Hour 1 - Big Wins on Economy and Crime

Summary

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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Hour 1 - Big Wins on Economy and Crime
Date: August 29, 2025
Host: Clay Travis & Buck Sexton
Publisher: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

Clay Travis and Buck Sexton dive into “big wins” for conservatives on the intertwined issues of the economy and crime, with a recurring focus on positive data for Trump, shifts in Democratic tactics, media narratives, and deepening partisan polarization. They inject trademark humor and banter, referencing cultural moments and current political figures, and pay particular attention to how recent policy moves and polling numbers are shaping perceptions as America heads into the Labor Day weekend.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Good News in “Trump World” (01:17–02:59)

• Buck kicks off with optimism, highlighting “good news coming out of Trump World”—strong polling, successes on crime and the economy, and increased unity within the Republican Party.
• Recap of prior show’s debate with Trey Gowdy, emphasizing healthy disagreement within the GOP, especially regarding how Republican leaders should handle issues like a hypothetical Trump pardon (03:05).

Memorable Quote:

“I commend [Trey Gowdy’s] willingness to come on the show and discuss them and have a civil exchange… Even within the Republican Party, we got to be willing to say, I think this, you think that. Let’s talk about it.” — Buck Sexton (01:45)

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2. Debate: Flag Burning, Free Speech, and Equal Application (03:37–08:10)

• Discussion of Trump’s executive order on flag desecration, clarifying that the EO targets crimes committed during flag burning (e.g., arson, theft, public safety), not simple flag burning, which remains protected by Supreme Court precedent (Texas v. Johnson).
• Clay and Buck agree the headlines were misleading but welcome debate on principles: Should laws protect the American flag but not pride or other flags?
• Both emphasize the importance of “equal application of the law”—if burning one flag is legal, it should be legal for all, regardless of political or social affiliations.

Notable Quote:

“I think burning the American flag is absolutely disgraceful. And if I were in charge, you wouldn’t be able to do it. But the existing Supreme Court law is very clear… You have to have a new Supreme Court decision to change that.” — Buck Sexton (06:27)

• Clay suggests the left would oppose penalties for burning the American flag but support them for desecrating the pride flag, arguing for consistency rather than politicization.

Timestamped Moment:

“The conversation becomes more difficult on the left if... you burn a pride flag, there’s no punishment but for the American flag there is. That’s not principle-based.” — Clay Travis (06:48)

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3. The Trump Economy: Data and Democratic Panic (10:01–12:29)

• Citing CNBC’s Steve Liesman, Buck notes strong growth in private sector wages (5% annualized), low inflation, a robust job market, and record-high stock markets.

Quote:

“Labor market looking good, stock market looking good, price of gas low. How many of these things, Clay, can pile up that look good before even the haters have to admit Trump knows what he’s doing?” — Buck Sexton (10:09)

• Clay frames Democrats as increasingly desperate, unable to land effective critiques as Trump delivers on multiple issues—using colorful analogies from boxing (Mayweather) and films (The Matrix).
• The metaphor: Trump as Mayweather or “dodging bullets in The Matrix”—Democrats can’t land a punch (12:29).

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4. Public Mood: Partisan Polarization in Satisfaction (13:22–15:16)

• Gallup polling shows 76% of Republicans satisfied with direction of the country; 0% of Democrats satisfied.
• Hosts say this is the largest partisan happiness gap ever—evidence, in their view, of Democrats’ unwillingness to give Trump credit even as things improve.

Quote:

“If you are a rational person, I don’t understand what you can be upset about… It is just a total function of their inability to give Trump credit for anything.” — Clay Travis (14:33)

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5. Crime Reduction and Public Opinion (23:16–27:46)

• Boot-on-the-ground reports from business owners and residents in D.C. confirm feeling safer due to reduced crime and increased law enforcement presence.
• Clay cites AP data: 81% of Americans see crime as a major problem in big cities.
• Hosts accuse Democrats of being out of touch, taking the “wrong side” of a near-consensus issue. Trump’s focus on crime, they say, is another area where his team has vastly improved in the 2.0 administration.

Quote:

"You have allowed Trump—Democrats have—to take an issue that 99% of people agree with him on, and you’ve taken the other side." — Clay Travis (26:27)

• Buck raises the logistical challenges (activist judges, building infrastructure) but says progress is clear.

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6. Democratic Response and Strategy: Newsom, Harris, and Moore (29:35–37:10)

• Buck lampoons Gavin Newsom for suddenly promoting “law and order” initiatives as governor of California, calling it a page from Trump’s book (30:11).
• Clay predicts Newsom will campaign on centrist policies he hasn’t enacted, buoyed by media coverage, but will govern from the left if elected.
• Discussion of Democratic race for 2028 and beyond: Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, and rising star Wes Moore (Maryland) dissected as potential candidates.
• Wes Moore’s bio and brand discussed—hosts note his experience and appeal as a moderate, law-and-order Democrat (34:39).

Quote:

“Gavin Newsom is going to try to just occupy the middle by arguing for things that he’s actually not done during his whole tenure as the governor of California.” — Clay Travis (30:19)

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7. Cultural & Gender Politics in Elections (36:14–37:35)

• Hosts speculate that Democrats will pair a white male (likely Newsom) with a Black male like Moore or a woman (Gretchen Whitmer) as VP, but are skeptical about female-led tickets.
• Clay provocatively suggests more women preferred Biden than Clinton or Harris, theorizing dislike of those particular female candidates rather than misogyny.
• Buck jokes about Clay’s “mansplaining” podcast idea—"Clay Splain."

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8. Bonus / Quick Hits (42:19–45:34)

• News update: Iowa Senator Joni Ernst reportedly not seeking reelection—potentially key for Senate control (42:19).
• Governor Abbott signs Texas redistricting into law: hosts mock prior claims that it would "end democracy" (44:07).
• Final segment affirms confidence in the direction of the country, especially in economic and crime-fighting domains.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• Honest Dissent in GOP:
  “We got to be willing to say, I think this. You think that. Let’s talk about it.” — Buck Sexton (01:45)

• On Flag Burning:
  “If flag burning is legal, flag burning is legal. I don’t care what flag it is.” — Buck Sexton (08:10)

• Economy Booming:
  “How many of these things, Clay, can pile up that look good before even the haters and the losers have to admit Trump knows what he’s doing?” — Buck Sexton (10:09)

• Democratic Desperation:
  “Democrats can’t land a punch on him. It is like… Mayweather… He would just, you know, bob and weave… That’s kind of Trump right now.” — Clay Travis (11:33)

• On Crime Policy:
  “You have allowed Trump—Democrats have—to take an issue that 99% of people agree with him on, and you’ve taken the other side.” — Clay Travis (26:27)

• Polling Gap:
  “According to Gallup, 0% [of Democrats are] happy with where the… 0%.” — Buck Sexton (14:33)

• On Democrats Copying Conservatives:
  “Gavin Newsom talking about law enforcement surge to deal with crime. He came up with that idea on his own. That’s amazing.” — Buck Sexton (30:11)

• On Gender Politics:
  “You doing a podcast where you mansplain feminism to feminists would honestly be… Clay Splain, where I just tell women what they need to hear.” — Buck & Clay (37:10–37:31)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Trump, GOP, and Trey Gowdy Discussion: 01:17–03:37
• Flag Burning, Free Speech, and Law: 03:37–08:10
• Economy: Wage Growth and Market Strength: 10:01–12:29
• Partisan Polarization on National Satisfaction: 13:22–15:16
• Crime Reduction, D.C. Coverage, and Public Opinion Polling: 23:16–27:46
• Democrats’ Pivot on Crime—Newsom, Moore, and 2028 Preview: 29:35–37:10
• News Update: Iowa Senate, Texas Redistricting: 42:19–45:34

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Overall Tone & Style

• Language: Conversational, spirited, laced with sharp wit and cultural references
• Mood: Victorious, confident, often incredulous at Democratic maneuvers
• Dynamic: Clay and Buck trade analogies, political analysis, and friendly jibes, ensuring a show that’s both entertaining and information-rich

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For Listeners Who Missed the Show

This episode is a “victory lap” for the hosts, celebrating conservative policy wins on crime reduction and the economy, while illustrating the ongoing “partisan reality gap.” Clay and Buck provide listeners with punchy, data-driven arguments and memorable quips as they dissect shifting political strategies, polling revelations, and the Democrats’ (as they frame it) struggles to find effective opposition to Trump’s second-term agenda. The show’s balance of news, analysis, and irreverent humor makes it a valuable listen—or read—for anyone tracking the current political landscape.

Transcript

[Mary Katharine Ham and Carol Markowitz]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[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.

[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. Welcome everybody to the Friday edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. And my oh my, we have a lot to discuss with you. Some some good news, more good news coming out of Trump World. Based on the data, the polling, I voted for this. You voted for this. It's a beautiful time in America. Beautiful time. Enjoy it. It's beautiful. A lot of good things happening and something that we think is certainly to be encouraged. But we will discuss the politics of it. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, is all of a sudden Mr. Law and Order. All of a sudden he wants to send law enforcement to address statewide crime issues in his state. We've got more on the DC Surge. Those things of course, very much related. We've got some of the continued aftermath of the Minneapolis church shooting, which we will discuss how Democrats and thank you for all of your commentary. Yesterday. We had a late discussion with Mr. Trey Gowdy and I will tell you I was legitimately surprised by his positions. But I also commend his willingness to come on the show and discuss them and have a Civil exchange. And. And we've always got to be willing to have. Even within the Republican Party, we got to be willing to say, I think this. You think that. Let's talk about it. And. And we did so. And we got a lot of you weighing in on that one. And I appreciate. I appreciate that. I'm glad Trey didn't hang up, Clay. That would have made me sad, because I'm like, we don't want.

[Clay Travis]

I want to surprise me, because I didn't think that it was, like, a particularly conscientious argument.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. I have no beef with Trey at all. I just think he's wrong on this. Right. There's a. And you all know the difference. You all know when there's somebody Clay has no beef with. I've forgotten his name now, as has everyone else, the former Vice President, Mike Pence. Thank you. That tells you. I'm like, who's that guy who was vice president? Clay has no personal beef with Mike Pence. Now, that was, I think, a little more contentious, but he has no personal beef with Mike Pence. He just thinks that you should be man enough to answer, would you pardon Donald Trump or not? And he wouldn't. Right. So that was kind of a big.

[Clay Travis]

Kind of big question back in the race. Um, and I think you should just tell us what you actually think. I mean, it doesn't mean that I have to agree with everything. And we talked about this week, by the way, Trump on the burning American flag. You and I didn't agree with it. You're not going to agree 100% with everybody on everything.

[Buck Sexton]

So on that, by the way, I meant to. I'm going to. I'm going to divert from our big headlines of the day for one second to go to that, because I meant to speak about this, but they're out with. With the shooting at the church, and there's been, you know, we got a very active news cycle this week. But Clay. So it was interesting, that executive order, when. When I went back and looked at it, and I will hat tip Mark Levin for pointing this out.

[Clay Travis]

The.

[Buck Sexton]

The headline the White House put out on the executive order was certainly. It was basically saying, you know, we're. We're. I'm trying to find it right now, but it's basically saying were passing an executive order to ban flag burning. I mean, it was something that really indicated. But the executive order itself was more directed toward. Well, we want to make it clear that any criminality involved in burning a flag, stealing the flag, all the, you know, incendiary in public, whatever it is, incendiary device in public, that. That will be prosecuted. So there was a little bit of. It was a little bit different than I think was initially. Here you go. This is the White. I actually have in front of me now. The White House said, and this is from their official account prosecuting burning of the American flag. But then when you get into the executive order, and I already. I hat tipped Mark on this because I look, he's a very smart guy, understands the law. I said, if he's thinking this, I'm sure I gotta go in and read this executive order. The order directs the Attorney General to vigorously prosecute those who violate our laws in ways that involve desecrating the flag and to pursue litigation to clarify the scope of the First Amendment in the area. So it also instructs the Attorney General to refer flag desecration cases that violate state or local laws. So, Clay, it's basically saying it's not that the. If you go out and burn your own flag, it's not illegal under this executive order. Trump wishes it was illegal and is going to litigate and disagrees with that Supreme Court case. But if you take someone else's flag or you create a public disturbance or some public danger through the burning of. So, you know, it's a little.

[Clay Travis]

It's threading a very.

[Buck Sexton]

It's threading a needle here. But that is. That is the distinction that was made.

[Clay Travis]

I wish that they had done this argument in the context of burning trans and gay.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, that was what we said. To be clear, we hit that right away. I said, you can't have. Burning trans flag sends you to prison for 15 years, but burning American flag is fine. And also, to be clear, I think burning the American flag is absolutely disgraceful. And if I were in charge, you wouldn't be able to do it. But the existing Supreme Court law is very clear on this. You have to have a new Supreme Court decision to. To change that.

[Clay Travis]

But I think if you went in and said, hey, we're not going to now create a difference in how we treat flags based on the politics behind them. So you stand for the principle of punishment should be either in existence for all of them or none of them. I would argue none of them. I understand people would disagree. I'm not saying that I want to burn any flag. I don't think that's particularly helpful. But I actually think the conversation becomes more difficult on the left if you. Instead of saying. Because they're naturally going to say, oh, you should be able to Burn the American flag. Because many on the left do not like America and are not proud of our country. But if you then tell them, hey, but if you burn a pride flag, there's no punishment if you put pride flag on. We've had conversations about this, but I'm still fired up about it. If you put a pride flag on the road, you can't charge someone with a hate crime because they burn rubber on it.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

You're basically trying to set up a crime opportunity when you put a flag on the road. So if he takes that step, then I think it turns into a really interesting conversation because what you will get them to do, Buck, is they will say, well, no, you should go to prison for burning. Correct. A gay pride flag when this happened.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, right. We hit this when it happened. That's what I said. I said this is the. The thing. This. And so to Trump's credit on this one, one, he's establishing that he thinks that the flag should be protected. And a lot of us agree with that. It currently is not just to be. There's no. The White House does not dispute that. So anybody in my mentions or emailing us, the White House doesn't dispute that. Technically, right now, the burning the American flag because of Texas, what was it, Texas v. Johnson or something, the Supreme Court case. That is still good law that it can be burned. But the only, the only complaint I would have about how the White House rolled this out is when the headline is prosecuting burning of the American flag, everyone's going to assume, ok, well, this is a. This is. It's actually prosecuting laws violated in the act of burning the flag, other than burning the flag. So it's a little. So that is where there is some wiggle room here. And I think it raised the issue to public consciousness. But the politics of it, to your point, on the trans flag and how that's a sacred symbol of the state. No, that's unacceptable. Or any, honestly, LGBT flag, you know, Palestinian flag, you know, whatever. If flag burning is legal, flag burning is legal. I don't care what flag it is. All right, so I think we've covered that, but I, Clay, I did really want to return to that because there was some confusion around it. And there we have it. All right, now onto some fun good news here. Just some great stuff that I would love to talk to everybody about. First of all, we got to keep an eye on the situation of the economy because it affects all of us. And here's cnbc, Steve Leesman just letting you know hey, Trump's president. You know, private sector wages looking pretty nice, looking pretty good. Play one here. Is private sector wages a 0.7%. That's pretty strong. Pretty strong. That's a strong number. Do you want to annualize that on national television or should I do it for you at about 5%?

[Clay Travis]

You're about 5%.

[Buck Sexton]

Those are strong numbers suggesting of a strong.

[Clay Travis]

Well, labor market.

[Buck Sexton]

How is the labor market weak if.

[Clay Travis]

Wages are going up quite so strongly?

[Buck Sexton]

Labor market looking good. Okay, just noting that inflation looking good, labor market looking good, stock market looking good, price of gas low. How many of these things Clay can pile up that look good before even the haters, the haters and the losers have to admit Trump knows what he's doing.

[Clay Travis]

No doubt. And this is where you can see the shifting panic in the Democrat arguments. Because if we took you back to April, it was tariffs, the economy's gonna collapse. We played yesterday, the growth rate in the second quarter was 3.3% which was a multi year high. Earnings, if you pay attention to them, have been fantastic. We are right now right around record all time highs in the stock market. And so they tried to make crime their thing. The problem is Trump is driving down crime and most people, white, black, Asian and Hispanic are in favor of him driving down crime. The border is completely shut down. The only real face of the, the, the, the kicking people out of the country who shouldn't be here legally that are not here legally. The only real face of deportation so far is, is somehow a human trafficking wife beater. Kilmar Abreu Garcia. This is where I say Trump has picked smart things to focus on. Democrats can't land a punch on him. It is like remember back in the day, Floyd Mayweather was such a good boxer. This is one of the most debilitating things I've ever heard. He would pick fights, slap people in the face, let them throw full on punches at him and he was so quick he could just dodge him. When he would get in fights, he would just, you know, bob and weave, slap a guy in the face and never actually need to throw a punch. And then just wait until the guy throwing big punches at him just got super tired and basically, basically stopped. That's kind of Trump right now.

[Buck Sexton]

That's up there with the mean older brother move of getting on top of you and then using your own hands to slap you in the face. You know, why are you slapping yourself in the face while you're making him slap himself in the face? I didn't realize that that the boxer had done something.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, Mayweather was so quick back in the day that he didn't even get in fights with people. He just basically stood there and said, you can't hit me. And I feel like Trump is in many ways like that. Another analogy that a lot of people will get the Matrix, where eventually you understand how everything is moving so well that you can basically dodge bullets in the Matrix films, they can't land a punch on him. They cannot manage to actually make arguments against what he is doing. And it's all just shifting gobbledygook.

[Buck Sexton]

Did you know that the directors of the Matrix are now both trans.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, I did that. The Wachowski Bros have now decided to become the Wachowski chicks.

[Buck Sexton]

Look, I, I give, I give them credit.

[Clay Travis]

For movies are good.

[Buck Sexton]

One of the bet, one of the best. The first Matrix. The rest of them are trash. But the first Matrix movie is one of the best action movies of all time, in my opinion. I think it definitely goes solidly in the top 10. Speaking of best of all time, Gallup percent I. I love this. And we can come back and talk a little more about this, Clay, because this is. You all need to know this. You all should be taking a moment. This. Wow, is it Labor Day weekend this weekend? Holiday weekend? That's just hitting me. Oh, wow. Okay. This holiday weekend, you should take a moment to be excited about this. The percentage of Americans who are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. right now, Republicans, 76% are satisfied with the way things are going in the country right now. Which people are never happy in these surveys. Right? I mean, the 24% of Republicans who aren't happy or just like, oh, like until the, until the Federal Reserve is gone and until we have no troops and any bases, you know, and by the way, maybe you're right. Ok, maybe you're right. But you know, you got to take wins where you can get them. Like, things are going pretty well. It's like, oh, until. Until we're back on the gold standard. Like, I don't want to hear anything. But in the meantime, Clay, Democrats, according to Gallup, 0% happy with where the 0%.

[Clay Travis]

It is the largest gap that has ever existed in partisan politics between happiness based on who? The president. And look, I shared this on social media. I really legitimately think if you are a rational person, I don't understand what you can be upset about. We can have some conversations about this. Even if I try to be a Democrat and just sit back and say, okay, what has Trump done that is bad. Almost everything that he has done in many ways, like strip away the politics of it. We'll talk about this when we come back because we're hitting a break. But I do think it is just a total function of their inability to give Trump credit for anything. That's the reality of what these numbers are showing.

[Buck Sexton]

You've been a coach in sports, I've been a coach in sports. And there are the times where you have to call your team into the huddle or the halftime and you have to, you know, read them the business, so to speak, and then the times where you got to say keep doing what you're doing as the best you know what you're doing. We are ahead. Stay focused, stay this administration. Right now, I largely feel like I'm in the latter category of just the focus on the border, the focus on the economy, the focus on crime, the focus on the things that matter and they're doing it the right way and they have good people in place. So I, we need them to keep doing it. But there's no riot act to read them right now, as far as I'm concerned. I think this Trump White House is doing A. I give them an A because I can't give an A plus because it could always be better.

[Clay Travis]

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[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 v. You trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find anywhere else.

[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.

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Mary Katharine Ham and Carol Markowitz]

I'm Mary Kathryn Ham. And I'm Carol Markowitz. We've been in political media for a long time. Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane. That's why we started Normally, a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity. We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor. We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously. So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass, you're our kind of people. Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay. Travis Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us. A lot of reactions pouring in yesterday day before. We'll get to some of those as as it is Friday and also we'll talk with our friend Alex Berenson next hour. And then Mary Katherine Ham, who's been doing really good work at Fox News and Also on Outkick VIP. Email from Dr. Gordon. I'm a graduate of the Citadel, former 82nd Airborne paratrooper, former South Carolina National Guard, officer in the South Carolina State Guard. In regards to discussion on burning the US Flag, the reason they had to frame it that way is because we actually burn. Well, look, this is Getting very detailed in terms of, in terms of how exactly this is written. Again, there's a ton of different perspectives out there and I think the way to handle this is if you cannot burn a trans flag, if you cannot burn a gay pride flag or any other aspect out there, then you shouldn't be able to burn the American flag. Well, I think we need to get across here.

[Buck Sexton]

We need to get this Supreme Court to look at hate crime. I think hate crime legislation should be unconstitutional because it inherently elevates some classes of victims based on identity, historical injustice or identity or whatever. It's like people are people doing bad thing to one human being. Doing a bad thing to another human being should not be different based upon historical inequity. Alright, on the days you need energy, you need Chalk's best stuff. This is the nutritional supplement company on a mission to make men and women feel their very best. Oh, look, I've got chalk right here in my hand. I keep it at my desk. The Chalk Daily, my friends, well named because I take it daily and you read a label, it says boost free and total testosterone. Testosterone is really important, guys. If you don't have enough of it, you end up like an MSNBC watcher. You end up like Mamdani who can't bench £130 without looking like his arms are going to fall off. Chalk's male vitality sack will help you guys. Chalk's male vitality sack can replenish testosterone by 20% in three months time. Don't become a commie momdani. Go check out Chalk. Use my name Buck as your promo code when you go to chalk choq.com promo code buck. You'll get a big discount on any subscription for Life. Go to chalk choq.com check out all their supplements. Chalk Daily, the glutathione. They got amazing stuff. But use code [e-mail]. all right, welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. We got some good news we talked to you about with Trump on the economy and also Republicans are just very happy with the direction of the country. To Clay's point. What is the bad thing that we're supposed to be upset that Trump is doing right now? Trying to lower crime in Washington D.C. our nation's capital, which has been plagued by just unacceptable and really terrible crime for a very long time. Let's check in on that, shall we? Let's take a look at this. First off here is, and we'll credit journalist Nicholas Balassi for this. Business owners and managers in Washington D.C. the people that are actually dealing with this and around this. You always want to go to the source, right? Here's what they're saying about the situation. Play 6. It was a little dicey at times, especially at the later times in the hour. I would see fights break out whenever I just walking home. But now it's a lot more quiet. What do you think about that security? What's your reaction to it? You think it's been good for the. Yeah, I welcome it. I think it's a great idea. I have noticed that they have been cleaning some of the graffiti off in some of the areas, like on the highways and that kind of stuff. Do you feel safer now than before now? And do you have any experience with safety being an issue before? It's like a lot of like car lost, stealing, a lot like gun problem. A lot of rob and a lot of like trucks and gun. So now it's much better. Now it's much better. It's quiet. They're clinic graffiti. All these things you're hearing, you're going, who. Who hears this Clay and says what a monster Trump is. They're cleaning up graffiti and making sure people don't get shot. And businesses feel like their customers don't have to worry about being robbed outside them. Monstrous stuff from Trump.

[Clay Travis]

Well, yesterday I shared the AP data. 81% of Americans say that violent crime in big cities is a major problem. The 18% of Americans say it's a minor problem in big cities. One percent say it's not a problem. So you have allowed Trump Democrats have to take an issue that 99% of people agree with him on. And you've taken the other side. Now there's probably, what, 20% of the Democrat base that if President Trump waved a magic wand and all violent crime ceased to exist in the country, they would still say, oh, this is exactly what Hitler would do, because their brain is so broken that they lack the ability to give any credit to Trump at all. But this is where it and I just come back to it again and again. This is where the team that Trump has put in place for 2.0, frankly, it is orders of magnitude better than 1.0. There's very few things I can even point to and say they're not executing at a phenomenally high level. In fact, Buck, my biggest concern is that Trump is doing so much in this first year that I don't even know what he's going to do in years two, three and four.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, moving, I think the continuation of it, right? I mean, the border it's, it's, you turn into maintenance mode a little bit on some of this with the border. The, the deportation numbers, I think I saw it was 200,000 so far this year. So those numbers are ramping up. We want to see a lot more of that. But those numbers are getting stronger and stronger with time. They have to build the infrastructure and they have to build the deportation infrastructure, while you have all these lib activist judges that are just deciding they run U.S. immigration policy. They're actually the president. They can shut things down. They can turn planes around in midair if they say so. So they're working against that clear opposition. But, but Clay, I never thought that I would say this. Kamala Harris may be the template of Democrat strategy on some of these issues going forward. Now, let me explain. You wouldn't usually think of Kamala Harris as a tactician, as the, you know, the second coming of Machiavelli in politics. But you will recall, Clay, at one point when she was running against Donald Trump in her short and ill fated campaign, she came up with this incredible idea. And the idea was no tax on tips. And she came forward and she said, hey guys, I have this great idea. No tax on tips. And everyone kind of looked at her except for the Democrats who were told to clap in the audience and said, right, you mean the thing that Trump has been saying and pushing for, for months and months and months and now this is your idea. I bring it up because Gavin Newsom is taking a page from the Kamala book. Taking a page from the Trump book. Gavin Newsom is surging law enforcement in his home state to address crime issues. Plus, pray, sorry, Play clip two Effort.

[Clay Travis]

That will now take shape on border division down in San Diego. We're going to advance this effort down in LA to other parts of the Central Valley, not just limited to Bakersfield, in partnership with Mayor Goh there in San Bernardino. And we're going to expand this operation in a collaborative that continues to include the cities and counties, our partners in the sheriff's office and local law enforcement agencies. We continue as well to work with the federal partners.

[Buck Sexton]

Wait a second. Gavin Newsom talking about law enforcement surge to deal with crime. He came up with that idea on his own. That's amazing.

[Clay Travis]

I do think it's emblematic of what Gavin Newsom's entire presidential campaign is going to be. He is shameless. He knows that there is very little consequence for changing positions. The media has his back if he's going to be the Democrat nominee. I think that Gavin Newsom is going to try to just occupy the middle by arguing for things that he's actually not done during his whole tenure as the governor of California. And I think he knows that he'll get cover from the media and he'll run like Joe Biden did, and then he'll get into office and he'll run super left wing. I think that that is the way that they think they can get back to power. And so if you look at the gambling markets, Gavin Newsom, you. You and I might think, and I think we do, and most of you out there might agree with us that he has embarrassed himself in the way that he has been behaving over the past several weeks. Shamelessness, dishonesty. The markets don't agree with us. They are saying Gavin Newsom has drastically taken early lead. That's very early. But some of you are going to say, well, why does this matter? A lot of big donors get behind these presidential campaigns super early. And I am telling you, Gavin Newsom is going to announce for President probably January 2027, and we're officially going to be a go. And I think you have to make Gavin Newsom a substantial favorite to be the nominee right now. I don't think he has any foundation. I don't think he has any core value. I think he is, even for a politician uniquely without a spine. Do you want me to.

[Buck Sexton]

Do you want me to let.

[Clay Travis]

You're wrong on everything, Buck. That's benefit.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. Well, do you want me to let you out of your coma? Bet with whatever they call it in betting where I'll give you like a. You'll pay a minor penalty. You'll get me an appetizer instead of the full steak. Clay.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, I. I said she would run. I still know she's gonna run.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, I know. Okay. All right. You're. You're still. You're sticking with it, huh? You're sticking with.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I just. I don't buy that, Kamala. And again, this goes into the psychology of why some people run. I don't buy that Kamala has anything else that she loves. Meaning how is she going to occupy that time? She's still only 61.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, I know. I know. You're. I just. I'm trying to be neighborly, trying to be a good friend here, you know, a good co host, and offer you an out. Because I think. We both think Gavin Newsom is in the number one slot right now to be the next Democrat nominee. Gavin Newsom certainly thinks so. However, another name that you and I have bandied about here as a possibility, certainly I think as a VP possibility just because of the name recognition issue. A name recognition issue. But maybe the top of the ticket, Governor West Moore of Maryland. And here's what he is saying. Not a big surprise given what's going on here about federal support in fighting crime. Play 3 Baltimore still ranks third in.

[Clay Travis]

The nation in violent crime rate per.

[Buck Sexton]

Capita in the nation that you would.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome in the president.

[Buck Sexton]

I states help if crime in Maryland.

[Clay Travis]

I'm unlimited time and I want to.

[Buck Sexton]

Give you a chance to address.

[Clay Travis]

I would absolutely support. Apparently there we go.

[Buck Sexton]

You would welcome federal support. That's wonderful to hear.

[Clay Travis]

I would absolutely welcome federal support. But I also know what federal support is going to be necessary and required. It's the reason that I've said we would love to have additional support for license plate readers. Things that we know can actually stop crimes as they are happening and making sure that people are brought to justice.

[Buck Sexton]

Can I just point this. This is exactly that was our friend Will came by the way in his Fox News show. And and good, good on Will for getting the answer out here. Notice Wes Moore, who wants to be president. I think we all know this wants to run and wants to be president and has a very, you know, is I think it's West Point is West Point grad. I know he's a veteran. I think he went to West Point, you know, played football. Like there's a lot about this guy that that fixes some of the problems Democrats have on the brand side. Right. So tell, tell me guys if he went to West Point or not. I don't want to mess up his bio. I know he was a football player. I know he's a veteran. So he's a black guy, veteran football player. You know, comes across.

[Clay Travis]

He went to Valley Forge military which is a. I'm sorry.

[Buck Sexton]

There we go.

[Clay Travis]

But then he went to Johns Hopkins, according to the bio, Johns Hop. And then got a master's from Oxford but was in the 82nd Airborne. And so I knew he was a.

[Buck Sexton]

Veteran and I knew he'd been a football player. I wasn't sure about the military college, but thank you for that or, you know, military undergrad program. So anyway, the point is he's got the, he's got the bayou. He's got the background to be a formidable candidate. And notice what he's saying, Clay. This is what I've said all along is so crazy about the Democrats. It shouldn't be Trump. Why are you trying to stop the murders if they were Smart. What they would be saying is, oh, no, we agree we should definitely address this problem in D.C. here's though, the way that we think it should go. And then you criticize, you know, oh, well, Trump with the National Guardian. What they're saying is there's no problem. And the whole country has said, you guys are insane. There's clearly a problem. So Wes Moore has pivoted into a defensible position of, I think, in anticipation of what this guy's brand building exercise is going to be as he runs for president. Just like look at Gavin Newsom surging law enforcement. The smart Democrats see the handwriting on the wall.

[Clay Travis]

I, if I were betting right now, I would say they go, gavin Newsom, president, Wes Moore, vp, Because that gives them the. I think that they're going to be a little bit reticent. The other one that I would say is Gretchen Whitmer as vp. But I think the Democrats are actually going to be a little bit reticent to try to go female again.

[Buck Sexton]

I think, I think they are. And I think it's because they realize abortion is not going to win the presidency for them. It's not going to happen. And they thought it would. It's not going to happen.

[Clay Travis]

It's also interesting, women supported Joe Biden more than they did Hillary and Kamala. And I haven't heard anybody else really talk about this, but everybody says, oh, it's misogyny, it's misogyny, men won't vote for women, things like that. I actually think that there are a lot of women that do not find Hillary or Kamala to be actually very likable and are more likely to vote for a male Democrat candidate than they are a female Democrat candidate. And I never hear anybody talk about that. It's always like, men are to blame when women don't win. Men are to blame. Men are to blame. But Trump did better against Hillary and against Kamala for women than he did against Biden. It's just kind of interesting, right?

[Buck Sexton]

You, I just want to say this. You doing a podcast where you mansplain feminism to feminists would honestly be. That would actually be great. It would, it would be really good. You know, the First Amendment in boobs guy explaining feminism to the feminists. Here's why, ladies, you vote for men instead of women.

[Clay Travis]

We should just call it Clay Splain, where I just tell women what they need to hear.

[Buck Sexton]

I think, I think we're on to something.

[Clay Travis]

Do really, really well. Make everybody miserable, including my wife. But it would do very, very well.

[Buck Sexton]

Okay, look, President Trump wants to see this country emerge as the, the leader. It's critical, the leader in artificial intelligence. And that's where we were. But now China, because of Biden, because of some lost years, has gotten right up next to us and we need to be the leader in AI. This is absolutely critical for our military, for our economy, for world leadership going forward. Now President Trump sees this crucial technological battle for what it is, and he's taking big steps. A trillion dollar plus investment that's drawing in multiple partners thanks to this Trump administration. Now, I call this the Manhattan Project too, to take back our lead in the air arms race and to engage a handful of US Firms that are going to get big contracts in the billions of dollars. So this could trigger an investment boom and soon, I mean, as soon as October 15th. And I break all this down for you in a brand new interview, including the companies that I believe could soar when this comes about. Find this interview and all the details at a new website. We're taking this one off air, so to speak. The website is off air25.com that's off air25.com you can watch the whole thing, the whole presentation. Trust me, you want to see this. It is worth your time to go to that site. Off air25.com paid for by Paradigm Press.

[Clay Travis]

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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[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.

[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.

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[Buck Sexton]

Trust and Will.

[Mary Katharine Ham and Carol Markowitz]

Hey there. I'm Mary Kathryn Hamm. And I'm Carol Markowitz. We've been in political media for a long time. Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane. That's why we started Normalely a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity. We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling and with a healthy dose of humor. We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously. So if you're into common sense, sanity and some occasional sass, you're our kind of people. Catch new episodes of normally every Tuesday and Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton SHOW as we roll into the holiday weekend, the official end of summer in some ways, although I know it's going to be warm many places for still some time to come, you might need a little bit of extra energy. Maybe you're going to be out there tailgating. Maybe you're going to be running around chasing the kids. I had a 8th grade, 9th grade football game last night. Going to this Florida State Alabama game in Tallahassee this weekend with my 14 year old. Gonna be up early driving in for that game. You might want to sign up for CROCKETT Coffee. Use code book when you sign up. We get emails. Use code book when you sign up and you will get an autographed copy of my most recent book. And if you did not get that copy and you are a subscriber, you can reach back out through customer service. Let us know and we'll get you one. There are a bunch of different stories out there. Let me hit a couple of them. Uh, CNN is reporting this is a big story in Iowa that Senator Joanie Ernst not going to run for reelection in Iowa. 53, 47 majority. Lots of battlegrounds out there for the Senate going forward. Uh, and that one that will get a great deal of attention again in Iowa, incumbent Senator Joni Ernst, according to cnn, not running for reelection. That election is next year in the midterms. Here is something else we should probably update you on. Our friend Texas Governor Greg Abbott just posted a video of him signing the redistricting bill into law. That was such a huge story. Remember this one just a few weeks ago? Everybody was talking about it. Oh, my goodness. Can you believe what Texas trying to do? Texas did it. Here is cut 27.

[Buck Sexton]

This is Governor Greg Abbott. I'm about to sign the law that creates the one big beautiful map that ensures fair representation in the United States Congress. For Texas, I want to thank Lieutenant Governor Patrick Speaker Burroughs, Senator King, Representative Todd Hunter, Representative Cody Vasud, and all of the legislature who stayed in the Capitol and got this law to my desk. Texas is now more red in the United States Congress.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, Buck, this is funny, if only because everybody said this is the end of democracy. Is anybody even talking about it now that it's legitimately happening?

[Buck Sexton]

No, no. Almost like, almost like if Trump won, it wasn't going to be the end of the world and mass starvation, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. Like it's actually going great. You. How much catastrophism can Democrat brains go through before they just decide to chill out and live in reality? Clay, I don't think there's an answer to this, but we are running the experiment right now. Yeah, Texas Democrats, guess what? It's going to be fine. You should thank the Republicans in your state for being the adults in the room who make sure that you have a business friendly, business friendly environment with low taxes and you can own firearms and crime is, you know, something that actually sheriffs and others can, can handle. You know, you should just say thank you to Republicans.

[Clay Travis]

No doubt Trump continues to deliver on everything. Friday edition. We're having some fun. Come back and hang with US Hour.

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[Mary Katharine Ham and Carol Markowitz]

This is an I Heart podcast.