← The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
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- [00:00]
A
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human welcome in everybody. Friday edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show kicks off right now. Got some things to discuss with all of you. Got the continuing Epstein fallout of all the documents, including Bill Clinton's deposition. Now something we could discuss here. Hillary Clinton testifying Clay, just as a follow up, remember when they said that some photo got leaked, apparently it was being recorded and so it just. The photo came out in advance of the recorded session. So it was really just a total tempest in a teapot. The whole thing was absurd. No surprise with any of that. More on the Trump USA Hockey relationship awesomeness for Americans who love America. But there are some, there are some sad, sad exclamation point malcontents out there who do not love fun America, gold medals, hockey. And they are annoyed about this. Including one athlete who only ever gets attention anymore for being one of those people who is a malcontent and cannot celebrate the greatness of USA USA without raining on the parade. A bit update on the NYPD snowball assault situation, which I have to say I am gratified that at least some people. Well, we are certainly. But the police commissioner was taking it very seriously. But as I warned you, I saw this one coming. It's not up to the police commissioner whether these individuals get punished or not. So we will give you the latest on that. Some Immigrations and Customs Enforcement updates and then Paramount takes over Warner Brothers. Clay, our media M and A expert is going to explain why this matters. This is one of those things where truly I don't even know. He knows. He could run the org chart for all these places from his head. Like he actually knows who's in charge and who owns what. I don't even. This is like Viacom, Discovery Channel, movie studio. I don't think it's gonna be. I don't know any of this stuff.
- [02:20]
B
I think it's gonna be a big deal. We'll dive into that. But I think probably the number one story right now, as we were just talking about off air Buck, is Bill Clinton is testifying in the Epstein probe. Yesterday was Hillary, today is Bill Clinton. And so let me give you my take and then everybody can be angry at it. Nothing is going to come of this. Bill Clinton is going to answer questions as a smart attorney would, denying he's already put out a public statement denying that he had any knowledge of it at all, wagging his finger at all of us like he did with Monica Lewinsky. And it's going to be basically impossible. To prove that he did anything wrong. Let me tell you where this is going because I do think this is significant. And we'll open up the phone lines if people want to weigh in. The Jeffrey Epstein case, whatever you might have thought of it in the past, is now the primary method by which Democrats are attacking Donald Trump. And it is illegitimate and it is not based in reality. But they have used anger on the right and some anger on the left and they are just trying to channel that anger into Trump. And they are using Steele dossier like beef bs Russia collusion like bs Brett Kavanaugh accusation like BS to now attack President Trump who did nothing of any criminal nature at all. So that is where we are. You are.
- [03:52]
A
That's a very important observation I agree with. Nothing is going to come from this. I'm always the womp, womp guy here. I told you nothing's going to come. The JFK files, nothing is going to come of the Epstein files. Let me be clear. That's not the same as saying, I don't think that we should have transparency into them. Sure. But if there were something in there that could be charged, they would have charged it. They're, they're not going to release files that say, oh, here's this like super powerful rich guy who's actually an underage sex criminal. And we just didn't even think about this till now. Of course, there's nothing in there that they're going to charge. There are things that are unsavory. There are things that are make you think, you know, people have lost jobs and professorships and, you know, this is, there is fallout for sure, but the fallback fallout is for being a scumbag and to be clear, not for criminal behavior. People are suffering consequences now. And you can make of this what you will, but I do think there's a little bit of a moral panic going on where you have some people who are having to defend themselves on the Trump side of things who didn't do anything. Yeah, but because they're in the Epstein files and this has been turned into this, you know, giant conspiracy of global cover up and everything else, you know, you have to go with the facts and you have to be clear and precise on this clay to what you're saying. This is the primary way to that people who hate you and everything that Donald Trump is trying to accomplish for you is trying to cleave Trump from the base with this is their weapon. Right now they go, Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. And they say that this as if like Trump is Somehow the guy who is implicated, he's, if anything, he's implicated in being the one guy who's like, Epstein's a scumbag. Why aren't you guys doing more about this 15 years ago? And yet Clay Democrats recognize that this is now a tool that they can use through misrepresenting what's in there. And it also goes to, why did Trump not really want to get into this? Why did Trump look at some of this and realize, you know what's going to happen here? You're going to get a lot of, a lot of people are just going to come to conclusions about this that aren't in evidence. And then Democrats are going to say, see, it's all Trump or he's still covering it up or his name is in there. They're going to misrepresent this to suggest that Donald Trump is like the primary Epstein suspect number one, when that's the opposite of what the files actually shows about Donald Trump.
- [06:34]
B
Yeah, I think what you said is important. People who are Trump supporters are being used through the Epstein files to attack Trump. And here's two big things that I think are here. And again, the story today is President Clinton, former President Clinton is testifying. Um, I don't think anything's going to come of this. I don't think anything's going to come of the Hillary Clinton mess. Was it unseemly? Yes. Was it criminal in nature? I don't think so. Based on everything that I've seen, I think it would be very hard to charge people criminally. Here are two big facts that I think are important that are not getting talked about enough. The Trump DOJ charged Epstein. I don't know why no one is talking about this. The Trump doj, these charges that came down against Jeffrey Epstein, they were brought by the Donald Trump Department of Justice in 2019, when Trump was still in office. Nobody was charging Epstein. Nothing was being done. The Trump DOJ charged him. This is after the, the, the, the plea, pleading guilty to the interaction with, I think it was like what Alan Dershowitz told us was a 17 and a half year old masseuse for sexual assault in that case in some way.
- [07:54]
A
So point one, Soliciting a prostitute was actually the charge. Soliciting an underage prostitute? Yeah.
- [07:59]
B
Trump's Department of Justice charged Epstein is point one. Point two, Joe Biden's Department of Justice had all of these files for, for four years. Not one Democrat demanded that they release all these files. Not one Democrat demanded that there be any sort of public investigation surrounding Epstein at all. Again, Trump's DOJ charged Epstein in 2019, which led to his death when he was eventually in custody. Suicide. According to the FBI, Biden's Department of Justice had these files, kept them private for four years, did nothing with them, and. And no Democrat made any demands whatsoever. So why do I bring both of those things up? Do you think that if there had been evidence of criminal wrongdoing that Biden's DOJ wouldn't have charged Trump in a heartbeat? They tried to bankrupt and imprison him for the rest of his life.
- [08:56]
A
Can I just add to this? I don't want to stop your flow. They made up crimes to charge him with on other things. You don't think that they would love to nail him as a sex criminal? They would have killed MAGA as a movement in one fell swoop? No, of course they didn't have anything on it.
- [09:10]
B
So, again, Trump's DOJ charged Epstein. Biden's DOJ had these files private for four years. Not one Democrat said anything. I think you need to be smart, and I think you need to ask yourself, wait a minute. Why now do all these Democrats claim that they care so much about Jeffrey Epstein when they didn't say one word when Biden's Department of Justice had all these files for four years? Because Trump is right. It's being used as a way to attack Trump, and they're using a lot of Trump supporters as the fuel under which they are making these attacks. I just think might make some people uncomfortable. We'll open up phone lines, but that is the reality of where we are right now. I also think, Buck, we're dealing with a me too like feeding frenzy. I'll give you an example. Howard Lutnick. Whatever you think about him, and I don't know Howard Lutnick personally, he took his family on a boat and his kids to have lunch with Jeffrey Epstein in the Caribbean. You might not like that, but the idea that he's in some way engaged in some sort of nefarious underage sex ring when he took his own children and his wife to have lunch in the. On the Caribbean island when he was on a boat in the Caribbean, this, if your name is in there, it's a feeding frenzy, like the MeToo thing, where people don't actually look at the accusations and details themselves.
- [10:33]
A
But also, this is why the dis. The dishonesty of Democrats about this, the Epstein list, when you're really looking at who knew about his criminal conviction and that he was a scumbag and that there was stuff here because they spent a lot of time with him and they really liked him. It is a who's who of Democrats. It's a who's who of Democrats on the Epstein list. And all they are trying to do is go, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump. They are running a propaganda op, my friends. This is why you have to get to manufacturing delusion because I explain in the propaganda chapter exactly the tactics that they are using here. It doesn't matter what the facts are, it doesn't matter what's really in the files. They are going fire hose of falsehood. This is all about Trump and Clay. To your point, this is very important. They are setting Trump's own supporters after him and after his people on this for, for months now. And you know, we've been fielding a lot of the angry emails and calls too. First of all, as if like we're, we're two guys sitting here in T shirts talking about things like I have no power to release DOJ files. I'm glad that they've released the files. But I want to point something out now. What's happened is that there are a lot of people who are, you know, they're being essentially smeared for any association with Epstein whatsoever. I'm talking about a pretty de minimis one. I mean, imagine in the P. Diddy case, think of all the people P. Diddy, P. Diddy, he was doing was disgusting. He's a disgraceful deviant who's now in prison. There are some people that knew and that participated and that were probably complicit in his crimes. And there were a lot of people who went to his fancy parties. Is everybody who is in P. Diddy's orbit equally guilty? No, of course not. But what you're seeing with the Epstein thing is a lot of selective focusing of attention on Trump, on Lutnick, on irrespective of what the facts actually show. And I think this is what Trump was concerned about all along and he was right.
- [12:37]
B
All of that is true. I would add in the reason why a lot of people aren't being honest with you across a lot of media about this is because much like in me too, if you speak out, a lot of people are afraid that they're going to become targets. So there's a lot of people out there who agree with 100% of everything that Buck and I just said in media and they won't tell it to you because they're afraid that suddenly everybody's going to target them. Much like in me Too. I'll give you an example. The Matt Damon one was a good one. Remember when Matt Damon came out and said, hey, you know, there's a big difference between grabbing some woman's butt at a party and, and rape. And we should keep in mind that every accusation in me too is not the same. And remember, he got ripped to shreds by people in Hollywood who said, oh, no, no, no, there is no difference at all. Like, like, wait a minute. You know, the whole reason we have a criminal justice system is because there is a difference between grabbing a girl's butt at a party and actual rape. And Matt Damon tried to say that in the middle of me too. And, and they ripped him to shreds for it. And a lot of other people just said, I'm not going to touch it because I'm not going to get targeted.
- [13:49]
A
And this. We're, we're entering moral panic phase now with the Epstein thing. If you want more trans. You know, I don't know what transparency even would mean at this point. I mean, there's millions of. Have people. Have people wanting more transparency, even read 10 of the files that have been released. I mean, that's another question here. But you know, if you want more answers, that's. I respect. If you want to know how the DOJ screwed this up so badly the first time around, meaning the release of the documents, that was a total. And we called them out for that. It was a, you know, a PR disaster. But there's a difference in a PR disaster and being a pedo protector, which is what. And I'm seeing people on our. At least ostensibly on the right who are saying this about some of the top Trump people. And I'm, I'm just like. And we, you know, we know some of these people, you know, if you. This is what I was trying to say. Even when there was all that heat, remember, there was all that heat on our friend Dan Bongino when, when he was doing this. And we're like, no, guys, he's trying. I promise you he's trying. If you think Dan Bongino is protecting Pedos, you're a moron. Okay? He's not. And I just have to speak honestly to people about this. If you think that's happening, you are in the midst of a manufactured delusion. OK? 15 years, OK? Trust me, like the, the last guy who's going to, you know, bend the knee on something like that when it comes to protecting kids. Crazy. But people are. And Trump. Oh, I just, I start to lose with this.
- [15:13]
B
So no, but I think it's important. So the Clinton thing is going on. We'll open up phone lines. You can disagree with everything we just said. We are right. And I understand that the Trump administration has not been perfect. Pam Bondi. The biggest mishap of year one was Pam Bondi trying to answer questions about this. And there are lots of people in media who have tried to convince a lot of people that there's some sort of pedophile ring that's running around and everything else. The evidence shows that there were a lot of rich guys that wanted access to 20 year old models. I mean that's like 90% of the women.
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A
Doesn't make you a bad, evil criminal person. If you want to BE With a 25 Victoria, 25 year old Victoria's Secret model, you're like 90% of, you know, single guys in America.
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B
Okay.
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A
That there's nothing wrong with that. You might think it's skeevy if you're a married guy or something that's different. But you know, we just need to have these distinctions. All right, I know. Take the calls. Let's go. More than 50%.
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B
Let's go.
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A
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- [17:03]
C
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.
- [17:18]
B
Welcome in our number. Number two. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us as we are rolling through the Friday edition of the program. Continue to take your calls and your talkbacks. President Trump just stopped to talk with the media on his way to the helicopter. He is headed to the state of Texas to have a rally in advance of the big primary happening in Texas. This on Tuesday. Yesterday, we took a lot of calls from Texans who are voting for Jasmine Crockett in the Democrat primary. Today I will announce that we have, unlike Stephen Colbert, actually offered Jasmine Crockett an opportunity to come on this program and explain to all of you why she would be the best choice for Texas voters. We will see whether or not she is willing to come on. But unlike the awful racist Stephen Colbert who tried to rig the Texas Democrat primary in favor of the white man, Buck and I are offering a proud black woman an opportunity to convince all of you why she is the perfect voice for Texas. We will see if she accepts our offer. We have been talking about the fact that we have a press conference, a sorry deposition going on right now of former President Clinton relating to Epstein. President Trump just weighed in on that. And again, there are a lot of news stories out there and, and we will dive into his comments shortly as we're going to be grabbing those. But again, big primary going on in Texas. Let's see. This is Hurley in Lincoln, Nebraska. Many different talkbacks on KFAB in Omaha. Let's listen to Cut J.
- [19:19]
A
Before you guys waste another day talking about fluff that none of us can do anything about.
- [19:24]
B
Get your listeners to call their senators
- [19:28]
A
and to call John soon and to tell them to get the SAVE act passed now. Now do something that can actually save
- [19:35]
B
America for a change. For a change.
- [19:39]
A
I like that idea. Except it still isn't going to happen because Thune's not going to do it because they're not going to get rid of the filibuster. They're not going to pass the SAVE Act.
- [19:47]
B
I think the SAVE act should be passed.
- [19:50]
A
I do, too. Do you think, do you think there's any realistic prospect for it to be passed? Absolutely not.
- [19:54]
B
So they're not going to do away with it. Look, right now in the Senate, unless you can get 60 votes, nothing happens. And so unless you can get 60 votes, unless they do away with the filibuster, which they're not willing to do.
- [20:08]
A
So that's what we'd have to. We'd have to call Thune and say, thune, get rid of the filibuster for the SAVE act. Because otherwise they'll just say with the filibuster, it's not happening. And so we go back to square one. Not, not to put a damper on things. I appreciate the gentleman's spirit, but you're saying do something we can actually do something about that. Doesn't really count for the SAVE act, but we'll try.
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B
We can reach out to Thune and let him know that we think he should actually pass this bill.
- [20:34]
A
He will not come on the show, ladies and gentlemen. Just so you know, we have invited him multiple times. He will not come on this program.
- [20:40]
B
He declined to come on. Which is kind of a straight up.
- [20:43]
A
Straight up. No, not coming on. What's that all about?
- [20:46]
B
Interesting.
- [20:47]
A
We're so nice. I think he's scared of clay. I think he's scared to get penced by Clay.
- [20:52]
B
It could be true. Let's see here. Is it Taller Talar from San Diego, Furious. Stop covering up for pedophiles. All right? Or pedophiles. Here's cut K. This is the last day I can ever listen to your show because I can't believe. I can't believe you're part of this whole cover up. Oh, nothing happened. Really? Go look at the damn files. Stop talking, Diamond. Covering up for these pedophiles unless you're one too.
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A
What does that even mean when we say nothing happened? I went, did she not? Whatever. The lady's name is. A lady, right?
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B
Yes, I think so.
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A
I mean, it sounded like a lady. I mean, you know, you never know these days. I said, Jeffrey Epstein, you know, is dead because he was facing the rest of his life in prison for being a pedophile and for having child sexual abuse material, huge amounts of it. I mean, he was going to prison for the rest of his life. No, no if, ands or buts. He's a bad guy. We all get that. He's a bad guy. She's saying covering up for pedophiles. Who?
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B
Yes, who?
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A
Who is covering? Who are we covering up for? Who? I just want to know the name. And by the way, anyone says. Oh, but why won't you look into. Why won't the victims. The victims. In some cases. You sit. Here you go. Okay, well, victim of what exactly? Were you of age or are you underage? There's a big distinction that is made in law and should be made in the discourse about this as well. Who. Who violated any of the victims that we don't know about? They should tell us. If they're not willing to tell us, what are we supposed to make of that, Clay?
- [22:33]
B
No, I. Look, I. I do not know and have never met anyone that would cover up any sort of crime against a child. I haven't I haven't ever met anyone that would do that in my own life. I don't know Pam Bondi personally. We do know President Trump pretty well. J.D. vance pretty well. Marco Rubio pretty well. A lot of people in the Pete Hegseth, a lot of people in that administration, they would crawl over broken glass to prosecute people who are in any way engaging in crimes against children. Dan Bongino, Cash Patel, whoever you want to name there. So if you're alleging that there are child sex crimes that have occurred and people are being protected, then the people who are doing the protecting are also guilty of crimes. That's not true. That's not happening. And I understand people get fired up because there has been, frankly, a lot of people who've made a lot of money arguing that there's a huge child sex ring and Jeffrey Epstein was leading it and all these famous people are involved. Even with all these emails coming out, the, the, what has been shown clearly is that Epstein used attractive women to engage in opportunities to build a network for business for his own benefit. I don't think there's any doubt about that. But what has not been shown is that there was some sort of illicit trade going on in underage women. Most of the women mentioned in any relation to Epstein were of age. And if they have evidence of crimes, they have the ability to go forward and make their allegations publicly.
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A
They actually, they have the obligation.
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B
They have the obligation, obligation to do so. They have been paid, again, hundreds of millions of dollars in, in settlement money from the Epstein and from banks. People say, again, I want to reiterate, NDAs do not are not enforceable here. You're not going to see somebody lose whatever money they already got. They have an obligation to speak and tell us who committed crimes against them or who they saw committing crimes. Even if they weren't the, the actual victim, they won't do it. And so again, what is actually going on here, Democrats have recognized that they can attack President Trump over this, and they are going to attack President Trump all the way through the rest of the year because they believe they get political benefit from it. But I'm asking you to just think about it, just rationally think about this for a minute. Trump's DOJ is who charged Jeffrey Epstein in 2019. Joe Biden's department of justice had all of this, all of this information and they didn't do anything for four years. And now Democrats are trying to attack Trump over the Epstein files. Use your brains. It doesn't add up.
- [25:55]
A
I mean, Also, I would just say the throwing around things like pedo protector or, or even just calling someone a pedo without any basis whatsoever. It's just the most pathetic and gross attack on a person you can possibly make.
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B
It's the new race.
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A
Like calling someone a rape rapist.
- [26:15]
B
I mean, racist. Or racist. Yeah, those words have lost their. Their pop because they've been so overused. Calling random people pedophiles is not a way to actually catch pedophiles, just like calling people racist is not a way to actually address racism. And so, again, I think you have to work through this. President Trump is being attacked by Democrats who are not operating in good faith. He. Here's what I think too, Buck. I think Bill and Hillary Clinton being deposed, I think is setting the table. I'm just going to tell you where I think this is going to go. Republicans, I mean, sorry, Democrats, are going to start arguing we need to have President Trump and Melania under oath talking about the Epstein files, too. So, of course, for those of you out there who are like, oh, they're going to get Hillary. Oh, they're going to get Bill Clinton. This is going to end it, actually flip it. If Democrats take back control of the House, they're going to demand that President Trump and Melania testify under oath about Epstein, just like Bill and Hillary Clinton.
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A
They're already. They're already doing this. This is cut four. This is Ro Khanna out of California in Congress. Play 4.
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D
A new precedent has been set in America today. Before this, we had the Trump rule. Trump defied, as all of you know, a congressional subpoena with the January 6 committee. He said presidents don't have to testify. Now we have the Clinton rule, which is that presidents and their families have to testify when Congress issues a subpoena. And that means that Donald Trump needs to come before our committee and explain what he knew about Epstein and explain why we have not had a full release of the documents.
- [28:06]
B
There you go. This is where it's headed. So expect that as we get closer to the midterms now, they are going to argue we've got to have President Trump under oath. Why won't he go under oath? We got to have Melania under oath. Why will she not go under oath? Again, I think they are playing Democrats are chess. It has nothing to do, nothing whatsoever to do with the Epstein case at all. It is just Epstein and his and his awfulness being used as a lever to attack President Trump. And a lot of Trump supporters are playing into this. And I just think you need to understand what's actually going on. Do you really believe, do you really believe that Democrats who didn't say a word for four years when Biden was in office are really desperately concerned about justice relating to Epstein in any way? Of course not. They are just. They see it as an opportunity to attack President Trump and try to keep him from being able to have success going.
- [29:13]
A
We can, we can talk. Trump just spoke. We'll get to some of those sound bites here in a second. We'll hear. Let's bring this up right into the news cycle and then we can leave the kind of Epstein conspiracy theorizing and, oh, God, it's just, honestly, just exhausting at this point.
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B
Point.
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A
I don't know what else to say about it. There's. It, you know, we sit here, there's. There's a big portion of MAGA that wants to talk about this and only this. And if you don't talk about this, you're covering up for pedophiles. And then there are a lot of other people who are like, you know, I'm trying to live my life here and there's other things going on and none of this is going to amount to anything anyway of any meaning in terms of this document release. So that's, this is what we're stuck in the middle of. And too many Republican politicians, Clay, are scared of their own voters to just tell them, this is the deal, guys. This is where it is now. Okay? They're just, they just don't want to deal with the heat.
- [30:05]
B
Yeah, they're afraid of the heat. Is this Ali, Is this Bill. Is this Trump talking about Bill Clinton right now? Is that cut 26 or is this a different cut? Here is Trump just now. There's a little bit of audio issue in the background because he's about to get on a helicopter. But here is President Trump talking about Bill Clinton under, under the deposition. Cut 26.
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E
I don't like seeing him depose, but they certainly went after me a lot more than that.
- [30:40]
B
So Trump saying, if you couldn't hear that, I don't like seeing him depose, but they certainly went after me a lot more than that. Why do you think President Trump doesn't. President Trump's smart enough to see this. He knows that Bill and Hillary Clinton, that Democrats. The reason why they voted to allow Bill and Hillary Clinton to be opposed is they don't have anything to lose. What do they care about Bill and Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton now they want to set the precedent that now President Trump and Melania have to go under oath and be deposed. How do you think MSNBC is going to cover that? How do you think it's going to be covered by, by CNN again? I'm just telling you exactly where this is going. It's not going to a place where people are getting prosecuted. It's going to be political 100% from here on out.
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A
I also would need an explanation, Clay, and I do, I really do want to move past this. So I promise you, for any of you who are as exasperated and frustrated this as I am, remember Republicans are making us talk about this insofar as they've got a, you know, a former first lady and Secretary of state and almost president, sorry, Hillary, almost president. And they got Bill Clinton as well, now two term president. This is what they're being, this is what Congress is spending time doing. So that's why we're on it. But I just want to know the people that are so frustrated with this. So somehow there are those out there who think that Donald Trump is a great American hero, a patriot, a guy who took a bullet for his country, a, a guy who's trying to save the country, a man who has been able to defeat tremendous evil of the deep state, go down the list, all this stuff, but he's covering up for Pedos. That's a moronic position to hold. Ok? You cannot believe those two things simultaneously. You cannot believe that somebody is awesome but does this one horrible thing that would undermine everything else about them. That's just not a thing. So keep that in mind as we're going through this stuff and people are saying, well, Trump is still what Trump is. Trump is covering up for. You think Trump would cover up for Bill Gates or Bill Clinton or you think Trump would risk his presidency or, you know, I mean, come on, it's crazy.
- [32:43]
B
But that is where we are. And I do think you're right, unfortunately, Buck, that a lot of Republicans in office and a lot of media are afraid to tell people this because they're like, it's going to blow back on me. This is the truth. We tell you the truth here. Sometimes it makes people uncomfortable.
- [32:59]
A
Yeah. And if you're mad, be mad at Clay. It's the weekend. I'm looking forward to catching up on some much needed rest following non stop book promotion. Lucky for me, I've got Cozy Earth sheets, blankets, hoodies and sweats to snuggle up in. We love Cozy Earth products in the Sexton household. The sheets, they are the real deal. Crafted from premium bamboo viscose I hope I said that one right. Which means they're not only incredibly soft, I feel them. They feel very soft, but naturally temperature regulating. They only get softer over time. Wash them hundreds of times and they're as soft as ever. They're fantastic. 10 year warranty on those sheets. By the way, Cozy Earth backs their sheets up with a 100 night sleep trial and a 10 year warranty. Zero risk in trying them for yourself. Go to cozyearth.com use my name, Buck as your promo code to get up to 20% off your next purchase. That's cozyearth.com promo code, Buck, to get that 20% off.
- [33:51]
C
Stories of freedom, stories of America, 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.
- [34:05]
B
Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton SHOW. Okay, was it yesterday, Buck, that I said we should just go take Cuba out once and for all, make it a default American territory in communism. In the island of Cuba. On the island of Cuba and, and bring sanity just off the southern shore of the United States. Well, President Trump, in answering questions on his way to the helicopter to head to the airplane to fly down to Texas, he weighed in on the decision surrounding Cuba and he said, maybe we'll just have a friendly takeover of Cuba. Cut 27 the Cuban government is talking with us.
- [34:53]
E
They're in a big deal of trouble, as you know. They have no money, they have no anything right now, but they're talking with us and maybe we'll have a friendly takeover of Cuba. We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba after many, many years. We've had a lot of years of dealing with Cuba. I've been hearing about Cuba since I'm a little boy. But they're in big trouble and we could very well something good, I think very positive for the people that were expelled or worse from Cuba that live here. You know, we have people living here that want to go back to Cuba and they're very happy with what's going on.
- [35:36]
B
So there is Buck and you're in South Florida, so you understand the Cuban expat community better than most. And I know we have a huge listenership in the Cuban community. And by the way, this could be Marco Rubio basically fulfilling the dream of pretty much every young kid raised in Cuba whose parents and grandparents had a, had a life in Cuba before. There is a Supreme Court case. The timing on this is very interesting. There is a Supreme Court case pending right now. That has to do with US Assets that were seized by the Cuban government when the communist revolution began. Reports are, and I know a lot of people probably have not spent much time on this, that in 1959 90% of Cuban business assets were owned by US related entities. So there is an argument, and we'll see what the Supreme Court says about this, that the biggest victims from a, from a business perspective were all U. S based corporations and that we should allow U.S. corporations to go back into Cuba, get their assets back and try to allow capitalism to exist in, in, in the country. And I would be in favor of that. It would end the danger of China or Russia or North Korea or whoever, Iran who, whatever foreign interest bear ill designed to the United States from them being able to have close proximity to the United States. It would tie in with the so called Don Row doctrine, which is really just a modification and extension of the Monroe Doctrine, that the United States controls this hemisphere. I just think it's a no brainer. What's your take on this? There's about eight and a half million people who live in Cuba. Millions. What do you think? What's the Cuban population in the United States? Cuban born or Cuban descent? 5,6 million probably. At least.
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A
I would think, Clay, you look at these beaches, unspoiled, beautiful. The real estate, I'm telling you, could be amazing. We get Trump Havana, big gold, beautiful building right outside Havana on the beach. Going to be a whole new world for Cuba. They're gonna love it. Some people are saying they're gonna love it. Yeah, of course, this would be great. And I think, you know, the arguments against this are rather, the arguments against a future of liberty and, and you know, decency in government for the Cuban people are effectively pathetic. I mean the left in this country always has a weird, it's not unknowable, or rather we understand why, but always has this bizarre sympathy for far left regimes, no matter how oppressive and no matter how failed. Because there's a lot of stuff that in the ethos at least of the Cuban communist regime appeals to leftists in America. That's just the truth. So in fact some of the, you know, there have been really aggressive efforts by, you know, by the Cuban government even to try to run, you know, information operations and things in this country too. So look, I think that if we can do this, if we can do this with pressure and smart maneuvering and not a marine expeditionary force landing on the beaches, great. And I think Trump and Rubio know that that's, that's a Bit of a red line. And especially because we're going to be talking about whether we're going to go to war. People, by the way, say go to war the round. It would probably be more airstrikes. And we were doing airstrikes. We had a no fly zone in Iraq for years and years in between wars there where we would, you know, blow a plane out of the sky or do things here and there. So the difference between strikes and war is meaningful despite people who are like,
- [39:37]
F
oh my God, we're gonna go to war.
- [39:38]
A
It's not that simple in Iran, but with Cuba, we gotta see what happens with Venezuela too. We haven't heard a lot about where that stands now from the Trump administration. These things do take some time. But yeah, of course Cuba, it should be a great country, it should be a real asset in the Caribbean to the whole hemisphere instead of this totalitarian dictatorship and economic backwater and basket case, which is what it is. And they've like, I like to say they've run the experiment and it has failed. The people that are in charge in Cuba are incompetent, corrupt thugs and there's no reason for them to be in charge other than they have the guns. So let's see if that can change.
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B
I also think this is the, it's been under discussed that maybe the biggest impact immediately of Venezuela was cutting off the supply of oil to Cuba and creating an opportunity to have quote, unquote, a friendly takeover in Cuba more so than in Venezuela. Let me also say, Buck, I think this is important because you're now seeing the same arguments that were made before we struck Iran in those arguments are, oh my goodness, we'll go to your point. We're going to be going to war. The danger is going to be huge, paramount, all of these different things. Why didn't that happen when we took out Iran in the so called, was it 12 day war before Iran? Iran has no ability to actually push back in any kind of significant way. And if they had, they would have done that back in the the time of the first attack, June of last year. The challenge with Iran, as I see it, is who takes over. Because I do think if we really let Iran have it, the Ayatollah's ability to maintain control in Iran is significantly curtailed. And we're going to talk, by the way with Debra Lee about Iran at the top of the next hour and see what she thinks on the timings and everything else associated with it. And you were in Iraq, Buck, and the challenge, I think that Is there is when you wipe out a whole cadre of leadership, you end up with a void. And in that void it's a real time of uncertainty as to who is going to rise to power. And so I'm less concerned with the strike on Iran and more concerned with the implications, the ripple effect that spreads out from the attack on Iran. And so what happens if we end up in this sort of power vacuum style situation?
- [42:26]
A
All very true. All very true. So we'll see what the situation is as it plays out in Cuba. And we haven't really gotten much more on that boat that got shot up. I don't.
- [42:37]
B
Super weird story. Yes. 24 foot boat with it somehow got a bunch of Americans on it. Got a.
- [42:43]
A
Well, you know the Cuban government is saying that it was meant to be a. A they're calling it a terrorist incursion. So essentially their claim is that that was some sort of covert operation insertion. Yeah.
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B
My response to that would be in general, do we feel like the Cuban government is in any way competent enough to stop us from a covert drop into Cuba if we wanted people and would they come on a 24 foot boat from the Florida Keys in order.
- [43:18]
A
What are 10 people going to do on a speedboat? I mean that's. Or whatever it is. Fifteen, something like that. How is that going to work?
- [43:24]
B
No, it doesn't. None of this adds up. So we'll see what ends up happening there. In the meantime, we got a brand new Advertiser. Erie Home. 50 year old company specializing in making sure the roofs on your house are in excellent shape. The work they do not easy. Any job that requires ladders, heavy lifting, working on roofs through the four seasons, no easy task. But Erie home is eager to make sure your roof is protected and that it protects your most expensive. Purchase your home. Have your roof inspected by Erie home today. They will do it free of charge using a 25 point inspection they've developed over their last 50 years in business. If your roof needs replacement, Erie home offers all kinds of options including the use of newer metal materials made to mimic the look of the roof you're likely already have. These metal materials are expected to make sure that your roof lasts two to three times longer than traditional shingles. That new roof from Erie home will come with a 50 year transferable warranty. So if you sell your home, you're providing even more value in the selling process. Imagine what it would be like to have a 50 year warranty on your roof. Schedule your free inspection@eriehome.com Clay today get up to 50 off the installation. That's E R I E home.com Clay
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C
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C
Spend time with Clay and bot. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
- [45:08]
A
Welcome back into Clay and Buck. Thanks for calling in. Thanks for writing in. And we have a third hour play in book kicks off right now. And Deborah, Leah is with us now. She is a political commentator. You see her on Fox. You see her all over the place these days. She was actually just over in Israel. Can tell us a bit about that experience. But we're going to look Deborah, ahead a bit with you as well. Into this weekend, a looming deadline, Iran. Tell us what you know, what you see coming and how concerned should people be about all this.
- [45:41]
F
I would just like to state on the record I am not Mossad before anybody makes any accusations for the information about to put forward. But it's great to join you guys. And yeah, this has been something that in Israel every single weekend they've been preparing. I was there for about two and a half weeks in the end of January till February. And at that point we really thought it was going to happen. It cooled off and now the time has come. They have evacuated non emergency personnel from the embassy in Jerusalem. And and the last time that President Trump did this earlier in June, it was exactly seven days later that the US Joined the fight to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. And so I think that this is going to be no different. We've seen this is a very interesting international politics moment for the world. And I think it's going to change international politics going forward. If President Trump doesn't act and he has been threatened, the members of parliament have threatened to send him in a casket and celebrate him being in a casket. And so more than just nuclear weapons or nuclear facilities, this is really in terms of American sovereignty. Will we allow these Islamic countries to threaten the president and not do anything in return? I personally don't think that we can allow that to continue. And I think that President Trump is on the same mindset here. And so the deadline ends on Monday and I do think that we will indefinitely or definitely see a strike before then.
- [47:00]
B
Okay, Deborah, thanks for coming on. Where does this lead Buck and I were talking about in the last hour? One of the big challenges is how extensive are the attacks? How much do they actually target Iran's rulers? To what extent is the debate now about the potential power vacuum? Who would take over? What could happen? Where does this go. What is the goal beyond potentially ending the nuclear ambition of Iran? Does it extend into regime change?
- [47:30]
F
Yeah, absolutely. This has been something that all of us have been wondering, and I think this is definitely the reason that the strikes have been delayed. We heard weeks ago Trump said help was on the way, and then obviously we went into negotiations. And the problem that exists for President Trump and international politics at large is that you cannot bomb your way through regime change. We've seen this time and time again. America is kind of notorious for failed regime change. And so when it comes to Iran, after 47 years of oppression, it's very unlikely that there's the highest level of individuals needed to actually overthrow the government. There's over 800,000 Iranians who are part of the Islamic regime, who just live among civilians. So looking forward, what we think is the most likely outcome, or what I think is most likely outcome is pressure. I don't think that Trump is going to take out the Ayatollah. And if he did, there are four people for every single leader of the Islamic regime. There are four people waiting to take their place that Khomeini has already lined up. So what I think is a likely outcome here is not a good one for America, for Israel, or for anyone. I don't think that this is going to be a quick one strike and we're done situation. I think that this would go on longer than the war in the summertime, and I don't think regime change is possible at this point in time. So as an American, as a strong, proud Jew, I hope President Trump strikes to send a message to. But with these strikes, I don't see any evidence that the Iranian people themselves are capable of over overthrowing the regime.
- [48:56]
A
What about the strikes? What message do you think they would likely send other than, I'm willing to blow up your stuff if you don't do what I want? It seems to me the problem on the nuclear program is there's no way, there's no agreement that we give them where we don't rely on some degree of trust which we can't have in them. And therefore they won't agree because if they prove that they do what we want, then we actually get what we want. Does that make sense? Do you see what I'm saying? Like, there's, we keep coming back to this place of Iran needs to agree to a deal where we can be sure they're not doing the nuclear thing. And we go through this, and we go through this, and then it's, yeah, they're not going to agree to that. I feel like they're still not going to agree to agree to it, even if we hit them.
- [49:44]
F
Oh, you're absolutely right. And Khomeini has said himself that that will never happen. And Iran giving up their nuclear facilities is worse than them losing a war internally. And so that's been, as an American, the catch 22 that I've been watching and kind of a little bit upset about in a way that I grew up in the mindset of we don't negotiate with terrorists. And so entering negotiations to begin with, I do not know what the Trump administration was thinking the outcome would be because they're not going to change their mind. But when it comes to strikes, Trump has really just been forced into a corner now where if he doesn't strike, it will send a message to the rest of the world, the non Western world, that they can do whatever they want, they can threaten America, they can kill their citizens, and the Western world will not do anything about it. But again, President Trump's striking is really not going to beget regime change. It's not going to change the outcome with the nuclear facilities. They've moved them underground. And so I hate to say it, I wish there was a better answer, but there is no good answer to this conflict. And I think that we need to put a little bit more, not pressure, but a little bit more spotlight on the Iranian people themselves. There is no other. As much as I have deep, deep sympathy and I want them to be free, I can't think of any other conflict in the history of the world where the people who have the responsibility have none. The Iranian people, we've kind of taken them out of the equation here. How would they play an effect into this? We, we have Israel, we have America waiting on standby. But I would like to see more efforts or at least more communication from the Iranian people about what boots on the ground support America or Israel will have if deciding to strike them.
- [51:13]
B
We're talking to Deborah Leah about the situation in Iran. Okay, so if there's not going to be a change in leadership in Iran, we're not going to effectively decapitate the current theocracy. Then isn't this just more of kicking the can down the road? To buck's point, we know we can't trust Iran, and at some point there probably will be another Democrat administration in office like Obama that they can take advantage of, make a lot of claims to lie, and just kind of recreate this situation time after time. So that's point 1.2 on this. Is there any, to your knowledge or ability to kind of divine, what is Saudi Arabia, what a Qatar? What do the other Muslim countries want to happen to Iran? Because it seems to me that they actually like them having an incompetent government because in some way it elevates their own governments without having to worry about a competent government to compete with in the region.
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F
Great points. And that's essentially what I was going to say. This is the most likely outcome and the best outcome would be kicking the can down the road. If the Trump administration launches some level of strikes that we've seen. We have the highest amount of defense weaponry in the region, ships, everything is based in Israel waters around the region. The most likely outcome is kicking the can down the road, striking a few facilities and scaring the regime into agreeing. Okay, for the next five years, we won't build nuclear sites or we won't enrich uranium, which we know we can't trust them. So that would be a win on the face of it for the Trump administration. Look at us, we did what we were going to say would we do. Is it an overall win for international politics? Most likely not. And in terms of geopolitics in the region, we actually saw, I was trying to verify it because there's a lot of, you know, misinformation around this, but the airbase in Doha, one of America's largest air bases in the Middle east, is, doesn't have any active fighter pilots or fighter jets waiting there right now. They've been moved to an air base inside of Israel. And so that is very interesting to see that we've had these far right, alt right commentators saying Qatar is our best friend. But when push comes to shove in the region, does not seem that they will help us fight a nuclear Iran. And a lot of these, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, they like playing the middleman, they like being able to fund Iran, fund world terror. But then also if America calls, hey America, we would love to sell you some weapons or we would love to have your investments in our country. And so they're waiting. They don't want to choose a state side because they want to choose whoever wins. And that's the difference between us and the Islamic world is that we believe in freedom and goodness regardless of the outcome. We don't wait to see who the victor is to choose them. We choose good and God values as victory every single time.
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A
Speaking of Deborah, Leah here. Deborah. So then is, is it, is it fair to say that in your estimation? I'm just trying to see, based on what, what you're saying, how you're viewing this issue, that the best option for the Trump administration is limited strikes and then essentially status quo? Or is there something that needs to be done that hasn't yet been done?
- [54:23]
F
I, I wish that there was a better answer here. And I love President Trump and I love his administration, but given the circumstances and given how long he's waited now to retaliate, it's been weeks, almost over a month and a half since the original regime was killing protesters. And so given the timing, the most, the really only probable and good outcome the Trump administration can guarantee right now is some sort of strong limited strikes within a couple hours, have our pilots out of the airspace by the time that it reaches the public, and scare the Iranian regime into at least negotiating more. But there really is no good outcome where we were able to finish this and have a true win. The Trump administration can bring home for the region and America and Americans. I think I speak for a lot of us now that we are not interested in another forever war. And President Trump knows this with the midterms coming up, that beginning a war that will not be over, like the 12 Day War with Iran in June, will do very, very badly in this country in terms of American public perception. And his approval rating is already a little bit lower than normal right now. So we know Trump loves to be loved and doing anything in the region that won't bring home something he can brag about. I don't think he's interested in that. So to sum it up nicely, I have a really good feeling that strikes are going to happen Sunday night. I don't think that they're going to kill the regime. They're not going to take out Khamenei. And something that Buck and I actually spoke about earlier this week is that a big challenge for America has been the limited communications with the Iranian regime. They have one point of contact, and if that point of contact falls off, they're pretty much in the dark. And that's a really difficult situation given the lack of other allies around Iran. So they're playing it lightly. And there is no real win that Trump can bring home outside of limited talks and then some sort of short term agreement. Let's pick this up come December next year and see where we're at.
- [56:14]
B
Last question, Deborah, we appreciate the time last time in June, as you referenced the 12 Day War, we heard a lot about, oh, there's going to be significant American casualties or Iran is going to fire back and we're going to see World War 3. Iran didn't do basically anything and did not appear to have much ability to do anything. Do we have any sense for whether they have better or worse capabilities? I would actually presume worse. In other words, is there anything Americans or even Israel should really fare from fear from Iran at this point?
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F
We should not be afraid of Iran, but we should be cautious about China and Russia who have been selling weapons and certain defense missiles to Iran over the last couple of weeks and months. It's unclear because they don't want us to know if they've reached Iran, how many anti missile defense systems that they have gained now from China and Russia. But that is something to absolutely keep an eye on in the region and that's something that's not new to us. You know, all of our enemies join together when it comes to attacking America, but Iran alone does not have the power, they don't have the capabilities to hurt America. The best that they could do is shoot some rockets at Israel. But America has the Iron Dome protecting Israel. Israel has the idea of protecting their own borders. And so Americans, the only thing we should fear is the Iranian regime sending over sleeper cells into our country. But thankfully we have a closed border now. And so we really should not fear Iran. They can't touch us.
- [57:40]
B
Thank you for the time Deborah. Leah, for people out there who are interested in following you along during this Iranian latest imbroglio, you said Sunday night you think the attack might come. Where can they find you?
- [57:53]
F
Find me on Twitter, on Instagram, TikTok every now and then, the Deborah Leia and everything. And it was great to join you guys. Thanks for having me.
- [58:02]
B
Thank you so much. We come back, we'll take some loaded lines. Still a lot of people wanting to weigh in on Open Line Friday. A lot of talk backs. We will dive into all of that but we want you to know we have now entered the 25th anniversary year of 9 11. It's kind of crazy to think that it has been 25 years since 9 11. But remember yesterday marked the 33rd year since the first World center terror attack. Six people died including a pregnant woman. Monica Rodriguez Smith scores more injured when a van exploded in the parking garage. It was such a massive blast carved out nearly 100 foot crater several stories deep. People forget about it because of the one that followed eight years later. But it's sobering to consider why this location has been such a target for so long. Only 14 states teach the history of 911 and our sponsor Tunnel of the Towers is dedicated to making sure our kids never forget through the Tunnel to Towers Institute and their 911 curriculum. These are educational resources based on first person accounts for grades K through 12. The tunnel to Towers Mobile exhibit is a teaching resource high tech 83 foot tractor trailer which transforms into a museum on wheels around the nation from the Black Hills of South Dakota to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. It is a big difference maker and the exhibits traveled to nearly 50 states and Canada and educated over a million people to date. In order to never forget, we need to educate. You can help in those efforts by joining Buck and me in donating 11amonth to tunnel the towers@t2t.org that's t the number 2t.org
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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.
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