Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Aug 20 2025

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show – Daily Review with Clay and Buck August 20, 2025 | iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the major political and cultural stories dominating the news cycle in August 2025. Their discussion focuses on seismic shifts in voter registration favoring the Republican Party, the fallout from progressive approaches to crime and policing—particularly in Washington, D.C.—and the cultural underpinnings driving these trends. Special guest Heather McDonald (Manhattan Institute fellow and author of "When Race Trumps Merit") weighs in on the realities of violent crime, policing, and the failure of “defund the police”-style policies. The episode leans into the theme of political and cultural realignment, exploring why Democrats are "hemorrhaging" voters and why public safety remains a political flashpoint.

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Key Topics and Segments

1. Global Developments: The BRICS Summit and the Erosion of Dollar Dominance

• [02:05–03:22] Clay and Buck open with international news: the BRICS summit in Rio, where Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa add five new members and focus on de-dollarizing global trade.
  • Buck: "A major theme at the summit is how BRICS nations aim to reduce reliance on the US Dollar in global trade." (02:47)
  • Clay: "Yikes. That doesn't sound good." (02:56)
  • Philip Patrick (Birch Gold) leaves a message: "The world is moving on from the dollar—quietly but steadily… the US Dollar is no longer the centerpiece." (03:06–03:20)

2. Shifting Voter Registration: The Red Wave No One Can Ignore

• [05:49–18:38] The hosts analyze a New York Times headline showing Democrats are "hemorrhaging voters" in 30 states with party registration. Key data points:
  • Democrats lost ground to Republicans in every single one of the 30 states that track registration by party since 2020—amounting to a swing of 4.5 million voters.
  • Clay: “The Democrat Party is hemorrhaging voters long before they even go to the polls… That four-year swing towards Republicans adds up to 4.5 million voters, a deep political hole that could take years for Democrats to climb out from.” (06:33–08:10)
  • Cultural shift: “It’s basically an insult to call someone a Democrat if you’re a young man… The culture has shifted in a major way.” (07:50)
  • Examples: Miami-Dade County switched from a 200k Dem advantage (2020) to Republican lead. North Carolina’s Dem advantage shrank by over 380k.
  • Buck: "This is five alarm fire… We are roasting marshmallows and enjoying all of this." (11:12)
  • Young voters: Men under 30 are among the most Republican groups—a historic reversal. (13:59)
  • Demographic moves: More Asian, Hispanic, and Black voters are trending Republican, especially men. (15:09)
  • Insistence that Dems are doubling down on what cost them the 2024 election: “Democrats have decided their message just didn’t get through, and… they have quadrupled down on crazy.” (13:16)

3. Crime and Public Safety: DC as Battleground

• [23:03–36:47] Guest: Heather McDonald joins to discuss:
  • Trump’s “Liberation Day” speech in D.C., emphasizing a new anti-crime posture: “We are not going to lose our cities, we’re taking our capital back.” (23:51)
  • Accusation: Democrats “normalize the unacceptable” and defend the indefensible re: crime rates (24:03–24:55).
  • Surge in crime correlated with “defund the police,” and Democrats’ rhetorical attacks on officers.
  • Notable Quote – Heather: "The police are not the problem in high crime communities. Criminals are… if your claim is to care about black lives, you have to support the police." (26:50)
  • Statistical realities: Big crime drops can often just mean returning from post-riot spikes—not real improvement. Crime in D.C. remains unacceptably high regardless of small drops.
  • 2023 carjackings: 60% by juveniles. Horrific unsolved murders, short sentences for extreme violence.
  • Lessons from NYC’s “ComStat” era: Accountability and attention to public order led to real, long-term reductions—now undermined by progressive backsliding.

4. Sanctuary Cities and Policing: The Sanctuary Dilemma

• [38:40–46:31]
  • Buck discusses the perils of sanctuary policies, referencing Stephen Miller (Trump adviser) and J.D. Vance in D.C.:
    • Local cops sometimes release even violent or predatory illegal aliens, ignoring ICE detainers.
    • Stephen Miller: “The open and stated policy of these cities is: no, let the child rapist go. We can’t let immigration enforcement have him.” (41:08)
  • Clay: Only criminals and radical progressive activists truly oppose increased police presence.

5. Political Messaging on Crime: Race, Reality, and Responsibility

• [48:18–51:49]
  • Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass criticized for saying law enforcement stances are “essentially going after young black and brown youth,” with curfews and penalties, ignoring that most victims are also minorities.
  • Buck and Clay examine the left’s reluctance to confront root causes, including family breakdown and culture.
  • Discussion of the poverty vs. crime debate, highlighting data that shows culture and family structure are more significant than income.

6. The Role of Fathers, Culture, and Personal Responsibility

• [63:12–66:48]
  • Clay shares a viral quote from NFL rookie Cam Ward, praising his dad for waking up at 4:30am for a job he didn't like—an example of work ethic and generational culture.
    • Cam Ward: “If my dad can get up at 4:30 for a job he didn't like… I can get up early for a job I love. And that goes for everybody in the locker room.” (64:06)
  • Emphasis on the breakdown of the family, especially absent fathers among black and brown youth, as a leading socio-cultural cause of crime and alienation.
  • Thomas Sowell’s work is referenced as foundational for understanding these social changes.

7. Closing Listener Feedback & Cultural Commentary

• [67:58–71:10]
  • Callers and listeners echo the hosts’ points on family, personal responsibility, and skepticism of “poverty causes crime” logic.
  • Clay asserts: “Individual responsibility… is the foundation in many ways of the Republican Party.” (69:52)
  • Optimism about a generational realignment towards conservative values post-COVID.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Buck on the NYT voter registration story: “This article is a joy to read. I read it more than once… Take this data and put it right into the heart of the American populace.” (08:37)
• Clay on young men shifting right: “My 14-year-old told me right after 2024—‘All my friends can’t wait to be 18 so we can vote against Democrats in 2028.’” (13:40)
• Heather McDonald: "The police are not the problem in high crime communities. Criminals are… if your claim is to care about black lives, you have to support the police." (26:50)
• Steven Miller (via Buck): "The open and stated policy of these [sanctuary] cities is no, let the child rapist go. We can’t let immigration enforcement have him." (41:08)
• J.D. Vance on D.C. public safety: "Let’s free D.C. from lawlessness… so that young families can walk around and feel safe and secure." (44:45)

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Key Timestamps

• 02:05 – BRICS summit overview, global de-dollarization threat
• 05:49 – NYT headline: “Democrats hemorrhaging voters”
• 13:40 – Clay’s anecdote about teenage boys’ rightward turn
• 18:12 – State focus: Nevada and West Virginia’s dramatic registration shift
• 23:03 – Heather McDonald interview: Policing, culture, crime stats
• 41:06 – Stephen Miller on sanctuary cities and ICE detainer drama
• 44:45 – J.D. Vance on crime in D.C. and who public safety policies benefit
• 64:06 – Cam Ward: The importance of fathers, culture, and personal accountability
• 69:52 – Clay on individual responsibility as Republican cornerstone

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Tone and Language

Clay and Buck keep the discussion energetic, humorous, and unapologetically partisan. The blend of data analysis, anecdote, and pop culture references is designed to both inform and entertain, with a clear bias against progressive narratives and a focus on common sense, personal responsibility, and cultural conservatism.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode paints a vivid picture of a political and cultural “red wave”—one that’s grounded as much in shifting cultural values, masculine backlash, and rising crime worries as it is in traditional party politics. The hosts argue that the Democratic Party’s persistence in defending failed social and policing policies, its hostility to law enforcement, and its targeting of traditionalist cultural values has created a backlash among voters—especially young men and minority groups—driving them into the Republican camp. With expert commentary and real-world data, the show provides a spirited analysis of why they believe the realignment is only accelerating.

Transcript

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[Clay Travis]

You want smart political talk without the meltdowns? We got you and I'm Carol Markowitz. And I'm Mary Kathryn Ham. We've been around the block in media and we're doing things differently.

[Buck Sexton]

Normally is about real conversations, thoughtful, try.

[Clay Travis]

To be funny, grounded and no panic. We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day. Join us every Tuesday and Thursday Normally on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Buck Sexton]

Clay, have you heard of the Rio Reset?

[Clay Travis]

Sounds like a trendy new workout buck.

[Buck Sexton]

It does, but it's actually a big summit going on in Brazil. The formal name is brics, which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. But they've just added five new members.

[Clay Travis]

Smart move to stick with brics. We know what happens when acronyms don't end, they confuse everyone.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, that's an understatement BRICS is a group of emerging economies hoping to increase their sway in the global financial order.

[Clay Travis]

Now that sounds like the plotline of a movie. I'm listening.

[Buck Sexton]

Philip Patrick is our Bruce Wayne. He's a precious metal specialist and a spokesman for the Birch Gold Group. He's on the ground in Rio getting the whole lowdown on what's going on there.

[Clay Travis]

Can he give us some inside intel?

[Buck Sexton]

Absolutely. He's been there since day one. In fact, a major theme at the summit is how BRICS nations aim to reduce reliance on the US Dollar in global trade.

[Clay Travis]

Yikes. That doesn't sound good. We got to get Philip on the line, stat.

[Buck Sexton]

Already did. And he left the Clay and Buck audience this message. The world is moving on from the dollar.

[Clay Travis]

Quietly but steadily.

[Buck Sexton]

These nations are making real progress towards reshaping global trade.

[Clay Travis]

And the US Dollar is no longer the centerpiece.

[Buck Sexton]

That shift doesn't happen overnight, but make.

[Clay Travis]

No mistake, it's already begun.

[Buck Sexton]

Thank you, Philip. Protect the value of your Savings account, your 401k, your IRA, all of them, by purchasing gold and placing it into those accounts and reducing your exposure to a declining dollar value. Text my name, Buck to 98. 98. 98. You get the free information you'll need to make the right decision. You can rely on Birch Gold Group, as I do, to give you the information you need to make an informed decision. One more time, text my name Buck to 98. 98. 98.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome in Wednesday edition. Clay Travis, Buck Sexton. An awesome time speaking to the young Republicans of Hamilton county, that is Chattanooga, last night, visited with our friends, legacy box, toured their incredible facility. Maybe talk a little bit more about that later, but just wanted to say off the top, thanks to everybody out there who was listening in that area, had a great time meeting with all of you, and there are a lot more of you every single day that are joining Team Clay and Buck, Team Sanity, Team Republican. You could probably feel it. We will talk with Heather McDonald, by the way, next hour about the latest on the crime situation, D.C. in particular. But what exactly is happening when it comes to violent crime in this country? What does the data show us? Heather McDonald's one of the top experts in the country, so we will discuss that. But, Buck, this is one of those days where it pays off to be me, where you start off your morning with a nice Crockett coffee, sitting down in front of the newspaper selection, opening it up. Usually the New York Times, not exactly renowned for its positive stories relating to the Republican Party.

[Buck Sexton]

Can I just say Drinking Crockett Clay is like putting on the leather bib before you get the X ray at the dentist. Like, if you're drinking Crockett, the communist New York Times doesn't infiltrate you the same way.

[Clay Travis]

No doubt. And by the way, I just want. I do it so you don't have to. This is me taking the.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean lead, not leather. Sorry, Leather. Lead bib. Lead bib.

[Clay Travis]

I was thinking, what does the leather do? But I was the leather with the Crockett connection. I thought I might be missing something. I. I do it so most of you do not have to. But this is a headline in the New York Times today. And I'm looking at what the headline is in the digital right now. Because sometimes it's different than the newspaper headline. Digital, not a positive headline. Democrats flashing red alert. What the voter registration data shows subheading. And there's a big graphical accompaniment story for this. The party is bleeding support beyond the ballot box. A new analysis shows. This is a big article. This is the feature for the New York Times. And listen to this. Open Buck, you don't hear opens like these. And I thought it was interesting because the Sunday New York Times basically wrote an entire editorial on behalf of the paper saying, yeah, Clay and Buck were basically right about everything on Covid and basically right about everything on crime.

[Heather McDonald]

And.

[Clay Travis]

And maybe we should have been smarter about the way we covered it. That's basically what the New York Times said in their editorial. Here's the open. The Democrat Party is hemorrhaging voters long before they even go to the polls. Of the 30 states that track voter registration by political party, Democrats lost ground to Republicans in every single one between the 2020 and 2024 elections, often by a lot. That four year swing towards Republicans adds up to 4.5 million voters. A deep political hole that could take years for Democrats to climb out from. And then, Buck, there is a graphic showing you Democrats losing ground in all 30 states while Republicans are gaining ground. And again, one more paragraph here just to contextualize so you know what Democrats are reading this morning. The stampede away from the Democrat Party is occurring in battleground states, the bluest states and the reddest states too, according to voter registration data analyzed by the New York Times. And the data comes from a nonpartisan data factory. So this is interesting when you think about, Buck, what is going on in the larger country. I feel like I've seen it for a while, because the Democrat Party. It's basically an insult to call someone a Democrat. If you're A young man. We made jokes about this when I fraternities, instead of making jokes about your mom with the banners outside of the house this fall, were saying their opponents vote Democrat. The culture has shifted in a major way.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes. Now if you're at the frat house and some guy swings and misses, you say you swing that wiffle ball bat like Democrat. It's not good. It's not good.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

And this whole article though, look, the data in this, I'm going to tell you this right now, this article is a joy. It is a joy to read. I read it more than once. That's how much. And this is a New York Times, a big piece from the New York Times. This is injected straight into my veins. Take this data and put it right into the heart of the American populace. This is great stuff. Some of the things I pulled from this in the specifics, the long and the short of it, as you laid out, is party registration, which Democrats are used to having an advantage. And one of the reasons why they didn't really detail this in the article is Democrats have been running this voter registration industrial complex that is a non that they use nonprofits. So tax advantaged here. Ok. They're using nonprofits in order to get people to sign up and vote, but they do it in a way that they know they're going to get more Democrats. Right. So it's oh, we're just to get out the vote effort. Right. And you've seen celebrities doing this in the past and stuff, but it's always wink, wink, we're going to do this in, you know, in Philadelphia, in New York, in Los Angeles. Like they're doing it in places where they figure we're going to overwhelmingly be registering Democrats to vote. Well, the problem is now they can't count play on just a blanket registration effort in these areas. Especially when they're going after, let's say Latino voters, they can't count on it benefiting Democrats. So they're going, hold on a second. Our scam isn't working the way that it used to. Miami Dade county, for example, the number of active Republican voters zoomed past Democrats after Trump became the Republican nominee. As recently as November 2020, my home county of Miami Dade Clay Democrats had a 200,000 in one county, 200,000 registered voter advantage. Yeah, there are, you know, most counties don't even have, you know, 200,000 voters. I mean, you see this North Carolina state records show the Democrat Advantage There was 400,000 in 2020. It's now basically, you know, More or less a tie, that they've got 17,000 voters. I mean, that's like not, not going to make a huge difference. So this is five alarm fire. Time for. Is that the most alarms for a fire? I think it is, right? This is a four alarm fire. Five alarm fire. We got a lot of firefighters. You guys can write it in and tell us.

[Clay Travis]

I think it's five alarm, right?

[Buck Sexton]

I think it's five alarm, right.

[Clay Travis]

I think you're right.

[Buck Sexton]

I think it's a big scary fire. Yeah, this is a big scary fire for Democrats. For us, we are roasting marshmallows and enjoying all of this. This is fantastic. And it goes to everything we talk about. As you said, the anti masculine, anti white misjudging, the Latino misjudging, the young black male vote. I mean they, they are in freefall. And the great thing is, Clay, there's no signs of it stopping. It just keeps getting worse. And they won't change their messaging. They keep pushing for, let's have, you know, 200 pound guys playing on the women's athletics team in high school.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. And I do think this is so, by the way, one bit of news on this, 30 states, you might be saying, okay, what happened in the other 20 states? The other 20 states don't have party official registration. So in my state of Tennessee, for instance, you walk in on a primary and pick which side you want to vote in. So there isn't official party registration. Some places have registered Democrats, some places have registered Republicans. 20 states do not. So they only have a 30 state data set. But this, to me, Buck, it corresponds with all 50 states moved redder. If all 30 states are hemorrhaging Democrats such that the New York Times is writing about it and adding Republicans, it is a sign of a profound cultural shift. And I think the numbers are actually going to get worse. And this is why we had this conversation. In the wake of losing in 2024, Democrats had a real choice. Do we look ourselves in the mirror and say, boy voters by and large rejected us, or do they say this is just a sign that our message is not getting through? Those are the only two paths, right. The first one is hard because it requires you to say, boy, this is on us. The second one, you put it on the voters. I think we've gotten a result so far. Six months after Trump won, Democrats have decided their message just didn't get through. And they have, as a result, doubled, tripled, quadrupled, down on crazy. And they're saying, well, they're Ignoring the fact that Kamala outspent Trump. They're ignoring the fact that voters I believe, heard, listened, analyzed and rejected the arguments being made by the Democrat Party and overwhelmingly chose the Republican Party instead. And here's what I think is particularly ominous, Buck. I think there are two things that are particularly ominous about this data. One, the two most Republican groups in the 2024 election were men under 30, women and men over 65. I bet that has never happened in the history of this country. And I think a lot of people are still not recognizing it. Which means that the data as kids are getting younger instead of working in Democrat favor is actually working against them. And I'll come into the Travis Holtz household and give you an example on this. My 14 year old blew my mind because I, I'm, I can't believe that I'm going to have two grown adult sons by the next election. He told me right after 2024 dad, all my friends cannot wait to be 18 so we can vote against Democrats in 2028. These are 14 year old boys that will be 18. This is right now rising 9th graders. And there's a lot of these kids. They are overwhelmingly indexing Republican just like their older brothers did. Just like is happening out there. So I think the numbers are getting worse. That's point one for younger. Two and this is really transformative and I know a lot of you out there are part of this group. Asian, Hispanic and black voters are increasingly moving towards the Republican side because culturally they are more male than they are Democrat and that men are men are saying we're done with the craziness. So I think both of those things are huge, not only now, but looking.

[Buck Sexton]

Forward and just from a pure power perspective, the, the general belief is that after a presidential election, especially a tightly contested, hotly contested one, oh Republicans or rather the party in power, Republicans in this case will get smackdown in the midterms. And just also the overall political trend because when you're in power it's easy for people to say you're not doing a good enough job of this and you messed that up. And you know to be the political complainers tends to work right that the opposition party gets to say you're not delivering, you're not. And we've gotten used to that as our, as our framework for politics in this country certainly at the national level. Here's the and let me add that happened in 2016, 2017, going into that 2018 midterms, it was Trump hasn't delivered. They hadn't built the wall. They hadn't done this and that. And they were able to get substantial gains in 2018 in the house. And the Democrats were really fired up obviously about 2020. You could tell already by that midterm Clay, that's not happening this time. And this is what I think is so concerning to the Democrats and so amazing for the rest of us is that they're not seeing the general, the general prevailing trends post this election are not ok. Democrats are going to snap back. Democrats are going to counterattack here. It's getting worse for them. Yeah, Trump's been president for seven months and things are getting better for Trump and worse for Democrats right away in all the numbers and all the metrics that they can see. I mean, here's one we didn't mention this battleground states, Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania. Democrats are losing support in all of those states and continuing to bleed support based on voter regis. Remember, not all states have voter registration. What is it? It's like, what is it?

[Clay Travis]

30? 30 out of 30 out of 50. So I'm not, I'm not a register anything in my state.

[Buck Sexton]

So. So 20 do not. $30 all based on those 30 states. Though you can look at Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, really important states. Democrats are still losing support when it comes to voter registration in those places and they're also losing support when you look at voter switches. People that were Democrats and come to Republican side or Republicans who go in the other direction. More Democrats are leaving the Democrat party. I don't know how this article could be worse for Democrats right now. There was not a single silver lining and anywhere, anywhere, full stop. It was a total, oh, it was a delicious nightmare for them. I loved everything.

[Clay Travis]

By the way. One state that I think is not getting enough attention, that is emblematic of this, maybe more than most. Nevada. In Nevada, Democrats suffered the steepest percentage point plunge of any state other than West Virginia. West Virginia is pretty red place. Nevada swung massively to the Republican Party. I think there's an argument that Nevada is really teed up to become rock ribbed red.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, I have a theory on West Virginia. Actually, let me come back into that. I have a theory. I think that West Virginia data is much more important even than the article suggests. We'll come back into this in a second. Look, there's only so many hours in the day where you can be thinking about what can I do for my long term financial health. But the benefits are worth it and you need to take a long term view, a long term plan. This isn't about day trading, getting, getting in, getting out, making quick decisions like that, that's generally not a good idea for most folks and you don't have the time for that. What about something that makes sense over the long term, maybe the longest term? I mean something that has had value for as long as there have been economies Gold the value of gold in just the last year has gone up about 40% and central banks around the world are buying gold to back their currencies. And there's continued erosion of fiat currencies, including here at home, unfortunately because of all the spending and all the debt. This is why gold as a portion of your portfolio makes sense. Birch Gold Group makes owning physical gold very easy. They can convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA with physical gold. So if you got an old job and you got some 401k sitting around, you know, maybe you got, you know, 10 grand, 50 grand, whatever it is in that 401k, you're not doing much with it. Converting that into gold can make a lot of sense also. You can just buy gold and keep it. And I have done that and guess what? The gold that I've bought is worth a lot more now. Text my Name Buck to 989898 and Birch Gold will send you a free info kit on Gold. Again text Buck to 989898 to get started with Birch Gold Group today.

[Clay Travis]

Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Mic drops that never sounded so good. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast this Labor Day.

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[Clay Travis]

Hey there. I'm Mary Kathryn Hamm.

[Buck Sexton]

And I'm Carol Markowitz.

[Clay Travis]

We've been in political media for a long time. Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.

[Buck Sexton]

That's why we started Normalely a podcast for people who are over the hysteria.

[Clay Travis]

And just want clarity. We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.

[Buck Sexton]

We don't take ourselves too seriously, but.

[Clay Travis]

We do take the truth seriously. So if you're into common sense, sanity and some occasional sass, you're our kind of people. Catch new episodes of normally every Tuesday.

[Commercial Announcer]

And Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple.

[Buck Sexton]

Podcasts, or wherever you listen. We're joined by Heather McDonald, Manhattan Institute fellow author of When Race Trumps Merit and the War on Cops. Particularly apropos in light of today's discussion here. Heather, always great to have you on the program.

[Heather McDonald]

Thank you so much Buck. It's great to be with you guys.

[Buck Sexton]

So you must be watching this debate play out over specifically the D.C. crime rate, but more broadly, obviously this brings in a lot of arguments that you've heard from the other side in the past and counterarguments that you've been making. Are you surprised that it seems that so many national level Democrats have fallen into the trap of defending the indefensible which is the D.C. crime rate. What's your perspective on this?

[Heather McDonald]

Well, I think this is one of the greatest moments of the Trump presidency. His Aug. 11 Liberation Day speech just sent chills to down my spine. And I mean in a good way. Words like we are not going to let it happen anymore. We're not going to take it. We're not going to lose our cities, we're taking our capital back. He has finally broken fully with the dominant ideology in America, which is to normalize the unacceptable, to define deviancy down. And Trump is saying we, we are no longer going to make excuses for crime. This is something we can control. The Democrats have spent decades trying to write this off to say, well, it's just kind of a normal aspect of cities. A lot of this almost entirety of the criminal justice discourse on the Democratic side is driven by race considerations. They've of course, played the race card here. So no, I'm not surprised. It has just brought out their innate tendencies to normalize crime in an extraordinarily vivid way. And they are going to lose the debate. There's just no question. You cannot, as you say, they are defending the indefensible. Their argument is a set of non sequiturs. They say, well, crime isn't bad in D.C. because it went down somewhat last year. That's so what the fact is. Are you defending 3 year olds being shot fatally in the head sitting in their car, as has happened over the last couple of years regularly? You cannot defend that. And yet that's what the Democrats are doing.

[Clay Travis]

Heather, I actually thought about you on Sunday when I read the New York Times editorial which basically said, hey, Heather McDonald was right about everything, without saying Heather McDonald was right about everything. I don't know if you officially read that editorial, but let me just read to you from the New York Times Sunday and I want to just get your thoughts on the cultural winds shifting that would allow this to occur during the this is the New York Times. During the 2020 protests, many progressives embrace calls to, quote, defund the police, including prominent Democrats, Kamala Harris AOC Eric Garcetti, then mayor of Los Angeles. And the protesters had an effect. Officers were disheartened by public criticisms, quit their jobs, police departments had staffing shortages. Overall, crime surged and Democrats have to recognize that they were responsible for it. And their arguments created this. Did you ever think the New York Times would say this when it came to policing? And what is the significance of them completely abandoning the cultural arguments they were making certainly five years ago?

[Heather McDonald]

Well, the editorial board would appear to be a little tiny island of sanity in the paper, large because their news coverage is continuing to harp on the theme that Trump is a fascist by daring to talk about crime in D.C. and worse, daring to do something about it. And this is all just a race based ploy to try and go after black cities. So there's an absolute split in sensibility there. But it is a good thing. I'll take every win I can get. It is a good thing that the editorial board has put out a little strand of sanity there that says that the police are not the problem in high crime communities. Criminals are. And when you demoralize the police police, when you delegitimate prosecution and arrests, there's only one thing that's going to happen. You're not going to get peace. You're going to get more criminal victimization. And if your claim is, and this is of course a complete hypocritical pose, but if your claim is to care about black lives, you have to support the police because they are the strongest agency in any city in any state that is dedicated to saving black lives. They make arrests, they deter crime. The National Guard there is there now just to deter crime further. It is not there as some kind of occupying force. It is using its command presence. And when the cops back off, criminals take over. I have spent years going to police community meetings in high crime areas like the south side of Chicago or Central Harlem or Brooklyn. And all I hear from the good law abiding black residents there, especially the elderly ladies in these fantastic hats, is the police are our friends. Please, Jesus, send more police.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. Heather McDonald with us here from the Manhattan Institute War on Cops is her excellent book. Heather, you are somebody who also not just looks at the narratives, but looks at the stats, the numbers. And have you been able to. I know it's hard at some level because you have to rely on the DC crime stats from DC Right. Meaning that the police, if they're cooking the books, it might be a little tough to see that because you have to rely on the frontline numbers at some level that they're putting out there. But have you looked into that at all? Do you think it is possible and or likely that this 30% crime drop, which as you pointed out isn't even really significant, but that that 30% crime drop may be the result of some fudging of the numbers?

[Heather McDonald]

I haven't looked into that personally. It is in line with the crime drop that we're seeing in the rest of the country. So if it were like twice as much, that would be a real red flag. But I can say, you know, there's constant pressure and ironically, in the police departments that are the best run, which means the ones that are most aggressive towards their own police commanders that are demanding accountability, that are demanding that those accounts, that those commanders have a plan for lowering crime. And the top brass should be monitoring their numbers on a daily, if not hourly basis. So those precinct commanders are in the hot seat under what was known in New York city as the CompStat system. They're going to feel the most pressure to get their crime statistics down. And if they don't have 100% integrity, they're the more likely to possibly get declassify things, muck around with how you categorize crime. The police departments that are lackadaisical, that don't have a strong command structure, their precinct commanders are under less pressure. So it's a weird thing and it's something that departments have to fight. The New York Police Department has a whole unit dedicated to police integrity and going after corruption. And it's not well loved in the department. But this is a constant battle. I can't say in this case, but again, I would say that conservatives should not be pulled into this game that the liberals are playing, which is that, well, because crime dropped 27% last year compared to its overwhelmingly high post George Floyd race riots thing, that everything is okay and conservatives saying, well, it's still bad. Is that a true crime drop or not? The fact is, you can concede that crime has dropped in the last two years in Washington D.C. and still say, so what? I don't care. Is it acceptable that every single day in Washington D.C. there were 10 violent crimes, 14 car thefts, six, three juveniles shot a day? Is that acceptable? Is it acceptable that our homicide rate is 27 times that of London's and 60 times that of Switzerland's? The only possible response is none of that is acceptable. And that is what is so thrilling about Trump's instincts. It's not even the details of the plan, it's that he has instincts that are correct, which is that any level of crime is not compatible with a civilized society. Children being shot, cars being stolen, mass looting going on, the carjackings. And it's overwhelmingly juvenile. 60% of all carjackings in D.C. are juveniles. TRUMP is correct. They are not punished. In 2023, there were five girls ages 12 to 15 who beat to death a 64 year old cancer victim weighing 110 pounds. They filmed themselves laughing as they stomped and beat him to death. None of them had long sentences. The most they're serving time Is until they're 21. Most of them will be out long before that. Trump is absolutely right. D.C. has a soft on crime approach. That must change. Just as every progressive prosecutor. It's all driven by not wanting it to have a racially disparate impact on black criminals. All law enforcement will simply because the brack crime rate is so high. In D.C. blacks commit about 96% of all homicides, even though they're only 43% of the population. Whites commit just under over 1% of the homicides, though they're 39%. You do not. That should not affect how you enforce the law. You enforce the law to protect the law abiding, not to protect the criminals.

[Clay Travis]

Not only that, Heather, and the people who are the victims overwhelmingly would be black too. So when you say, oh, we're arresting people disproportionately for based on race, you're also disproportionately protecting people who are race. Right, because most black murder victims are going to be killed by black murderers. But last question for you here. And I love all the data you provide. Is there a city or a state based on the data that you have seen that is handling violent crime better than any others and do they have policies that should be replicated nationwide? We're fortunate because we have these 50 different federal systems so we can try experiments and the idea is somebody in a state does something good, hopefully it spreads. Is there any one city or state that you would point to and say, boy, from a violent crime perspective, these guys and gals are doing great. We should be copying more of what they're doing nationwide. Any positive out there?

[Heather McDonald]

Well, until recently I would have said New York City because of the comstat revolution, the accountability revolution, where Police Chief William Bratton followed up by William sit with.

[Buck Sexton]

Sapphire.

[Heather McDonald]

We are going go ahead.

[Buck Sexton]

No, no, I just safer. Kelly, I was trying to give you the next commissioner, but go ahead.

[Clay Travis]

Right, right.

[Heather McDonald]

Kelly said we are going to bring this down. They brought, they brought crime and homicides down 80% by enforcing the law and above all by paying attention to public disorder. That's why also the Trump initiative against the the encampments is so important because this is something else that simply should not be tolerated in a city. You cannot have public space overcome by people urinating, defecating, shooting up drugs in public. This is not acceptable. We cannot define deviancy down. So New York was very good in paying attention to Public order in using its officers proactively to use their powers of observation to speak, stop people suspected of carrying guns. It had an enormous effect. They've backslid in recent years. Now they've got a pretty good commissioner, Jessica Tisch. So that's good. But it's a constant battle and you know, we need politicians to have the basic expectation that crime is not normal. And again, it just cannot be stated enough. Buck and Clay, Trump's Liberation Day speech could be epic changing if people get rid of the idea that they should just accept squalor, disorder and violence as the normal part and also mass looting, mass shoplifting as simply normal parts of American cities.

[Buck Sexton]

Heather McDonald, everybody, always excellent. Heather, thank you so much.

[Heather McDonald]

Thanks so much. Mike and Clay.

[Buck Sexton]

This is something that I should talk to you about now because we're just discussing crime and sure, Trump, the anti crime revolution. That's fantastic. And we're hoping that this has huge ramifications across the country in a lot of cities. But just like with so many things, you are your first and last line of defense. You for your family, for yourself, for your home. This is where Sabre comes in. Yeah, I want Trump to be hugely successful in national crime stats dropping. But there's still a lot of crime out there and you need to be prepared. And if you want non lethal options to defend yourself, Sabre is simply the best. I want to be very clear about this. A lot of you are two A people. I'm a two way guy. I got plenty of guns right here in the room with me in the studio. But I also believe in having less lethal options when the situation requires it. And my wife just prefers when she's, you know, I'll conceal carry but she will conceal carry if you will. Not a firearm but nonlethal options. She likes the pepper sprays and, and the pepper gels from Sabre. Sabre is the best in class. And this is a family owned company that's been in business for over 50 years. Clay and I know the CEO. He relies on his own products to defend himself, his wife and his kids. So trust me when I say these are tested reliable and get the job done. For non lethal self defense, their projectile devices in the shape of either a rifle or a pistol, depends on the, on the model are so effective and they will stop the threat. Act now to protect yourself and your family. Save 15% on Saber's Mega bundle with extra projectiles magazine and practice targets. The website to go to is Saber. Now listen to the spelling sa b r e saberradio.com that's saberradio.com or call 844-824-SAFE.

[Clay Travis]

You don't know what you don't know, right? But you could on the SAF Sunday Hang with Clay and Buck podcast.

[Buck Sexton]

Definitely want to get to your talk backs and your calls and your emails at the back of this end of this hour. So please light us up with all of that. We always appreciate it. And I wanted to note something. We're talking about crime and trying to clean up street crime in these major cities. What's going on in D.C. i'm certainly very hopeful. I am optimistic, beyond hopeful. I'm optimistic that what Trump is doing is going to bear fruit there. But I would also note on the Clay I talked about this a bit yesterday when you stepped away to go visit our friends at Legacy Box on the sanctuary city situation. It's not just about illegal status. They are willing, think about this everyone. They are willing to to obstruct federal law enforcement efforts to get individuals off the streets who are not just here illegally, but who are real public safety threats because they are so devoted to we cannot meaning we the police in Boston, the police in la, the police in New York, you know, we cannot be a part of immigration stuff. Like we can't be anywhere near. So they would rather a a child predator who is an illegal alien be back out in circulation to possibly. And this is this has happened, by the way. You know, there was a woman raped and murdered Lake and Riley who was in custody. They had the guy in custody. They could have deported him, but they would rather not do that. And this is where Stephen Miller of the White House, one of the fantastic members of this Trump White House team, this is where I think his point is so critical. He was speaking about this. This is cut three and I think this really brings it home for everybody to understand just exactly what the Democrat, open Democrat sanctuary policies do. Play three. You'll have a situation where local police in Boston will arrest an illegal alien.

[Clay Travis]

Who'S a child predator and ICE will.

[Buck Sexton]

Then send what's called a detainer request or a hold request and we'll say don't release this person, hand them over.

[Clay Travis]

To ICE and we'll remove this child.

[Buck Sexton]

Predator from our community instead. Instead, these sanctuary mayors will order the police department to ignore the federal request to set them free, out of the.

[Clay Travis]

Jail, out of the prison, and they.

[Buck Sexton]

Will go back into the community and then they will reoffend.

[Clay Travis]

They will hurt another little girl, they will hurt another little boy.

[Buck Sexton]

And then ICE has to spend weeks.

[Clay Travis]

Trying to scouring the community to find this public safety threat.

[Buck Sexton]

What they're doing, Sean, is evil. And President Trump will see that they are held to account for their crimes. It's, it is just totally true. And I think everyone needs this. But Clay, that goes to the point of it's not just, oh, we don't want people who are, oh, they're doing the jobs Americans won't do. And all the propaganda about how everybody who comes here illegally is about to start Google and is always volunteering at their church, you know, baked goods day on Sunday or something. I mean, that's what they're always saying. No, there are people who are truly public safety threats. Murderers, gang members, rapists, child rapists. Who ICE is saying, hey, that guy's not even supposed. Guys, we're talking about that stuff. That guy's not even supposed to be in the country. Can you hold them for us for a minute? And the policy, the open and stated policy of these cities is no, let the child rapist go. We can't let immigration enforcement have him.

[Clay Travis]

This is where, again, I think Trump sometimes just innately hits on things because their basic common sense they have got. Right now at Union Station, the main train depot in Washington D.C. stephen Miller is there and J.D. vance is there. They are shaking hands with the National Guard troops who are deployed in D.C. right now. There are protesters outside of Union Station demanding that there be less security in Washington D.C. and I just come back to a very basic question. Unless you are a criminal, can you ever remember a time in your life where you thought, I wish there were way fewer police officers here? I'll tell you, I do a lot of public events. Sporting, sporting events in particular. There's never been a time in my life where I have been at a big college football game and I've thought, you know what? I wish there were fewer cops here. I wish there were fewer campus security officials. The only people who want less crime are two people. Buck one is criminals. Because remember, producer Ali can come up on this. The last time we were in D.C. i was going to get in a van to do a Piers Morgan hit. And producer Ali was getting nervous because it was getting too close to our showtime. Allie can pull her mic up. What did we see in an alley as we were walking to get into the, into that van at 11:50am we.

[Buck Sexton]

Saw a full on drug deal going.

[Clay Travis]

Down, legit drug deal guy standing guard. We walked by the alley. They see that we are not threats, right? We're not cops. Middle of the day drug deals Going on. Those guys don't want more cops around. And the only other group that does not want more cops around is rich left wing activists who live in areas where they feel no crime and have so reflexively adopted anti Trump sentiment that they are just very comfortable screaming about this. And in fact, J.D. vance just spoke about this cut 30. This just happened at Union Station. J.D. vance, addressing this issue directly. Play it.

[Buck Sexton]

The DC has a terrible crime problem. You just got to look around. Obviously D.C. has a terrible crime problem. The Department of Justice statistics back it up. The FBI statistics back it up. Just talk to a resident of this city, this beautiful, great American city, don't they deserve, I mean, we talk about human rights, we hear these people outside screaming, Free D.C. let's free D.C. from lawlessness. Let's free Washington D.C. from one of the highest murder rates in the entire world. Let's free Washington D.C. so that young families can walk around and feel safe and secure. That's what we're trying to free DC From. And as Stephen said, it's kind of bizarre that we have a bunch of.

[Clay Travis]

Old, primarily white people who are out.

[Buck Sexton]

There are protesting the policies that keep people safe when they've never felt danger in their entire lives. This is the, this is the delusional purple haired wannabe civil rights marchers of the left. I mean, that's, that's what this is. They think anytime they can stand against Trump and also anytime they can stand against police. So unless it's January six related, then they want SWAT teams. Isn't that amazing? Anyone who was involved at January six, the Democrats across the board, they wanted to send in SWAT teams, you know, flashbangs, grab them. That old lady, she walked into the open doors and she was in there for three minutes. Let's throw flashbangs into her house and ruin the rest of her life and try to lock her up for years and put her in solitary confinement. No concerns from the Democrats about police state tactics there. But if you're part of a, of a, you know, feral mob that murders somebody on the streets of D.C. oh, we don't want, we don't want to hurt your, you know, your future prospects in life. Like, let's go, let's go easy on these individuals. What's going on here? It's, it's nonsense.

[Clay Travis]

I just, I don't understand. First of all, we talk about this a lot and I do think it's important politics. Oftentimes there's two different tracks. One is, is it good politically? Another is, is it good for the Country. Right. I think this is an, a great example of Trump nailing it on two fronts. It is good politically to be against violent crime. It has been good politically whether you're a Democrat, Republican or an Independent to historically have been opposed to violent crime. So it is a political benefit. Also, fewer victims of violent crime is a good thing there. There are so many things we can sit around and have nuanced debate about should. I'll give you an example. How should food stamps deal with sugary sodas and potato chips like, okay, we can have a real debate about that.

[Buck Sexton]

There's some arguments on both sides of that. I actually think that the cutting the sugar thing is probably the better.

[Clay Travis]

I think you and I are probably going to be somewhat aligned on that. But there are reasonable arguments out there about what you should be able to buy with your SNAP funds. Right. Like that. Whether or not you should have fewer murders is not a debatable thing to me. Hey, I'm in favor of people being alive for as long as they possibly can. Seems like something that should be beyond politics.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, the mayor of Los Angeles.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

Very explicitly laid out that this is, this is essentially a function, the desire not to enforce the law more. Here is a prominent Democrat, a black woman who's the mayor of Los Angeles, saying that cracking down on crime in D.C. is. Well, you know what, I'll let her say it. Here she is. This is cut to play it.

[Heather McDonald]

I'm concerned about the way he is rolling that out in Washington D.C. which is essentially calling, essentially going after young black and brown youth in Washington D.C.

[Clay Travis]

Imposing a curfew, saying that if they violate the curfew the parents could be.

[Heather McDonald]

Charged $500, saying that the kids could be detained and arrested.

[Clay Travis]

We've tried those policies before.

[Heather McDonald]

They do not work. And it's my understanding that crime was.

[Clay Travis]

Going down in Washington D.C. so what is the purpose of this?

[Buck Sexton]

Okay, well that's the irrelevancy we keep hearing. Oh, crime is going down. Put that aside. We all know it's too dangerous.

[Clay Travis]

From historic all time highs. It's worth mentioning too.

[Buck Sexton]

So FYI, yeah, it's essentially going after black and brown youth is the quote that she puts out there. Okay, so now we get to why Democrats take this very, you know, very emotional position. And as you pointed out, a lot of them are middle aged and retiree aged. You know, white Democrats.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

But they view this, they view enforcement of the law as inherently racist. Well, what does that say about their perspective? Like she's the one saying this. That's Interesting.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I think just at a very baseline level, that actually leads to a conversation we should be having. Why are rates of violent crime so much higher for black and brown people such that they end up being arrested for rates of violent crime outside of the percentage of their overall population? That's a real conversation that an adult country would have, and we would try to figure out adult solutions. I would also point out that a very easy, and I mentioned it with Heather McDonald, but a very easy counterpoint to this is why should non criminal black and brown citizens be held hostage effectively in their neighborhoods by criminal black and brown people? Well, you're actually, they're the victims of the violence that you're not willing to end.

[Buck Sexton]

And there's a tremendous sensitivity on the left about, for example, in New York City, Asian is such a large. Asia is. Here's a, here's a statement for everybody. A very large place. So when you say Asian and in the context of, if you watch any, like, uk, you know, shows, you know, scripted drum, they're always like, oh, these are Asian males. When they say Asian, they mean South Asian, overwhelmingly.

[Clay Travis]

Right.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, when they're talking about South Asians in, in Britain, they're talking of people from India, from Pakistan. So to say Asian is such a broad thing. I bring this up though, Clay, because the left would like you to believe that poverty and lack of opportunity is what leads to crime. Problem is, in New York City, they have very good data on this. And the subgroup within Asia of Pakistani and Bangladeshi individuals, for example, have higher poverty rates, higher poverty rates than black or Latino New York City residents, and. And exponentially lower crime rates. This is just the data. So it's not about just. It's not just a poverty thing. And now we get into family formation, now we get into cultural influences. Now we get into dads being home or not. If you control, I get. You know what I mean? I don't have this data. If you control for households where there's a dad in the home, I get. I bet the crime disparity between all these different groups evaporates.

[Clay Travis]

I think that we could cure 90% of our social ills in this country if dads were at home. This is my soapbox issue. If you want to go to where it comes from at its most baseline level, this is one of the things that I think Thomas Sowell has done such a good job of arguing about because they've tried to say, hey, racism is what causes this crime discrepancy, this poverty issue. Everything else you go Back. And you look before the civil rights movement, almost, I think it's like 75%, 80% of young black kids in America grew up with a dad at home. Think about that 1950s America. Black men were at home with their families, raising their kids. Now, I believe it's 25% of black households have a dad at home. And if you go and overlay that data, as Buck just said, and you look at crime rates, I think you would see overwhelmingly, dad, not home crime happens. Dad, home crime comes down. Because these young men, they're acting out. They have no role models. They don't have a culture of male growth. Sometimes granddads try to do it, uncles try to do it. But that void in the household of the dad. And I'm not taking shots at single moms, because I know a lot of y' all out there are trying to do both jobs. Young girls do better in homes without dads than young boys do. And that is where I think a huge percentage of this violence comes from. That's the reality. And that's a conversation that a grown, healthy country would have instead of what you got there. Karen Bass saying, I'm concerned that if we enforce the law, too many people who are black and brown are going to be arrested. So it's racist to enforce the law. What about all the black and brown people who are gonna be victimized when you don't enforce the law? Do they have rights? I think they do. In fact, I think they should be protected. We should protect the people who don't break the law. Yesterday had an incredible day. Left the show a little bit early, went down to Chattanooga, spoke to the Hamilton County Young Republican group. Awesome crowd, great event. And before that, I went and toured Legacy Box. And if you're watching on the live stream right now, and I'm sure we'll clip this and we will share it on YouTube. You can see some of my tour. We had somebody walking around taking footage as I toured the factory at Legacy Box. And so you can see how they digitally transfer old media. More VCRs than I've seen ever took me back in time. I felt like it was 1985. Super 8. Film, photos, audio tapes, 19 different media they can turn into digital files. That's why Legacy Box exists, to help you preserve and relive your family's history. I even got to help a little bit with some of the transfers. Very little bit. But it was awesome just to see how this happens. They've done it for a million and a half families to date. When they take on your project, they stay in touch with you every step of the way. Then they'll send everything back. You get back all of your originals with a digital link allows you to see your stored memories up in the cloud as well and also on a digital file so that you can share it easily with your friends and family. This business really is about preserving your family's history and your family's legacy and it is incredible to see in person. Go check them out. Legacy box.com clay for 50 off your order that is legacybox.com clay, Adam and Nick they're doing an incredible job. Everybody there. I had an awesome day touring it. Legacybox.com Clay news and politics, but also a little comic relief. Clay, Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your your podcasts this Labor Day.

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[Clay Travis]

The reviews and ratings are in and Ice Cube's Big Three is the surprise hit of the summer. And to cap off the season, iHeart presents the Big 3 Basketball Championship and 8th Annual Big 3 All Star Game this coming Sunday, August 24th. Live from Orlando, the remaining two teams fight it out for the Big 3 Championship Dr. J Trophy in the most physical, fierce and competitive basketball league in the world. Don't miss the wild conclusion of Big Three's eighth and most historic season ever. This is the game no one wants to lose and there's no crying in the Big Three. The action starts with the Big Three eighth Annual All Star Game. Don't miss All Stars Dwight Howard, Montrez Harrell, MVP Michael Beasley, Lance will make you dance Stevenson, Jordan Crawford, Greg Monroe, Earl Clark, Nazir Kor and more show you why they are the best three on three basketball players in the world. Big three's exciting all star game plus the crowning of a new big three champion. The no holds part action starts Sunday at 2pm Eastern, 11 Pacific only on CBS. Hey there. I'm Mary Kathryn Ham.

[Buck Sexton]

And I'm Carol Markowitz.

[Clay Travis]

We've been in political media for a long time. Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.

[Buck Sexton]

That's why we started Normaly, a podcast for people who are over the hysteria.

[Clay Travis]

And just want clarity. We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.

[Buck Sexton]

We don't take ourselves too seriously, but.

[Clay Travis]

We do take the truth seriously. So if you're into common sense, sanity and some occasional sass, you're our kind of people. Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday.

[Commercial Announcer]

And Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple.

[Clay Travis]

Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Welcome back in Clay. Travis Buck Sexton show we were talking about Union Station and we played some of the cuts of what was going on there. Let me hit you with a couple of these, then we'll get to some more of your talkbacks. This was our friend Stephen Miller just a about an hour ago. Now on the pro crime protesters. These are the people that are upset that Trump is trying to decrease the amount of crime in Washington, D.C. cut 33.

[Buck Sexton]

All these demonstrators that you've seen out here in recent days, all of these elderly white hippies, they're not part of the city and never have been.

[Clay Travis]

And by the way, most of the.

[Buck Sexton]

Citizens who live in Washington, D.C. are black. This is not a city that has had any safety for its black citizens for generations and President Trump is the one who is fixing that with the support of the Metropolitan Police Department, the support of the National Guard and our federal law enforcement officers. So we're going to ignore these stupid white hippies that all need to go home and take a nap because they're all over 90 years old and we're going to get back to the business of protecting the American people and the citizens of Washington.

[Clay Travis]

Newscent I know the audio wasn't perfect, but he said all the Protesters are over 90 years old. They need to go home and take a nap. Buck I will say when we were up for the inauguration, a lot of the protesters Were old and it was cold. We've talked about this. I kind of just felt sad for them.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, no, we felt bad driving by them. They were not, they were looking like they needed some, some warm milk and maybe a blanket. It was not a, you know, a ruckus bunch.

[Clay Travis]

No. And here, by the way, just to give you a sense, these are the protesters. And remember, these are people protesting. There being too many people trying to decrease violent crime. Here they are, cut 32. If you wonder, why are Democrats hemorrhaging support? As the front page of the New York Times put it, it's because of people like this. Cut 32.

[Buck Sexton]

You be.

[Commercial Announcer]

In housing and climate justice.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, these are broken brain people.

[Buck Sexton]

Did you hear the shouting about. About climate justice too? That, that may be the most brainless slogan. What does that. I know it just means communism, but what does it really mean to the person who's saying it?

[Clay Travis]

You know, middle of the day, imagine you're like, hey, what are you going to do? Well, you're going to go to work. No, what are you going to do? I'm going to go protest because there's too many police trying to drive down the violent crime rate in Washington D.C.

[Buck Sexton]

You know, the only, the only protest that I remember thinking I would go out and march was during COVID when they made it illegal to protest. They made it illegal to protest everybody. They said, you can't gather. Sorry.

[Clay Travis]

And George Floyd, when they then said everybody should go protest.

[Buck Sexton]

And that was when any person capable of thinking for themselves would have known, if they didn't know already. Oh, this whole thing is just a political power grab. That's all this is. But yeah, you couldn't. You were not allowed. I would have joined protesters outside during the. You know, Clay, it's so interesting. Sorry, I know I get on Covid stuff and some of you are like, why? It's one of the most important lessons of our lifetime. I mean, that and 911 are the two biggest impact, I think. You know, Trump is really in many ways a corrective of, of both of those events. The expansive wars in the Middle east and then also dealing with the Democrat authoritarianism of COVID But Clay, I just think that there's this, there's a podcast out now. I'm forgetting what it is, but it's all about how basically fresh air and sunshine are actually truly important for your health. And it was on the Diary of a CEO podcast I was listening to. It's a very good podcast. And they stripped us of that while we were all Getting sick. This is why the public. I'm a little disappointed. I have not seen the sledgehammer taken to the CDC and the NIH yet. Something we'll come back to later. I don't want to divert from this. We're talking Union Station protesters. But I need those places to feel the fury. You know, there needs to be real bureaucratic reform, real political accountability for what those health agencies did.

[Clay Travis]

This is not directly Union Station. I'm going to get to some of your talkbacks in a sec, but I think you're going to like this bucket. Ties in with what we were talking about at the first segment at the end of the last hour about the importance of dads in the household. I saw this. This is Cam Ward. He was the number one overall draft pick in the NFL. Tennessee Titan quarterback. Remains to be seen how good he's going to be in the NFL. But he gets to work really, really early before dawn. And they asked him about that. Why do you go work so early in the morning? And I want to play this cut for you guys. He said if my dad can get up at 4:30 in the morning for a job he doesn't like at all, then I can get up really early in the morning for a job that I love. And I think it goes to culture. It goes to the importance of dads. Listen to that answer. I think you guys are going to appreciate it.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm just a big personal on work. I said yesterday, I've grown up, watched my dad wake up at 4:30 doing a job, job he didn't like. So, you know, if I can't wake up early and do what I need to do for a job I do like, I shouldn't be playing football. And that goes for everybody. Locker room. If you can't have the, the expectation for yourself that you want to be with a good or a great player and want to put the work in.

[Big3 Basketball Announcer]

I just, I just think that how it should go. I just think good things only come.

[Buck Sexton]

To those who work.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, it's very simple. But culture, I was talking about this last night in Chattanooga. You develop in your household a culture. And the culture can be, hey, I'm always going to whine and point at somebody else. You develop in your team a culture. You develop in your place of employment, place of work, a culture. And over time, I really believe this. I like to think on this show we have developed a culture over time. Culture breeds success. And so if your culture is telling you, hey, you can't do it, then your culture is Right. Most of the time you're not going to be able to do it. And if your culture is, man, I don't like my job, but I respect that. In order to take care of my family, I'm going to bust my ass and I'm going to get up at 4:30 every morning when that alarm goes off. I just love that answer. I just, I love the answer of if my dad can get up for a job he doesn't like at 4:30 in the morning, then by God, I can get up early for a job I really like.

[Buck Sexton]

Look, there are a lot of variations on this quote or this, this maxim, this truism, but the life that you want is right there. You just have to do the difficult things, you know, you need to do to get it. That's it. Yeah, whatever that may be. I mean, overwhelmingly people know what they should be doing. Right. Work hard, you know, focus, be honest with yourself, be a team player, show up, show up on all these different things. It's hard to do those things.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

You know, it's easier to not do those things. And so any, any messaging that you get that encourages you to do the hard things that you know, you need to do to get where you want to get is great. I mean, I think this, this player, I'd never heard of him before, which is not a surprise to anybody. I don't follow these things that close.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

But I love what he just said. So, yeah, he's totally spot on and that, that should be so encouraged like that. What his statement should be something that young men across the country hear and there's a focus on and not, you know, the system. I'm not even talking about race issues here, but you know, the system is rigged against you or, you know, men are toxic or all these negative things that you hear.

[Clay Travis]

I also think again, you're, as a dad, young men can be an uncle, you can be a grandpa, are looking to you because they're trying to find a purpose in life. And when you tell men your purpose in life is not to be a dad, not to be a father, not to provide for your family, you are stripping away a huge amount of their purpose. And so when you tell them that the things that make them male historically and throughout centuries are toxic, you are basically telling them we don't want you to be a part of society. And I think there's a lot of men and women out there that are becoming aware that we have told young men that. And I think they are overwhelmingly rebelling against that idea. There's a big difference between men and women are equal. And girl power is a great thing in the girl boss era. You can lift up women without tearing down men. And I think we've missed on that to a large extent. Let's have some fun. These are some funny talkbacks, by the way. Eric in San Diego, listening out there on Cogo. Is it Kogo or do I have to say Kogo? It should be Cogo in San Diego.

[Buck Sexton]

Listen, the left would never allow Newsom and Scarborough to run at the same time because it would create a worldwide hair gel shortage and the antifa type that spikes their hair would just go off the deep end, creating a dystopian universe that would look worse than Mad Max and, and then causing World War three to happen. So they're going to have to find somebody who is either bald or has a natural hairstyle.

[Clay Travis]

It's very funny. Maybe they can get Jesse Kelly to run. He's bald. FF Dan in. Dan in Cleveland, Ohio on wtam. What you got for us?

[Buck Sexton]

Just want to chime in on this thing about the black and Hispanic pride. I believe a lot of it has.

[Heather McDonald]

To do with the families.

[Buck Sexton]

No fathers at home.

[Clay Travis]

Tell them what's right and wrong. I really do believe poverty has nothing to do with it. I grew up poor as dirt. I ain't killed nobody yet. Don't plan on killing nobody. Yeah, I mean it is a, it is a. They have to explain how it happens without allowing individual responsibility to factor in. And so what they have decided to settle on is poverty and racism creates violent crime. But as you pointed out, Buck, when you actually dive into poverty and, and crime data in New York City, what you will see is some of the poorest immigrant communities, particularly Asian, have some of the lowest violent crime rates in the city. Well, if poverty creates crime, how do you explain it? And if minorities are uniquely susceptible, well, why does racism not seem to impact Asian people? And those become very difficult conversations. What it ultimately comes back to is individual responsibility, which to me is the foundation in many ways of the Republican Party.

[Buck Sexton]

Unfortunately, the Democrat party is absolutely devoted to no accountability for anyone as long as they vote Democrat. You're not accountable for ruining cities. You're not accountable for wide open borders. You're not accountable for, go down the list, the destruction of the family, all these things. There's no accountability. Just vote Democrat and it's always somebody else's fault. Whoever you are, whether you're the purple haired antifa maniac or you know, you're, you're a Female minority, primary voter who shows up. Nothing. Nothing in your life that you don't like is your fault. If you're a Democrat, it's somebody else's fault. Vote Democrat.

[Clay Travis]

And I think, again, this is why I'm so optimistic. And I know I tend to be optimistic in general, but I just see so many young men starting to ask the question, have I really been. Have I lied to. And I think Covid was a big part of it. Because if they shut down your school and you didn't get to go to prom or finish your basketball season, or you didn't get to play soccer or whatever sport you love, they get to play football. And then you find out that you were never in danger from COVID and that what they told you about why you couldn't be in school. Well, guess who got to be in school? The rich kids at the private school. Guess who got to go to restaurants. Gavin Newsom didn't miss many meals. He got to hang out at the French Laundry with all his buddies, have their nice glasses of chardonnay. And you start to think, wait a minute, maybe I need to do my own research on what the facts are. And I think more and more smart young men and young women, but particularly young men, are rejecting a lot of the. The lessons that they have been taught. Do something smart for your family. If you haven't already get. How about a will and a trust? I have this. Buck has this. I hope we have a lot of years still to come, but if we don't, we've taken care of our families, and families know exactly what we want to happen when we are no longer here. Maybe you're like Buck and you just had your first baby. Maybe you're like me and you got a couple, two, two, three kids out there. Maybe you're a grandma or grandpa. Have you gone through the process of letting your family know what you want to happen after you are gone? Maybe you're out there and you're saying, I am the peacemaker. I'm the reason why Aunt Gladys and Uncle Phil can sit together at the same table for Thanksgiving? Because otherwise, they're going to be at everybody's throat. They're going to be after each other. Can you imagine what will happen when you rely on those knuckleheads to try to figure out issues relating to your legacy? Don't you want to take it out of their hands and just be able to make the choices that are right for you and your family to help keep peace of mind in place when you're not there to help make peace of mind happen. That's what entirely a will and a trust is designed to do. You can go to trustandwill.com clay right now and and you'll get 20% off their experts in creating personalized trust and wills that will protect your legacy. It's affordable. You don't have to have a lawyer to do it, but it is something that you should take the time to do at Trust and Willcom Slash Clay. That's Trust and Willcom Slash Clay. Keep up with the biggest political comeback in world history on the Team 47 podcast Clay and Buck Highlight Trump replays from the week, Sundays at noon Eastern. Find it on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Big3 Basketball Announcer]

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[Clay Travis]

You want smart political talk without the meltdowns? We got you. I'm Carol Markowitz. And I'm Mary Kathryn Ham. We've been around the block in media and we're doing things differently.

[Buck Sexton]

Normally is about real conversations, thoughtful, try to be funny, grounded and no panic.

[Clay Travis]

We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day. Join us every Tuesday and Thursday Normally on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.