Daily Review with Clay and Buck - May 5 2026

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show – Daily Review: May 5, 2026

Brief Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton dive into the day’s most urgent news and political stories with their trademark mix of irreverence, sharp analysis, and banter. Topics center on American politics—especially the unfolding 2026 election drama, Supreme Court redistricting battles, and Vice President Kamala Harris’s potential presidential bid. Major emphasis is placed on global economic and security issues, particularly the Strait of Hormuz shipping crisis and its ripple effects on oil prices. The hosts also interview Daniel Perez, Speaker of the Florida House, about Cuba, Venezuela, and Florida politics. The episode is peppered with colorful debates, speculative proposals (most notably Clay’s controversial U.S. shipping insurance idea), and sidebars on everything from sharks to presidential fitness.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

2026 Election & Supreme Court Developments

• Supreme Court Map Slap Down
  • Buck notes Justice Alito’s forceful rejection of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s suggestion to potentially delay new electoral maps:
    • "Did you see the Alito slap down?...Alito's like it's unconstitutional. Why would we delay it?" (04:35)
  • Clay frames Ketanji Brown Jackson as Biden’s enduring and problematic legacy:
    • "It is Biden's final curse. The worst four-year administration...and the lasting legacy...is that we now have Ketanji Brown Jackson for the next 30 years.” (04:51)
• Kamala Harris: The (Inevitable) Nominee
  • Buck begrudgingly admits Clay may have been right about Harris leading the field, highlighting Democratic Party “machine” mentality:
    • "The candidate doesn't really matter. In fact, the candidate is a figurehead for the broader Democrat...mechanisms...She’s a Democrat. She’s black, she's a woman. They'll make it happen.” (06:32)

Oil, the Strait of Hormuz, and Shipping Crisis

• Strait of Hormuz Blockage and Escalating Risks

  • Context: Drastic drop in transiting tankers (normally 100–150, now 10–20 daily) due to Iranian threats:
    • “So usually it's like 100 to 150, so it's way down. So some ships are willing to run the risk. But...90% drop from normal levels. So it ain't open yet." – Buck (14:43)

• Clay’s Insurance Solution

  • Clay proposes the U.S. should guarantee insurance for ships passing through, arguing that would ease oil prices:
    • "If your ship gets hit and it goes under, the United States will help to pay the hundred million-dollar value...The price of oil and gas would drop almost $20 overnight." (08:34)
  • Buck is skeptical, highlighting the real risks to crew and the limited comfort of insurance if people’s lives are at stake:
    • “If you're the captain of an oil tanker...are you like, well, Lloyds of London has my back, so no problem?” – Buck (10:56)
    • “You think the crew would mutiny, basically, and say, we're not going.” – Clay (11:24)
  • Humorous analogies and dark humor abound:
    • "Sometimes we gotta lose a few good guys to make a buck. No big deal." – Buck, ribbing Clay (13:29)

• Expert/Listener Call: Historical Shipping Insurance

  • Caller Tom explains Lloyd’s of London withdrawing insurance, a first in its centuries-old history. To work, the U.S. would need to become “insurer of last resort.”
    • "For this to work...the US would literally have to take over Lloyd's position...I think it's important to understand some history. Lloyd of London is the insurer of last resort...337 years of Lloyd's of London...This is the first time in history...refusing to insure everybody going through there." – Tom (24:28)
  • Clay responds that from a macroeconomic perspective, the drop in oil prices would more than offset U.S. financial risk (26:00-27:00).

• Will Shipowners or Crew Take the Risk?

  • Continued debate on whether promise of insurance/hazard pay outweighs threat to life and actual operational paralysis:
    • "I think if you pay the guys and you say, hey, I'll give you each more 50k to take the risk, I think most would go." – Clay (15:50)
    • "There's a huge difference between...maybe we should finish our run, come back and see how that goes." – Buck (17:12)
    • (The consensus: crews may be willing to risk for escape, but likely won’t return.)

• Broader Economic and Geopolitical Impact

  • Clay speculates that getting ships out is a partial fix but doesn’t truly solve oil flow sustainability (16:18–16:59).
  • Additional variables include possible increased production in Venezuela, the U.S., and the UAE dropping out of OPEC (40:25).

Humorous Animal & Pop Culture Asides

• Sharks, Dolphins, and “Weapons”

  • Ongoing tension as Clay wavers on his Alcatraz swim due to shark anxiety (22:09–24:09).
  • Discussion of real news reports about Iran allegedly using mine-laying dolphins, tongue-in-cheek:
    • "Clay mentioned yesterday dolphins possibly being deployed by Iran...not making this up." – Buck (29:51)
    • “I'm pretty confident...things are not going great for Iran that they have no air force, no navy...threatening us with dolphins that might have bombs on them.” – Clay (33:23)

• Presidential Fitness and Childhood PE Trauma

  • The co-hosts reminisce about grade school fitness tests and “mandatory wrestling,” poking fun at generational toughness (27:15–29:35).

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Interview: Daniel Perez, Speaker of the Florida House (45:29–56:06)

Situation in Cuba & Florida's Cuban American Perspective

• Perez underscores dire straits in Cuba (“no oil, no energy, no food, no healthcare”), tells the story of migration, and pressures the regime’s decades-long oppression:
  • “You have to think...for someone to be willing to get on a raft and swim 90 miles...how dire does the situation have to be?” (46:21)
• Advocates for increased pressure and sanctions, calling supposed economic “reforms” in Cuba a “facade”—no true private enterprise exists (48:09).

Venezuela Policy Update

• Highlights improvements in Venezuela post-Maduro, but expresses concern that democracy is not assured without free elections:
  • “Venezuela today is...way more prosperous...But...without free and accurate and open elections...they’ll just go back to what they know best, which is that socialist ideology.” (50:48)

Florida Redistricting & Local Politics

• Florida’s new map may yield more GOP seats; Perez frames it as a response to population growth, not partisan gerrymandering (52:55–54:35).
• Ends with local sports banter on Miami & Florida State football fandoms (54:51–55:51).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It's Biden’s final curse...that we now have Ketanji Brown Jackson for the next 30 years.” – Clay Travis (04:51)
• “The candidate doesn’t really matter. In fact, the candidate is a figurehead for the broader Democrat...mechanisms to go into place.” – Buck Sexton (06:32)
• “You know, sometimes we gotta lose a few good guys to make a buck.” – Buck to Clay, mocking his insurance idea (13:29)
• “This is the first time in history...Lloyd's of London is refusing to insure everybody going through there.” – Tom (24:28)
• “If you pay people enough money, they will basically take a risk to do anything.” – Clay Travis (11:41)
• “You think the crew...would mutiny, basically, and say, we're not going.” – Clay (11:24)
• “It's not ideal. He's so blase about this. He's like, ecological disaster, oil everywhere..." – Buck, on Clay's suggestion of insured ships (38:21)
• “We’re...done starving. We’re done having to listen to this regime that has taken away our own freedom.” – Daniel Perez on Cuba (49:21)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:22 – Headlines: Trump, primary votes, redistricting after Louisiana Supreme Court case
• 04:35 – Alito’s Supreme Court decision and Ketanji Brown Jackson critique
• 05:56 – Kamala Harris predicted as nominee, Buck/Clay spar on “machine” politics
• 07:13 – Oil market update and setup for Strait of Hormuz segment
• 08:34–18:25 – Shipping/insurance debate, risks to tankers, crew mutiny possibility, pop culture references (Deadliest Catch, Captain Phillips), Trump commentary
• 22:09 – Clay’s Alcatraz swim anxiety, shark worries, listener emails
• 24:28–25:56 – Caller Tom: first ever Lloyd’s of London withdrawal from insuring ships in Strait of Hormuz
• 29:51 – Animal intelligence, Iran’s “kamikaze dolphins,” pop-culture (Austin Powers)
• 35:03–41:36 – Continued insurance plan debate, business/economic risk vs. human disaster, global energy implications
• 45:29–56:06 – Interview: Daniel Perez on Cuba, Venezuela, Florida redistricting, college football fandom

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Tone and Language

• Direct, irreverent, sharp-tongued—hosts openly mix sarcasm and serious analysis (“blase,” “sometimes you gotta lose a few good guys to make a buck”).
• Occasional playful one-upmanship and self-deprecation (Clay as the “awful boss”; Buck on nerdy high school experience).
• Informal, conversational, and accessible even for those not caught up on all policy issues.

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For New Listeners

This episode is a lively overview of the current state of American politics as viewed through a conservative/populist lens. While rooted in hard news—Supreme Court rulings, oil markets, and interviews with decision-makers—it is also rich with banter, cultural nods, and listener engagement. If you’re new, this is a snapshot both of 2026’s political climate and Travis and Sexton’s uniquely offbeat, combative rapport.

Transcript

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome in it is the Tuesday edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sex and show lots of different news stories to be following, as is always the case. President Trump speaking right now in the Oval Office. Already Pete Hegseth and General Kane have had a press conference at the Pentagon. We will fill you in with the absolute latest there. Indiana and Ohio are voting in primary season. So if you are in Indiana and or Ohio, then you need to get out and get your votes in. President Vice President J.D. vance traveled to Ohio to get his primary votes cast this morning. Also footage of that. But and and by the way, the state of Tennessee, where I am, has begun a new special session to see whether or not they can add another Republican seat to the Tennessee delegation in the wake of the Louisiana Calais case, which did away effectively with redistricting based on race. So that is underway. Just real.

[Buck Sexton]

Did you see the Alito slap down? Yeah, slap down of the Katanji Brown Jackson. Maybe we can delay this map. 30 Alito's like it's unconstitutional. Why would we delay it? Because we want to have the unconstitutional map for the election.

[Clay Travis]

Anyway, I think I was thinking we'd have some fun with that at some point during the course of the program because it feels to me increasingly with every one of these filings that basically everybody's just fed up with Ketanji Brown Jackson. And it is Biden's final curse. The worst four year administration that any of us have ever seen, in my opinion, in our lives. And the lasting legacy of it, aside from all the inflation and all of the racial antagonism, is ultimately that we now have Ketanji Brown Jackson for the next 30 years. She's Biden's final curse.

[Buck Sexton]

Counterpoint Mr. Clay Travis. Democrats love her. They love this. They like having somebody who has the legal knowledge and skill of your average Mississippi. Now Trump deranged viewer so they think this is great. They think it's probably Biden's best thing. Side note, and I probably should even Bring this up. You see what Kamala's numbers are looking like these days.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, she's going to be the nominee.

[Buck Sexton]

This is so. This is so disappointing. This is so. Just because. Because, one, she's going to be the nominee. Two, you're going to end up being right on something which drives me completely insane. And I just. I can see this train slowly coming toward me right now. Clay's victory dance is going to be.

[Clay Travis]

She is going to be the nominee because she has already begun the campaign. The numbers that continue to come out reflect that she is substantially in the lead. Gavin Newsom has already begun to fade. Everybody was talking about how brilliant he was. Oh, he's doing all these different podcasts. His wife is crazy. California is a mess.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm going to try to regain some. Some analytic dignity here by pointing out that I violated one of my own precepts of the foundation of the Democrat Party these days that we learned during the Biden administration, Clay, which is that it's not a candidate, it's a machine. The candidate doesn't really matter. In fact, the candidate is a figurehead for the broader Democrat, you know, mechanisms to go into place. If I had thought about that, I would not have made a foolish bet with you about Kamala, because, of course, Kamala can be the nominee. It doesn't matter. She's a Democrat. She's black, She's a woman. They'll make it happen.

[Clay Travis]

That is. I think that is likely to be the case, unfortunately, as much as I wish it were not going to be the case, but I would say the. I think you probably sign off on this now. The number one story going forward right now is what is the price of oil and gas? Is that fair to be a rough proxy on? We've got record highs in the stock market, and I don't want to play into Democrat talking points and their obsession with the price of oil and gas, but I do think it's probably worthy of. Of analyzing right now as we speak. Crude oil futures, right around $100. They are coming down about 5% today as this news has continued to come out. Pete Hegseth says the ceasefire is not over. We expected some churn. Listen to cut one.

[Pentagon/Official Voice]

No, the cease fire is not over. Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project, and we expected there would be some. Some churn at the beginning, which. Which happened. And we said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have. Iran knows that. And ultimately the President's going to make a decision whether anything were to escalate into A violation of a ceasefire.

[Clay Travis]

Here's an idea, Buck, and I know the White House monitors this and they probably have discussed it somewhat. I think there is an argument and I will make it, and I believe it is actually a good argument. I think if President Trump went out and said, the United States is going to ensure the fair transit of the ships in the Strait of Hormuz by actually giving insurance to all of the ship owners that are on this in the Strait of Hormuz. Let me explain what I mean by that. That means if your ship gets hit and it goes under, the United States will help to pay the hundred million dollar value of your ship and cargo. And some of you are going to say, well, I don't like the United States taking on this obligation. I would suggest to you that the price of oil and gas would drop almost $20 overnight if the United States said that and if the free flow of goods began again in the Strait of Hormuz, which means the cost of us making that insurance guarantee would actually be overwhelmingly paid for in the collapse of oil and gas prices. I think it would be a smart strategic move. It also then allies the United States on the side of commerce. And I think Buck automatically sort of labels Iran then as the terrorist actor because if they are going to attack any of these ships, we have established we want free and fair passage of them. I would not include Iran in that, in that guarantee right now until the peace agreement happens. But every non Iranian flag ship, we can make the determination on it. We would provide insurance to, and free support for them to transit the Strait of Hormuz. Crazy idea. Good idea.

[Buck Sexton]

Where.

[Clay Travis]

How do you assess it?

[Buck Sexton]

You need someone to pilot the ship, Clay? I don't think they care that much that there's insurance. If they're worried they're going to get blown up or shot or cap.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, so you think. I think the pilots will go, oh, I think. You don't think so.

[Buck Sexton]

There was just a South Korean vessel attacked, what, in the last 48 hours? I let me put it to you this way.

[Tom]

If you're.

[Buck Sexton]

If you're the captain of an oil tanker right now that's about to go in there, are you like, well, Lloyds of London has my back, so no problem.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I think. I think if your boss said, hey, I want you to go, I think probably they go. So I think the owners of the ship.

[Buck Sexton]

You're a model employee. Well, I would not.

[Clay Travis]

The. The owners of the ships, I think, are concerned primarily about the safety of the physical cargo.

[Buck Sexton]

And I Think the crew is concerned about.

[Clay Travis]

So you think. You think the crew. You think the crew would mutiny, basically, and say, we're not going.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, dude, for sure.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Unknown Expert/Caller]

Okay.

[Buck Sexton]

Absolutely.

[Clay Travis]

I don't know. I. I think that a lot of

[Buck Sexton]

seals who are piloting these, they're not like, they're not shining their M Fours.

[Clay Travis]

I think a lot of these guys are probably going borderline insane, like cooling their heels in the there. Maybe you have to give them hazard pay in order to take the risk. Buck guys get on the deadliest Catch I've. I used to watch that show. You couldn't pay me enough money to strap in and frigid seas and try to drag lobster out of the ocean. If you pay people enough money, they will basically take a risk to do anything.

[Buck Sexton]

First of all, Tennessee man crab, not lobster. Lobster is the northeastern. Look at this. Look at this guy. Everybody. You see this?

[Clay Travis]

That's what I'm talking about. Crab, lobster. I don't want to be on any ship that I could fall off. There's no amount of money you could pay me to go out in cold water and try to drag in. Try to drag in crustaceans.

[Buck Sexton]

All right, so point one, Tennessee man, stick to cobbler. Point two, I think you are forgetting how much the risk factor is for people that are now you might say, well, it's only one ship. That's attack. Yeah, but who wants to. Who wants to be. There's a reason we had to have this whole anti piracy program off of Somalia as long as we did, because they were. And everyone's seen what's. What's the, you know, what's the movie? Not. Not Captain.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, the I'm the pirate now thing.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, yeah, I'm the captain now. We all know that line. I can't remember the name. Anyway, there's a reason we have that. It's like Captain Smith or something. Whatever. It.

[Clay Travis]

That's Tom Hanks, right?

[Buck Sexton]

Captain Phillips. I said Smith. Captain Phillips. Same idea. Look, here's what Trump says about the ceasefire.

[Clay Travis]

We should.

[Buck Sexton]

We just. He just said this a few minutes ago. So you're getting the most update. Clay's like, get some insurance. Man up. I think we go.

[Clay Travis]

I think we insured the boats. The evil profit focused owners of the boat would just say, I go, I hope you're out.

[Buck Sexton]

I hope. You know, I hope everybody who works for Clay in sports media is hearing this. He's like, sometimes we got to lose a few good guys to make a buck. No big deal.

[Clay Travis]

I got to say, it's True. It's true. As the awful boss. I mean, you know, if, if, if, if the Super Bowl. We lose a couple of people at the super bowl, it happens. You got to be there to cover the Super Bowl.

[Buck Sexton]

He's like, you know, a stampede here, a stampede there. All right, this is cut 30 Trump moments ago. Play it.

[Clay Travis]

What do they need to do to violate the ceasefire?

[Unknown Expert/Caller]

Well, you'll find out, because I'll let you know. They know what to do and they know what to do. They know what not to do, more importantly, actually. And, you know, they fired them in little boats with pea shooters, you know, the peashooters.

[Daniel Perez]

Little boat with a little.

[Unknown Expert/Caller]

You know why? Because they don't have any boats anymore. Their navy is comprised of. They call them little boats, right? And they're fast. Yeah, they're so fast that. That they had eight of them, and they're all gone. And they're fast, but they're not fast like a missile. A missile is slightly faster. They're all gone. So they're looking around for little boats to try and compete with our great navy. We have a navy. That's unbelievable. You know, we set up a blockade, as you know very well. Not one ship. A couple tried, and they got their engine shot out.

[Buck Sexton]

So you got 10 to 20 boats going through the Strait of Hormuz, I think, as of May 5, it says here. So usually it's like 100 to 150, so it's way down. So some ships are going to. So some of them are willing to. To run the. Run the risk. But I. This is a 90. 90%, give or take drop from normal levels. So it ain't open yet. Not really. 90% drop is not open, right?

[Clay Travis]

No, no, no. I mean. And again, I'm trying to think of, you may be right, that the crews are going to mutiny and they won't go. I actually think that most of the hang up is not as much fear of bodily injury, although it's an interesting thing to think about. If the crew just says, up, sorry, we're not going. I think it's the fear of the. The ships themselves being attacked. And if we.

[Buck Sexton]

People on those ships. So if you're afraid of the ship being attacked, that means that people could get shot. Clays, but clays, really?

[Unknown Expert/Caller]

Do you.

[Clay Travis]

Do you.

[Buck Sexton]

Do you put on a top hat and a monocle when you do this analysis?

[Clay Travis]

I think, I think if you pay those. Look again, if you pay the guys and you say, hey, I don't know what the average ship. Ship mate on One of these tankers makes. Let's say you just said, hey, we got to get this thing out. We want commerce moving. We need fit. I'll give you each more 50k to take the risk. I think most would go. Here's the bigger concern I have about this, though, Buck. Everybody's talking about the ships leaving. My question is, who's going to bring their ship back?

[Daniel Perez]

Back?

[Clay Travis]

Because if I get my ship out of the Strait of Hormuz and it has been stuck there for a couple of months, why in the world am I going to take my ship back in and risk again that it could be stuck there? There's any number of global shipping routes that, that they could go on. So I think while the focus is. And my. My solution for the insurance gets those ships out and gets the commerce moving out, I don't know who's going in. And that's the biggest issue, I think, going forward, because you get out, however many hundreds, couple hundred ships are backed up right there, you get all that out. That's good. But it doesn't solve the issue because I'm not taking my ship back in there.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, I think you're totally right about this. There's a huge difference between. I think it's quiet enough, we can get out of here. That, that is a risk versus maybe we should finish our run, come back and see how that goes.

[Clay Travis]

That's a whole. That's where. That's where crewman Clay would say, hey, I'll. I'll take extra pay to get out. I'm not taking the extra pay to go back because I might get stuck in there for a couple months. And here's the other thing. You're having to pay all of these guys, probably hazard pay, while they're just sitting cooling their heels up from Iran, waiting. You know, you look at the, the ship tracking, and I, I.

[Buck Sexton]

How much money to get. To get a Clay and Buck show from a Deadliest Catch ship in, like, the Bering Strait? It would. It would have to be. They would have to pay me. It would be crazy money. You know what I'm saying? It would. It would have to be like. I don't know. It's because that would.

[Clay Travis]

In order. In order. Sorry, what particular job?

[Buck Sexton]

Straight.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, I wouldn't get on a boat and run the straight for. I mean, you have to give me, like, a couple hundred million dollars. Yeah. I mean, I'm not risking. I'm not risking my life because I'm not a ship guy. But if I were a ship guy, like the ship guys are crazy, right? I mean, to their credit, I love this.

[Buck Sexton]

He's just, he's just like, you know, no big deal, guys. Just see if the missile hits you. All right, we'll come back to this

[Pentagon/Official Voice]

here in a second.

[Buck Sexton]

If we have any people that know about shipping and from this world, please weigh in with your thoughts on this one. If you ever worked on a container ship or you've been a captain of one. Okay, let's talk about something really important here for a second. Tunnel the Towers Foundation. Born on America's darkest day of 9 11, the tunnel towers foundation has been helping America's heroes ever since. Heroes like United States army specialist Anthony Vargas. After 9 11, Anthony's patriotism drove him to enlist in the army. He served honorably and dreamed of one day being in the nypd. But 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 this 25th anniversary year of 9 11, we remember Anthony's service, sacrifice and lasting impact of America's darkest day. Tunnel to 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's. Your donation today can make a world of difference, bringing hope and security to those who gave everything. Donate $11 a month and amplify your impact with a car or land donation. Go to t2t.org that's tthenumber2t.org looking for

[Clay Travis]

normal in a world of crazy clay and buck. Have your back.

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wait is almost over. Get ready for the NFL season with the highly anticipated 2026 NFL schedule release. Every rival, every rematch and every rookie debut with matchups locked and kickoffs confirmed. Be there for every can't miss moment. The full NFL Schedule release coming in May. Get all the [e-mail] schedulerelease.

[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in here to Clay Ann Buck, VIP email from west right out of the gate. Clay, you told us you were going to swim Alcatraz this July. That's only a few months away. Am I hearing your hearing you correctly? Are you squiggling out of it already? Question mark

[Clay Travis]

yes.

[Buck Sexton]

At least he's honest.

[Clay Travis]

I could. Now I'm going to take a couple of things here. One, I have not trained. Two I Laura is actually concerned that I might get eaten by a shark and it's really kind of gotten in my head that I might get eaten by a shark. And Buck sharing that story about the woman doing the triathlon getting eaten by the shark. If there is a way she was

[Buck Sexton]

bitten, she wasn't eaten. Important distinction. She got bitten by the shark off the west coast of California during the Catalina. She didn't get eaten.

[Clay Travis]

I thought she died.

[Buck Sexton]

No bite. It was a little nibble. A little like, hey, what's going on?

[Clay Travis]

I I the shark thing is in my head and I can't shake it.

[Buck Sexton]

I don't know if an eight foot great white shark takes like a little nibble, but like she lived, she did live here.

[Clay Travis]

Here is, here is my potential compromise. There is very safe in the US Virgin Islands. There is a one and a quarter mile swim across the bay in Megan's Bay. I used to live overlooking it when I was down there over the holiday. I was looking at that and I was thinking now granted it's warmer but it's still a mile and a quarter. And I feel like I could prove that I could swim that mile and a quarter without being attacked by.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm sorry, in your bath temperature water under a beautiful sun, do they give you a back rub while you're doing it?

[Clay Travis]

This is preposterous.

[Sponsor Voice - TryJoyBox]

Of the.

[Clay Travis]

Most of the people that believed I could not do it was about the distance more than it was about the temperature of the water. I mean I was going to be in a wetsuit. Nice warm wetsuit.

[Sponsor Voice - TryJoyBox]

This is.

[Clay Travis]

I, I appreciate the, the call. I feel very confident that I could do it and I'm willing to do it in a way that does not put me at risk of being eaten by a shark. If we. I'll let the plate away to do that.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm going to let Tom in Tampa bail you out here. He's on the lines live. Tom, what's going on?

[Tom]

Hey, Clay. Clay and Buck. Listen, I just wanted to hitchhike on Clay's comments about the insurance thing. There is definitely some legs there. But I think it's important to understand a little history. Lloyd of London is the insurer of last resort, as you guys know. But it's important to understand some history in the 337 years of Lloyd's of London on the high seas insuring vessels. This is the first time in history, even the Yom Kippur war, which you would probably know about, Buck, because of CIA, even the Yom Kippur war, Lloyd's of London still insured. So for this to work, each loss of a tanker at the bottom of the sea, including the cost of a tanker and assuming a 345,000 barrel of oil to the largest tanker you can do is about $35 million. So the, so the asterisk to Clay's idea is that the US would literally have to take over Lloyd's position as the insurer of last resort. And I don't know, Clay, you're an attorney. I don't know the legal machinations of that. But the idea has legs. But we. But the problem is, Lloyd, as I understand it, for the first time in history, is refusing to insure everybody going through there. That is the real issue. And I think.

[Clay Travis]

I don't think anybod.

[Tom]

Nobody's really talking about that.

[Clay Travis]

No, look, Tom, I should have explained a little bit more this. Yeah, you're exactly right. My idea on insuring is predicated on many of the current insurers are saying they will not insure these boats. Your math is a good one there. I would say $35 million for a tanker if it went to the bottom of the sea. That's like not even what a Somali daycare makes from our government. So the overall cost here. My point is, and we'll talk about this a bit more, because I do think it's an intriguing idea, the overall cost would immediately vanish in terms of the premium on oil and gas. We would get back far more than we would be ensuring, in my opinion. And it would, I think, immediately knock $20 off a bear cost of a barrel of oil and gas, which would overwhelmingly make gas prices more affordable here. Makes it a net positive for us, too.

[Buck Sexton]

Second hour of clay and buck kicks off right now. We'll have some updates for you on Tennessee redistricting battle, which is underway. Also, more from Trump at the White House, not just on Iran, but on the economy, on tariffs, presidential fitness tests. I hope it's age bracketed.

[Clay Travis]

Right?

[Buck Sexton]

Because I was like, I don't know. What? I don't know. Could I pass this thing right now? Probably. We got to look at this thing. I don't want to make any promises.

[Clay Travis]

Believe you never did the presidential fitness test. I don't. I thought everybody had to do this back in the day.

[Buck Sexton]

Clay, my high school, if you gathered together, all of the kids who were getting wedgies and were like, but I'm the valedictorian.

[Clay Travis]

Getting shoved in a locker.

[Buck Sexton]

That was my high school. Not a lot of presidential fitness tests going on there. And let's see, we've got more.

[Clay Travis]

I remember it primarily in elementary school, but. But I'm sure it was elementary school version. Oh, yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, we definitely didn't do it in elementary school.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Like young kids stuff.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. I've always said the best thing that we had when I was growing up in elementary school at St. David's in

[Clay Travis]

New York City was mandatory.

[Buck Sexton]

And just hear me out. Mandatory wrestling starting in first grade. And we really let. They actually really taught us. And it was. And then we had to wrestle. You didn't have A choice. It was like part of our PE program, basically. And if you were good enough, you had to wrestle in front of the whole school. And it was like. It was like Royal Rumble stuff in the third, fourth grade. And you didn't want to get punked. Like, you didn't want to look like a little, you know, some kind of dancing daisy out there. So you had to. You had to be ready to throw down. And. And, yeah, it was. It was good. And then later on in life, you're like. You basically have the. You have the basics of grappling taught you. Clay. Can I tell you what's funny about it, though? About five years after I graduated, talking about grammar school, they got rid of it because parents complained that it was too violent. So us Xennials, Gen X, millennials, early millennials, we're a little more hardcore. You get a little bit older, and all of a sudden they're like, gen Z was like, my shoulder hurts. So I'm just saying, Gen Z, you gotta. You gotta toughen up a little bit.

[Clay Travis]

Gen X continues to save the world, but that's a whole nother discussion. Are you generation.

[Buck Sexton]

I can't.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, you're the oldest millennial, basically, right?

[Buck Sexton]

The oldest. You can be and be considered a millennial. Yeah. So I'm, I'm. People call it a xennial, like a Gen X millennial. So I'm as old as you be. I wanted to just get this out there because we were talking animals before crocodiles. Some of you are like, stop it. Talk about. Talk about taxes and Trump and the agenda, and I hear you, and we're going to get to that. But also some of you are like, let's talk about animals.

[Clay Travis]

Way more popular. This is what the data reflects. I guarantee you the spike. As soon as you said, like, somebody got killed by a crocodile in South Africa and there were six shoes inside, there's not one radio that went off. Everybody's like, spiked. This is what the data reflects.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. Joint Chiefs. Okay. This is a real thing in the news. I'm not making this up. Clay mentioned yesterday dolphins possibly being deployed by Iran. There's some news reporting on this. I'm just bringing you the news, everybody.

[Clay Travis]

I don't make the news. I report. Wall Street Journal reported that Iran had threatened us with mine laying dolphins in. And I read. I mean, I took a picture because I knew people were going to think I'm crazy. I took a picture and then I highlighted it, which is about as good as I can do on my phone, tech wise. And Then I tweeted it out because I'm like, things are probably not going great for Iran if they're threatening us with dolphins and mines. But this was a real thing.

[Daniel Perez]

Also.

[Buck Sexton]

These sick sons of guns, like, leave the dolphins out of it. You know, they're actually considered, I believe, one of the five most intelligent animals on earth when they measure animal intelligence, which is a tough thing to do in a lot of ways, but one of the ways, and keep in mind killer whales. People talk about how freakishly smart they are. They're just. They're just really big dolphins. They're actually technically not whales. They're in the dolphin family. We just call them whales because they're so large. So now think about that. And also interesting that killer whales can kill great white sharks, can even remove their liver, which is with like an incision. I don't even know how the heck that happens. And have never once in the wild, never once attacked a human being. Mistaken a human being for a seal. Gives you a sense of the difference in intelligence between sharks, which to Clay's point, will sometimes mistake us for seals. At least that's what we believe. Great white shark attacks are often the result of. Killer whales are like, no, that's Clay. Travis. Look at him. Clay, you've been in the gym lately. You know, the great white. I mean, the killer whales are a whole other level of intelligence. But dolphins, obviously, chimpanzees and some of the great apes, they call them chimpanzees. And then actually orangutans are the very top of the animal intelligence scale. Dolphins slash killer whales super high on that. There are people who say that crows are freakishly smart too, which you would not expect. Crows and ravens in the bird family, but they have a particularly high intelligence for an animal that you wouldn't expect with, given the size of their brain. Ok, I'm getting weird here. Point is, Joint Chiefs chairman was asked about us about this whole dolphins thing. Pete Hegseth was at the conference too. Obviously, Secretary of War cut to play it.

[Clay Travis]

Can you kind of clarify these reports of kamikaze dolphins that we've heard about?

[Daniel Perez]

Haven't heard the kamikaze dolphin thing.

[Buck Sexton]

It's like sharks with laser beams. Right.

[Pentagon/Official Voice]

And I can't confirm or deny whether we have kamikaze dolphins, but I can confirm they don't.

[Buck Sexton]

I can confirm that there was the Soviets at one point, I believe, were experimenting with kamikaze dolphins. I think that was a thing Soviet era trying to train. Clay. And here is to laser beams. This is from Austin Powers play three. You know, I have one simple request and that is to have sharks with freaking laser beams attached to their heads. Now, evidently my cycloptic colleague informs me that that can't be done. Can you remind me what I pay you people for? Honestly, throw me a bone here. What do we have? Seabass,

[Clay Travis]

Clay?

[Buck Sexton]

Dr. Evil couldn't get sharks with laser beams. I don't think the Iranians can get dolphins with explosives attached to them.

[Clay Travis]

I'm pretty confident it is probably a sign that things are not going great for Iran that they have no air force, they have no military, really in terms of Navy. And President Trump said today we basically wiped out all the small boat fleet that they might have as well. And now according to the Wall Street Journal, and that was a couple of days ago, they were threatening us with dolphins that might have bombs on them. And this all comes back to. Look, I mean, you and I, I think are correct in saying that the price of oil and gas right now is the number one story domestically. Is that fair to say? I know we got a lot of primaries. We want you to go vote in Indiana and Ohio. Redistricting continues to be a story, but in terms of how people feel, I think the number one story is affordability. And the number one way that people determine to a large extent affordability is what does it cost to fill up oil and gas tanks. And so this is where my talking about the insurance idea for the United States being the insurer of choice when it comes to the straight of four moves. I was just looking at a map during the commercial, the end of the hour break that we had. Buck, Most of these tankers right now are basically just parked off the coast of Dubai. There are hundreds of tankers that are just anchored off the coast of Dubai and they are all sitting there because the risk from their perspective of going through the strait is too high right now.

[Buck Sexton]

And you think that if we changed the insurance carrier they would be willing to just go.

[Clay Travis]

I think that there are.

[Buck Sexton]

That's bull.

[Clay Travis]

I do. And I understand some people think that's crazy, but I'm trying to look at it as a rational business based decision. The ship that is not moving is costing all of these companies a substantial dollar figure year. And so if you're just parked off the coaster. So my belief is if there were a worst case scenario removed, and this is from a business perspective, not a life perspective, although I don't want anybody to die as well. But the worst case scenario from a business perspective. Thank you very.

[Buck Sexton]

That's very good of you, by the way. I'm glad you said that. You know, even light them up. Linda is like, clay, slow down, buddy.

[Clay Travis]

The worst case scenario from a business perspective is ship gets attacked, it sinks. And you had a caller who I thought did a good job breaking it down. Cargo, what's it worth? What's the ship worth? And so the insurance, to me, if you knew, worst case scenario, we're going to be able to be compensated for the value of that ship. Right. Now, my understanding, Buck, is that many insurers, as that call just said, have notified the bank and the. And the owners of these ships and said we are not going to pay in the event that something happens to your ship. A lot of these and I used to work on some of these contracts. A lot of these contracts have war clauses in them and risk clauses in them. And your insurer will notify you and say, hey, this is a risk that we are not willing to take on. If you go and something bad happens, that's on you. I think if you told these owners, hey, we will protect you, they would take it. Now the challenge.

[Buck Sexton]

What insurer? What insurer? Clay, hold on. I'm hearing you out on this, but I think it's a little crazy. What insurer is going to insure the boats? If they say, ok, we're insured, they go and one of them gets blown up.

[Clay Travis]

No, it's the United States. That's what I'm saying.

[Buck Sexton]

Who's going to step in then?

[Clay Travis]

We are publicly saying to all of these ship owners, we will insure your boat. So if your boat is. If your boat is sunk and attacked, then the United States, the full faith and credit of the United States backbenches it. My argument is that if we do that, oil and gas prices will immediately overnight drop about 20 bucks.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes, but what happens when a ship gets blown up? Where do oil and gas prices go then? What ships are. What ships are going to want to go through after one of them is at the bottom of the strait.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I think if we guarantee $50 million in payment to all of the ships, then I think a lot of the ship owners will go. I think they'll go.

[Tom]

I.

[Clay Travis]

Do we have any ship owners who can verify that? My. Do we have any ship owners out there that will verify my idea on this? Look, there are different. Now, my concern is if you want me to. To play this out, yes, a ship could get sunk. That's not ideal. So far that hasn't happened. So far that hasn't happened.

[Buck Sexton]

It's not ideal. He's. He's so blase about this. He's like, ecological disaster, oil everywhere, the whole straits.

[Tom]

No big deal.

[Clay Travis]

Ships sink all the time. If Iran sinks a ship, you remember, hey, hold on.

[Tom]

Ship sink.

[Clay Travis]

Ships sink all the time. I mean, I lived in the Caribbean. There's ships everywhere. I mean, this is. Read a. Read a history book ship. This isn't a.

[Buck Sexton]

We're not talking about a pleasure yacht with three spring breakers on it.

[Clay Travis]

We're talking about when the cruise ship hit the coral off the coast of Italy. It was like a $400 million ship.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. And the guy called him, he was like, get the back of two of your ship. What are you doing?

[Clay Travis]

I mean, I. That was probably the worst thing that's ever happened to a cruise ship. They're like, what? What's the worst thing that could happen? Your captain could hit coral and sink the whole thing. I mean, I'm not counting. You don't want.

[Buck Sexton]

You don't want one of the Super Mario brothers to be the one in charge of your ship. That's what you do.

[Clay Travis]

Not a good idea. But the ship risk is. Is why I think no one is going. So I think if we took the financial risk away that you would go. And honestly, if Iran then hits a ship, right. If they attack a ship and they create an ecological disaster, that's not good. But also, even the environmentalist would then be on the side of Trump because Trump's going to be saving all the animals. And Iran has just polluted the entire. The entire Strait of Hormuz with oil and gas. So I think we are creating a situation where Iran is clearly the terror actor if we're saying we want commerce to occur. Now, my concern is still, once the ships leave, they don't go back. And that then creates a larger issue because the whole point of the straight existing is for people to go both directions.

[Buck Sexton]

That is kind of the whole issue, Clay, because just if we get the ships to go once, that's almost like a rescue operation. The point is they need to be willing to come back. If they're not willing to come back, the straits not open.

[Clay Travis]

But I think we buy ourselves a lot of time economically if that. If those ships are able to come through, oil and gas drops 20 bucks overnight, and we then have a full month probably before most of those ships are completing their. Their transit and have to make a decision, okay, where do we go get oil and gas next? And my hope would be that we can start to produce more oil and Gas in many parts of the country. I was reading about Venezuela right now. Things are going really well. Every company is now flooding into Venezuela. How much more can we increase production there? How much more can we increase production in the United States? UAE has said we're gonna drop out of opec, meaning they can produce more. That's the story there. I'm just telling. I'm trying to solve the energy issue in America and I think my insurance idea has some legs here.

[Buck Sexton]

I wish we could get you on like the little handheld radio that the captains of the ships always have and have you give a little pep talk to all these tankers. Be like, look, not all of you are going to make it, but price of gas gonna go down 20 bucks overnight if a few of you do. So have at it, boys. You know what I mean?

[Clay Travis]

We got a bunch of callers who want to weigh in on this too. Cause I, I, I think this is a brilliant idea. Sometimes the line between genius and insanity, as many people know, is a very fine one.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Sponsor Voice - NFL Schedule Release]

wait is almost over. Get ready for the NFL season with the highly anticipated 2026 NFL schedule release. Every rivalry, every rematch and every rookie debut with matchups locked and kickoffs confirmed. Be there for every can't miss moment. The full NFL Schedule release coming in May. Get all the [e-mail] schedulerelease.

[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back into Clay and Buck. First time on the program we're joined by Daniel Perez. He's speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. He's the third Cuban American speaker of the Florida House. We have some stuff we want to talk to Speaker Perez about right now. Thank you so much for being here, sir. Good to have you on.

[Daniel Perez]

It's my pleasure. How are you?

[Buck Sexton]

We're good. So let's jump into. We got a couple of things here. First off, we have a little bit of foreign business, and then we want to talk to you about some Florida business. You are Cuban American. You are certainly tied in here as my near neighbor in South Florida. To the Cuban American community right now, there's not a lot of attention. Trump mentions it sometimes from the White House that he's got plans for Cuba. What is the situation of the island and, and where do you think the administration should go with this as it pertains to Cuba?

[Daniel Perez]

Well, look, it might not be on, on the national spotlight consistently, but it is down here in Miami. And we're, we're a diverse community down here, but obviously, as you know, mostly Cuban Americans or Cubans that have to leave the island. My parents included, my parents had to leave in 1969. The revolution took over in 1959. And since then, the island has been decimated by this regime that has taken away human rights, amongst many other things, from the people of Cuba. Where we stand today is Cuba is at an all time low. There is no oil, there is no energy, there is no food, there is no health care. There is absolutely nothing on that island. You have to think about it for a second. For someone to be willing to get on a raft and swim 90 miles with nothing but a compass in the middle of the night, how dire does the situation have to be? And we've had thousands of people risking their lives in that exact situation for almost 100 years. And so where we stand here in Miami, and I know that I speak on behalf of all Cuban Americans, where we stand is it's time for this regime to pick up their bag and get the hell out of town, because that is land that belonged to the Cuban people well before they went in there and took it away. What Trump will do with this is up in the air. And we have some of the greatest advocates having this conversation on behalf of the United States and on behalf of all Cuban Americans. And obviously that's led by Secretary Marco Rubio, who's one of our own and was the first Cuban American to be speaker of the House in Florida.

[Clay Travis]

What do you think Marco Rubio is telling President Trump? Obviously, Secretary of State, I saw that he was also, in addition to all the other jobs that he has, acting as a deejay at a Miami party wedding over the weekend. What do you think Marco Rubio is telling President Trump right now? And what does a solution look like from your perspective?

[Daniel Perez]

And by the way, I did see that video of him DJing at a wedding. The man can. The man can do it on. Can you do it all? If only he can play a little bit of quarterback, the Dolphins could use him. And I'd like. But look, I think that the. The solution here has been consistent, and that is pressure. You have to absolutely squeeze the neck of this monster and you have to cut the head off the snake. It's the only way that you can succeed. And I think that's exactly what President Trump and Secretary Rubio are doing. The sanctions have to double down. The flights have to stop. The money going into the island has to stop. And the problem that you have is many, many Cuban Americans that are here today say, well, I still have family there, and I still want to send resources there. And what the regime has done, and this is, you know, it's. It's disgusting, but what the regime has done is they have now replied to the United States by saying, we are going to open up enterprise. We are going to open up free market in Cuba so that Cubans can open up a restaurant, a store, a supermarket, and actually have interstate commerce amongst Cubans. To be quite frank, that's crap. That's not true. Because the way that the Cuban government works is in order for you to go ahead and open up, let's say, a restaurant, a certain percentage has to be paid into the government's pocket of profit before you can even actually open those doors or run those doors. So there is no free market. There is no capitalism. There is no competition. It is all owned by one umbrella patriarch entity that's owned by the Cuban government. And from there, these smaller enterprises are able to, quote, unquote, open up their own businesses. But that's bullcrap. None of them are actually able to have their own business. But it's a facade that the regime has put in place in order to appease the. The problem that they have is that the Americans, led by Secretary Rubio, know the truth. And so what I expect Secretary Rubio and the President to do is to continue to squeeze the neck as tight as they can until the Cuban people themselves have finally realized, we are done. We are done starving. We are done having to listen to this regime that has taken away our own freedom. It is time to act, and hopefully that happens sooner rather than later.

[Buck Sexton]

We're speaking to Daniel Perez speaker of the Florida House, something related to all this. Of course, we also have down here in South Florida a very large Venezuelan American population. Now, the situation in Venezuela, Mr. Speaker, seems like it is trending in the right direction. Delsey Rodriguez is in charge after the capture of Maduro. Sounds like she's at least playing ball with America in a way that is encouraging. What do you see and what's that looking like for the Venezuelan American community?

[Daniel Perez]

Well, first and foremost, I think the president deserves a lot of credit for making the tough decision, which was the right decision and that was taken out of Nicolas Maduro. That was the right decision that I don't think any other president would have had the courage to do. And so I think that has to be mentioned first and foremost as far as the current state of Venezuela. Venezuela today is in a way, way more prosperous situation than they were a year ago. I don't think anyone can debate that. The Venezuelans can't debate that. I mean, that they are in a phenomenal place. Their economy is booming like never before. And all of that credit goes to Secretary Rubio and President Trump. Here's my concern with Venezuela. My concern with Venezuela was a comment that was made by Delsey in the last, I say, seven or eight days when she was asked on when is the next election to duly elect, based on a democratic provision, the next president of Venezuela. And her response was, I don't know when that's going to happen. And that's concerning because without fair and accurate and open elections, then eventually they'll just go back to what they know best, which is that socialist ideology that got them in this place to begin with. That started with Hugo Chavez and eventually was ran by Nicolas Maduro and potentially by Delphi. Unless we have free and fair elections to eventually put a new leader in Venezuela that can have a true democracy and bring capitalism back to this country. I have no doubt that Secretary Rubio and President Trump aren't going to allow her to get away with that and elections will have to take place. But what I didn't like is it was the first time that I saw her not in line with what the American vision is. We care about our elections. We, we are so we treat our right to vote, our civil right to vote, as such a sacred opportunity. And in the rest of the world, they don't see it the same way. Our hope is that Venezuelans and really Delphi sees it the same way. And I have no doubt that the president and secretary are going to get her there. But that first response was something that wasn't music to my ears.

[Clay Travis]

Tell us about the new map. I know that the Florida House and the Florida Senate have put in place a new map that, that certainly is going to potentially lead to more Republican seats. What should we know about that map and what do you anticipate the result of the map will be?

[Daniel Perez]

Well, so this is a map that was passed by the House and eventually passed by the Senate and recently signed by the governor. It was a map that was drawn by the governor. I don't want to speak on behalf of the governor's office, but they were the ones that drew it. But I don't think this was a map drawn on trying to give certain seats to certain parties or certain parts of the state. I just think that, you know, we believe based on the recent court rulings that we have an opportunity to have a conversation on redistricting, on a mid decade redistricting. And so that's exactly what we did. You know, where that ends up. I guess only the voters will be able to tell us on how many seats may go, may go one way or another. And we won't know that until November. But you know, I think that we did our job. I think the last redistricting cycle was under a census that may have potentially been flawed. And Florida has had an influx of people moving here really because of the way that we've been running our government for decades. I think, you know, it's very easy for elected officials today to take credit for the prosperous economy that Florida has. But you know, we have to take this back for decades. You have to talk about a Governor Bush, you have to talk about a Governor Scott. Those were the ones that kind of started putting the wheels in motion. When you talk about Rick Scott and the amount of jobs that he brought into the state, that was unprecedented. We haven't seen it since. As a matter of fact, right now our job, our unemployment rate is going up in the state of Florida. That never happened under Rick Scott. And so, you know, I think that sometimes people want to focus on the now, but I always have to give credit to how we got here. And so now we're in this place to where a lot of people are moving to Florida. They want to live here. Obviously our tax structure is one of the best in the country. We have a great economy and so people want to be here. So I think us having the conversation on redistricting was the right one. And I applaud the governor for drawing the map and, and I'm sure there'll Be plenty of lawsuits down the pipeline and we'll see where this ends up.

[Clay Travis]

You're ahead of the Florida house. But Buck and I saw you most recently at the Indiana Miami game where Indiana won the national title. You mentioned the Dolphins. Who are you more optimistic about, the Miami Hurricanes or the Miami Dolphins?

[Daniel Perez]

Well, here I have a problem with this question because I'm a Miami kid that went to Florida State and so I'm rooting for the Seminoles every day of the week, no matter what.

[Clay Travis]

All right, well, let me start you with that. Who are you? This is even a better question. This is a better question. Who is going to win a title first, Florida State or Miami? Will Florida State be in the playoffs or Miami? The Dolphins be in the play? I'm not even going to ask about Super Bowl. Poor Miami Dolphin fans. You guys are still pining for Dan Marino. But. But who will make the playoffs first, the Dolphins or the Seminoles?

[Daniel Perez]

I'm going with the Seminoles, but damn, they both stink right now. We have no hope. Neither team has hope. I think the Dolphins are going to have a rough season, but we're hoping for the best. Like, you know, Steve Ross does a great job of owning the team and he's put some money into the team and hopefully he can turn it around with the new management there. But. But I'm a Seminole at Harden. I'm a believer in Mike Norvell. I just, I love football across the board, but there's absolutely nothing like watching college football on a Saturday morning. But it's better when the Seminoles are winning, in my opinion.

[Buck Sexton]

I think you and Clay just became best friends. Daniel Perez, speaker of the Florida House of Representatives hey man, come back because we want to talk to you about more Florida business and also as the Cuba situation unfolds. But thanks for being here.

[Daniel Perez]

Take care, guys.

[Clay Travis]

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