Daily Review with Clay and Buck - May 19 2026

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Daily Review - May 19, 2026

Podcast by iHeartPodcasts

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton navigate the most pressing political headlines and cultural stories, focusing heavily on the 2026 primary elections, redistricting controversies, Trump’s latest moves (including his endorsement in a high-stakes Texas Senate race), and major news from the White House. The show balances insightful conservative commentary with humor—touching on everything from the impact of Supreme Court decisions to the politics of identity and even a lively debate on the attractiveness of Texan versus Canadian women. The episode also features a detailed interview with author Douglas Brunt about his new book on Emmanuel Nobel and the history of Russia’s oil empire.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

---

1. Primary Day 2026: High-Stakes Races and Trump’s Endorsement

(02:36 - 10:12, 17:49 - 21:02)

• “The most attention going on the Massey primary... the most expensive congressional primary fight of all time.” – Clay Travis (02:36)
• Discussion of hotly contested congressional and senate primaries across multiple states, especially Kentucky and Texas.
• Breaking news: Donald Trump endorses Ken Paxton in the Texas Republican Senate runoff, effectively ending John Cornyn’s campaign.
  • Quote: “President Trump giving his endorsement one week away from the actual race. Now there had been arguments that Paxton would be a tougher race than Cornyn against Talarico. I don’t buy that... Ken Paxton will be, in my opinion, your next senator from Texas.” – Clay Travis (08:16)
• Reflection on the impact of prediction markets and the magnitude of Trump’s endorsement in sealing Republican primaries.
  • Immediate online reactions suggest the race is “over” following Trump’s announcement (06:35).

---

2. Redistricting, Race, and Congressional Power Struggles

(02:36 - 05:55, 21:06 - 31:21)

• Coverage of renewed media focus on potential loss of Black Democratic Congressional seats following the end of mandated majority-minority districts.

• Critique of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and ‘affirmative action’ in politics.

  • “It is really the Congressional Black Democrat Caucus because Republicans are not allowed in.” – Clay Travis (02:57)
  • “I’m against race-based preferences, period, full stop.” – Clay Travis (03:28)

• Hakeem Jeffries’ fiery rhetoric about MAGA extremism (04:31):

  "Either MAGA extremists are going to break the country or we're going to break them. ...We have to beat them electorally and then we have to break their spirit..."
  — Hakeem Jeffries (04:31)

• Clay and Buck question what constitutes “extremism,” noting lack of substantive answers from Democratic leaders.

  • “Is it the extremism of the Supreme Court that says you can’t actually just decide that there are black congressional districts that always have to be represented by a majority of black voters?” – Clay Travis (05:12)

• In-depth look at Southern states’ redistricting (South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, and Texas).

  • Jim Clyburn and state representatives invoke “Jim Crow 2.0” and “regression” (23:51):
    • “It's starting to feel more like 1966 and not 2026. ...We are fighting against voter disenfranchisement.” – South Carolina State Rep. (24:07)

• Clay and Buck argue for race-neutral districting and critique the notion of “special privileges” for concentrated Black districts.

  • “Race should not be and cannot be the primary consideration in drawing congressional districts that are specifically intended to advantage black voters.” – Clay Travis (25:23)
  • Discussion on whether Black politicians are better served running in statewide rather than only majority-Black districts (27:34).

---

3. Satirical Sidebars: Texan vs. Canadian Women

(10:12 - 13:49, 17:49 - 18:18)

• Humorous exchange and light-hearted ribbing aimed at James Talarico, Democratic candidate in Texas, regarding his supposed Canadian girlfriend.
  • Quote: “To me, Talarico dating a Canadian over a Texan would be disqualifying.” – Buck Sexton (12:43)
  • Ongoing, tongue-in-cheek debate about the relative attractiveness of Texas versus Canadian women.
  • “Texas women dunk on Canadian women. …It’s way better.” – Buck Sexton (13:13)
• Buck acknowledges the banter drew heated (“molten lava”) reactions from their audience, especially Canadian listeners (17:49).

---

4. Trump, the White House Renovation, and Long-term Leadership

(31:21 - 43:37)

• Detailed discussion of Trump’s ongoing White House East Wing modernization and future-oriented infrastructure projects.
  • Noises of construction punctuate Trump’s live press conference, which he uses to subtly troll critics (34:11 - 34:28).
  • Trump:

    “There will never be another building like this built. …There will never be anything like this built.”
    — Donald Trump (34:52)

• Clay’s psychoanalytic take: Trump’s near-death experience at Butler, Pennsylvania radically amplified his sense of mission.
  • “I think he decided, I'm going to solve everything that exists in America and I'm going to do it overnight. …He feels like he has to fix everything.” – Clay Travis (39:17)
• Debate on presidential priorities: Is Trump’s focus on legacy projects good long-term planning, or does it risk distraction from current-day crises?
• Trump’s stance on Iran:
  • “We have to make sure that Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon. …We may have to give them another big hit.” – Donald Trump (33:04)
  • “Popular or not popular, I have to do it because I'm not going to let the world be blown up on my watch.” – Donald Trump (41:44)

---

5. Inside GOP Dynamics: Future Leadership Speculation

(43:37 - 45:44)

• Analysis of the ambitions and relationship between JD Vance and Marco Rubio, two prominent Republican figures.
  • Buck: “I just don’t think JD Vance and Marco Rubio are going to run against each other. …I think they’re going to have a man-to-man talk about how they want to do this.” (44:33)
  • Both hosts suggest Rubio would prefer Secretary of State over Vice President.

---

6. Author Interview: Douglas Brunt - 'The Lost Empire of Emmanuel Nobel'

(49:18 - 59:20)

• Douglas Brunt introduces his newly released book on Emmanuel Nobel—one of the world’s forgotten oil magnates.
  • “What Stalin, Lenin, and the communists did to Emmanuel Nobel was the inspiration for George Orwell’s 1984.” – Douglas Brunt (51:10)
• Nobel was once more powerful in oil than Rockefeller, but the Bolshevik Revolution “paved over” his legacy.
• Fascinating “sliding doors” history—Russia nearly became a constitutional monarchy multiple times before falling into oppressive cycles.
• Early Russian oil industry described:
  • “There was so much petroleum in the ground, it was bubbling to the surface. …People are just skimming it from the surface and using it as a lubricant.” – Douglas Brunt (55:07)
• Discussion of present-day Russian imperial ambitions and the through line from tsarist, to Soviet, to modern Putin-era priorities.

---

Notable Quotes (w/ Timestamps & Attribution)

• “It is really the Congressional Black Democrat Caucus because Republicans are not allowed in.”
  — Clay Travis [02:57]

• “Either MAGA extremists are going to break the country or we're going to break them. …We have to beat them electorally and then we have to break their spirit...”
  — Hakeem Jeffries [04:31]

• “I'm against race-based preferences, period, full stop.”
  — Clay Travis [03:28]

• “To me, Talarico dating a Canadian over a Texan would be disqualifying. I can't vote for somebody who can't find a girl in Texas to date. It's a big state, lots of pretty girls.”
  — Buck Sexton [12:43]

• “President Trump giving his endorsement one week away from the actual race... Ken Paxton has his complete and total endorsement.”
  — Clay Travis [08:16]

• “It's starting to feel more like 1966 and not 2026. ...We are fighting against voter disenfranchisement.”
  — South Carolina State Representative [24:07]

• “Race should not be and cannot be the primary consideration in drawing congressional districts that are specifically intended to advantage black voters.”
  — Clay Travis [25:23]

• “There will never be another building like this built. ...There will never be anything like this built.”
  — Donald Trump [34:52]

• “Popular or not popular, I have to do it because I'm not going to let the world be blown up on my watch.”
  — Donald Trump [41:44]

• “What Stalin, Lenin, and the communists did to Emmanuel Nobel was the inspiration for George Orwell’s 1984.”
  — Douglas Brunt [51:10]

---

Important Timestamps for Segments

• [02:36] — Start of political discussion & primaries focus
• [04:31] — Hakeem Jeffries “MAGA extremism” clip
• [08:16] — Trump’s Texas endorsement & prediction market reaction
• [17:49] — Banter about Texas and Canadian women
• [23:51] — South Carolina State Rep. Jim Crow 2.0/districting
• [27:34] — Obama and politics of majority-black districts
• [31:21] — Discussion of Trump’s White House renovation and future vision
• [33:04] — Trump on Iran negotiations, “might have to give them another big hit”
• [34:52] — Trump on “never another building like this built”
• [39:17] — Clay’s analysis: Trump changed after Butler, Pennsylvania incident
• [41:44] — Trump on Iran, “have to do it”
• [43:37] — JD Vance & Marco Rubio 2028 speculation
• [49:18] — Interview with Douglas Brunt begins

---

Episode Takeaways

• Republican primary politics remain dominated by Trump’s endorsements and the Trump coalition, with entrenched debates over ideological purity and incumbency.
• Redistricting and accusations of “reverse Jim Crow” by Democrats will be a major flashpoint, especially in the South, as Supreme Court decisions reshape the Congressional map.
• The show features a mix of insightful political analysis and humor, not shying away from cultural commentary and levity.
• The audience is invited to see current events as part of a broader American and world historical continuum, illustrated powerfully through both political discussion and the historical narrative of the author interview.

---

For More

Recommended Listens in This Episode:

• [04:31] Hakeem Jeffries on MAGA extremism
• [08:16] Trump’s endorsement of Ken Paxton
• [24:07] South Carolina State Rep. on redistricting / “Jim Crow 2.0”
• [34:52] Trump on White House ballroom and legacy
• [41:44] Trump on Iran
• [49:18] Author interview: Douglas Brunt

---

Summary prepared in the original tone, capturing the energy, humor, and detailed analysis of Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

Transcript

[Announcer]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Vuse Ad Voice]

Guaranteed Human warning. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

[Views Ad Voice]

Views is vapor. Done right. What does that mean? Well, we sweat the small stuff so you have a smooth, consistent draw every time. That way you can focus on what matters, like getting back to your podcast. Learn [e-mail] that's v u-s e.com underage

[Vuse Ad Voice]

sale prohibited views as a Vapor Product Website restricted to age 21/ tobacco consumers Copyright 2026 RJRVC It's a celebration 250

[America 250 Announcer]

years in the making and we want

[Announcer]

everyone in America from Maine to Montana, from Alabama to Alaska to be a part of it.

[America 250 Announcer]

This year marks America's 250th anniversary and we're coming together from coast to coast at star spangled events, live performances and the largest day of giving in American history.

[Announcer]

Join the nationwide celebration at america250.org

[Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship Announcer]

this January, bare knuckle Fighting Championship takes over the ocean. The inaugural Bruise Cruise sails from Miami to the Bahamas aboard the Norwegian Jewel. Three straight days with pool deck, bare knuckle fights in the Caribbean, massive parties, beach events, DJs, cigars, tequila tastings and non stop action. The lineup reveals coming soon. Cabins are disappearing fast and the prices won't stay this low. Reserve your spot with just $200 down

[Public Investing Ad Voice]

at bkfsea.com support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type, prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokered services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory services by Public Advisors llc SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for information purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comDisclosures welcome back

[Clay Travis]

in here to Clay And Buck, we were just talking a minute ago about some of the big things happening on primary day today. By far the most attention going on the Massey primary In Kentucky, Kentucky's 4th congressional district, the most expensive congressional primary fight of all time. So that's happening right now. And there's also something else going on that is getting a lot of attention, Clay, which I wanted to spend some of our time on here. Breathless, very upset reporting from the Democrat press about how the. There are perhaps 19 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, which I might add, it is really the Congressional Black Democrat Caucus because Republicans are not allowed in. So that's worth noting, isn't it? But the 19 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is about a third overall of the CBC, could between now and 20, 28 and redistricting, lose their seats because there is no longer a mandate to create special districts that will give us black members of Congress. That's no longer a thing. You can't just be like, you know what, we're going to draw the lines on the map so that we have as many black voters as possible so they can elect a black member of Congress. Turns out they can't do that anymore. And in many ways I think the fact that it was allowed to continue as long as it did, although you all know my feelings on affirmative action, I'm against race based preferences, period, full stop. I'm against all of these kinds of preferences in any direction. Hakeem Jeffries, though, Clay, the minority leader in the House, very upset, very upset about this. Not a surprise. Here he is. This is cut 31. Listen to him.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

I guess part of how we as House Democrats view this moment, either MAGA extremists are going to break the country or we're going to break them. And our goal is to break them. We will defeat them. We have to beat them electorally and then we have to break their spirit because of the extremism that's being unleashed on the American people. That's completely and totally unacceptable.

[Clay Travis]

What extremism? I mean, I would love to get, you know, let's, let's, can we ask, let's see if, if Congressman Jeffries would like to come on the program. Because I would love to ask him. I don't think he ever gets asked tough questions, to be clear, ever, anywhere in media. I don't think he goes anywhere where he ever gets a question that. I don't think he's a particularly adept speaker or thinker. Just saying he's not an impressive guy. He never gets difficult questions asked. I've never once seen anyone say to him, hmm, can you expand what is the extremism? Is it the extremism of the Supreme Court that says that you can't actually just decide that there are black congressional districts that always have to be represented by a majority of black voters who are overwhelmingly, although not always overwhelmingly, going to be voting for a black member of Congress? Is that, that's extremism? Because that's what the Supreme Court says and it's actually a pretty plain reading of the Constitution that gets us there. Clay, do they have to ever specify, is it just enough to tell people, MAGA extremists, what is this?

[Buck Sexton]

I do think this is an indication of the degree to which they are bereft of ideas. And so in the same way that what did Joe Biden say in 2022 when Georgia strengthened its voting laws? Oh, this is Jim Eagle. And black voters are going to be super disenfranchised again. Black voting rates, registration wise, are higher in the south than white voter rates are. Black voters can go out and vote for anyone. They aren't losing the right to vote. Let me tell you this though, Buck. Breaking news. Trump has endorsed Ken Paxton. So he has just posted this is the challenger of John Cornyn and I would suspect this race is over now. We will see. Texans still are there in the process of voting. Everybody should go out and vote. Here is what Trump just posted mere moments ago, Buck. John Cornyn is a good man and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough. And then he goes through several other different aspects. Ken Paxton has gone through a lot, in many cases very unfairly. He's a fighter and knows how to win. Our country needs fighters and also loyalty to the cause of greatness. We can never allow what happened to the United States of America during the corrupt Biden administration to happen again. And goes on and says that he is endorsing Ken Paxton. So this was and is a runoff election. Everybody is going to be able to vote. But Trump says Ken Paxton has his complete and total endorsement. And let's see, almost immediately in the prediction markets on Kalshee and on Polymarket, this race is over. According to the prediction markets, Ken Paxton is going to be the nominee. Now all of you should still get out and vote. You can certainly react. I think that Texas is our biggest state in terms of population of listeners on a day to day basis. I know a lot of you have very strong opinions on this case and on this race. Go vote as you see fit. But the President has literally in the last five minutes just jumped in and endorsed Ken Paxton. And according to Polymarket and Couchee, the race is now over. President Trump giving his endorsement one week away from the actual race. Now there had been arguments, Buck, we just kind of hinted at them that Paxton would be a tougher race than, than Cornyn against Talarico. I don't buy that. I, I, Texas is not voting for Tal Rico. Ken Paxton will be, in my opinion, your next, your next senator from Texas. And so there you go. Ken Paxton with the full endorsement from President Trump. A little bit of other news, Buck, that also just came down isn't as significant in the Senate race, but I was telling you about off air. I am super excited for this. Nashville, Tennessee, my hometown just got awarded the Super bowl for 2030. So if you are listening to us in Nashville, get ready. Nashville, Super bowl town, 2030. That news coming down basically at the exact same time that President Trump has, has come out and, and endorsed Ken Paxton. So Attorney General Ken Paxton just posted. I'm incredibly honored to have President Trump's complete and total endorsement. No one has ever fought harder for the American people than President Trump. And I look forward to championing his America first agenda in the Senate. Texas, get out and vote. That is President Trump's endorsed next senator from Texas. I think you probably agree with me, Buck, that there has been a lot of chatter, oh, it's going to the Talarico. Like the Republican is winning this race.

[Clay Travis]

Did you see him recently? He was like, you know what being a Christian really means? It means being multicultural, multi ethnic. He didn't say open borders, but I'll say open borders multi gender. It's, it's really like they took a someone who sounded vaguely like a Texas pastor and then neutered him and put him through the left wing reeducation program at Wellesley College. And then they offered him up to Texans and he was like, yeah, I wear a Stetson just like all of you. Did you also see all 37 of my pronouns while I'm wearing my cowboy boots?

[Buck Sexton]

Boots. He also I think said that he has a girlfriend in Canada. Did you see that interview? No one has ever met her. But Tal Rico says that he, I think it was a girlfriend who lives in Canada. Now look, no, no shot that I'm taking at our, at our great Canadian fan base listening right now. What do you think has prettier girls, Texas or Canada? Like if you just said where do you think the women are better looking? And I only Gave you two options, Texas and Canada. Would anyone listening to us right now pick Canada? I'm just saying, if you're running for senate in Texas and you're actually heterosexual, I think you should be able to find a girlfriend in the state of Texas. And not again, I. Correct me if I'm wrong. I think he said his girlfriend lives in Canada. This is like when you're. This is like when you're in high school.

[Clay Travis]

This is like the Internet nerd in the 90s who's like, sorry, you can't beat my girlfriend. It's Christy Turlington and she's really busy on modeling shoots. She's been dming. She's been sending me messages on AOL chat.

[Buck Sexton]

I've got a model girlfriend who lives in Paris. You're like, really? That seems unlikely to me. You couldn't find anybody who goes to high school with us or even goes to high school near us. Now, to be fair, maybe the ultimate unexpected play on this was when Travis Kelsey said he was dating Taylor Swift and everybody was like, sure, bud, sure you are. And then she showed up for one of his games. So maybe this. Maybe James Talarico is dating the most beautiful girl in all of Canada. I think Pamela Anderson was from Canada. Maybe he's dating the Pamela Andersonia Twain. There are some good looking women from Canada. I'm a bit skeptical, but just hold on.

[Clay Travis]

There's a lot of very good looking women in Canada.

[Buck Sexton]

Let's not compare Texas.

[Clay Travis]

It's not Texas. I'm not saying, but there's a lot.

[Douglas Brunt]

This is.

[Clay Travis]

You're, you know, you got. I'm just saying you got to be.

[Buck Sexton]

To me, Talarico dating a Canadian over a Texan would be disqualifying. I would say. I can't vote if I'm a Texan. I can't vote for somebody who can't find a girl in Texas today. I'm sorry. It's a big state, lots of pretty girls.

[Clay Travis]

But that's a different thing, right? When you're. That. That to me is. Is more of a. Of a take based in reality than like Canadian. Like, there's a lot of really pretty girls in Canada. But point being, if you live in Texas, you got a lot of pretty Texans around you. Why Canada?

[Buck Sexton]

Texas women dunk on Canadian women. This is. It's way better.

[Clay Travis]

He's not backing off this one inch, by the way.

[Buck Sexton]

No, not an inch.

[Clay Travis]

Look at this.

[Buck Sexton]

I got your back, Texas ladies.

[Clay Travis]

He. He does. And the Texas ladies have your back, that is for sure. And you know, if, if the Texas ladies, I, I hope they, well, the ones that listen to this show know,

[Buck Sexton]

are we going to have angry Canadian women calling in now? That would actually be amazing if the

[Clay Travis]

women of Canada don't vote for Talarico because he too, paints his fingernails. You know what I'm saying? Like, I just, I, I hope that that's,

[Buck Sexton]

this will be really funny. By the way. We'll take, we'll open up your phone calls again. Breaking news. President Trump has waded into the big primary battle in Texas and he has officially decided that he is going to endorse Ken Paxton over John Cornyn, which is a substantial move. But I want to tell you as we come up on the 25th anniversary of, unfortunately, the day of 9 11, the terror attack that many of us still cannot believe ever occurred. And probably many of you are like me and can't believe it's been 25 years now since that happened. Tunnel Towers have been trying to fight battles on behalf of people like United States army specialist Anthony Vargas since that awful day. After the terror attacks of 9 11, Anthony's patriotism and love of country drove him to enlist in the Army. He served honorably, dreamed of one day serving in the nypd. While on deployment, Anthony was killed instantly when an IED detonated near his unit. He left behind his wife Louisa, their children and his siblings. In the 25th anniversary year of 9 11, we remember Anthony's service, sacrifice and the lasting impact of America's darkest day. Tunnel of Towers honored his memory by paying off the Vargas family's mortgage, giving his family a stable, forever home. Help more families like the Vargas family. Your donation today can make a world of difference, bringing hope and security to those who gave everything. Join us in donating $11 a month and amplify your impact with a car or land donation. Go to t2t.org that's t the number two t dot org. Laugh, learn, hang with the guys right there. When you need them most.

[Clay Travis]

Clay and Buck, just preset them on the iHeart app.

[Vuse Ad Voice]

This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

[Views Ad Voice]

At Views, we're vapor. Done right, Always simple, always in your pocket so you can focus on what really matters. Like getting back to your podcast. Find out [e-mail] that's v u s

[Vuse Ad Voice]

e.com underage sale prohibited. Views is a vapor product website restricted to age 21 plus tobacco consumers. Copyright 2026 RJRBC.

[America 250 Announcer]

It's a celebration 250 years in the making.

[Announcer]

And we want everyone in America from Maine to Montana, from Alabama to Alaska to be a part of it.

[America 250 Announcer]

This year marks America's 250th anniversary and we're coming together from coast to coast at Star Spangled events, live performances and the largest day of giving in American history.

[Announcer]

Join the nationwide celebration at america250.org

[Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship Announcer]

combat sports fans. This January it's the Bruise Cruise Party with Fighters Watch a bare Knuckle fighting event live in the Caribbean. Plus DJs, bands and chaos at sea. Prices increase soon. Hop aboard now. Go to bkfsea.com

[Shell Ad Voice]

if you sometimes turn down the podcast just to hear the hum of your engine, then Shell has the fuel for you. Shelby Power Nitro plus fuels every drive from the Pacific coast to the high desert with a fuel like no other. It provides engine performance that lasts to give you more time on the road because your car's engine matters. That means more protection with active ingredients for longer lasting engines. Shell V Power Nitro Plus Premium Gasoline Engine performance that lasts Chances are you're not far from a Shell station. Find it using the Shell app formulation unique to Shell compared to minimum detergent gasoline with continuous use of Shell V Power Nitro plus and gasoline direct injection engines, actual effects and benefits may vary. See Shell Us More Dash Protection for more information.

[Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship Announcer]

Welcome back.

[Buck Sexton]

In our number two, Clay and Buck, we have phone lines like molten lava and talkbacks like molten lava. After I accurately said the women of Texas are much better looking than the women of Canada. The thick legged women of Canada are already starting to kick at me. Buck in the mentions I will stand. I'll I'll go to the mat on this one. It is primary day and I'm sure the talk facts are going to be very entertaining.

[Clay Travis]

You shouldn't have said they have legs like a moose. Clay. That wasn't nice.

[Buck Sexton]

Maybe too a little too much maple syrup. Kentucky, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Idaho and Oregon all go to the primaries today. Six different states biggest battle Kentucky four Thomas Massie versus Ed Gall Rhine Gal Rhein whose name eventually I may pronounce correctly as it is a 5050 battle there. 30 million plus dollars have been spent. We are expecting a press conference from the White House with J.D. vance, Vice President of the United States White House Press Briefing soon. It is the lead story right now on both CNN and msnbc. As we prepare for that next week is the Texas primary where many delectably good looking women are going to be going to go vote. Many of them in the Republican primary. They're deciding between Ken Paxton and John Cornyn just In the last hour, Ken Paxton has been endorsed by President Trump, effectively I believe, ending that primary as Paxton. I believe Buck was already likely to win, and he had won in the. Cornyn won by a little bit, I think, in the initial primary back in March. And now in the runoff. I am betting that the Paxton people were able to show to President Trump and his polling likely reflected as well that Paxton was going to win this President Trump now cementing and I think effectively ending the Texas primary. This is significant in the context, Buck. John Cornyn is likely to lose as an incumbent in his primary, and we already have seen Cassidy of Louisiana lose in his primary. This will be the first time that a Senate Republican has lost a primary since 2012. It is likely, I believe, that both of those men are going to be out. But again, next week, everybody go vote in the Texas primary, as well as Kentucky, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Idaho and Oregon. Go get your primary votes in. Also, my hometown of Nashville has been awarded the Super bowl in 2030. And I am super excited about that. And I promise that I will have one of the best parties surrounding the super bowl in February of 2030 four years from now. Buck, you're going to be invited, you and Carrie. I will be Carrie, Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

I wasn't even going to wait for you to invite me. I'm inviting myself. I will be there. This will be fun.

[Buck Sexton]

Whole staff. You also are all going to be invited to the Travis super bowl party, which will be awesome and among the best super bowl parties that will be thrown in Nashville, if not humbly, the best. And so everybody can look forward to that. Again, with the primaries underway, six of them today. Everybody go vote. Buck, on top of this, there are a couple of other stories that you and I were going to. To get into. Again. We'll go and see if there's any news that is going to come out of this primary that is in short order going to. Sorry, this press conference that in short order is going to begin. Uh, but you were talking about. I want to come back to something that you were talking about at the time that the news came down about the Ken Paxton endorsement. And it is a Democrat attempt. And I do think this is significant and we should address it and we should make you aware of the fact that it is coming. Democrats have made a calculated decision that they are going to try and call it racist if there is any black Democrat who loses his or her seat. And. And I do think, did we play this. This redistricting cut 28 from a South Carolina Democrat. State Rep. I don't think we played this when you were starting your conversation. Correct me if I'm. If I'm wrong. We did or we did not. Yeah. Cut 28. South Carolina is the latest state. Let me kind of fill you in. So Tennessee has eliminated the blue congressional seat in Memphis. So far, courts have upheld that. Alabama is going to eliminate at least one racially gerrymandered seat. Louisiana is going to eliminate at least one gerrymandered seat. Georgia and Mississippi have both said they're going to wait till after the midterms and then readdress their maps. Florida has already added four Republican seats. Texas has added five. That was before kind of at the same time for Florida, but before the decision came down. In Texas, race doesn't really involve. It doesn't appear, at least black and white Hispanic voters are a big part of the Texas redistricting. I believe I am correct. South Carolina is the last state that still has to decide. Are they going to eliminate the one minority majority district which is actually held by James Clyburn? This is the argument that you are hearing everywhere. All of a sudden. Cut 28. Jim Clyburn accuses Republicans of creating Jim Crow 2.0. Is he right?

[South Carolina State Rep.]

Absolutely. We in South Carolina and the South Carolina House of Representatives are fighting regressive policies. And we've been doing that for the last couple of days, and we will continue to do that as well throughout the day and well into the night. What we see today and what we've been seeing throughout the south is an attempt to take us backwards. I have a quote that I often like to say, and that is that it's starting to feel more like 19, 1966 and not 2026. We are fighting against voter disenfranchisement. And it's going to be really important that we stand up and that we make our voices heard and say that we're not going back.

[Clay Travis]

Can I. The rhetoric here, the rhetoric that is being used, this goes back to the Jeffries conversation. Jeffries quote or sound bite of last hour? They won't say what they're really trying to say, or rather they won't explain. What is the objection here? They say, oh, we're going back, it's regressive. The MAGA extremists, all this stuff, what the claim now has become is that it? Even though the Supreme Court has come down and said, sorry, no more, there is a belief among Democrat black members of Congress that there should be special privileges given to concentrations of black voters in states so that they have Special power to have the member of Congress generally, not always. You point out what Steve Cohen right. In Nashville, but that they will be in a position to determine who goes to Congress based on the fact that there is a concentration of people who are black in that specific district. I just think this is very. When people hear it that way, they go, wait, why is that the case? And also, if you're a Latino, why shouldn't you, you know, why shouldn't you say, you know what? I want my own. I want a Latino district where the Latino community gets to pick their own. Now, you kind of have that in Miami. But it's not drawn by, you know, it's not drawn by some Voting Rights act mandate. That's just the way that people happen to live. And they. They. The state of Florida has drone drawn the maps as they have. Race should not be and cannot be the primary consideration in drawing congressional districts that are specifically intended to advantage black voters. That's it. It's really not that complicated. And when you put it in a straightforward. But notice the language they use, Clay. It's not even clear what they're talking about. Oh, they're taking us back. Oh, it's back to racism. It's back to Jim Crow.

[Buck Sexton]

It's back.

[Clay Travis]

It's. What is. What is this? They never tell you.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, I would actually argue. And I think it's an interesting case. So there are examples. Tim Scott, who is a senator representing South Carolina who happens to be black. I've said before, I think Byron Donalds is going to be the next governor of Florida. He happens to be black. These guys, Wesley Hunt, who had a great Senate campaign but has represented a majority white district in Texas. To me, in order to win a statewide race, it is oftentimes a very different skill set than what is required to represent a majority black district. And let me use Barack Obama as an example. Do you remember what happened when Barack Obama ran in Chicago and tried to win a majority black district? Buck. He got smoked. He. A lot of people forget about this because they think about Obama and they recognize that he won the Senate race in Illinois and then he won the presidency, obviously in 2008 and 2012. But I actually think the racial politics of Barack Obama is more interesting. He got smoked when he tried to win a majority black district in Illinois. Chicago area just crushed. And it was because he wasn't considered black enough, and that's in quotation marks, to represent an inner city, majority black district in Chicago. So what did he do? He ran statewide and he actually won in Illinois. Now, I don't know exactly how it would have gone if he had won that majority black district, but I think there is an argument that what it takes to win a majority black district actually makes it harder for you to win statewide. And I would be curious to look at the data on this because you have to run further left. You have to be a black representative. You have to join the Congressional Black Caucus. And you are defined then as a member of that, that party that is basically responding to black related issues as opposed to black, white, Asian and Hispanic related issues, which is what allows you to win statewide. And so maybe we get Tim Scott on to talk about this. Byron Donalds, I would be curious. Wesley Hunt and maybe some of those guys listening or their staff listening as they drive around right now. I actually think that to have substantial black leadership, you might be better off trying to represent a state and appeal to people of all different backgrounds in terms of having political power than to just try to win a majority black district again, as Barack Obama could not do in his beginning of his political career. And I do think that's an interesting angle to think about as we go forward. I'm not even sure that I buy the thesis underlying what is basically just an attempt to play the race card one time after another. By the way, a lot of people weighing in variety of topics. We'll get to some of those. I believe we only have one guest, Doug Brunt, in the third hour of this program. JD Vance has not yet held that White House press briefing amid war in Iran. That is the headline right now on Fox News. We will see if there is any additional news that is coming out as we prepare for that. In the meantime, let me tell you about roofs. How often do you worry about the safety of your home when it comes to whether your roof is reliable or not? How many times have you had a leak? I've had a leak in every house that we've had at some point in time where you have to have somebody come in and try to fix the issue. Right now you can get a free inspection from Erie home. They've been doing this for 50 years. Hometown craftsmanship, national reliability. You get somebody on your roof, you have a right to be concerned about what might happen. This is not a fly by night roofing company. A company with decades of experience and trust. A company that will be around for decades to come. They will give you a 50 year warranty and you can trust that the company is still going to be there. Best of all though, they'll come out and look at your roof and just tell you do you or do you not need a new roof. And if you do need a new roof, Erie Home will give you twelve hundred dollars off. All you have to do to get your free inspection is go to eriehome.com clay that's E R I E eriehome.com clay today twelve hundred dollar discount free checking out of your roof. What do you have to lose? Discount of $1200 valid on new roofing installations. Get hooked up today. Find out if you might need a new roof and save up to $1200 at eriehome.com clay that's eerie. Home E R I E home.com clay preset your pals Clay and Buck on the I Heart app.

[Clay Travis]

Third hour of Clay and Buck kicks off right now we've got J.D. vance still talking. He's holding a presser and we'll bring you the highlights of that.

[Buck Sexton]

That's live.

[Clay Travis]

That's half happening right now as we talk to you. We're not going to join it in progress. We're going to have the team monitor as we are working through the rest of the news with you and bring you the highlights of it. Any news that breaks essentially on air, we will then break to you here in real time as we go. We also had Trump speaking this morning, which I wanted to get to on a whole range of topics and eventually I'll find my way to the left wing lunatic asylum that is the people outside of the Luigi Mangione trial, which is complete. They're just completely what you would think and every bit as demonic and insane as you might expect. But Clay, a few things because we heard from JD Vance moments ago on Iran. Trump this morning spoke on this too. So JD I feel like at this point of negotiations there's a little bit of a good cop, bad cop thing with Trump and JD Trump is kind of like, you know, you can get it the rough way, which is the Trump way. JD Is like, hey guys, why don't we figure out something here? Let's really get a deal done. And they know that J.D. from the beginning based on all the reporting and what we know JD has said before, he is the least interventionist when it comes to military action in the Middle East. I think of anyone at that level in the administration. And so he's a good messenger for the let's figure this out, let's make a deal side of the equation. Trump on the other side. This is Cut five is saying I might have to go in there and Kick some more ass and get them to understand that they have no choice in the matter. Play five.

[Donald Trump]

We have to make sure that Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon. All of the things that you see me fighting for so hard. And it's always tough. You know, we're negotiating with Iran. And then you have the Democrats, I call them the Democrats. Putting. Putting in a bill that Trump should immediately stop. You know how it is to negotiate with a country where you're feeding them badly. They come to the table, they're begging to make a deal. Because they're begging to make a deal. I hope we don't have to do the one, but we may have to give them another big hit. We may have to give them another big hit. I'm not sure yet. You'll know very soon. But how do you feel when you're negotiating? You're winning every point. And they say, but in Washington, they want to see. Stop you from negotiating. They want to stop you. And it's only political. It's the Democrats. They're dumb.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so a couple of things there, Clay. First of all, the noises you're hearing, we'll get to that. That is the construction of the East Wing modernization project that is underway. And the president also spoke since. Since you're hearing the hammering and the nails going in and all this stuff, the carpentry in the background. This is cut.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes, continue. I just think it's funny. This is like Trump trolling his critics that he actually had a press conference so they could hear the ballroom being built behind him.

[Clay Travis]

I think that is absolutely correct. I think this is Trump saying, yeah, this is still happening. This is cut three. He talks specifically about the project.

[Donald Trump]

Listen, hundreds of billions of dollars already in the ballroom, and it's coming out. I think, incredibly, we have some renderings of the finished product. It's all knit together. At the top of the ballroom is what they call a drone gallery. We have tremendous amounts of military able to be on the top.

[Clay Travis]

It'll be the highest point.

[Donald Trump]

It will be something very special. So if you look up at the top, you'll see some interesting things. And I'll show that to you in a second. You want to grab that place, the facade of the building. There will never be another building like this built. That I could tell. I built a lot of great things. There will never be anything like this built.

[Clay Travis]

Clay, he's proceeding here. And I truly believe that when the history of this is written, the Trump modernization of the White House will be considered. First of all, it's so on brand for him as a builder of 50 something years now, or 60 something years now, it's on brand for him to be doing this, but also needed a refresh makes a lot of sense. You were at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Being able to hold events that the White House can control the security situation very effectively.

[Buck Sexton]

It's important 100%. And I also think this is the criticism you could give Trump, if you want to criticize him, and some people do, is he's looking so far into the future that he may not be focused on the present day as much as many would hope. And let me kind of just draw these connections from the different things that he's doing. The White House ballroom, best case scenario, Buck, the White House ballroom is finished just before he leaves the White House. A brand new Air Force One best case scenario, the Air Force One planes are done basically at the time that he is leaving the White House. This situation in Iran, best case scenario, it is making the next generation of life far better in the Middle east than today. Cuba, same exact thing. Venezuela, same exact thing. The criticism of Trump is, if you want to criticism, criticize him right now, that he has focused years into the future on projects that primarily will benefit the nation after he's gone. And I would just say to many of you out there, isn't that what you should want the President to do? I get that we all live in a world where every time you look at your phone, there's a new news story and we need the President to react. And certainly the President is active in reacting to a lot of things in the present moment. But the criticism I think that you could levy against Trump is he's trying to make generational decisions in a relatively short period of time, trying to solve issues in the Middle east, in Latin America, in the Caribbean, in, in the ballroom, all of these things. The primary beneficiary of most of what President Trump is doing right now, heck, even the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the new arch that he's trying to build, these are things that actually will benefit presidents long into the future. And if you want to criticize him, you could say, hey, right now what I care about is not whether the ballroom is secure for presidents in 2040, it's how much does gas cost right now, right? We have this world. And the older I get, the more I think about it. Where when you're a kid, four years feels like a long time. Eight years feels like a really long time. When Ronald Reagan was in office, if you were a kid Eight years, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, even now, the Trump era, it feels like a long time. It's a pinprick. And Trump seems to me, and I think this is connected, Buck, if you want me to psychoanalyze him, I think this is connected to Butler. And I know people just want to forget that the guy came within a quarter inch of getting his head blown off on national television. I think that moment changed Trump where he said, screw it. I'm going to do exactly what I think is the best and I'm not going to listen to other people and I'm not going to worry about what they think because I'm fortunate to be here. And when I get into office, I'm fixing everything. I'm building things that are going to endure, and I'm not going to worry about any of my critics because I'm lucky to be alive today. And I don't know how many people out there are listening to us right now. I don't know how many of you. I haven't, I don't know if you ever have, Buck, have had a truly near death experience where you thought, hey, I got, maybe you got injured in a car accident and you survived. Maybe you got a cancer diagnosis and you didn't expect to survive it. And you're listening to us right now. So that perspective of staring down death and not passing a lot for a lot of people, I think it's freeing because it makes you recognize that every day that you have gotten since then is in many ways a gift and you don't want to waste it. And I really do believe, and people can call me crazy on this. I think in the wake of Butler, Pennsylvania, President Trump, to the extent that he has thought about this on a perspective, I think he feels like he has a new lease on life and a new gift. And I think he decided, I'm going to solve everything that exists in America and I'm going to do it overnight. And that's extremely, extremely aggressive. But I think he feels like he has to fix everything. And let me give you an analogy on the flip side. Historically, Buck, you know, I'm a history buff. You know, one reason if you guys out there are history buffs, do you know why Robert E. Lee was so aggressive? You read the Killer Angels and they hint at this in Gettysburg, one reason, he knew he was having chest pains and he thought he might well have a heart attack and die. And he believed, I really do believe this. He believed that he was the only one who could win that war. And he decided to, I think, engage more aggressively to try to end that war because he was concerned that otherwise he might not survive it. He died in 1870, a few years after the war. But I think Trump feels like he uniquely is able to solve the problems that America has, and I think he's moving aggressively as a result. I think Lee did it at Gettysburg. I think there have been a lot of guys, as they age and as they have health conditions, as they stare down death, that have felt like they have to do everything right now because nobody else can. I think that's where Trump is.

[Clay Travis]

And then on the issue of the popularity of some of these things, specifically on Iran, because I think anyone who supports Trump supports the ballroom, and even some Democrats have realized it makes perfect sense, Democrats will get to use it. We're not going to sit here and be like, they can't use the Trump ballroom in the next Democrat administration. Of course not. It's. This is for the occupant of the White House to use as they see fit. But here is Trump on Iran and its popularity. This is cut six. Listen to him.

[Donald Trump]

Everyone tells me it's unpopular, but I think it's very popular. When you, when they hear that it's having to do with nuclear weapons, weapons that could take out Los Angeles, could take out major cities very quickly. When they hear that, you know, when they're explaining, I'll tell you what, when we explain it to people, I don't really have enough time to explain to people. I'm too busy getting it done. When they understand, I think it's a. I think it's frankly very popular. But whether it's popular or not popular, I have to do it because I'm not going to let the world be blown up on my watch. It's not going to happen.

[Clay Travis]

That's his. I mean, that's really what this all comes down to. Clay. He thinks it's popular, but he also doesn't care if it's popular because he says that this was about the safety of the United States in a way that could not be ignored. I think that what is popular, certainly among Republicans still is. And I get this sense people are willing to let Trump play this out like, let the man cook is, as the kids say. That's what I think the attitude is more so than, I love that we're in this ongoing back and forth with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz and its nuclear program. I think it's, let's see if Trump can get us to the other side of this and people don't really want to hear much in the way of criticism of that until we know what the outcome is. Right. Until we know did he get the deal or not. If he doesn't get the deal, then I think we all have to look at that honestly and assess it. But, or some kind of deal but people are willing to let him have the leeway to do that is the sense that I'm getting. And so I don't view this as, as there being a huge drop in support from this. We'll see. We'll see. We'll look at those polls. I think we'll actually have Ryan Graduski on later in the week. He's been crunching some of those numbers about how this looks to the GOP going into the midterms. Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

And again, I mean, I think on your point on Iran, it all ties in. The easiest thing for President Trump to have done was just kick the can down the road. He could have just said we bombed in June. Everything is taken care of. The next president will have to decide what to do here. And some of you would say he should have done that. I think the goal is not to solve things for just his term. I think he's concerned if Kamala Harris ends up in office, that he has to fix things that they're inevitably going to break, including the border and everything else. We'll come back. We'll take some of your calls. J.D. vance still speaking. And Buck, I can't help but think this feels like JD Vance and Marco Rubio both auditioning for the role of President of the United States by having expansive long running press conferences in the White House where they take a variety of questions from press on every subject. It feels like an echo of what Marco just did a couple weeks ago.

[Clay Travis]

I my personal belief on this, I don't think that J.D. vance and Marco Rubio are going to run against each other. I think that they, by all reports, they have a very close relationship and their families are very close. I think they're going to have a man to man talk about, you know, how do we want to do this and they'll come to a decision, meaning, you know, it's going to be either. I see there being a couple of ways here. Marco, Marco at the top of the ticket with the understanding maybe that JD Is Secretary of State or he gets to sort of pick his next role if he doesn't want to stay as vice president for another four or perhaps eight years. Or if it's JD at the top to take it. Obviously, Marco goes in as vp. I don't see them fighting it out publicly. But I could again. I thought Kamala was going to see the handwriting on the wall. And apparently what she's seen is she's brilliant and great and should run again.

[Buck Sexton]

So here I will say this as we go to break. I just don't think J.D. vance wants to be. I mean, sorry, I don't think that Marco Rubio wants to be vice president. I think he has more sway now as Secretary of State.

[Clay Travis]

Does anyone want to be vice president? Really? You know, that's what I'm saying.

[Buck Sexton]

I likes the role that he has now. And I don't think J.D. wants to be VP again. So we'll see. We'll see how it shakes out.

[Clay Travis]

All right. Name a company making more comfortable clothing than Cozy Earth. They also happen to make the world's softest sheets in bedding. Everything Cozy Earth makes is something that I would wear. I do wear so much other stuff. By the way, their stretch tech hoodie and jogger set is fantastic and I'm a huge fan of their pants. I have five pairs of Cozy Earth everyday pants hanging in my closet right now. I just got them in different colors because they're so. That's right, cozy. So if you're traveling this spring or summer, these are the clothes you want to pack. Insanely comfortable. And they travel really well too. They look good without having to iron or steam. You can find everything at their website, cozyearth.com your purchases are totally risk free. You get a hundred day money back guarantee in addition to a 10 year warranty. Go online to cozyearth.com now that's cozyearth.com use my name Buck. Get a 30% discount on your purchase. And if you get a post purchase survey, be sure to mention you heard about Cozy Earth right here on Clay and Buck. One more time. Cozyearth.com promo code Buck for 30% off.

[Buck Sexton]

Level up your brain mental mogging with Clay and Buck.

[Views Ad Voice]

Warning. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

[Vuse Ad Voice]

Views is smooth, consistent and intentionally simple. It's vapor done right. Because when you're free to focus on what really matters, everything just clicks. Find Views that's v U S e vus at your favorite convenience store.

[Views Ad Voice]

Underage sale prohibited. Views is a vapor product website restricted to age 21 plus tobacco consumers. Copyright 2026 RJRVC.

[America 250 Announcer]

It's a celebration 250 years in the making.

[Announcer]

And we want everyone in America from Maine to Montana, from Alabama to Alaska to be a part of it.

[America 250 Announcer]

This year marks America's 250th anniversary and we're coming together from coast to coast at star spangled events, live performances and the largest day of giving in American history.

[Announcer]

Join the nationwide celebration at america250.org

[Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship Announcer]

this January, bare Knuckle Fighting Championship takes over the ocean. The inaugural bruise crew sails from Miami to the Bahamas aboard the Norwegian Jewel. Three straight days with pool deck, bare knuckle fights in the Caribbean, massive parties, beach events, DJs, cigars, tequila tastings and non stop action. The lineup reveals coming soon. Cabins are disappearing fast and the prices won't stay this low. Reserve your spot with just 200 [e-mail]

[Shell Ad Voice]

if you sometimes turn down the podcast just to hear the hum of your engine, then Shell has the fuel for you. Shelby Power Nitro plus fuels every drive from the Pacific coast to the high desert with a fuel like no other. It contains active coating ingredients that clean and protect for longer lasting engines. Because your car's engine matters, that means more protection with active ingredients for longer lasting engines. Shelby Power Nitro plus premium gasoline engine performance that lasts. Chances are you're not far from a Shell station. Find it using the Shell Lab formulation unique to Shell compared to minimum detergent gasoline. With continuous use of Shell V power Nitroplus and gasoline direct injection engines, actual effects and benefits may vary. See Shell us more protection.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in to Clay and Buck. We are joined by our friend, New York Times best selling author Douglas Brunt. He has a book out today, the Lost Empire of Emmanuel Noble Romanov's Revolutionaries and the Forgotten Titan who Fueled the World. Doug, great to see you, my man. How are you?

[Douglas Brunt]

Great. Great to be with you guys.

[Clay Travis]

So this is just a, you know, you got two guys here who have to stop constantly describing themselves as history nerds because people get it, you know, like. But we do love, we do love history. I'm sitting in a radio studio that's basically just all the bookshelves are history books, including the Curious Case of Rudolph Diesel, by the way, your New York Times bestseller, which I read and have on my shelf from before. But I've got to read this one. This one's brand new. I do know a bit about the story. Tell everybody this. This guy. People think Nobel. They think Nobel Prize. They think inventor of dynamite. They don't think of like the Russian Rockefeller. Take us through the story here. Take us through the history.

[Douglas Brunt]

You know, it's amazing, guys. The more things change, the more they stay the same, because the, the quest to capture our sources of energy. It's the story of our times. You open up the newspaper today, it's on every page. This is the original war, the original oil war. As you mentioned, Alfred Nobel was an investor in this company, but it was run by his nephew, Emmanuel Nobel. He was the largest oil titan in the world. By the time World War I broke out, Emmanuel Nobel had the largest oil concern in the world, larger than Rockefeller's Standard Oil. He had bought land in southern Russia along the Caspian Sea in Baku, modern day Azerbaijan. And by the, by the start of the war, he controlled more than half of Russia's oil. And what Stalin did, you know, as World War I is ongoing. Russia has the Bolshevik Revolution. They pull out of the war. What Stalin, Lenin and the communists did to Emmanuel Nobel was the inspiration for George Orwell's 1984. You know, there's the scene in that book where they say they renamed the streets, they tore down the statues, they rewrote the history. Well, Stalin took it all over. And Nobel Brothers Petroleum Company became the Soviet Petroleum Company. His munitions and engine factory in the north by St. Petersburg became Russky Diesel. And the history of Emmanuel Nobel, the largest industrialist in the world at the time, was completely paved over and repainted by Stalin.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, so this is super fascinating to me. Thanks for coming on with us. Douglas Brunt. The book, as Buck just said, is the Lost empire of Emmanuel Nobel, Romanov's revolutionaries, forgotten titan who fueled the world. When you do research on this, I, I feel like Russia is so fascinating in many ways. This, the, the fact that they had a czar and the way that that entire collapse happened of the ruling family there. The, the, the, the, the family that was in a position the czars for so long. How much of a historical relic is the, is the royal family being executed like they were? Is there a different world where Russia could still have a ruling family that was royal and everything has been different there? I mean, I think it's a really kind of point in history.

[Douglas Brunt]

Exactly. It's the craziest sliding doors moment in history. And there were repeated efforts at reform and then repress, even with the early czar Tsar Alexander II in 1861, he was the one who freed the serfs. You know, famously 20 million serfs are liberated. And that was two years before Lincoln freed the slaves in America. And Alexander ii, who was the grandfather of Alassar Nicholas ii, he tried many liberalizing reforms at increasing, you know, the economy to be more Western and more business friendly. Allowing freedom of assembly, freedom of the press. And then the Russian people would. They started to sort of organize in these subversive groups following Marxist doctrine, then attempted to assassinate him. You know, it's one of these crazy things. There was advice that Nicholas I, the czar in the 1830s, 40s, gave to his son Alexander II. And he was describing Napoleon, and he said, look, Napoleon, he's this sort of versatile leader. He's. He knows when to be soft and. And then he also knows when to be only the lion. And he said, but in Russia, you can be only the lion. And you get these cycles when they have tried to liberalize and reform it, like Gorbachev, you know, made all these reforms, and then it blows up and then you get Putin and it's repressive again. They've been through that cycle throughout history. And while they were moving toward more of a constitutional monarchy and a more Western style of government, it shattered with the Bolshevik Revolution and went into yet another oppressive cycle.

[Clay Travis]

We're speaking to Douglas Brunt, the Lost Empire of Emmanuel Nobel. I've got my copy right here, which you guys should all go get out today. It's going to be another huge bestseller, I can assure you. Doug, talk to me about something I find really interesting and I'm a big fan of. Not to bring up a different book, but, you know, I'm sure you like it, too. Daniel Jurgen's the Prize, about the history of oil. It's just sort of a good overview history of the oil, you know, the discovery of it, the use of it, and then. And then where it. People don't really get much about, or rather, I should say we don't hear much about the early days of Russia figuring out that it's a. Call it a hydrocarbon.

[Donald Trump]

Right.

[Clay Travis]

An oil and natural gas superpower, which it is just because it's. It's absolutely huge and it has very considerable reserves of those two things. What were the early days like, you know, what was the equivalent of the Saudi sheikhs who had almost no paved

[Buck Sexton]

roads but were buying up Rolls Royces

[Clay Travis]

as fast as possible in the early days of the Saudi kingdom? Like, what were the early days of the Russian oil boom?

[Douglas Brunt]

Like, it's amazing. The Nobel family was mostly in the north, and they were building rifles and bombs and engines, building diesel engines, which is actually how I found the Nobel story. I threw Rudolf Easel. They get an order from the Tsar for 100,000 rifles, and they need wood for the shoulder stocks of the rifles. So they go down to the Caspian Sea. And the Caucasus, where there are these walnut trees, where they're going to get the wood. And while they're down there, it's this ancient land of the eternal flame. You know, natural gas seeping from rocks that ignites and has the eternal flame. And there was also so much petroleum in the ground, it was bubbling to the surface. So they go down there and they see pools of oil on the surface, but there's no technology. It still looks like an ancient land. And people are just skimming it from the surface and using it as a lubricant and other things.

[Buck Sexton]

No drilling.

[Douglas Brunt]

The most they do is use shovels. So the Nobels are down there to buy wood. The one guy says, I'm not using these 20,000 rubles on wood. I'm buying land. And so they buy a bunch of land and they set up a refining facility, and they use all their technology, expertise and capital to build an oil company. And they're with the sort of Nobel expertise and background in manufacturing. They're very quickly one of the larger oil companies in the world. And by 1888, the czar has, has decided, like, wow, you know, we've been, we've been over, we've been shipping grain around the world all these years, but now oil is becoming one of our main commodities that we have in the Russian Empire. And they recognize it's yet another major natural resource that Russia possesses.

[Buck Sexton]

When you did your research, I, I'm, I'm curious, and this book sounds fascinating. There's a lot of talk about the Ukraine war and the desire of Vladimir Putin to reclaim the lost glory of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Empire. You get a sense for what his ambition is or where it comes from and how it connects to the era that you were studying.

[Douglas Brunt]

Yeah, it's, it's from the earliest days. You know, Peter the Great in the early 1700s was trying to get down to the Black Sea, where they have warm water ports, and the Black Sea can connect through the strait, you know, right by Constantinople or Istanbul, Turkey, and out to the Mediterranean, and you can reach the rest of the world that way. They're obsessed with Crimea, which is the northern part of the Black Sea, for 300 years of Romanovs into Soviet Russia and the present day. And we see that now in the early parts of this book. Joseph Stalin is born in the country of Georgia, which is between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. And so he had a front row seat to this oil empire taking root. The Nobels were the leading oil magnets, but also the Rothschild family had a large presence in southern Russia, refining, drilling and refining oil. And Stalin as a young boy actually worked in the oil fields of the Rothschilds and the Nobels. So as he's got his sights on the, you know, quote unquote capitalist pigs that he wants to take it out. The Nobels are front and center.

[Clay Travis]

Well, guys, go get your copy. Douglas Brun's the Lost Empire of Emmanuel Nobel. It's really cool. It's really well written narrative history. You're going to love it and you'll learn a lot of really interesting things. So we highly recommend it. Doug, congrats on the book. You got two authors, fellow authors here along with you. So we know the Blood, Sweat and Tears, and I know it's going to be a big bestseller. And Clay is demanding your next book be about the Civil War, but we'll get to that another time.

[Douglas Brunt]

Well, get to, you know the Daniel Jurgenberg blurb that you mentioned. Megan, my wife, was, was mocking me for that because I turned, I'm like, I'm so excited. You know, I studied this book in, in college and, and I got this great blurb from Jurgen. Like all the oil historian guys are gonna, she's like, oh, all the oil historian guys, all the nerds are gonna be really excited for you. That's great news.

[Clay Travis]

Doug, you're definitely the coolest guy at the oil historian party. Let's be honest,

[Buck Sexton]

this is like my wife, Doug, saying she can't believe that she married a guy who went to Civil War sleepaway camp. Which is maybe the nerdiest thing that anyone could have ever done when they were in high school. But by the way, was awesome.

[Douglas Brunt]

Totally. We're simpatico on that.

[Clay Travis]

Congrats, Doug. Guys, go get the book. Lost Empire Emmanuel Nobel. Doug, we'll talk to you soon.

[Douglas Brunt]

Thank you. Thanks.

[Buck Sexton]

Guys, look in parts of Ukraine, parts of Israel, there's a huge part of the population that needs help. As the war drags on in Ukraine, fragile ceasefire in the Middle east east is extended. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews continue to step in and offer valuable resources. The ifcj, American based organization, nonprofit that has hundreds of team members providing food, necessary medical supplies and reminding those they serve they're not forgotten. I've been to Israel, seen the work that the IFCJ does, whether it's food banks, whether it's providing security at hospitals or just vehicles that have bulletproof so that people can protect the innocent. The ifcj, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, does incredible work. You can join us in praying for peace in the Middle east, throughout Israel and all around the world. Visit this website to help go to prayifcj.org that's prayifcj.org level up your brain and balance out your day with the right amount of information and entertainment. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Vuse Ad Voice]

Warning this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

[Views Ad Voice]

At Vuse, we're vapor. Done right, always simple, always in your pocket so you can focus on what really matters, like getting back to your podcast. Find out [e-mail] that's v U-S-E.com underage

[Vuse Ad Voice]

sale prohibited views is a vapor product website restricted to age 21 plus tobacco consumers. Copyright 2026 RJRVC It's a celebration 250

[America 250 Announcer]

years in the making and we want

[Announcer]

everyone in America, from Maine to Montana, from Alabama to Alaska to be a

[America 250 Announcer]

part of this year marks America's 250th anniversary and we're coming together from coast to coast at star spangled events, live performances and the largest day of giving in American history.

[Announcer]

Join the nationwide celebration at america250.org

[Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship Announcer]

this January, bare Knuckle Fighting Championship takes over the ocean. The inaugural Bruise Cruise sails from Miami to the Bahamas aboard the Norwegian Jewelry. Three straight days with pool deck, bare knuckle fights in the Caribbean, massive parties, beach events, DJs, cigars, tequila tastings and non stop action, the lineup reveals. Coming soon. Cabins are disappearing fast and the prices won't stay this low. Reserve your spot with just $200 [e-mail]

[Zumo/Xumo Ad Voice]

deciding on what to listen to is hard. Using Zumo to stream music from iheart 90s radio is easy or play Iheart Country Classics Radio or Hip Hop Beat your choice. All for free. Stream Easy with Zumo Play. Get live and on demand entertainment with no logins, no signups, no accounts, no hassle. Get cozy on the couch and binge your favorite movies like Hollywood Homicide starring Harrison Ford, the Call starring Halle Berry and more. All streaming free on Xumo Play. Go to play.zumo.com now life is hard. Xumo is easy.