Hour 1 - Carrots and Sticks: Which Parent Are You?

Summary

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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 1 – Carrots and Sticks: Which Parent Are You?
Date: April 9, 2026
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts
Hosts: Clay Travis & Buck Sexton

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses primarily on the latest developments in U.S.-Iran relations following recent military clashes and ceasefire negotiations. Clay and Buck dissect the current state of Middle Eastern geopolitics, the internal dynamics of the Trump administration’s handling of Iran, and the domestic political implications. Major domestic policy topics, especially those surrounding race, DEI, and economic policies in New York and California, are also discussed with characteristic humor and sharp commentary.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Iran Ceasefire & JD Vance’s Role

• The episode opens with analysis of the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, highlighting JD Vance’s unexpected but pivotal assignment as lead negotiator for a more stable armistice.
• The hosts reflect on the New York Times’ reporting about Trump administration internal debates and Vance’s initial reluctance over airstrikes.

Notable Quote:

“J.D. Vance was the least enthusiastic about the Iran air campaign...now he’s been assigned the task of trying to spearhead this ceasefire negotiation.”
— Buck Sexton (02:10)

Timestamps:

• 03:47 — [J.D. Vance audio]: Vance discusses the complexities of negotiating with Iran and explains the strategic achievements and U.S. leverage.
• 04:30 — Buck and Clay express cautious optimism about the ceasefire, emphasizing the importance of verifying with actual Strait of Hormuz shipping traffic (“trust but verify”).

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2. Who Holds the “Cards” in Negotiations?

• The hosts debate just how much leverage the U.S. truly has at this negotiation table.
• Vance portrays the U.S. and Trump as “holding all the cards,” a stance Clay slightly tempers but overall agrees with.

Notable Quote:

“Frankly, the President has all the cards here. We got a lot of leverage.”
— J.D. Vance (08:04)

Timestamps:

• 07:41 — [Vance, Cut 5]: U.S. negotiating position, demand that Iran commit to abandoning nuclear weapon development.
• 09:01 — Clay and Buck discuss whether Vance’s prior skepticism of airstrikes actually strengthens his hand as negotiator.

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3. “Carrots and Sticks” – Negotiation Style Metaphor

• The hosts riff on the idea that JD Vance and Trump operate like “good cop, bad cop,” or “carrots and sticks”—a negotiating dynamic framed in terms of contrasting parenting styles.

Notable Quote:

“You have a built-in good cop, bad cop situation. JD is like, ‘come on, buddy, help me out here …’ Whereas Trump is like, ‘let’s take him out back, hit him with the truncheon, show him who’s boss’… Carrots and sticks. That’s even better.”
— Clay Travis (10:31)

Timestamps:

• 11:05 — Buck: “Trump is definitely Daddy … and sometimes mom is the one that will swing the sledgehammer harder.”
• 12:27 — Clay: Vance is the “kinder, gentler parent” in negotiations, which could help diplomatically.

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4. Markets, Middle East, and Bringing Focus Home

• The positive impact of the ceasefire on the U.S. stock market is highlighted (S&P 500 and Dow surging towards all-time highs).
• Clay calls for refocusing political energies on pressing domestic issues with the midterms and Trump’s second-term agenda looming.

Notable Quote:

“The sooner we can get this buttoned up with Iran...the better, so we can fix things here in America.”
— Clay Travis (12:58)

Timestamps:

• 15:41 — Updates on Israel-Lebanon talks are tied to market optimism and broader hopes for stability.
• 18:06 — Note that oil tankers are beginning to pass safely through the Strait, further signaling the ceasefire's tentative success.

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5. Domestic Policy: Race, Equity & DEI Battles

• The hosts pivot to U.S. domestic issues, focusing on New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s proposals for city-wide “racial equity plans.”
• Buck and Clay sharply criticize what they call “race-based forms of communism” and make a prediction about the Supreme Court likely ending racial gerrymandering soon.

Notable Quote:

“Equity is the religion of the left. Don’t forget it. DEI—they haven’t abandoned it.”
— Clay Travis (29:42)

Timestamps:

• 25:37 — [Cut 19: Mamdani]: Audio of Mamdani discussing racial equity frameworks.
• 29:06 — [Cut 20: Mamdani]: Wealth disparities by race in NYC explained by Mamdani; Clay and Buck interrogate the logic and legality of race-based redistribution.

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6. The State of Political Coalitions and Demographic Shifts

• Clay observes that Trump’s coalition in 2024 was the most racially diverse for any Republican in decades, with particularly high Hispanic support.
• Kamala Harris only increased Democratic support among white women—a fact the hosts find both ironic and noteworthy.

Notable Quote:

“Only liberal white women destroying civilization, one complaint to the manager at a time.”
— Clay Travis (28:27)

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7. DEI, Corporate Culture, and Institutional Competence

• The hosts argue that diversity-focused hiring and DEI efforts can weaken institutional effectiveness, using examples from Google and Twitter.
• They claim that Twitter, pre-Elon Musk, functioned more as a “social justice organization” than a business.

Notable Quote:

“Social justice warriors don't build this place. They’re the locusts that show up once the harvest is ready to be plucked.”
— Clay Travis (35:16)

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8. California, New York, Social Spending, & Fraud

• Brief indictment of massive state budgets and alleged inefficiencies or fraud, especially in welfare redistribution schemes.
• Clay emphasizes the contrast between NY and Florida’s budgets despite population differences ([36:45+])

Notable Quote:

“The state of Florida’s population is triple New York City’s, but Florida’s entire budget is smaller than New York City’s budget. Pretty staggering.”
— Clay Travis (36:48)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On negotiating style:
  “It’s a trust but verify stage of what to believe on the ceasefire...we’ll know by the weekend.”
  — Buck Sexton (06:40)

• On DEI and ‘equity’ as a religion:
  “They’re going to try to jam this down your throats wherever they can, and they’re going to try to do it federally.”
  — Clay Travis (29:42)

• On the coming “war” over racial gerrymandering:
  “If the Supreme Court ends racial gerrymandering...it’s going to cut the legs out from race-based forms of communism.”
  — Clay Travis (26:36)

• On budgets:
  “New York City’s budget: $127 billion. State of Florida: $117 billion for nearly three times the population.”
  — Clay Travis (36:48)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |------------|----------------------------------------------------------| | 03:47 | JD Vance: Status and strategy for Iran negotiations | | 04:30 | Strait of Hormuz ship traffic and trust but verify | | 07:41 | U.S. leverage in Iran negotiations | | 10:31 | Clay: “Good cop, bad cop”/Carrots and sticks analogy | | 11:05 | Parenting-style negotiation metaphors | | 12:27 | Vance’s position as a diplomatic asset | | 15:41 | Markets up; impact of Middle East negotiations | | 18:06 | Oil tankers passing, signaling tentative peace | | 21:28 | Mike Pence supports Trump’s Iran policy (audio) | | 25:37 | Mamdani’s racial equity audio segment (Cut 19) | | 29:06 | Further on racial wealth disparities (Cut 20) | | 33:15 | Google/Twitter as cautionary tales of DEI excess | | 36:48 | NY vs. Florida budgets comparison |

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Tone & Style

The discussion is energetic, bantering, and irreverent in tone, blending high-level geopolitical analysis with personal anecdotes and cultural critiques. Clay and Buck move fluidly between global events and everyday American politics, maintaining accessibility for listeners of all backgrounds while inserting humor and pop culture references (e.g., parenting metaphors, Game of Thrones).

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Listener Takeaways

• The Iran ceasefire is real but fragile; market reactions are positive, but the truth will be seen in coming days.
• JD Vance’s reluctance to escalate militarily may strengthen his role as a “good cop” negotiator.
• U.S. leverage remains strong but not absolute in negotiations.
• Left-wing pushes for equity and DEI remain a rallying point for conservatives, especially with anticipated legal battles on the horizon.
• Demographic shifts are reshaping American electoral politics.
• Budget comparisons between states and cities underscore longstanding debates about government efficiency and spending priorities.
• The episode delivers current events with humor and skepticism, challenging mainstream narratives and critiquing policy excesses on both sides.

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Transcript

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome in everybody, Thursday edition of the Clay and Buck Show. Let's dive into this, shall we? We've got more on the IR deal making, negotiations underway, a ceasefire in fits and starts, bits and pieces, but more or less a ceasefire underway. And we'll tell you where all of that is going. I want to also get into some stories on the crime frontier that are getting national attention. Fraud, which is also a crime. I meant violent crime, but fraud, a different kind of violation of law. And what's going on out in California, People need to know about this. I think we talk sometimes about overspending and we talk about our massive welfare state. We have almost a socialist redistribution through fraud scheme underway in a whole bunch of states. Minneapolis got a lot of attention because of the predominantly Somali American fraud that was occurring there. But California, they're starting to turn over the rocks there to see what's underneath. Then, oh my, is there a lot of fraud. Also, some Republicans trying to, while we're all very focused on Iran, get a little sneaky with their dignity act. It is called, I believe it even has a Spanish name that it is being promoted under. So we will discuss where that is. We'll be joined by Representative Brandon Gill of Texas on that one. Spoiler alert. Representative Gill does not want amnesty and does not want anyone getting sneaky with an amnesty bill by another name. We'll discuss that with him. And we'll talk to Steve Yates, our national security guru, on the latest situation here with the Iran negotiations. Clay, let let's hear. J.D. vance has been given this. Now, this is interesting to me on a few levels. We'll get into some of the specifics and some of these JD Sound bites. As we know in this New York Times article, which I do think that it's, I would put my money on it's accurate. I obviously don't know, but based on what the different characters are saying in the article and what I've heard from people that know the individuals involved and who have been in some of these conversations, it reads as true. And it's very clear that J.D. vance was the least enthusiastic about the Iran air campaign, Iran aerial war of anybody. And now he's been assigned the task of trying to spearhead this ceasefire negotiation and turn it into a, a truce and armistice, longstanding agreement of sorts that we're not going to have to do this anymore. So advance. First thing he's got to do here, Clay, is clean up some of what has been said already about this because it was looking pretty bleak yesterday with the 10 points. This is cut three. Here he is on the status of these negotiations. Play it.

[J.D. Vance]

You have some crazy people at the fringes of the Iranian system who are leaking anonymously, either for propaganda purposes or because they're embarrassed or because they don't like what happened. And the final point, when I say they don't like what happened, what we know is that the United States accomplished its military objectives. What we know is the United States could have imposed significant additional military and economic costs on Iran and still has the capacity to do so. But we think, thankfully, at this point, I think, have a ceasefire, thanks to the leadership of the President, United States, we have the Iranians promising to open the Straits of Hormuz and we have a negotiation that's supposed to start this weekend. That's the truth. I think it's a good first step. We're going to see if we can make more progress here in the days to come.

[Clay Travis]

How are you feeling about all this play today, the day after the big, the big agreement came down?

[Buck Sexton]

Look, I, I, I think it ultimately comes down to we will know, based on ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, how these negotiations are going. And it's what I said yesterday. So far, ship traffic does not seem to be anywhere near normal rates of ingress and egress. And until it is somewhat normal, I think it's hard to argue that, that things are normalized now. Right before we came on, there was news that Israel is going to have direct talks with Lebanon and that in theory they may normalize relations. That seems like it would be a significant outcome here. Iran is saying that they expect the ceasefire to also encompass Lebanon and that is an element of these negotiations. There are reports that Trump called Netanyahu and said, hey, we need to have some negotiations underway to stop the bombing in Lebanon as well. And so, you know, I, I, I'm kind of in the trust but verify stage of what to believe on the ceasefire. And to me, then we will see when we see the traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. And I tweeted about this, but I do think one thing is, is, is maybe significant. I don't know if you would sign off on this either, but, but see what you think of this. One thing that is being reported is that Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz. Every article you see, particularly those that are negative in nature, they say, well, now Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz. What I would say is Iran has publicly announced basically that they are willing to enact terrorism, that is blow up boats in the Strait of Hormuz. I would argue the use of the word control is inaccurate there. They are willing to engage in acts of terrorism.

[Clay Travis]

We could blow up, threaten it more than they can control it.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes, we could blow up every boat in the entire Strait of hormuz in probably 10 minutes if we wanted to. So could other countries. We're not going to do that. And so, um, I do think the, the argument of, well, they control things. Well, I mean, it's a terroristic threat and I hope that it's not going to become a reality. But again, as we talked about yesterday, I think you have to apply rational actor theory here, reasonable man theory, as we used to talk about back in the days in law school. If I owned $100 million boat filled with oil, right now, I'd be a little bit apprehensive about allowing that boat to go through the Strait of Hormuz. So it, until those individual boat owners and the corporations that run them and the CEOs that are in charge of them feel like their product and their, and their boats are safe, then they're not going to move. And so that will be the test to me of how much is there actually a ceasefire that can be trusted going on? I think we'll know by the weekend.

[Clay Travis]

JD also making it very clear this cut 5, that he feels like us and Trump have all the cards here. And so this is a negotiation where we're going in with a couple of aces. I don't really play cards that would be good. Like a couple of aces is usually good, right?

[Buck Sexton]

Yes. Very good poker hand.

[Clay Travis]

Right. And they've got two of the two cards. Play five.

[J.D. Vance]

This is one of the things it's going to be one of the main subjects of Negotiation is that we want Iran to not be able to make a nuclear weapon. We want the nuclear fuel, which is something the President has made very clear. And there's, again, the way to think about this is the United States has certain demands and certain things that we want. The Iranians have things they can get out of the negotiation. The more that they're willing to give us, I think the more they're going to get things out of this negotiation. The President's talked about sanctions relief, the president's talked about economic partnerships and things like that. That's not going to happen unless the Iranians make a firm commitment to stop anything close to the development of a nuclear weapon. And frankly, the President has all the cards here. We've got a lot of leverage. We got a lot of things that we can do. But right now, I think that we're

[Buck Sexton]

in a good spot.

[Clay Travis]

I think we have better cards. I don't think we have all the cards. I think that's a little, I think that's a little bit more than, than where the situation is right now. But more or less, I think JD is, is, is on point with this.

[Buck Sexton]

Do you think that JD Having been opposed to these strikes and the Iranians now, presumably having read the New York Times article like we did, which takes you into the deliberations about this, this decision, could that help? And second part here, I would say I think the leak of the article actually helps Trump some because people are saying, and you and I know this is not true, but critics are saying, oh, he's a mad king, right? They're making, like, Game of Thrones analogies. You can't trust him. You have no idea what's going around. The, the article about the discussion surrounding what to do with Iran was actually Trump as board, basically board chair, going around the room asking everybody for their opinions. Now, if you want to argue, well, people are afraid of saying what they really think once they know what Trump is likely to do. There's an element of that in all board room discussions. When you know what the CEO wants to do, there's a lot of people who can get themselves to justify it. But Iran knows that JD Was not in favor of this action. To me, that seems like it could be helpful to him in relationships. You buy that? Do you think the Iranian negotiations negotiators, knowing JD Is not a hawk, could actually make them more likely to deal with him? Or do you even think it matters who the American negotiators are?

[Clay Travis]

With JD And Trump on this issue, you have a built in good cop, bad cop situation, they both want you to sign the confession, but JD Is like, come on, buddy, help me out here. I'll get you a cup of coffee. Like, let's figure this out. Whereas Trump is like, let's take him out back, hit him with the truncheon, show him who's boss. You know, very different approach to this. So, yes, I do think that there is a, you know, what is it they used to say? Plate y plomo. I think silver or lead in the cartels. You know, it's like, take our money or carrots and sticks. Carrots and sticks. That's even better way.

[Buck Sexton]

Another way is mom and dad. It could be different depending on the situation, but Trump is definitely Daddy. Yeah, but do you. Do you want me to have to tell my dad about this? And by the way, some of you out there are going to be like, do you want me to have to tell mom about this? Because sometimes mom is the one that. That will swing the sledgehammer harder when it comes to. To kids.

[Clay Travis]

I wonder when the day will come when my son realizes that, like, he really wants to deal with me. He doesn't. He doesn't want it to escalate to Carrie.

[Buck Sexton]

Laura is way tougher on the boys than I am. So it could be different depending on the family dynamics and also, by the way, what the kid has done. But I do think JD Is the kinder, gentler parent in this relationship and that he can actually say, do you really want me to take this back to Trump? I mean, I'm just telling you because ultimately it's Trump's decision on what the terms of any deal are. But I do think the fact that JD Was skeptical of the. Of the action in the first place might help him as the good guy in this negotiation discussion.

[Clay Travis]

I think the Iranians are, because it's public information. I think they're savvy enough to know. I think they're savvy enough to understand that JD he backs the president, of course, as his vice president, but his heart isn't in more airstrikes. Like, he doesn't want. He really doesn't want that. I feel like Trump is. Trump's attitude is more, I'm giving you guys a chance here. If I have to slap you around Iran, I'll do it again, but I really would rather not. But JD Is like, look, we really don't want to have to use force again. Let's actually get something workable for the big guy, meaning Trump, and then we can all move forward. And things can get better here. So JD's a perfect person to be involved in this. And it's also bringing him into it in a way where he doesn't have to. He's not being false to himself at all on this. You know what I'm saying? He's getting a chance to end the war that he didn't want in the first place.

[Buck Sexton]

That's right.

[Clay Travis]

And I think that's a strong place for him to be in. And I think that Trump, it makes a lot of sense for him. I, look, I'm hopeful too. I, I'm going to say this to all of you. I don't really want to be talking about Iran. We're going to talk about some things here at home today on the show too. I'm going to make us get into some things that aren't Iran related because we got to fix here in America. And I know it's all the midterms. The midterms, yeah. But it's also the promise of Trump's second term. It's we got to fix things here at home. So the sooner we can get this buttoned up with Iran and agreed to in some way. Now I've said, and I don't, I haven't changed my mind, I think they're going to agree to agree to agree in the future. So I think it's going to go two weeks and then, and then we're going to continue the ceasefire and then we're going to talk through the summer and you know, there might be, that's what I think is going to happen here. I don't think this is going to be a quick fix. We'll see. I would like I said Clay, I'd love to be wrong on this one. I'd love Happy Clay to be correct, an Eeyore Buck to be wrong on this one.

[Buck Sexton]

I will say, and you know, I love watching the markets, S&P 500 and the Dow are both reacting very positively so far. Now you can say there was a sell off before, but they're both rapidly approaching all time highs. And so we will see how exactly that ends up shaking out. But I want to tell you, new sponsor, we're going to be adding a bunch of new sponsors. As I've told you before, you know, most business owners couldn't tell you whether they have one insurance broker or 10 when it comes to business insurance policies. If you're a business owner operator, do you even know yourself? Business operators describe a scenario with multiple insurance policies, multiple applications, no clear view of how it all fits together and when questions come up, not easy to get the clarity you need. Super sure will change all of that. One broker for all your business insurance, backed by a team that works with you year round, not just at renewal. And if you've ever stared at a policy wondering what it covers, super sure has a fine print facts tool that will actually translate the legal jargon into plain English so you know what's actually covered and what isn't. Go online to super sure.com get a full report on your current policies with no obligation. Find out if you're overinsured, underinsured or somewhere in between. Go to super sure.com one powerful platform, all your policies in one place. Super sure.com that's super sure.com paid for by Super Sure Insurance Agency LLC, a licensed insurance agency.

[Clay Travis]

Looking for normal in a crazy World

[Buck Sexton]

Clay and Buck have your back. Welcome back in Clay. Travis Buck Sexton Show Stock market roaring and we mentioned this and I do think you may say why in the world should I care what in the world is going to happen in Lebanon? And I get it but if there were normalized relations there and this is a quote from Benjamin Netanyahu that has to do with why the stock market has popped because there does seem to be some fear associated with how these things could play themselves out. Out Benjamin Netanyahu essentially saying this is according to Barack Ravid, who is a correspondent for Axios, that that he appreciates he instructed yesterday direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible. The negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon. Israel appreciates the Lebanese prime minister's call today to demilitarize Beirut. And so again, stock market up on this. I would like to be right. I suspect, Buck, that that that we are going to have a lot of crazy ups and downs. And for the people out there that are trading oil and gas or trading in the stock market from one moment to the next, you are basically following in real time the news to try to assess the likelihood of a ceasefire working and or a overall decline in the amount of violence that's taking place in the Middle East.

[Clay Travis]

Look, it's we're in a much better place now than we were even a few days ago and a much more hopeful place, I think. So that's good. And we want to get bring the focus back home and the Republicans both that would be the right thing to do and the smart thing to do for the Trump administration. Bring the focus back home here. Now the things now that you're in a negotiation. You have successfully destroyed the Iranian navy, the Iranian air force, most of their surface to air missile technology, a lot of their nuclear stuff. Ok, we've, we've hit them hard. Let's negotiate and let's figure out how to get things going back here at home. That's, that's the key I think. Because guys, these lunatic Democrats, you, you, I mean, I can't even begin to

[Buck Sexton]

prepare you for how crazy they're going

[Clay Travis]

to be if they take the House and if they take the House in the Senate, it's going to be even worse. So we have to start thinking about

[Buck Sexton]

this one bit of news. We said we would update you. You'd be able to tell how the ceasefire is going based on whether oil tankers are coming through or not. We'll play this audio for you. But a second oil tanker has now passed through. So since the ceasefire started. I mean this is where we are Buck. We're counting each oil taker that's allowed through. But that report also has, I think provided some positivity because there are now oil tankers coming.

[Clay Travis]

Can you imagine? You're, you're finally out of missile range of Iran and you're on that oil tanker. I'd be probably some champagne, probably a

[Buck Sexton]

pretty good alcoholic beverage is justified at that point in time.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

Pretty significant question.

[Clay Travis]

I was shocked that he wouldn't answer

[Buck Sexton]

it, to be fair. I mean, when they were trying to answer it, Trump in prison for the rest of his life, I think if you were the president and Trump was in prison for the rest of his life, would you give him a pardon like my answer was yes, regardless of who had won. I don't think that was a good precedent. And if you had been Trump's vice president, I think it's a no brainer and he wouldn't answer it. And so I am still, I, I think in many ways it kind of torpedoed because his, his, his entire campaign was, I'm the truth teller. I'm the guy who will make hard decisions. And he kept saying, well, that's a hypothetical. And I, look, the entire exercise of running for president is a hypothetical. You tell us what you would do if you were in office. We don't know if you'll ever be in office, but that's the entire purpose of a campaign. So I'm not going to tell you that's a hypothetical. Really kind of got me fired up. What did he do now? I haven't even seen this.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I just wonder if this changes your view at all about Trump's actions in Iran. Mike Pence, big fan, huge fan of the Iran war. This is Cut nine.

[Mike Pence]

There was a lot of talk about five weeks ago about America starting a war. This war started 47 years ago and Iran has been waging war on America, on our most cherished ally, Israel, during those five decades. And I give President Trump all the credit in the world for pulling the truck trigger last year with Operation Midnight Hammer, going directly at their nuclear facilities and then making the decision to unleash our armed forces, finally directly against the mullahs in Tehran who've been claiming American lives, Israeli lives, using proxies across the region to wage war. Now we've taken the fight to them. It's been a brilliant campaign. Operation Epic Fury. Every American should be proud.

[Clay Travis]

Clay, is this, does this, is this, is this the proverbial broken clock?

[Buck Sexton]

Look, he's right on this one. I mean, look, and let me just say this, too. I don't think everyone should agree with everything that any political figure does all the time, because sometimes politicians make poor decisions. And we talked about this with President Trump in the way that his team handled the Pam Bondi and the Epstein files. Like, I think they created a series of unforced errors there that did not help the administration. I think it's the biggest screw up of the first year and a half of Trump 2.0. But I don't think you're doing a good job of talking about news if you're always of the opinion, hey, this is 100% the, the right choice. I do think by and large that the Trump team has made the right choices. And I think Mike Pence on this issue is, is right. I would agree with him. And it, by the way, it still remains to be seen. Buck, as we talked about yesterday, there's a lot of things that could or could not occur that can make this either look like a really smart move or a really dumb move as this all plays out. But I think if you look at the markets again, stock markets near record highs again, they've earned back most of the decline that occurred during this last month already. And I hope that oil and gas prices are going to come back down. And to your point, this election, this midterm, is going to be a referendum on do people think things are better in their life or not? And is the economy working in a way that your average American voter believes that there should be an endorsement of the Trump team? My concern is that that answer right now is going to be for a lot of people, no. And that's going to tamp down turnout. And the House and the Senate are in danger. And now is the time to pivot to domestic issues. I think as we start to come into the summer and start to talk about the fall.

[Clay Travis]

And with that, I'm going to pivot us into some domestic issues.

[Buck Sexton]

There you go.

[Clay Travis]

It's, it's smooth. Smooth as silk. There, you see that, everybody? Mamdani, we haven't talked about him a little bit. New York, we got a few things. We got New York and California talk to hit us here. Mamdani, the commie, he is out there. This is important, I think, Clay, not just about the conversation with regard to our larger city, New York. W O R listeners in the New York area. It's important because it shows you the mindset I was talking about before. These commies, once they get back, they're a little quiet right now. I mean, never really quiet. You know, the purple hair, the nose rings, the constant looks of sadness on their faces. But they're, they're not making as much noise as they normally do. They're going to come back and it's going to be very uncomfortable and bad for America. And they haven't changed on anything. You have to remember this, Trump won, but these issues are not done. In fact, if anything, I believe they're going to double down on a lot of this, including things like racial equity and dei. Like right now, Trump has been running the table, his whole administration on rooting out unconstitutional, illegal DEI practices. But they're going to keep doing this wherever they can, however they can. Here's Mamdani in New York talking about how he's like, ignoring that there's even any precedent or Supreme Court ruling on this. He's just talking about how they're going to have a racial equity plan giving certain resources to black and brown people. Play 19.

[Mamdani]

While today's true cost of living measure confirms that the affordability crisis touches every corner of our city, we know that these effects are not applied evenly. So often it is black and brown New Yorkers who are hit by the hardest. This preliminary racial equity plan is the first step in developing a whole of government approach to tackling that reality. It is a plan that lays out these first steps to solve decades of neglect and discrimination. And it places the work of 45 city agencies within a singular framework.

[Clay Travis]

This is what they're going to be saying, Clay. They're going to be discriminating in, in favor of black and brown people. And their claim will be, but we're fixing discrimination against those black and brown people. So, you know, the cycle just keeps going over and over again. And we're going to have to keep fighting this out in the courts. You're going to see this making a huge comeback. I think if Democrats take back the House or just Democrats in general are going to be making a lot of noise about it.

[Buck Sexton]

It's illegal. And this is where I think while Trump's team is in office, they need to tamp out as much of this as they possibly can. We have a big Supreme Court decision that no one is talking. We talked about birthright citizenship and what we think is going to happen there. And that's a huge story. And all of these things matter. What I believe is going to turn into maybe the most consequential decision from this term, I expect for the Supreme Court to end racial gerrymandering. And if the Supreme Court ends racial Gerrymandering. And it is going to cut the legs out of a lot of the ideas behind what Mamdani is doing here, which is a race based form of communism. Identity politics as a defining characteristics of everything. If the Supreme Court does as I anticipate that it will do and says racial gerrymandering is no longer legal, then Democrats are not going to have the ability to cut and splice all these different jurisdictions together that have no nothing in common other than the race of the people who live there. The other thing that I think is significant here, Buck, is, and this is a long range plan, racial voting is collapsing now. Is it still way too common? Yes. But the 2024 Supreme 2024 President Trump election was the most racially diverse winning Republican candidate platform in the history of the modern Republican Party. That is more Hispanic people. Trump won a majority of Hispanic male voters. I think that was a shockwave. He won a huge percentage of Hispanic female voters. The only group that Kamala Harris increased support from, white women. Think about how crazy that is.

[Clay Travis]

Only liberal white women destroying civilization. One complaint to the manager at a

[Buck Sexton]

time, but this is a hundred percent true. Is that kind of wild? It does not get very much attention. The only group Kamala Harris did better with in 2024 than Joe Biden in 2020 was white women. And by the way, white women still majority voted Trump, but they moved more so towards Kamala Harris than any group out there. Every other group moved more towards Trump in 2024.

[Clay Travis]

Here is more of Mamdani's equity plan for New York. This is cut 20. He's talking about wealth disparities by race. Play it in this report.

[Mamdani]

What we've seen, it's a report that is both, coupled with a true cost of living report, is that the inequities in this city, the racial inequities, are stark. We are talking about findings that have shown that the wealth of a median white household in the city is more than $200,000, while that of a black household is less than $20,000. This is not an indictment of any one New Yorker. It is an indictment, however, of policies and politics that have persisted for far too long. We are reckoning with the long history of racism here and starting to act upon a framework that puts equity right at the center of it.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, one thing. Equity is the religion of the left. Don't forget it, dei. They haven't abandoned it. They're not moving off of it. They're going to try to jam this down your throats wherever they can, and they're going to try to do it federally. And they had their eye on the court and changing the Supreme Court's makeup down the line. So all that stuff, this fight is very much still underway. But Clay, we at least now can have conversations like, okay, what is the city? He's basically saying it's the system that's done this. How? What aspect of the system of the city of New York and its governance is creating this disparity in wealth? Because I can tell you the per capita poorest by income group in New York City is actually Asians, or, I'm sorry, the most. I should say the most. The highest poverty number. That's actually what the status, the highest percentage of, of an ethnic group in poverty are Asian in New York, which is very surprising. Now, here's the thing. Asian includes Bangladeshi, Pakistan. There's a lot. Asia is a very big place. The point is it's essentially non white, non black, non Hispanic, all grouped into one, because Taiwanese and Korean are obviously very high income. Right? So that's to be clear, there's a little bit of nuance in this data. But my point is that the greatest number of people in New York who are poor are not black as a percentage of the overall population. So what's causing this? Like, if he's going to talk about, you have a massive welfare state in New York City, 20% of New Yorkers are in some form of subsidized or basically free housing. Talking to New York City, you have an enormous welfare state. And we're going to talk about all the fraud, by the way, that's redistributing wealth to certain communities en masse. But what, what is it that think. Why do Democrats think they can continue to have this thing of. Well, we have differences in groups and, and the system is making this happen. So we have to now start privileging some groups at the expense of others via the system. Where is the racism he's talking about? Where is the racism in the system? I want to know. I want them to show me, find me the law, find me the statute, the prohibition, the whatever that hurts one racial group that is black or brown and privileges others.

[Buck Sexton]

If you have been born in this country since 1980, a huge majority of the country has been born, believe it or not, since 1980. So if you were born in 1980, you are going to turn 46 years old this year. You have never experienced any discrimination in your life. If you are a minority, it just, it hasn't existed by the state. It does not exist. In fact, the opposite is true. The state has actually discriminated in your favor. And if you go back and look at all of the data that is out there, you know what is undeniably true? What? You need to get the quotes from Hakeem Jeffries, because he went after Pete Hegseth and he. To your point, Buck did a big defense of Di and how it's a great thing. And I putting someone who is incapable of doing a job as well as someone else in a position of authority, whether it's over an airplane, whether it's over a regiment in the military, whether it's over a part of a company, is actually destructive to the overall country in all respects. And I've made this argument for a long time, Buck, Di is a luxury of incredibly successful companies when basically they're saying management doesn't matter. Right.

[Clay Travis]

Google.

[Buck Sexton]

Back in the day, Google made so much money off search that they could put anybody in any position. And the brand of Google and the company itself was so successful that it didn't even matter who was in charge. Remember, they were sitting around.

[Clay Travis]

This happened on Wall street too, by the way. All of a sudden back, everyone in the back office was, you know, like an African immigrant who went to Harvard or something. And you're like, wait, but why aren't they. Why aren't they running investment banking? Right. It was because they were hiring, but they were hiring only for the purposes of the lookbook, so to speak. They're hiring for the diversity stats. They weren't actually putting them in positions of authority.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. And by the way, remember, they were sitting around debating politics all day on Google internal chat forums. If you had time at your job to debate larger political issues in forums all day, you need more work to do.

[Ad Read Host]

Right?

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, this was just a sign of how good Google's business that the luxury of all this stuff could even happen.

[Clay Travis]

We forgot this. Or rather, we don't talk about it as much. Look at Twitter. Everyone said, oh my gosh, Elon is going to. Now it's X, but Elon is going to gut this place. It'll never. It's better than it ever was. It has 10% of the staff. He actually, the thing that we always say, 90% of the people are worthless. 10% of the people do 90% of the work, which is true, unfortunately. A lot of government jobs, a lot of places. It was absolutely true. Twitter was a social justice organization. By the time Elon got to it, it was a social justice organization. As in like a left Wing race communist NGO that happened to have a massive cash cow of a, you know, Internet platform that could suckle off of that was it. Yes, that was what that company had become. And it's amazing that this. Oh, but it's so successful. They didn't build the social justice warriors don't build this place. They're the locusts that show up once the harvest has already been, you know, has already grown and is ready to be plucked.

[Buck Sexton]

And any of you that have run companies know the biggest threat to you often is not external competition. It's the internal culture that you create. It's a reality.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

there when you need them most.

[Clay Travis]

Clay and Buck just preset them on the iHeart app.

[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton show. We'll give you some numbers on crime in the country and big stories surrounding them when we come back. But I wanted to hit you with this and, and I'll reinforce it when we come back on this as well. Buck, you live in Florida now. You were born in New York City. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis shared this recently. The numbers tell the tell. Right now, New York city's budget is $127 billion. Population New York City, 8.4 million thereabouts. The state of Florida's population, 23.7 billion. Roughly triple. The budget for the state of Florida is smaller than the budget for New York City. 117 billion to 127 billion. Pretty staggering.