← The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
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- [00:00]
Ben Shapiro
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:06]
Annabe Sofa Advertiser
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- [01:05]
Clay Travis
Now you can stream Fox News Live on the Fox One app. Stay on top of breaking news and the biggest stories live as they happen, all from the FOX voices you trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find anywhere else.
- [01:18]
Buck Sexton
Start your seven day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox one for complete terms and conditions. Fox one we live for live streaming now.
- [01:29]
Mary Kathryn Ham
You want smart political talk without the meltdowns? We got you.
- [01:33]
Carol Markowitz
I'm Carol Markowitz.
- [01:34]
Mary Kathryn Ham
And I'm Mary Kathryn Ham. We've been around the block in media and we're doing things differently.
- [01:38]
Carol Markowitz
Normally is about real conversations, thoughtful, try to be funny, grounded and no panic.
- [01:44]
Mary Kathryn Ham
We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day.
- [01:48]
Carol Markowitz
Join us every Tuesday and Thursday.
- [01:50]
Mary Kathryn Ham
Normally the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:59]
Buck Sexton
Welcome back in to Clay and Buck. Very interesting news here. Breaking we were just discussing about Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, America's largest city, of course my former hometown and in many ways always my hometown. That he is being induced perhaps by the Trump administration to drop out of the mayor's race, that he absolutely will not win. Like he, he definitely won't win. He's not, he's not even close to the, to some of the other contenders, namely Mamdani and Cuomo. Guys, tell me if, if, whether Sliwa or, or Adams has more support in the polls right now. I'd be interested to see that because if you're a Republican, a lot of them are going to, are going to go Sliwa, right? So I think Adams might be in last place right now. Of the. Of the candidates that anyone's heard of, there might even be some other candidates in the mix. So I'm not watching this closely as I used to, because I don't live in New York. But we're paying attention here, of course, on Clay, and buck to the broad strokes of what's going on. And here's what I. What I think you'll see, Clay. This is a reminder to everybody that Eric Adams. We're talking before about whether something is opportunistic or something is in earnest when someone says, I was wrong, or I. When they're willing to speak out against a dominant narrative when it was very important for the nation. Eric Adams, he's not a good mayor. Okay. I don't think he's a. He's not a malignant mayor. Like, he's not de Blasio, who just tried to, you know, he was like a malignant tumor on the city of New York. De Blasio tried to do everything he could to undermine New York City, in my opinion. I was living there when he was mayor. Right. I think Eric Adams, you know, is not really up for the job in a lot of ways, but I think that he was trying, you know, he was trying to back the police more, trying to do things better. But on the issue of illegals in New York City, this really elevated it, because he was the first major voice of any city in America who is a Democrat to come out and say, hey, this is a problem and this needs to stop. Like, we can't just allow these people who need a tremendous amount of resources, who do take resources from the, you know, from the rest of the American public. 30% of emergency room visits, 20% of all hotel rooms. I mean, you start to look at these numbers, right? It's. And this factored Clay into, I think, the broader narrative about how bad Biden's 10 million plus illegal, you know, jailbreak into America was. And I think that you saw one. The Democrats went after Adams to make an example of him with this corruption case about the airline ticket upgrades or whatever with Turkish Airlines.
- [04:53]
Clay Travis
Turkish Airlines, I think Turkish Airlines, I think off air, the funniest job they could give him would be ambassador to Turkey. Trump does have a decent sense of humor. If he made Eric Adams the ambassador to Turkey, it would be absolutely hysterical. I. We probably have an ambassador to Turkey already. So whoever that is, I apologize. But I do think the comedy value of him and Turkish Airlines, you know, would take care of him. But. But, yeah, like, the. The corruption, they went after him for was absurd.
- [05:21]
Buck Sexton
Yeah. And you look at actual Democrat corruption out there that they're willing to turn a total blind eye to. You look at Hunter Biden selling half million dollar paintings, ok. Like we know that they'll do anything for power and sort of pretend that flight upgrades. My point here, Clay, is that Eric Adams was. Now, maybe he saw down the line that there was an opportunity here that's, that's playing 4D chess a bit, that there could be this situation playing out. I think it's more likely that he just realized this is a mess. They're making a mess of my city with this illegal influx problem that's been going on with Biden. And he played an important. So, you know, if they could find the right spot for him in the administration, I think that he performed an important national public service, even if he wasn't a very good mayor by speaking the truth about illegals.
- [06:10]
Clay Travis
I also think they would have to find a job for Curtis Sliwa. And I understand that everybody says I'm not leaving the race. I'm all in for it. And I understand why Sliwa would say I'm the better option than Cuomo. Look at how bad Cuomo was during COVID This guy doesn't deserve the job. But if there's anything other than one actual opposition to Momdani, Momdani wins. So you have to rely upon people to do what may be not at the peak of their own best interest in order to advance the city of New York's best interest. And a lot of politicians aren't willing to do that.
- [06:49]
Buck Sexton
Just to be clear. I, I would. I, I mean, I'm basically right on this. I, I knew I was directionally right. Adams is the weakest. Sliwa has more support in most of the polls because he's the Republican and there's a decent number of Republicans in the five boroughs. He has more support than Adams. The Clay, that's another way of saying the existing mayor of New York is doing the worst in this mayoral election. So whatever job the Trump administration's thinking of offering Eric Adams, it's probably a pretty good deal for Eric Adams may.
- [07:23]
Clay Travis
Not even need a Trump job. To be fair to Eric Adams, I would think there are a lot of people in New York City who could hire Eric Adams to come work inside of their company, pay him way more than a government job pays to effectively be a lobbyist in New York City. I mean, the guy has, whatever you think about him, the guy has tons of connections to help get things done in New York City. And for some of these billionaires that are out there that really desperately care about the future of New York City, having Eric Adams, one of a thousand people, on their payroll, is not a bad decision either. By the way, same thing could be said about Curtis Lewis. If you look at the gambling markets right now, zo run momdani. 80% chance of being elected mayor of New York city. Andrew Cuomo, 18%. Eric Adams, less than 1%. Curtis Sliwa, less than 1%. So what the markets are telling us here is it's Cuomo or it's Mom Donnie, and basically nobody else has a chance. I just.
- [08:27]
Buck Sexton
I know Mom Donnie's a mom. Donnie is a commie. And the stuff he's saying. Cuomo's awful, though. I don't. Cuomo is the guy behind. I know. I focus on the COVID part of this. And, you know, him doing the. Oh, let's do a press conference. Let's talk about Cuomo chips. If you're gonna sit at a bar, you need to order food. Like, he went through all. I was watching this day in and day out.
- [08:50]
Clay Travis
Yeah.
- [08:51]
Buck Sexton
And Clay, he's the jailbreak.
- [08:53]
Clay Travis
They gave him an Emmy. Do you remember that? They gave him a special Emmy for his press conferences.
- [09:01]
Buck Sexton
Yeah, of course. That was. It was must see TV in New York at the time because of the theatrics around all the things that he was demanding we do. And I would just say, yeah, that was bad. But also, he was the jailbreak guy. The jailbreak bill up in Albany, the no cash bail, a lot of the criminal justice problems that New York then had to deal with and just sort of disorder and decay on the streets were directly pushed by Cuomo. So, I mean, he is. Yeah, he's not a communist. Ok. So would he be better for the business environment? Sure. You know, are there. I recognize. But, man, is he not an exciting alternative, even based. You know, he's better than Mom Donnie, but barely, is what I'm saying. Like, it's not great if he becomes the mayor. It's not like New Yorkers should celebrate it that much.
- [09:50]
Clay Travis
And this is where I come back to the argument I've made related to New York City's mayor. Let him make a bad choice.
- [09:57]
Buck Sexton
All right, Nashville, man. That's enough. That's enough out of you. That's enough.
- [10:02]
Clay Travis
I want Mamdani to be one of the faces of the Democrat party in 2026. And if that means that we have to pick an awful leader for New York City, why should all the Same people of New York have to band together to protect Democrats from the choice that they made.
- [10:20]
Buck Sexton
And now I know how you Alabama football fans feel. Clay, just when he's just poking you to poke you. You know what I mean? He's just sort of poking the bear here. We don't want New York to have a communist mayor who ruins the place. It's going to be very, very, very bad for a lot of people. And. And it could spread. You think the. The big mis. What was the Bush phrase? Misunderstimated. I almost did it there. The big.
- [10:46]
Clay Travis
Underestimation.
- [10:48]
Buck Sexton
Underestimation. Thank you. Misunderstimate. It's fun to say.
- [10:51]
Clay Travis
Yeah. Great word.
- [10:53]
Buck Sexton
Yeah. Is it a word? I know it is not a word.
- [10:57]
Clay Travis
But it's not a word to underestimate the combination of the two. Is. It kind of makes sense to create. Yes.
- [11:04]
Buck Sexton
Yeah, I agree. You know, Bush. Bush was, you know, was. Was a wordsmith by accident. So I would say the, the problem we've seen in a lot of these cities, look at Chicago, perfect example. You could have argued Lori Lightfoot. You need to have Lori Lightfoot's administration, which is anti cop business as usual for the corrupt daily machine of Chicago, go down the list, all this stuff, and then people will figure it out. Clay, they went even crazier with the next mayor.
- [11:34]
Clay Travis
Yeah, they did.
- [11:36]
Buck Sexton
So.
- [11:36]
Clay Travis
And I just think New York City might need to. Might need to. Sometimes you gotta let the kids make the bad decision.
- [11:45]
Buck Sexton
W listeners. You hear this? He wants. He just thinks that you need to feel the pain. He thinks that you need to like, like Bruce Wayne's parents in Gotham. Watch your back when you're going to a Broadway show. You know, this is not the way we want it.
- [11:59]
Clay Travis
I appreciate everybody who is smart enough not to vote for mom. Donnie, they're already listening to us. A lot of them know, they're nodding along right now saying sometimes experience is the best teacher and sometimes Democrats need to experience the consequences of their own choices in order to recognize that it's a poor decision. You can only tell people for so long. And I was reading, I mean, this is actually super sad. I was reading over the weekend, getting ready for the show this week. The number of people out there that are landlords, you know, they want to talk about freezing rent. You know what doesn't get frozen most of the time? Property taxes. So the number of landlords, I mean, some of you who own buildings, they think they try to turn it into, oh, everybody's so rich if they're landlords they had a. I give the New York Times credit, a really good profile on a woman in the Bronx who was a landlord, can't afford to pay her mortgage because they won't allow her to raise the rent, but yet her property taxes keep going up. And so she actually is losing money based on what she's allowed to charge her residence. And the property basically makes no sense. And so this is the reality of when you stop people from being able to charge the rents that they should, sometimes you are creating situations where the loss basically goes straight to the property owner in exchange of the renter.
- [13:31]
Buck Sexton
This is why Ron DeSantis, and this is very important for the state of Florida and Governor DeSantis, I think, is completely correct on this, and this should be getting more attention. This is why Ron DeSantis is trying to get through the. The state house, state legislature in Tallahassee. A change in the way. Look, he's trying to end property tax. There's some more specifics to it. But the problem you have in Florida right now, and there's a lot of people on fixed income here, a lot of retirees here. We all know that. And you have. Property values have, because of supply and demand, gone up dramatically, but they do it as a percentage of your assessed value.
- [14:06]
Clay Travis
Yeah.
- [14:07]
Buck Sexton
So you get all these. Florida. You get all these people that are like, I was living in a, you know, a three or four hundred thousand dollars house, and I was perfectly happy and maybe even my mortgage was paid off. Now I have to pay taxes on a $1.2 million house.
- [14:20]
Clay Travis
Yeah. No.
- [14:21]
Buck Sexton
How is. Or the state will take my home. How is that fair? You're renting your house now from the state. It's crazy.
- [14:28]
Clay Travis
This is what Californians had to deal with and why they basically put in place, I think, I mean, the prop. The propositions have passed that don't allow property values to be raised at, you know, exorbitant rates relative to. To your point, there's a lot of people who bought homes. I mean, this is sadly, one of the results of the fires in Los Angeles. A lot of people were living in those homes for decades. They could never have afforded them if they were buying them in real time. House burns down and basically nothing is getting rebuilt there. I mean, have you seen some of the helicopter footage of. I know, the immediate aftermath of the natural disaster. Eventually the attention kind of goes away. By and large, they have not been able to get back to building those homes, back to where they were. I mean, it's. It's just sadly what one party rule has created is everything is broken, much of it in California. Look, tomorrow we've got the NFL returning. We were talking about this. I was talking about it earlier with with fanduel who decides to support you matters a lot. And prize picks a great business. They just want everybody to play. Doesn't don't really care what your politics are. They just like people who like football. And that is the case whether you're interested in watching Eagles Cowboys tomorrow night or Friday night. You got the Chiefs Chargers down in Brazil. You can download the Prize Picks app. We're going to give you a pick tomorrow for Thursday Night Football. We'll give you a hookup with the Cowboys going up against the Eagles and you get $50 when you play $5 right now you can play in California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, all over the country. Download the Prize Picks app. Use my name Clay as the code. You get $50 instantly when you play $5. That's code CLAY on prize picks $50 instantly when you play five dollars. Win or lose, you'll get 50 bucks just for playing. Guaranteed. That is pricepix.com code click clay one more time prizepix.com code clay keep up.
- [16:38]
Podcast Promo Announcer
With the biggest political comeback in world history on the Team 47 podcast Clay and Buck Highlight Trump replays from the week, Sundays at noon Eastern. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [16:54]
Annabe Sofa Advertiser
Life's messy. We're talking spills, stains, pets and kids. But with Annabe, you never have to stress about messes again. At WashablesOfAs.com, discover Annabe sofas, the only fully machine washable sofas inside and out, starting at just $699. Made with liquid and stain resistant fabrics, that means fewer stains and more peace of mind. Designed for real life, our sofas feature changeable fabric covers, allowing you to refresh your style anytime. Need flexibility? Our modular design lets you rearrange your sofa effortlessly. Perfect for cozy apartments or spacious homes. Plus, they're earth friendly and built to last. That's why over 200,000 happy customers have made the switch. Upgrade your space today. Visit washablesofas.com now and bring home a sofa made for life. That's washablesofas.com offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.
- [17:53]
Clay Travis
Now you can stream Fox News Live on the Fox one app. Stay on top of breaking news and the biggest stories live as they happen, all from the Fox voices you trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find.
- [18:06]
Buck Sexton
Anywhere else start your 7 day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox one for complete terms and conditions. Fox one, we live for live streaming now. Welcome back into Clay and Hook. All right, so some, some big things happened yesterday. There was a lot of news to talk about during the show. But then as occasionally goes on, right after we went off the air doing our live three hours of programming, some other stuff went down and this one was notable. And there are visual aids, if you will. There are, there's video of this. It's the first time that I'm aware of that this has happened in this, in this way. I'm, I am. I was expecting there'd be an escalation against the cartels. I'll say that. I didn't know it would get to this level, this quickly. And here's what we, here's what we have. We've got a boat that. Well here, actually Trump announced this. So let's, let's hear from the president. Yeah, cut one play that we just.
- [19:07]
Donald Trump
Over the last few minutes literally shot out a boat, a drug carrying boat. A lot of drugs in that boat. And you'll be seeing that and you'll be reading about that. It just happened moments ago. And our great general head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who's been so incredible, including what took place in Iran knocking out potential nuclear power for a long time to come, I think within a month they would have had it. We didn't do what we did, but he gave us a little bit of a briefing and you'll see. And there's more where that came from. We have a lot of drugs pouring into our country coming in for a long time. And we just, these came out of Venezuela and coming out very heavily from Venezuela. A lot of things are coming out of Venezuela. So we took it out.
- [19:51]
Buck Sexton
Okay, Clay. So they put the video out there. It's now circulating widely on the Internet and you have essentially a speedboat that is, that is going along. There's a, you can tell there's a bunch of individuals in this boat. Look, I think it's a go fast boat. And then it gets hit with a missile and it, and it is. Pardon me, that was a different clip. It got hit with a missile. And it is a situation where there is now lethal force being used against the cartels.
- [20:33]
Clay Travis
Look, I watched this video yesterday afternoon when it came out and there was a. I give credit to the New York Times, although it's always a little bit suspect when you're writing a behind the scenes piece on the fentanyl trade. Did you see this piece? This was a few weeks ago. They went and basically rode along with someone bringing fentanyl from Mexico into the United States. The entire process, how they were called ahead, who was bought off which streets they could go on routes. I mean, it's incredibly organized. And basically the guy that was doing the driving was making the decision, hey, this is life changing money for my family. He was getting tens of thousands of dollars and he decided that he was willing to take the risk that he might get caught. He did not. He got in through the, got in through the border, drove in through the car. The whole article was about the different ways that they store the drugs and where they put them in cars, how they remake them. I mean, it is a massive undertaking that they have put in place. When I watched us blow up that boat, I had two thoughts. One, every single narco terrorist in America is going to see this footage, every single one of them. And it is going to change the calculus in their mind of if I get caught, I'm going to prison for several years to I might get blown up and never know that I am even in danger of getting blown up because of United States technology. That was my first thought. My second thought was, boy, we better get this right. Because nobody talked about it, but we've talked about it on this program. Joe Biden just blew up a dad and his whole family in Afghanistan after the attack on abbey gate. The 13 Marines who were killed, they decided, hey, we're gonna get back. And they found the wrong guy and he was driving home with water in the trunk of his car and they blew up the whole house and killed the whole family.
- [22:45]
Buck Sexton
Well, they blew up the car, right, so.
- [22:47]
Clay Travis
But it also killed the family. Like he blew it up when he pulled into the garage or the house in Afghanistan.
- [22:54]
Buck Sexton
The, the difference that you can argue with that, obviously it was a, is a horrible mistake and a number of people died as a result of it. But the difference that you had with that was you had the possibility of imminent threat, meaning they believe that that was a SVB IED suicide Vehicle borne Improvised Explosive Device. They thought that's what. Now they were very wrong and they should have. And the whole thing, Biden and you know, the Pentagon still looking at this now, the withdrawal, it was a mess. We lost Marines. There's clearly a lot that went terribly wrong. But from a law of war perspective, it's one thing to say, I thought this had an explosive in it and was going to kill our people, right? That's that's one.
- [23:44]
Clay Travis
It's a risk. It is a assessment of that is if it happens, is.
- [23:48]
Buck Sexton
Is awful for the troops under, under rules of engagement. That's an imminent immediate threat situation. The mistake is what made it. If that had been an SVB id, we'd be saying, great work, brilliantly brilliant. Nobody would question that. A A boat full of drugs. Now, I understand people are going to say a few things about this. They're going to say designated narco terrorists for Trenda, Aragua.
- [24:15]
Clay Travis
Yes.
- [24:15]
Buck Sexton
They're going to say that the cartels and these are all fair and accurate points, to be clear. But I'm just laying this out. They're going to say the cartels are a clear and present danger, like the movie. But the cartels pose a clear and present danger to the American people because of the. I think it went down under 100,000 recently, but it's roughly 100,000 people a year dying from drug overdoses. And also to add to this, it's not just the drug overdoses, it's the drug addiction which leads to criminality and shootings and violence. I mean, it is the mass poisoning of society. Yes.
- [24:49]
Clay Travis
And let me also add this. A lot of people who, and this is awful, are dying of drug overdoses did not even consent to take drugs that they thought were potentially deadly.
- [25:01]
Ben Shapiro
That's true.
- [25:02]
Clay Travis
They're poisoning.
- [25:02]
Buck Sexton
Right.
- [25:03]
Clay Travis
They're being poisoned because you're thinking, hey, and look, I want everybody's kids to be careful on this. But you're thinking, hey, I'm taking a party drug and it's laced with fentanyl. And the next thing you know, you're dead. You don't. You're not even agreeing to the risk associated. These are not necessarily even drug addicts. So I do think the poisoning element here doesn't get talked about enough.
- [25:24]
Buck Sexton
One of this has been going on for a while. One of the most stark moments in a conversation I was having, the first Trump administration with the then acting Attorney general was on this issue. Clay at the OJ And I spoke to some of the, just to get a sense of what's going on. Some of the DOJ officials focusing in on this, specifically on the fentanyl and the cartels. And they said that they were making. They imprint the pills intentionally to look like pharmaceutical pills because they know that the end base customer is going to say, oh, I'm taking like a benzo or some kind of a drug that can produce a high. They don't realize they're taking fentanyl or Carfentanil or, or heaven knows what in this pill. And that kills people. Right? This is where the quote, hot batch issue comes up. That's what they call it. Okay. But it's not an imminent. Meaning this boat is not about to kill a thousand people in the next few minutes. Yeah, this boat is capable of being arrested and stopped and then the people in it being arrested. But to your point, Trump administration's decided they're designated, they're terrorists, they're killing Americans. Enough is enough. But this is war tactic. This is not criminal justice tactic.
- [26:42]
Clay Travis
I would also point out this is law of the jungle. Yeah, we off air, I said this is shiving somebody in a line at a prison. You are basically sending a message that is very public by the choice that you're making. Also, I think this is directly connected to Maduro in Venezuela. I think they want Maduro to know you are potentially next. And I think they are letting him know that using Venezuela as a narco terror state is not going to be permitted. And so ultimately I think that they chose this location to blow up that boat because they want Maduro. Remember again, not talked about a ton. Venezuela seized billions of dollars in American company assets. I think primarily Chevron, if I'm, if I'm remembering my, my reading on this correctly, and took it over for the state, and they have, then this is one of the biggest oil producing states in the world and Maduro is an illegitimate leader and he's taken over huge assets of American companies. I think we want Maduro out and I think we are slowly screwing, tightening the screws on Maduro.
- [28:05]
Buck Sexton
So Maduro and I always tell people this because I think it really, Maduro himself is considered not just the head of the Venezuelan state. He's a, he's an authoritarian, he's a dictator, but he's the head of a cartel. He's a he himself. The actual premier, the actual leader of Venezuela is officially, by the United States Treasury Department, a designated narco trafficker. And, and running it. And now what you see is that this is, and this is why people talk about Venezuela as a failed state. And so sad because it got to this state, don't ever forget this. It got to this position because of socialism, because of redistribution of wealth, because of envy, because of all these things that unfortunately, this virus that continues to make its way, yes, through Latin America, but also into this country at different times, where if only, you know, the rich get rinsed more, everything will be better for everybody else. But Clay, this is how the Venezuelan elites Even with all the problems they have. And I mean the true elites, the people running the country are funding their lifestyles and also staying in power because they are generating huge amounts of cash through selling drugs to America. They're killing people. You know, this is, it's very Tom Clancy circa 19, you know, 1990. I mean this is a moment where you're seeing the United States government is taking the threat of the cartels as more of a nation state level non or sorry, a nation state level terror sponsor threat. And that is a whole other thing. And we haven't even talked about what this could mean for the cartels in Mexico. We're focused right now on Venezuela.
- [29:44]
Clay Travis
I totally, and I'm curious to hear what people think now. Again, as long as you are 100% certain and I trust Secretary of State Marco Rubio and I trust Pete Hegseth. What you don't want to have happen here is some families out on a jet boat and the US just rains down holy hell on them. And this is where I think the media deserves fair criticism. You've talked about this before. Buck Obama just took out an American citizen and almost no one even talks.
- [30:20]
Buck Sexton
About a 16 year old with a drone. And then they said, oh, it's classified, nobody can talk about it. He blew up a 16 year old. It was, it was a locky son. Yeah, but you know, in DC, 16 year old murderers can't go to prison for more than five years. But in, in this context under Obama, he just blew him up.
- [30:40]
Clay Travis
This is where I think a lot of you guys and gals are going to learn. Everybody out there that's like, oh, I'm afraid of the FBI knocking on my door. I think over the next generation, it's not going to be somebody driving by your house and spraying guns in your front window. People are going to start to use drones or targeted criminal hits. And if you look, I mean, look, military technology eventually filters its way down to the general public, often in some context. Look at the way Israel took out all these Iranian scientists. I mean it's really very remarkable technologically. You'll see the whole building in Tehran still standing. And they went in the side of a wall and executed a scientist and the rest of the building was fine. You don't think, and most people don't, hey, one day somebody's just going to set a drone off and try to kill me. I'm telling you, in the next generation, this is going to be something that we really have to have real conversations about.
- [31:43]
Buck Sexton
You know, the cartels are innovators in this?
- [31:45]
Clay Travis
Yes.
- [31:46]
Buck Sexton
Just to be clear, they've been doing this for a while. The cartels have been using very basic commercial drones to drop grenades to drop and they've been doing it for a decade. So this is going back quite some time. And yeah, I think eventually, Clay, you're right. You will see drive by at some point will turn into drone buy. That will happen.
- [32:08]
Clay Travis
I look out. Look, I'm just saying the technology here is such that you're not even going to have people committing violent acts against you physically present. They're going to be using technology to use it against you. And that's my thoughts when I watch this video. I guarantee you every drug dealer in America and around the world trying to get drugs to America is going to watch that video. What will be interesting is will it change behavior in any way or is the incentive structure, the money they make, so significant that they're going to continue to take these risks? And I want to tell you, I just came back. Was it last week? Week before last, I was down in Chattanooga and I got to go tour the Legacy Box facilities and it was so cool to be able to walk through the facility and see all of the boxes coming in with everybody's memories and and see them take an 8 millimeter films. They have probably the biggest collection of VCRs anywhere. There is video right now that they can play of me taking the tour where you can see this facility and all the old pictures and all the old video cassettes and all the old 8 millimeters. Whatever family memories you have, you can get hooked up with our friends at Legacy Box Right now. It goes right to Chattanooga. They have all day shifts. As they get closer, all night long, they're working to preserve your family memories. As we get closer to the holiday season, it gets busier and busier there. But you can get hooked up right now with a great deal. Before the crazy holiday rush begins, you can go to legacybox.com clay and unlock 50% off your order. That's legacy box.com clay today. Get hooked up. Make sure that you are making sure that your family memories never fade, that they're digitized, that they are preserved so you can share them with the next generation and generations still to come. Legacybox.com clay that's legacybox.com clay for 50% off.
- [34:18]
Podcast Promo Announcer
Want to be in the know when you're on the go? The Team 47 podcast Trump highlights from the week, Sundays at noon Eastern in the Clan Book podcast feed. Find it on the Iheartradio app or wherever you get your podcast.
- [34:32]
Clay Travis
We are having a fantastic Wednesday. No matter. Even though we have as many of you probably are dealing with the official in many ways into summer kids season. I imagine a lot of you are getting your kids back to school. There's a lot of different movements, moving parts. We played for you some of the president with the president of Poland in the Oval Office in the first hour. And Buck, I'll take you behind the curtain here. I don't know if I've told this story before, but I'll tell you the this story as we start off the second hour here because it directly ties in with a clip we're gonna play for you. And if you missed the tease, Malcolm Gladwell, probably, I think the most famous nonfiction celebrity author in America. Would you buy into that designation in terms of book sells? I don't know that anybody would have sold more copies than him.
- [35:29]
Buck Sexton
It's him and Michael Lewis probably for our last 20 years or so. Those would be the two that I think are. I met him in France, by the way, for the iHeart event. So I actually met Mr. Gladwell for the first we shook hands. I mean he wouldn't, you know, he had no idea who I was like, hey, man.
- [35:43]
Clay Travis
Yeah, so, yeah, so I'm gonna play a cut for for him. I imagine a lot of you have read his books. Tipping Point is probably the most famous, but he's got a ton of different books and I think he has a very popular podcast. So I would bet a huge percentage of you are familiar with who Malcolm Gladwell is. So let me take you behind the scenes a little bit here. I sold my company Outkick to Fox in 2021. On Super Bowl Sunday, 2021, we made $2 million in affiliate revenue for from FanDuel. That is that super bowl day. The company that I ran we and founded, we were one of the top affiliates in the entire country. So if you were watching Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers go up against Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs, our company and to a large extent me made more money than anybody playing in that game. On sports gambling affiliate referral deals. We were for FanDuel, which is the biggest sports affiliate company sports gambling company in the country. We were either their best or second best affiliate partner in the country. Pat McAfee, who now is at ESPN, was also wildly profitable for them. We were there two best at helping to promote and I love sports gambling. Obviously, we've got a great relationship with prize picks which ties in here with with that we made six, seven million dollars a year on that deal. That was important for us as a part of the company. Sold the company. Fanduel said they wouldn't work with me anymore, Buck, because I was too outspoken on the trans sports issue. This is a sports gambling company. They said Clay is too controversial because he is saying men should not be competing in women's sports. And fanduel is worried about the controversy that he brings for being so outspoken on that issue. As a result, fanduel refused to work with me and as a result, refused to work without kick. So me merely saying men should not be able to compete in women's athletics cost the company that I founded and owned around $7 million a year. I don't know how much money you guys make, but $7 million a year for a media company is a big, huge part of what allows the company to be profitable, to employ tons of people. But as a matter of principle, I said I'm not going to stop talking about this, even though fanduel is saying, well, you're too controversial for saying this. So the reason why I give you that backstory is it was, Even though it's 100% the right thing to say, it took chutzpah. It took sometimes turning away from millions of dollars to say what I personally believe to be true and allow the company to be at the forefront of arguing this is.
- [39:04]
Buck Sexton
No, no, no, no, no, no. Not what you personally believe to be true. What is undeniably, unequivocably, obviously and as clear as anything could be true, which I think is an important. You weren't penalized, Clay, for an opinion. You were penalized for a fact, which is a whole lot that is Soviet Union level stuff. That is everyone is starving. Say the grain harvest is the biggest grain harvest of all time. That is a manufactured delusion, my friend.
- [39:35]
Clay Travis
And if you wonder why did people not step up against this across all of sports, only outkick and really only me at the at the forefront of this were willing to make this argument. It's because the big advertising partners out there would grab you by the you know what, and they would squeeze if you tried to step out of line. This is the truth. Nobody else will even tell you this. I'm telling you directly. Okay, Malcolm Gladwell came out. They have a big sports conference, sports analytics conference at mit and they had a bunch of famous. Malcolm Gladwell has a connection to sports. He's a big sports fan. He's done sports related reporting and stories and he and everybody else on that panel at the. I think it's the Sloan Kettering, MIT Institute or whatever, refused to speak out against men competing in women's sports because the consequences were real. What I just told you, it could cost your company millions of dollars. It could cost you personally millions of dollars. It could impact your employability. They were very targeted in the way that they attacked here. And now he's come out. This just happened yesterday. And Malcolm Gladwell says, hey, I was bullied. I was cowed. I was afraid of the consequences. And now I'm going to tell you the truth. Men shouldn't be able to compete in women's sports.
- [41:07]
Matt Walsh
Listen, if we did a replay of that exact panel at the Sloan conference this coming march, it runs in exactly the opposite direction. And it would be, I suspect, near unanimity in the room that trans athletes have no place in the female category. I don't think this is any question. I just think it was a strange. I mean, I felt. I mean, the reason I'm ashamed of my performance of that panel, because I share your position 100%. And I was count the idea of saying anything on this issue. I was, in a. I believe, in retrospect, in a dishonest way. I was. I was objective in a dishonest way.
- [41:48]
Clay Travis
Okay. I give him credit for coming out and being honest about this. I think this is so incredibly important because there are consequences, unfortunately, when you are willing to speak the truth. I think your qualification is important there. This is not. This is not me arguing what the tax rate in Moldova should be. And we're sitting around and we're like, well, you know, this is.
- [42:13]
Buck Sexton
This is. Dudes are not chicks and chicks are not dudes, and pretending they are is a lie. That is what this is.
- [42:20]
Clay Travis
Even in the world of sports. It's beyond that, buck, because you're saying men don't have a competitive advantage, or you're sitting around, you're saying, well, we have to do stuff studies. No, men are bigger, stronger, and faster than women.
- [42:31]
Buck Sexton
But underlying all of it, underlying all of it, and this has to be remembered, is that trans, for example, and this is usually what we're talking about in the sports context, trans women are women indistinguishable. And to be treated by society and the law as women indistinguishable from women in all respects, even though they're not women. That is the actual foundational, mandatory belief of the trans movement. Right. Is that they translate. What is the phrase, Trans women are women.
- [42:59]
Clay Travis
Yeah, this is.
- [43:00]
Buck Sexton
This is what they say. Trans Women are women, and that's why they should be able to play in women's sports. That is a lie.
- [43:07]
Clay Travis
I think this is important, though, and I see this everywhere. And people who may not be involved in media, a lot of you sit around, you say, well, how did this happen? It was. If you were willing to speak out on this issue, advertisers said, I can't. I won't work with this person anymore. And I'm talking about a frigging sports gambling company. You think that it's a coincidence that. That they're. Of all companies that should be one that recognized, hey, men and women's sports is ridiculous. They actually pushed back and they said, even though you, Clay, and your company and have made us tens of millions of dollars, which we had objective reality, you could look at and say, hey, people love this. They wouldn't spend money with us anymore. And this is how they control what people say. Because most people are not willing to give up the money. They just pretend this story didn't exist. It wasn't that everybody was as outspoken as Gladwell is saying there. It was just that a lot of companies just pretended this didn't happen or they would say, as they still say now. I don't know why you care about that. Why do you even care? It doesn't happen that often. It's not that big of a story.
- [44:26]
Buck Sexton
Well, this is always. This is always the progression, right? It's not happening. It's not happening that much. Why do you care? Ok, it's happening. It's happening a little bit to. It's good. It's happening. Shut your face. We're in charge now. And this is. This is. This was Covid. This is trans. This is. That is the. The slippery slope of leftism in America today. It has progressivism. It has to progress. The argument always has to go to the next level. And it's all based on lies because of course it is happening. Because they know it's happening and they know it's wrong and they know they want to do more of it, but they use an incrementalist strategy to chip away at things. And for Gladwell to come out now, Clay. Yeah, because everything has changed now. Now you can say it.
- [45:09]
Clay Travis
Yes.
- [45:09]
Buck Sexton
Now you can actually just say, because.
- [45:11]
Clay Travis
People like me spoke out so hard and took the slings and arrows, I will say buck, I give him some credit for acknowledging he was wrong. Because what a lot of people are going to do is they're going to wait another couple of years and they're going to come, they're going to say, well, everybody knew this was ridiculous all along and that they never actually argued otherwise.
- [45:31]
Buck Sexton
Yeah, I mean, that's particularly gross. Right. But that will happen. I think that that is true.
- [45:35]
Clay Travis
Five years from now, there will not be a single man in America who will say, I ever thought it was okay.
- [45:42]
Buck Sexton
Oh, no, no.
- [45:42]
Clay Travis
Men pretending to be women were competing.
- [45:44]
Buck Sexton
I disagree with that. There. There will be people, Clay. There are people that will take this to the very end, and they think that they can get a rebound with this in time. All they have to do. They think that they will find their way back into power, back into the culture. 20% of the country is never going to abandon this.
- [46:00]
Ben Shapiro
Click.
- [46:00]
Buck Sexton
20% of the country is certifiably insane. I mean, they think that Kamala Harris was a good candidate and Joe Biden's brain was working. These people are nuts.
- [46:07]
Clay Travis
Well, I say this. I mean, people who are actual sports fans. Right. Because I understand on some level, if you stay, if you don't know anything about sports and you think like, hey, maybe Serena Williams is better than Roger Federer at tennis, maybe they should play and maybe the woman would win, I actually give them a pass because they're so clueless on the difference of biology. But any man. I mean this. Honestly, any man who has ever played a high school, college, and certainly a pro sport knows that the idea of men being able to compete in women's sports was, on its face, laughably absurd. And where it matters is if they can get you to argue that or if they can get you to stay silent on that, they can keep advancing the.
- [46:53]
Buck Sexton
The.
- [46:54]
Clay Travis
The. The left wing agenda because they cowed you into silence.
- [46:58]
Buck Sexton
Yeah, you.
- [46:58]
Clay Travis
Well, and you're.
- [46:59]
Buck Sexton
You've. You've basically become complicit in your own cowardice and your own silencing. And if they can get you to say something that's that crazy, they can get you to say anything. That's the whole point. If they can get you to believe this, they can get you to believe that, you know, that the sky is purple and you know, the earth is flat and you name it. And that's a very powerful tool of psychological manipulation because it's degrading when the state or when society forces you to. To mouth a lie, to say the slogans that they demand that you know are false. It degrades you psychologically. That's the point. They do this in all totalitarian regimes, by the way, and they do it purposefully.
- [47:42]
Clay Travis
Yeah. And let me say this, too. I think the one Thing I will say additionally in favor of Gladwell is this. I think America would be far better if we all acknowledge when we get things wrong. I don't think that anybody out there listening expects for you or me to get everything right. I think when we claim that we never get anything wrong, it actually delegitimizes the things that we get right. And I do think Malcolm Gladwell coming out and saying, yes, it's convenient now. Yes, the consequences and the stakes and the punishment for being on the quote, unquote, wrong side of the ledger on this issue are much de. Minimized because we won this battle so far. But I do think being willing to acknowledge we've said it like I said it was going to be a red tsunami in 2022. Didn't get it. I had to wear it like I was wrong. Now, we got a lot right about the 2024 election, but I don't think people out there trusted us less because you got something wrong. Because everybody gets things wrong.
- [48:41]
Buck Sexton
Well, that's a prediction, too.
- [48:43]
Clay Travis
Yeah.
- [48:43]
Buck Sexton
There's a difference between a prediction which is inherently uncertain and telling a lie.
- [48:48]
Clay Travis
Yes.
- [48:49]
Buck Sexton
One goes to analysis and nobody's perfect. Another goes to, you're selling out. And a lot of people, I will.
- [48:56]
Clay Travis
Tell you, almost everyone sold out.
- [48:58]
Buck Sexton
I won't name them because I don't. I don't. People can always, even people on the other side, if they ask to speak to me in confidence, I keep. I keep confidence. I know some prominent Democrats in the media, Clay, who would say to me offline, oh, the trench thing is crazy, but the agenda is crazy, but I can't. I can't say it because my side would eat me alive.
- [49:16]
Clay Travis
Yep, yep. Uh, we'll talk. We'll take some of your calls. Maybe some of you want to react to that. Also, we want to talk about the arrest that happened in England, which I actually think is connected to wrong think, which Malcolm Gladwell was somewhat addressing. In the meantime, look, we're a pro military show. We have tons of respect for all the brave men and women who give so much to defend our country and our freedoms. That's one of many reasons we love our sponsor, Pure Talk. In addition to offering quality cell phone service at a great value, 25 bucks a month, unlimited talk text, plenty of data, they also stand proudly with our military. In fact, Pure Talk was founded by a veteran hires veterans keeping jobs at home doesn't stop there. Pure Talk has raised nearly half a million dollars to prevent veteran suicide. They've forgiven millions of dollars in veteran debt, and they've given away more than a thousand flags to veterans this year. If you haven't switched your cell phone service to Pure Talk, now's a great time to do so. Just dial £250, say the keywords clay and Buck and and you'll save an additional 50% off your first month. Again, that's £250, say Clay and Buck. PureTalk's US customer service team will help you switch in as little as 10 minutes. PureTalk, a cell phone company worth bragging about.
- [50:30]
Podcast Promo Announcer
You don't know what you don't know, right? But you could on the Sunday Hang.
- [50:36]
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- [51:38]
Clay Travis
Now you can stream Fox News live on the Fox One app. Stay on top of breaking news and the biggest stories live as they happen. All from the Fox voices you trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find anywhere else.
- [51:51]
Buck Sexton
Start your 7 day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox One for complete terms and conditions. Fox One we live for live streaming. Now we are joined by Ben Shapiro, the founder of the Daily Wire Ben Shapiro Podcast New book Lions and Scavengers the True Story of America and Her Critics released yesterday. Ben, appreciate you joining us. Thanks for being here. A lot to talk to you about.
- [52:20]
Ben Shapiro
Thanks for taking the time. Really appreciate it.
- [52:22]
Buck Sexton
Well let's I want to dive into this one. I feel like you're I feel like you're going to have pretty sure you're going to have some things to say on this. Not not hard to find topics there to talk Talk with you about. But Coldplay. Now, we could sit here and we could just make jokes about how Coldplay somehow went from cool to the band that even people who love Nickelback feel comfortable making fun of. Now, I think. I think that's fair. But Coldplay had a concert going on, and Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, brought some people up on the stage. Now, we have this sound, we have this audio. Let's let everyone hear. So this is the lead singer of Coldplay in front of, I don't know, 60,000 people, 100,000, whatever it is, whatever. However many people are in this arena. And here's how it goes. When he invites some just people listeners on the stage of them play it. Oh, I thought. I thought we had this one in the mix. I'm sorry, producer Mark, tell me which one. We have this uploaded as when you get a second.
- [53:25]
Ben Shapiro
And.
- [53:25]
Buck Sexton
And there we go. Let's play it.
- [53:28]
Chris Martin
Where did you come from today? From Israel. Okay, well, well, okay, well, listen, I'm gonna say this. I'm very grateful that you're here as humans, and I'm treating you as equal humans on Earth, regardless of where you come from or don't come from. Thank you for being here. We're grateful. Thank you for being loving, kind, as will those sponsors, controversial tv. I also want to welcome people in the audience from Palestine because we have.
- [53:56]
Buck Sexton
A belief that we're all so just for everyone. It's kind of hard to hear that audio a little bit. But the lead singer says, you're here as humans. Thank you for being here as humans. And also thank you to all the Palestinians in the audience. That's kind of a weird way to approach this, Ben.
- [54:12]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah, well, as I've said, you know, the Yiddish word for him is schmuck. He's. He's terrible. I mean, when your second worst decision actually is marrying Gwyneth Paltrow, you know, things are going wrong for you.
- [54:22]
Clay Travis
But.
- [54:23]
Ben Shapiro
But, you know, Chris Martin doing this routine here. Can you imagine any other group of people that he would do this for? Truly think of the situation reversed. You have a couple of people, he calls them up on stage, he says, where are you from? And they say, the Gaza Strip. And he says, well, I just want to make clear you're humans first. So, first of all, Chris Martin is not the person who gets to bestow humanity upon you, Chris Martin, that he's.
- [54:44]
Buck Sexton
Not a Coldplay fan. We've got here with Mr. Shapiro, but go ahead.
- [54:47]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah, no, Coldplay sucks. But. But also, like the idea that he's going knight you as a human because you have come to a Coldplay concert and then to immediately swivel and say, oh, yeah, and by the way, the people who are on the other side of the war from the people that you're on the side of and who initiated, you know, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, we got some of those in the stadium as well. And I just wanna acknowledge if this were Palestinians, and they came up, said, we're from the Gaza Strip. Can you imagine a situation in which Chris Martin then turns around and says, and also to all the Israelis in the audience, I know it's contrary for all the Israelis, we're so happy to see you here. No way in hell. It just shows you that default leftism at this point has just turned to a sort of anti Israel, pro Hamas, Gaza sympathetic stance. And that's why he feels uncomfortable. I mean, that's the real question we should be asking is why does he feel so damn uncomfortable? Like, who cares? He's got a couple of fans that come from Israel. If I were giving a concert and somebody came up and they said I'm from Russia, I'd be like, okay, when start lecturing them about the Russia, Ukraine war. It's bizarre.
- [55:49]
Clay Travis
We're talking to Ben Shapiro. Ben, we were talking the last hour about the Graham Linehan situation in England. Five of the armed officers waiting for him as he comes off the airplane over tweets that the British government deemed worthy of investigation. How do we fix this? Because I think Western civilization, if we are in the position where countries that should be natural, American allies are sending police to investigate tweets. And I'm not talking about tweets where you say, hey, I'm going to kill the President of the United States. Obviously, direct threats of violence are different, but clear jokes. How do we fix this?
- [56:28]
Ben Shapiro
Well, I mean, I think that there are definitely levers of pressure that we can exert on the uk I think that obviously we have a lot of military cooperation, economic cooperation with the UK And President Trump is very fond of using leverage in a lot of these different situations, up to and including things like, for example, tariffs and. And I don't think that that would be a bad policy here, saying to the UK listen, we cannot do proper commerce with a country that, by the way, will actually pass laws that have an effect on American commerce. Because whatever is the free speech code in Britain, which apparently does not include bad old tweets, if that is the standard, they will apply that to tech companies in The United States, they'll apply that to X, they will apply that to Facebook. This has been like a very hot and fraught topic for the tech companies and social media companies. How do you even operate in countries in Europe that have different speech standards? If it is now going to be a prosecutable offense, if you tweet something, then how exactly is Twitter supposed to set its policies for the United States?
- [57:24]
Buck Sexton
Good point.
- [57:25]
Ben Shapiro
And so I do think that the government does have some areas of leverage here, but it does more deeply speak to this cultural rot at the heart of Western civilization now, this kind of importation of people who hate the principles of the country and then a pandering to precisely those principles. Because the same exact country that is now prosecuting a comedian for making bad tweets over over trans topics is the same country that covered up, you know, actual Muslim grooming gangs in the UK and that is currently, by the way, attempting to now import apparently thousands of Gazans from the Gaza Strip. That's something that was announced by Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, literally yesterday. So good luck to a civilization that is so intense on committing suicide. My goodness.
- [58:05]
Buck Sexton
Talk to us, Ben, if you would, about the book, which I know just came out yesterday, and it's got a premise that this audience is going to want to hear about. Lions and Scavengers, the True Story of America. Walk us through a little bit of this.
- [58:19]
Ben Shapiro
Sure. So the basic idea is that humanity at this point is divided between lions, people who wish to build, who wish to uphold and strengthen important institutions like family, church, balance of power, private property. Right. Those are the lions, the people who wish to build and make the world a better place. And then there are scavengers, people who are creatures of envy, who just want to tear everything down. They see problems in their life, they attribute it to the systems that they've actually benefited from and then decide they want to tear it down. And one of the points that I make in the book is that this isn't just a question of populations and groups. It's also a question inside the human heart that every morning we all have to get up and decide whether to be a lion or a scavenger. We all have problems in our lives. We decide to attribute that to some outside conspiratorial, malign force and then tilt to windmills and make our life worse. Or do we decide to get up and actually make our life better by taking the, the duty bound moral action that a, a civilization that, that takes the lions, the innovators, the the defenders of the civilization, the people who build the social fabric and then basically attacks them because they are too successful, because they're the oppressors or the exploitative, is a civilization doomed to failure. And I think that we are, as a. As a civilization, facing that possibility.
- [59:28]
Clay Travis
Ben, how should we handle? Buck and I were just talking about this, and I do think in the wake of COVID and in the wake of so much cultural shift, I'm sure you saw Malcolm Gladwell come out and say, hey, basically, I got everything wrong on the trans issue. Of course men shouldn't be able to compete in women's sports, but he said at the Sloan conference at MIT the exact opposite. A few years ago on a panel, I shared that there were direct consequences for me and my media company when it comes to companies that would advertise with us or not, because I said the truth, that men shouldn't be able to compete with women. But if you were on the wrong side of that issue or any issue, public statements like Gladwell, how should we take them? Convenient and real? Or is this an attempt to acknowledge that all humans get things wrong and sometimes we should publicly point that out?
- [60:24]
Ben Shapiro
So, you know, I think that forgiveness is usually the better alternative here. Magnanimity, Magnanimity in victory, I think is probably the best alternative. But now he's in a trust but verify situation. If we run up against another one of these things and Gladwell takes the wrong side of it, then I think it's fair to ask him the question, are you doing this because of the public pressure that you are receiving? Because obviously you've done that before. I think it's better. We actually want to incentivize people to do this right. Just as a movement, we want to incentivize people to come forward and say, I got it wrong. I never should have caved to this sort of pressure. And we want to create incentive structures so they don't cave to the pressure. Again, if we just kind of take their. Their apology and then bootstrap them, then what we are actually doing is encouraging people not to reverse themselves, not to correct the mistakes of the past.
- [61:07]
Buck Sexton
Ben, I have a couple of just grab bag but important questions to throw your way as well. And remember, everyone, Ben's book has just come out yesterday and it is Lions and Scavengers. So, Ben, first of all, because you would have some experience with this, because of your friend and colleague, Mr. Matt Walsh, Kamala Harris is going to Clay's hometown of Nashville to give a book tour. And the audience Seems very. The audience of this show is very convinced that it is Clay's duty. I would argue his duty to wear a futurist female T shirt and put his hair up in a Matt Walsh homage style man bun and go to the VIP section of the Kamala book tour event in Clay's hometown of Nashville. Where do you, sir, as also someone who spends a lot of time in Nashville, come down on this issue?
- [61:55]
Ben Shapiro
I mean, I'm shocked that you're even asking the question. Of course he has a moral, perhaps a biblical obligation to. Actually, I would say that he may be consigned to the everlasting flames of hell if he doesn't. I think that that that's on the table. If he doesn't do this, I think that pretty clearly he has to do it. No.
- [62:12]
Buck Sexton
I just wanted Ben to get on the record with millions of people listening, Clay, that the future is female T shirt. We know what the future is of this mission. And now Ben has weighed in heartily on the side of the audience and yours truly, which is. I think this needs to happen.
- [62:26]
Ben Shapiro
And God himself. God himself. I'm not sure where it's actually written in the Bible, but if you have to bet, put it in Leviticus.
- [62:33]
Clay Travis
$500 is the cheapest ticket to go watch Kamala Harris in Nashville, which I still can't believe. And it goes all the way up to 2,700.
- [62:41]
Ben Shapiro
Clay, you're super rich. Give me a.
- [62:44]
Buck Sexton
One more thing on this, though, Ben, because. Because help us with this. Clay and I have a little bet going. We're not gonna be able to solve it for a while. Is Kamala Harris going to run again for president? We will mark this down. We will have this clip for you when you come back in a few years. And we know the answer. Is she going to run again or was it too disastrous? And she even. She knows it.
- [63:02]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah. Not. Not. Not in 2028. I mean, there are so many wineries in California. She has to get through first.
- [63:07]
Clay Travis
That's a good line. All right, so here's a. Here's a big, big picture question. This is what my book, which is out in November, that I've spent a lot of time grappling with. I know you've got young kids. I've got the three boys. How do Democrats, like, let's leave aside big structural issues that they clearly have, but how do Democrats get back to where men, just normal dudes do not see their party as a party of feminized absurdity? How do they get back to where A regular guy who wants to have a beer and go watch a game would vote Democrat, because I think that's the biggest issue that they actually face. Leaving aside the particulars of what their policies are, what would you think they need to do?
- [63:54]
Ben Shapiro
I mean, the fact that we even have to ask the question means that there's not really an easy way out for them. Because that's like, how do you cosplay masculinity? And the answer is, I mean, you really don't have to if you're just a dude. So how about you start with men should not play in women's sports. Duh. Men are not women. And a Rahm Emanuel actually is now coming out and saying that. How about you, like, just go act in the world as a man and get caught on camera acting in the world as a man unapologetically. You don't have to ask President Trump or J.D. vance what it's like to be a man, because they're just doing kind of man things, which I'm not even talking about, like picking up heavy weights and walking around, you know, bare chested or something. Just like being a normal dude actually isn't that difficult for those of us who are dudes. But Democrats seem to have a very tough time with that and they keep apologizing for, by the way. Gotta give you big credit right there, Clay, for pumping your own book in a spot where you're supposed to be pumping mine. That is a bold move.
- [64:43]
Clay Travis
I didn't know Ben was gonna call.
- [64:44]
Buck Sexton
You out for that, but I'm glad he did.
- [64:46]
Clay Travis
I'm just gonna say this.
- [64:47]
Buck Sexton
I'm glad he's got a book.
- [64:48]
Clay Travis
Ben has got a book. Scavengers and Lions. I encourage you to all buy it while you're there. My book is called Balls. It's not out till November, but you can pre order it and you can buy them together, which seems like a brilliant idea, by the way. Bucks got a book out in January and get three books at one time. It's just brilliant.
- [65:06]
Buck Sexton
It's just the brilliance bundle.
- [65:09]
Clay Travis
You know better than anybody, Ben, you have to be shameless to cut through the noise on ABC in this day.
- [65:14]
Ben Shapiro
And always be closing, buddy.
- [65:15]
Buck Sexton
Oh, yeah, the books. One last thing for you. Also helping us settle another bet. The greatest fictional children's series of all time. Chronicles of Narnia or the, the little, you know, wizard boy books by Harry Potter.
- [65:31]
Ben Shapiro
Harry Potter. So, I mean, honestly, I'd go off, off the board. There's. There's a series called the Edward Eager Series that is fantastic. From the 50s. That's worth the read. But you got to go. Chronicles of Narnia.
- [65:42]
Buck Sexton
Boom.
- [65:43]
Ben Shapiro
Having said that, Travis, I mean, does it religious thematics? Come on. I mean, you're learning, like, Christianity while you're reading about lions. It's cool.
- [65:51]
Clay Travis
They're both wrong. It's good. I enjoyed it. But Harry potter's better. Doesn't J.K. rowling deserve a lot of credit? She's a billionaire. She didn't need to step into the gender identity battles, but she just couldn't keep her mouth shut because she saw this as being foundational. In many ways, I find her to be one of the true heroes. We talked about the comedians getting arrested in Britain, but I find her to be one of the true heroes. Actually, right now, totally unexpectedly, I never would have would have anticipated this occurring.
- [66:19]
Ben Shapiro
I totally agree with this. I mean, she really did not have to put herself out there. And the fact that she did, and then she's on Twitter every day defending it in the most, you know, aggressive way. She's awesome. Like, really kudos to her.
- [66:31]
Buck Sexton
Ben Shapiro's book is out and it is Lions and Scavengers. And get yourself a copy and maybe pick up other books as you go. We'll leave that up to you. But go get Lions and scavengers. Ben, thanks for making the time for us.
- [66:42]
Ben Shapiro
Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
- [66:44]
Clay Travis
Look, Tunnel the Towers. Your support can make a lasting difference for families, including the Clark family. U.S. air Force Sergeant Jesse Clark's military service came to an end after a chemical exposure caused a large tumor to form in his brain. As a result, he's paralyzed on the left side of his body, legally blind, prone to memory loss, and in a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. Friends like you helped Tunnel the Towers build this hero a new smart home to help him live a more independent life. So many more families like the Clarks need your help now. Since Tunnel of the Towers founding after the horrific events of 9 11, we cannot forget what so many have sacrificed. America's heroes have given us so much. Together, we can say thank you in a lasting and meaningful way. Please show your support now. Join us in donating 11amonth to tunnel the towers@t2t.org that's t the number 2t.org.
- [67:39]
Podcast Promo Announcer
You know them as conservative radio hosts. Now just get to know them as guys on the Sunday Hanging Hang podcast with Clay and Buck. Find it in their podcast feed on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [67:53]
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- [68:54]
Mary Kathryn Ham
You want smart political talk without the meltdowns? We got you.
- [68:58]
Carol Markowitz
I'm Carol Markowitz.
- [68:59]
Mary Kathryn Ham
And I'm Mary Kathryn Ham. We've been around the block in media and we're due to things differently.
- [69:04]
Carol Markowitz
Normally is about real conversations, thoughtful, try to be funny, grounded and no panic.
- [69:10]
Mary Kathryn Ham
We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day.
- [69:13]
Carol Markowitz
Join us every Tuesday and Thursday Normally.
- [69:16]
Mary Kathryn Ham
On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [69:24]
Ben Shapiro
This is an iHeart podcast.