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Clay Travis
This is an iHeart podcast.
Buck Sexton
Welcome everybody. Tuesday edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show kicks off right now. Coming to you live from Washington D.C. our nation's capital, aka the Swamp. Although it is lovely this time of year, not very swampy. Clay is on vacation today. He'll be back with us Thursday. Is that Thursday, right? Yes, Thursday. So he is working on his tan by the Gulf of America. We are diving into the news of the day, my friends, and there is a lot of it. More on the showdown between the Trump administration and various Democrat run cities, notably Chicago and Portland. But the mayor of Chicago has done something pretty remarkable. He thinks that he can create federal government enforcement free zones and we shall discuss what that looks like. We shall have a conversation about how absurd the Democrat position on all of us is getting. As a CNN anchor decides to throw down with Stephen Miller. It does not go well. Spoiler alert for the CNN anchor Stephen Miller having none of it. President Trump, some comments yesterday from the Oval that I wanted to get to today. The government shutdown continues. I'm here in our nation's capital and I don't know, feels it feels fine. Doesn't feel very shutdown like feels okay. Things are kind of just doing what they do. So there's that. We'll discuss though the latest with it and also it is of course the two year anniversary of the October 7th terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel. Our friend and podcast host Carol Markowitz will be with us in the third hour to discuss some reflections. Two years on as the Trump administration is trying to bring a ceasefire and some kind of peace deal into effect in that region has been two years of conflict. But I wanted to dive in first to this situation and it is more of the deep state weaponization that we have known about but continue to find new things out. This is now the surveillance of United States Republican senators. The FBI or in this case actually came out from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. He released this publicly. But the FBI led by Director Patel and Deputy Director Bongino is providing transparency as promised about what kind of weaponization has occurred at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and notably on this Arctic Frost operation that they were running. And this is about election J6 2020 stuff. And they clearly were on a hunt for individuals that were political targets in instead of actual criminals. That's a problem. I think Donald Trump summed it up well with this. This was on truth Social deranged Jack Smith caught with his hand in the cookie jar, a real sleaze bag indeed. The President of the United States pulling no punches and letting it be known how he feels about the unduly anointed prosecutor Jack Smith in this whole situation. But we've got this. We from, from the FBI. We have an electronic communications tally here as in surveillance of the cell phones of toll analysis records. You've got Mike Kelly, Lindsey Graham, Bill Haggerty, Josh Hawley, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville, Ron Johnson. He'll be with us tomorrow. Senator Johnson and Cynthia Loomis, Marsha Blackburn. These are the names on this release. Well, this is not just one of those times where we're finding something out. There's already been action taken. The FBI and this is from Director Patel has terminated some employees that were involved in this when the Republicans had their private communications, their private phone calls tracked. Director Patel put this out. We are cleaning up a diseased temple three decades in the making, identifying the rot, removing those who weaponize law enforcement for political purposes and those who do not meet the standards of this mission while restoring integrity to the FBI. I promise reform and I intend to deliver it. So that was in a statement to Fox News. So that is where we are right now. It is more information to add onto the pile about weaponization of government that has happened. But we had AG Pam Bondi testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on this issue. I wanted you to hear it from the Attorney General herself. This is cut to hit it.
Clay Travis
When I was confirmed as the 87th Attorney General of the United States, I took office with two main goals. To end the weaponization of justice and return the department to its core mission of fighting violent crime. As to ending the weaponization of justice, we learned that former FBI secretly investigated you and your colleagues why they wanted to take President Trump off the planefield. They were playing politics with law enforcement powers and will go down as a historic betrayal of public trust. This is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people's faith in our law enforcement system. We will work to earn that back every single, single day.
Buck Sexton
It's critical because when the people have a lack of faith, and rightly so, in the fair minded in the ethical application of the rule of law, especially when it, especially when it comes to the fearsome powers of the FBI, when the public no longer believes that that is being done in a nonpartisan fashion, we have a very big problem on our hands. And the public is right to not just question the FBI but to have lost tremendous respect for it as an institution. And that is why Director Patel, Deputy Director Bongino and other good Men and women in the FBI under this Trump administration are trying so hard to first deal with the rot, excise it, but also to set things right. We cannot have an FBI to that is pulling the phone records of Republican senators to try to jam them up on some nonsense. We already had an FBI, as we know, that was involved with the entire Crossfire Hurricane debacle, involved in trying to pin a lie on a President Donald Trump to destroy his administration and perhaps even to send him and members of his family and top advisers to prison. One thing I will note, and you should all keep this in mind, too, there are a whole bunch of Republicans who have actually gone to prison from Trump World. There's a whole series of people that have served time for overwhelmingly the most petty offenses imaginable. And we've seen an FBI with James Comey that was willing to pretend it was investigating laws that no honest person thinks are the basis for any investigation, like the Logan act against General Flynn in the first Trump administration. So the weaponization has been broad, it has been consistent, and it has been taken as far as the investigative body. The FBI can take things, meaning that they have brought these cases, they have used these tools, they've used Pfizer. And it is a very dangerous thing. Let me tell you, coming from a CIA analysis background, when you have what is effectively the secret police in a country playing games, using surveillance powers to undermine one political party or another, it doesn't lead to good places. In fact, sometimes it leads to a straight up coup and maybe the head of the secret police running the country. And if you've paid attention to James Comey in recent years, that is terrifying. I think a Comey administration might even be worse than a Kamala administration. And, and I just read Kamala's book. And it is also deeply, deeply troubling because it is so boring and so and so awful that you think this woman could have been president in this country. I know Trump beat her soundly, but the fact that so many people voted for her I think should keep us all on guard. It is, it is a wow moment. One of the least talented politicians of our lifetime somehow managed to be the Democrat nominee and got tens of millions of votes. Anyway, back to FBI weaponization. I'm weaving. Isn't that what Trump says, I'm weaving? Isn't that the term right when he starts going off? I haven't used that one in a while, but if Trump says it, I'm weaving. I'm getting back to it. I don't think Trump has said that in a while either. That was a, that was a big Trumpism for a while when he would start to go, start to go on tangents. So yes, the reality here is cleaning up the FBI is absolutely essential. I'm just a few blocks from the Hoover Building, so it feels very close, it feels very real that this is underway right now. But this is, this is essential. And then there's also. Speaking of cleaning up law enforcement, there is the deployment issue here about National Guard going to these cities. Pam Bondi also in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee here, saying to Senator Dick Durbin, another deeply, deeply unimpressive fellow, very Kamala esque in that respect. Here he is, or rather here Pam Bondi is explaining that, you know what, National Guards going to Chicago, deal with it. Play 3.
Clay Travis
The National Guard is on the way right now as we speak. Oh, by the way, so is Director Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. You're sitting here grilling me and they're on their way to Chicago to keep your state safe.
Buck Sexton
Madam Attorney General, it's my job to grill you. Mm, no, I mean he could just ask questions and be respectful, but however he wants to position this, of course. But this is, this is now going to let me transition into this ongoing fight over bringing safety and security to these cities and allowing for Immigration Customs Enforcement to do their job without obstruction, without, without being unduly burdened by lunatics in the streets who are throwing rocks and bottles and Lord knows what else at them. It is time for a law enforcement reckoning here. Remember, when it came to January 6th, the Democrats were willing to not only have the National Guard deployed for four or five months with big fences around the Capitol, but they used the FBI very much like a secret police force in some third world country to hunt down people for nonviolent crimes, to bust into their homes, sometimes in the pre dawn hours with tactical teams. And I mean, just look what they did. Well, they've done this so many times what they did to Roger Stone in an earlier era. They're willing to abuse the powers of the FBI, of the DOJ for the most nakedly partizan purpose. It's gotta stop. And that means consequences. That means people have gotta get fired and it means people have gotta go to prison. If they can send Bannon to prison for nothing and Navarro to prison for nothing and a whole bunch of others, maybe we can send some Democrats to prison for something, as in breaking the law, which they've done. I think that's where we need to go. I think that's where people are recognizing we have to go and I will take your calls on this 1-800-282-2882. Look, fall is a busy time for families. Whatever it is that keeps your kids busy, it's important you want to stay connected with them. So how do you do that if they're not old enough to carry a cell phone? Well, how about Rapid Radios? Rapid Radios Walkie Talkies Easy to operate, one touch of a button. Unlike previous generations of walkie talkies, Rapid Radios rely on an LTE network so distance is not a problem. You can be anywhere in America and connect to another person carrying a rapid radio. No setup is required, just pull them out of the box, press a button and talk. It's a one touch connection. Perfect for busy families. Also comes with a five day charge. Visit rapidradios.com save up to 60%, get free UPS shipping from Michigan and use code radio for an extra 5% off. That's code radio when you go to rapidradios.com saving America One thought at a time. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Buck Sexton
Welcome back into Clay and Buck. They're giving AG Attorney General Bondi a rough time up on Capitol Hill. Not being very gentlemanly, but not a surprise. Democrats. Look, I get it. She can handle herself. It's fine. Are they being disrespectful? I mean that's I guess to be expected now from them. But she is holding her own and here you have for example, as part of the conversations going on with the Attorney General to the Senate Judiciary Committee, a little conversation about how things are looking in America's Second city. Going up or the Windy City. Second City. Nicknames for the same place, right? Is that. Am I not right? Isn't that right? It doesn't. Chicago. Don't they call it the Second City? Windy City. What's the Second City? Did I just miss. Mess up my city nicknames? I wouldn't be the first time a second city. Is the. Is the. The troop like the. What do you call it? Acting? Improv. Isn't that in Chicago? Yes, thank you. That's what I. So that's. Maybe it's not the nickname for the city, but it's the acting troupe. Whatever. Close enough, close enough. Who cares? Point is, It's Chicago and AG Bondi is talking about it. And this is cut four.
Clay Travis
Listen, your city has a murder rate five times higher than New York's 571 homicides last year. If you were serious about protecting your people, you would be asking this administration for help. You're saying that we're coming into your state and your city. We're there to help make America safe and Illinois safe, whether or not you want to.
Buck Sexton
Well, that's important. Certainly more important than the fact that I was right. It is also called the Second City. Producer Ali, you look at me with this look of. You created panic in me. Which reminds me, always bet on Buck. Like, my first instinct is almost always correct here. So. Yes, it is. It is, in fact the Second City and the Windy City and the deep dish Pizza City. There are many, many names for Chicago. And as we discussed, the name comes from Algonquin for a plant found along the river there. Chicaqua. Yeah, that's right. Millewaque. Which does not mean the good land, as I understand it. Even though Alice Cooper said that in Wayne's World and everybody thought forever that that was the case. This is like those things you see on the Internet where there's a great story about where something comes from, and then you find out it's not even true. And you only find it out when you share the story, and then you're sad, and then there is sadness. All right, back to the situation in Chicago. This is where things have gone. The mayor of Chicago is tripling down on crazy. The mayor of Chicago, I guess, feels that the best way to represent his constituents is to create the pretense that Chicago is like. Like the Vatican inside of Italy. Like it's its own Statelet that does not have to deal with the surrounding nationality. But that's in fact not the case. Now I understand it's different than the deployment in Washington D.C. where there is a clear federal authority to do a whole lot. DC is a special city in that way. But in Chicago there's still immigration laws that need to be enforced. And as we've discussed, Democrats have made it clear, oh, state and local can't do anything on immigration. It's totally up to the federal government. Well, that means it's totally up to the federal government. And when it wants to go in and do arrests and detain people for deportation, it has the clear lawful constitutional right to do so. And they should not try to get in the way of that as they are doing going even further. You gotta hear this. When we come back, I'll play for you what the mayor of Chicago is saying about his city and the role that ice, well, he thinks is not allowed to play in his city. We'll also get into Portland, Oregon which is, you know, is on my list of cities that should be awesome if they were not run by communists. That's, that's a sadly a big list in this country. October Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Online hackers are still skilled at stealing identities and using that info to drain bank accounts and open fraudulent accounts. Lifelock is your best defense, hands down. Lifelock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats to your identity. And if your identity is stolen, a LifeLock US based restoration specialist will help identity theft issues to get solved on your behalf. Guaranteed all your money back. Plus all Lifelock plans are backed by the million dollar protection package, meaning Lifelock will reimburse you to your plan's limits if you lose money due to identity theft. Stay smart, stay safe, stay protected with Lifelock. I've relied on Lifelock for about a decade now. It's the best online defense that raise. You just need to have this working on your behalf in the background. If you're using computers and all that stuff, which you are, use my name Buck as your promo code when you go to lifelock.com that's promo code Buck when you go to lifelock.com get a 30 day free trial. Terms apply. Welcome back in here to Clay and Buck and the the grilling on the Hill. Grill on the Hill. It is continuing right now with AG Bondi and we've got some of the latest. It's just from a few moments ago. Wow. Oh this the back and forth with Bondi and Durbin. She Came ready to throw down today. This is 33. Listen to this one. The word is, and I think it's been confirmed by the White House, they are going to transfer Texas National Guard units to the state of Illinois. What's the rationale for that?
Clay Travis
Yeah, Chairman, as you shut down the government, you voted to shut down the government, and you're sitting here. Our law enforcement officers aren't being paid. They're out there working to protect you. I wish you love Chicago as much as you hate President Trump. And currently the National Guard are on the way to Chicago. If you're not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will.
Buck Sexton
Ooh, feisty. I like it. I still remember watching back in the day in the Bush era, and the expectation was that Republicans, whether on the Hill or anywhere else, would just sit there and take it from the opposition. They would just allow the sound bites to pile up and the narrative, really, the perspective to be the perception to be that they were just getting beat up. And that's not the deal under the Trump administration. It started with President Trump himself, which is really one of the most magnificent things that he has done for the right in America. The. I'm not just going to let the other side slap me in the face over and over and do nothing about it. But Trump has clearly empowered his entire administration to fight back. You don't have to. You actually don't have to sit there as a senior government official and be wildly disrespected or undermined or mocked or ridiculed. And I know that we've gotten used to that now in the Trump administration, meaning the fight back. We've gotten used to. Whether it's Caroline Levitt handling the White House press corps or its various Cabinet officials. You know, it's Patel, it's Bondi, it's Rubio. They know that they're gonna get incoming if there's outgoing. But it is a relatively new phenomenon in Republican politics. It's still something that I appreciate as somebody who remembers. And, you know, I'm here in D.C. so I have a lot of flashbacks and memories of the Bush GWOT years. I was actually visiting friends at the Pentagon this morning, you know, just checking in, saying hi. And it's a remarkable thing to have an administration that stands up for itself and also has largely defanged the worst elements of the Democrat attack dogs in the press corps. I mean, really has done a remarkable job of that. But all right, back to. Back to Chicago and where Mayor Brandon Johnson is on all this stuff. Wow. You would think you would think that he had. Would have seen perhaps what has gone on in Washington D.C. and say to himself, this is not going to be the winning issue for me that I think it is. You would, you would think that perhaps that's. No, no, it is not his takeaway on all of this. In fact, he has signed an executive order as the mayor. Ooh, a mayoral executive order. An executive order that. I'll let you hear it from him. Does the following. This is cut 5. Today we are signing an executive order aimed at reining in this out of control administration. The order establishes ice free zones. That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as staging grounds for these raids. Wait a second. Why would. Why would the mayor of an American city make it more difficult, maybe even impossible in some ways for federal law enforcement to conduct their lawful duties? Imagine any other, any other area of the law where this would be applied. Imagine that this would happen with anything other than immigration. You would know right away. Well, this is insane. This is crazy. And this is where the Democrats are going on this. They're going into crazy town in a deep way. In fact, Chicago is looking like crazy town because of the leadership of what is in fact the second city, the Windy City and the Polish sausage capital. I believe I'm throwing that in there too. Polish. No, it's apparently the Polish sausage. Very good. I had a roommate from Chicago in college and he introduced me to the Polish sausage. Guys. It is a delicious delicacy. For heaven's sakes. For heaven sakes, the team in here. I just saying I like Chicago. It is a great town. It is a great town. Oh, man. If Clay were here today. If Clay were here today, the whole show would be going in a. Wow. So where were we? Yes. Okay. Mayor Brandon Johnson, he is saying there is an ice free zone. And he's also to give you a sense of where his head is on these issues. This is Chicago. Mayor Johnson on how he feels about the Trump administration. I mean, you just got to hear this to believe it. This is cut six. Play it. I've also said over the last couple of years that the extreme right in this country refused to accept the results of the Civil War. They have repeatedly called for a rematch. But in the coming weeks, we will use this opportunity to build greater resistance. Chicagoans are clear. Militarizing our troops in our city as justification to further escalate a war in Chicago will not be tolerated. This is crazy. I mean, these are the words of somebody who is detached from reality. The Extreme right. What does that have to do with anything? This is the federal government conducting its lawful duties of immigration enforcement. If it is not lawful, let's hear why it is lawful. In fact, the lawlessness has been the Democrats in sanctuary cities for decades now, acting like federal law doesn't apply to them. Like somehow they get to operate separate from what the federal jurisdiction of this country actually is. The extreme right. I guess that means the Trump administration, which would mean a majority of the American people voted for it. So how is that extreme? How is it the extreme right? I need someone to explain that one to me. And also as we see, moderates, independents, all, they've all been swinging toward Trump. So if anyone has a claim in this country right now to being more in the center, or rather encompassing more of the center, it would be the Trump MAGA movement. It would certainly not be the lunatic Democrats who think that they can create ice free zones for themselves. So, yeah, and the notion that somehow this is a refusal to accept the results of the Civil War, I mean, this is just inflammatory rhetoric. And I would remind everybody, this is why you have to have ICE officers in jurisdictions like Chicago operating with their faces covered. Because the kind of words that are used by Democrats to oppose this incites violence, incites hatred of our law enforcement officers and the doxing of them, the threats against them and their families. And Democrats know this. This is not some surprise, this is not some shock to them. They understand that all these things are happening. They want it to happen. They want the pressure on ICE officers. They want people to be afraid to actually conduct the mission assigned to them by the Trump White House. That's part of the way that they intend to oppose all of this, is create a climate of fear for law enforcement, which is why they support what's going on in not just Chicago, but Portland and other places. And that then brings me to the deployment to Portland. Kaitlan Collins, formerly of the Daily Caller, now many years at cnn. Here she is with Caroline Levitt. I want you to enjoy this whole back and forth on the deployment of National Guard to Portland. And you can make your own determination as to who got the better end of this argument. Play 7.
Attorney General Pam Bondi
A federal judge over the weekend that the President had appointed to the bench in his first term in office basically argued that he could not deploy other states national Guards to Portland, basically said that it was untethered. His argument to what is actually happening on the ground which local officials in Portland have said that the National Guard is needed there. With all due respect to that judge I think her opinion is untethered in reality and in the law. The President is using, using his authority as Commander in Chief, US code 12406, which clearly states that the President has the right to call up the National Guard in cases where he deems it's appropriate. And if you look at what has happened in Portland, Oregon for more than 100 nights, I was talking to our law enforcement team about it this morning. For more than 100 days, night after night after night, the ICE facility has been really under siege by these anarchists outside. They have been disrespecting law enforcement, they've been inciting violence. We saw again a guillotine rolled out in front of this federal building. And so the President wants to ensure that our federal buildings and our assets are protected. And that's exactly what he's trying to do. And ultimately in the case in Los Angeles, that judge ruled in the ninth Circuit that, that panel of judges ruled that those troops could remain and that the President was to willing well within his authority to do so. So we are appealing that decision. As you know, we expect a hearing on it pretty quickly. And we're very confident in the President's legal authority to do this and we're very confident we will win on the merits of the law.
Buck Sexton
What you have to remember, I think we all know how that went, whether it was a Caroline or Caitlin victory. But what you have to remember with all of this is these judges and the Democrats and CNN and it's all an outgrowth of they don't accept that Trump is the President. They recognize that yes, technically he is the President, but they do not actually in their own minds accept that he is the President of the United States with the full powers vested therein by the people in a free and fair election. They just, they deny it. They are in denial. I mean this is the hashtag resistance mentality. No one uses hashtags anymore. I always thought they were annoying. So they don't say hashtag resistance, but it's the same idea. Not my president. That was the initial rallying cry of the left after the 2016 election. And I remember cuz I was in New York City and the marches were going past my window of my 300 square foot New York City palace. Not my president. That's what they were saying. They still refuse to believe that he is the President. And ultimately that is their justification for what they do. Everything else is a facade. All the oh, but this judge says this or that judge said they know they're going to be Overturned. They know the Supreme Court's going to overrule them. But in their own minds, they justify these actions to slow and if possible, hobble the President's agenda by telling themselves he's illegitimate. He's illegitimate. Notice what they did in the first term. Oh, Russia, he's illegitimate. And now this time around, oh, he's a fascist and a threat to democracy. It's all self justifying. The argument shifts as it needs to, based upon their emotional needs. And they have an emotional need to say that he's not the president. They just don't. They don't buy it, they don't believe it. And anything that they can do to undermine that and to block his authority, even if it is temporary, they're willing to do. I give Trump a lot of credit for doing what he has done so far, which is, okay, I'll see you in court. All right, we'll work through this process, which they are very much using as a punishment against this administration, the punishment of taking time away. But at some point, you have to ask, when does Trump just say, no, you aren't the president, random federal judge. You don't get to just overrule my authority on an executive matter. That is plain letter law because you don't like me, Sorry, I'm going to keep going. And if the Supreme Court tells me I'm wrong, well, then maybe we can revisit this. When does that happen? You start to wonder. You start to wonder at what point that becomes the obligation of the commander in chief to push forward until the court. Now, I know all the process, and everyone's gonna kick and scream about this in the meantime is the sabotage, the bad faith sabotage of the Trump administration by judges in Oregon, by judges in Illinois and all over the country where there are Democrats and where there are Obama and Biden appointees to the bench. There was a time when dinner was more than just a meal. It's when the family would come together for an hour or so. Was it like that at your home? It is in mine. And look, it's a challenge, but you got to get to it. It's so important to have dinner together as a family. And you want to have something delicious on the table. That's where this fall, I want to remind you about Good Ranchers. Good Ranchers is calling America back to the dinner table. This is a company that connects our families with American ranchers and farmers raising cattle, chicken, pigs, in the best ways that they can raise them. 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Buck Sexton
All right, welcome back into Clay and Buck. And we got some, some Trumpisms to dive into from the Oval Office in just a few minutes. I think he's meeting with the Canadian prime minister today. So he's got that going on, which is nice. We'll discuss what he's saying there. It's Trump, so doesn't really matter who's in the Oval with him. It's going to be interesting. He's going to talk about things. I'll tell you what he is saying. And aa podcast listener Todd on the talk back. Let's hear what. Hey, Buck. Hey, good, good afternoon. Hey, this is Todd calling in. Listen. Originally from Chicago. Yes, it is called the Second City. It's also called the Windy City. You are right. There is an improv troupe based out of Lincoln Park, Second City. A lot of stars have moved on to like Saturday Night Live from that troupe. Anyway, Buck, doing a great job and keep it real. Yes, thank you. So we, we clarified that about Chicago and I am getting all of your commentary, let's hope, of a culinary nature about Polish sausage. It is in fact very much a cultural accoutrement of the Chicago area and that we will leave it at that. It is quite, quite tasty on the dinner table or the lunch table because a lot of you are writing in about this and I'm just going to say that moving right along, we have President Trump coming up here in the Oval Office shortly. We'll discuss that. Also got Carol markowitz On the two year anniversary of October 7th, Leland Vittert, formerly of Fox, now of News Nation fame, he'll be with us in the third hour. He's got a book. So the show is rocking and rolling. Take a beat, take a moment. We'll be right back.
Clay Travis
This is an iHeart podcast.
Hour 1 - Deep State Weaponization
Date: October 7, 2025
Host: Buck Sexton (Clay Travis on vacation)
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts
In this episode, Buck Sexton (solo hosting while Clay Travis is on vacation) explores the evolving story of “deep state weaponization.” He focuses on alleged political targeting within the FBI, aggressive federal law enforcement actions, and partisan battles involving the Trump administration, Democratic city leaders, and the ongoing role of federal agencies in local governance. Buck also discusses the contentious relationship between Republicans and the media, federal power versus city autonomy, and the Trump administration's approach to pushback from the left.
Quote:
“We are cleaning up a diseased temple three decades in the making, identifying the rot, removing those who weaponize law enforcement for political purposes...”
— Director Patel, as read by Buck (03:40)
Quote:
“They were playing politics with law enforcement powers and will go down as a historic betrayal of public trust. This is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people's faith in our law enforcement system.”
— Pam Bondi (05:44)
Quote:
“When you have what is effectively the secret police in a country playing games, using surveillance powers to undermine one political party or another, it doesn't lead to good places. In fact, sometimes it leads to a straight up coup...”
— Buck Sexton (07:50)
Quote:
“The National Guard is on the way right now as we speak... We’re there to help make America safe and Illinois safe, whether or not you want to.”
— Pam Bondi (10:32, 15:49)
Quote:
“The mayor of Chicago ... feels that the best way to represent his constituents is to create the pretense that Chicago is like ... its own statelet that does not have to deal with the surrounding nationality.”
— Buck Sexton (16:20)
Quote:
“The extreme right in this country refused to accept the results of the Civil War... Chicagoans are clear. Militarizing our troops in our city as justification to further escalate a war in Chicago will not be tolerated.”
— Mayor Brandon Johnson, played by Buck (24:51)
Quote:
“The President is using... his authority as Commander in Chief, US code 12406, which clearly states that the President has the right to call up the National Guard in cases where he deems it appropriate.”
— Caroline Levitt (29:40)
On FBI Weaponization:
“We cannot have an FBI that is pulling the phone records of Republican senators to try to jam them up on some nonsense.”
—Buck Sexton (06:30)
On Political Prisoners:
“There are a whole bunch of Republicans who have actually gone to prison from Trump World... for overwhelmingly the most petty offenses imaginable.”
—Buck Sexton (07:15)
On Inter-agency Conflict:
“If they can send Bannon to prison for nothing and Navarro to prison for nothing... maybe we can send some Democrats to prison for something, as in breaking the law, which they’ve done.”
—Buck Sexton (12:32)
On Legal Showdowns:
“Judges in Oregon, judges in Illinois, and all over the country... sabotage, the bad faith sabotage of the Trump administration by judges...”
—Buck Sexton (33:45)
Buck Sexton delivers the episode in his signature style: assertive, occasionally humorous, and combative toward Democratic leaders and media critics. He uses sharp analogies, frequent references to political history, and direct quotes to underline his arguments. The episode leans heavily into the theme of the federal government’s struggle to restore integrity while fighting entrenched opposition from “deep state” actors and progressive city leaders.
This hour of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show delves into the Republican position that justice and national security are being “weaponized” for partisan effect, focusing on the recent revelations around FBI surveillance, aggressive federal law enforcement, and the resistance of Democratic cities led by the likes of Chicago’s Mayor Johnson. Through testimony, legal analysis, and pointed criticism, Buck underscores the urgency of reform and the importance of the Trump administration’s combative stance — while lampooning Democratic attempts to create “enforcement-free zones” as fundamentally unserious and harmful to the nation.