.

Transcript

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome in Friday Edition. Good Friday Edition. I know a lot of you may have the day off. I know all my kids do. So if you hear screaming yelling in the background, I promise they're fine. They're probably just playing video games downstairs. We've got a lot to dive into, but one of my favorite. Well, couple of things that are out there. First, this idiot Maryland senator has been able to meet with the wife beating the potentially Human trafficking. The gang member, the illegal immigrant from El Salvador who has been returned to El Salvador. I can't believe this is the real resistance that Democrats are mustering. We Talked about yesterday, 56% of Americans are in favor of all illegals being deported. What do you think just off the top here? Buck 9010. If you told people, hey, this guy from El Salvador who has clear gang affiliation with MS.13, a very violent El Salvadorian gang, he has been accused credibly by his own wife of beating her on multiple occasions. And the details are not pretty. In the Maryland court proceeding related to that, he was pulled over in the state of Tennessee, suspected of human trafficking. The Tennessee State Highway Patrol contacted the FBI and the FBI said just let him go. During Joe Biden's era of no punishment for anyone who illegally entered the country, and we know that he illegally entered the country, you think 10% of Americans consider him to be a worthy cause for a sitting United States senator to obsess with or for an American political party to decide is a foundational issue for their representatives to be focused on?

[Buck Sexton]

I think that it's a little higher than that, but it's a very clear minority. I would guess it's more like 20 to 25% because about 20% of the country is politically insane. And we could go through the. Because it's about that also, even on the, you know, 18 year old boys should be able to play against 18 year old girls if they say they're trans in sports. I mean, you look at some of these issues, Clay, and we're dealing with a country that's 20% wacko. I would say. Yeah, that's my general. So, so it's, it's somewhere around there. I would just throw into the mix here. You know, Clay, there's, there's no way that they're going to easily change their minds on how they're going to approach Trump with any of this. But he's not giving them a lot to work with.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, right.

[Buck Sexton]

He's not doing things that, that would be easy for a rational political party to oppose the stuff that he's doing. And you know, the one place that they thought they were getting some traction was on tariffs. Okay. He did a 90 day pause and he's negotiating. Let's see, markets have stabilized. Let's see. Right. That, so that people won't get, people can't get that freaked out about it because that's still very much in progress. And at the end of it, I think he may end, he may have some really great deals done. So they, they've decided to go with this and while I agree with you, it's not a strong hand they are playing, I don't know what other hand they have to play right now. What are they going to say? Kick the borders wide open again. We, we want all the illegals coming in.

[Clay Travis]

We will talk about that a little bit more. I also encourage you if you are still angry about COVID as we are in the five year anniversary of 15 days, I think to stop the spread basically right, it's a little bit past that. But go right now on your phones to Covid.gov the White House has taken over Covid.gov and their buck are all sorts of things on that website including among others, masks don't do anything to stop the spread. There was all sorts of conflicting guidance. This leaked from a Chinese lab. Dr. Fauci was involved in the COVID up. Again, this is a reckoning for those of us out there that have wanted a reckoning for all the lies we were told during COVID Covid.gov check it out and make sure that you do not miss it today. It is a incredible good Friday for those of us out there who have been demanding this reckoning. Speaking of reckonings though, Buck I our good friend Letitia James just to confirm staff, she has still not accepted our offer to come on, I'm assuming and we have not gotten any word from Kathy Hochul, I'm assuming either, or Andrew Cuomo, but they have the opportunity to come on and talk about this. She says remember to refresh New York Attorney General Letitia James who said no one is above the law and no one should be able to lie on a mortgage application to get favorable treatment. These were her own words, not mine. She now says that despite the fact that she has been caught lying on her mortgage applications, this is just President Trump's revenge tour. She has spoken out about the lies and the fraud that she has committed and she says this is just about President Trump. Buck, you predicted this, but let's listen to cut four.

[Buck Sexton]

Let me just say to all New Yorkers and to all Americans, the allegations are baseless.

[Clay Travis]

The allegations are nothing more than a revenge tour.

[Buck Sexton]

And as you mentioned, my office was successful in securing a $454 million judgment.

[Clay Travis]

Against Donald Trump and others for exaggerating the value of his assets, engaged in a pattern and practice of fraud and.

[Buck Sexton]

The interest is accruing each and every day while the case is on appeal.

[Clay Travis]

In the first department.

[Buck Sexton]

It's important that individuals Know that this.

[Clay Travis]

Is nothing more than the continuation of the Tor. He went after law firms, universities, immigrants, women. Thousands of federal employees right now are unemployed. Our government is in chaos and in disarray.

[Buck Sexton]

Medicaid, Social Security.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, let's go ahead and cut her off here. So, Buck, am I missing it, or did she explain anything about why she lied on her mortgage claim in that. In that litany that we played for you?

[Buck Sexton]

Well, she's going full.

[C]

She.

[Buck Sexton]

He's going all in on the Clay Davis maneuver here from the wire, which again, for those of you who haven't seen it, a black politician in Baltimore, Democrat is caught red handed. Red handed with a mortgage fraud. And he just gets up on the stand and is like, this is racism. I've done so much for my community. Has nothing to do with anything.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, just.

[Buck Sexton]

And he gets off. Right. It's. It's. That's the move that she's pulling her. Except in this case, she's just leaning in on the anti Trump thing, not the. This is, you know, racist persecution. Yes. She's saying that this is all. All about going after Trump. No, it's actually all about whether you committed mortgage fraud, and she won't speak to it. But I will say this. If you haven't committed. You know, I get how this game goes. You know, too, Clay, if you haven't committed mortgage fraud, I mean, when you say the allegations are baseless, why don't you just say, I didn't do this thing? Do you know what I mean? I feel like she's speaking about this in a very lawyerly way that doesn't address did you do it?

[Clay Travis]

Well, this is also the problem she's in. I'll play cut six here in a moment. But the problem she's in, as we told you, this isn't a complicated case. Right. A lot of allegations of impropriety are really complicated. They kind of make your eyes roll back into your head. Most of you at some point in time either have or will fill out a mortgage application. It is not believable to me that the chief legal officer, a highly trained lawyer of New York, would accidentally click that her primary residence is in Virginia or would accidentally say that she's married to her dad, both of which work in her favor to lower the rate of mortgage that she might otherwise have to pay.

[Buck Sexton]

I would also add to that, Clay, you and I have bought houses. A lot of people listening. I'd say probably most of the people listening have bought a house at some point in time. You have conversations with Your lender. This isn't just, this isn't like checking a box when you're in a hurry at Walmart to, you know, return something and, oh, I clicked the wrong thing. This is a major, this is the largest purchase that 99% of people in the country make is a home. All right? And unless you're getting like a Bezos yacht. And this is a situation where she would have had conversations with her lender about whether this is an investment property or a primary resident. We've gone through this, so there's so many ways.

[Clay Travis]

There is no defense.

[Buck Sexton]

There's no defense because it's not possible. She would know that she got a preferential rate. She would know what the status of this home is. I own investment properties and I own my home. There's a, there's no way you could make this mistake the way she has. In. In, in error. Right. It's not possible.

[Clay Travis]

And it's, again, I think it's so key. The Virginia property in particular. She can't have lived there as her primary residence because legally she is required to live in the state of New York because she is New York's Attorney General. But make no mistake, her only defense is to claim Donald Trump or hey, this is sexism, this is racism. Here's cut six. She says people are harassing her relatives in Virginia. Buck, this is also. I know you said she spoke lawyerly, but this is also an admission in some ways that people other than her are living in her primary residence in a different state. Cut 6. I was under the impression by all of this that what they were really looking for is what they got, which is a headline saying, you know, Tish James is under a criminal investigation.

[Buck Sexton]

Is that pretty much what's going on here?

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, that's what they got.

[Buck Sexton]

That's what they got. And it's unfortunate that you have some.

[Clay Travis]

Of these right wing conservative individuals who are camped out in front of my home and in front of the homes.

[Buck Sexton]

Of my relatives in Virginia, harassing them.

[Clay Travis]

Each and every day. And it's unfortunate. Knocking on the doors of my neighbors and the neighbors of my relatives in.

[Buck Sexton]

The state of Virginia.

[Clay Travis]

It is nothing more than a headline. Nothing more than, again, retaliation against all.

[Buck Sexton]

Of the actions that I have taken.

[Clay Travis]

Successfully against Donald Trump. Okay, okay. But again, yeah, dive in.

[Buck Sexton]

Sorry. We're both very fired up and I don't want to ever cross talk. Clay. I just. Clay, Clay. First of all, she wasn't successful insofar as he's president now. And the whole game was to destroy Important. Right. I think that's kind of a big deal. Right. She's like, I was so successful. Mm. Actually, not so much. He won. Uh, but. But beyond that, the way that she's talking about this, it's. She's not addressing any of the things because I think she knows the information's going to come out that she did the thing, and then she's just going to say, it doesn't matter. You should nullify. You know, this is going to be the implicit argument. You should nullify mortgage fraud statutes. Because I'm a anti Trump warrior for the Democrats. And that's going to be the whole. The whole thing.

[Clay Travis]

This is why I think they need to bring state and federal charges in multiple jurisdictions, because you don't know what the jury pool you're going to get. I don't know what Norfolk looks like. I do know New York City. There may be a juror that will sit on that trial and say, I don't care that she dead delights lied, but I will not convict her.

[Buck Sexton]

I just actually spent for the first time I was in. We've got a great station in Norfolk. I was there for the first time recently when I was training with DJ Shipley at gbrs with my brothers. We overnighted in Norfolk. I'm just. It's a Navy town, but it's a heavily Democrat town. It's about 40%, I believe, African American, heavily Democrat town. So, you know, if you look into how this is going to go, she may be able to run the political game essentially, in both. In both jurisdictions. Well, it all depends who's on the jury. Right. Well, also, jury selection is going to be everything.

[Clay Travis]

If you bring charges. I don't think you could stay and be the Attorney General of New York if you're facing felony charges in the state of New York. I can't imagine. This is why we've reached out to Kathy Hochul, who so far has stayed fairly quiet. I don't understand how you could be the chief law enforcement officer of the State of New York and be facing felony charges for lying on your mortgage applications. I think she would have to resign.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

I think just by the charges.

[Buck Sexton]

I think that's true. So there's probably frantic behind the scenes as we discussed. The power to prosecute is the power to destroy. Oh, it doesn't matter. Even if you win or if you're innocent or anything else, the decision to prosecute. I would just add this, though, Clay, into our discussion about this. We already saw with Hunter Biden that when you have a Democrat who is important to the Democrat apparatus. They can be flagrantly guilty of the clearest felony, statutory violations and somehow they'll get away with it. So that was the game that she was playing, right? Hunter Biden didn't pay taxes, hid money, money laundering, you know, a whole bunch of things you could not a day, not a day in prison, everybody, not one day. Now difference is you don't have a Democrat president to bail out Tish James if this goes federal. But I think she's certainly relying on the state charges to evaporate very, very suddenly. So this is, this is interesting. By the way, wasn't the, didn't Carolyn Mosby guys, check this for me? The prosecutor in Baltimore who was very high profile for a while, Marilyn Mosby, didn't she go away for mortgage fraud or wasn't there a mortgage fraud issue?

[Clay Travis]

I think that's right.

[Buck Sexton]

I think, guys, check that one for me because this would just be remarkable if I'm, if I'm pulling this out of the memory bank and I'm correct. It's Friday, so I might be off, but we'll see. And we're going to take your calls on this one. I'm also just going to get this out of the way right away. Clay. The, the avalanche of emails from ladies who like short kings, ladies who like their men tall, short kings defending their height. It was crazy. Crazy. Last 24 hours. And some close friends of the show have also weighed in. So it's Friday. We're gonna have some fun with that later on. Get ready for it. I want you to be prepared for this uncertain financial future we're heading into right now. I think long term it's going to be great. I know Trump has got some fantastic plans and strategies that are unfolding. However, $37 trillion in debt, which is where we'll be soon enough. That's a lot of money no matter who's in charge. And the dollar is getting pressured. There's inflation, there's issues here. This is why diversifying into gold makes sense. Putting a portion of your savings in 401k into the one commodity that you and I know has increased over time. Gold just makes a lot of sense. Look at the price of gold over the last month. It's at near all time highs. Gold is a safe haven for savvy investors. This is where you should go to Birch Gold Group. They are my precious metals specialist, good people and a company that I just used a few weeks ago to get more gold holdings personally. First step is to text My Name Buck to 989898 Receive your FREE no Obligation Info kit on Gold. Learn how to hold gold and silver in a tax sheltered account. Birch Gold will help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a gold IRA for no money out of pocket. Text my name B U C k text Buck to 989898 to be connected with Birch Gold today.

[Clay Travis]

Making America great again isn't just one man, it's many. The Team 47 podcast Sundays at noon Eastern in the Clay and Buck Podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. It is Ryan here and I have a question for you. What do you do when you win? Like are you a fist pumper?

[Buck Sexton]

A woohooer?

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have supervision, enhanced hearing, extraordinary reflexes? To be, dare we say, superhuman? Well, Roku's new Pro Series TV can't do any of that for you, but with a 4K screen, side firing speakers and a blazing fast refresh rate, it'll sure feel like it. Elevate your entertainment using all your favorite apps like iHeart and Play all your music, radio and podcasts. With the new Roku Pro series, your senses aren't better. Your TV is.

[Buck Sexton]

Hey, Matt Gaetz here. Listen, after everything we've been through the last few years, saying we have trust issues is an understatement. They pushed a questionable vaccine and when we asked for alternatives like Ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine, they shut us down. They used pressure lies and red tape to block access to medications that were.

[C]

Once easy to get.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Not some bloated system.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

All I'm going to say so it don't be asked later is that was disrespectful and just shows you all the character who is not invited. He knows that it's inappropriate to be near this family, but he did it. And so I say to people, actions speak louder than words. Okay? What he has failed into is the political operatives that want to make this thing a political thing of hate, yet bigotry and yet racism. We have conservative operatives that have been posting nonstop about this case.

[Clay Travis]

I, I boggled beyond belief. Let me give you the name, by the way, of this guy because he sounds like an unbelievable moron. The spokesperson's name is Dominique Alexander. That's not the attorney, I don't believe. I think it's the spokesperson. But Buck to start off by saying, well, your character's in question because you're the dad of the murdered kid and you show up at the press. I can't believe this is real.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, well, this is. Everyone who is paying attention to this case is seeing something quite clearly. There is bigotry and racism involved, but it is from black people against white people. Yeah, that is what is going on. And you can look at the comments being written all over the gofundme or however they're raising the money. You can look at the racial animus that is on display and that is actually very much going from some members. I think it's a very small minority, but some members of the black community who have decided to become involved in this case to give money, to give support. It's really just about showing their disdain and animus for white people. And it's out in the open. I don't know how else to describe it other than just to tell you what is going on here. They, they are treating this as though it's some kind of vengeance for previous wrongs. That this, this young man who was just murdered in the arms of his brother and in front of his father, in front of all their high school classmates, somehow this is righting a historical wrong. I mean, this is, this is demonic stuff. This is stuff of the demon that you are seeing here in terms of the mentality, the immorality. And if they want to make this into an OJ Thing, they being this spokesperson and some of the other kind of race hustlers who are around this and then people who are rallying behind this kid, it's going to be really bad for everybody and it's going to be really bad for the country. The facts of this case look very clear that this was a grotesque overreaction from a young man that led him to murder somebody that he had no business pulling a knife on or doing anything like this in the first place. And he should pay his debt to society and that means a very long prison sentence. I do not see this as the facts are not in dispute over what happened. The self defense claim and hat tip Matt Walsh for pointing this out. This kid, when the police arrive is like, oh, well, do you think I could claim self defense? Let me tell you something. If you pull a gun or a knife and you use it in self defense, you think you're doing self defense right away. You don't think about this after the fact. You're like, maybe I could try to convince people that this was self defense.

[Clay Travis]

There's no other defense, by the way, because in cold blood he stabbed this kid, by the way. Cut 32. This spokesperson says the Carmelo Anthony case reminds us of the black struggle in America. This is what he said. Listen to this.

[Buck Sexton]

And that is your constitutional right. It's people out here reminding us of the black struggle in America.

[Clay Travis]

The black struggle in America is to kill a kid at a track meet when the kid is unarmed and there's no danger. Whatsoever. Again, I hate that this is going to happen, but this has the potential to be a truly nasty story in Texas. The fact that, Buck, they're living in a $900,000 gated community house now, they have bought a new car with the money that's being donated to them. They let this killer, the 17 year old, out on a massively reduced bail from 1 million down to 250,000, which means they only have to post $25,000. And if you go look at the comments in the 400 plus thousand dollars that this family has raised, some of the most vile racist comments you can possibly imagine are being posted as people are posting their donations. Now if, if this were a white kid that had stabbed a black kid to death, if his bail had been reduced from a million to $250,000, if the family had moved into a gated community $900,000 house, if they had bought a brand new car, and if they were arguing this is the struggle of being white in America, this would be the number one story in America. If the comments on the $400,000 fundraiser were all as racist in pro white sentiment and anti black sentiment as they are pro black and anti white in the favor of this Carmelo Anthony individual, it would be the number one story in America and it would be a sign of how white supremacy has taken over the country in the Trump era. This is how it would be covered.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, imagine for a second, you know, to put this into, I think, a context that really also shows how grotesque what's going on is. A lot of you will remember this back in South Carolina, there was a shooting in 2015 of a man named Walter Scott. He was shot and killed. And there's video, very clear video, broad daylight, he is running away from a cop and the cop draws down and shoots him at about 25 yards in the back and kills him as he's running away. That is absolutely murder. That is absolutely not in any rules of engagement or self defense or force escalation regulations. And that officer ended up going away for, for, I think it was, it was murder. I can't remember what the sentence was. But imagine for a second, Clay, if when that happened, that video came out and the facts were not in dispute, all of a sudden there was this whole push to raise money for the officer who shot this black guy in the back and killed him for no reason. And, and that there were all these, all these spokesmen coming forward talking about the, the challenge of this white officer's life and how he, you know, this shows how. How tough it is on the job and everything. You would say, what the heck is wrong with these people? Right. What is going on here that's happening right now with this guy, Carmelo Anthony in Texas? You have people that are coming forward to really just celebrate the murder and back up the murder of a young white guy who did nothing to deserve being killed at all. I don't know how. It's very straightforward, I've noticed. Have you seen much coverage of this from, like, the New York Times, Washington Post? I was looking for it. I feel like they're not getting deep into this story yet. Am I not covering it?

[Clay Travis]

No, not only that. No, not only that. Buck, remember when they started tracking down everybody who donated to Kyle Rittenhouse for his defense fund?

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, some. I remember some guy, like, donated 50 bucks and a reporter showed up at their door. Do you remember this story? And outed them and did a full report on, hey, why are you donating to this, to this, this defense fund? Look at some of the comments that are being made. To my knowledge, nobody's covering any of the people that are donating to the defense fund. Now, I'm not saying that I think that that was a fair story in the first place. I think if you donate $50 to some charity event, I don't think the Washington Post should show up at your door knocking on it. But they did that to Kyle Rittenhouse's donors, and I think one of the guys got fired in Utah, if I remember correctly, recalling old stories. Let's see if I can nail that story, too, like Buck did earlier with Marilyn Mosby. But I remember just being in disbelief that you could donate to a charitable cause in some way and a reporter could show up at your doorstep asking, why did you donate 50. $50, about $50,000. $50 to Kyle Rittenhouse's defense fund was worthy of you having a story written about you and you being tracked down by a reporter to answer for why you gave $50 to his self defense fund.

[Buck Sexton]

It's. It's remarkable, though, that this is. This is happening and that you're not even. You're not seeing any Democrat, anybody with any standing in the Democrat or the black community come forward to say, guys, this is not. This is not what we should be doing here. What are you, you know. Yes. Is he entitled to a defense? Yes, of course he's entitled to legal defense. Is he entitled to all of the rights of the accused? Yes, he's entitled. Entitled all the rights to the accused. Should you be, you know, publicly attacking the father of the deceased and giving this kid's family a million dollar house to live in and all raising money and writing things online about how the white kid deserved it? That's what's going on, and that's the problem that we are seeing. That's what everyone, I think, is. Is reacting to. And it's very interesting. I wanted to check with you because I did a couple searches. New York Times, Washington Post. Not really touching this, because I think. I think that some of their reporters, and first of all, they're not as powerful as they used to be. They can't withstand the scrutiny the way they used to. I think they realize, Clay, you have a New York Times editorial, you know, that's. That's doing. Playing this whole game of, oh, we just need to raise money so that he has a good legal defense. Everything else, they will get absolutely annihilated in public. They can't defend this.

[Clay Travis]

This story in Utah. They. They did an investigation into a Utah paramedic who donated $10 to Kyle Rittenhouse's legal defense.

[Buck Sexton]

Unbelievable.

[Clay Travis]

They showed up at his house to ask him why he was doing it, and credit to our team for finding it. Utah reporter tracking down a guy who donated $10.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm. I. As I told you guys yesterday, I'm. I'm really loving this. This book. Mao the Untold Story about the Rise of. Of Mao Zedong and what he did. And I know it sounds like I'm making a huge. I'm weaving way too far here, but you read about the cultural revolution, Clay, and the mentality, and you're just like, yeah, that's Democrats in the first two years of Biden's administration. Yeah, just completely drunk on power. No principles, no fair play. Whatever they can do to destroy anybody in the way, you know, they took it to the max, and now they're paying the price as they. As they absolutely should. Look, the worst kept secret of someone behind in their payments to the IRS is just that they're behind in their payments. They know what's eventually gonna happen. And a lot of times people can feel a little embarrassed. They don't want to talk about it. No one knows more. No one knows that more. Rather than the people answering the phone at Rush tax resolution every day you wait, the IRS threat grows. Seizing your assets, garnishing your paycheck, targeting your business over payroll taxes, or even revoking your passport. That sinking feeling in your gut, it disappears when you take the first step and call the non judgmental person that is waiting to help you at Rush Tax Resolution. This is what they do all day. You're not going to shock them. They're not saying, oh my gosh, they're not going to. They're there to help you. They deal with this day in and day out and they get grateful. Great results for people. Get the relief you deserve. Call the pros at Rush Tax Resolution before the IRS contacts you first. That's very important. You don't want to wait. You want to be proactive. 877-554-rush is the number. Tell them Clay and Buck told you to call and you'll get a free IRS transcript investigation. Rush Tax is the only company that we trust and recommend to help you with this. Many listeners have already been helped, and guess what? Their tax nightmares are over. Rush Tax will only take your case if they know they can help you, period. Call 877-554-RUSH. That's 877-554-RUSH.

[Clay Travis]

Geek out with the guys on the Sunday Hang with Clay and Buck podcast. A new episode every Sunday. Find it on the iHeart app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Buck Sexton]

All right, welcome back into Clay and Buck. We are joined now by Mike Gallagher. He is head of defense at Palantir. He's got a really interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal. Time for accountability on the COVID lab leak cover up. Mike, appreciate you making the time for us.

[C]

It's an honor to be with you.

[Buck Sexton]

Let's just jump into it. You got into this in your piece. What does accountability look like? What does the public need to know? What steps have to be taken now when it comes to the lab leak cover up? I see. I love that there's a picture of Foushee touching a little fake virus in your op ed. He's the absolute worst. What needs to happen?

[C]

Well, I can't claim credit for the artwork that comes with these op eds, I just do the words. But it was. It was quite nice to me. It just starts with the basic step of complete declassification of relevant intelligence. If you remember, we actually passed a law when I was in Congress requiring that the Biden administration do just that. But they didn't comply with the law. When they finally did an investigation into the origins of COVID it was not serious. What came out was heavily redacted. It was a regurgitation of the prevailing consensus. And so there's been no accountability for our own scientific establishment, which was profoundly corrupted. Our own intelligence community was parroting the corrupted consensus of the scientists and Even the authors of the Proximal Origins article, which spread a lot of this misinformation, have not been held accountable. The opposite has happened. They continue to get awards, Foushee continues to be lauded, and we have centers named after Fauci. And without that basic step of accountability, people just aren't going to trust the government. They're not going to trust the health institutions, the scientific institutions, and therefore, we're less prepared to prevent a future pandemic. So I think accountability starts with getting the information out there, even if it's super embarrassing to the government agencies that allow taxpayer dollars to be funneled to corrupt nonprofits like the Ecohealth alliance and wind their way into the hands of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. There's been no accountability thus far.

[Clay Travis]

That's why I read your piece and I appreciate you coming on with us. I know how busy you are in your new job, and we'll talk about that maybe in a moment. But Trump, for people who do not know, I encourage you to go to Covid.gov today and look at everything that's being laid out there. We're five years after Covid, and Buck and I focus on this a lot because we're kind of history nerds. And one of the good things about time passing is over time, history, I like to think, becomes more honest about what really transpired. Are you optimistic that 20, 40 years from now we'll get a more honest version of what happened and the failures of this nation when it comes to responding to Covid in generations ahead? Or do you think the same people that are trying to stop us now will continue to fight for generations into the future to avoid acknowledging how wrong they were?

[C]

Well, I would only say I don't think we have 20, let alone 40 years. Right. We had a report a few months ago that in February, researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology had experimented with a new bat coronavirus that looked a lot similar to COVID 19. What you learn as you sort of dig into the nature of what happened in Wuhan, but lab accidents more broadly, is that these are actually more common than we realize. And so part of the push for accountability is based on the idea that the risks of a pandemic like the one we went through with COVID 19 or with one that could be far worse if a future virus were just as pathogenic or more lethal. Rather, those risks have not gone down. We haven't learned any lessons. And so we need accountability on a year timeline, not a 20 year time. Which is why I was very glad to see that President Trump launched his website. I would encourage all Americans to go to the website right now and really lays out five basic common sense truths that the government heretofore has not acknowledged. One, the virus possessed biological characteristics that you couldn't find in nature. Two, all the data suggests it stemmed from a single introduction into humans, not multiple spillovers like previous pandemics. Three, that the Wuhan Institute had conducted gain of function research at inadequate safety levels. Four, that the researchers at the Wuhan Institute fell ill with COVID months before the virus was allegedly discovered at a, at a wet market. And finally, after all these years, there's no scientific evidence of a natural origin that has surfaced. That alone has done more to advance the case of accountability than under four years of President Joe Biden. So we need to press the gas, we need to hold our own agencies accountable and again, we need to declassify all the relevant information.

[Buck Sexton]

Mike, I wanted to pivot a little bit here and lean into another area of expertise, something you're dealing with day in and day out. Now, as head of defense at Palantir Technologies, I think one of the lessons that anybody paying attention to what's going on over in Ukraine with Russia, and especially if they're looking, looking ahead at the possibility at some point in the future of some kind of hot conflict with China, is technology is going to be absolutely critical. We're looking at drones, we're looking at a future of telecommunications and high speed computing. Making decisions on the battlefield. That is truly the stuff of sci fi from not long ago and it's becoming reality now every day. With that said, I know Palantir is involved in the high tech edge of things with, with defense. It wasn't long ago where Google was upset, there were, there was like an uprising at Google over the prospect of doing anything that helped the United States Pentagon. Right. Like as if Silicon Valley was its own little fiefdom that did not actually become or was not actually a part of the United States. Do you feel like that is changing now? Do you feel like there's an understanding that companies that are US Based, that employ Americans have a role in defense and that means that they should take a patriotic position on yeah, we will work with the United States Pentagon.

[C]

I think it is changing. I mean, Google has actually recently changed its position. And if you remember at the time, the reason so many of us got upset set when Google abandoned Project Maven is they were simultaneously trying working with China. Exactly. An AI center in Beijing. It was subsequently revealed. There was a project that they did abandon, but a project they were exploring to censor Internet search in China. So the message was, well, we're cool working with a genocidal communist regime, but not with the American military, because the American military occasionally has to do things like kill Salafi jihadists in order to keep America safe. And so into the breach stepped Palantir, which was unapologetic in its belief that America is the greatest country in the history of the world, that we should have the most lethal military in the world, and that some folks, be they terrorists or other bad guys, need to be killed occasionally. And I do think what we're seeing on the battlefield in Ukraine is forcing people to reexamine their previously held assumptions. There's a lot of capital in the venture capital community that is trying to flow into defense technology companies. And finally, I would say not to talk my own book, but when you have a company like Palantir that, that spent two decades trying to survive the so called Valley of death, because it isn't easy for a defense technology company to succeed because the Pentagon can be a difficult customer, it proves to other companies that are trying to do the same that it's possible to survive. It's possible to go public, it's possible to have a mission focused company and that also is successful financially. Which is why we founded something called the First Breakfast Initiative, which is designed to make it easier for non traditional defense technology companies to survive and thrive. Because we need more, right? We can't just have five primes that control everything. We need the primes to survive. They're always going to be there. But we need a more diverse ecosystem of defense technology companies if we are going to have a hope of deterring China from invading Taiwan as well as simultaneously going after terrorists in the Middle east and the other threat actors we have to deal with.

[Clay Travis]

What you just said I think is important. It also to me connects with your editorial in the Wall Street Journal which is about the importance of truth and the commitment to fact. When you see so much of what's going on in America today and around the world, whether it's celebrating the United Healthcare CEO's killer, whether it is down in Frisco, Texas, Carmelo Anthony stabs a 17 year old in the heart and raises $400,000. As you just mentioned, so many of these elite institutions out there had people marching in favor of the perpetrators of October 7th. Why are we having such a difference? This is a big philosophical question, but why do you think we're having such a challenge, especially going into the holy week of good and evil, recognizing them and being willing to stand on the side of good.

[C]

Well, I do think, you know, to really take it, make it biblical and maybe betray my Catholic perspective. I do think as religion has retreated in terms of its role in American life, people have sought out other gods and in some ways, politics or, you know, political tribe can become a cult and fill kind of a God shaped hole in people's hearts. And I think correspondingly, there's also this epistemological crisis that we have in America where people no longer trust any source of information, right? Like we have this very balkanized media landscape where nobody really knows where to go to get truth. And the risk of that is people can kind of opt in to whatever reality they just want to live in. And it's very hard to have a coherent conversation based on facts, based on logic as a result. That being said, you know, as a product of representing Northeast Wisconsin, where we're going to host the NFL draft here.

[Clay Travis]

Shortly, by the way, everybody, I will be watching. I will be watching.

[Buck Sexton]

Trust me, I'm very excited.

[C]

It's a huge, huge thing for Green Bay, Wisconsin. Huge thing. You know, I think most people are just common sense, right? There was this revolution of common sense that President Trump talked about. I mean, people were afraid initially to speak their minds, you know, particularly in Covid. But people started to see what was happening to our kids with schools being shut down was being happened happened to our loved ones who are being locked up. And they thought, this doesn't make any sense. So I do have this abiding faith in the common sense of the American people. Right now they're demanding change and reform in the basic institutions of government. I think Trump is an instrument for that, that change. It can be very disruptive at times. That's what the American people want. And so we have to get back to that. And at the end of the day, we have to realize, of course, America's not perfect, but we're the good guys, right? We are the greatest country in human history. That comes with a great responsibility. But the rest of the world is looking to us for leadership, to lead with courage. If you remember when China took over Hong Kong and hundreds of thousands of people came out into the streets to protest, what were they waving? They were waving American flags, right? They were looking to us as an example for a free society. And that's something we all have a duty to maintain.

[Clay Travis]

Well said. Have a good Holy week and weekend and we'll talk to you again hopefully soon. Encourage people to go check out that editorial in the Wall Street Journal.

[C]

Thanks guys.

[Clay Travis]

Mike Gallagher, now inside of Defense Universe, but previously Green Bay, Wisconsin Congressman and yes, the NFL draft coming up soon. And he just talked about good and evil. Holy Week. This should be a joyous time throughout Israel between the Passover and Easter holidays. Not the case this year because there is a constant reminder missile attacks can occur at any given moment. That's why we're happy and proud and honored to partner with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews to help provide life saving aid and security essentials to so many people in the Holy Land. Your urgently needed gift today will go towards things like bomb shelters, flak jackets, bulletproof vests. You'll also help first responders with armored security vehicles, ambulances, more. I saw up close the difference your gifts make. Join us in standing with Israel. Call to make your gift at 888-488-IFCJ. That's 888-488-4325. You can also go online at supportifcj.org to give that website supportifcj.org stories of.

[Buck Sexton]

Freedom, stories of America.

[Clay Travis]

Inspirational stories that unite us all each day. Spend time with Clay and Buck. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

Hey Matt Gaetz here. Listen, after everything we've been through the last few years, saying we have trust issues is an understatement. They pushed a questionable vaccine and when we asked for alternatives like ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine, they shut us down.

[Clay Travis]

They used pressure lies and red tape.

[Buck Sexton]

To block access to medications that were.

[C]

Once easy to get.

[Buck Sexton]

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[C]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

All you need to do is switch to PureTalk for just $35 a month. You get unlimited and 15 gigs of data with mobile hotspot, all on America's most dependable 5G network. Go to PureTalk.com Buck to claim your free Samsung Galaxy with qualifying plan. PureTalk Wireless by Americans for Americans and it's something of a special anniversary. In fact one of our listeners, Steve from Pittsburgh who listens on WHLO in Akron, he said he sent in this talk back as a helpful reminder for what the anniversary is. Play DD hey guys, this is Steve.

[C]

From Pittsburgh, PA listening via WHLO AM640 in Akron. Got a question for you buck.

[Buck Sexton]

It was 11 years ago today that.

[C]

You made your debut behind the golden EIB microphone.

[Buck Sexton]

Would like and it was Good Friday too.

[C]

Would like to know your thoughts recollections from that day.

[Buck Sexton]

How did it come about anything like.

[C]

That you might want to share to.

[Buck Sexton]

Us with us be really interesting.

[C]

Thanks guys.

[Buck Sexton]

First of all Clay, incredible memory from this guy because he is not a cousin or an uncle of mine. I did not put him up to this. I know that's a pretty wild recall.

[Clay Travis]

This guy's got ridiculous love affair here that he would remember but credit to him 11 years. 11, 11 years. Not even like it was 10 or 5. It's like you know 11 is kind of a no offense to anybody celebrating their 11th wedding anniversary but usually it's not like oh my goodness. But yes this is impressive.

[Buck Sexton]

So Steve I have. Yes. It was 11 years ago. I sat at the Golden Eib Mike. A young buck. 30.

[Clay Travis]

30.

[Buck Sexton]

Gosh, how old am I? 32 years old. I was either the youngest or maybe Hannity. I don't know. Guys, we got to check on this. Was Hannity the youngest to ever sit at the EIB Mike at that time, or is it me? I think we're within a year of each other. So I don't know who gets the, who gets the youngest title, but you want to know what it was like? I'll tell you about what it was like. First of all, the team pulled this. When they saw this talk back. They pulled this up. This was. I don't even know what this is going to sound like, but. Well, let's just say here's what it was like years ago. Cut 25. Filling in for Rush. And now filling in for Rush Limbaugh. He's a national security editor for the Blaze. A former CIA officer who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's also worked as a counter terrorism specialist for the New York Police Department.

[C]

Ladies and gentlemen, here's Buck Sexton.

[Buck Sexton]

Buck Sexton here filling in for Rush Limbaugh today. I'm also just to bring you up to speed, the national security editor of TheBlaze.com and fighting a tiny bit of a cold, but couldn't pass up this opportunity to have a chance to speak to all of you.

[Clay Travis]

You sound so young. You sound so incredibly young.

[Buck Sexton]

I was, I was very young, but beyond that. So this is. You asked what it was like. Fast forward. I get Rush's team reached out. I had filled in for Glenn Clay. I had filled in for.

[Clay Travis]

Hold on. One joke before you tell your serious story. Producer Greg says a cold. He sounds like he's going through puberty. So.

[Buck Sexton]

Wow. Producer Greg at 2. Greg, right. Right after the Rangers game. Greg. Really? Really? Oh, I see.

[Clay Travis]

All right, now you can tell your serious story. But I wanted to let Greg deliver a shot across the bow to start, so.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, let me, let me just say this, this is all, this is all true. If my mom's listening, she's going to have flashbacks because I had been at the Blaze only for a couple of years at this point. I'd filled in for Glenn, and then I filled in for Sean Hannity. And then Rush's team, sure enough, they said, we're going to let you sit at the, at the Golden Mic. And I was, you know, this was a huge break in my career. I was incredibly excited. And I, I came down the week of it. I came down with a cold. And I remember thinking, okay, this will be fine, because I'll. The cold will be bad on the Monday, Tuesday, but by Friday, I should be okay. What I didn't realize is that sometimes if you're going to get laryngitis, it happens toward the end of the cold, or rather, you know, mid to end of the cold, because your vocal cords get so inflamed and dried out from the virus. Clay, the day before I had that show, I had the only time in my life this has happened to me. I could not speak at all. I had no voice whatsoever. And that sounds obviously like I'm gonna wimp out of this. So I can't. I don't know what I'm gonna do. So I'm scrambling, I'm drinking tea, I'm doing all this sort of stuff. And God bless her. I call my mom. I say, mom, I gotta fill in for rush tomorrow. Oh, by the way, I was like, I mean, I had nothing. No voice, nothing. And she finds. She's just scrambling. We're doing online research. She finds somebody who is the person, the doctor in New York, who opera singers go to when it's opera night and they have. Oh, and there's something that she can do. And so my mom. And this is all my mom, I gotta say, my mom calls this doctor who says, I'm not open tomorrow. I'm going to the Hamptons. My mom says, my son is filling in for the biggest radio show in the country, I guess, in the world. I don't know if there's a bigger show in China, but, you know, biggest show in the world. Can you please just help him? Like, whatever you can do. She goes, all right. The day of, I go in there, and I go in there, 10 o'clock in the morning, she looks at my vocal cords, Dr. Coravin. She looks at my vocal cords, Clay, and she goes, you. You are. You are cooked. There is no chance you're going to be able to do this show. The only option is I'm going to give you a steroid shot. The steroid shot will bring the inflammation of your vocal cords down, but it will only last three to four hours.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, wow.

[Buck Sexton]

So it's like 10:30 in the morning the day of the show. And, you know, she doesn't. She didn't know. She just knew I was doing a show. She didn't know what time I'm like, that actually will work. Can you give me the shot? How can we do it? And so that I Started out that show, I said I had a bit of a cold. I was shaking, that my voice the whole time was going to just disappear, and I would sound like a huge. A huge wimp. And at the. By the end of the show, by the way, the voice was pretty much gone. And that night, I couldn't speak again. So that was the whole. If you're wondering. And for days, the anxiety level, for days afterwards, I was just, like, shaking at home. Like, oh, my God, I was so scared my voice was going to go. But it went well enough. They had me back. Here we are.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so I want to give. So first of all, that's great. The doctor was there and she was willing to do this. Did your mom think on the spot about the idea of opera singers and how they were treated? I actually am curious how. I mean, that's a brilliant idea that she would have had because we make a living based on being able to talk. But I wouldn't even have thought. I mean, first of all, you're in New York City. I don't. Nashville. I would have been totally in trouble because I can't imagine doctors like, my mom loves.

[Buck Sexton]

You know, my mom was. She was in the New York. She was in, you know, ballet at American Ballet Theater. And so she loves classical music, and she has friends in the opera in New York and everything. So she knows that world a bit. But it was totally her idea, and.

[Clay Travis]

I wouldn't even thought about it. That's mom saving the day.

[Buck Sexton]

Totally saved the day. And the doctor. The doctor looked at me. She was like. She's like, your vote. You have. She actually said, if I tried to push through without the steroid, you can do permanent damage because you can create scar tissue because of all the inflammation in your vocal box. So this. It was just at all. All the stars alive. But people ask. Yeah. My 11 day. I have never been nervous doing anything in media in my life before or since. That was the only time, and by far the biggest time I was ever nervous. Yes. Being behind the golden EIB, Mike, when, you know, Rush was having his 680 stations or whatever it was. But Clay, the whole time I'd come back from break, I was like, I can still talk. Okay, we got one more segment. We got one more segment. I told the team, ali, dude. Ali. You remember? You were there. So was Mike. They were both there.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

Running behind the mic.

[Clay Travis]

I do remember. And I remember meeting you that day, Buck.

[Buck Sexton]

I would have had no idea. You were cool as a cucumber. I was shaking like A leaf. I was shaking like a leaf. So, yeah, that was. I mean, Clay, you're the same. I can tell you the same thing. Even when the first time I did tv, like the first time I was on cable news, I was like, I was CIA, baby. Cool as a cucumber. Like, this isn't going to faze me. This was when I was like, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. So I remember it, trust me, 11 years ago. And mom, you are the greatest mom, but also a genius on the spot.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, that's what I'm saying. Like, even to think, okay, who would be able to treat this? Who would be able to figure out a way to make this happen? Because this is always an issue for singers, right? I know. I think I came on the air and talked about the fact that I went to watch Adele and some of you were like, there's an incredible. Right. She was amazing in Caesars, but then she's had to cancel a ton of her performances because of vocal fold related issues. And obviously when you are an incredible talent like that, something as simple, as simple as a cold, can throw everything into an uproar. So I wouldn't have even thought about that. But credit to your mom because you probably got. How many doctors like that are there in the nation? 10.

[Buck Sexton]

Very few that specialize. That specialize in this because most people would just say, look, you got a cold, like, go home from work. Like, you know, it's just.

[Clay Travis]

Don't talk as much as you find.

[Buck Sexton]

It's. It's not a major medical issue unless you make a living and have a performance of some kind with your voice. But yeah, I like to tell people I'm such a vocal athlete that I had to take steroids, performance enhancing drugs for my.

[Clay Travis]

So how long did it take for your voice to get back to normal after you took the steroid shot to be able to do the show on that Friday?

[Buck Sexton]

Three days. Two to three days.

[Clay Travis]

Still just like being shut down.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, yeah, Horse, you know, sounded totally weird. But yeah. So when I met Ali and the team and Mike. And Mike. Mike Mamon was there. Mike knew I was nervous as hell. But anyway, when I was there, they were there and. And that was how it all went. Can I also do one more throwback? So that was the 11 year anniversary we had. The one thing I think, Clay, you'll appreciate this because in the absolute, you and I got to know each other for the first time because of COVID because I was like, who's this sports guy who actually Understands that masks are crazy and that we shouldn't shut all this stuff down. Producer Mock, who went to the Rangers game, who knows sports, was like, you got to know this Clay guy. He's saying what you're saying. May, April, May 2020, we're talking about very, very early on. But I was so frustrated about what was going on with the social media platforms at that time that I just, straight up, I went on a rant on Twitter about how it's never going to change. We need a billionaire who's conservative to step up and buy one of these things, because otherwise we're just toast. And rush, this is June 16, 2020. He read the whole thing on air. Listen to this. Many of you might remember the former guest host on this program, Buck Sexton of the CIA. Buck now tweets a lot. Does he have his own show now or. Yeah, he does. Wait, wait. Buck has been on a tweet storm.

[Clay Travis]

And had to put it in one of those.

[Buck Sexton]

One of those thread apps because there's so many tweets. And he's ticked off at. At how conservative. Everything has just given up, has just seated the country, seated Hollywood, seated music, seated television, seated the media, seated everything.

[Clay Travis]

Doesn't understand it. If one of the conservative billionaires out there has any stomach for saving their country from this mob, they should buy and flip a major media platform or fund a new one and make it an unsinkable aircraft carrier of true free speech.

[Buck Sexton]

Clay Elon bought Twitter four years later and I think changed the trajectory of the 2024 election and online discourse as it exists. And, you know, so it was a long time coming. And Rush saw, too, that with the. Remember, that was the height of the censorship on social media.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

And. And we were just getting pummeled, shut down, locked, and isn't amazing. Now we're talking about COVID reckoning, and we actually have a free. We have. And we have Truth and we have Rumble and these other platforms. But that was like the darkest June of 2020, the darkest days of social media censorship in a lot of ways.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, I totally remember. I mean, that was when I was trying to argue for schools reopening and to play sports. And you would have thought that I was the craziest person on the planet. Right. I mean, just the idea that. And I'm thankful that I lived in Tennessee and people like Ron DeSantis and a lot of you who live in red states, your schools open back up. My kids went back to school in August of 2020, but I knew if we could play sports, it would be a huge signpost for returning to cultural normalcy. And at that point in time, it's not just that Elon. You're right. It's not just that Elon bought Twitter. It's that suddenly he's awoken. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, other people who weren't as brave to lead the charge, but they've at least been willing to follow the charge up the hill to try to put back in place some measure of free speech principles in the online marketplace.

[Buck Sexton]

Right. Elon flipping X, as I thought at the time, right when he was doing it. And you were the first one who ever told me that was even under consideration. I remember you said, hey, I think Elon because of the Babylon B account freeze and because he knows Seth Dillon. Seth Dillon, right. Yeah, Seth Dillon. And you know that this may happen, which at the time seemed like, oh, my gosh, like that's sure enough, $43 billion later, Elon flips it around. But that also puts downstream pressure on the other social media platforms. Not to be fair, and I know they're not. And Facebook is still a wasteland in a lot of ways for free speech, but to be less oppressive because they don't want to lose all market share to. For half the country. So, I mean, that was an enormously important shift that we should never lose sight of. Because, Clay, I mean, we were talking about this stuff, and you and I were discussing masks in 2020. It.

[Clay Travis]

It.

[Buck Sexton]

It was like. It was like the end times for free speech. It really was. Couldn't say stuff about the election in that year. By the end of the year, Trump got kicked off of social media. Couldn't say masks don't work. These. These websites attacking us. And, you know, I'm sure you had this, too. I had the New York Times attack me. I had. What's that fact. What's the factcheck.org what all these organizations.

[Clay Travis]

I don't even know some of those even still exist. But yes, there was an entire cottage industry of attack. Anyone who had the gall to speak out in any way against COVID lockdowns or Covid shots or asking. They came after you and the people who were attacked.

[Buck Sexton]

And I know a lot of you and your personal capacities felt the same thing. We felt what. We dealt with it publicly and in a professional setting on radio and on tv. But we were right about everything. So I feel good about that. Remember that. Don't ever let that go when it really counted. Where were you? And I can look at Clay and Clay can look at me. We know where we were on the COVID stuff and I know a lot of you, it's the same same deal. And that's why I think the accountability still matters. Look, I'm going to the gun range tomorrow. I'm going to be training with my, with my brother and we got a whole slew of firearms that we're going to be putting ourselves through our paces with. And let me tell you, you know, we both carry. And if you're going to be somebody who carries or you're even considering it, you need to become a member of uscca. USCCA members get self defense education training and self defense liability insurance. And that's because if you do have to use your firearm to defend yourself, it is ruinously expensive. Even if you did everything right. If they bring not just a criminal case, which they could do, even if you're on the right side of this, they could just bring a civil case. And now you've got to deal with that too. You need USCCA to have your back. The line between victim and victory is preparation. Every USCCA member also GETs access to 24, seven critical response team and attorney network in the event of a self defense incident. In today's world, you can do everything right and still end up in jail. USCCA is there for you. They serve new gun owners, longtime firearm enthusiasts, and everyone in between. 100% satisfaction guarantee. Your membership is backed by USCCA 30 day, 100% money back bulletproof guarantee. Go to uscca.com buck that's uscca.com buck.

[Clay Travis]

Sometimes all you can do is laugh. And they do a lot of it with the Sunday hang. Join Clay and Buck as they laugh it up in the Clay and Buck podcast feed on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have supervision, enhanced hearing, extraordinary reflexes? To be, dare we say, superhuman? Well, Roku's new Pro Series TV can't do any of that for you. But with a 4K screen, side firing speakers and a blazing fast refresh rate, it'll sure feel like it. Elevate your entertainment using all your favorite apps like iHeart and Play all your music, radio and podcasts with the new.

[Buck Sexton]

Roku Pro series, your senses aren't better.

[Clay Travis]

Your TV is.

[Buck Sexton]

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