Hour 1 - A Big L for Dems

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 1 - A Big L for Dems
Date: November 14, 2025
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

Clay Travis and Buck Sexton dive into what they consider a significant loss ("a big L”) for the Democratic Party surrounding the latest government shutdown. Blending humor, cultural commentary, and political analysis, they discuss major headlines affecting the U.S., including economic concerns, the rise of "Trump Derangement Syndrome," internal Democratic conflicts, and the potential future shape of both parties. Key voices such as J.D. Vance feature prominently, providing insider perspective on Washington dysfunction. The hosts also examine everyday economic pain points to illustrate how political decisions impact listeners' lives.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

Thanksgiving, Trade Deals, and Policy Shifts

• Lighthearted banter about Thanksgiving:
  • The hosts open with talk of Thanksgiving food debates, poking fun at regional dish names and prepping listeners for upcoming holiday-content (02:01).
• New Trade Agreements:
  • U.S. trade deals with Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Argentina to lower tariffs on goods like beef and coffee are discussed, with a humorous aside on expensive Hawaiian coffee and the hosts’ limited Spanish skills (03:05).
• Military Operations and Terrorism Designation:
  • Pete Hegseth's operation “to remove narco terrorists from our hemisphere” signals a more aggressive U.S. military stance in the Caribbean (03:25).
  • ANTIFA designated abroad as an international terrorist organization—a significant policy shift the hosts highlight for discussion.

The Government Shutdown — "Schumer Shutdown"

• Framing and Blame:
  • The hosts and a Fox News soundbite frame the government shutdown as entirely driven by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats, dubbing it the “Schumer Shutdown” (04:48).
• Buck’s Commentary:
  • “President Trump and Republicans shellacked Chuck Schumer and the entire Democrat party after...standing out there trying to bravely hold the country hostage and inflict massive pain on the American public. Chuck got absolutely nothing”—Buck Sexton (04:48).
  • The Democratic party is described as “in complete disarray,” a disarray dating back to Trump’s arrival on the scene.

Trump Derangement Syndrome, Delusion, & Media Bias

• Trump Derangement Syndrome:
  • The hosts discuss political “delusion” as outlined in Clay’s upcoming book, Manufacturing Delusion, and the media’s role in stoking irrational fear—especially of Donald Trump (07:56-11:11).
  • Quote: "How do you make people politically crazy? As in delusional and not able to see reality? And clearly Trump Derangement Syndrome is the most apparent manifestation of that we see right now.” — Clay Travis (07:56).
• Media & Manufactured Outrage in Sports:
  • References to the Jussie Smollett and Bubba Wallace incidents in sports as examples of “mass hysteria” and media enabling (08:52-10:44).
  • The lack of skepticism or careful reporting in sports journalism is contrasted with political media's transparency (09:30+).

Psychological Fragility and Party Alignment

• Psychological analysis:
  • The left, according to the hosts, is more susceptible to “delusional” thinking, “Trump-phobia,” and anxiety, further fueled by media. Clay relates anecdotes of friends with irrational fears about Trump (12:39-13:07).
  • “There are a lot of very psychologically fragile people who have coalesced...it clusters on the left side of the political aisle.” — Clay Travis (12:39).
• Growing Republican Optimism:
  • Clay points to the increase in Trump voters between 2016 and 2024 as a sign that “sanity will win,” projecting optimism for future elections (13:07).

Economic Pulse Check: Feeling vs. Message

• Stock Market Rally & Public Sentiment:
  • Stock market strength is highlighted but seen as insufficient if people don’t feel economic benefits personally (18:06).
  • “If you’re trying to message Bidenomic-style, something that people don’t feel...can make you feel out of touch.” — Clay Travis (18:06).
• Kitchen Table Issues:
  • There's a call for the administration to prioritize “kitchen table” affordability issues as central to 2026 midterm outcomes (19:55-21:21).
  • Both parties are portrayed as needing to connect economic success narratives to the realities facing average Americans.

GOP Talent and J.D. Vance on the Shutdown

• Strong GOP Bench:
  • Praise for figures like J.D. Vance (Vice President), Marco Rubio (Secretary of State), Scott Besson (Treasury Secretary), framed as stronger, more loyal Trump-aligned team compared to 2017 (22:28).
• J.D. Vance on Shutdown Pointlessness:
  • Quote: “They caused a lot of stress for our troops...caused a lot of pain and suffering for nothing, Sean, because we could have struck this exact deal 45 days ago.” — J.D. Vance, Interview clip (23:52).
  • Hosts underscore the “absurdity” and wasted suffering, arguing Democrats gained nothing.

Democratic Division & Electoral Strategy

• Internal Contradictions:
  • Democrats described as “reflexively anti-Trump,” a stance that boosts individual brands (e.g., Rep. Jasmine Crockett) but weakens the party overall with moderate voters (25:06-26:29).
  • Clay encourages, tongue-in-cheek, for Crockett to run for Senate to illustrate how fringe appeal can be a liability in general elections.
  • Discussion of Gavin Newsom’s ability to “BS his way over” his California record and the party’s need for a slick candidate to appeal broadly, similar to Biden or Obama (28:16-31:19).

Affordability and Everyday Pain Points

• Inflation Lingers:
  • Personal anecdotes highlight rising costs, such as $8 per gallon of milk in Florida, and fast food prices now similar to previously sit-down restaurant costs (32:31; 36:07).
  • “A gallon of milk is almost eight bucks here in Florida...Things have gotten really expensive. That is a real thing that people should be annoyed about because it is government policy. We're not in a milk shortage.” — Clay Travis (33:44).
• Price Normalization:
  • Both J.D. Vance and the hosts discuss the slow adjustment post-inflation, drawing historical comparisons to the Carter/Reagan years (34:42-35:13).

Epstein Files & Accountability

• Calls for Deep Investigation:
  • Anticipating further unsealing of Jeffrey Epstein investigation files, Trump calls for a deep dive into financial transactions to determine the origin of Epstein’s wealth (41:59).
  • “How did he go from having virtually nothing to being worth in the neighborhood of 5, 600, $700 million?...Let's look at the banks and figure out what they knew about the transactions there.” — Clay Travis (41:59-42:25).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "[Democrats] caused a lot of stress for our troops...all for literally nothing, Sean, because we could have struck this exact deal 45 days ago.” — J.D. Vance (23:52)
• “President Trump and Republicans shellacked Chuck Schumer and the entire Democrat party..." — Buck Sexton (04:48)
• “How do you make people politically crazy? ... Trump derangement syndrome is the most apparent manifestation of that…” — Clay Travis (07:56)
• “There are a lot of very psychologically fragile people who have coalesced... it clusters on the left side of the political aisle.” — Clay Travis (12:39)
• “A gallon of milk is almost eight bucks here in Florida. ... Things have gotten really expensive. That is a real thing that people should be annoyed about because it is government policy.” — Clay Travis (33:44)
• “[Rising prices] — you just have to slow down the increase and then slowly people get used to it.” — Buck Sexton (35:13)

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Key Timestamps

• 02:01 – Holiday food banter; transition to serious political talk
• 03:05 – New U.S. trade deals and their impact on consumer goods
• 04:48 – Buck on the Schumer Shutdown and Democratic party turmoil
• 07:56 – Clay presents Trump Derangement Syndrome and delusional politics
• 09:30 – Fake outrage in sports (Jussie Smollett/LeBron/Bubba Wallace)
• 13:07 – Clay’s optimism about conservative voter growth
• 18:06 – Stock market rally and the importance of felt economic progress
• 22:28 – Praise for Trump’s team, focus on MAGA leadership
• 23:52 – J.D. Vance on the shutdown’s pain and pointlessness
• 25:06-26:29 – Democratic intra-party divides and branding issues
• 32:31 – Anecdotes on the high cost of living (milk, dining out)
• 34:42 – J.D. Vance on inflation, improvement signals
• 41:59 – Trump’s push to investigate Epstein’s financial background

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Tone and Takeaways

The episode mixes wonky Republican optimism, caustic humor, and vigorous critique of Democrats and the media. The hosts’ style is conversational yet combative, with plenty of banter and personal anecdotes to complement policy discussion. Clips and guest commentary (notably J.D. Vance) are used to lend authority and reinforce major talking points. Ultimately, the message is: Democrats suffered a big loss, internal divisions and out-of-touch narratives are costing them, and Republicans—if focused on sanity and relatable economics—are poised to strengthen their position heading into future elections.

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Summary prepared for those seeking a thorough understanding of the episode without listening.

Transcript

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome everybody to the Friday edition of the Clay, Travis and Buck Sexton show, known to many of you as the Clay and Buck Show. Same show. Very important. We've got a lot to talk to you about on this lovely Friday. I cannot believe how close Thanksgiving actually is already.

[Buck Sexton]

We will get into some debates and.

[Clay Travis]

Discussions in the next few weeks about.

[Buck Sexton]

Cobbler, for example, and some of the most delectable. The most delectable of dessert treats.

[Clay Travis]

Some of you Southerners are going to get are going to get fired up again as we discuss your favorite various Thanksgiving sides. I don't even know what they are. Sometimes there's these, these funky names. We will have discussions about all of that and also some very important things that are going on. No doubt about that. Like first up, we got Trump. The White House has struck new trade deals with four countries, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador and Argentina to lower tariffs on select goods like beef and yes, clay coffee. Thank you, Cracked coffee, because we did look into getting coffee from Hawaii. Like everything else in Hawaii, it is muy expensivo it is very. Is that actually how you say it in Spanish? I don't even know. It is very. Probably not.

[Buck Sexton]

Probably unlikely. But it's. I think I just made translate.

[Clay Travis]

That's not. I don't speak any Spanish, so I.

[Buck Sexton]

Feel good about the moy. But I don't know.

[Clay Travis]

Right. I leaned into the moi. But the rest of it, I took French and Arabic in school, so you can make of that what you will. Anyway, there's these new trade deals. Yes. For Crockett Coffee. That's always exciting, too. Go subscribe Crockett Coffee.com because the tariffs are going to affect the price of coffee just like it's affecting a lot of other things right now. You see, you've also got J.D. vance weighing in on the housing crisis. Pete Hegseth, the secretary of War. I have to keep saying it just so that it gets redone in my mind, you know, so that everyone doesn't have to keep on sending in. It's the secretary of War now. I know, but it's been a long time. And I used to work with D O D folks, and I used to. I used to brief the secretary of defense on occasion. It's not really something that comes that naturally to me. So I'm working on it. But Hegseth has announced an operation to remove narco terrorists from our hemisphere. So it feels like that is something that is going to be heating up. We've already discussed some of the deployments of US Military forces into the Caribbean, way more than we've seen in a very long time. And then, of course, Clay, we have the designation of ANTIFA abroad as an international terrorist organization. That's something we should discuss. But first up, I did want to just dive into this Caroline Levitt off the top rope here on the Schumer shutdown. And I do think it will be known increasingly to everybody as the Schumer shutdown because it was very much pushed by Chuck Schumer and some of the Democrats around him. But here is the White House press secretary. Play cut one.

[Buck Sexton]

President Trump and Republicans shellacked Chuck Schumer and the entire Democrat party after 43 of Chuck standing out there trying to bravely hold the country hostage and inflict massive pain on the American public. Chuck got absolutely nothing, and now the knives are out for him. The Democrat Party is in complete disarray. And the truth is they have been for 10 years since President Trump came on the political scene. They ran Senator Gillibrand and Senator Manchin out of town. Now they're running Chucky Schumer out of town. It's too bad he turned into a Palestinian. He did it for nothing.

[Clay Travis]

There you go. That was last night on Fox. Clay. I do think that the Democrats, this is a big L for them. This is a big, a big loss going up on the board. Although they could point to these elections. I think they were going to win those elections anyway. Honestly, I don't think there were any surprises. These are Democrat states or at least Democrat momentum in a place like Virginia.

[Buck Sexton]

I think J. Jones is the only one where you look at and you say, boy, this was, I mean, the, the attorney general who said that he wanted to kill his political opponents, kids and piss on their graves. I'm not sure what the official standard for behavior is, but I would say, yeah, you know, that's a tough one to get past. And I think candidly, I don't think Republicans would have voted for someone who said that. I mean, there's been a lot of evidence. You can go to Alabama, for instance, where the Democrat candidate won, Remember Roy Moore? There were the, the hit pieces that came out against him, the judge that would have won. And then the Washington Post came out and had a story about his alleged involvement with young girls. And I'm not trying to relitigate that case in any way. I'm just saying in Alabama, which is a deep red state, as a result a, a Democrat ended up winning that Senate seat, that was Republicans saying, yeah, we can't roll with this. I think good, decent, honorable, reasonable Democrats should have said, yeah, we'll stick with Jason Mears. He's already the existing attorney general and we shouldn't reward people who say things like what J. Jones said. Now, the dark side of that election is some Democrats actually may have voted for him because he said that, which is meaning, you know, not only were they looking past what he said, some of them said, you know what, I agree with him. There was a great Trump derangement syndrome article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal Buck saying that it basically meets all the clinical definitions of it. Was a psychiatrist basically walking through that Trump Derangement syndrome is real and that and not insubstantial. Number of people out there have lost the ability to be rational and reasonable in any way based on their antipathy for Trump. And I think that's true for a lot of people out there and it happened in the AG's race.

[Clay Travis]

I think it's also really important to note that my book, which is coming out in February, which is called Manufacturing Delusion and available for pre order right now on Amazon, Clay goes into exactly that. How do you make people politically crazy? As in delusional and not able to see reality? And clearly Trump derangement syndrome is the most apparent manifestation of that that we see right now. There was the COVID madness, there's the trans stuff, there's a whole bunch of things. But there is a clear ability, and it unfortunately is very prominent in America these days, to make a lot of people really nuts in the service of a political agenda to believe crazy things. And that is very scary because it is when people believe untrue and crazy things that terrible things happen to societies. Go get the preorder now. Manufacturing delusion. That's what we call it.

[Buck Sexton]

That's what I just did right before this show. I did a fun zoom podcast show with Will Kane, who obviously has a show on Fox News now, your longtime friend. But we talked a lot about the delusion. If you had been a die hard sports fan, Buck, I think you would have seen so much of the delusion going on in the world of sports. And certainly saying men can be women is part of it. But even just going through it was fun to kind of go through some of these crazy stories. Over the last week there have been a lot of just Jussie Smollett style stories made up in sports. LeBron, for instance, for those of you out in LA, you'll remember this, it almost gets no attention. He, I think falsely claimed that somebody scrolled a racial slur on his $20 million mansion in LA, the Brentwood area of LA. And I went through and did investigation, called the police, asked for police reports, the kind of things that someone who is in media should do. And the LA police just dropped that case and said we'd have found no evidence that there was ever a crime committed. Most people have no idea that happened because at least Fox News exists in the world of politics. The New York Post exists. There are entities that will kind of go and shepherd and look into stories like these. Now outkick does certainly there hardly anything in sports where people will actually ask these questions and say, wait a minute, LeBron, Jussie smolletted that entire racial slur on the gate story? Yes, I think the evidence is that he did, but because nobody covered it, it is kind of just a vanishing story. Remember the Bubba Wallace noose story that everybody.

[Clay Travis]

That was a mass hysteria for sure.

[Buck Sexton]

Correct.

[Clay Travis]

Absurd.

[Buck Sexton]

That NASCAR was super racist and that some guy decided, hey, I'm going to send a message, we're going to have A noose in Bubba Wallace. And then the FBI got called in. The FBI and they did a big investigation and they were like, this has been here for years and it's actually a common way to tie a knot. That was the conclusion. It's just, I think these things would tie in well with your book. But yeah, I hope we're coming out of them, but I'm a little bit afraid that we might not.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I, I even, there's even a whole trans chapter and of course deal with the Riley Gaines situation and that guy who was a girl who's. Or pretended to be a girl to swim. And the fact that people go along with this stuff. And I'll say this, the fact that people sit around and pretend like Donald Trump is Hitler is crazy and that there are news shows where they still talk about the rise of fascism and they speak about Trump in a way that is meant to terrify emotionally and psychologically weak people. Now I mean that it is not meant to amuse them. It is meant to terrify the psychologically weak in the audience of the New York Times. And there's a lot of neurotic people often confuse IQ with psychological strength. Not true at all. A lot of very high IQ people actually have tremendous difficulties dealing with the world around them.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

Famously you could see like that guy Nash from A Beautiful Mind and we've seen movies about this. Others, the, the correlation between even genius and delusion and psychological issues. Howard Hughes. I mean there's all kinds of stuff, right. Where you can point to this and see my point here is that there are a lot of very psychologically fragile people who have coalesced. And this is true. If you look at things like heavy SSRI usage, you look at rates of self described depression, anxiety, all this clay it clusters on the left side of the political aisle.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

And so their media apparatus is constantly feeding into their neuroses and their actual phobias. They have. There are Trump phobic people out there. I, I had a friend in college, a good friend of mine who was always a lib, he texted me, he's like, what are you going to do when the stormtroopers are pulling you and like your friends off the street? And I felt bad for him because I'm like, you really think that that's going to happen? You live in an alternate universe.

[Buck Sexton]

They really do. And the, the, the delusional nature of this, I think many of you. Here's the positive. I think there are tons of you out there listening right now that have come to see the truth. And I think every day and every week and every month we add a few more people out there in sanity world. And the reason that I would be optimistic about this, some of you would say, okay, Clay, what are you basing that optimism? And in the number of people who didn't vote Trump in 2016 that by 2024 did vote Trump, it is an extraordinary increase in Trump support. And you know, you go back to 2016, I think it was 64 million ish people voted for Donald Trump. A lot of those people over the years ahead have, have passed away. So we probably have added 20 million Trump voters between 2016 and 2024. That's a sign that sanity will win. But boy, it's been a battle, Buck. And that's what I come back to and just look at optimistically, is we probably have seen between 2016 and 2024, around 20 million of you, many of whom are listening to us right now, were not Trump voters in 16. And by 24 they said, I can't, I can't continue in the trajectory that the nation has been going on. This is an optimistic thought for you and I hope those same people show up in 26 and certainly in 28 too. You could live in a country busy, very busy city. You could live all over the country. It doesn't even matter where you are. But you could find yourself in danger in a relatively short period of time. And sabre can help provide non lethal opportunities to protect yourself out there with their pepper gel projectile launcher shaped like a pistol or rifle, depending on the model, fires off pepper gel projectiles targeted go a long dis longer distance than you might think, making it effective against an intruder. Saber is spelled S a B r E. The website is saberradio.com all their products are right here. Number one pepper spray brand trusted by law enforcement. You want the right devices available in your home and you want to get hooked up. We have every single one of these devices in our home. I love this company. Family owned. Go check them out yourself. Non lethal options saberradio.com that's S A B R E radio.com 844-824 safe 844-824 safe. Making America great again isn't just one man, it's many. The Team 47 podcast Sundays at noon eastern and buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. We are rolling through the Friday edition of the program and really stock market when I saw it open this I know that a lot of you may not follow the stock market from minute to minute, but I do. And it looked like it was gonna be a rough day in the stock market and I'm just looking up at CNBC right now and if you checked where the stock market was at 9am Eastern and you're checking where it is right now at 12:30, it has had a massive move towards the positive where we may well be challenging all time records yet again by the end of the week, which is pretty extraordinary. And it comes back buck to I think the central question as we move into 2026 is not only going to be where the economy is, but to what extent do people start top to bottom, whether you're super rich billionaire or somebody who is really living paycheck to paycheck, you and I can speak to the paycheck to paycheck living. Never have experienced the super rich billionaire life. I'd be nice. But do people start to feel it? Because the biggest challenge here I think is if you're trying to message bidenomic style, something that people don't feel when it comes to daily cost or daily experience in their life, it can make you feel out of touch. And so I think the central challenge of 2026 is to what extent do people start to feel better about the economy. Democrats aren't right because they hate Trump. They're going to pretend that things are awful. But those middle of the road voters that will decide who wins the House, who wins the Senate, how do you win those guys and gals? To me that's the biggest question as we start to look towards the start of 2026.

[Clay Travis]

Well, we certainly need to hear more I think from this administration about what the economic message, what the plans are for 2026. 2025 has been very good. I know people are worried about prices and feeling that pinch but that is something that was inherited. If I tell you that the Biden administration had the worst inflation in 4,440 years, it's going to take more than a year for people to feel like wages have kept up with that and but they've been moving in the right direction and certainly the, the overall markets, housing markets, the situation with the tariffs, there's a lot to feel positive about. But I do think Clay here, I'll put it this way, front page of your favorite New York Times today, at least on the website, a whole piece on how MAGA is getting a little fed up with all the Trump globetrotting and focus on other countries. Fair or not. I will tell you I have heard from the faithful, both those with platforms and just everyday folks that they're a little frustrated with some of that right now too. It's not that there's promises aren't being kept, it's that they think there's been too much of the focus on that. Again, I'm not passing judgment on that right now one way or the other. I'm just saying that there is a perception out there that we need there to be. This administration needs to focus more on the kitchen table issues so called, well, not so called but affordability is what we talk about now.

[Buck Sexton]

I think it's the number one story going into 2026 and I think it's going to determine how the midterms go again. I'm very optimistic about where the economy is, but people have to feel it in their day to day existence. Look, hook yourself up with prize picks. You're going to love it. Unfortunately, the New England Patriots won, but Drake may only had one touchdown pass, not two. And so as a result, result, we'll have to come back next week with another pick for you guys. But on prize picks you can play so many different cool things and they now have started to layer in prediction markets in many different states out there. Trust me, this is super cool. If you haven't checked out the prediction markets, it is a lot of fun. Everything under the sun. Go check it out. They're available in 40 plus states. California, Texas, Florida and Georgia, among others. You get $50 in your account when you play. $5 that is prizepix.com My name Clay prizepix.com C L A Y All right.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. We're talking about how the political scene is playing out right now in the aftermath of the shut down. And J.D. vance, vice president, doing a really phenomenal job. And I feel very positive about the future of maga, the Republican Party, America first, all that stuff, not just with J.D. marco is doing a great job as Secretary of State. Scott Besson is a Treasury secretary. There's a lot of really top tier political talent that Trump has surrounded himself with. And I'll just say this, the biggest difference, I think between other than maybe some focus and the being touched by the hand of God to save Trump's life so that he could win that election. I mean, there's, there's a lot of things, but there's a big difference in the teams this time around versus if you looked at a year into Trump's first term, embattled with the Russia collusion lie a lot of people around him that you know weren't right for the job. You couldn't really trust them. There were problems this time around. The team is excellent And I think J.D. vance is right at the top of that list, which is good because he's a vice president. Here is JD Talking about how the shutdown was much ado about nothing and Democrats, they own it, play it.

[J.D. Vance]

Longest shutdown in history.

[Clay Travis]

Can you tell me what the point.

[Buck Sexton]

Of all that was?

[J.D. Vance]

I wish that I knew, Sean, because here's what the Democrats actually accomplished. They caused a lot of stress for our troops. They made our air traffic controllers not get paid. They caused a lot of flight cancellations. They had a lot of people thinking they weren't going to get their food benefits all for literally nothing, Sean, because we could have struck this exact deal 45 days ago. In fact, we met with Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer and said, we will pass this exact deal. They said no. They put the American people through a ton of pain and suffering for nothing. And we knew this was going to happen, Sean.

[Buck Sexton]

We knew.

[J.D. Vance]

The President, United States said every single day, eventually the Democrats are going to realize this is an absurd position. We've got to reopen the government. And that's what they did.

[Clay Travis]

I clay one part of this, just as we look back on what happened here, imagine the disillusionment of the Republican voter face if the Democrats were, if they had caved on this. So we've got a Republican president, Republican majority in the House and the Senate previously agreed to spending level that was only ever in place because of a, quote, emergency under Biden, the American rescue plan. And they can just make this demand. I mean, in retrospect, it was, the whole thing was absurd.

[Buck Sexton]

They have just made themselves into such a reflexively anti Trump party that there is a benefit in being the most anti Trump Democrat. There isn't actually a tangible political result that is beneficial though. Right. So this is one of those things where we were talking about Jasmine Crockett and I do think it's an interesting conversation. Jasmine Crockett can have for herself a successful brand that she has created that simultaneously makes the larger Democrat brand worse. And that's not really what you want, Right. The goal is for you to be the rising tide that lifts all boats. Maga. I think Trump has very rarely, when he's been on the ballot, harmed anybody else on the ballot around him. And in fact, you can go look at the most contentious states, right? The seven toss up states. Trump, if he had gotten the exact same support that he did for all these other candidates, we'd have 57 or 58 senators in Washington right now. Right. Trump won Arizona, the Senate candidate did not. Trump won Michigan, the Senate candidate did not. Trump won Wisconsin, the Senate candidate did not. Trump won Nevada, the Senate candidate did not. Trump won Georgia. So far the Senate candidates have not. Right.

[Clay Travis]

I'm seeing a pattern.

[Buck Sexton]

So Trump is the rising tide now. Sometimes Dave McCormick, our friend was able to get across that line in the toss up state of Pennsylvania. But by and large, ticket splitters actually voted Trump and then they were more likely to vote Democrat. Jasmine Crockett, please run for Senate in Texas, Jasmine. I hope they Clip this I hope this goes right to you. You are the candidate Texas Democrats need. You are the voice of the oppressed in the state of Texas. No one else can make the case like you can. Please run Clip that. Share it with Jasmine. Ok, here's why Buck that would be a disaster because she would motivate a tiny fringe of the Democrat base which is leading her to prominence, but she would actually drag down the overall Democrat Party ticket around her. And I think one of the challenges that Democrats have is being reflexively anti Trump works in making you more popular in the Democrat Party but actually destroys the Democrat priority's brand on a larger context when it comes to winning in states where it's tough. And so I don't know who can thread that needle, who can be just kind of media mediocre Trump. Right. Like he's not Hitler as a Democrat so that you could straddle that ability to grab the middle road voters. Maybe it's Gretchen Whitmer. I, I, I don't know how that will play out in and I think she's awful, by the way, but she's shown up and been public at Trump press conferences. She hasn't been running from him if that makes sense. And so I wonder can anybody nail that thread that would make them a viable candidate? 28 going forward, if you were to.

[Clay Travis]

Take Joe Biden and reverse the tape about 30 years, something like that, 20 something years. I think that Gavin Newsom and Joe Biden are actually from this they came off the same assembly line. I think that his real skill, you could say oh, but Biden always played Biden. Delaware is blue as blue can be. Has been for a long time. It's why Joe Biden could get elected to the Senate for 40 years. I think that Gavin Newsom is preparing and I know we see it the same way that he's going to be the guy for them. But I think that he'll be able to use political BSing skills to get over a lot of the real policy deficiencies and challenges that exist as a result of his governance of California. So I still think that O'Reilly Uncle Bill, he disagrees with us on this one. We may be carving up a delicious steak. I've never seen Bill in an apron working the grill. This might have to happen out there in Strong Island. Uncle Uncle Bill on the grill. I think that Gavin Newsoms because to your point, it's about you see someone like Jasmine Crockett, yes, I think she's managed to build a brand for herself but I think there are limitations on that brand because of how she's done it. But someone like Gavin Newsom, he'll play the game, man, and he'll say whatever he has to say to whatever audience, and he'll say it pretty well and he'll be slick about it. Biden, we think of now as the doddering old fool. He was kind of a. Just a political windup toy for a long time. I mean, well, put aside the puppeteer stuff of his later life, but I just mean he'd go and he'd grin and he'd say the stuff he had to say to the people he had to say it to. Very Newsome esque in that, in that respect, you know, has. Has a sociopathic ability to falsely connect with people.

[Buck Sexton]

I just, I. I don't know. Right. So I'm already looking ahead to 28. We should probably play at some point in the show. We will the clips from J.D. vance talking about 28, because he's starting to talk about his political future going forward. And he said, hey, at some point after the midterms, I'll sit down with President Trump and talk about with him what my plans are. And there's always the possibility of, you know, there being some wild card candidates out there because I do think a lot of people will run. And Lord knows, I mean, look at what happened in February of 2020 when Covid suddenly showed up in an election year. There's any number of crazy things that can happen as we move towards that 2028 universe. I just think it's going to be the Democrat side. Will there be a lane for someone who's not crazy because Joe Biden took that lane and got the nomination? Or is it going to be a huge cadre of people competing in that Jasmine Crockett crazy lane? Because that's what the party wants in the process.

[Clay Travis]

I think the Democrats need someone who the left knows is actually a leftist. This is the Obama playbook. Yeah, in the case of Biden, it was. They knew that he was the Trojan horse. They knew that he was a false flag, essentially. Like, oh, I'm a moderate. No one thought that everyone knew the advisors were going to be running the show and the advisors were a bunch of commies. Same thing with, with Obama, except they thought Obama was going to be making the decisions. But Obama was even able to pretend to be something else on some key issues to get elected that the Democrat base knew. Oh, yeah, no, he's not really going to do that though. Or he's not really going to view things that way. And you know, gay marriage, for example, being one of the most prominent ones where he just said, yeah, I changed my mind on that. And I think that that was known all along that he would do that. So Gavin Newsom, I think has that same skill set to pretend to be something else. But back to the affordability issue, which I know is something that is on a lot of people's minds right now. Because look, I'll just say this. My father in law is here today. Carrie and him are actually at Home Depot right now working on some plantings, you know, doing the things that, that people do. I have no. I feel badly, by the way. I have no. I am not helpful. He is like, he can.

[Buck Sexton]

He could build a house.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, he has built houses.

[Buck Sexton]

So he just shows up at your house and fixes all sorts of things that are broken.

[Clay Travis]

It's amazing.

[Buck Sexton]

My.

[Clay Travis]

My father, he's the father along with the tool belt who's just like, well, you need to take a few sprockets and connect them into the. The flux capacitor. And then you just take this over thing here and you know, bang, bang, bang. And I'm like, it works amazing. I have no idea what he's doing.

[Buck Sexton]

My father, Laura's dad is also able to fix anything. And he will show up and Laura will have a list of things that she needs fixed and he'll just walk around and fix them.

[Clay Travis]

I. I feel bad, like he's trying to include me in and tell me like how he's fixing the things too. And I'm saying, yeah, like I know what's going on, Clay.

[Buck Sexton]

I have no idea enough to even understand what's going on. I'm the same way.

[Clay Travis]

I have no idea. He's using tools that I've never even seen before. I'm like, what is that? What is that thing? That thing? It looks like you use that to open like you know, a vat of. Of whale oil in the 1860s. Like, what is this? I don't even know what this is. Anyway, here is, Here's a moment though where he. Or there was a moment though where he came in and he just said, I just bought milk. He's making coffee this morning at the house Crockett, obviously. And I just bought some milk. And he's like, it was like $8.

[Buck Sexton]

And I just.

[Clay Travis]

That actually is crazy. Maybe it was 7:70 or something, whatever. But a gallon of milk is almost eight bucks here in Florida. And this is at Publix. This is not at some. This is not at Shay. Fancy Fancy. This is just a grocery store in my neighborhood. Things have gotten really expensive. That is a real thing that people should be annoyed about because it is government policy. We're not in a milk shortage.

[Buck Sexton]

No 100%. And I think this is again where Biden was so bad. Some of you out there, historically, I think the best analogy is how long did it take for the inflation from Jimmy Carter to burn out in public anger. And unfortunately, you just got used to what things cost and then people were able to adjust.

[Clay Travis]

JD Went right into this with Sean last night. Let's play cut 20 here where he's saying, look, yes, prices are high. This does take some time to adjust. Play 20.

[J.D. Vance]

A lot of people out there, Sean, who are saying things are expensive. And we have to remember they're expensive because we inherited this terrible inflation crisis from the Biden administration. But you've already seen signs that things are getting better. The price of eggs has gone way down. The price of energy has gone way down. The price of gasoline has gone way down. And as we know, when the price of energy goes down, that starts to filter out into the entire economy. But that, that also takes a little bit of time.

[Buck Sexton]

It's true. You go, and I think again, for those of you who lived through the worst, worse inflation of Jimmy Carter, you and I, Buck, were so young, um, was it 1984 when you suddenly started thinking, okay, the Reagan economy is starting to take flight? Certainly when he won 49 states, that's a pretty good sign that people were voting with their pocketbooks then. But when do people get used? Because I'll be honest, I've never lived through this. I'm still frustrated with what things cost because you have in your mind what something should cost and then you get a bill and it's way more than that. And it makes you angry. And the big challenge, and again, I've said it, is you can't really dial that back once price increases are embedded. You just have to slow down the increase and then slowly people get used to it.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, do you feel like the Sultan of Brunei, though, when you buy Chick Fil A for your kids these days? Like 100 bucks?

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, it's crazy. Yes.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

Like when I'm, when I'm looking, when I'm sitting there thinking to myself, when I'm going through the drive thru and I see like, I pull up and they're like, that'll be $64. I'm like, $64? Used to be you could go into a restaurant, sit down and have a meal and it would be like $64 for my family. Now it's a fast food meal. And by the way, this is one of the challenges these fast casual chains are having in general is they're not much more, you know, the, the difference in cost is not that substantial now right between them.

[Clay Travis]

And that Delta has, has changed a lot in a big way. Yeah. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews do a remarkable job of bringing people together of different faiths. For decades, this nonprofit organization has been a bridge between communities. Whether the focus is on the Jewish population living in Israel, Europe, or here at home, where many people are often subjected to anti Semitism. The IFCJ is taking a stand. Your donations allow that to happen effectively. They're giving food and shelter to Jewish families that feel under threat and they're helping survivors of hate rebuild their lives. And they don't just respond to crisis, they work every day to prevent it. Your gift of $45 will help keep bridging the gaps. Supporting the IFCJ is a spiritual stand too. So please call 888-488-ICJ. That's 888-488-4325 or go online to ifcj.org every dollar helps. Don't wait. Be the difference ifcj.org or call 888-488-IFCJ.

[Buck Sexton]

Geek out with the guys on the Sunday Hang with Clay and Buck podcast a new episode every Sunday. Find it on the iHeart app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. We will take some of your calls, 800-282-2882. We're also going to head out to California, talk to our buddy Steve Hilton at the bottom of the next hour. He's running for governor as a Republican and we wanted to talk somewhat, Buck, about the fact that, that all of that area that was burned in the wildfires, it's now been roughly 10 months or so since that happened. There's been almost no rebuilding that has been allowed to take place at all there. If you wonder what is going on, why people are so fed up with Gavin Newsom's leadership, that's a lot of Democrats, Republicans, independents, people who live in that LA area that lost their homes. We had Adam Carolla on to talk about this because he has a place and has lived in that area his whole life. I do think that this is a major issue. We'll talk about that with Steve Hilton. Also, President Trump has posted on the Jeffrey Epstein story as it appears more of those investigatory files are going to be released soon. And he is saying something that you and I have been talking about for a long time, why? And I'll read that for you at the top of the next hour. But something to think about. There's part of this story that has never added up for you or me is how in the world did Jeffrey Epstein get so filthy rich? Most people who become 7,800 million dollars wealth billionaires, there's a big ticket win that they had. They had an ownership in a big company. They sold some asset that's tangible that you can look at and say that's never been the case with Epstein. How did he go from having virtually nothing to being worth in the neighborhood of 5, 600, $700 million. What happened there? Trump saying, let's look at the banks and figure out what they knew about the transactions there and the money that was moving in and out of his accounts.

[Clay Travis]

Yep. I think that's the right move for Trump. Say, you know what, if we're going to do this, let's really do this, everybody. Let's see who knew what and when. Because I have every confidence that none of this goes anywhere near a problem for Trump personally. But some of these financial bigwigs and some of these banks and what were they doing with this guy Clay? Very interesting. Trump takes us into that direction. We'll talk about it coming up.

[Buck Sexton]

Wishing the holidays could come early.

[Clay Travis]

If you own or manage your business, they can.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

People are already shopping for their loved.

[Buck Sexton]

Ones and hunting for deals wherever they can find them, including right here. They're listening to the radio. They're listening to podcasts. They could be listening to you. Don't wait for everyone else to kick off the holidays. Get your best season of the year up and running today. Call 844-844-IHEART or visit iheartadvertising.com.

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