← The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
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- [00:00]
Clay Travis
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Buck Sexton
Guaranteed Human welcome in Clay. Travis. BUCK SEXTON SHOW the cold hand of winter begins its march across the country. Much of the east coast soon to descend under the veil of winter's cold, hard grasp, except for Buck Sexton and people in the state of Florida, where it's going to remain super warm. Florida not participating in this cold blast. We'll have some fun with that. We've got a loaded show for you. Trisha McLaughlin from DHS, she's the spokesperson there. Brendan Carr, the commissioner of the fcc, and Mary Margaret Olahan, who is a reporter at the Daily Wire and was with JD Vance in Minneapolis yesterday. All of those things to come. Buck, are you shivering yet in Miami?
- [00:54]
Clay Travis
I just, I have word to bring you all from my fellow South Floridians in solidarity with those of you who are about to be turned into snowmen. We are going to put socks on our flip flops. We're, we're, we're really going to just be there for you. It might even get a little sweaty for us. But we'll be thinking about you this weekend, that I can promise you.
- [01:18]
Buck Sexton
Buck, In Nashville, we have managed to end up, as we always do, right on the line where we're either going to get rain, sleet, ice or snow. And no one can predict exactly which of those four is going to happen here beginning early tomorrow morning. If you look at the color map, Nashville is just kind of a mix of four different colors with the different weather conditions. So I am monitoring that situation closely. Positive. Let me get into a couple of positives. I'm going to keep saying this for a little while because I think it is so outstanding and very often great news receives limited amount of attention. We have hit in 2025 under President Trump with this law enforcement pro background that has suffused the entire federal government. We have hit a 125 year low for murder per capita in the United States. No one alive today has ever lived in a United States that is safer than it is right now. And this is such a profound story that even the New York Times had on their front page of the newspaper today. Buck, as I was doing my reading prep, I do it so you don't have to an article saying that we have hit a 125 year low in murders in the United States. They did have a paragraph, Buck, where they said Trump does not deserve any of the credit for this. However, of course, of course, because God forbid that you give credit to the president who has spoken out in favor of Driving down violent crime more than almost any president I can imagine. And then has followed through and we have seen a collapse of violent crime. But the New York Times says, well, this had really nothing to do with Trump. This was. And by the way, they keep referring to Covid disrupting all sorts of things in America to explain why there was a sudden surge in murders instead of saying BLM told everyone that police were awful and we didn't let police do their jobs for a couple of years. So it's all Covid disruptions and people can't really figure out why there was a spike. But it's front page news, 125 year low. But it is interesting how the narrative, they won't acknowledge basic truth.
- [03:34]
Clay Travis
I remember arguing with people online, you know, on tv, wherever, during the, during the COVID pandemic after George Floyd. They had sainted George Floyd. Of course, they were arguing that there was a huge spike in murders because of COVID And I had to sit there and look at them and say, so you think that at a time when human beings are seeing each other less than any time in our living memory, there's less human interaction, less people seeing other humans, period, that there's a huge spike in murders that occurs? How make that make sense?
- [04:15]
Buck Sexton
Of course it was all a lie.
- [04:16]
Clay Travis
We're not idiots. We know what happened. What happened was that people were going out and committing crimes and the cops weren't doing anything. And then there were more, you know, drug turf wars and there are more people getting away with murder and more cops not wanting to do their jobs.
- [04:29]
Trisha McLaughlin
All.
- [04:30]
Clay Travis
All because a cop put a knee on the neck of a guy in Minneapolis and we were supposed to have some national racial reckoning. Speaking of race politics, Clay, it's a little bit of a turn here, but I do have to ask you, so have you seen this movie Sinners?
- [04:48]
Buck Sexton
No, but I saw. I. To be fair, I watched college football in the NFL all during football season, so I miss everything. But I know the movie came out and for people who don't know, the Oscar nominations came out and I presume you're going to tell people the significance of, of Sinners relative to nominations here.
- [05:08]
Clay Travis
Sinners is the most Oscar nominated movie of all time.
- [05:15]
Buck Sexton
Yeah.
- [05:16]
Clay Travis
If any of you are curious. Now, I have not watched. This is the conundrum that I face here, everyone, because Kerry and I actually tonight, it's, we're having a sort of a stay in date night. So we got a little bit of babysitter time. We have a little, you know, and we're going to try to watch a movie. I'm making her dinner. We're having a, you know, nice husband wife night. And I'm like, do I watch this? Do I watch some of this movie? Beyond what I already know about it? What I know about it is that it's a movie essentially about. It's like a vampire movie.
- [05:48]
Buck Sexton
Yeah.
- [05:48]
Clay Travis
But there's. The cast is overwhelmingly black. The bad guys are white, and white racism is very much like a big theme in this in some capacity. Like, that's what I know about this. So now. So now we're all supposed to sit around and pretend that this movie about the evil white people trying to, you know, it's like, what was that movie with Key and. Well, not Key and Peele, but. Oh, no, it was, you know what I'm talking about. Get out. About the white family. That's like trying to steal the guy's black. One of the worst pieces of Crash I've ever seen in my life.
- [06:23]
Buck Sexton
I actually did it. Mine, actually.
- [06:26]
Clay Travis
Clay is. I'm going to tell you guys this. Clay is a wise fellow on many things, and he did nail his pick with the national championship game. However, Clay, your movie takes.
- [06:36]
Buck Sexton
Honestly, I didn't think that movie was that bad. But here is where I bet we would sign an agreement. There is. So let's go back in time, because I remember getting a lot of heat for this when I said it. I said Black Panther was a mediocre superhero movie. And I see every superhero movie because I have young kids and they like superhero movies. And I went and watched Black Panther and because it had a black lead actor cast set in Wakanda, and because it had. It just wasn't a good movie.
- [07:08]
Clay Travis
I'm sure it wasn't a good movie. It was okay.
- [07:10]
Buck Sexton
It was an average superhero movie that Marvel made, and it was treated as if it were a cinematic masterpiece. And if you just said anything like what I said, for those of you who are Marvel movie hero watchers, or if you just like superhero movies, Blade, I think we talked about this. Blade with Wesley Snipe back in the day. Infinitely better black lead superhero movie than Black Panther. But Blade was back when people were sane and you just went to a movie and you were like, oh, this is good or it's not. And you did it. Suffuse everything with identity politics.
- [07:49]
Clay Travis
I have to tell you this. This is important. A long time ago in Nigeria, when I was on assignment there, I went to the Wesley Snipes VIP lounge. True story.
- [07:59]
Buck Sexton
It was actually Affiliated with Wesley Snipes, or did they just use his name?
- [08:06]
Clay Travis
No, there was a big oil painting, a full oil painting on the wall. And everyone there just referred to Mr. Snipes, like he was kind of in the room. And he had been there.
- [08:18]
Buck Sexton
He had been there one time.
- [08:19]
Clay Travis
Okay, he had been there one time. This was in Abuja, the capital. And he, they love him so much there that they just said they're like, we're renaming the hottest nightclub in the city after, so the Wesley Snipes VIP lounge. So you guys understand when I say that I, I celebrate Wesley Snipes, his whole catalog, I really mean it. I mean, I'm, I'm Wesley top to bottom.
- [08:41]
Buck Sexton
I love that guy. So the movie Blade, and I think they made a Blade too, or whatever, they were good. The reason why this Sinner's movie got 16 nominations, the most in the history of Hollywood, is because Hollywood is desperate to prove that they aren't racist. And they will wildly overrate anything that black filmmakers and black actors are in. That's the reality. It's purely identity politics. Now, one caveat, Buck. I do think there are far fewer movies being made, so I suspect that the number of nominations going to movies is bumped up because what's the Leonardo Caprio movie? It also got 14 nominations. I didn't see that one either. Okay, but hold on.
- [09:25]
Clay Travis
You see, I just think you're too easy. I, I, I, I'm way get off my lawn about movies than you are like, you're, you're like, eh, it was like, reasonably entertaining. I love to throw hate at bad movies because there used to be amazing movies. They stopped making good movies circa 2010. Every movie made for the last 15 years has B. Maverick was pretty good. I mean, it was a little corny, but it was pretty good. Every movie made over the last 15 years has been kind of garbage compared to what movies were when we were growing up. Okay, Sinners Clay, the most nominated movie of all time. More than the Godfather, on the Waterfront. I mean, pick your favorite. You know, people like Deer Hunter. I did not like Deer Hunter. All you Deer Hunter people can come at me. I don't care. You know, pick your favorite movie. For me, it's like Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan and, you know, Gladiator and those kinds of movies. This is how they describe Sinners, a vampire horror set in the Mississippi Delta, critiquing systemic racism, white supremacy, and the insidious nature of white cultural appropriation. Portraying vampires. I'm reading this off of Google. Portraying vampires as metaphors for white exploitation that preys on black culture and dreams. I mean, am I supposed. This thing is obviously garbage. It's some woke nonsense. Am I really supposed to sit through this and watch this to critique it? Or am I just like, this is like Hamilton. I knew Hamilton was crap, but it was the DEI best musical of all time. And then I finally watched it and I was like, guess what? It does suck.
- [10:54]
Buck Sexton
I think you have to watch it and I think you have to give us a review on Monday. Now, I don't want to ruin date night because I'm actually already a little bit afraid. Afraid that I would do that because poor Carrie, your lovely wife is going to have to sit there as you go from relaxed, affable buck to angry, furious at pop culture and, and, and ultimately coming. But I do think you need to watch it. I haven't watched it, but it's. Look, here's an easy way to say this. What would happen. What would happen if you and I decided we wanted to make a vampire movie and the bad guys were all black and they just preyed on white people and killed them all day long? And it was. They made people like afraid.
- [11:36]
Clay Travis
Afraid to walk around the streets of their town. And.
- [11:39]
Buck Sexton
Yes.
- [11:39]
Clay Travis
And it was all about like, the lack of gratitude for all of the great things that.
- [11:43]
Buck Sexton
For western civilization in reverse. If we just made this movie in reverse, it would be considered the most racist movie that has ever been made. It'd be considered a Klan birth of a nation straight up. Yeah, we would be. We'd be Klan people. And I've said this before because I think it is funny, back when Hollywood was not filled with cowards. I would like to make a country and western version of the Barack Obama administration and have white people play Barack and Michelle Obama because that would show how unimportant race is and how I don't see race at all, which is the underlying premise of Hamilton, because the only really white character is King George the Third, who is the villain of Hamilton writ large. Right. So I would love to do a. Replace black significant historical figures with white people to show how little I notice race and just see what the reaction would be. The hair, like, it would just. It would be outrageous. Look, art should stand whether you're white, black, Asian or Hispanic on its own devices without using race as a crutch. And so it doesn't surprise me because Hollywood, ever since Oscar, so white, whenever that was a decade ago, the worst thing that could happen to you if you live in Hollywood is someone could Call you racist. It is legit. You would be better off getting five DUIs. You'd be better off beating up a chick. You would be better off getting accused of murder almost than someone say, oh my God, that person used a racial Slurpee. That is the ultimate sin in Hollywood. So I think it would be funny if we did a flip and just remade the entire movie but made the villains flipped and see what Hollywood would say. I don't think we just remind.
- [13:26]
Clay Travis
There's like this, there's all this online commentary now. You'll see leftists. This is a, this is a common thing. Who will argue that like an age gap of like, like a, you know, age gap of 20 years or something or 30 years between two people who are adults, who are married, like a 30 year old and a 60 year old is, is, is like a form, it should be illegal. It's a form of exploitation. Those people though, all also believe that a 12 year old should be able to have his genitals removed because he thinks he's a girl.
- [13:54]
Buck Sexton
Isn't that weird?
- [13:55]
Clay Travis
Isn't it weird how that goes? So the, so the consenting adults thing, they want to create this new social stigma for people that have an age gap between adults and yet they're always okay with the general mutilation of small children based upon trans ideology. And it's weird how some people just go along clay with whatever the cult tells them and, and they don't actually think for themselves at all. And I'm just gonna. Now, I think, unfortunately I've committed to. At some point I'm gonna have to do this while Carrie's asleep. I'm not making her watch. First of all, Carrie won't do, she won't do vampire movies that are good. She doesn't do, she doesn't do fantasy, she doesn't do sci fi.
- [14:32]
Buck Sexton
So vampires basically have destroyed vampire movies now because what's the last good vampire movie? Because all of the, what the mopey vampires is my friend Mike Leach, rest in peace, used to say about the Twilight series, you know, vampires need to be like kind of, I guess maybe Bram Stoker's Dracula. It was pretty.
- [14:50]
Clay Travis
That was a great one. That was in the 90s, like 19.
- [14:52]
Buck Sexton
I'm saying, when is the last time that we had a really good vampire movie? I mean, obviously, probably Blade.
- [14:59]
Clay Travis
I'll just bring it full circle.
- [15:00]
Buck Sexton
All right. Okay.
- [15:01]
Clay Travis
Got to come back here in a second. Following 911 attacks, New York City firefighter Daniel Foley assisted in the rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero he didn't know then that his heroism would later cost him his life. Daniel spent months at Ground Zero searching for victims, including his own brother, Firefighter Thomas Foley, who was killed in the attacks. Daniel's father also took part in the efforts at Ground Zero. He died years later from a rare 911 related leukemia. Daniel's death, like so many others, was a direct result of 911 related cancer. He leaves behind his wife Kerry and their five children. Talented Towers paid the mortgage on the family's home. Every day we see the toll that 911 continues to take on heroes and their families. Your donation can make a world of difference to a family like the Foleys. It can provide a sense of security and stability in the face of uncertainty while also bringing hope. Join us in donating $11 a month to Taunton Towers at t2t.org that's tthenumber2t.org.
- [15:56]
Podcast Announcer
Making America Great Again isn't just one man, it's many. The Team 47 Fight podcast Sundays at noon Eastern in the Clay and Buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [16:10]
Buck Sexton
Welcome back in Clay. Travis Buck Sexton Show Tons of reaction pouring in Friday edition of the program. VIP email from Leanne My favorite movie from 87 Lost Boys is a great vampire movie that is. We've talked a lot about Lost Boys and the shirtless saxophone player that producer Ally who is on on her way to Florida right now I believe to hang out with her husband Gerard is still a huge fan of the shirtless Sax Player and Moby. VIP email from Seamus Interview with a Vampire underworld. Both good ones and Aaron says and I haven't watched this Abraham Lincoln vampire Slayer. Did they make that into a movie? I know that that was it sounds cool.
- [16:49]
Clay Travis
I heard it's terrible. Unfortunately I didn't see it so you can yell at me for not seeing it, but people I trust said it was not good.
- [16:56]
Buck Sexton
We've got a bunch of guests coming your way. By the way, J.D. vance is speaking at the Pro Life March in Washington right now. We are monitoring that in the event that any major news comes out of it. And we will also update you a little bit more at the top of the hour. Trisha McLaughlin from ICE, the spokesperson for DHS. She will be filling us in on the latest controversies. They're trying to find a new face of anti ICE raids which is a five year old that ICE helped after his his father who was allegedly illegally in the country fled and left him on his own. Also Brendan Carr from The fcc. Interesting decisions that he is making there. And Mary Margaret Olahan will join us, who was in Minneapolis with JD Vance yesterday. Do we have the audio pulled over, producer Greg, before we bring up the next call? All right, we are gonna okay a count of 10. I am told that it will be ready. So Linda, who we will go to in a sec, has called in from Florida. Linda initially attained a lot of fame on the program for being in favor of killing as many different drug dealers as possible. Here was Linda. We have. I don't think Linda's called back since this went viral. All of you love Linda. Here she is talking about drug boat smugglers and how we should treat them. A couple of weeks ago, we play devil's advocate here. If, if it were to be reported and confirmed that the narco terrorists, which I agree are bad guys, were floating in the water, and we ordered a helicopter to go in and to mow them down as they floated in the water. You wouldn't have an issue with that?
- [18:46]
Linda
I wouldn't have an issue with that at all.
- [18:50]
Buck Sexton
All right, Linda, light them up. Linda, you got a big take. Now you're fired up about movies. In addition to wanting to take out all the drug smugglers. Tell me what you want to do to Hollywood.
- [19:00]
Linda
Oh, forget Hollywood. I would cut it off and then let it float all the way to. What is it, Russia? Is that what's across the street?
- [19:09]
Clay Travis
You mean you'd let it slip under the icy waves like. Like Rose let Jack in Titanic?
- [19:15]
Linda
Yeah. Yes, I would. And I have an uncle that lives in California, and he can go with it because he is a big liberal and I can't stand it, and. And I use it well. I'm from New York and I grew up with Trump in my backyard. I love Trump. He was great for New York. I lived there for 27 years. I came to Florida when it was unpopular because my parents retired to Florida. But at the end of the day, Trump was awesome for New York. I don't care what anyone said.
- [19:41]
Buck Sexton
What is the last great movie, Linda, that you went. What is the last movie that you liked? What's your favorite, favorite movie of all times?
- [19:48]
Linda
Okay, so, gosh, I used to love. I used to love Goodfellas and. But I won't. I can't stand Robert De Niro. And he. I used to love Robert De Niro, but he turned out to be such a Jack hole, it's not even funny. I can't even stand looking at him. But for New Year's Eve, we went and saw SpongeBob. My family.
- [20:14]
Buck Sexton
You got grandkids, I'm guessing. Yeah. How many grandkids now?
- [20:17]
Linda
I have adult kids. I have adult kids and Avatar was three hours long, so we ended up choosing spongebob for an hour and a half.
- [20:25]
Buck Sexton
How many kids do you have, Linda?
- [20:28]
Linda
2. 24 and 21.
- [20:31]
Buck Sexton
No grant. No grandkids yet.
- [20:33]
Linda
No grandkids yet? No.
- [20:35]
Buck Sexton
Are you in?
- [20:38]
Linda
I'm in like Orlando, Seminole County.
- [20:42]
Buck Sexton
Okay. So. Well, have you changed your mind at all about lighting up the drug smugglers or do you still want as many of them taken?
- [20:50]
Linda
Absolutely not. You can give me the lighter and I'll set it on fire.
- [20:54]
Clay Travis
Light them up, Linda. Great to hear from you, Linda. Thank you for, thank you for listening. Thank you for calling in. Now, now, a timeless character from Clay and Buck world.
- [21:04]
Buck Sexton
I, I, I think there's a huge number of people out there. You know, I don't know if we talked about this off air or on air, but there was a study that came out that Republican women and Democrat women are actually more likely to endorse violence against political foes than men are. So there's a lot of women out there. I mean, certain segments of the population. Light them up. Linda would certainly be a part of this that just want to take them out and don't have any, don't have any compunction there at all. In fact, I would put, I would put my wife in that category. I think she would, she would, she would definitely be the hanging judge more than I would. I think I would be more lenient in the, in the grand scheme of things than, than Laura would. This five year old thing. Buck, this, this, this story that they tried to turn into. For people who don't know, they keep sort of, it almost feels like a drunken sort of bouncing from one avatar of the, of the anti ICE protest to another. They started with Kilmar Abreu Garcia. That really didn't work very well. Then they kind of bounced around. They tried to find new avatars of why this is such an awful thing. It feels like the Renee Good thing is already kind of ending. Right. The individual who was shot a couple of weeks ago and now they've moved on to, oh, ICE is arresting five year olds now. And I do think it's probably worth us mentioning for all of you so that, you know, ICE has put out a statement and we'll ask Trisha McLaughlin about this at the top of the next hour. But they were conducting a raid. The dad of the five year old fled the raid and when the dad of the five year old fled the raid, ICE had an option. We can either leave a five year old on his own or we can bring the five year old into custody to try to take care of him. And they have attempted to say this is a sign of a five year old being arrested. I think this will fade as well. But if you are at all active in paying attention to left wing Democrat talking points right now, a lot of them tried to trot this five year old out as the new face of the anti ICE resistance. The fact that none of these stick, I think Buck is actually evidence that ICE by and large is doing a pretty good job in a very difficult situation.
- [23:23]
Clay Travis
Yes. And it also shows you that there is a desperation to come up with some kind of narrative in addition to the Renee Good shooting, which I think is fizzling for them because in part the church storming was just moronic. It was just such a stupid thing to do. Of all the possible ways to do some kind of left wing Alinskyite street agitator nonsense. Running in and shouting at a bunch of people in a church. By the way, they don't even know if the people in the church agree with them or not. They just figured, oh, you're in a Christian church, you're not out there with us, so we're going to shout at you. I mean it couldn't have been any dumber. It was a very low IQ move across the board. So now they want something else. They're saying, oh, they arrested a five year old. No, they took a five year old into custody because the father abandoned the five year old when he was going to be taken into custody himself. So this is the same thing. You know, it turns out there are plenty of people out there, plenty of situations, Clay, where when they take you into custody, if you have children with you, they also have to take care of the children. They're not going to leave children. And then they can arrest on the side of the highway and you have a two year old in the back seat. They're not going to leave the two year old there. They're going to at least arrange for family or they're going to take into custody, but they're not taking into custody the 5 year old to interrogate him. Yeah, they're not, they're not putting him in some cell and saying, you know, you're facing 25 to life, they're just making sure the kid is safe.
- [24:52]
Buck Sexton
Yeah, look, I, I mean the fact that they are so desperate to try to find someone to point to is evidence that they have not been able to attack what has become probably the most popular thing that Trump is doing is the deportation of illegals, and it continues to actually poll pretty well. So I think Democrats are getting desperate. The fact that they chose not to focus in any way on the individuals who were arrested inside of the church is I think also further evidence that they know that a lot of the people who they are trying to make the the the central focus of opposition here are not great figures to sort of crystallize that opposition. And by the way, 800-282-2882 it is Friday. We try to take as many talk backs and calls as we can during the course of Friday. And and so I encourage all of you to load up the lines, grab those I Heart apps and give us those talkbacks and we will play as many of them as we possibly can.
- [25:58]
Clay Travis
Absolutely. So let's Not Talk about Gold Owning gold isn't reserved for the wealthy or financial insiders. It's for everyday Americans like you and me who want financial security with their retirement plans and savings accounts. We've talked about the growth of gold's value was up over 60% last year. It's up nearly 15% in the first three weeks of this year and amazingly it's been up over 700% in the last 20 years. You know there are forces pushing the dollar lower and gold higher. You and I can both list the countries undermining our dollar while that's going on. Central banks around the world are buying up as much gold as they possibly can, driving the price up. It's your turn to buy gold. I just bought some more until February 1st. If you're a first time gold buyer, Birch Gold is offering a rebate of up to $10,000 on qualifying purchases to claim eligibility and start that process. Text My name Buck Do 989898 Birchgold can help you roll an existing IRA or 401K into an IRA in gold and you are still eligible for a rebate of up to $10,000. Make right now your first time to buy gold and take advantage of a Rebate up to $10,000 when you buy by February 1st. Text my name Buck to 9898 98. Claim your eligibility today. Again, text B U C K 298-9898.
- [27:18]
Podcast Announcer
Geek out with the guys on the Sunday Hang with Clay and Buck podcast a new episode every Sunday. Find it on the iHeart app or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [27:28]
Clay Travis
Welcome back into Clay and Buck as promised, we're joined by Trisha McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security. Trisha, thank you for calling in. Thanks for being with us.
- [27:38]
Trisha McLaughlin
Hey, thanks so much for having me.
- [27:41]
Clay Travis
How are the operations going specifically in Minneapolis? Are we continuing with much of the same plan? When are we going to have a sense of numbers of those detained and possibly in the process of deportation? Just if you could bring us up to speed on immigration enforcement efforts in the state of Minnesota.
- [28:03]
Trisha McLaughlin
Absolutely. We're not being deterred. Our officers are still on the ground carrying out their lawful duties. We're about 13,000, excuse me, 3,000 illegal aliens who have been arrested. But I mean, you guys have to listen to some of the guys we picked up just yesterday. An individual from Mexico convicted for criminal sexual assault. An individual from another individual from Mexico, drug trafficking. An individual from Laos who was convicted of murder. Another individual from Laos, a female who was convicted of homicide. These are the criminals that we're going after. And as much as Walls and Jacob Fry don't want the American people to know that we are going after the worst, the worst and getting them off of the streets. And there's a very simple, easy solution here, which is that they could actually let us into their jails and make sure that the 1,360 criminal legal aliens who are sitting in their custody today does not get released back onto their streets to commit more crimes against Americans.
- [29:04]
Buck Sexton
Trisha, I appreciate you joining us. Can you tell us the background on the five year old story that Dem Democrats tried to make the new focus of their anti ice protests? What happened there? What is significant and what should our audience know from your perspective about that story?
- [29:21]
Trisha McLaughlin
Yeah, well, first and foremost, this father, he abandoned his five year old son when he was fleeing from law enforcement. So our law enforcement officers approached this illegal alien from Ecuador and that's when he darted off without his child, leaving his child out in the cold. And our officers, they stood there with the child and made sure the child was okay, actually brought him McDonald's and played him some of his favorite music. And they tried, they made multiple attempts to bring the child into the custody of the mother, who refused. And our officers even assured her that she would not be taken into custody. So the mother is abandoning the child. The father is. And so our law enforcement made sure that the child was safe and warm. And now the child and the father are in Dilly detention facility and they're back together.
- [30:14]
Clay Travis
So Tricia, what we see is a lot of focus on these operations really in Minneapolis and perhaps the broader Minneapolis metro area are there A lot of places elsewhere in the country with similar deployment of resources, given the size of the city. Or is the resistance that ICE officers have come up against in Minneapolis so much more severe that you've had to put a lot more manpower just to be able to conduct the lawful mission?
- [30:44]
Trisha McLaughlin
You're exactly right. That is why you have such a large footprint and such a visible presence of ICE and CBP officers on the ground is because we don't have that state and local law enforcement backing. So when, I mean, people can look on at the images that are being put out as far as law enforcement is being assaulted, there is rampant violence against them, impeding an obstruction while they're carrying out their lawful duties. We still need to make these arrests and get these criminals off of the streets. So that's why we've surged resources there. But I mean, if you look at the juxtaposition between what's happening in Minnesota when There's been about 13,000 arrests, and then you look at in total, and then you look at somewhere like Florida where There's been over 40,000 arrests and yet you don't see riots, you see peace, you see calm. And then you look at Texas, where we also have state and local law enforcement who are actually coordinating with us. Again, you see peace, calm, you don't see riots. That's about 35,000. It really goes to show you how if there's the and local law enforcement that will actually let us in their jails and actually give us backup when we call if our law enforcement are being assaulted or impeded. It's a lot better for the public and it's a lot better for all of these communities.
- [31:58]
Buck Sexton
We're Talking to Trisha McLaughlin. Good news that came out. 125 year low in murders according to Axios, according to the New York Times. How much do you think that is? Attributable partly to the work that DHS is doing in helping to get violent predators out of our country. It doesn't seem coincidental to me that the border gets shut down and suddenly murders plummet to a level that truly has never occurred in the history of our nation, basically in the life of anyone today.
- [32:30]
Trisha McLaughlin
Yeah, it's no coincidence we've arrested 8,000 gang members just in this last year alone off the streets of America. We've arrested over 1,500 known or suspected terrorists off of the streets. I mean, I get the reports every single day, the scores and scores of child pedophiles, convicted murderers, people who are wanted for human rights abuses. We Have a worse the worst website. We want to give ultimate transparency to Americans. It's wow.dhs.gov, it's searchable website. Go see who has been walking around with impunity committing crimes in your neighborhood and who DHS law enforcement has risked their lives to get off of your streets. I think this is low in murder is completely because the president actually worked to enforce the rule of law and our DHS law enforcement has done a phenomenal job in getting these criminals off of the streets.
- [33:23]
Clay Travis
Patricia, I don't want to put you on the spot too much because, you know, I know that there's a lot of numbers one could ask or so anything you can do to just give us some sense of the scale would be helpful. But something that I'm curious about. Do you have some estimate of either how many, let's just take homicide, for example. How many of the illegals that have been arrested and or deported were people that had been convicted previously of murder? Or how many of them are actually still at large in the country? I mean, are we talking about hundreds of murderer illegal aliens? Thousands of murderer illegal aliens? I mean, I just want to get some sense of what these numbers look like.
- [34:03]
Trisha McLaughlin
Thousands who have been convicted in the United States of America. But keep in mind how many these people are wanted for crimes in their own country or a third country. And so they wouldn't have a rap sheet in the United States, but they still are criminals. They just are at large fugitives from their own nation.
- [34:21]
Clay Travis
This is really important. You just said that thousands of the illegals. So they're supposed to not be in the country in the first place. Thousands of the ones that ICE is, is now detaining and putting in the process to deport have been convicted of murder here. So they're illegal aliens who committed murders in America.
- [34:40]
Trisha McLaughlin
That's correct. I mean, we're talking about hundreds plural, in just Minneapolis alone.
- [34:46]
Buck Sexton
My Lord, when we run through all of this, we're Talking to Trisha McLaughlin. Are you genuinely stunned that Democrats have decided that their entire basis as resistance to Trump 2.0 to a large extent has boiled down to we're going to try to keep ICE agents from deporting people who are illegally here, many of whom committed violent crimes? I mean, it just. I know you've got the job that you do, but when you pull yourself back and look at this, does it ever just strike you as absolutely bonkers that this is the Hill that the Democrat Party has decided they're going to die on?
- [35:26]
Trisha McLaughlin
Well, I think it's disheartening just purely as an American, because I see these individuals, these criminal, illegal aliens who are law enforcement is risking their lives to remove. And yet these Democrat politicians, all they do is continue to vilify and demonize our law enforcement time and time again. So I think that there is a degree of ICE hysteria that the Democrats have tried to manufacture, but I do think that they're rudderless politically and they continue to put politics ahead of public safety. And this is kind of the same recipe that they had in 20, and I don't think they've learned any lessons from it.
- [36:00]
Clay Travis
How is the morale of the ICE officers that are engaged in these operations? There's clearly a broad effort, both with people going up to them in person, but then in the media to defame them, to call them all kinds of names. I'm just wondering if you could speak to how are they holding up under this and how is DHS leadership trying to support them as they're conducting their lawful operations?
- [36:27]
Trisha McLaughlin
Well, I do think, right, I mean, they are facing 1000% increase in assaults against them. We're seeing these rampant vehicle rammings against them as well. Their families are being targeted, where their spouses work, where their children go to school, mass amount of doxing, about 8,000% increase in death threats against them. So I will say, of course, that just on a human level, of course that takes a toll. But I do think with our law enforcement officers at dhs, they know that they have a president and a Secretary of Homeland Security and Krissi Noem who actually has their back. They didn't have that with Biden. They sure as heck didn't have that with Mayorkas, who would continue to demonize his own men and women in law enforcement. So I do think I've been on the ground in Minneapolis, gosh, quite a few times here in the last week or two. And I do think that people understand the mission. They're put their head down, they go to work. They know that they're carrying out the law and they know that they're saving really countless lives by getting these criminals off the street.
- [37:26]
Buck Sexton
Trisha, we appreciate the time. We know how hard you guys are working and we'll look forward to talking to you again. And keep up the good work in the meantime.
- [37:35]
Trisha McLaughlin
Thank you. Grateful to be on with you.
- [37:37]
Buck Sexton
That's Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Trisha McLaughlin. You see her, obviously on television quite a lot. And we'll be back here momentarily. We're going to talk with Brendan Carr and Mary Margaret Olahan in the third hour of the program. But I want to tell you it's going to be freezing cold. The top story across all of the television networks, by and large, the top of every single hour right now is what may well be the largest winter storm to hit in the United States in decades. From basically Texas all the way up to New York and all points in between, except for bucks Florida. There's gonna be a lot of people who are very cold over the next several days and Cozy Earth will help to make sure that you, if you need to, can get under some warm, cozy blankets. They make sheets and bedding just as comfortable, just as luxurious as you could possibly want. They got a brand new bedding set, the Baja bedding set, perfect example. Matching collection sheets, duvet covers, quilts based on the beach setting vibes of Baja California where temperatures will be fantastic this weekend, unlike in much of the country. They also have new luxe bath towels. These products are phenomenal. They come with 100 day trial, 10 year warranty. They want you to be satisfied and they believe in the product quality. Go online to cozyearth.com use my name Clay. That's C L A Y as your promo code for up to 20 off. Cozyearth.com promo code CLAY. Please check them out. C o z y cozyearth.com My name Clay for 20 off everything.
- [39:20]
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- [39:26]
Buck Sexton
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- [39:26]
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- [39:35]
Buck Sexton
Welcome back. In final hour of the week, 14 hours up, we roll into hour 15 as a winter storm prepares to take over much of the country, from basically Texas all the way up to New York and beyond in the next couple of days. We are joined now by FCC chairman Brendan Carr, who sent a letter to many different media companies relating to the shows that they put on, particularly shows like the View or the late night comedy shows that gave a explanation of how the fairness doctrine would be applied, how news would be classified. He joins us now. I appreciate the time. Chairman Carr, can you just kind of give us an idea what that letter said and what the intent behind it was, and then we'll dive into it a bit.
- [40:33]
Brendan Carr
Well, good to be back with you. I mean, look, as you know, you know, broadcast television and broadcast radio are sort of fundamentally different than any other forms of distributing program, whether it's, you know, podcast or soapbox or a cable channel. And Congress long ago said that if you're A broadcast TV station, for instance, and you're going to host one political candidate for office. There's a specific statute that talks about equal time, equal opportunity, and that has to be given to an opposing candidate. It's not about, you know, censorship or shutting down debate. It's fundamentally about making sure that that unique access that broadcasters have to this valuable public resource spectrum isn't being put to the partisan advantage of a Republican or a Democrat. And so all we did was simply remind people that maybe you forgot or maybe people have been misreading FCC precedent and they just broadly think that every late night show and daytime talk show is considered bonafide news. Because if you are a, quote, bona fide news program, then you're exempt from that. You don't have to give people equal time. But it looks to me that over the years people have misread that and they've just assumed that every single late night and daytime talk show is in fact a bonafide news program, even when in many cases it's not going to be found to be.
- [41:50]
Clay Travis
So what would happen, Commissioner Carr, thank you for being, for being with us. What would happen in the case of, say, one of these programs? If the designation is that if your FCC finds that they are not a bona fide news program, then I assume they'll fight it. What does that look like? And what ultimately is the enforcement mechanism for what the FCC views as the way the law actually should be applied here?
- [42:19]
Brendan Carr
There's a number of pretty clear remedies that will be available to the fcc. So you may remember in the run for the last presidential election, Comcast NBC put on Vice President Harris and candidate Harris on SNL the Sunday before, I believe, the Tuesday election. And the law had actually been clear at the time that SNL was not a bona fide news program. So what they had to do was file a notice with the FCC that they gave time to, to a candidate and that allowed other people then seek equal opportunities. And I think at least to some extent, they did give time to other candidates. And so here they would have to file that type of notice. And if they didn't, you know, the FCC could, you know, effectively provide relief to make sure that the broadcaster does, in fact, give what they call comparable time, comparable placement. If they don't, if there's a pattern of disregarding that FCC rule, then that becomes a problem for them in terms of the underlying license itself. So it could be anything from some sort of injunctive relief that makes sure everyone gets equal treatment. It could be fines by the fcc or ultimately it could go to the underlying license itself. And one thing that's so interesting to me is if you look at the reaction to the FCC taking this decision, it seems to be voices on the left and politicians on the left that seem to be outraged by and I think that's kind of telling. Like again, we're not saying put all Republicans on or put all Democrat on. We're saying how about equal time? And there's at least, you know, one side of the political aisle that seems to be very upset with it, which I guess means maybe they think that they've been getting more than equal time. I don't know.
- [43:50]
Buck Sexton
Yeah, Let me ask you this. The View, I would contend, is not a bona fide news program. And, and I'm curious how you would analyze this, but you may or may not know this. And we're talking to FCC Commissioner Chairman Brendan Carr. So the View came out recently. One of their hosts did and said, well, the reason we don't have conservative guests on the show is no conservatives will come on the show. So when that story happened, both Buck and myself said we are happy to go on the show. We've never been invited. We actually affirmatively reached out to the producers of the View through our producer, sent them emails and notifications saying we're happy to come on. We got a pretty successful radio show, decent little platform here. They never responded. So I actually think that's kind of very interesting here as you analyze and I think your letter or the write ups of the of the letter have pointed out that almost all of their guests are left wing. They have almost no conservative viewpoints. In your mind, is the View a bona fide news program? And should they be able to have on hundreds of left wing prognosticators and politicians and never anybody providing the other side, given that they air primarily on abc, which is a broadcast channel.
- [45:18]
Brendan Carr
Well, we certainly haven't seen any evidence put before us to establish the case that they are in fact bonafide news. And so I'd be happy to have them file a petition to try to seek that status if they want and be interested to see what type of evidence they put forward. But if you look at the history of the FCC's approach to this, when they look at these individual programs and the FCC acts under our case law, are they motivated by partisan political agendas or are they truly out there engaging in sort of newsworthy discussions? And if you're putting 98 Democrat candidates on and one or no Republican candidates on, you know, it's going to be a pretty uphill fight to say that we're just out here, you know, bringing people on for newsworthy value as opposed to pushing one particular partisan ideology.
- [46:10]
Clay Travis
And so now what, what are the next steps that you're going to be taking in the fcc? Like, how does this proceed? How does, you know, there's clearly a new sheriff in town at the end of the Biden administration, a new approach to things. So what can we expect in the months ahead from the fcc? Pardon me, doing its duty.
- [46:30]
Brendan Carr
One is we want to make sure that, you know, candidates that are out there. If you see an opposing candidate that's on any one of these, you know, daytime or nighttime talk shows, you should raise it to the fcc. So we can make sure, you know, if you're Republican or Democrat or Independent or whatever, that you're getting your statutory right to equal time. So one, we want to make sure people are keeping an eye on this as candidates. And we are going to be prepared to step in if we're seeing, you know, candidates again from any political persuasion on a show that's not, in fact, bonafide news or is fake news or whatever the, whatever the opposite of bonafide news is. And then we're prepared to step in at that point and make sure that the statutory requirements are followed by Brendan.
- [47:11]
Buck Sexton
Last night, your good friend Jimmy Kimmel in his monologue. I've got a quote for you here. I want to let you let you hear it because he addressed this, this letter in this controversy until this week when Trump's little ferret in the fcc, Brendan Carr, who, as you know, yes, you are the little ferret in the FCC who, as you know, is doing everything he can to shut us up, quote, the easy way or the hard way, is trying to say we no longer qualify for the bona fide news exemption when it comes to interviewing candidates, which is a sneaky little way of keeping viewpoints that aren't his off the air. Okay. So that I'll let you respond to that in a moment. So those were the quotes. But let's just say that Jimmy Kimmel or Stephen Colbert or, or Jimmy Fallon, I think those are the three primary late night news host that they have on regularly Democrat candidates, whether it's Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, whomever it might be, doesn't it seem if they are going to get a bona fide news exemption, that they should also then have sometimes Republicans on if they're, if, if that's going to be considered an exemption. What am I Missing here. And what do you think about being called a, quote, trump's little ferret?
- [48:31]
Brendan Carr
I think that's pretty funny. Makes me think I should change my ex, my Twitter profile to be a ferret with some sort of, you know, FCC hat on it. That's probably one of the funniest things I've seen coming out of late night in a while. I didn't see that actually. I fall asleep well on my own. So I don't need to watch that program to fall asleep at night. But look, you know, stepping back, if you know, if you're fake news, you're not going to get to be qualified as, you know, a bonafide news program at the fcc. And again, this is just like core stuff. It goes back to the 1950s. It's many, many decades old, that if you want to be a bonafide news program to your point, you got to give, you know, Republicans, Democrats, independent, equal time. And my view is not, you know, that we need to keep the ball, you know, due to sports analogy at the 50 yard line at all times on all issues. Like, you know, over some period of time, maybe keep it between the 40s, the 30s. But if you got the ball at the five yard line for years and years on end, I think it's hard to make the case that you're fulfilling your licensed obligation, which is to respond to and serve the needs of your licensed community. Again, remember, these are programs that are being generated in New York and Hollywood and then disseminated in local communities all across the country. I think it's important for these, you know, licensed local broadcasters to have a feedback loop to say to New York and Hollywood, like, this isn't quite the right fit for our community. Like, it's okay to be like, you know, partisan. In some cases it's okay to be like, really edgy and to be, you know, mean to Republicans and Democrats, like, no problem, but over some period of time to reflect your community. I think you can make the argument that again, you know, the ball between the 40 at some point here.
- [50:08]
Buck Sexton
I'm not sure how much this is going to be impinged in the FCC universe, but obviously the biggest media story writ large is Netflix and Paramount both trying to buy Warner Brothers. Now Paramount obviously has cbs. The Netflix purchase would not necessarily include cnn. And as you've talked about broadcast networks, abc, cbs, NBC, different rules apply there. How much role, if any, does the FCC have in looking at that potential acquisition? And also there's another one out there, the potential acquisition by ESPN of The NFL Network, ESPN has ab. How much concern from you is there in sort of the media consolidation that you're seeing? And is there a role in either of those for the FCC or is the broadcast connection less significant? So that's not really as much in your purview?
- [51:06]
Brendan Carr
Yeah, Netflix and Warner combining in the main, that's going to be before the Department of Justice. There could be a small piece related to the competing bid from Paramount that there could be some additional investment in Paramount, which does have broadcast licenses that we would take a quick look at. But I've already seen some of the information on that and that doesn't look like there's any FCC hurdles at all. You know, they'd just be taking out some additional what we call bonafide debt. But I do think underlying. I've heard a lot of concerns. You look at Netflix, they have, you know, 300 million or some odd number of subscribers. I think they've grown in a lot of ways organically, which is great for them. But you combine that with some of the streaming services that they would get through the Warner deal, there's been a lot of concerns raised from sort of a concentration and a competition perspective there. Similarly, the Disney, ESPN, NFL deal, that would be doj. I haven't tracked that one as closely. There may be some concerns there. And in terms of concentration, it's a challenge. You know, again, taking back to the broadcast space, you've got Comcast, which is NBC, you've got Disney, which is abc. And over the last decade or so, they've amassed tremendous, tremendous amount of power. And so one of my north stars in media policies, how do we make sure that these licensed broadcasters that are actually out there in the country, how do we make sure they have a better position to stand up with and compete against those. We call them national programmers, Comcast and Disney. And that's kind of underlying a lot of the work we're trying to do with the fcc.
- [52:34]
Buck Sexton
Is it also the big challenge here? Because I'm fascinated. Buck always kind of like jokes about it. I love media more than anything. Is it one of the big challenges here that as the CBS and the NBC's and the ABCs and even the Foxes lose overall audience and the streamers take over? To your point, if suddenly Netflix owns HBO and the streaming audiences are becoming so massive, right. Where most people are spending their time on streaming, it creates a world where the broadcast networks, which are heavily regulated, have almost no impact in our larger discourse. Frankly, in the years ahead, and cable and streaming takes over and there's limited, if any, impacts for the larger, you know, sort of governmental affairs community which cared so desperately. Like on this program, where we are, we're regulated by fcc. Traditionally, the FCC has regulated where Americans have gone to consume media in the future. The FCC's impact and just the larger governmental impact is minimal. And the overall power of these streamers is continuing to grow. That seems fairly significant, long range.
- [53:42]
Brendan Carr
Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, look, the extent that everything is moving, we call over the top. We're streaming. We had, you know, some basic regulatory guardrails in these other areas, whether it was traditional cable or traditional broadcast. And those guardrails aren't present with respect to streaming. But to your point too, I think one of the biggest bogeys coming down the pipe is the, the contracts for carrying these sports leagues, particularly the NFL. Right. The NFL contract with broadcasters are going to come up, I think in the next two years. That's a really, really significant fork in the road. I mean, let's say a substantial portion of those NFL broadcast rights which go on traditional free ovia broadcast TV go even further behind the paywall of the streamers. Right. Of Amazon or Hulu or Paramount or wherever it goes. That's interesting in terms of both. What does it do to the economics of broadcasting? You're not bringing those eyeballs anymore that want to see the NFL. But also what does it mean for the NFL from almost an antitrust perspective, just taking it behind a paywall, does that change the analysis in terms of Congress giving that antitrust exemption to them? But if you want to think about what's a big interesting fork in the road in broadcast, the expiration of the NFL TV broadcast rights coming up in the next two years is a very significant event.
- [54:54]
Buck Sexton
Super interesting. We know you're busy. We appreciate the time. Happy to have you on anytime. And good luck with your new Ferret profile pick.
- [55:02]
Brendan Carr
I appreciate it. Thanks, guys.
- [55:04]
Buck Sexton
That's FCC commission chair of Brendan Carr. I want to tell you. Do you need a little bit more energy? Is there going to be a lot of snow out in your yard, on your, on your front porch, on your driveway? Are you going to have to be out in the cold shoveling away all this snow? And are you already dreading it because you're like, oh my goodness, I'm going to be so tired, tired from all this? Maybe you could use a little bit of extra testosterone level in your life. And that's what chalk does. Their male vitality stack includes an ingredient been proven to boost T levels up as much as 20% in three months time spelled C H O Q.com you are gonna love chalk. They will hook you up right now. When you use my name Clay as your promo code, you will get a free 99 bag of Chalk Chalk lit powder with your first delivery. That's Chalk.com My Name Clay. Start your year off strong, focused and energized today. Chalk.com Chalk lit powder free 99 bag get hooked up today. Put some testosterone back in your life with chalk.
- [56:11]
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- [56:25]
Clay Travis
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