Hour 1 - Government Fixer-Upper

Summary

Summary of "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show" Episode: Hour 1 - Government Fixer-Upper

Release Date: March 12, 2025

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1. Introduction

In the "Government Fixer-Upper" episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, Buck Sexton leads the discussion in Clay Travis's absence. The episode delves into significant current events, focusing primarily on the economy, government operations, and international relations, particularly the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Additionally, the hosts address recent developments concerning trans issues in Congress and updates on Mahmoud Khalil from Columbia University.

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2. Department of Education Layoffs

Buck Sexton opens the episode by highlighting a major development within the U.S. Department of Education:

• Sweeping Layoffs: The Department has terminated over 1,300 employees and closed several offices citing security reasons. Buck raises questions about the Department's effectiveness, its role, and whether its functions justify the current expenditure.

  “The Department of Education is getting cut down substantially. So they had what are being called sweeping layoffs. We shall discuss, because this raises so many interesting issues.”
  — Buck Sexton [03:00]

Buck emphasizes the need to evaluate the Department's performance and its alignment with governmental goals, questioning whether its dissolution is a step toward governmental efficiency or a reduction in educational support.

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3. Economic Analysis: Inflation and Supply Shortages

A substantial portion of the discussion centers on the U.S. economy, with Buck addressing inflation and supply chain challenges:

• Inflation Trends: Buck criticizes the Biden administration for initiating the worst inflation in 40 years through excessive spending, which he argues began immediately upon Biden taking office.

  “Biden had the worst inflation in 40 years and it started right when he came into office because he spent trillions of dollars completely unnecessarily.”
  — Buck Sexton [05:00]

• Supply Shortages: Using the example of egg prices soaring due to the bird flu outbreak that led to the culling of chickens, Buck illustrates the tangible effects of disrupted supply chains.

  “They chose to kill so many chickens because of bird flu. That's part one of why there's been a run up in prices.”
  — Buck Sexton [05:30]

• Positive Economic Indicators: Clay Travis later interjects with optimistic news about consumer prices dipping, signaling a potential ease in inflationary pressures.

  “Consumer prices in February increased by 2.8% year over year. 2% month over month. Both of these figures were a step in the right direction...”
  — Clay Travis [12:35]

Buck acknowledges these positive signs but maintains a critical stance on the administration's economic policies, asserting that Trump’s strategies offer a path to economic recovery.

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4. Trump’s Economic Policies vs. Biden’s Administration

Buck Sexton contrasts Trump’s economic approach with Biden's, advocating for Trump’s policies as more effective in managing the economy:

• Trump’s Track Record: Buck lauds Trump's ability to reduce egg prices, decrease interest rates, and lower gasoline prices shortly after taking office.

  “Donald Trump, Trump is better at this than the people who used to be in charge until a minute ago.”
  — Buck Sexton [07:00]

• Critique of Biden's Spending: He criticizes Biden for misallocating funds to left-wing interest groups and non-governmental organizations, which, according to Buck, failed to address inflation and exacerbated economic woes.

  “The so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which did not at all reduce inflation. It didn't even really address inflation.”
  — Buck Sexton [06:00]

• Media and Perception Management: Buck accuses the media of manipulating economic data to favor Biden, undermining Trump's achievements.

  “They try to manipulate economic data to favor Biden, undermining Trump's achievements.”
  (Paraphrased)

Buck emphasizes the need to recognize Trump’s leadership as a critical factor in steering the economy back on course, dismissing criticisms as uninformed or biased.

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5. Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire Negotiations

The hosts shift focus to international relations, specifically the ongoing efforts to broker a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war:

• Trump’s Role in Negotiations: Buck discusses Trump’s involvement in facilitating ceasefire talks, highlighting a recent agreement initiated by Ukraine and the anticipation of Russian consent.

  “Ukraine has agreed to [a ceasefire]. We hope Russia will agree to it as well.”
  — Donald Trump [06:52]

• Secretary Rubio’s Statement: Buck references Secretary Rubio's comments on the ceasefire, emphasizing the administration's commitment to ending the conflict.

  “Today we've made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a ceasefire...”
  — Secretary Rubio [24:41]

• Potential Outcomes: Buck analyzes possible scenarios based on Russia’s response, contemplating whether Putin will agree to the ceasefire or continue the conflict, and the implications for U.S. foreign policy.

  “If Russia doesn't do that, well, then we know that their plan is to grind this thing out and probably take at least half, if not all of Ukraine over time.”
  — Buck Sexton [25:22]

Buck underscores the complexity of the negotiations, suggesting that Trump's direct approach could either pave the way for peace or expose the limitations of his negotiation tactics.

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6. Trans Issues in Congress

Later in the episode, Buck addresses a contentious issue within Congress regarding the treatment of trans individuals:

• Respect and Reality: Buck advocates for courteous behavior towards trans colleagues without compromising personal truths or fabrications about their identities.

  “You are to be kind to them... But you don't have to lie, right? You don't have to pretend somebody who's 50 is actually 10 because they say so.”
  — Buck Sexton [10:00]

• Congressional Debate: He references recent Congressional debates where some members resisted using preferred pronouns or recognizing preferred genders of trans colleagues, signaling a growing divide on the issue.

  “There are some members of Congress who no longer wish to refer to trans colleagues by their preferred pronoun or their preferred gender.”
  — Buck Sexton [10:30]

Buck emphasizes the importance of maintaining respect and dignity in legislative discourse while upholding personal integrity, highlighting the broader cultural clash surrounding trans rights.

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7. Updates on Mahmoud Khalil

Towards the episode's conclusion, Buck provides updates on Mahmoud Khalil from Columbia University, a topic of interest to their audience:

• Legal and Administrative Clarity: Buck addresses concerns regarding Khalil’s legal status and the authority of the Secretary of State in matters of deportation based on behavior.

  “If the authority is that the Secretary of State can say you're here on a student visa and you're acting like a jerk because I say so, you're gone.”
  — Buck Sexton [17:00]

• Future Implications: He calls for clear guidelines on how these authorities will be applied, particularly if Democrats gain control of the administration, to prevent misuse in targeting activists or protesters.

  “Is this gonna be for other things that are activist protests, etc.? Again, I'm just asking for clarity from the administration on what it is so we know what the standard is.”
  — Buck Sexton [17:30]

Buck underscores the necessity for transparent policies to ensure that administrative powers are not exploited for political vendettas, advocating for accountability and fairness in their application.

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8. Conclusion

Buck Sexton wraps up the episode by reiterating the importance of addressing these multifaceted issues with honesty and strategic thinking. He emphasizes the need for effective leadership in both domestic policies and international negotiations to steer the nation toward stability and prosperity.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

1. Buck Sexton on Department of Education Layoffs

   “The Department of Education is getting cut down substantially.”
   — Buck Sexton [03:00]

2. Buck Sexton on Biden’s Inflation

   “Biden had the worst inflation in 40 years and it started right when he came into office.”
   — Buck Sexton [05:00]

3. Trump on Economic Improvements

   “The price of eggs has come down a lot. Interest rates have come down, gasoline prices have come down. It's all coming down.”
   — Donald Trump [06:52]

4. Clay Travis on Inflation Indicators

   “Consumer prices in February increased by 2.8% year over year.”
   — Clay Travis [12:35]

5. Secretary Rubio on Ceasefire Offer

   “Today we've made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a ceasefire.”
   — Secretary Rubio [24:41]

6. Buck Sexton on Ceasefire Negotiations

   “If Putin doesn't play ball at all, Trump's going to turn up the heat on Russia.”
   — Buck Sexton [25:22]

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Final Thoughts

This episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show provides a comprehensive analysis of pressing governmental and international issues. Buck Sexton offers a critical perspective on current administrative actions, economic policies, and international conflicts, advocating for strategic leadership and accountability. The discussion underscores the interconnectedness of domestic policies and global relations, highlighting the challenges and potentials for future governance.

Transcript

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome everybody to the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show. Excited to have you all with us. Clay on vacation this week, as you know, having a great time out west. He'll be back with us on Monday. He sends his warmest regards to all of you and I know he will be fired up to get back to the mic. He's with his, his boys. He's having a great time touring some colleges. We have a lot of news going on here, my friends. I want, I'm going to start with this one, although I think we're going to dive into the economy first today. But just for headlines sake, Department of Education has fired more than 1300 employees, closed offices for security reason reasons yesterday. So that's actually happening, my friends. The Department of Education is getting cut down substantially. So they had what are being called sweeping layoffs. We shall discuss, because this raises so many interesting issues. What does the Department of Education do again? Right, the moment you get into that, you start to think, do we want it doing that? Has it done a good job of doing that? Is it worth what we're paying for it to try to do the job that it may not be doing so well of that we will discuss all of it. We've got some progress to speak of on the Russia, Ukraine war, ceasefire negotiations underway. We've got Secretary Rubio with some quotes on that one coming up in a little bit, which is a very good thing. We want that war to stop. We want the bloodshed to stop. We want stability to slowly but surely return to that region. Also. It's interesting, isn't it? Yesterday I told you about the whole courtesy thing with trans identifying individuals and how you are to be kind to them. You are to be, you know, Christian or whatever your faith tradition is, a good person to all people, of course, including trans people. But you don't have to lie, right? You don't have, you don't have to pretend somebody who's 50 is actually 10 because they say so. And you don't have to pretend that somebody who's a man is actually a woman because they say so. This came up in Congress yesterday. We have the clip and you will want to hear it. Turns out I'm not the only one who feels this way. There are some members of Congress who no longer wish to refer to trans colleagues by their preferred pronoun or their preferred gender. But I want to start with the back and forth already on the economy today because, well, look, it affects all of us and I get it. You know, my wife's family has chickens in the backyard. It's funny. Who would have thought that chickens now by laying eggs, they're like, it's like they're laying golden eggs because eggs are very expensive. They've gone up substantially. But you know, who knew? Well, part of this is that they had to kill so many, or I'm sorry, I shouldn't say had to. They chose to kill so many chickens because of bird flu. That's part one of why there's been a run up in prices. We've seen a run up in prices for staples, for food goods going back for years in the Biden administration. Remember, just by way of context, the worst inflation in 40 years occurred on Joe Biden's watch and began when he took office. I think, I think we can often forget about this, right, because Trump's come in and it's like, oh, look at the, look at the price of eggs. Trump's been in office 30 days and yes, the price of eggs is coming down. I'm going to get to some of the good economic news today because you'll notice they're going to find something else to freak out about because things, I'm not saying we're out of the woods. You know, you could have a big stock market drop next week. But there are plenty of data points to look at here to suggest that everything is going to be just fine. But Biden had the worst inflation in 40 years and it started right when he came into office because he spent trillions of dollars completely unnecessarily. And as we've seen now, in part because of the work of Doge, some of this money just gets handed out to left wing interest groups that are NGOs really in name only because they're government funded non government organizations. And there's all this money, the Green Energy Slush fund, that has been part of the Biden spending spree and including the so called Inflation Reduction act, which did not at all reduce inflation. It didn't even really address inflation. And if it did, it made it worse, or rather in the ways that it did, it made it worse. Now we're starting to see that the Trump plan is going to require fixing some things. And you know, when you go into an old house and you know, you're kicking at the wooden boards and you're checking out, you know, you got a fixer upper and some aspects certainly of our government, but also of our spending, you're in a unique fixer upper opportunity. When you start to look at the different pieces, sometimes you're going to pull a board off the wall and maybe a piece of the ceiling comes down. Stuff is going to happen a little bit. But the fundamental structure is sound and the fundamental approach of Trump and his team is the right one. And here, here, first of all, Trump is talking about, since I talked, I spoke about the price of eggs. And now, you know, I don't have a yard here in Miami and I do wish that I had a yard because, well, one, I would convince my wife that a pet fox, which you can legally have in Florida if you get a certain license, would be really cool. But put that aside. Maybe that's just a weird thing with me having chickens and even ducks. I hear ducks are great for the laying of eggs. Save yourself a bunch of money.

[Ad Voice]

Eggs.

[Buck Sexton]

At my local, first of all, I've gone in there, there's been basically no eggs some days. So that's a thing. But that's a, that's a supply shortage in large part caused by the killing of all the, the, you know, euthanizing of chickens to prevent the bird flu thing, which I think was excessive. But anyway, here's Trump, this is cut five talking about how, look, everybody, the things are happening. You got to just be patient. Don't let the, don't let the anti Trump Trump deranged media get you all worked up. Play five.

[Donald Trump]

But we didn't have these problems. I had no inflation. I had a great economy. He gave you high prices. You couldn't buy bacon, you couldn't buy anything. And also, I inherited a situation with eggs. The price of eggs was through the roof. Well, now the price of eggs has come down a lot. Interest rates have come down, gasoline prices have come down. It's all coming down. It's all a beautiful thing. I can do it the right way, the wrong way, we're doing it the right way. And I have tremendous confidence in this country and the people of this country. Tremendous. Much more so than if I sat back for four years and had a good time in the overload.

[Buck Sexton]

Just remember this, there are some fundamental and obvious truths about our situation right now. And Trump was getting to some of this in that sound bite. Yes, price of eggs coming down a little bit, still needs to come down more. But we know that there's an artificial, specifically with eggs, there's an artificial reason for why the price has been so high. You can't kill all the chickens and wonder where the eggs are. Pretty straightforward. But the fundamental recognition that we should all remember is that Donald Trump, Trump is better at this than the people who used to be in charge until a minute ago. And then the people who are criticizing him, what do they know about any of this? What do these journos know about supply and demand and how to actually get the American economy up and running? Trump has done it. He has done this successfully. He has a track record. He has been in the big chair before. So all this stuff and I even, I see, I don't, I wouldn't say conservatives or people on the right are, they're not panicking about the libs panic because it's Trump derangement. So they look for opportunities to panic. You know, everything is, oh, did I leave the gas on? Is the house going to explode? They're constantly freaking out because that's who they are. But on our side, yeah, the market drops a little bit. Yeah, there's some stuff back and forth on the tariffs. But the conversation about tariffs, you have to keep in mind it changes within a 24 hour news cycle. OK, well, we're going to, we're going to delay that one. Okay. We're going to drop this one down a little bit. You know, there's plenty of stuff that needs to happen that Trump is doing that we need to let play out a little bit. So the double tariff on Canadian metals, for example, has been called off by Trump. And people say, oh, this is so abrupt and how can markets react? He is trying to negotiate with sovereign governments over trade agreements. There's going to be some stop and start this. You know, we've seen Trump before, right? And we've seen him before on the economy when he's doing this stuff. And I keep reminding everybody who will listen to me. You know, I knew a couple of people who were true trade nerds in the best sense in D.C. i used to have them on my old radio show back in the day. I knew a couple of people who were really good on trade. They're the only ones early on in Trump 2017, who were saying to me, yak, yeah, actually, we need to do something about China's trade barriers. We shouldn't just sit here and take it. Yeah, we need to do something to update the U.S. mexico, Canada agreement. We shouldn't just sit here and take it. And they're so the same thing. Oh, my gosh, what's Trump doing? It's crazy. You know, it's. No, it's all, all within his skill set, his strategy and the people he has in charge. Now, look, I don't want to be fatalistic about this, but when you look at Trump, you look at Elon Musk, if they can't fix this, nobody can. I hate to, you know, in those jobs, in these roles, if Trump can't fix this, if Elon can't give Trump the advice necessary to have him take the actions to pare things back with the spending and all the mission that Doge has, we're throwing our best at it right now, okay? The electorate sent us their best this time and everyone needs to just, you know, let, let the things happen here that are happening. Everything that is being done is one stuff that Trump talked about doing, whether it's the border or it's ending the Ukraine war with a ceasefire. And he's taking all of these actions. But it's just so funny to me to see that it's like all context with the media is gone. Oh, my gosh. You know, things were so. What? Things were so good before under Biden, the puppet dementia patient. You gotta be kidding me, right? What is the only job Joe Biden knows how to create was a corrupt pay to play for Hunter. All right? He has no idea what's going on. Truly had no idea what's going on. Look at the auto pen stuff that's being talked about now. And now we have a team that understands capitalism, understands markets, understands business. So don't let them start to get into your head. Cuz, you know, now they start to look at the numbers, now they start to pretend that they're objective reporters again in the media. Oh, it's not that I hate Trump, it's that I'm. I'm worried about the stock market suddenly. Okay, well, here you go. Here's cnn. This is cut four saying that, you know what, there's actually some good news in the economy this week on some things that really matter. Play it.

[Clay Travis]

Finally, we have some good news on the economy and really the number one issue for many Americans, the cost of living. So we just lear. Consumer prices in February increased by 2.8% year over year.2% month over month. Both of these figures were a step in the right direction and both were better than expected. So this is definitely very encouraging to see because it's going to, I think, relieve some fears that inflation was perhaps reaccelerating, because this actually breaks a streak of four straight months, where I think you could see it on the chart all the way to the right, where the inflation rate was going in the wrong direction.

[Ad Voice]

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[Clay Travis]

It was going higher and higher. Finally, we're seeing it dip.

[Buck Sexton]

Finally. Trump hasn't even been in office two months. Keep that in mind. Now, I know they're going back even before, but this is, this is the data now that we're seeing. And remember, the Biden data was suspiciously manipulated so that the jobs numbers were always higher than they actually were. Er, that the recession that happened under Biden, two quarters of negative GDP growth. Oh, but is that really a recession? Let's change the definition of recession. Don't forget what they have done to try to do this perception management, operation, information operation, psyop on the economy, because they know that more than anything else that drives votes, that, that drives power come election time. So they'll say whatever they have to say about it. Trump is in charge. His team is awesome. They're doing good things. They know what they're doing. If I, if I feel like things are going off the rails or I'll tell you, and the people that are around Trump who listen to this show, maybe they'll pass that along. I've seen none of that. I've seen none of that. All I see is Trump doing what Trump does. And this week, I think, is a reminder to all of us that the same media that told you that Trump should go to prison for the rest of his life for whatever the nonsense case was. There are four different ones. Is now the media saying, oh, can he really bring down inflation? What they don't want you to think about is how all of this is connected. What causes inflation? Monetary supply, Government spending. What causes that? Government doing dumb things. Biden. The Democrats, by addressing that, by having Doge do what it does, guess what? It addresses the inflation problem. Democrats think you can mandate lower prices because I say so. Because they fundamentally want to pretend we live in a different world than we do and that they can artificially suspend the laws of supply and demand. They can't. Trump knows that you want to address inflation. That's what Trump is doing. That's what Elon is doing. That's what's going on right now. So just, you know, tell them to just stuff it. You've had enough of the noise from. Oh my gosh, the recession, depression. Trump, please. Ok, Biden. Biden didn't even know what year it was and he was a commander in chief and the economy didn't collapse. I think we're going to be okay. All right, let me tell you about my cell phone service provider. Pure Talk goes the distance to make sure you have the best quality service at the lowest price possible. It's been years since PureTalk made any adjustment in their monthly price and right now you can score a brand new iPhone 14 or a Samsung Galaxy for $0. Get your iPhone 14 or Samsung Galaxy at no cost to you with a qualifying plan by dialing pound250 and say the keywords clay and buck. PureTalk's US customer service team will help you make the switch in as little as 10 minutes. If you're with AT&T, Verizon or T Mobile, PureTalk gives you the same quality of cell phone Service. That's because PureTalk uses the same cell phone towers and network of one of those companies to provide you the best 5G nationwide service. Dial £250, say the keywords Clay Ann Buck to claim your iPhone or Galaxy with qualifying purchase from PureTalk, America's wireless company. Again, that's from your current phone, making the switches easy. I've done it. Just dial £250, say the keywords Clay and Buck. Visit PureTalk.com for details. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Mic drops that never sounded so good.

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back here to play and Buck. We've got so much going on with the economy and also, of course, tariffs, which is a big part of the discussion. And here Trump says he's talking about, we're talking about eggs before. Now we're going to get, we're not going to talk about getting plucked like chickens when it comes to tariffs. This is cut six. This is Trump. You want to hear him?

[Donald Trump]

I have to tell you, I'm very optimistic about the country. Much more optimistic this way than if I did it the easy way, I could have done it the easy way. I could have coasted. Biden left us a mess. He left us tremendous inflation, tremendously high costs of products. He left us a mess. But he also left us a mess with millions of people that poured into our country that are criminals. Millions of those people happen to be criminals. And we're looking for them all over the place. We're looking for him. And Homan and Christie are doing an incredible job, but he left us a horrible situation, and we're changing it. But one of the things we're changing is we're going to make our country really wealthy again, going to bring our jobs back. Right now, we're like a chicken that's being plucked at from all over the world. We're not going to let that happen anymore.

[Buck Sexton]

You can't, you can't pluck Trump like a chicken.

[Ad Voice]

All right?

[Buck Sexton]

That's just, you know, Trump, quote, don't, don't pluck me, don't pluck me like a chicken. I think that's fair to say, and I think world leaders are going to be well aware of that one. So, yeah, that's the situation that we have here. And I do appreciate he's reminding everybody. I mean, Biden was terrible at this. We really lost four years post Covid of What another thing that people forget now in all of this. Biden was terrible at this. Yes, the economy should have been in boom, but they kept a lot of it artificially shut down because of the vaccine mandates and all the lunacy. And then they pretended it was better by one misreporting stuff, but also just spending us into oblivion. Spending us into oblivion. That wasn't real productivity. That's why you had 25% government jobs. So that's right. No more treating America like a chicken to be plucked. We're big fans of chalk on this show, not just in general. I mean, I actually take chalk now every day. And it's easy because it's called Chalk Daily. Chalk is a great family business based out of Texas, full of patriots that love this country. They manufacture a variety of supplements to help you look and feel your best. I'm taking chalk as part of my weight loss and health journey. Chalk gives me that all day energy source which is part of my daily regimen that has allowed me to exercise more, eat less and get back into shape. Chalk formulates their supplements with natural ingredients. You don't have to worry about what they're putting in your body. They have individual supplements or stack sets like their male or female Vitality stack. Chalk's male Vitality Stack has a leading ingredient that helps replenish testosterone. Guys, I'm telling you, I've been taking a chalk product that helps with the testosterone levels. More energy in the gym, more focus, more drive. Critical to getting you at your best. Go to chalk.com use my name Buck as your promo code. Get a big discount on any chalk subscription for life. That's chalk chok.com use my name Buck on any discount for life. Go check it out today. Chalk.com Some big moves happening with the Trump administration's efforts to get a ceasefire in the Ukraine Russia war. And here we have. This is Cut three. President Trump announcing a first step here. It's a first of many steps and the Russians haven't even come to agree to this point yet. But there is progress to speak of for right now. And this is Cut three. Hear it.

[Donald Trump]

Ukraine cease fire just agreed to a little while ago. Now we have to go to Russia and hope president, hopefully President Putin will agree to that also. And we can get this show on the road. We get, we can get this horrible war where 2, 3000 soldiers a week every week. 2, 3, 4000. Sometimes I get the reports and they're not American soldiers, they're Ukrainian and they're Russian. But people are being killed. Outside of that, people are being killed in the cities as things explode throughout the cities, and we want to get that war over with. I think it's a big difference between the last visit you saw at the Oval Office and the. So that's a total cease fire. Ukraine has agreed to it, and hopefully Russia will agree to it. We're going to meet with them later on today and tomorrow.

[Buck Sexton]

So the big outstanding component of this thing left to be said or to be done here to get it into a new phase is obviously Russia has to agree to the cease fire. So that hasn't. But Ukraine has agreed for its part. I think that there's clearly been some pressure from Trump and his team. First he's, you know, now. Now it all starts to make more sense, right? First, he makes it clear to little Zelensky that the. The endless spigot of money is no more. He makes it clear to Zelensky that you gotta focus on bringing this thing to a conclusion and not just drag it out and hope for a different situation, because that's not. We're not paying for it, and that's not in anyone's interest, and a lot of people are going to die in the meantime. So he has managed to, I think, pressure Zelensky not just with the words and the whole dust up in the White House, in the Oval Office, but by pulling intelligence sharing. I told you, there's. There's what we talk about generally in terms of support to Ukraine, a lot of. A lot of money, first and foremost, and munitions, arms. It is tough to supply the Ukrainian army, even for American industry, because, you know, we're not in the middle of a war, so we haven't gotten on a war footing. And we're supposed to be sending them, you know, the bullets and the artillery shells and all these things, and they're going through a lot of that stuff. You're talking about a long front, a stalemate across. What is it essentially, a digital age. Trench war. That's what's going on. It's trench warfare, but with satellite pictures and drones and thermal imaging. Right? It's a new era of trench warfare. But as we all know, what's the thing about trench warfare? War of attrition, War of attrition with men, which is a problem for Ukraine. War of attrition with material, which is a problem for Ukraine, because we're the ones that have to make up the shortfall. So Trump has managed to get the Ukrainians to accept, for their part, and Secretary Rubio, who, from everything I See, is just doing a fantastic job so far, which is not a surprise, but everything he's doing is, has been spot on. I know it's early days, but calling it like I see it, this is cut one. He's just pointing out, because he's involved very directly in the process as the intermediary here. What's happened with Ukraine play it.

[Secretary Rubio]

Today we've made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a ceasefire and into immediate negotiations to end this conflict in a way that's enduring and sustainable and accounts for their interest, their security, their ability to prosper as a nation. I want to personally thank, we both want to thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Majesty, for hosting us, for making this possible. They've been instrumental in this process and we're very grateful to them for hosting us here today. And, you know, hopefully we'll, we'll take the offer now to the Russians and we hope that they'll say yes, that they'll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court. But again, the President's objective here is number one above everything else, he wants the war to end. And I think today Ukraine has taken a concrete step in that regard. We hope the Russians will reciprocate.

[Buck Sexton]

Now the ball is in Russia's court, Putin's court. And now we can see, we can test for the first time, is he willing to, to stop the bloodshed and come to some kind of a deal? And if his demands are completely unrealistic or, you know, unfair? Fair, of course, in these kinds of, you know, all's fair in love and war. But you know what I mean, if it's just a non starter, you know, if he says, well, I get, I get Kiev and everything east of it, you know, they're not going to agree to that. Right. But let's see what it is that he says. Does he engage? Does he accept the ceasefire? That's part one. Does Putin say, ok, let's let the guns go silent for a while, let's talk. If he says no to that, well, at least then we know that his plan is to grind this thing out and probably take at least half, if not all of Ukraine over time. And we have to. And then we can look at this and say, ok, well, what are we going to do about this? How much do we. But we'll have more information, we'll have critical information. What do we know about what Biden did He. You notice there's a trend here today, right, because Biden was president for at least theoretically, President for four years. So what did he do when it came to Ukraine? First of all, the war starts on his watch, as we know. And there was a whole thing. Are the Russians really going to invade? I don't know. They're massing all these forces on the Ukrainian border. They're really going to invade. Yeah, they did. On. Now, I understand there have been smaller incursions in the past. I understand there was the plebiscite in Crimea, which people say was, you know, fraudulent, whatever, but those were, those were taking little bites around the edge of the cookie. They took a big bite of the cookie in this invasion. A very different level, very different scale of military incursion, trying to take the whole country, trying to take the capital city. But let's not forget that the Biden, all these people who were Ukraine flags out their windows and Ukraine flags in their bio, a lot of whom honestly couldn't find Ukraine on a map and probably still can't. They'll tell you they can certainly have no idea how many casualties have occurred in this conflict. Hundreds of thousands. Hundreds of thousands of people dead, maimed, homes, businesses destroyed in numbers that we'll never even know. Productivity, future generations, future families lost. I mean, the carnage, the cost of this is appalling. And yes, is it Putin's fault for starting it? Yeah. But what's more important, figuring out whose fault it is or stopping it? Right. This is the nature of warfare. You have to understand how you're going to get it to a conclusion or else the costs are borne by people who have no ability to make it end. This is where Trump and Rubio and the rest come in. So we'll see. Does Russia end play ball in this initial phase? Do they go to a ceasefire? Be a 30 day. You know, we have some of the text here. A 30 day renewable cease fire. So they go to cease fire 30 days, they talk. If Russia doesn't do that, well, then we know that they're going all in. And you know that we're in a new phase of our understanding of the conflict. The old understanding. I remember this because I came on this show, what did I tell you? This is going to cost a trillion dollars. All in between the us, the EU and. Yeah, I think that's probably. I told you that three years ago, right when the war started. I was like, this is going to be way worse. People said, oh, Ukraine is going to win. I said, no, Russia. We're underestimating the Russian war machine. The Russians will just keep throwing men and materiel at this. It's very hard to push them back given the scale of what the Ukrainian forces can deal with now. The Ukrainian forces have gotten much better. Are they brave? Yes. Do I respect very much that they're defending their homeland and their way of life? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean that I want us to fund this thing forever and that I want a lot more of them to die. Because ultimately this is about who controls a portion of a country that doesn't really matter to us all that much. And Putin. Isn't Nazi Germany another part of this. No one's being taken off into, you know, concentration camps in Crimea. There's no gas chambers there for millions of people. They're not, they're not exterminating minorities or anything like that. Okay. A lot of. We had a caller call us from American from Moscow yesterday. It's not Nazi Germany. I'm not saying it's free and fair. I'm not saying it's a Jeffersonian democracy, whatever, but it will be okay. I have known you, believe it or not, and you can't even really say this out loud because people get so angry, some of them, about this. I know Ukrainians, I know Ukrainians who are pro Russian in this conflict, believe it or not. They're from the eastern region, they're from the Donbass, they live in America now. But they'll say, yeah, this should be part of Russia. We'd be better off. You never even hear that. And there's a lot of Russian speech. I know they say, oh, it's Russian propaganda, not justifying the invasion, just telling you facts, just telling you reality. This is the truth. There are people who feel like, hey, Ukraine is a corrupt kleptocracy. Russia is, too, but they have a lot more oil and a lot more military and a lot more stuff that benefits the citizenry. Then you, you know, I'm not saying it's a majority. Maybe it's 5%, I don't know. The point is this is more complicated than it's Hitler and Neville Chamberlain, which is the way it's all been lined up. Another really important part of this New York Times. You go back and find it yourself. I told you it's going to cost $1 trillion, which if you look at the all in costs, I think that's going to look pretty, pretty prophetic in retrospect. I told you they wouldn't be able to defeat the Russian war machine. You can go back February of whatever this thing started 2021 or 2022. I can't remember now, the year. All these, all these years now blend together in my head. But when you look at this, they kept telling us, oh, Ukraine is on the verge. New York Times during Biden's. I keep saying Biden's reign as if he was in charge. But, you know, it just makes it easier for our conversation. Ukraine's going to break through this fighting season. Ukraine's going to break through. They're going to push the Russians back on their heels. Just wait, Just wait. It didn't happen. In fact, Russia is in a better position now militarily than they were last year or the year before. So what exactly are we supposed to do here? The people who are telling you, don't negotiate were the same people, the same voices, the same Democrats who were saying that Ukraine was going to be able to punch through and turn the tide of this war. They were wrong. Wrong in a big way. Wrong the same way that people who said, hey, if we just stick it out longer in Afghanistan, eventually it'll be a self sustaining sovereign nation with, you know, basic pluralistic rights and democracy fantasy land stuff. I was there in 2010, let me tell you. It was obvious in 2010 that Afghanistan was not going anywhere good. Was in the Obama administration. But, you know, people didn't want to look at that and speak the truth about it. Right. You're. Oh, you're defeatist. Oh, ok, well, same thing here with Ukraine. Oh, you're a Putin stooge. Anyone who makes this argument is just being an idiot. You know, I've never gotten any money from Putin. I'm not even. I don't think anyone thinks I'm pro Russian. I'm not. I'm just pro war end and we not pay for it. Which is, I think, where Trump is on this, too. But for Trump, because of Trump derangement syndrome, you get all this other stuff gets thrown into it of like, oh, he's Putin's puppet. No, no, no. Trump is. First of all, the notion. Can we, can we just say this out loud? The notion that Trump is anyone's puppet is insane. Okay? Insane. Like, this is like somebody saying, oh, yeah, like there's a wild grizzly bear in the woods. I'm just going to, like, you know, yoke it up with a saddle and take it for a ride. No chance. No chance. All right? It's completely. What. Putin has the leverage over Trump. Putin is a. This is just. But think about how many times you've heard this. Oh, he's an asset of the Kremlin. Oh, he's. People who say this are out of their minds. It's like they haven't been paying attention for the last decade to everything that has actually happened. And it's like they have no idea who Donald Trump is. Nobody calls the shots with Trump, nobody puts Trump in a corner. I think that's quite clear. So now we're at this ceasefire, now we see whether or not the Russians will start to play ball. And, yeah, I know all the. There's all the criticism, you know, and the people up in the bleachers. Oh, but what if Russia uses this to rearm? Oh, but what if it's not easy? This is not a guarantee. I'm not saying it will work. I'm saying we have to try to get it to work because of where things are right now, which is what Trump had to slap Zelensky around in the Oval Office to get through his head, and I think it worked. And also now the intelligence sharing, the weapons support has come back for Ukraine. So the whole point here was, hey, show us you want a ceasefire. We'll keep helping you hold the line for now, but show us you really want a ceasefire. Ukraine says, ok, we're willing to go forward with a ceasefire. Let's do this. Now we see what's going on with Russia. I got news for anybody who thinks that Trump is Putin's puppet. If Russia balks at this whole thing, doesn't want to play ball at all, Trump's going to turn up the heat on Russia. Almost like he's a deal maker. Who knows what the heck he's trying to get done here? Almost like there's some method to the madness, sort of like with the economy. It's really the theme this week, isn't it? All right. This morning, before we started the program, my dad and I were online having a chat, making a little history with a big prediction from him. I may have helped organize the event, but it was my dad whose insights are what's so critical for where the financial markets are going. That's right. My father, Mason Speed Sexton, his area of expertise, his wheelhouse is predicting where the markets go. And he's phenomenal. I mean, he became famous in the 80s for calling the crash of 87 on TV in advance, and he's been doing this for 50 years. He created a name for himself, like I said, back with the 87 crash, but he's also advised some of the biggest hedge funds in the world. He knows this business and he's got a big prediction that you can still see his forecast for the future of the markets at this website. Disruption2025.com that's disruption2025 calm paid for by Paradigm Press. Geek out with the guys on the.

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[Buck Sexton]

ClayAndBach that's N E T S U I T E.com ClayandBuck welcome back into Clay and Buck going to talk to you about what happened in Congress yesterday when a trans member of Congress, because there's a trans member of Congress, was not addressed in the way that he would like to be and things got a little testy and we should discuss this because people who keep saying when they lose the argument, why do you care so much? Because this is happening in the most important legislative body of the United States and not only is it happening within that body, that body also, if it were in Democrat hands would be mandating this madness. So yeah, I think it's important. So we are going to dive into some of that. We've also got some more updates for you on the situation of that guy Mahmoud Khalil from Columbia University. A lot of you feel very passionately about that, so we will try to get back to that one coming up here in just a little bit. Also want to tell you about Crockett Coffee. I'm drinking it right now and you're like, buck, why do you drink Crockett coffee? Because Davy Crockett was an amazing pioneer and an incredible American who gave his life defending, defending American ness at the Alamo and he is a great guy and we wanted to celebrate history here and that's one of one of the ways we're doing it. Go to crockettcoffee.com please subscribe. Many of you have done so appreciate it. More of you should 10% of our profits goes to our wonderful friends at the Tunnel to Towers foundation. And this is a company that you are building. So we will get into more Davy Crockett stuff as time goes on. Here we go. We got a fired up vip. I am very annoyed by your take on arresting that America hating piece of blank. I have not disagreed with you in almost 3 years. Clay not so much. But he is funny. Lol fair. If the President sees you as a threat to the country or simply doesn't like what you stand for, green card or not, crime committed, he can send you away. I just want to be clear. I think that the guy, Mahmoud Khalil is a scumbag and I have no tears for him being sent out of the country. I just want clarity. On what? If the authority is that the Secretary of State can say. Secretary of State can say you're here on a student visa and you're acting like a jerk because I say so, you're gone. Okay then if that is the authority that he has, which has rarely ever been used, but if that's the authority, this guy should go. I just want us all to be clear on the authority because now that it's out there and people know about it, there's gonna be Democrats who are in charge at some point. I just want everyone to be clear on that. So you know. And is this the standard now only for anti Semitism on campus, or is this gonna be for other things that are activist protests, et cetera? Again, I'm. I'm just asking for clarity from the administration on what it is so we know what the standard is. If that is the legal authority that the Secretary of State has and Trump wants him gone, good riddance. Just want us all to be clear. More coming up.

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