Daily Review with Clay and Buck - May 8 2025

Summary

Summary of "Daily Review with Clay and Buck - May 8, 2025"

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show tackles the day's most pressing issues in news, politics, and current events with a blend of intelligence and humor. In the May 8, 2025 episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton delve into significant developments ranging from stock market movements and political maneuvers to the historic election of the first American Pope. Below is a detailed breakdown of the key topics discussed, enriched with notable quotes and timestamps for reference.

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1. Stock Market Surge Driven by Trump’s Trade Deal with the UK

Overview:
Clay Travis opens the discussion by highlighting the remarkable performance of the stock market, attributing the surge to President Donald Trump's newly announced trade deal with the United Kingdom.

Key Points:

• Trade Deal Impact: The announcement of a major trade agreement between the U.S. and the UK has led to stocks soaring, with the S&P 500 up by 1.3% on the morning of the show ([00:35]).

• Market Recovery: Travis emphasizes that the recent stock market downturn in April has been completely overturned, noting, “If you bought near the low, you are approaching a 20% increase in your value” ([02:30]).

• Valuation Stability: The hosts point out that the current stock valuations have returned to their pre-Trump election levels, asserting, “stocks are at the exact same valuation they were right before Trump was elected president” ([02:50]).

Notable Quote:

Clay Travis ([00:35]): “Don’t overreact. Don’t let MSNBC and CNN drive you bonkers.”

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2. Media Critique and the Declining Influence of Mainstream Outlets

Overview:
Travis and Sexton discuss the diminishing focus of major media outlets like CNN and MSNBC on the stock market's positive performance, suggesting a shift in media narratives.

Key Points:

• Media Neglect: The hosts observe a conspicuous absence of stock market news in major networks despite significant gains, implying potential bias or shifting priorities ([01:20]).

• Trump’s Defense: Travis anticipates that criticisms of Trump regarding stock prices will fade, similar to past attacks, indicating media's short attention span for negative news about Trump ([02:15]).

Notable Quote:

Clay Travis ([02:15]): “The attack on Trump for stock prices is going to go the way of the attack on Trump for Kilmar Abrego Garcia.”

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3. Kilmar Abrego Garcia Incident and Media Portrayal

Overview:
The discussion shifts to the controversial figure Kilmar Abrego Garcia, exploring how media narratives have evolved around him.

Key Points:

• Media Labels: Garcia, initially referred to as a "Maryland dad," is now labeled as a "human trafficker" by the legacy media, showcasing a shift in his public image ([03:00]).

• Sexton's Perspective: Buck Sexton sarcastically refers to Garcia as a “homo sapien entrepreneur,” criticizing the media's sensationalism ([03:00]).

Notable Quote:

Buck Sexton ([03:00]): “He's not a human trafficker. He's a homo sapien entrepreneur even.”

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4. Trump’s Trade Deal Clips and British Ambassador’s Praise

Overview:
The show features clips of President Trump announcing the trade deal and the British Ambassador commending his efforts.

Key Points:

• Trump’s Announcement: Trump marks the trade deal as a victory coinciding with Victory Day (WWII anniversary), celebrating bipartisan cooperation with the UK ([05:29]).

• Ambassador’s Endorsement: The British Ambassador lauds Trump for delivering on his promise of a swift and beneficial trade agreement, reinforcing the deal's positive reception ([06:25]).

Notable Quotes:

Donald Trump ([05:29]): “It’s just incredible that that day is the same day that we signed a tremendous trade deal for both countries.”

British Ambassador ([06:25]): “You’ve been true to your words. So thank you very much indeed for that.”

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5. Upcoming Guests and Topics

Overview:
Travis previews the episode's upcoming interviews, highlighting diverse perspectives on current issues.

Key Points:

• Senator Ron Johnson: Discussing the national budget and spending, particularly focusing on the "big beautiful bill" and fiscal responsibility ([16:07]).

• Former Navy SEAL Dave Rutherford: Set to provide insights on defense and national security ([11:14]).

• Acting U.S. Attorney ed Martin: Delving into recent legal and political challenges ([07:47]).

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6. Interview with Senator Ron Johnson on National Spending

Overview:
Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin joins the show to critique the current federal spending levels and advocate for fiscal austerity.

Key Points:

• Spending Increases: Johnson highlights a staggering rise in federal spending from $4.4 trillion in 2019 to over $7 trillion in the current year, projecting a potential $89.3 trillion over the next decade ([16:32]).

• Deficit Concerns: He argues that the proposed $1.5 trillion spending reduction is negligible compared to the projected $89.3 trillion, calling it “pathetic” ([22:13]).

• Medicaid Reform: Johnson emphasizes the need to reform Medicaid to eliminate waste and fraud, suggesting potential savings of up to $1 trillion ([20:27]).

• Call to Action: Urges listeners to contact their representatives to advocate for reduced spending, reinforcing the message that the issue is not revenue but excessive expenditure ([28:03]).

Notable Quote:

Senator Ron Johnson ([16:32]): “We have to return to a reasonable pre pandemic level…we need to reduce spending to a reasonable pre pandemic level.”

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7. Historic Election of the First American Pope

Overview:
A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to the election of Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope in history.

Key Points:

• Election Surprise: The election of Prevost, hailed as a “compromise candidate” from Chicago, shocks many as he was not a frontrunner in betting markets ([42:10]).

• Pope’s Profile: Prevost is portrayed as a socially conscious leader with a history of addressing racial issues and supporting immigration reform through his social media presence ([42:36]).

• Implications: The hosts speculate on the Pope’s potential stance on various social and political issues, questioning how his American background might influence his leadership within the global Catholic Church ([43:38]).

Notable Quotes:

Clay Travis ([41:58]): “Robert Francis Prevost, the first ever United States Pope.”

Buck Sexton ([43:37]): “This is bigger news than I was expecting today.”

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8. Critique and Discussion on Joe Biden’s Performance and Legitimacy

Overview:
Travis and Sexton engage in a critical analysis of President Joe Biden’s performance, questioning his cognitive abilities and the legitimacy of his electoral victories.

Key Points:

• Vote Discrepancy: The hosts debate the legitimacy of Biden’s vote counts in comparison to previous elections, suggesting anomalies and questioning media silence on election rigging issues ([35:23]).

• Cognitive Concerns: They allege that Biden’s high vote tally may be a result of cognitive decline, stating, “That is an enormous gap… and he is the most compelling Democrat who has ever run for office by far” ([38:31]).

• Election Integrity: The discussion extends to the integrity of both the 2020 and 2024 elections, with the hosts expressing skepticism about the official narratives ([36:43]).

Notable Quotes:

Clay Travis ([35:23]): “I never heard anybody really answer it, but he's like, hey, can we lock in the interest rate as a country.”

Buck Sexton ([37:57]): “Joe Biden is by far the dementia patient, is the most compelling Democrat who has ever run for office."

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9. Closing Remarks and Advertisements Overview

Overview:
The episode concludes with promotional segments for various sponsors, including Dutch for pet care, Preborn for pro-life advocacy, Legacy Box for digitizing memories, and Pure Talk for mobile services. Additionally, Buck Sexton emphasizes ongoing coverage and analysis of the new Pope’s impact on global and American affairs.

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Conclusion:
In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton provide a multifaceted analysis of the current political and economic landscape. From celebrating a robust stock market driven by strategic trade agreements to scrutinizing federal spending and embracing the historic election of an American Pope, the hosts deliver a comprehensive review tailored for listeners seeking insightful and unwavering commentary on today’s prominent issues.

Transcript

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome in. It is the Thursday edition Clay Travis, Buck Sexton show. A lot of different breaking news, many different fronts. We're gonna try to keep you updated on everything. Let me hit you right off the top. Columbia University, major protest as the library was taken over last night. Lots of people arrested. It seems like there might finally be some consequences for these crazy loony Ben College protesters. We will discuss that story with you just now. I believe he is still speaking in the White House. Trump announcing a major trade deal with England that has sent stocks soaring yet again. You've noticed probably that as the stock market has been increasing, suddenly there is no reference to the stock market. I believe I'm correct in this on CNN and on MSNBC. Stock market S&P 500 up 1.3% now this morning. And to kind of put that in context, all of the collapse in stock prices that happened in April has been eradicated. If you bought near the low, you are approaching a 20% increase in your value. If you just held on like we told all of you to do, channeling Warren Buffett, don't overreact. Don't let MSNBC and CNN drive you bonkers. You are essentially, as I am speaking to you right now, stocks are at the exact same valuation they were right before Trump was elected president, exact same price as they were on November 4th. So we have effectively basically got stocks right where they were when Trump was elected. All of that matters because Trump is right now speaking. He said, hey, you know what, if we could actually get the Fed to cut interest rates, we would have even faster growth coming forward. But I think the attack on Trump for stock prices is going to go the way of the attack on Trump for Kilmar Abreu Garcia. And that is it's going to vanish and they're going to pretend they never said it ever in the past, which is a good sign.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes. You know, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, they're running out of room on that one. He's not a human trafficker. He's a homo sapien entrepreneur even.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, it's very funny. Even Buck, they've stopped referring to him as a Maryland dad and they're now calling him an El Salvador. And even the legacy media is like, well, maybe this guy wasn't just a Maryland dad. He was in fact a human trafficker, according to multiple reports.

[Buck Sexton]

Now, they used to have the ability and I mean, they had it really. They had it until this last election at some level. I think it's truly gone now, Clay, where they could force feed a narrative and make Trump and his team play defense. No matter how crazy, no matter how wrong, how big the lie, they just can't really do that anymore. The opposition that, the counterpunch from Trump, from this White House, from the media, from this show, from, you know, other big shows out there that are doing great work, the counterpunch is too much for them now. So they, again, it's not just they have no messaging as a party. Their, their ability to force feed messaging is not what it used to be by a long shot.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, Biden on the View, we'll have some cuts for that. We're going to play cuts for Trump in the White House. Talking about the new deal with Great Britain, but I am told there is also white smoke, meaning we now have a new Pope. We do not yet. I'm scrolling through social media to try to catch up with the absolute latest. We do not yet have a name. Is that correct, team? The name has not leaked of the new Pope, but the white smoke is now out over the Vatican City and we are going to end up with a new Pope. I would imagine in short order we will have a name of the new Pope and we will see whether or not we have any, any, any knowledge to share with you of the new popes. Okay, bunch of different things out there. Let's start with this. I mentioned the stock market is surging and the, the news stories out there as everyone is preparing for the new Pope. But we'll get you that. In the meantime, Trump with the Prime Minister of Great Britain. They are breaking down everything having to do with this new deal. And I want to start with cut one. Trump announcing a brand new trade deal between America and the UK this is.

[Donald Trump]

A very special day because it's victory day. World War II, May 8th. And just by happenstance, we have the Prime Minister on the phone and we were great allies in that. And it's very unusual that the trade deal comes due and we signed it up on the same day that we had a great victory, the greatest victory of them all. So we are talking more and more about Victory Day because we were a big part of it and so was the UK and it's just, I guess, I don't know what you call it. It's just incredible that that day is the same day that we signed a tremendous trade deal for both countries.

[Clay Travis]

Okay. That we should mention as well. 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day one of the greatest days in the history of Western civilization, frankly, thankfully. Cut four. Is the British ambassador to the US Praising Trump for getting this new trade deal done. Listen to that.

[British Ambassador]

You've done what you said you would do. You said to the prime minister when he came and we visited in the Oval that you would do a good trade deal with the United Kingdom, that you would do it at pace and that we would be first. And you have delivered that. You've been true to your words. So thank you very much indeed for that.

[Clay Travis]

So that is the resolution we're going to have. We told you this was going to happen. You could criticize Trump, but did anybody really think that he was not going to allow the stock market to flourish? I mean, this is, of all the criticisms of Trump, maybe the most ludicrous out there, I would suspect, Buck. And we have told people this would be likely happening. We will see in short order rapid rollouts of a variety of different major new trade agreements that will ultimately lead to the US And China being on an island squaring each other off as it pertains to the trade related battles. And I think that's going to be decided, I predicted by August. So the markets are increasingly becoming, it seems to me, cognizant of that fact. And we hope you held onto your stocks and if you bought any down at the, down in the gully, you are, you're walking really strong today.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, do we have to start getting you to do at least a segment of the show with like french cuffs and suspenders and maybe a monogrammed dress shirt on? You know, like old school Wall street guys, Gordon Gekko a la Wall street, which is a movie that holds up, by the way. Fantastic. Yes. Clay, you gave everyone very good advice. The advice is bet on America and Trump knows what he's doing. If we were to summarize this right, I think that's fair. Bet on America and Trump knows what he's doing. And I think that those simple, straightforward principles, almost Warren Buffett, like in their truism and their simplicity, have, have shown that everyone need. There's no need for panic. Anything like that was absurd. But it also shows you that a lot of the people who are supposed to be making a living telling you what's going on in the markets have no idea what the heck they're talking about.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, my gosh. You know all the hedge fund money's out. Oh, yeah. Trust me. The hedge funds have to chase returns or else people put their money somewhere else. So they're not just going to take the money out of the market and sit on the sidelines. Okay? So that all is to the good. And we still don't have the name of the Pope, the new Pope, which is exciting for all of us who are Catholic. I've got to figure out, Clay, how to get my son baptized. Are your kids baptized?

[Clay Travis]

I've got to figure out how to.

[Buck Sexton]

Get my boy baptized.

[Clay Travis]

Well, you get sprinkled, right? In the Catholic faith. I mean, don't you get sprinkled?

[Buck Sexton]

Is that like a special thing? You just get baptized? It's like pour water over the head.

[Clay Travis]

No, no baptism, but. No, no, no. Baptism is like old school. Like, you have to be dunking, you know, you don't. Yeah, I got babies.

[Buck Sexton]

You don't dunk babies.

[Clay Travis]

No, you sprinkled the. But you sprinkled the babies. Oh, yeah, the Baptists back in the day. I got. Yeah, I got fully immersed. Of course, it's a baby, Clay.

[Buck Sexton]

They don't. They don't, like, throw it in the river and see what happens.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, no, no, no, no, I'm saying. But there is no full immersion in the Catholic faith. Right. Like, you never put on, like, walking, you know, waiting boots and. And go in and get fully immersed under the water.

[Buck Sexton]

You're really putting me on. On the. There's so many listening who know more about this than me. When I was in Jesuit school, theology at Regis was a real course that people failed. Like, you had to actually do homework. It wasn't some. It wasn't like an extra recess period. It was basically church history and theology. I mean, and. And doctrine, rather, in theology class. And. Yeah, it's been a little while since the Jesuits.

[Clay Travis]

No, no, look, in the Baptist Church, there is a water, like a pool behind the choir. And during the actual ceremony. Now, I assume that some of these churches don't have an actual swimming pool in them, and you go out to a local river or whatever else. But the church that I went to, First Baptist Church, Goodlettsville, Tennessee, still there. You got fully immersed in the actual. In the actual ceremony. I mean, you would be up there. The you get dunked, you go underwater.

[Buck Sexton]

Speaking of full immersion, were you ever in the choir? No. I'm told you got out because of your flute playing, right? Like you got an excuse for flute play.

[Clay Travis]

I told you this. I was in chorus in, in high school and they told me not to sing. So I announced, I announced the songs that the, that my high school choral group would sing. So I, I'm tone deaf. I'm not allowed other than my flute playing, which is, you know, beautiful and majestic and angel like, I don't really have any musical talents.

[Buck Sexton]

Also, also to tell you guys, as we're sitting here looking at some of the exciting trade deal information, the, the win of a big trade deal with the UK there's more of these coming and it's right. And the thing is, Clay, there's momentum to this because you get one big one done well, ok, everyone knows another big one can happen. And the next on the list. And Trump has made this clear all along. You come forward, you want to make a deal now. That's great. You want to be a pain in the butt like China and you want to force our hand and you want to make things tough. It's going to be rougher on you down the line. So the incentive is to get a deal going here, which makes sense for everybody. And I think that that means, look, the market's already showing that people are feeling like, ok, there is a way through this, there is a way forward that actually is better or rather is going to improve things. And that's great. We've also got some phenomenal guests today. We have a stacked show of guests. So we wanted to give you a quick preview of that 1230. So that's coming up here. Well, Eastern time coming up here in about 20 minutes. We've got Senator Ron Johnson is going to be with us. Then second hour, we have the would be now withdrawn U.S. attorney. He was acting U.S. attorney for D.C. ed Martin. Look, we want to, we want to talk to him. You know, we, we want to chat with him about what happened here and why did Thom Tillis stand in the way. Trump has also spoken on that. We can give you the latest update on that. And then our friend, former Navy SEAL Dave Rutherford will be talking to us in the third hour. Got some great things to dive into with him. So we've got a rocking show today. But top of the show, victory for Trump, big trade deal. And I haven't even gotten to the deportation numbers yet, which Tom Homan has shared which are looking very strong for the first hundred days.

[Clay Travis]

I don't know. Again, I've already been excommunicated from the faith for talking about this, but the gambling markets tell us that Pietro Perelin is going to be the next Pope. His odds in the live gambling markets have skyrocketed. To suggest I've not seen anybody officially.

[Buck Sexton]

I wanted pizza bagel because Pope Pizza Bagel sounded like that was going to be a lot of fun.

[Clay Travis]

Pizza Ball would have been. It would have sold a lot of T shirts and my wife said she was rooting for him. But Pietro Parlin, who was Yesterday we talked with Raymond Arroyo. Maybe Raymond can call us today from inside of Vatican City because his predictions that it was going to happen pretty quickly appear correct. But he has the Pietro Peril in is now a massive favorite. So we'll see if the betting markets know what they're talking about as the actual Pope. The white smoke is out. A Pope has been elected, but we do not know exactly which one has been announced yet.

[Buck Sexton]

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Making America great again isn't just one man, it's many. The Ten Team 47 podcast Sundays at noon Eastern in the Clay and Buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Clay Travis]

Ron Johnson, Senator from Wisconsin. Lots to dive into with him. Appreciate him as always hopping on the show with us. And let's start right here off the top. Senator, a lot of discussion that the so called big beautiful bill will be done by Memorial Day. What can you tell us about the progress? What do you like, what do you not like about the bill so far?

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Well, guys, well, I hate to be the skunk in the room. Let me, let me give you some numbers. 2019, we spent $4.4 trillion. This year we'll spend a little over 7 trillion. That's a 58% increase over the next 10 years. CBO estimates we will spend a whopping $89.3 trillion and grow our debt by almost $22 trillion. So what the House is working on right now is a spending reduction. It sounds big of $1.5 trillion. But you compare that to 89.3, that's 1.68% reduction, 1.5 trillion versus 89.3 trillion. And by the way, the way normally these spending reductions occur, they occur in the out years when there's the probability that they'll never be actually realized. Now, in more serious times During World War II, spending increased 578%. Okay, 10 times that amount. But within seven years, the start of World War II, we were back down to a lower spending level. As a percentage GDP, it had been, I think 11.7% went down to 11.4% because they realized this. So one once in a lifetime occurrence is extraordinary. We had to increase spending for World War II, but then we came back down to a pre war spending level. What happened in the federal government, we went from 4.4 to 6.5 and we've never looked Back, I don't know of a family who would. If they had an illness and they had to borrow $50,000 to pay for medical bills, if that family member got well, they would keep borrowing $50,000 and spend at that level. That's exactly what the federal government's doing. So again, we have to return to a reasonable pre pandemic level. I've been in the White House now twice with the Finance Committee, the Budget Committee, it seemed like President Trump was on board with that. Plus now they return to a reasonable pre pandemic level, which kind of the top figure there is about 6.5 trillion versus the 7 trillion we're spending right now, but also have a process to achieve and maintain it. And by the way, Elon Musk has shown us how to do it line by line, contract by contract. You have to take the time and do the work. So I've always been in favor of a multi step process. Provide the border funding, the defense funding. By the way, in the Senate bill, we would have reduce spending by $850 billion, more than half what the House is trying to achieve right now, just in that first reconciliation bill. Then come back, step two, make sure that we take an automatic massive tax increase off the table. Just extend current tax law. We could have already had that done, but now we're in this, you know, then we could be working on the big old complex, messy negotiations in terms of getting spending down and also fulfill President Trump's promises and, you know, things like no cash, no tax on. I would say cash tips would be a pretty good thing to do. But again, we're involved in this great big bill. Beauty's in the eye of the beholder. And right now there's enough senators, I can tell you, that that's not going to pass. If that's all the spending reduction, we're going to realize.

[Buck Sexton]

All right, Senator Johnson, appreciate you being with us and that detailed assessment of what is in the big beautiful bill. How much of the cuts? I mean, I'm trying to remember the numbers offhand here. You said we're at a $7 trillion spending pre pandemic would be 6.5 trillion. So that's a $500 billion, a $500 billion gap or differential that we have to address here. What would be the cuts that would make up that 500 billion? Is a lot of this or any of this driven by the Doge recommendations? And why. Sorry, a lot of questions here, Senator. And why aren't other Republicans going along with this? What's, what's happening here.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Well, let me tell you what I'm scratching my head about. So, so Elon Musk, by the way, brilliant, Doge. What Trump and Elon did with Doge was brilliant. They've exposed all this waste, fraud and abuse, by the way. They've also exposed how clueless and oblivious we all are in terms of waste, fraud and abuse. So they've shown how to do it. The problem is we're not codifying it. You know, the way you codify the discretionary side of what Doge finds is through rescission packages. Anything they find on the mandatory side that ought to be loaded into reconciliation. I'm not aware of any recommendations of Doge Savings through reconciliation, through other mandatory spending. And in terms of rescissions, we've been hearing about a drum roll here. Underwhelming $9 billion. Now, Elon's been saying they've been uncovering about $4.5 billion a day. They're ahead of pace because he said about a trillion dollars by the end of the fiscal year. So they've been in office 100 days. 4.5 billion. That's $450 billion. And they're talking about a rescission package of an underwhelming $9 billion which apparently is being held up because there's resistance here in the House and the Senate. I mean, go figure out. So again, unfortunately, we have big spenders in our party. And listen, I ran in 2010 because we were Mortgage Our Children's Future. We were $14 trillion in debt. Now we're $37 trillion in debt. And again, what we're talking about is adding another $20 trillion to that debt. Even if we pass a big beautiful bill again, and let me add, as I do the math, this one big beautiful bill would actually increase the deficit. It wouldn't decrease it. You actually increase the deficit.

[Buck Sexton]

But where are the spending cuts? Kind of. You got to remember, for a lot.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Of us, it's literally, it's literally across the board. Listen, we absolutely need to reform Medicaid. And we've been talking to people. You can, you can squeeze probably a trillion dollars out of Medicaid without touching benefits, actually make Medicaid more secure for disabled children by putting work requirements on the able bodied that are being covered through Obamacare. Remember Medicaid? The out of control nature of Medicaid is Obamacare, where states are gaming the system, where they're doing these provider taxes, which is a total financial scam. The states say, hey, give us $200 and then we'll go to the federal government. They'll give us $180 for that 200 bucks, and we'll come back and give you $200 back. What a scam. What a chump. The federal government is so Medicaid, probably at least a trillion dollars. But again, you go line by line through 2,400 lines of $7,000 billion dollars. Again, Elon Musk has shown it. He's just scraping the surface, the tip of the iceberg. You have to do the work. We're not willing to do the work. Listen, I wrote the column in the Wall Street Journal. We need a budget, a budget review panel, Senators, House members, members of omb. They don't want to do it. They don't want to do the work. They want to slam this thing together. Take a look at a couple things like Medicaid, you know, everything else is saying, can't touch that, can't touch that, can't touch that. So they're not looking at all the detail. They're not looking at the literally hundreds of billions of dollars that if you didn't spend it, I don't think anybody would even know it. But you have to do the work. And I really can't give you the full answer then, other than it's. Isn't it obvious, based on what Elon's already found scratching the surface, that we ought to be able to find hundreds of billions again? When you were spending 4400 billion in 2019, now we're spending 7000 billion dollars again. I got to believe it. Now, if it's not there, I'll roll over and say, okay, that's as good as we can do. But we have to go line by line through thousands of lines of budgetary process. We have to do the work.

[Clay Travis]

We're talking to Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. I agree with everything you said, and a lot of the people listening to us right now agree with everything you said. And one of the criticisms we get, and I'm sure you hear it too, is if Democrats want to spend $8 trillion and Republicans are willing to spend $7 trillion, let's just say, what are we really voting on here? How much difference? This is the argument, right? The swamp. How much difference is really being made if we're just talking about gradations of how much debt we're going to undertake?

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Well, again, what we're looking at right now in the Bill is a 1.6% reduction over 10 years. Take 89.3 trillion down to little under 88 trillion. Dollars. Again, it's not even a rounding error. I mean, that's how insignificant it really is. And so basically we're talking about is we're basically codifying all of the Biden spending, all the Biden Covid spending. I really don't think people that voted for President Trump thought he would continue to spend at Biden's levels. So again, I'll keep going back to the numbers because they are just jaw dropping. 4.4 to $7 trillion, 58% increase and all we can do is drop it by 1.5%. It's just, it's pathetic. It's pathetic.

[Buck Sexton]

What happens if we don't, if we don't do the work, as you've been saying, what happens if we just say, you know what, no one has the will, American people aren't paying close enough attention. Let's just keep on rolling this train down the road. What do you see in the future?

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Well, again, what I've been trying to convince the president of and leadership is let's go back to the multiple step approach. Get the border funding, get defense funding, pocket about $850 billion of savings. I think the House has found at least that. Let's pocket that, then just extend current tax law, take that off the table. That put us in pretty good shape. That returns an awful lot of certainty to the economy. But you know, bottom line, guys, I mean, if, if we're not willing to reduce spending to a reasonable pre pandemic level and we still have deficits of 1.7, $1.82 trillion some point in time, I guess we're going to have to pay for those and maybe have to let tax rates increase. I think that's a terrible idea. I don't want it. I don't need anything in return. You know, I wouldn't bargain anything. It'd be a $0.01 bill. Just extend current tax law. Because, because if we would have been smart enough back in 2017, if we would had Chairman Crapo who said, hey guys, let's use current policy, there's no score there. This can all be permanent. It doesn't have to automatically expire. But we weren't smart. That was a blunder. It was a huge blunder. So if we could have done it back then, we would have. So I don't, I don't want to score. I just want to extend current tax law, as awful as it is. Get that done. And then we could take the time to go line by line. We could also be much more thoughtful in terms of the tax system. I would love to simplify and rationalize our tax system while we are providing the type of relief to working men and women that President Trump campaigned on. I'd love to do that. We won't get that done in two weeks. We won't get that done by July 4th. We'll end up with a really ugly bill that actually increase the deficit and we blow our one opportunity. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to reset federal spending that has been exploded by Democrats. You know, the initial pandemic spending, that was bipartisan but we never should. We should have returned to pre pandemic spending back in 2021, 2022. We haven't done it.

[Clay Travis]

Thank you for coming on making this case. I agree with everything Senator Ron Johnson just said. If people agree with you, what would you ask them to do that are listening to us?

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Call their House members, call their senators, call the White House, tell them we again, spending is a problem. I've got a great video on my, on my X page that everybody's saying we don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. From the president on down. Send that to him. Take a look at that video. It runs about a minute 30. That's what we told our supporters. We don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. The final question is so are we willing to fix it? Right now it doesn't look like we are.

[Clay Travis]

Thank you for coming on making the case. We will share that and in the meantime, best of luck as we move through this process.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Have a great day.

[Clay Travis]

That Senator Ron Johnson, I agree with everything he said. I think that going back to the baseline pre Covid budget makes a ton of sense. And you and I agree that this $37 trillion budget deficit at some point has to be addressed. We're sort of living in a magical world where we pretend that that deficit isn't real. And if you look at what Social Security, if you look at what Medicare, Medicaid and interest is eating up on the budget, there's just not that much outside of that arena that can be cut that is going to get us back to a balanced budget. I think it's like 86% of the budget is Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and now interest on the national debt. By the way, interest would be helped a bit if we could get the Fed in action to start cutting interest rates. And Trump was right when he wanted to lock in. Remember he asked an interesting question. I never heard anybody really answer it, but he's like, hey, can we lock in the interest rate as a country? And back in the COVID days, we should have done that. Mother's Day day for happy celebrations. One of the best gifts you can give any mom. The kind that evokes the best memories and good feelings. Legacy Box service is perfect for this. For more than a decade now, they've been digitizing pictures, videos, Super 8 film reels, 15 other media types. If it has pictures on it moves. They want to digitize it not just for moms, but for all, everybody out there all year round. When you digitize those memories, you preserve them forever, make them really easy to rewatch and revisit. And LegacyVox trusted by over a million and a half families, including our own. Once you and mom send them those tapes, film and photos, they transfer all those memories and onto digital files and return your tapes and film plus brand new digital files. It makes a great gift for mom. We both relied on Legacy Box to do it for our families. They do amazing work. They're based in my mom's hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. And when you get back to the way family memories and entertainment lasting forever, it's priceless. Go to legacybox.com Clay right now for the best Mother's Day sale ever. 60 off the regular prices. That's legacybox.com Clay for 50 sit for 60 off. Legacybox.com Clay 60 off.

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[Buck Sexton]

We are on Pope name watch. We know there is a Pope. A new one has been chosen. The white smoke has come out. We don't know which one. As soon as we know, we will let you know. And Raymond Arroyo of Fox News, who we talked to yesterday, who is an expert in all the papal candidates and is in Vatican City right now. He is going to put down down his plate of spaghetti and amita balls and call into us and tell us exactly what is going on over there. So to all, not just the Catholics listening, but to everybody who's curious about the new Pope, we are on it. We are watching. And as soon as word breaks about who that white smoke smoke represents, you will have more from us on that to be sure. Yes. Oh, pointing at me.

[Clay Travis]

Surging in the gambling markets. Luis Antonio Tagle is now going head to head with Pietro Perilin. For those of you out there who are curious, they are both still Pietro Peril and big favorite, our boy Pizza Balla is making a little bit of a run now in the third hole. Batting not quite clean up. But everybody else, there's only three people that are really getting any play at all at this point in time. And I am going.

[Buck Sexton]

Some of us are sitting and wondering who will be Vickers Christ on earth. Others are sitting here looking at whether this is going to play out like the NFL draft. And there'll be some people very disappointed. You know, not that one Cardinal's not going to get signed to the deal. He thought it's going to be very sad about it but different approaches to this papal thing. So.

[Clay Travis]

Yes, for sure. So we will supposedly on average for people out there, it takes about 40 minutes after the smoke is officially released for news of who the new Pope is to. To. To. To wind in. So we will see how all that breaks down.

[Buck Sexton]

The smoke will clear in about 40 minutes. So we will let you know. Well, it was 40 minutes a while ago. I don't know what the timing is now. We'll let you know as soon as we know we're on it. We're on it. I promise it will be something to do address here as soon as we can. All right. Now in the meantime. Oh my. We have Joe Biden who has gone on the View because this is I think now is there a more central to the Democrat base show on television than the View? I'm not sure there is. Morning Joe covered itself in ignominious stupidity in the last and is the audience is tiny. It's amazing is that they pay these people millions of dollars on Morning Joe. Their audience is a fraction, truly a small fraction the size of the audience that you are all a part of day in and day out on this show. Yet Starbucks sponsors Morning Joe, not sponsoring us. Well, we got Crockett coffee but Joe Scarborough. I'm sorry, Joe Biden is on the View and the dollars. You've seen this reporting, I'm sure. Clay, the dollars have dried up for the Biden family business. Oh my, what a shock. You mean that when he's not just able to be a pass through for bribes that people don't actually care to pay Hunter Biden huge sums of money to do nothing. Oh my gosh. This is a shock to no one. But remember the dishonest media, the same media that told you Biden does not or did not have dementia is the media that told you Hunter Biden went to Yale Law School. Maybe people were just paying him because he's so Smart. Right. But then there's this, Clay. This is cut 30. Biden was asked, would he have beaten Trump? I'm sure you're all going to want to hear this one.

[Joe Biden]

Listen, you had previously said that you thought that you would have won. Since then, Donald Trump won all the battleground states and made inroads with almost every major demographic from working class voters to Hispanic men to black men. Knowing what you know now, do you think you would have beat him?

[Interview Host]

Yeah. He still got 7 million fewer votes.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Yes.

[Interview Host]

Okay. A lot of people didn't show up. Number one. Number one. Number two, they're very close in those, those toss up states. It was, it wasn't a slam dunk. And so look, I, you know, every time I've been on the show, which you've been for. I've been fortunate beyond more than once. You. Thanks for having me. Is that we talk. You guys don't focus on as much. And I think it's good polling numbers. But I put this way, he's had the worst hundred days any president's ever had.

[Senator Ron Johnson]

Yeah, that's a fact. Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, delusional. But. But, yeah, that's a fact. Delusional. I would just say this, though, Clay. I actually, I don't know. This is where we, we. I'm not trying to relitigate this. Okay. I think that they were dumb to abandon Biden in favor of Kamala. Even with what happened, I really do believe that. I think Trump still would have won, but I think it might have been a little bit tighter. There's also the question of 7 million more votes. 7 million more votes, really?

[Clay Travis]

Well, that's, first of all, not Even true in 2024 because Trump got 77 million votes. And I think Kamala got like 75 or 74.8 or something like that, the final numbers. But she got, I guess, quite a lot less votes. I think even Democrats are having a hard time explaining how Joe Biden got 81 million votes in 2020. You notice they don't really talk about rigged elections anymore or 2020 at all. That story just kind of vanished. I think when you look at the Trump era and you compare Biden, let's say 2020 with Obama, 2012 with Trump, 1624. There's only one election in the 21st century that you look at the vote totals and you're like, boy, something's really out of whack here. And it is Biden 2020, a president that was never very popular, suddenly out of nowhere gets 12 million more votes than the best Barack Obama ever did. I. The only person I think that believes that that was 100% legitimate may be Joe Biden, and that's because his brain doesn't work.

[Buck Sexton]

How. How could you. If that is something that everybody had so much faith in, how could you abandon the guy who is still the guy who got by far the most votes of any president in the history of the country? You know what I mean? If you look at this from the Democrat point of view, he is the high watermark, more so than Obama, by far.

[Clay Travis]

Buck. It's 69 million, I believe, was the most votes that Obama ever got in 2008. Biden got 12 million more than the best Obama ever did in 2020.

[Buck Sexton]

Even if you control for population growth, you know, the increase in population since then, I don't know, maybe the illegals. Even if you do all that, that is an enormous. An enormous gap between Biden and Obama, and there was an enormous gap between Biden and Kamala. So. So we are to believe that in the 21st century, Joe Biden is by far the dementia patient, is the most compelling Democrat who has ever run for office by far. That is a hard thing to say out loud and not start to furrow your brow a little bit and go, hmm, really? That's what we're all supposed to believe. So now we get into, you know, Biden and his current position and what he's saying about all this stuff. He's got to do this, this cleanup because no one, no one cares about Biden when he's not able to sell his office, which is what he was doing. He was selling access to his office. And you know, Biden, when he's trying to explain how could Trump have beaten Kamala? This is cut 29 clay. He goes right to sexism.

[Joe Biden]

Democrats were feeling optimistic about the vice president's chances, chances of winning the presidency, but then election night came, and it was like 2016 all over again. So why do you think the vice president lost and were you surprised?

[Interview Host]

I wasn't surprised. Not because I didn't think the vice president was qualified person to be president. She is. She's qualified to be president, United States of America. But I was surprised. I wasn't surprised because they went the route of the sexist route, all the whole route. I mean, this is a woman. She's this she that. I mean, it really, I've never seen quite as successful and a consistent campaign undercutting the notion that a woman couldn't lead the country. And a woman of mixed Race.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, he's just. He's not. I mean, he's not of sound mind. And you can tell when he's talking about this. It's just blather, Clay. It makes no. What he says makes no sense.

[Clay Travis]

Yes, totally. And whoa, by the way, the Pope. We got the Pope, Buck. And it is a huge upset. Um, Cardinal Robert Prevost elected Pope Leo the 14th. The announcement is now out there. This guy completely off the board in terms of the. The gambling odds. And we need to do quick research. Let's get. Get our bud Raymond Arroyo up. This is Gerdusky. Just retweeted this. Robert Prevost. I'm gonna look him up because I don't remember him even being widely discussed in the. In the run up to who was going to potentially be the next Pope. So he's coming a little bit off the board. And let's see. I'm just trying to read about it.

[Buck Sexton]

Prevost, Pope Leo the 14th. Interesting. I had not. Did we even talk about this guy with Raymond yesterday?

[Clay Travis]

No, he. Raymond did not even meet him and he came off the board. I mean, I'm looking. You know, I've been following it on the gambling odds. This guy, he's a. Is he from the U.S. i think.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm learning about him in real time.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, we're looking. Let's go to break. Let's go to break and tell you everything we're going to get Raymond on. He is from the United States. Buck. According to what I am seeing on social media, this is. Would be the first Pope ever for. From the United States. American. This is American Pope Robert Francis Prevost has been announced. Nobody saw that coming. He had a. He's from Chicago. Percent chance. Chicago with the Pope.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

Out of nowhere, originally from Chicago, serves.

[Buck Sexton]

As the head of the church's dicastery for bishops. Powerful position means he oversees a selection of new bishops. Yeah, that's. He's. We got a Chicago guy. So not co. Not Pope Pizza bagel, but Pope Chicago. Very exciting. Look at that. Who would have known?

[Clay Travis]

69 year old from Chicago seen as a compromise candidate. We have an American Pope, so maybe we're making America great again and also the world great again with an American Pope. This is amazing. So we will talk about this when we come back. But again, breaking news. Robert Francis Prevost, the first ever United States Pope.

[Buck Sexton]

That's a big deal. There have been 266 popes so far, not a single one from America. So we got an American Pope. Everybody. This is big. This is bigger news than I was expecting today.

[Clay Travis]

No doubt.

[Buck Sexton]

And I think this is great news for American, for American Catholics, the Catholic Church, Christianity more broadly, Western civilization. We'll get into all of that here coming up momentarily. But wow. Leo. Leo the 14th with, with the win on this one. And all right. God bless. Okay. Some folks speculate that we may see something massive on a national scale. The creation of a first ever sovereign wealth fund for the whole country. There are some very informed people who can see what's coming in the markets who believe that our nation has an asset to that could be worth as much as $150 trillion. That asset has been buried on American soil and could be the basis for creating such a fund. This endowment, so to speak, is so large it could pay off our national debt four times over. Why has it been kept secret for so long? Well, thanks to a Supreme Court decision, President Trump could soon release it to the public. Jim Rickards, former adviser of the White House and Federal Reserve, says if you're over 50, this could be your best chance to build lasting wealth from a once in a century event. To hear more of Jim's thinking, go online to birthright2025.com if he's right, it could make President Trump the most popular president in history and help millions of investors retire wealthy. Go to birthright2025.com to get the details, free of charge, paid for by Paradigm Press.

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[Buck Sexton]

And we got a new Pope, everybody. That's the big news of the day. No question about it. The Catholic Church has a new head, Leo the 14th. And now everyone's diving into who is this guy? What do we know about him? And finding a lot of interesting information like the following. So he was supposed to be a or supposedly a close colleague of Pope Francis. He is from Chicago. He served most of his career in Peru. He spoke in Italian and in Spanish. Now, the Spanish, obviously he had lived in South America for most of the time. He, he was a priest, apparently didn't say anything in English, which is a little strange. I think some people might have thought, well, that is your, your mother tongue. And there are, let me see, what else am I picking up here, Clay? We're looking at Leo 14th stuff. He's, he was called the Social Pope. Leo was rather the previous Leo. Pardon me, the previous Leo was the Social Pope. He wrote the rear of Novarum, which is an encyclical that called for a living wage. So people are starting to see some things that are looking like he could be a social justice heavy pope. And that's what we, that's what we seem to have on our hands right now. I saw the Sean, you've probably seen it to the Sean Davis tweet that's getting a lot of attention. Should we tell everybody about this one?

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. I mean, look, you want to hit it with it. There's a bunch of stuff out there from his Twitter account. This is one of the first popes probably ever that's had a Twitter account. He's had an account since 2011. And a lot of it is reposts. A lot of it is not direct quotes. But here's a direct comment, and I think I mentioned this in the last hour, but directly he said, JD Vance is wrong. Jesus doesn't ask for us to rank our love for others. That was a comment that he made in February of 2025 and then LinkedIn article. And then he also, back in 2015, shared something from Cardinal Dolan at the Washington Post. Now, Cardinal Dolan has had a good relationship, if I remember Buck, with Trump. He is New York's cardinal, Right? If I'm not mistaken, New York City area cardinal, why Donald Trump's anti immigrant rhetoric is so problematic. That was something that Cardinal Dolan wrote on July 31 of 2015. He shared both of those. And then there are multiple other posts that he has retweeted. One of them says, I join my voice and prayers to those of my brother bishops that we might work hard to end racism in our hearts and in society. May God give comfort to the family of George Floyd in this time of anguish. Yes. He also said saying Trump's bad hombres line fuels racism and nativism. California bishops and preemptive blast on DACA repeal. You're not going to like this one. Buck reposted this from Sister Helen Prejean. Prejean she's the Louisiana, if I remember correctly, right activist. I stand with the dreamers and all people who are working toward an immigration system that is fair, just and moral. Defend daca. Daca. And this is recent. As Trump and Bukele use oval feds illicit deportation of a U.S. resident D.C. cardinal asked, do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet? And then also he reposted Chris Murphy, Senator from Connecticut. To my colleagues, your cowardice to act cannot be whitewashed by thoughts and prayers. None of this ends until we do something to stop it. I think that was potentially gun violence. Probably yes. In Connecticut in the, the shooting that happened at the elementary school.

[Buck Sexton]

Sandy. That was a Sandy Hook.

[Clay Travis]

I think that's a Sandy Hook tweet.

[Buck Sexton]

Although Sandy Pope does not know anything about guns. But that's a whole other conversation.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so those are all things that are being shared that he has shared on his social media account. On the flip side. Yeah, on the flip side, buck Catholics. On the flip side, he has voted typically in Republican primaries throughout his voting history. But those social media account comments, again, some of them are retweets, but suggestive that he may be actually, that he may be actually in some way a social justice warrior as priests and now popes go. So that is the background positive story is that for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, there is an American born Pope from Chicago, went to Villanova, majored in math there and has lived all over the country. But his most recent tweet was criticism of Trump and Bukele. So my thought is on some level.

[Buck Sexton]

All right, Southern Baptist, man, go for it. I'm fired up over here. Go for it.

[Clay Travis]

No, my, my thought on some level is that this could be seen by the cardinals as some form of rebuke of Trump and they picked an American Catholic as a result. Now what's your analysis all this?

[Buck Sexton]

I don't, I don't think, I don't think that this is that there as focused in on that. You know, we do a political first show here. I don't think that they're picking the Pope based upon who's going to be president or who is president in one country of the, of the hundreds of countries around the world for the next few years. So I look, this is, this is a problem for a lot of us who are on the right and who are Catholics. And I do not hold myself out as somebody who is particularly active or knowledgeable about the church these days, although I did grow up very Much enmeshed in. I mean we used to have. Clay, we used to have church before our first soccer game or our first basketball game of the season. I don't mean on a Sunday. I mean like it was Monday morning, like first day of the season, time to go to church. And we used to go to church all the time when I was in school and we had chapel every morning for 10 years at my Catholic school growing up. So yeah, I've spent a lot of time in these places. And hearing this, the challenge you have is, I mean the George Floyd thing is pretty remarkable. I was gonna say, you know, there's just a poll that came out yesterday that most people realize that the whole BLM thing just made everything work. What I've been saying for years. What you've been saying for years, yeah. Made everything worse and did not make anything better. Nothing. Correct. No improvement from any of that. All of that. But this is about a racial reckoning and racial justice. No, actually it's not. It was race riots and it was horrible and hurt the country. So anyway, the results now are in on that. I mean the polling results at least the challenges you have here are one. Let's just take this issue of the rebukes of. And can I. You've got a lot of very active Catholics. Like some you could call in and do the whole call in Latin. OK, light us up here. 800-282-2882. Some of you will have much more passionate feelings about this specific choice and are going to want to weigh in. Clay already said if you happen to know this Pope from when he was in Chicago, that would be very interesting. Maybe one of you had him as a roommate at Villanova. Hey, who knows?

[Clay Travis]

I mean if they're party, do some.

[Buck Sexton]

Keg stands, you never know. But I am, I am curious to hear from all of you about this. So we really are going to line up, rack and stack a bunch of calls on how you feel about this. But Clay, you know, for example, to call out J.D. vance or to call out Bukele, really, that's, that's where the worst human rights stuff is going on. This is just left wing indoctrination. I mean, I know that now he's, you know, he's, he's going to be consecrated as the Pope and it's a big deal. But he was just a priest before this and he was a priest that clearly held some very left wing views. You know, not talking about, about the, the assault on Christians in the Muslim world or the suppression of Christianity. And just general authoritarianism in China and not talking about. There are so many areas, so many things you could go into here or so many leaders you could call out. What about all these European leaders who are effectively for euthanasia, abortion?

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[Buck Sexton]

Well, depends on which European country abortion, usually about 6 to 6 of the months of a pregnancy. It depends on where you are. You know, all of the gender ideology stuff, the destruction of the family, the destruction of marital relationships or rampant pornography. And I mean, just all that stuff that is supported by a lot of leaders in the Western world. And you're calling out Bukele. What about saying, thanks, Bukele, for taking the murder rate from one of the worst in the world to one of the lowest in the world and saving thousands and thousands of lives and hundreds of thousands of people's lives in the sense that they didn't just lose a family member or lose the guy that was employing them in the business or whatever, because they weren't murdered by some cartel maniacs. This is what you have a tough time. I had a very tough time with the last Pope and I just chose not to speak to my very. I have some very devout Catholic family members and I cannot talk to them. I couldn't talk to them about the last Pope, really, because I had nothing good to say about a lot of the statements. Climate change stuff. It's a little bit like when a Pope talks about guns. There's just a lot of, a lot of ignorance and a bit of hubris. Just saying, you know, if you don't know, you don't know. I don't care what your role is. So, like I said, I'll put this out there, but I hope that this Pope is fantastic on a whole range of other issues and maybe there's an opening here for some great things to happen. I am hopeful, as one should be, that this Pope will be great.

[Clay Travis]

I would point out that when he shared two different posts about Trump and also about J.D. vance, there was, well, knowledge that Pope Francis was not well. And if you were playing the politics game and you were an American, I bet it does not hurt to not be pro Trump if you are trying to ascend to become Pope.

[Buck Sexton]

Look, though, this is like, this is a. So, you know, I had a grandparent who was very Catholic, as in went to church not just every Sunday, but like random times during the week for her whole life. And, but was also really into what, what I would call the left wing. There's real. There's really Catholic marks, there's a Catholic Marxist wing of the Church. There's a. She even subscribed to something called the Catholic Worker, which is effectively Catholic Communists, which I, you know, communism is always radically, in. In practice, radically anti Catholic, anti God, and horrifically destructive, and I would even argue demonic. But unfortunately, you know, the devil. The devil is the father of lies and often presents himself, so to speak, as something quite appealing. And I think for a lot of Catholics, the. Well, we are all supposed to just give all we have and go follow Jesus. And that means we should have open borders and nobody should be wealthy. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, the Vatican's got a lot of fancy artwork like this stuff starts to get really tough for people in the real world application. Again, there's a difference between the doctrine of the Church and what the Pope says as his opinion on things. And yeah, I, on the doctrine stuff, aligned. On the Pope's opinion stuff, I often find myself not aligned. And I wonder how many of you have the same. Have the same feelings, but on the good side of things. He's American, so we got that going for us.

[Clay Travis]

He's voted in a lot of Republican.

[Buck Sexton]

Primaries and he's voted Republican. Well, I give him credit for this. And that's actually a very important reminder. I don't understand how you can be a practicing and believing. A practicing, believing Catholic can vote for the Democrat Party. And one of my problems would be that this Pope, for example, calls out J.D. vance. I mean, based on the Church's own doctrine. I mean, Joe Biden, people that advocate for abortion for all nine months of a pregnancy and their public role should be excommunicated from the Church. But they don't do that. Or even just. How about called out. They won't do that. And that, I think, is a huge problem. A huge problem for a lot of us who say, okay, so you'll call out J.D. vance or something on some. I don't even know what it was on, like being open borders, which there's really also. I mean, I don't. I think that some priests don't really understand this, to be honest with you. I studied with a lot of Jesuits who are very smart on some things and truly ignorant on others. And, you know, they're not people that have had to pay a lot of bills, just put it that way. They effectively live in communes. I mean, they are, in essence, the Society of Jesus is the closest thing to a functioning. An actual functioning communist system, at least the theoretical practice of it that you'll find anywhere. And that's a joke. That a Jesuit actually told me. So they don't understand things like if you have an open border in this country, all of the public welfare and, you know, programs to help the poor in this country effectively go under because you are saying that all of these people have a claim to the programs that we have that are meant to help people. And by the way, if you don't pay into those programs in the form of taxes, you go to prison because men with guns come and arrest you in the name of the state. It's not as simple as, just like, we got a lot of food, we're going to feed everybody.

[Clay Travis]

I'd also point out he's from Peru now. And so I look at it politically. A lot of these guys are not going to be trying to draw attention to themselves. They're going to try to stay in whatever is considered to be the mainstream. That's fine. And then ultimately the buck stops with you, no pun intended, when you become the guy at the head of the Catholic Church. So sometimes you don't have any idea how a politician is going to lead until they actually end up in a position of power because they've been trying to kind of hide in the current. For lack of a better way to describe it. I would think if you're trying to become the first American pope, there are probably people lied against you because of America's power in the world. And so I see it as kind of a attempt to camouflage yourself within the flow of whatever direction the river is going in some way. Looking at some of these breadcrumbs, for lack of another way to describe it on the social media accounts. But I'm curious, do any of you know him? We'll take your calls. Switch your cell phone service to Pure Talk. Get a brand new Samsung Galaxy on them with a great qualifying plan. While you're at it, stop overpaying Verizon AT&T or T mobile qualifying plans started. Just 35 bucks a month. Unlimited talk text, 15 gigs of data and a mobile hotspot, all in America's most dependable 5G network coverage. Just as good as one of those other companies. Because Pure Talk utilizes towers and networks one of those companies would use as well. You can switch to Pure talk for just 35 bucks a month. Cut your cell phone bill in half. Get a brand new Samsung Galaxy for free. Dial pound two five zero, say the keywords Clay and Buck. Pure Talk's US Customer service team can help you switch in as little as 10 minutes. Again, £250. Say the keywords Clay and Buck to make the switch to pure talk today. That's £2 50 news and politics, but.

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Also a little comic relief. Clay, Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.

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