Hour 1 - Democrats vs. Law Enforcement

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 1 - Democrats vs. Law Enforcement
Date: August 26, 2025
Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show (iHeartPodcasts)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton deeply analyze the political climate surrounding rising violent crime in major U.S. cities and the Democratic Party’s stance on law enforcement. With topical humor and sharp observations, they dissect recent interviews featuring Democratic leaders—including a much-discussed exchange between Joe Scarborough and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson—while contrasting President Trump’s aggressive crime policies with the responses of blue-state officeholders. The hosts argue that Democrats are hampered by ideological rigidity on law enforcement, resulting in public safety failures that, they contend, Trump is both exposing and capitalizing on politically.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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Setting the Political Stage: Primary Season and the Crime Agenda

• Upcoming Elections: The hosts preview the Texas AG primary (March 2026), New York mayoral race, and other state contests. They reminisce about earlier political wins, like Glenn Youngkin’s in Virginia and Ron DeSantis’s in Florida, emphasizing shifts in political momentum for conservatives (01:13–02:30).
• Trump’s Activism: Trump’s strategy is highlighted as redefining the agenda toward combating violent crime, particularly in Democrat-run cities (03:41–06:54). His public cabinet meetings and press events are contrasted with Biden’s more low-profile governance.
  • Clay Travis: “Trump has changed the agenda from tariffs and worrying about the economy... He has said we’re going to go to war with violent crime.” (05:20)

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Joe Scarborough vs. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson: A Tense Exchange

(Key Segment: 06:54–10:53, 23:34–24:52)

• Interview Context: On Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough presses Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson on whether adding 5,000 police officers would make the city safer. Johnson refuses to answer directly, instead emphasizing social programs over policing.
• Host Reactions: Clay and Buck praise Scarborough’s persistence and use the interview to illustrate what they see as Democratic evasiveness and ideological inflexibility regarding law enforcement.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Scarborough’s Direct Challenge
  • Scarborough: “Would you also like to get federal funding to help put 5,000 more cops on the street in Chicago? Would that help drive down crime?” (06:54)
  • Johnson: “Policing by itself is not the full strategy.” (07:03)
  • Scarborough: “I just need a yes or a no... Would an additional 5,000 cops... help... make Chicago safer?” (10:16)
  • Johnson: “I don’t believe that just simply putting out an arbitrary number around police officers is the answer.” (10:33)
• Clay’s Reaction:
  • “He’s like, hey, moron, I’ll give you everything else you want... but can you just say more cops would help with the crime problem? Could you please just say it? He won’t say it. The mayor of Chicago.” (10:53)
• Buck’s Analysis:
  • “The base of the Democrat Party still believes that police are the problem. They believe a lie. And I think this is why Trump has cut through the noise and the results here.” (11:42)

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The Democratic Party, Political Calculation, and Urban Crime

• Political Paralysis: The hosts argue that prominent Democrats and blue state officials, like Governor JB Pritzker (IL), are prioritizing national ambitions and party ideology over public safety in their cities. They view public opposition to National Guard deployment and increased law enforcement as “early auditions” for the Democratic presidential primary (23:34–24:52).

• Contrast with Local Sentiment: Clips highlight Chicago residents expressing a desperate desire for more security, even supporting National Guard presence to stop ongoing violence:

  • Chicago resident: “If that means bring our National Guard in for presence, then so be it, because we gotta do something. Children are dying.” (23:42)

• Pritzker’s Resistance:

  • “Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here.... Your remarks... have betrayed a... slip in your mental faculties.... Most alarming, you seem to lack any appropriate concern... for the members of the military that you would so callously deploy as pawns in your ever more alarming grabs for power.” (24:08)

• Clay’s Critique:

  • “They’re doing things that are actually worse for the citizens they represent because they see it as beneficial for their presidential ambitions.” (24:52)

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The Broader Challenge: Democrats and Crime Narratives

• Ideological Framing: The hosts contend that progressive urban leaders are locked into a worldview where increased policing is seen as inherently racist or oppressive, regardless of crime statistics or public demand for safety.
  • Buck: “It’s like talking to a robot. They’ve been programmed that cops are bad and law enforcement is bad.... The anti cop left will tell you that even black police officers in American cities are inherently part of a system that is racist...” (28:49–29:52)
• Statistical Realities: The hosts point out that Chicago, with 629 murders in 2024, had more homicides than the entire United Kingdom (population ~70 million), using this as a stark metric to challenge status quo leadership (30:12–30:18).
  • Buck: “The biggest enemy the Democrats have on the crime issue is numbers. The biggest problem they have is numbers or statistics.” (33:09)

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Trump’s Approach: Numbers, Aggressive Action, and a Builder’s Mindset

• Comparisons to Past Administrations: Trump is lauded for public accessibility and willingness to tackle issues at their root, in contrast to career politicians focused on job security.

  • Buck: “Lots of politicians are cowards. They want to stay far behind leaders and just kind of drift in their wake so they don’t really get noticed. They’re not actually trying to change anything. They’re just trying to keep their jobs. And Trump is trying to change things. And that’s very different.” (30:24)
  • Clay: “Trump is trying to lower violent crime. In so doing, he is going to save more black lives by far than anyone who marched in BLM protests and argued for defunding the police ever did.” (11:42)

• Cabinet Meeting Soundbites: Trump touts the resurgence of U.S. manufacturing (notably autos and steel), and the support he claims from unions while assuring that lost industrial jobs are returning.

  • Trump: “We lost 55% of our auto production over the last 35 years... But it’s all coming back. We’re going to be bigger... than we ever were.” (17:04)

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Political Calculus: Positioning for 2026 and Beyond

• Primary Dynamics: Speculation abounds that media figures like Joe Scarborough are maneuvering for a centrist lane in Democratic presidential politics, perhaps challenging the party’s left wing.
  • Clay: “I think Joe Scarborough is trying right now to carve himself a lane... as a sane capitalist alternative to socialists.” (21:26)
• Policy Implications: The episode critiques “violence interrupters” and “community organizers” as insufficient, contrasting these with more robust law enforcement—aligned with what the hosts see as the public’s wishes in high-crime areas.

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Notable Statistics and Concepts

• Chicago’s 629 murders in 2024 vs. the U.K.’s 535 with far larger population (29:49–30:18)
• D.C. experienced more than a person murdered every other day, outpacing international capitals (32:01–32:37)

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Other Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Buck reflects on the genius of Trump:
  • “One of the things that unfortunately has disappointed me... is lots of politicians are cowards... And Trump is trying to change things. And that’s very different.” (30:24)
• Clay on the Democrats’ narrative:
  • “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result—that’s a defining characteristic of the Democrat party. On crime, specifically, and more generally, I think on… everything.” (25:13)
• On Democrat framing:
  • Buck: “When Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, says, if we have too many police, they’re going to arrest black and brown people too much... Why are you worried about what happens to black and brown criminals more than you’re worried about the innocent people being victimized by black and brown criminals? They happen to be black and brown, too. It’s an easy response that I think is devastating.” (27:56)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Upcoming Primaries and Political Landscape: 00:27–03:05
• Scarborough vs. Mayor Brandon Johnson Interview: 06:54–10:53
• Analysis: Democrats’ Crime Narrative and Political Ambitions: 11:42–13:23, 23:34–25:13
• Statistics on Chicago and U.K. Murders: 29:49–30:18
• Trump’s Cabinet Meeting, Union Support, Economy: 17:04–18:34
• Reflections on Political Courage and Leadership: 30:24–31:13

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Conclusion

Hour 1 of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show provides a pointed critique of progressive urban leadership’s crime policies, emphasizing what the hosts see as a disconnect between Democratic ideology, everyday public safety concerns, and basic statistical realities. They frame Trump’s approach to violent crime—marked by direct action and public engagement—as both a political masterstroke and a moral imperative. Recurring throughout is the argument that Democrats are handicapped by ideological dogma, leaving them vulnerable to both policy failure and political defeat.

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Transcript

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Buck Sexton]

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.

[Clay Travis]

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.

[Buck Sexton]

Welcome in Tuesday Edition Clay Travis, Buck Sexton show. We appreciate all of you hanging out with us as we are rolling into the show today. Our friend Congressman Chip Roy from Texas will be on in the second hour. He is running for Attorney General of the state of Texas. And by the way, that primary is in March. So I know we've got the New York City mayor's race, we've got the election going on in Virginia and in New Jersey. Buck, do you remember for the first several years we did this show, everything was basically a loss except we got the win in Virginia like in that first year, and that then we had to kind of feed off that for a long time.

[Clay Travis]

Youngkin gave us, gave us some hope, some prayer for the future. And then the midterms, it was, it was Governor Ron in Florida, credit where it's due, massive win.

[Buck Sexton]

We did win the House of Representatives back, but it was still a tough, there was a lot of tough situations. I feel like every day we wake up now, their celebratory spirit as there should be across the country for most of the decisions that are being made. But in the first several years that we were together, there were not a lot of victories to celebrate. So I do think as we get ready for the Virginia, New Jersey election, New York City mayor and then obviously as we move into next year, the Texas primary is going to be a major, major event In March of 2026, as I know many of you in Texas are aware of. But as the state of Texas is football mad, frankly almost unlike any other state in America with high school, college and pro, that's going to be hard to cut through the noise in Texas in September, October, November, December, if the Cowboys actually win, sorry, Cowboy fans, even January 2nd, when the playoffs happen. And as a result, that primary you're going to look up from the holidays and it's going to be right on top of you. So that is underway. We will talk with Chip Roy, who is running for attorney general there. Uh, I would say it is a huge event. We will be covering quite a lot as we move closer to that. But President Trump, I believe, about to have his seventh public Cabinet meeting. Remember, Joe Biden didn't have a Cabinet meeting and everybody just forgot and didn't pay very much attention to it for basically the final two years of his term in office. There were no meetings as they were hiding him. Trump had three different public events yesterday, Buck. He basically had rolling press conferences for hours. I bet he'll be talking for hours today.

[Clay Travis]

I'm. I'm just going to try to give credit where it's due here, Clay, because we always like to call balls and strikes, as, you know, hiding Biden was the right move. Yeah, this is. We can talk about how, like, depraved and craven and everything it is, but hiding Biden was actually a pretty sound strategy. And I'm. I'm going to go even further. I think hiding Kamala probably would have been a better move for them. I know that they had maybe got too loud for her to appear in public, but it's better to have MSNBC pretend that you know who these people are than to actually see what they say when they don't have a script or a teleprompter in front of them.

[Buck Sexton]

Remember, they didn't actually do an interview with Kamala Harris for a month. And then when they finally did one, I think it was with Dana Bash, if I remember correctly, on cnn. And Tim Walls was there with her. Uh, so they waited until, I mean, late August, if I remember correctly, before they even let her talk to anybody, which raised expectations. Unfortunately, even with that going on, she couldn't meet them. But I do think there is a story that is becoming pretty intriguing, and it is Joe Scarborough probably, and potentially still smarting from the public humiliation that he suffered because he said that Joe Biden 2024 was just as good of a Biden as he had ever seen. In fact, the best version of Biden. And after the June 27th debate, I think Joe Scarborough was embarrassed on a level that it's hard to be embarrassed in public prognostication. And I think he has decided a bit to go to war with the die hard NBC View MSNBC viewing audience. Remember, he and Mika initially were very favorable with Trump. Then that relationship turned negative. Then they went and kissed the ring after Trump won reelection, which led many of the people in the MSNBC audience to be furious. The MSNBC audience has not been galvanized this time by the Trump administration. In fact, audience ratings have continued to be weak and to frankly collapse. And maybe that has emboldened Joe Scarborough to actually start being a journalist. Because, Buck, you shared this this morning. I Went and watched. And I gotta give Joe Scarborough credit. Uh, he had on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. And let's set the table here. I think brilliantly, in the summer months here, Trump has changed the agenda from, from basically tariffs and worrying about the economy because we're at record stock market highs. And he has said we're going to go to war with violent crime. And D.C. was the first place that he decided to bring out the National Guard. I believe we are now, and correct me if I'm wrong, team, I think we're at either day 12 or day 13 without a murder in D.C. overall, crime rates have fallen precipitously. And now Trump is talking about bringing the National Guard to Chicago and Baltimore and other American cities that he believes have far too high of a crime rate. And Joe Scarborough asked Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson this morning on MSNBC a very simple question. Would having more police officers make the city of Chicago safer? And I want to play. I'm going to call for each of these in succession. I want to play you, the mayor of Chicago refusing to answer if more police officers would make the city safer. Here is part one.

[Joe Scarborough]

Would you also like to get federal funding to help put 5,000 more cops on the street in Chicago? Would that help drive down crime?

[Brandon Johnson]

Well, look, policing by itself is not the full strategy.

[Joe Scarborough]

I understand you talked about the other things you want, and I said, those are good and important programs. But I'm asking also, would 5,000 more police officers on the street in Chicago be helpful to go along with all of those social programs that a lot of cities are engaging in and having success with?

[Brandon Johnson]

Look, here's the best way I can put it, Joe, is that in the 90s, when I was in high school, we had 3,000 more police officers and we had 900 people being murdered every single year in Chicago. It's just not policing alone.

[Buck Sexton]

Okay, this continues. Can I just reel, you know, because.

[Clay Travis]

The way we set this up is, would more cops be helpful? Joe Scarborough is actually conceding as part of his questioning here, he says, if we give you all the money you want for your violence, Interrupters, for your, your, you know, community organizers, for your. All these, by the way, things that do absolutely nothing. I know you'll find some radicals will say, oh, my gosh, the history of violence interrupters. Please, give me a break. Okay? Social workers, he says, with all that, would you also want more cops? And now, Clay, you can continue to work through that. It's astonishing. This guy, the Mayor of Chicago.

[Buck Sexton]

Here is part two. Mayor of Chicago Brandon Johnson, he. Of the recent 6% approval rating. Asked again, yes or no, would 5,000 cops help MSNBC this morning?

[Brandon Johnson]

Of course we would.

[Joe Scarborough]

I know it's not policing alone. I know it's not policing alone. You've told me everything else you want. I'm curious. And this. This doc does come down to an ideological difference between people. Do you believe that the streets of Chicago would be safer if there were more uniformed police officers on the streets of Chicago?

[Brandon Johnson]

I believe the city of Chicago, in cities across America, would be safer if we actually had, you know, affordable housing.

[Joe Scarborough]

Look, that's not the question I asked. My question is, and I just need to answer a no. Do you believe the streets of Chicago would be safer if you got all of those other extraordinary programs put back into place, which do have a history of being successful? If that's. If that's complemented by having 5,000 more cops on the streets of Chicago, I.

[Brandon Johnson]

Don'T believe that we should narrow it down to just police officers. What I'm saying, that is an antiquated approach.

[Buck Sexton]

Okay. It continues, Buck. And I just think I got to give Scotch Joe Scarborough credit. He sounds a bit like me back in the day with Mike Pence, when you just can't get an answer from a question that you think is actually an important one. Here is more. Brandon Johnson, mayor of Chicago, having his feet held to the fire on a simple question. Hey, would more cops help cut three.

[Brandon Johnson]

I'm saying we've invested in detention.

[Joe Scarborough]

Are you hearing what I'm saying? I'm agreeing with you that all of these other social programs are extraordinarily important. I just need a yes or a no. And then the be the last time I ask if you get all of those other social programs that.

[Clay Travis]

That.

[Joe Scarborough]

That 800 million that. That New York City does, Los Angeles, other people do with great success. Would an additional 5,000 cops on the streets in Chicago help complement those programs to make Chicago safer?

[Brandon Johnson]

Look, we are working hard to make sure that our police department is fully supported. I don't believe that just simply putting out an arbitrary number around police officers is the answer. What I'm saying is policing and affordable housing is policing, and mental and behavioral health care services is policing and youth employment.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, Clay is important. I think Joe Scarborough is basically begging this guy. Yes, begging. He's like, hey, moron, I'll give you everything else you want. We'll pretend all these programs that don't do a darn thing in any of these places that anyone can measure will also be in place here. But can you just say more cops would help with the crime problem? Could you please just say it? He won't say it. The mayor of Chicago. And it's because the mayor of Chicago is anti cop. He's anti law enforcement. He thinks cops are the problem. He thinks that crime in the south and west sides of Chicago, where there are a lot of homicides, even for an American city, a lot of homicides going on. He thinks that the issue is mass incarceration and over policing, Clay. That's the bottom line. And he won't change his mind.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes, and I think this is brilliant of Trump. I just think it is absolutely brilliant. And I, I am staggered at the stupidity of Democrats responding to this. Trump is trying to lower violent crime. In so doing, he is going to save more black lives by far than anyone who marched in BLM protests and argued for defunding the police ever did. In fact, that cost black lives. And most of you out there, white, black, Asian, Hispanic, gay, straight, male, female, all of you say, yeah, more cops would help. Why can Democrats not say it? Because the base of the Democrat Party still believes that police are the problem. They believe a lie. And I think this is why Trump has cut through the noise and the results here. You know, we sometimes talk buck, and I think it's important that there are two tracks on everything. Is it politically smart and does it actually make the country better? Sometimes those don't overlap. Here they do. It's both politically smart and the country is better if we lower the overall rate of violent crime. And Trump has cut through the noise. And right now, the debate we're having in the summer of his first term is should we have more police? And is Trump trying to lower violent crime too aggressively? It's brilliant. I just, I gotta give him credit for it. It is absolutely brilliant.

[Clay Travis]

And we're gonna have more for you, by the way, because right now, just a couple minutes ago, Trump started a cabinet meeting. And you know what that means. It's a Trumpathon, everybody. He's got stuff on the economy, on crime, on Ukraine, on everything. We, because we have the best team in the radio business, are monitoring in real time as we talk to you, bringing you all of the highlights of this. We might even join it live if he gets onto a particular topic that we think is necessary to get into every detail about. But Clay, the Trump a thon begins.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back into Clay Ann.

[Buck Sexton]

Buck.

[Clay Travis]

We got President Trump in a cabinet meeting right now. He is talking about the economy, about tariff, jobs, energy prices. He said 100,000 additional tons of American made steel is hitting the market because of his policies. Let's, let's join the President right now inside that cabinet meeting.

[Donald Trump]

Don't Forget we lost 55% of our auto production over the last 35 years. 55%. We were the auto capital of the world. Like there was nobody even think about challenging us. We lost 55% of it to Mexico, Canada, China, a lot to China and other countries. And it's all coming back. We will be bigger. A couple of years we'll be bigger than we ever were. We'll be more dominant. We'll be bigger. We make great product too. We're starting to make really great product. We're going to be bigger than we ever were. We're going to be at the level that it was when we were the only one that really we sold to the world. And we're going to be back to selling to ourselves and other parts of the world. It's not going to be the same, but it's going to be equally as important as it was in the heyday 30 years ago. But we lost more than 50% of the automaking capacity. In fact, the unions, the auto unions, as you know, the top guy didn't know me, didn't like me and now he likes me. Just man, I can't believe what's, what Trump has done. But the auto workers voted for me. They understood better than anybody else. The auto workers, the Teamsters voted for me. Teamsters are great. They all voted for me. They would. Nobody, no Republican has ever gotten the support of the Teamsters and the auto workers. And now the head of the auto workers. I mean it's so amazing. I watch them on television there. They can't even believe what happened. And I told them all what was going to happen.

[Clay Travis]

We'll come back into this here in a moment and talk about some of what Trump is laying out there. But he is very proud of the economic record so far. It's only what, seven, eight months into the administration and there's a lot more to come no doubt.

[Buck Sexton]

And again, I just think the public availability of Trump. Remember maybe the most ridiculous of all the Trump charges were that the 25th Amendment should be brought to bear in his first term. No one can say it now after all the Joe Biden revelations, but just think about how wild that accusation was. And there's a clip out there. Maybe we can play it for you because of Trump being aggressively questioned about his health in the first term compared to the COVID up of Biden.

[Clay Travis]

Speaking of health, Mamdani, we all saw it. It was sad, sad, sad exclamation point. My man could not throw up 135 pounds on the bench. He's gotta weigh 150. 155. It was sad. A capital S exclamation point. But we've got an idea. How about some chalk for mom Donnie? And in fact, how about some chalk for anybody out there who could use a boost. Use a little bit more energy jocks. Male Vitality Stack replenishes diminished testosterone levels in men. Your body's natural source of energy, testosterone. If you don't have enough, you get mom Donnied and the weight, the very sad little weight pins you and you need people to pull it off you. But if you have enough testosterone, gentlemen, and Chalk's meal Vitality stack can help you get there. 20% boost in just three months time is what it can do for you and that makes a huge difference. Go check out all of chalk's fantastic supplements so you don't end up like Mamdani. Use use promo code Buck For a big time discount on your subscription go to choq.com that's choq.com promo code buck.

[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in Clay Travis, Buck Sexton show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us. Okay, I've got a theory for you here Buck. And sometimes my theories you sign onto and you think hey you know what, this actually makes complete sense and other times you think this is crazy. So let me give you first props on one of your theories. We start off the show with Joe Scarborough and you said I think Joe Scarborough is setting the table to run for president last week or the week before. And when I see these clips I can't help but think Joe Scarborough is trying right now to carve himself a lane to as a Bill Clinton like Democrat candidate. And there is going to be I think a massive battle on the left to see who can be the wokest. Like we saw in the 2020 primary. Remember when everybody raised their hands basically to say who supports abortions for trans like all this crazy.

[Clay Travis]

Remember that question, trans, trans illegal aliens. We need to be paying for the abortions of trans illegal aliens. Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

Where you're, you're sitting there and you're trying to figure out, I feel like Allen in The Hangover Part 1, where you could see him trying to do the math in his head to figure out what exactly is going on there. And so there's going to be this huge race to that side. But Joe Biden actually ended up the nominee by being somewhat moderate, as we point out, and you point out on the show regularly. He never supported defund the police. Joe Biden was never dumb enough, even with his clear cognitive issues to go full left wing. Now, he governed full left wing, but he didn't run full left wing. With that in mind, there's going to be a lane for someone. It might be Rahm Emanuel. It might be Gavin Newsom who's trying to kind of get into that lane. It might be somebody like Joe Scarborough. It might be Dwayne the Rock Johnson. People are now talking about the Rock running as a Democrat. It wouldn't shock me if there is somebody who runs as a sane capitalist alternative to socialists like Mamdani. Okay, with that is the prelim. I think what you're seeing right now is people in positions of power in blue states are making awful decisions for their constituents now that are entirely predicated on trying to get a larger constituency and run for president of the United States. For instance, JB Pritzker. I believe we have audio from JB Pritzker. There's no way, if he has a functional brain and I don't believe he's a complete and total moron, that he doesn't believe that having more police, same thing with Brandon Johnson. But he's not going to be a national candidate. I want to just play these contrasts for you. Here is a black Chicago resident saying, we would love to have more National Guard troops in the city of Chicago because way too many people are dying. Kids in particular. Listen to this resident, cut five.

[Clay Travis]

I want them both to stop the political theater. And if that means bring our National Guard in for presents, then so be it, because we gotta do something. Children are dying.

[Buck Sexton]

Children, okay? Children are dying. This is a common sense Chicago resident saying, hey, we would support this. Listen to J.B. pritzker, who has to recognize that this would likely be helpful but needs to fight Trump because he sees it as better for his political ambitions. Listen to him this morning. This is cut six.

[J.B. Pritzker]

Earlier today in the Oval Office, Donald Trump looked at the assembled cameras and asked for me personally to say, Mr. President, can you do us the honor of protecting our city? Instead, I say, Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here. Your remarks about this effort over the last several weeks have betrayed a continuing slip in your mental faculties and are not fit for the auspicious office that you occupy. Most alarming, you seem to lack any appropriate concern as our commander in chief for the members of the military that you would so callously deploy as pawns in your ever more alarming grabs for power.

[Buck Sexton]

He can't believe this, Buck. This is entirely an early audition for the Democrat primary. From Newsom, from Pritzker. They're doing things that are actually worse for the citizens they represent because they see it as beneficial for their presidential ambitions. And that's almost entirely what we're seeing take place right now.

[Clay Travis]

Well, we all know that phrase, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. That's a defining characteristic of the Democrat party. On crime, specifically, and more generally, I think on. On really everything. Real communism, real Democrat stuff has never been tried on this issue. What exactly does. Does Pritzker think it's OK that there were. I. I don't know what the number. I think it was like almost 600 last year and almost 700 the year before. Something like that. Murders in Chicago. Murders. More murders in Chicago than I think there are in the entire United Kingdom. I'm pulling that out of thin air, but I think it's probably true. It's crazy. Or certainly than there are in London. It's crazy. And you look at this and you say to yourself, why do we have to accept this as the status quo if it doesn't have to be? Here's the real question for Democrats. Do we have to accept that 500 people are going to get killed in Chicago every year? Murdered. That's more than one a day. Yes, we have murders every day in Chicago. I mean, what. You know, why is that something we have to accept as a society? Why is that a price that we have to pay? And, you know, I tweeted about this, Clay. It is amazing. You know, I'll get into some of the Abrego Garcia stuff coming up here in the second hour. But the emotion with which these libs approach an alleged MS.13 gang member slash human trafficker who is not an American, no one disputes. This guy is an illegal. This guy is not American. He is not supposed to be here. He is. And they're so upset about him being sent to some other country. But they're not upset about the fact that more than a person a day gets killed every day. In Chicago, almost a person a day gets killed every day. In D.C. it's probably every other day. No emotion about that at all. No. No candlelight vigils, no hymns in the streets, no songs or whatever. Abrego Garcia. We need to protest the violence that's going on in American cities. By the way, Clay, we know it doesn't have to happen everywhere because it doesn't happen in San Francisco. It doesn't happen the same degree. It happens in Chicago and Boston. So it can be better. So why not try to make it better? I mean, this is. And you see, with someone like Brandon Johnson, I don't think we need more cops. Why? We need more violence interrupters. Why? I don't think we need more cops. Why? I mean, it's like talking to a robot. They've been programmed that cops are bad and law enforcement is bad. They've been programmed that law enforcement is inherently in this country, racist. That is what the Democrat Party believes, that if you enforce the law more. The mayor of L. A said this.

[Buck Sexton]

Clay directly said this.

[Clay Travis]

This results in going after young black and brown men more, therefore, we should not do this. That is her actual stated feeling.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. And this is where the counterpunch is devastating. It's just absolutely devastating. We delivered it. I haven't heard anybody in the political universe deliver it. And the counterpunch you. I boxed this morning. I boxed three days a week. I think that most people are pretty decent at throwing punches. They have no idea to watch for a counterpunch. Counterpunch is what gets you knocked out, usually because you leave yourself wide open for it. When Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, says, if we have too many police, they're going to arrest black and brown people too much. The immediate devastating counterpunch is why are you worried about what happens to black and brown criminals more than you're worried about the innocent people being victimized by black and brown criminals? They happen to be black and brown, too. It's an easy response that I think is devastating.

[Clay Travis]

And one of the ways the Democrats do this, I might add, is is they. They propagate. And this is at the heart of the BLM protests and everything else. They propagate lies, which body cameras have done more than anything else to disabuse the public of for people who are paying attention. They propagate the lie that cops day in and day out in this country. I mean, Clay I live in Miami. I think 70 or 80% of the cops here are Latino, right? Yeah, so. And so is the population. So are those cops all racist like you start to look in the NYPD, I think it's 40, 40 plus percent minority. Are they all racist too? Oh, well, by the way, the anti cop left will say yes. The anti cop left will tell you that even black police officers in American cities are inherently part of a system that is racist. Therefore, they are engaged in racism, even if it is subconscious. You know, this is the, the circular logic and the nonsense. This is the Ismaam Daniism and Ibram x Kendi and you know, this is what they believe. By the way, I pulled that number off the top of my head and I was like, that sounds right. It is, right. 629 murders in Chicago last year, Clay. In the entire United kingdom, there were 535 murders. There are more murders in Chicago than in the United Kingdom, which has another stat I'm pulling off top of my head. 40 million people.

[Joe Scarborough]

Ish.

[Clay Travis]

You know, something like that.

[Buck Sexton]

It is again, one of the geniuses of Trump.

[Clay Travis]

I'm sorry, 70 million. I was way off. Whoa, Samsonite. I was way off. 70 million people.

[Buck Sexton]

What is one of the geniuses is Trump of Trump is he looks at, at things and says, why do we accept this? Lots of politicians just want to work on the edges. They want to work on the margins. They don't want to actually take any risks. They don't want to believe in big things, because believing in big things and taking risks can get you kicked out of office. One of the things that unfortunately has disappointed me in the era that we've been doing this show is lots of politicians are cowards. They want to stay far behind leaders and just kind of drift in their wake so they don't really get noticed. They're not actually trying to change anything. They're just trying to keep their jobs. And Trump is trying to change things. And that's very different.

[Clay Travis]

I'm, you know, as we're doing this, I have on. On mute on one of the monitors in, in the studio here. I have. There's a reporter who is attacked in D.C. violent, you know, victim of a violent crime, who's having an exchange right now with President Trump. So I can only see the text below. We will poll this though, because I'm sure this is. And Clay, you've seen this again and again. Every time some, you know, low Testosterone, soy drinking, MSNBC watching journo. Maybe they live in the general D.C. vicinity. But they don't live in D.C. you know, every time they're like, D.C. is not that dangerous. You'll see a comment right below, including from Democrats who are like, actually it is. I got attacked. You know, my car got stolen six months ago. I mean, everybody knows that this is the truth. Democrats have just been lying about it.

[Buck Sexton]

Totally. And Trump has seen this. And the genius of Trump is, and I think this comes back to what he does for a living. He is, in fact, a builder. And builders are typically trying to fix problems. They're trying to create things that are better than what preexisted. And he's looking at this and he's saying, why are we accepting 20 some odd thousand murders a year? Why don't we actually drive down the rate of crime? And I do think the graphic that really got to Trump and many of his people was looking at the rates of murder in Washington D.C. compared to all the other world capitals.

[Clay Travis]

Absolutely, Clay. And because that's, that's a national. It's our capital. If you live in Montana or you live In Northern Virginia, D.C. is our capital. Okay. You know, we should be proud of our national capital. And we should. And I know a lot of you are like, fuck, it's all Democrat hellhole. Yeah, exactly. It shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't be the situation that has unfolded there as long as it has. And Clay, again, I grew up in New York City where we had 2,200 murders when I was in junior high, 2200 murders in New York City. And by the time I was finishing high school, it was like 500 and it got down to about to 90, I think in the absolute drop in the, after the Bloomberg administration have finished cleaning things up. So my point here is, you know, the biggest enemy the Democrats have on the crime issue is numbers. The biggest problem they have is numbers or statistics. When you look at what's actually going on and what should be possible and where this could go, how much better.

[Buck Sexton]

Things could be, there's no doubt we'll talk about this. We'll take some of your talkbacks. We'll continue to react. Trump, as we said in the midst of a cabinet meeting right now, and I'll obviously talking about a huge variety of different topics. We'll be pulling cuts and discussing what he is discussing with all of you. College football's back, baby. I love it. I cannot wait to watch so many of the games. I'm taking my 14 year old. We're going to go to the Alabama, Florida State game. Never Been to Tallahassee. Looking forward to being there to watch that game. Can't wait to watch Ohio State on the road against Texas. Cannot wait to see how the LSU Clemson game goes. There are so many awesome, huge games going on in Week one. You know how to make things a little bit more fun. Prize picks. You can play in Texas, you can play in Georgia. Big game there between Syracuse and my Tennessee Volunteers. You can play in Florida where Buck is and where I will be over Labor Day weekend going to a game you can play all over the country. California if you've been filling left out 40 plus states. All you have to do right now pick more or less on a variety of players and you are well on your way to having a lot of fun. I'm going to give you a pick on Friday headed into the weekend for college football. You can go ahead and get signed up though. Prizepix.com when you play $5 you get $50 deposited automatically in your account. You're going to love this. It makes it a lot of fun. If you love football like I do, play along with us. Buck is going to play along too. Tennessee can play, Florida can play. Georgia can play. California can play 40 plus states. Prizepix.com code clay picks coming Friday, but go ahead and get signed up. That's prizepix.com code Clay Patriots radio hosts a couple of regular guys, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts this Labor Day.

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[Clay Travis]

All right, welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. We got some very interesting exchanges between President Trump and the press. Pretty much always happens when Trump is having a press conference. In this case he had a cabinet meeting. Taking questions from the press assembled there. We will get into it. Also want to remind you, send us your talk backs. Go to the iHeartRadio app, which is fantastic. And you could press the microphone when you go to the Clay and Buck page. Make sure you subscribe. Our podcast network is fabulous by the way, there's that word, fabulous podcast network because we've got a whole bunch of great hosts on there like Carol Markowitz and Tudor Dixon and David Rutherford and others who are doing shows totally separate from this show. And you can listen to the show on demand there anytime. So please go check that out. And to get you, as a little enticement to get you to subscribe to our YouTube channel, we told you there'd be special content only on the YouTube. Well, you can see our good buddy Clay trying to do the secretary Hegseth physical challenge. The full video. I will let Clay tell us the details. All I remember about this is that it is a hundred push ups. Forty pull ups in five minutes. Is that right?

[Buck Sexton]

A hundred. 100 push ups. 50 pull ups.

[Clay Travis]

50 pull ups.

[Buck Sexton]

OK. And they tried to do it in under 10 like some senator Mark Wayne Mullen out there from Oklahoma did it in three and a half. It crushed me. I tried it last night. My 14 year old recorded it. Push ups. I could do hundreds of push ups. I mean not all at once but if you told me in 10 minutes how many push ups could you do? I think I could do 300 push ups in 10 minutes. The pull ups killed me. If anybody wants to do this challenge, it's basically just a pull up challenge. 50 pull ups is a lot Buck. I tried to do one at a time because I knew I was going to be bad at them. And by the end I could barely. I had to take substantial breaks. I did it in 1124. By the end I could barely get myself up to the pull up bar. Even with taking time.

[Clay Travis]

I'm just. If you want to see Clay either meeting the meeting his challenge here or struggling mightily. Depends on your perspective because we're to going two middle aged guys. You gotta subscribe to the Clay and Buck on YouTube. Go to Clay and Buck. Go to the YouTube channel. Our team will have it up there for you. You can watch Clay, you can write in the comments how you are cheering him on in this.

[Buck Sexton]

In this endeavor.

[Clay Travis]

And. And, yeah, which reminds me, I'm gonna have to video some serves soon. Put those up on the YouTube. But go subscribe to YouTube.

[Buck Sexton]

No doubt. It was. It was tough. Good to challenge yourself, though.

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast.