The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Daily Review with Clay and Buck - Nov 21, 2025
Date: November 21, 2025
Host: Buck Sexton (Clay Travis is traveling)
Podcast Description: Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events, guiding listeners through current controversies and headlines with candid analysis and humor.

Episode Overview

In this solo-hosted episode, Buck Sexton offers a deep dive into current political and social issues: the upcoming Trump-Mamdani meeting in NYC as the city prepares for its first openly socialist mayor, the House resolution condemning socialism, high-profile violent crime stories and media bias, controversies surrounding military loyalty and Democratic messaging, and U.S. pressures on Venezuela and the wider Caribbean. The show closes with analyst Mike Baker discussing Venezuela, regime change strategy, and masculinity in U.S. intelligence. The tone is direct, impassioned, and critical of progressive and establishment narratives.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Thanksgiving Reflections and Show Update

Timestamps: 03:45–05:30

• Buck Sexton is hosting alone; Clay Travis is out due to travel and jet lag.

• Buck shares his appreciation for Thanksgiving, humorously ranking it as his “number two” holiday after Christmas, despite being Catholic.

  “Thanksgiving is a fun one… I still am yet to get any explanation as to why we don’t eat stuffing the rest of the year.” (04:21)

2. Trump and NYC’s Socialist Mayor-Elect Meeting

Timestamps: 05:30–18:00

The "Socialism Summit"

• Trump is scheduled to meet Zoran Mamdani, NYC’s incoming Democrat Socialist mayor, right after the show. It’s a closed-door meeting.

• Buck criticizes Mamdani’s policies and charisma, but also acknowledges his media savvy.

• House passes a bipartisan resolution condemning socialism (285–98 vote, with 86 Democrats joining Republicans).

• Buck frames NYC’s socialist mayoral win as unprecedented given the city's capitalist, commercial foundations (references the dense history book Gotham).

  “It’s a very different thing when the capital of commerce for the whole world… goes socialist.” (13:13)

U.S. vs. European Socialism

• Buck calls out the myth that Scandinavian countries are “socialist,” clarifying their private-sector economies but high taxes.

• He characterizes the current Democratic Party as “indistinguishable from a democratic socialist party in Europe.”

  “They really just want the government to be making all decisions everywhere for everyone… As we know, that doesn’t actually work. It’s always a failure.” (09:55)

Skepticism Over Mamdani's Policy Agenda

• Predicts Mamdani likely can’t deliver major platform promises (e.g., free public transit).

• Cites fare evasion as already common: “The buses for a lot of people are already free because they just get on and don’t pay.”

• Argues leftist approaches to “cost of living” issues are misguided, referencing AOC’s defense of petty theft.

  “They're not stealing food, they're stealing... razor blade cartridges, expensive skin care things... That's what they want.” (15:40)

2026 Election Framing

• Predicts the 2026 midterms will be the “affordability election.”
• Democrats will attempt to pivot back to class-based messaging and “working class” priorities to counter MAGA and Trumpism.

3. Violent Crime, Chicago's Leadership & Media Double Standards

Timestamps: 20:10–38:00

Chicago Train Attack (Case Detail)

• A black male career criminal (70 prior arrests) set a white woman on fire on a Chicago train; she’s still in critical condition.

• Buck voices outrage, emphasizing the evil and depravity, and the indifference of Chicago’s leadership.

  “About as horrifying a thing as any of us could think would happen to anyone in America on any given day.” (21:10)

Media & Political Reaction

• Buck contrasts media/leadership response to this violence with the “hoax” Jussie Smollett case, noting how the latter dominated headlines and drew outcry from Democrat elites.

  “What was more upsetting to the Democrat intelligentsia? What was more worthy of your time as a consumer of news according to CNN, according to the New York Times? We all know the answer.” (22:55)

• He plays (audio not included) a clip of Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, whom he excoriates for “talking about investments” rather than expressing true outrage.

  “He is truly an idiot and dangerous... Does he sound upset…? He sounds very calm talking about a woman in his city being lit on fire.” (26:20)

Race, Criminal Justice, and Systemic Failures

• Asserts that if the racial dynamics were reversed, national media and politicians would treat the story as a crisis, possibly sparking protests and unrest.

• Slams Chicago’s justice system for being so lenient: “you can be arrested 70 times in America and still be out on the street.”

• Ties this permissiveness to progressive efforts to reduce minority incarceration—“The Democrats decided that there are too many men of color who are in prison, and so the policy had to change.”

  “Their ideology results in horrible things happening to people… It’s because they refuse to hold individuals accountable, in large part because of their view of racial justice in this country.” (35:43)

4. Military Loyalty, Treason, and Political Rhetoric

Timestamps: 39:30–54:15

Democratic Video on "Illegal Orders"

• Democrats, including Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin, release a video instructing military/intelligence personnel that “you don’t have to obey illegal orders” (implicitly referencing possible Trump directives).

• Buck ridicules the message as condescending and unnecessary:

  “Wouldn't it be really off-putting if you sat down at Thanksgiving and one of your relatives…was like, ‘You know you don’t have to murder anybody.’ You’d say, Uncle Mort, we got it.” (41:00)

Trump’s Escalating Response

• Trump angrily posts that the Democrats in the video are “traitors,” suggests “lock them up,” and adds “seditious behavior punishable by death.”
• Buck explains that sedition and treason can, in theory, carry the death penalty, but says these posts are more rhetorical than literal threats.

Political Violence: Right vs. Left

• Buck argues the left’s rhetoric is more causative of violence, listing high-profile attacks by left-wing adherents (e.g., Scalise shooting, Kirk assassination attempt, the Trump rally shooting).

• Dismisses accusations that Trump incites violence, pointing instead to anti-right agitation and suppression on campuses.

  “Show me one time a left-wing speaker has shown up at campus and it was conservative—like, the College Republicans were throwing rocks and threats… [it] doesn’t happen.” (46:02)

Critique of "Veteran-Shielding" Politicians

• Suggests Democrats put veteran politicians forward for cover and are then “shielded” from criticism.

  “We're criticizing you in your role as United States Senator. This is where you see this with Democrats. They'll find the rare Democrat who actually took some risks… get them to run. And then anyone who criticizes, like ‘do you realize that I served?’” (50:10)

Identity Politics and Masculinity

• Skewers Democrats as “weird” or unrelatable on issues like transgender youth, regardless of their service background.

  “You can't be a man that other men hold in high regard… if you're also going to be like, you know, ‘I really do think we need to be transing those 12-year-olds.’” (51:05)

5. International: Venezuela, U.S. Policy, and the CIA

Guest: Mike Baker, ex-CIA, Host of the PDB Podcast
Timestamps: 57:50–71:05

Operation Southern Spear & Venezuela

• U.S. is undertaking a major naval buildup in the Caribbean (“Operation Southern Spear”), possibly the largest since the Cuban Missile Crisis, targeting narco trafficking and, possibly, regime change.

• Baker: The pressure campaign aims to encourage regime insiders to topple or persuade Maduro to step down.

  “It is highly unlikely that we're going into Venezuela militarily in a direct conflict with the Venezuelan government… The hope is a pressure campaign where others convince Maduro to go.” (61:14)

• Buck and Baker discuss a possible “two for one”—a Maduro ouster could cut off Cuban oil subsidies, endangering both the Venezuelan and Cuban regimes.

  “Feels like there’s a chance for a two for one here, Mike.” (63:53)

• They acknowledge the presence of other powers (Russia, China, Iran) as complicating factors.

  “Russia and China, certainly Cuba, they’ve all got a stake in this… The Russians have a big stake in this. They don’t want to see this turn.” (65:49)

CIA Culture & Masculinity

• Buck pivots to ask Baker: Can the CIA and U.S. institutions become “badass” again and shed corporate-style DEI distractions?

• Baker agrees, calling for a return to a risk-taking culture:

  “The agency is a risk taking organization, so damn it, we should act like one… We kind of disappeared down the same rabbit hole that a lot of bureaucracies did over the past handful of years imagining somehow that we were like a corporate culture, and that’s not helpful.” (68:15, 69:57)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Trump-Mamdani meeting & socialism in NYC:

  • “The optics of it, the way it looks… is a different thing or even a more powerful thing than whether Mamdani is going to be able to implement some of the socialist policies that he wants to. And I think there's certainly an open question about that.” (15:20)

• On media bias in violent crime:

  • “If it were a black woman who was on the L train and was lit on fire and it was by a white guy… we would be worried about entire neighborhoods of cities burning down.” (28:52)

• On crime and justice philosophy:

  • “You can be arrested 70 times in America and still be out on the street. Think about that for a moment.” (32:55)

• On Democratic military messaging:

  • “They [Democrats] put out this video. It's like, you don't have to do war crimes. That's basically what they were saying, right? You don't have to do terrible things if you're ordered to do so… Wouldn’t it be really off-putting if… your great Uncle Mort sat down with you and was like, ‘You know, you don’t have to murder anybody.’” (40:55)

• On left vs. right violence:

  • “The political rhetoric is not equivalent on both sides and the political violence is not equivalent on both sides. Efforts to pretend otherwise are simply dishonest.” (48:00)

• On Venezuela & CIA:

  • “We need to be focused. The agency is a risk taking organization, so damn it, we should act like one.” (68:14)
  • “If you can come out of school and make, you know, $200-300 grand at Google, why go work at Langley if you're going to be lectured and hounded over DEI nonsense and like trans Identification day all the time?” (69:39, Buck)

Key Segment Timestamps

| Time | Segment | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:45 | Buck solo-hosts, Thanksgiving humor | | 05:30 | Trump–Mamdani socialism summit preview | | 09:55 | Distinguishing US/European socialism | | 20:10 | Chicago train attack: crime, media & politics | | 39:30 | Dems warn on "illegal orders," Trump responds | | 46:02 | Political violence & rhetoric left vs. right | | 57:50 | Mike Baker on Venezuela, regime change, CIA culture | | 68:14 | Masculinity, risk, and culture inside US intelligence |

Conclusion

This episode offers Buck Sexton’s unapologetically sharp take on urban politics, crime, left–right divides, and foreign policy. Central themes include criticism of soft-on-crime progressivism, skepticism toward socialism in America’s largest city, distrust of mainstream media and Democratic messaging, and a call for a return to risk-taking masculinity in US institutions. The tone is direct, ruefully humorous, sometimes confrontational, and close to his audience, with plenty of rhetorical flair and memorable lines for listeners who want an impassioned review of the week’s events.

For more analysis, interviews, and weekly specials, find Clay & Buck wherever you get your podcasts.