Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Mar 18 2026

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Mar 18, 2026
Date: March 18, 2026
Host: iHeartPodcasts

Episode Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton dive into the latest developments in politics and current events, focusing particularly on escalating tensions within the Republican party amid key Capitol Hill hearings. Central topics include the heated confirmation process for Senator Markwayne Mullin as Secretary of Homeland Security, internal disputes highlighted by a fiery exchange between Senators Rand Paul and Mullin, the troubled status of the SAVE America Act, and ongoing issues related to border security. The hosts also deliver biting commentary on New York State’s spending practices, especially regarding homelessness, and discuss strategic implications for the GOP in upcoming elections.

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Major Discussion Points & Timestamps

1. Capitol Hill Drama & the DHS Confirmation Hearing

[02:35 – 17:34]

• Overview: Buck and Clay open with coverage of a turbulent Senate hearing for Markwayne Mullin’s nomination as DHS Secretary, marked by personal tension between Senators Rand Paul and Mullin.

• Key Details:

  • Buck frames the nomination as unusually contentious, noting expectation for a straightforward process was upended by personal acrimony.
  • Rand Paul brings up Mullin’s past comments seeming to justify or mock a previous violent attack against Paul, making a broader point about leadership temperament for DHS.

• Notable Exchange:

  • Rand Paul directly confronts Mullin (06:28):

    “Tell the world why you believe I deserve to be assaulted from behind, have six ribs broken and a damaged lung. Tell me to my face with why you think I deserved it. And while you're at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and Border Patrol agents...” —Sen. Rand Paul [06:28]

  • Mullin responds, notably not apologizing, but explaining his view (10:44):

    “I don't think anybody should be hit by surprise. I don't like that. But if I do have something to say, everybody in this room knows. I'll come straight to you. I'll say it publicly and I'll say it privately, but I'll never say it behind your back.” —Sen. Markwayne Mullin [10:44]

• Hosts’ Reflection:

  • Both hosts reflect on the decline in Senate civility, with Clay blaming social media for amplifying performative outrage.
  • Buck and Clay agree that intra-party feuding is counterproductive given larger challenges from political adversaries:

    “Clay and I try to have no enemies to the right because we're trying to save the country from the communists.” —Buck Sexton [13:48]

2. The SAVE America Act: Political Struggles and Futility

[17:34 – 26:13]

• Overview: The hosts mourn the likely defeat of the SAVE America Act, intended for election security, and critique Republican leadership’s inability to push it through.
• Key Point:
  • “It looks like it is on the way to defeat, my friends. So I guess we'll continue to have this discussion.” —Buck Sexton [02:35]
• Election Implications:
  • Clay worries about potential Democratic control post-election, predicting immediate moves to impeach Trump if Democrats take the House (25:19).
• Urgency:
  • “...If Republicans don't get through things now, then basically, I'm just being honest with you all. Nothing's going to happen for two years.” —Clay Travis [23:56]
  • They discuss the mechanics of Senate rules and lack of Republican unity.

3. Interview: Senator Rand Paul

[29:44 – 44:34]

• Paul’s Rationale:
  • Senator Paul confirms he will vote against Mullin’s confirmation, citing unresolved anger issues and a history of celebrating violence.
  • He recounts the severity and aftermath of the physical assault against him, the lack of apology from Mullin, and his concern about violent rhetoric as unfit for a law enforcement leadership role.

    “If someone thinks that that [violence] is to be applauded, should they really be in charge of ICE and CBP? ...Should they really be a role model for law enforcement?” —Sen. Rand Paul [29:44] “He refuses to apologize, doesn't back down, and says, basically, yeah, it's completely understandable that I was attacked from behind…” —Sen. Rand Paul [35:42]

• On the SAVE Act:
  • Paul supports the bill but says Republican infighting and state-level resistance (especially due to mail-in ballot provisions) weakens its chances.

    “...the problem is you have these Western states... they haven't done anything about it because frankly, Republicans out there like mail in balloting.” —Sen. Rand Paul [42:33]

• Foreign Policy:
  • Paul reiterates his constitutional concerns about the undeclared Iran war and worries about economic and political consequences:

    “...this war was a war of choice, and I didn't agree with the choice... I think it's also going to be very, very damaging for the Republican ability to hold on to either House or Senate in the fall because of the economic repercussions.” —Sen. Rand Paul [39:52]

4. New York State, Homelessness Spending & Government Waste

[49:10 – 63:25]

• Key Segment:
  • Hosts lampoon Governor Kathy Hochul for openly inviting wealthy ex-New Yorkers to return and “be milked” for their tax contributions (50:43–51:30).

    “You wouldn't want this woman in charge of anything of any consequence whatsoever. She'd be burning the zucchini bread, there's no question about it.” —Buck Sexton [49:34] “Maybe the first step should be go down to Palm beach and see who you can bring back home.” —Gov. Kathy Hochul [51:16]

• Staggering Spending Figures:
  • Buck brings up a Comptroller report showing NYC spends $81,000 per homeless person per year (53:24–54:02), far exceeding the average resident’s income.

    “A lot of you are aspiring to life at 80k. Right? That's a lot of money. That is what New York is spending on homeless people.” —Clay Travis [54:02]

  • Hosts argue the “homeless industrial complex” is a Democratic vote-harvesting and patronage engine, not an effective social program (57:30–59:14).

    “This is the ugliness of it... Some people are going to really start to pull these dots together.” —Buck Sexton [57:30]

  • They trace parallel waste in public education spending, fraud in child services, and note how “nobody unlike in a business ... would have somebody look at it and say we can't run a business like that. We need that for our country and for our government.” —Clay Travis [57:48]
• Fiscal Irresponsibility:
  • Hosts mention exploding national debt, call out waste at local and federal levels, and warn a federal bailout of mismanaged blue states is inevitable if Democrats regain the presidency.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Senate Decorum:

  “Why people got along better on Capitol Hill in the 60s, 70s, 80s … My argument would be social media, which has to a large extent created a lot of performative outrage that pays off.”
  —Clay Travis [07:25]

• On Not Picking Fights Within the GOP:

  “I just don't. I don't like getting into stuff with people that I agree with on 80, 90% of things. When I say get an I'll disagree with them, but attacking them, saying they're a bad person or I impugn their motives or whatever...”
  —Buck Sexton [13:48]

• On New York’s Budget:

  “Florida's budget is half the size of New York's budget. And Florida has 2 to 3 million more residents as a state.”
  —Buck Sexton [52:41]

• On NYC Homeless Spending:

  “It would be better off and this would be an awful idea, but if the entire government just got out of the way and they just gave $80,000, $78,000 in cash, you would save money...”
  —Clay Travis [54:02]

• On Government Waste:

  “There is a homeless industrial complex now essentially of all these NGOs and bureaucrats getting paid to not actually fix the problem.”
  —Buck Sexton [59:14]

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Additional Topics Briefly Mentioned

• The role of social media in changing Congressional behavior.
• The possible 2028 presidential race starting almost immediately after the 2026 midterms.
• U.S. foreign policy toward Iran and challenges in congressional war power authorization.
• Historical anecdotes—debate over red vs. blue states, history of dueling and legislative caning.
• General critique of government sector inefficiency versus private enterprise standards.

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Final Thoughts

The episode stands out for its raw, candid look inside Republican Party dynamics at a moment of high policy stakes, featuring a rare, personal confrontation at the heart of a key national security appointment. In their commentary, Clay and Buck oscillate between frustrated analysis of government inefficiency and humorous skewering of political opponents, all while sounding an alarm bell about unity and urgency on the American right.

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This summary omits ad reads, sponsor promotions, and introduces/outros to focus on substantive program content and dialogue.

Transcript

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome in everybody to the Wednesday edition of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show starts right now. A lot of stuff going on up on Capitol Hill. We're going to be getting into some of that with you for sure, given the fact that the Iran war is getting a whole lot of attention for obvious reasons. The Tulsi Gabbard testimony before Congress on global threats touching on things that we will want to discuss. So we'll get into that. We have some of the aftermath of the Joe Kent resignation. Speaking of national security from Director of nctc. More updates on Iran, the Save America act, which we have tried to bring up as often as we can here because we get a tremendous amount of people saying that we should be discussing it more. So we go, okay, we'll talk about it. We'll talk about it. It's very important. We want election security, too. It looks like it is on the way to defeat my friends. So I guess we'll continue to have this discussion. But Thune is the majority leader. People in his state elected him to the Senate to represent the Republican Party. And they seem to rather the Republicans seem to be on a pathway here to not passing the SAVE Act. So that is where it is. If that changes, we'll let you know, but we'll give you some updates on that. Something that is a little bit of a surprise to me and perhaps it shouldn't have been, was how things were going up on Capitol Hill for the Mark Wayne Mullen confirmation as DHS secretary. Now, Clay, one thing that I think is quite clear at this point is given what just happened at dhs, which was leadership failure at all levels, let's just be honest, about looked buffoonish, unethical and screwed things up in the way Minneapolis was handled with messaging. The Kristi Noem had to go and Trump told her time to go and now she's on some advisory security committee or something that no one's ever heard of before. So that was a appropriate move by the Trump administration. This is maybe the single most important thing. Deportations might be the number one promise of the Trump administration for this second term. It's happening, but it is not happening at the rate that was promised. Let's be honest about this. And there needs to be a whole lot more going on between now and the midterm election. With all that, I thought that DHS secretary's confirmation would be a pretty straightforward partizan issue. I knew Democrats were gonna push Mark Wayne Mullen on this. Senator Mullen, I knew that, but things got testy with Senator Rand Paul, who I might add is Joining us live on this program in a little bit. He wants to talk about this. I'm going to give you some sense of how this went. Let's start with so a little bit of background here. As you, many of you will recall, perhaps all of you, Rand Paul was assaulted by a Democrat neighbor and almost beaten to death. His lungs filled up with fluid. He was in the hospital. It was horrible. He got infections. It's terrible. Rand Paul's an older guy and he was jumped and kicked and beaten on the ground by a maniac neighbor, almost killed. It's a really horrible thing. Now this comes after Rand Paul was almost shot, by the way, by a Bernie Sanders supporter screaming, this is for healthcare. At a baseball field. So Rand Paul's been through some stuff, so let's just be fair about that. Um, I can understand he doesn't have a sense of humor about this, cuz it's not funny. And here's what he said to Mark. He says that Mark Wayne Mullen has taken the position that this stuff is funny. This is cut to listen to how this exchange went.

[Senator Rand Paul]

You have never had the courage to look me in the eye and tell me that the assault was justified. So today you'll have your chance. Today I'll give you that chance to clear the record. Tell it to my face. If that's what you believe, tell it to me today. Tell the world why you believe I deserve to be assaulted from behind, have six ribs broken and a damaged lung. Tell me to my face with why you think I deserved it. And while you're at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and Border Patrol agents. Explain to the American public how a man who has no regrets about brawling in a Senate committee can set a proper example for over 250,000 men and women who work at the Department of Homeland Security.

[Buck Sexton]

Clay, I don't think Rand Paul's a yes vote, that I will say I don't think that's happening. But we'll talk to the senator, the other senator, not Senator Mullen, later on in the program.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, they don't like each other. And sometimes people don't like each other. And it is theatrical because they can go hang out afterwards and they have political disagreements. But personally they get along quite well. And there's still a decent amount of that, I think, on Capitol Hill, not as much as there used to be. And honestly, I think that's an interesting question. Why people got along better on Capitol Hill in the 60s, 70s, 80s, it seems like the 90s and the early 2000s. My argument would be social media, which has to a large extent created a lot of performative outrage that pays off. And so some people take it very seriously, even though for others it's still a form of kabuki theater, it feels like at times. But this is, this is real. Rand Paul and Mark Wayne Mullen don't like each other. And usually you get, as we talked about when this nomination basically was put forward, when Christine Ohm was let go, we said, oh, Mark Wayne Mullen, he'll get confirmed relatively easily because the United States Senate tends to take care of its own. And I think that might factor in here a bit, Buck. I think that Rand Paul would feel more pressure to not get into a fight effectively over this if it were going to be a borderline situation. Right. Pete Hegseth, for instance, needed the overall tie breaking vote of JD Vance, if I remember correctly, in order to be confirmed as Defense Secretary. So if we're going to be in a situation like that, I think maybe things would be different. I think Mark Wayne Mullen will get multiple, probably Democrat votes. Certainly we know he's going to get Betterman, so it's not going to be particularly close. But man, I'm interested to hear from Rand Paul at the, at the next hour. You know, his basis for this, this perspective. We, we've had both those guys on. I'm in a spot where I feel like it kind of reflects what's also going on with media argue, Buck, where I tend to kind of like most people. And so when I see people that we're friends with throwing elbows at each other on social media, I kind of just wish that they weren't. That's my overall perspective here too. I like Rand Paul and I like Mark Wayne Mullen. So I wish that they weren't, you know, engaged in verbal combat here in the Senate hearing, but I don't think it's fake. I think that Rand Paul and Mark Wayne Mullen don't like each other. And I think Mark Wayne Mullen came on our show a while back and said that too. So that, that's just the reality.

[Buck Sexton]

I, I think that the not liking each other thing, but we said this as well one time, I remember that was quite clear. Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy do not like each other. It was a different thing on that

[Clay Travis]

stage in the, in the debate. There was venom associated with both of them. It wasn't just a disagreement.

[Buck Sexton]

Right. It was, I mean, you can think about this with Democrats. Like, Kamala basically said to Joe Biden, you're an old white racist. And then she became his vp. Like, she just said it because she had to, she had to get some attention. And Biden was probably asleep with his eyes open. And so who cares? No, these guys, look, they have, they have personal beef. Mark Wayne Mullen addressed Rand Paul's comments. We have to play the other side of this for sure. This is cut three. Listen in.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

I simply address that I said I could understand because of the behavior you were having, that I can understand why your neighbor, by the neighbor, did what he did. As far as my terms and snake in the grass, sir, I work around this room to try to fix problems. I've worked with many people in this room. Seems like you fight Republicans more than you work with us. I did address those remarks. I did explain your gimmicks by the amendment you put forth. And as far as me saying that I invoke violence, I don't, I don't think anybody should be hit by surprise. I don't like that. But if I do have something to say, everybody in this room knows. I'll come straight to you. I'll say it publicly and I'll say it privately, but I'll never say it behind your back.

[Buck Sexton]

It's not an apology. It's not an apology, that's for sure.

[Clay Travis]

It's kind of, I think he was making what he considered to be a joke. Right. If I were analyzing this, like, I don't think that Mark Wayne Mullen is actually in favor of random acts of violence. I don't, I think he was making a joke based on his relationship. A little bit of a cutting joke. Yes. And I also understand why if you're Rand Paul, you're like, hey, I got attacked by a crazy left wing lunatic. I don't think that that should be something that is joked about. Right. So that's where I kind of think they are. If I, I always say this. If I were in the Senate, I would vote for Mark Wayne Mullen. And I think I would enjoy working with Rand Paul too, because I like both these guys. Does it surprise me that they have a dislike for each other? Not really. Right. Because I, I, I can see them being incredibly different individuals. Right. You know how the jocks and the nerds sometimes don't get along, but if you're a little bit in the middle between the two, you get along with both people. I, I think that that is this version of the, of the Senate and I just. Look, my general perspective, Buck, and we talked about this off air, is there's so many people that are truly putting forward awful decisions and have truly bad ideas for the country that I think sometimes fighting with people who have subtle degrees of difference on how to get to better places is not a beneficial way to spend your time. Right. There's so. To me, there are so many people throwing crazy things out there in terms of political. On the left right now that whether somebody has a bit of a different perspective on Iran than I do, I'm not willing to, like, put on boxing gloves and try to take them out over their perspective on that being wrong. When there's so many people that are not even in good faith engaging in, in, in arguments on the left. Does that make sense? And I think a lot of you kind of get that. It kind of echoes the Ronald Reagan thing, which is, you know, thou shall not fight with another Republican. And clearly that's being violated here.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. Clay and I try to have no enemies to the right because we're trying to save the country from the communists. I mean, that's a pretty. And that's how we honestly feel. Like, I just don't. I don't like getting into stuff with people that I agree with on 80, 90% of things. When I say get an I'll disagree with them, but attacking them, saying they're a bad person or I impugn their motives or whatever, we just. This isn't something we've coordinated. We just both have similar personalities in this respect or similar approaches. That's just not really who we are as individuals or as a show. Rand Paul still pretty ticked off. This is cut. I mean, I'm just telling you guys, it was fiery up there. This is cut five. And Mullen said that there was character assassination going on play five.

[Senator Rand Paul]

And the days after the fight, you said, and I quote, sometimes people just need to be punched in the face. Is that still your opinion, that political disputes can sometimes and often only be resolved by violence?

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

No, I, I don't. I don't always agree with that. I don't believe in political violence. I've made that very clear. But sometimes people do need. Theoretically speaking, that's. Sir, I get it. It's about character assassination for you. That's the way this game is played. I understand it. And you are making this about you, which is fine, but that doesn't keep me as safe.

[Senator Rand Paul]

Character assassination. When you were the one lauding the assault, who do you think started that character assassination? I' repeating what you have done in character assassination. I'm repeating your support for the assault. So that's somehow something I started.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

No, sir, what I'm saying is you're adding a lot to it.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

You know, it's not very.

[Buck Sexton]

When you kick somebody when they're down, you never know. You do be careful when you kick somebody when they're down, because they may be up at some point and have an opportunity to kick back. And that's what's going on here.

[Clay Travis]

I will say two things. Can you remember Democrats going after Democrats in hearings like this?

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, I know a lot of Republicans are about to come after us and say, like, but this is so terrible. This is what they're. This is what your Republican senators are doing right now in the hearing. Everybody. This is what is going on. I mean, I'm just presenting to you. This is the back and forth that you're getting. What we're trying to put the most important after Secretary of War, maybe Secretary of State, treasury, like, top five position in the government. It should be all about the mission, Clay.

[Clay Travis]

So there. Kristi Noem lost her job not because of Democrat criticism, but because John Kennedy, who was on this show, asked her a question about $200 million in advertising spending, and she answered it different than President Trump did. And that was it. Right? Well, she, she.

[Buck Sexton]

People alleged that she lied, and people are alleging that she lied under oath and she lied in a way that actually impugned President Trump. It was an incredibly stupid thing to do.

[Clay Travis]

But it was a Republican, basically who got her on that issue was John Kennedy. And he said, hey, I'm going to go after him. My point on this is the knives are out, right? And now you got Rand Paul going after Mark Wayne Mullen. I think what this is symptomatic of, Buck, is sometimes when you're in power, you have the luxury to feud over things that aren't as significant as when the other party is in power.

[Buck Sexton]

Let me say this. My takeaway from all this, Clay, is, guys, we are. The save act is about to fail. We are running out of time. We need the best people in the important positions for the Trump agenda, and we need to get on this. The previous Secretary of Homeland Security was a mistake, and nobody wanted to hear that at the time because it was all, oh, but Trump knows what he's doing. Yeah, he knows what he's doing, but he's not perfect. You need to have the best people in the best places. And that should be what the focus of this hearing is instead of. I mean, it was, it was nasty. It was feisty up there.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, Senator Paul just tweeted. I mean, I'm assuming he's not voting for him. Senator Mullen tried to justify a violent attack on me. Now he wants to lead ICE and Border Patrol. You can't restore law and order with someone who has an anger problem. America deserves better. So that's a tweet that he just sent five minutes ago. So he's going to be on with us, Senator Rand Paul next hour. We'll talk about it.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, stay with us, guy. And send in the questions. What questions do you want to ask to the senator? If we have a couple that are really powerful and we'll try to get to a couple of them. We've done that before. All right, put yourself on the way back machine for a minute. Go back 20 years. If you had $20,000 from your savings account, you put it into gold, you would now own 33 ounces, which would be worth about 150. All right, forward thinking. Americans have been diversifying into gold for a long time. Gold's value shot up more than 65% last year. And gold is good, my friends. Gold over the last 20 years is up over 700%. There's so many great ways to get into gold. One is to just buy it with Birch Gold Group. That's what I do. I go to Birch Gold, I give them my budget, they send me gold, gold coins, gold bullion. But there's also getting gold in an IRA or 401k. All you have to do is with Birch Gold Group to get this process in motion. Is text my name. Buck to 989898 to receive your free info kit on gold, text Buck to 9898 98. Text B U C K to 9898 98.

[Clay Travis]

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

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay Travis BUCK SEXTON show Senator Rand Paul gonna join us in the next hour as on Capitol Hill the discussion about whether Mark Wayne Mullen will be the next DHS secretary, which we believe he will, will be is currently underway in earnest.

[Buck Sexton]

Can I just be clear, though? It's really important. This is a really important job. So, and unfortunately, this was, this is among a lot of you would say the way the Epstein files were handled. The Epstein files have now come out. As far as I understand it, there was mishandling of that too. For me, I think the, the leadership of DHS may be the single biggest whiff of the first 12 months. Because, guys, Minneapolis, we pulled back. Minneapolis is now all you're hearing about from these Democrats. And this is what, you know, the whole thing, it was a blunder. It was a blunder from the people running that, running that shop. And we need new leadership, Clay, that gets the job done. Is there a more important thing than deportation, securing the border and changing the trajectory of illegal immigration in this country? I don't think so. I don't think there is something that's more important as a Trump agenda item than that. Yeah. So I'm, I'm pretty frustrated with how it's gone up to this point, the border securing. Amazing that that was something that we got done the first 90 days.

[Clay Travis]

So if we want to talk things that are alarming, there are a lot of them out there. What I would say is particularly alarming to me is we're now into mid to late March. Soon we will be into early summer and Congress will just shut down for the campaign season. And if Republicans don't retain the House and, or the Senate, then we're insignificant. Just basically gridlock for the next two years. Nothing is going to happen. So if Republicans don't get through things now, then basically, I'm just being honest with you all. Nothing's going to happen for two years.

[Buck Sexton]

And the 2028 election starts in Dec. My friends.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

Think about that. The 2028 election begins at the end of this year. So this is really important. It is time sensitive, the agenda and people are like, we got a VIP email from Matthew. Please ask Senator Paul what are you doing to get the SAVE act passed? We'll ask him. It's not going to pass. That's it. There's no, there's because the way that it have to get passed is they get rid of the filibuster. They're not willing to do that. Not going to pass. I think that's, I can sit here and complain about it and we have. But we're not senators. We're certainly not 60 senators.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. And, and I think that just ties in with what are they going to do. We know what Democrats are going to do if they win the House. I was looking today on Polymarket buck. There's a 70% chance Trump is going to be impeached again. If Democrats win the House in lockstep, they are going to go impeach President Trump and we're going to have the multi month charade. And you may say, well, this is a total joke and it is and we agree with you, but they're going to shut down the House and the Senate to have another trial on President Trump. They're going to shut down everything. And again, this, this is why I say, look, the House is important. The Senate is to me has got to be the, has got to be the ultimate, you know, Maginot line, so to speak. That didn't go well.

[Buck Sexton]

Although that didn't work out so great

[Clay Travis]

as we know historically did not. But we've got to have what is the most successful.

[Buck Sexton]

The Great Wall of China.

[Clay Travis]

Wall of China. We got to also, by the way,

[Buck Sexton]

kind of a fabrication after the fact, not really that successful. The Mongols.

[Clay Travis]

That's what I'm saying. What is the most successful defense line ever? That's a good military history question. Maybe, maybe they need to have a Cemetery Ridge third day Battle of Gettysburg Bulwark, which used to be a good word before those crazy people took it over in order to rebut a charge. And this is why I've said a lot of people. Supreme Court Clarence Thomas, 75, Justice Alito 74. We may not have the ability to have a president of the same party as the Senate for another four or five years. You saw what happened with Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

[Buck Sexton]

We told you guys to enjoy that first year of Trump's incredible wins and just running up a scoreboard and all that. Stuff because it does not last. There will be the fight ahead, that is for sure. Clay got me excited about history there for a second. Some of you are writing in about this to be clear. For much of US History on the red blue phenomenon, blue was of course the color of the Union during the Civil War. Blue represented the Union. Blue was the color of the Republican Party more often than not. Although there was no standard system. It was color TV that changed this in 1976, Ford versus Carter. Blue was suddenly for Republicans. Red was for Democrats. And this followed the older convention. But then guess what, they changed it. Some of you pointed this out, 2000 election red states on the screen after the disputed election. Republican, George Bush, blue states, Al Gore. And then all the networks followed suit. Clay. And that's how we got red state, blue state. The Democrat Party should be the reds. I'm just saying maybe I don't know

[Clay Travis]

what would happen if one station just flipped it like if Fox News just said, hey, you know what, red, blue, we're going back to the historic.

[Buck Sexton]

They went full Department of War on this. I kind of like that idea because the Democrats are the commies. They should be red. Blue is the greatest color in my opinion. And blue is what the Republican Party has always stood for. So there you go.

[Clay Travis]

When we come back, we'll give you updates on Iran. We will also continue to talk about the Mark Wayne Mullen hearing. We've got got Senator Rand Paul scheduled to join us. Some good news. Murder rate hit 125 year low. I think we should continue to hammer that home DC Crime murder rate has collapsed. I'll hit you with some of those numbers if you want something positive. We'll also jump back into conversation we've been having, which I think is very significant. Kathy Hochul is now begging rich people to move back to New York. Did you see this, Buck? As the overall budget is collapsing in New York state and in New York City. And our good friend Joy Behar says Trump is doing to Europe the same thing that Adolf Hitler did to Europe. That's real. That's the view. We'll have some fun with it. Thanks for hanging with us on Clay and Block. Welcome back in Clay. Travis Buck Sexton show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us across the country. We are joined now by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. And Senator, you've made quite a bit of news earlier today in the the DHS hearings of Senator Mark Wayne Mullen. And I guess we just can start off here with a, with a question. I don't know that you've officially said one way or the other based on the questions, it doesn't sound like you're going to be voting for him to be head of dhs. And if is that true and if so, why will you be voting against him?

[Senator Rand Paul]

You know, I guess I'm concerned about anger issues. Someone leading ICE and border patrol issues that's basically advocated and celebrated the violence that was committed. About me I was attacked from behind several years ago, six ribs broken, three of them separated, completely damaged my lung, multiple pneumonia, had part of my lung removed nearly a year, year and a half later. And I guess I don't think that's funny. I also don't think that that's something to be celebrated. And I wonder if someone thinks that that is to be applauded, should they really be in charge of ICE and cbp, who I think they need a better role model. History of brawling I mean he got up during a committee hearing, threatened someone who was testifying, said he would jump over the table. In follow up interviews. He said, yeah, people just deserve to be sometimes be punched in the mouth. He said, well, yeah, there's historical precedent for this. You know, we had dueling and we've had canings. And so I asked him that today and he said, oh yeah, we've had duelings. And I said, well, you realize it was illegal 170 years ago, it's certainly illegal now, but it was illegal even back then and frowned upon and people actually had to travel either to other states or countries to do dueling because we disapproved of it even 170 years ago. But the fact that he would still think that we should settle our political differences through violence I think makes him really unfit to hold any kind of position like this. So I will vote against him.

[Buck Sexton]

Senator PAUL Just to be clear, because we played some of the back and forth audio, Senator Mullen has never apologize for what he said, is that correct? That has never happened.

[Senator Rand Paul]

He called me and wanted a discussion and he said, well, he said what he said today. I hope we can decide our political differences. Well, our political differences are, you know, we disagree on funding refugee welfare. I'm against giving any more money for refugee welfare. I would end the programs, he's for it. That's a political difference. But if I say that I wish harm on his family or I wish harm on him, that's not a political difference, that's an advocation for violence. And, and frankly I've been on the receiving end of violence and I just don't think it's good for our country. And it's not a good example for somebody who leads law enforcement where there have been some questions about the use of force. And so, no, he's never apologized. He was given a chance today. I think a normal person would have taken that chance and apologized. Instead, he continued to this bizarre rant that somehow when he was now some representatives, he told this to my face because he's such a macho guy. I don't think I ever met the guy when he was announced. I don't remember ever meeting with him. And I certainly would remember if someone walked up to me and told me that I deserved to be bushwhacked, you know, in my yard. So, no, I've never. I'd never met him before he got to the Senate, and he's never said it to my face. But it's interesting what he took umbrage with. He took umbrage with the fact that I called him a liar, but he didn't ever come out and say, oh, yeah, you know, I was angry about this vote. And, you know, in retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have, you know, thought that it was a great idea that this violence was committed against you. But it's that. It's his brawling in Senate committees, it's his referring to dueling and caning. I asked him if he knew who Charles Sumner was. I don't think he does, but Charles Sumner was caned nearly to death. He was caned till he was unconscious. And the reason that it kept going as one of Preston Book's colleagues from South Carolina came over with a gun and he kept the other. I always wondered, you know, why did the senators not intervene? The reason they didn't intervene to help him. He was unconscious, bleeding from the mouth, bleeding from his ears, his skull being crushed by this guy with a cane. And nobody helps him, but it's because another thug, friend of Preston Brooks, was holding a gun to the senators, keeping them at bay. So. But he brings this up as a justification. He brought it up again today. He says, well, yeah, there is dueling. And I said, well, yeah, it's been illegal for 170 years, including at the time, even when they had dueling in the 18, early 19th century. Most time it was illegal, and most time they went to some kind of venue to escape being caught doing dueling because it wasn't approved of by most people.

[Buck Sexton]

Senator Paul, can I ask you, do you have any sense that there are any other Republicans who have serious concerns about this Confirmation of the DHS secretary, Or is it your sense that you stand alone among Republicans on this?

[Senator Rand Paul]

Probably on the committee, I will be the only one. You know, frankly, I suffered for a year or two with this, had part of my lung remove. So I do take it kind of personally. I do think, though, it's more of a generalized problem because I think his resorting to fists and his idea that people sometimes just deserve to be punched in the face, I think that kind of attitude would worry me where we, you know, this is what we had with Bovino, and Bovino was up there in Minneapolis. It was a disaster because he's marching around with a bulletproof vest, brandishing his weapons and showing how tough he is. And everybody got this sort of macho complex up there. Tom Homan, who's not a shrinking violet, went to it and said, if any agents misbehave, they'll be punished. And he started pulling people off the street so they weren't in public confrontation every day. You really haven't seen it in the news. And that's sort of what good leadership would be. But I don't know what kind of leadership you get from a guy who advocates fighting in a, you know, in the middle of a Senate hearing.

[Buck Sexton]

Why some people. Why isn't Tom Holman the DHS secretary, by the way? That's a whole other.

[Senator Rand Paul]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

No, I mean, I think that's an interesting question. Senator Rand Paul with us right now talking about the Mark Wayne Mullen hearing and his potential taking over the dhs. Many people in this audience, I guarantee you, Senator Paul, and I'm sure you're going to hear it from the people you represent in Kentucky, will say Democrats are wrong on so much. Why fight internally here over who the president wants as DHS secretary? How would you respond to that question or that criticism?

[Senator Rand Paul]

Well, you know, I've supported virtually all the nominees. Kristi Noem came forward. I did hers in record time, even though Mullen, I don't think, don't like and don't think he's fit. And really, I think he's despicable person. But I've. I've gotten his nominee done quicker than any other nominee's ever gotten it. So I'm giving him fair treatment in the sense that he got a hearing in less than two weeks. He's going to get the vote tomorrow, and in all likelihood he'll be approved. But the thing is, is, you know, if this, if this were you, I mean, do you have, you know, it. Would it be your conclusion to Say, well, yeah, he did say the assault, I mean, was justified. I'll just kind of let that go and not say anything about it. I don't think there are many people that would let go. I'm kind of actually surprised that more people don't see the glorification of violence as a real danger to having someone lead ice. Who really thinks resorting to fists is the way we give this real. You know, it's. This is a badly way to do it. We used to do it the right way with dueling and caning and. You know, when I first read the story of Charles Sumner, I was horrified by it. I wasn't. I never, never crossed my mind that these were the good old days. These were the days when men were men and they had, you know, crush each other's skull with, with sticks. I don't know, that never would have crossed my mind. But that apparently is his point of view. And even when confronted with it, both privately and in public, he refuses to apologize, doesn't back down, and says, basically, yeah, he's come. It's completely understandable that I was attacked from behind. You know, six ribs, broken, lung damaged, multiple pneumonia, part of my lung removed. I don't know. I don't. I don't get that. I guess I'm not willing just to say, oh, let's let bygones be bygones. You know, we're adults here. Well, if you want bygones be bygones, you might start with an apology for what he said.

[Clay Travis]

What happened to your attacker? We had a couple people asking us, and Buck and I did a quick research. We're live on the air, I'm sure, you know, was he severely punished? Punished to what you thought he should have been that level, or what was the result of that case?

[Senator Rand Paul]

Initially, they all the judges in Kentucky recused themselves, which created a problem because then they have to look for a judge. They found one in Detroit who came down and prejudged the case and gave the guy 30 days. The government appealed it and went to the 6th Circuit. And this doesn't happen very often, appealing a criminal ruling of a judge because it was outside the sentencing parameters and didn't meet the minimum. And they came back and gave him another 10 months. So he served about a year. He lost a civil suit. He's a convicted felon, hopefully is not voting anywhere in the country anymore and hopefully receive some punishment for this. But, you know, it was misreported from the very beginning and everybody's, oh, yeah, it's just a dispute between members. I'd never talked to the guy. I mean, I talked to maybe 10 or 15 years before. We're gone a lot. Our kids used to carpool, but there was no personal animus that I knew of between the guy other than that I learned that he was a hater of Donald Trump and a hater of me politically when we looked at his online presence. But but wasn't like we'd ever had words. So really, I don't know. Those who think it's either funny or should be justified, I think are sick people, frankly.

[Buck Sexton]

Senator Rand Paul with us now. And Senator, if I could, I mean, I think we've covered pretty, in pretty good detail here what happened today in your exchange with Mark Wayne Mullen. We are in the midst of what we have been telling everybody is a war and thousands of people are dying, and it is a big deal. I know there's been a little back and forth on what we should call this, and it's, you know, there seems to be a little bit of a minimization feeling around it in some quarters. My sense is, and this is I'm speaking for myself, and Clayton can weigh in with his sense. This is just going to end sometime in the next couple of weeks and we're going to say mission accomplished with having destroyed the Iranian military. What do you make of all of this? I mean, I know you're not for it, but what's the goal here as you see it, and what are the lessons that we're learning as we go?

[Senator Rand Paul]

You know, I think the sooner it's over, the better. War really isn't good for, you know, us as a people, not good for those who die. And really, it needs to be the last resort, not the first resort. I think this war was a war of choice, and I didn't agree with the choice. Now, whether they call it a war or not sounds legalistic, but it's a way of getting around the Constitution. The Constitution says that Congress initiates war or declares war. Now, the president's legal counsel, the Office of Legal Counsel, argues that we'll tell you when it's a war, but we have to wait a while and we'll add up the casualties. We have to know the duration, the extent and the scope of the war until whether it's a war or not. And I guess the problem with that kind of argument is that if Congress is supposed to initiate or declare war, you can't tell whether it's really a war until a number of dead. You know, it would be sort of Congress coming after the fact and then declaring war after the war is over. You know, with the Iraq war, we declared war in advance. We didn't know how many would die, but we ended up, I think, losing about 4,400 soldiers and maybe 10 or 20,000 significantly wounded. But we did actually authorize it. You know, I had some complaints with George W. Bush, but he came to Congress, made the case and they authorized it and same thing after 9 11. And I would have voted for the 9 11. You know, the response after 911 because we were attacked, that's when we really, you know, should have a war. But I don't think we've done it in a constitutional way. I think in the end it's, it's really, this isn't the primary reason to oppose it, but I think it's also going to be very, very damaging for the Republican ability to hold on to either House or Senate in the fall because of the economic repercussions. I think oil prices go up quickly. I think they're sticky on the way down. And as more structures damaged over there as the people are having more trouble getting ships through because of insurance and danger, I don't think that quickly resolves itself. So even if the war ended in a week or two, I think you could still have, you know, pricing increases that could last well into the election.

[Clay Travis]

Last question for you. This is a VIP email and I'm going to read it from one of our listeners. Matt, you probably have heard versions of this quite a lot. 80% of all Americans support voter ID. I'll be extremely pissed off and defl if the SAVE act fails, especially if it fails due to GOP infighting. I think the country is doomed if we can't get voter ID passed. That's a VIP email from Matt, one of our listeners. What's going to happen with the SAVE Act? What should happen in your mind?

[Senator Rand Paul]

You know, I'm for it. I'm a co sponsor of it. Voted yesterday to get on it. We got on it with 51 votes. I am told by leadership there are not 51 votes to perpetually stay on it. You know, the whole idea of the talking filibuster that there aren't 51 votes to that. I'm also told that one of the sticking points of doing citizenship part, that you might get 53 of us, you might even get a Democrat or two if it just did citizenship when it adds in the mail balloting, forbidding mail or discouraging mail balloting, which I am for I think that's really almost as important as the citizenship part because I think people cheat through the mail in balloting more than any other form of voting. But the problem is you have these western states, I mean Utah has everybody gets a ballot in the mail. They may get multiple ballots. Arizona is the same way. And they've had Republican legislatures out there, but they haven't done anything about it because frankly, Republicans out there like mail in balloting. Same with their, same with Oklahoma. I mean, not Oklahoma, Alaska. And so while I am, you know, my state, I helped, you know, get the state legislature, encourage them to pass and almost everybody votes in person. It's like 98%. It's a felony if you lie for needing to vote by mail. So almost everybody votes in person. We have paper ballots, we keep the paper ballots. And I think we have pretty secure elections. We have IDs to be shown. So some states do it and some don't. There's about five Republican states that don't. So. Well, I voted for the national and will continue to support the national pollution. Really we ought to have as a party the goal, getting the five or six Republican states that do mail in balloting, convincing them at the state level not to do it. But I don't, I think it's because this bill has gotten so large and have added things to it, you won't get any Democrats on it. And the only way probably to pass it right now or convince more Republicans and some Democrats is actually to narrow the focus to maybe just the citizenship part.

[Buck Sexton]

Senator Rand Paul, appreciate you making the time for us, sir. Thank you.

[Senator Rand Paul]

Thanks guys.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

news and politics, but also a little comic relief. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartrad radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in here to Clay Anne Bock. Let's talk about New York for a second, shall we? Hello to everybody on on W O R N Y C. Fantastic heritage radio station that really covers much of the Triborough area. Or sorry the Tri State area. Triborough.

[Clay Travis]

Good lord.

[Buck Sexton]

Tried Tri State. I haven't been gone that long.

[Clay Travis]

Guy moves to Florida, suddenly doesn't know anything about New York anymore.

[Buck Sexton]

The tribe boroughs, the three boroughs in New York. Like I gotta, I gotta remember things here. I gotta keep keep things straight. But wr great station listening many of you and the truth is, sorry we're going to have a little fun at the expense of New York State governance right now. That's just where this is going because a lot of very wealthy people have become quite annoyed with what's going on in New York. Not just New York, Washington state now has this millionaires tax situation. Same thing California. Well California just got so many taxes, all kinds of problems. Kathy Hochul, who is honestly somebody that you wouldn't want in charge of the bake sale for the pta. Not even the pta. You wouldn't want her running the bake sale to raise money. Like you would not want this woman in charge of anything of any consequence whatsoever. She'd be burning the zucchini bread, there's no question about it. And here she is telling people that they need to move back to New York. Wealthy people need to move back to New York so they can fund welfare programs in New York. Play 8.

[Kathy Hochul]

There is this anxiety, which is real, and we're continuing to address the affordability crisis, which I believe should be the number one priority of this legislative session. What can we do to take off some of that pain that New Yorkers are feeling that I hear about literally every day? What I want to make sure we are smart about is having a system in place where it's not just taxing for the sake of taxing and being conscious of the fact that I need people who are high net worth to support the generous social programs that we want to have in our state. Right now. There are some patriotic millionaires who stepped up. Okay, cut me the checks if you want to be supportive. But maybe the first step should be go down to Palm beach and see who you can bring back home.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, she's saying Florida, Florida has stolen her cash cows. And a lot of them are in Palm Beach. A lot of them are here in Miami Beach. Let me tell you, I got neighbors. And, and they're in Delray and they're in Boca. Hey, a lot of places around here. And Clay, this is really. I appreciate this. She is so unsophisticated in so many ways that she's just saying the truth here, which is New York or former New Yorkers, please move back to New York so you can be milked like the cows you are for the welfare state. That is her pick.

[Clay Travis]

And so we've told you this, and it is going to long range mean that states like Tennessee, Florida, Texas, 0 state income tax states are going to be far more effective and well run than super high income tax states that are losing, as you just heard Kathy Hochul say, a lot of the base that has paid for all of the government to exist. What was the data point you gave us, Buck? That New York, I think, has a little bit fewer people now than Florida. Right. But Florida's government is half the size of New York's.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, Florida's budget is half the size of New York's budget. And Florida has 2 to 3 million more residents as a state. 2 to 3 million. By the way, there are a lot of states that barely have 2 or 3 million residents.

[Clay Travis]

And, and as a general rule, how would you say as a Florida resident that the Florida budget and the governance is at running the money that they get at basically managing the taxpayer dollars.

[Buck Sexton]

Everything that involves the state of Florida is more efficient, more reasonable, more sane compared to New York state level governance. Everything, everything is easier, everything is smoother, everything makes more sense. Miami, things get a little third world down here. But, but state of Florida, fantastic.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so, but building on that, you mentioned this stat earlier and I saw it in, my jaw dropped. It's rare that I see a stat and I'm like, oh my, I can't believe this is real New York. Is it? New York City is spending more money than the average New Yorker makes on homeless people. What is this math? Buck? $81,000 a year, I believe was the. So all of you out there, I, I, you worked a long time with not making $81,000 a year. Buck, I worked a long time not making $81,000 a year.

[Buck Sexton]

I aspired to 81,000. I was like, oh my gosh, think about life at 80K. Yes, this is, by the way, 100% true.

[Clay Travis]

A lot of you out there are aspiring to life at 80k. Right? That's a lot of money. That is what New York is spending on homeless people. And you made this analogy earlier. How many of you out there listening to us right now in New York are busting your asses all day long and you're not making 81k and you're looking around and you're saying, wait a minute, what is the state doing that they're providing 81k a year in support for homeless people? This is just so flagrantly flawed. I mean it's, it would be better off and this would be an awful idea, but if the entire government just got out of the way and they just gave 80, $78,000 in cash, you would save money if you just walked up and gave $78,000 in cash to every homeless person.

[Buck Sexton]

I also, by the way, there's nothing, there's nothing inherently derogatory about the term homeless. These people clearly don't have homes. Yeah, this whole thing about unsheltered now

[Clay Travis]

unhoused is now unsheltered.

[Buck Sexton]

Is the other the same, the same thing? No, I'm sorry, we're not doing this, ok? The reason they're doing this is because homeless, homelessness and homeless realities across this country, people have learned more about this and they've started to understand that almost all of the homeless, the truly homeless population, almost all have either extreme substance abuse or extreme mental health or a combination of both issues and disorders. The stories that you hear about a family of four kicked out of their home, down on their luck, that can happen. It does happen. I get it. It is rare. And they don't stay homeless because there are programs and there are, you know, thankfully this notion. Thankfully, I mean, but there are things to help people get back on their feet and they tend to do so. The real homelessness issue is people with severe mental health and severe addiction issues.

[Clay Travis]

Overwhelming.

[Buck Sexton]

So this, the stories about someone lost their job, they're down on their luck. 1% of the, of the unhoused or homeless population at any point in time, 5% maybe. I think that might be too much. It's people with those problems now. Those are human beings who deserve help too. I'm not, I'm not saying otherwise. My point though is they're changing the definition, truly. Or they're changing the terms we use of homeless because they don't want people to think about the discussions about, like Gavin Newsom said he's going to lower homelessness. That was the term he was using in California a over a 10 year period. It's like doubled.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

So they're changing the word. So it's like a new problem now.

[Clay Travis]

Right.

[Buck Sexton]

It's like, oh, well, we're not dealing with the homelessness thing, Clay, because we completely failed. Now we're dealing with the unhoused population. And. And here's the other thing. 81,000. This is from the Comptroller of New York. This is. Yes, you know, right wing, angry blogger.net or something. This is from the Comptroller of New York. $81,000 a year per homeless person in New York. Well, why are we spending? I mean, think about, should we just give a check?

[Clay Travis]

Should you give a check for half

[Buck Sexton]

of that 40 grand in cash to every homeless person, one time payment. There you go. Lump sum.

[Clay Travis]

It would actually cut half of the expenditures to your point. And you know what's a big part of this? There are a lot of people who are doing nothing to actually help homelessness that are being paid a lot of money inside of that $81,000. Where you get.

[Buck Sexton]

This is the ugly. True. This is the ugliness of it. Okay, we're seeing this, my friends. Some people are going to really start to pull these dots together. I also think this is part of why Elon, just with the whole Doge Thing had kind of a like a thermonuclear meltdown of. There's just so much fraud and so much waste and so much crap that it was.

[Clay Travis]

And nobody unlike in a business where you would have somebody look at it and say we can't run a business like that. We need that for our country and for our government.

[Buck Sexton]

I think Elon was truly just overwhelmed by the scale of this. And in his, you know, his brain is able to tackle these things at scale and he's just like, this is completely. This monster is a hundred times larger than I even realized. Anyway, a big part of this notice Clay, the autistic, like autistic kids programs, the child daycare, Somali. I'm talking look at the autistic kids thing and that's in California. I think they've started looking. The spending on these programs has gone absolutely stratospheric in recent years. This is fraud, my friends. People are being paid a lot of money to do nothing of public benefit and they're getting taxpayer dollars to do this. And you know why the Democrats keep this going? It's a giant cash cow for their constituents. What do you think if you walk into some city funded homelessness program in New York, what do you think the voting record of the people that are getting checks from the city to run the program? What do you think of voting? I bet it's 95, 99% Democrat. It's just like the public school systems have become now, Clay, this is about vote harvesting. This is about donations. This is power for the Democrat party. There is a homeless industrial complex now essentially of all these NGOs and bureaucrats getting paid to not actually fix the problem.

[Clay Travis]

And this is also ties in with the health care system being broken. There was a Wall street journal editorial saying 99% of one state. I think it was Ohio of the fraud analysis. It was all fraud. 99. I also think again, this goes to health care. Nobody knows what it costs. The government funds a ton of it. Doesn't look at spending. There are people being paid $600 an hour to do autistic rehab that didn't actually have any kids with autism. I also think this ties in with an interesting question. And we keep talking about how the number of kids with autism has skyrocketed. That's certainly true. How much of the autism diagnosis that we are seeing are completely made up and a function of being able to make money at 4, 5 and $600 to do autism therapy. I mean some of these companies. You saw what happened in Minnesota. But I think the same thing is happening in California. These companies don't even have a physical location. They have a P.O. box and they're getting paid millions of dollars a year. They're not even pretending. Just like you saw with the Somali daycares thing. Remember, Buck, it is interesting. No one has come out that I've seen and said, hey, my family lost daycare. Leave aside whether you think the government should be involved in Somali daycares at all. If they were actually doing Somali daycare, wouldn't tons of people have come out and said, oh, my goodness, the kids daycare. I can't go. I can't go to. I haven't seen anything about this. This was all a sham. And it's a function of government not being well run enough for people to notice where all the money is going. It's just, it's infuriating for anybody out there that pays taxes. It really is.

[Buck Sexton]

It's, it's astonishing. And, and what you realize is that, and this is a, this is a pretty stark realization, but it's. We think about fixing this. Not only are Democrats unwilling to fix it, they don't want it to be fixed. Yes, they believe that this is a redistribution of wealth to people who should get the money. They want homeless administrators on the, on the city. You know, getting, getting their budget paid for by the city, by the taxpayers. They want them making 3, 4, 600 grand.

[Clay Travis]

Think about how crazy it is that New York is spending more money, more than $81,000 a year for every homeless person. I mean, it should be infuriating to

[Buck Sexton]

everyone, the average household in New York City, people who are working, people who are showing up. And we've all been there. I have showed up to jobs on mornings where I hated so much I thought I was going to throw up. I mean, I just like, I'm not making any money. This sucks. I've, we've, we've all been. But you show up, up and you suck it up and you do it. You do it for your family. You do it for, you know, the people around you who are counting on you. 80 grand going to every, you know, spent for every individual homeless person. What are they doing? Yeah, where is all the money? Think about this. How can that be possible? Where's all the money going? We know what it is in the public school system. The public school system in New York pays more than most private schools cost across the country per pupil. You know where the money goes? Bloated administrators making 150 grand to show up Sit at a desk, do nothing all day. There are tens of thousands of them.

[Clay Travis]

It's crazy how many people don't teach and don't do anything and are just administrators.

[Buck Sexton]

It goes to vice principals of a district as a vice principal. What, like, you know, in case someone needs to step in for the principal, like vice principals and vice chancellors and all this stuff. We're making 2, 300 grand to be working for the public school system of New York or New Jersey or any of these states.

[Senator Rand Paul]

Hmm.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, and you can retire after 20 years and you get all your benefits and everything paid for. I mean, friends, by the way, this is also where all your city taxes and state taxes are going as well. And you know what the game is at the end of all this, Clay? Federal bailout. It's coming. You get a Gavin Newsom administration. What, you think he's going to leave California high and dry with its budget deficit? Oh, no more. They'll just find ways to more.

[Clay Travis]

Well, that's a good point because thankfully most states have to have balanced budgets, but a lot of cities have ended up going bankrupt, and again, the federal government doesn't. So the buck, to buck's point, the bailout goes on the books of the federal government. I saw today we hit 39 trillion national debt.

[Buck Sexton]

The debt.

[Clay Travis]

The number today now is 39 trillion. And what percentage of that money do you think has been well spent

[Buck Sexton]

again?

[Clay Travis]

Again, much. We could strip 75% of all government and be better off. I. I mean, I think that there's zero doubt about that. Unfortunately, we're not gonna do it. You want the full springtime experience, the budding trees, the blooming plants and shrubs, the whole deal. Spring is starting to spring. Spring has sprung some places, although other places it's still cold. But if you're excited for spring, and I am, and you're excited for warmer weather, and I am. And part of that is trees and new shrubs and new plants. You need to go check out one of our newest sponsors, Fast Growing Trees. They have more than 1200 different varieties of trees, shrubs and plants. They ship directly to your home. You do the planting, the plants, and the trees do the rest. Fast Growing Trees catching on. Already shipped to 2 million American households. So far, everything you order backed by their alive and thrive guarantee. That's how well they've nurtured your new trees and plants. Surprise someone you love. This spring at fast growing trees.com Use my name, Clay. Clay, as your promo code to get 20 off fast growing trees dot com. My name, Clay C. L a Y for 20 off. Keep up with the biggest political comeback in world history. On the Team 47 podcast Clay and Buck highlight Trump replays from the week, Sundays at noon Eastern Eastern. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

That's why we want to tell you about acatimeshare.com they've helped thousands of families illegally cancel their timeshares for good. If this sounds like you, call aca Timeshare at 888-364-0222. That's 888-3640 ACA. Or visit acatimeshare.com at least have the conversation. That's ACA timeshare.com feeling overwhelmed by stress and uncertainty?

[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

AI, come on.

[Clay Travis]

No.

[Buck Sexton]

It's just a golf lesson, champ.

[Senator Rand Paul]

Loosen up.

[Clay Travis]

I can't see that. Hyundai Santa Fe.

[Senator Rand Paul]

Yeah, I only paid to

[Buck Sexton]

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[Senator Rand Paul]

On your own.

[Buck Sexton]

I gotta run. Deal's so right, it almost feels wrong.

[Clay Travis]

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