Hour 1 - High Stakes Tennessee Showdown

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 1 – High Stakes Tennessee Showdown
Date: December 1, 2025

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Episode Overview

This hour focuses on the high-stakes special congressional race in Tennessee’s 7th district, drawing national attention as a potential upset for Republicans in a deep-red seat. Clay Travis (a constituent of the district) and Buck Sexton discuss the importance of turnout, the Democrats’ surprise push, and broader implications for the national political landscape. They also discuss holiday travel experiences, recent news updates (including crime and Venezuela), gas prices reaching new lows, and upcoming special guests, all interlaced with their trademark banter and humor.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Thanksgiving Recap & Holiday Travel

• Clay expresses amusement at how few families play football on Thanksgiving, citing his own poll.
  • [02:37] Clay Travis: “I was stunned how few people actually do play football on Thanksgiving day... Only 16%...”
• Buck admits to opting for children’s TV (“Bluey”) over football with the family.
  • [03:50] Buck Sexton: “My family mocked me and said, you don't have to pretend, Buck... We ended up turning on Bluey for my little nephew.”

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2. West Virginia National Guard Shooting & Afghanistan Refugees

• Clay and Buck discuss the ongoing critical condition of a West Virginia Guardsman, linking the incident to Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal and perceived failures in vetting new arrivals.
• They promise to monitor developments and praise the heroism of the service members.

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3. Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District Showdown

Central Theme of the Hour

• Race Details: Matt Van Epps (R) vs. Afton Bain (D), in Clay’s own district, with voting the next day.
• Unusual Factors: Democratic spending, recent redistricting, and expected low turnout are combining to threaten a seat that "should" be safely Republican.

Trump’s Phone Endorsement

• President Trump calls into a rally for Matt Van Epps, offering full-throated support:
  • [06:24] Donald Trump:
    “Go Matt Van Epps, he's a winner. He's going to be great... But she [Afton Bain] said two things above all else that bothered me. Number one, she hates Christianity. Number two, she hates country music. How the hell can you elect a person like that? ... He's going to be a fantastic congressman.”

Importance of Voter Turnout

• Clay draws a sports analogy: Democrats are “playing with House money,” trying to embarrass the GOP through an upset.
  • He reminds listeners that the district is newly drawn (2022), so many may not even be aware they live in TN-7.
  • He urges: “Just show up. If you’re not in the district, at least you tried.”
• Buck frames the risk as “low probability, high impact”:
  • [08:05] Buck Sexton:
    “In CIA analyst nerd school, we would call this low probability, high impact. ... If they did [win] it would give a lot of momentum, at least psychologically and for fundraising, to Democrats very early.”

Characterizing the Candidates

• Clay describes Afton Bain as further left than AOC:
  • [09:34] Clay Travis: “She makes AOC look moderate. That's the person that Democrats are running.”
• Both hosts emphasize the narrative importance if Democrats can “spike the football” in a prominent conservative media backyard.

Voter Information Challenge

• The hosts and callers discuss the confusion caused by recent redistricting in Nashville and surrounding areas, where neighbors may belong to different congressional districts.

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4. Broader Political Implications for Congressman Control

• Discussion about Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s active involvement and why even one seat matters in a closely divided Congress.
  • [12:04] Clay Travis: “It only takes a couple of people getting sick or a couple of things going wrong when your majority is this small and you don't even have a House majority this year. ... That's part of this Democrat calculus, I think as well.”

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5. Inflation and Gas Prices: Practical Impact

• Buck introduces the topic as central for upcoming elections:
  • [20:26] Buck Sexton: “The fate of the Congress in terms of control ... is probably going to be determined by affordability.”
• They play a CNN report on gas prices hitting 4½-year lows (“down by 7 cents in just the past week”).
  • [21:18] Clay Travis: “For the first time in four and a half years, gas prices are averaging $3 a gallon nationally...”
  • [21:58] Buck Sexton: “Certainly nice to see this, Clay. Got to bring down prices. Got to bring down prices.”
  • Clay notes that gas prices are “the number one story of the 2026 election,” especially contrasted with the continued high prices of everything else.

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6. Venezuelan Crisis and U.S. National Interests

• Brief discussion about U.S. policy toward Venezuela, with recent developments and rumors of a possible U.S.-backed transition.
  • [14:29] Clay Travis: “I think we should take Maduro out. ... Would also go a long way toward bringing down oil prices even more because ... Venezuela is the highest producing country basically when it comes to oil and gas.”

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7. Crime and Immigration

• Follow-up on violent crime in Washington, D.C., and Memphis after a presidential mobilization of resources.

  • Buck and Clay highlight drops in murders and discuss the role of immigration enforcement after attacks involving Afghan refugees.
  • Trump, in a recent speech, frames the attack as an “act of terror” and calls for stricter measures:
    • [40:27] Donald Trump:
      “This heinous assault was an act of evil and act of hatred and an act of terror... We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden...”

• Concern about U.S. Media Radicalization:

  • Clay worries that some recent immigrants might be radicalized by consuming extreme American media, not just by foreign ideology.

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8. Listener Engagement & Election Logistics

• Multiple callers chime in about the confusion of redistricting:

  • [28:01] Caller from Harris County:
    “A lot of people do not know what district they're in ... Go to the website, try your zip code.”

• Clay reiterates—check if you’re in TN-7 and just show up to vote.

• Humor from a regular trucker listener, flipping Clay’s own argument back at him (about electing crazy progressives to expose the party):

  • [30:02] Dylan, truck driver:
    “If she gets elected, it could benefit the Republican Party because then she becomes one of the faces of the Democratic Party...”

• Clay responds with humility but insists the stakes are too high for such an experiment in this race.

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9. Upcoming Guests & Teasers

• Psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert will join in Hour 2 to discuss the clinical reality of “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
  • [36:23] Buck Sexton:
    “Trump derangement syndrome is actually a true disorder of the mind, that people become irrational, unreasonable in a clinical way.”
• Guests Speaker Mike Johnson and candidate Matt Van Epps will also join in the next hour.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [06:24] Donald Trump:
  “She hates Christianity. Number two, she hates country music. How the hell can you elect a person like that?”

• [09:34] Clay Travis:
  “She makes AOC look moderate. That's the person that Democrats are running.”

• [11:29] Clay Travis (on voting effort):
  “90% of success is just showing up. If you show up and you happen to not be in the 7th congressional district, you don't have to stand in line. You just get to turn around.”

• [21:18] Clay Travis (on gas prices):
  “For the first time in four and a half years, gas prices are averaging $3 a gallon nationally...”

• [40:27] Donald Trump (on Afghan refugee attack):
  “We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:37 - 04:16: Thanksgiving and holiday travel recap
• 06:24 - 07:04: Trump’s phone endorsement of Matt Van Epps
• 08:05 - 10:24: Why this race matters: turnout and national implications
• 11:25 - 13:40: Voter confusion, district redrawing, and why “showing up” matters
• 20:26 - 23:04: Discussion of gas prices and their political importance
• 28:01 - 28:58: Call-in advice on how to check your congressional district
• 30:02 - 31:10: Listener’s theory on backfiring Democratic win, Clay’s rebuttal
• 36:23 - 37:39: Tease for upcoming interview about “Trump Derangement Syndrome”
• 40:27 - 41:06: Trump’s comments on Afghan refugee attack and response

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Tone & Style

The conversation is irreverent, energetic, and at times combative—full of banter and cultural asides. Clay is more personal and animated, especially since it’s his own district at stake, while Buck takes a slightly broader analytic approach. Both maintain their trademark blend of humor and directness, all aimed at energizing their politically conservative listener base.

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Summary

This episode dives deep into the surprise competitiveness of a special congressional election in a Tennessee district considered safely Republican—a situation primed by Democratic spending, GOP complacency, and confusion after redistricting. Clay and Buck reiterate over and over: show up and vote, don’t take anything for granted, and understand that what happens here could ripple all the way to national control of Congress, fundraising, and political “narrative.” The hour also explores national political undercurrents (immigration and security, inflation, international flashpoints), primes listeners for the next hour’s special guests, and lets a few callers and real-life stories illustrate the ground-level confusion and consequences at play.

Transcript

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[Clay Travis]

Shh.

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome in Monday after Thanksgiving edition. Probably some of you a little bit, little bit, maybe possibly a little bit too much fun over the course of the holiday weekend. I had an awesome time, Buck. Had an awesome time. We hope all of you did. Traveled on the busiest travel days of the year and I thought everybody handled themselves pretty well, at least based on the airports that I was in. I imagine, Buck, you found the same to be true. It did not appear that there was any sort of mass related issues when it came to travel with over 80 million of us projected to be on the road. So I hope friends, family and I was stunned how few people actually do play football on Thanksgiving day. I put up a poll on my own site, Buck. Only 16% of people join me and running around and playing a family Thanksgiving game. So football game, watched a lot of football. That's pretty much all I did, Buck. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, did you watch any of the football at all? Did you see any games going on over the course of the weekend? Did your brothers or your dad kidnap you and hold you hostage in front of the television at any point?

[Buck Sexton]

I tried to turn on at one point when we were all in food coma, some college football and my family mocked me and said, you don't have to pretend, Buck. We'll just tell Clay that you watch some if he asks us. And then we ended up I think turning on Bluey for my little nephew.

[Clay Travis]

Oh yeah, I've heard that's a killer show for all the kids out there.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes. So that was. I learned about Bluey. Instead.

[Clay Travis]

We got a lot to dove into. First of all, we are praying for the National Guardsmen from West Virginia who is still in critical condition after a deranged Afghan, one of the people who shouldn't have been led in this country in the wake of Joe Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan after he was shot, we unfortunately lost the life of a 20 year old servicewoman from West Virginia. That happened legitimately as the news was breaking, as we went off the air on Wednesday, headed into the holiday. So we will continue to monitor that positive news. It appears the Ukraine, Russia, peace talks have accelerated substantially and there may be some positivity associated with where that is going, gas prices. We'll tell you about this at four year lows, many of you maybe noticed that as you were on the road, 90% of people were traveling via car for Thanksgiving. But we began, and we're going to talk to him and the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson in about an hour from now, Matt Van Epps in the Tennessee 7th congressional district. He is running against a crazy, deranged lunatic woman from my living in my hometown of Nashville. This is my congressional district. I am going tomorrow morning to drop my son off at school and then vote in the precinct at his school. I will be voting for Matt Van Epps, the Republican. I know everybody's still in the food coma, so to speak, waking up from the Thanksgiving holiday, but if you are in the Tennessee 7th congressional district, it is time to get out and vote. Tomorrow, we're going to talk with Matt Van Epps and like I said, speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who is here campaigning with him right now in the Nashville area. We will talk to those guys a little bit after one o' clock on the East Coast. So one hour from now. But President Trump has weighed in on this race and this is what he said this morning over the phone at a rally for Matt Van Epps. Listen, cut one if you can.

[Donald Trump]

Go Matt Van Epps, he's a winner. He's going to be great. Don't let this stuff for you. The Democrats are spending a fortune and we don't want people that want to raise your taxes. He wants to raise your taxes on top of our Diaz. But she said two things above all else that bothered me. Number one, she hates Christianity. Number two, she hates country music. How the hell can you elect a person like that? I just want to give my total support. And he's had it right from the beginning to Matt Ben Apps. He's going to be a fantastic congressman. He's going to represent you so well, and we'll keep our agenda going.

[Clay Travis]

All right? So get out and vote. I am going to be there. I'm telling you to do exactly what I do. And look, my wife asked me about this race yesterday because there's a lot of conversation, obviously, in my circuit. She said, how worried should we be about the outcome of this race? And Buck, what I told her is, and this is, you know, kind of a sports analogy Democrats are playing or a gambling analogy. They're playing with House money. They, they basically are pouring a ton of money into this district. It should be a Trump district through and through. It should be a Republican district. But they're gambling on Republicans not showing up because it's an awkwardly timed election because the district is brand new. People have not even really gotten used to what congressional district they're in because all these lines were redrawn in 2022. And so they are basically gambling that they can Pull off the upset and embarrass Republicans and set better momentum for themselves going into the midterms.

[Buck Sexton]

In CIA analyst nerd school, we would call this low probability, high impact. It's unlikely that they'll be able to take this seat, but if they did, it would give a lot of momentum, at least psychologically and for fundraising to Democrats very early. We're already in a, in a moment here where people are thinking about the midterms.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

And soon we're going to be in a midterm election year just weeks away, really. A couple of weeks away. Because a lot of people, obviously Congress at the front of the line stop doing a whole lot of work once we get close enough to the Christmas holiday and a New Year's. And so this is, this is important. It also, and I say this only half joking, they really want to spike the football in Clay, Candice, Tommy, the Daily Wire, etc, etc, backyard, which would be quite a moment. So they're the Democrats. You could sort of see the ads now and the way that they'll be writing and talking about this. Oh, even with all of this conservative media firepower concentrated in this very red state of Tennessee, we're able to pull this off. The only way they pull it off is if people just don't care, don't show up, think that it's going to be fine.

[Clay Travis]

That's right.

[Buck Sexton]

People decide that someone else is going to take the time out of their day to day to make sure that this lunatic Afton Bain, I mean she is among the craziest congressional candidates.

[Clay Travis]

She makes AOC look moderate. That's, that's the person that Democrats are running. I don't even think that's a crazy take.

[Buck Sexton]

And if they're able to sneak this one, it is because people are still in their post. Turkey and stuffing and candied yams and maybe even cobbler food comas and not really focused on what's going on in this one district. I understand for a lot of you like Buck, it's one district, it's one seat. Yeah. But politics is a lot about narrative and a lot about emotion. And this is going to be held up as much more important than it is. And it's going on. I mean, we're in the, we're in the heat of it, the thick of it right now. So for all of you in this, in this seventh Congressional District, get it done, get out there. Don't make Clay very sad with some communist member of Congress representing him.

[Clay Travis]

I don't. I mean this would be this is just like somebody I can't even imagine. I'm apoplectic at the idea, Buck.

[Buck Sexton]

Fuck.

[Clay Travis]

That this crazy chick could be my congresswoman. That this could in any way be allowed to. To occur is just absolutely crazy to me. And so I think, again, what they are banking on is people not knowing they're in this district. People who have been on the road. You're focused on Thanksgiving, you're focused on your family, and you aren't thinking about voting. So I would ask you, go look up and what's the worst case scenario? Go try to vote. Go to your local polling place. That's what I'm doing tomorrow. And if you are not in the district, if they look you up and they say, hey, you're actually in the sixth district or you're in the fifth district because Nashville is cut in three different districts, then, okay, you did your due diligence. This is like I told my wife, she got me buck, have you ever done a TRX class? Have you ever done one of the.

[Buck Sexton]

Bands where you pull at the bands? I know I have not done this one, but I've seen.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so my wife got me in a TRX class with her on Friday morning. So we walked. And Laura is a ridiculous. Like, Carrie, ridiculously good shape. Like, she can do all the ridiculous, you know, band work in the trx. And we were there and we walked in and the class wasn't there yet. It was a 9:00am class. And I was like, it was 8:55. And Patrick, the guy who runs it, wasn't there yet. And I said, maybe you got the time wrong. Maybe. Maybe we're not going to have to do this. And she said, you're hoping that the class is not going on. I said, yeah, what I want is the credit for actually having shown up in the. In the. At the workout, at the gym. And then the TRX class isn't actually going on. That would be the best possible outcome for me now. It was going on. I labored my way through the TRX class with the bands and everything else. My point on that analogy is 90% of success is just showing up. If you show up and you happen to not BE in the 7th congressional district, you don't have to stand in line. You just get to turn around. You don't have to vote. You just get to turn around and go back. But I'm gonna be there. I can't wait to be able to go vote here. And I'm gonna be hopefully on Tuesday night when the results start to come. In thankful that we kicked this crazy chick's ass. I mean, this is the lead right now on msnbc, Buck. They've got Afton Bain on. This is their opening. This is their, you know, to your point, low probability, high impact. This is them with all the chips in the table saying, hey, let's embarrass Republicans and steal a district. And this matters if you're on the national scale. The reason Speaker Mike Johnson is here and I bet he tells us this next hour is it only takes a couple of people getting sick or a couple of things going wrong when your majority is this small and you don't even have a House majority this year. So that's also unfortunately, we got a lot of congresspeople who are over 70 years old. You've seen this happen. They have health related issues. It doesn't take very much. All of a sudden you don't have a majority anymore. So that's part of this Democrat calculus, I think as well.

[Buck Sexton]

Absolutely. We'll be taking your calls. By the way, we have missed chatting with all of you. We were away from the show for a few days and it just feels like a few days too long. So, and also a lot of stories, Clay, I'm just seeing here that are going to be added into our mix today. Alina Haba, they ruled against her in an appeals court in New Jersey as the U.S. attorney. They're saying that she is not a lawfully appointed U.S. attorney. So that's going to get some attention. President Trump also weighing in on these boat strikes in, in the Caribbean and the offer that was made to President or from President Trump. You saw this, I'm sure over the weekend to Maduro of Venezuela, basically saying like no, no sweetheart treatment here other than you can get out safely, but you better get out. That's what, that's what's being reported right now.

[Clay Travis]

And there is a report now that there is a meeting on Venezuela that's going to happen in the Oval Office soon. What I would point out is this reminds me a little bit of right before Israel struck Iran when they tried to say, hey, negotiations are still ongoing. And then you looked up and all of a sudden the attack had already begun. I wonder on some level whether they have already decided exactly what they are going to do and if that's true what we think about the Venezuela decision. I actually, and I, I, I don't know what the percentages are here, but I think we should take Maduro out. Ideally he would leave of his own volition. He lost the election he's clung to power. I know we have a lot of Venezuelan listeners, a ton of them live close to where you are in Miami, Buck. That would be able to tell us in great detail how much of a difference that could make to stabilize stabilizing Latin America. So we don't have as many illegal immigrants trying to come in the country. Tons of Venezuelans just were fed up with the kleptocracy in their country. Would also go a long way towards bringing down oil prices even more because in the Western hemisphere, Venezuela is the highest producing country basically when it comes to oil and gas. So there are a lot of American interests there. In particular, I think it's Chevron basically had the entire Venezuelan oil business and then they tried to turn it into a state owned business and all these different things. So I do think that storyline is one to, to pay a lot of attention to. We could have an accelerating situation there. To say nothing of all the drugs as a narco state that they are pouring in here that are killing so many Americans every year.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, I mean you've got Canada and Brazil are big oil producers and Venezuela's producer. Venezuela's production is way down, but it has the largest proven reserves in the world. So that is quite a prize. If that actually starts getting going the way that it should without a lunatic socialist running it. There's quite a deal to be made there. Perhaps we'll get into all of this, my friends, but you know, Legacy Box does this one week a year. Okay, one week a year. It's their Cyber Week event where they discount their digital transfer services by 65%. If you're doing Cyber Monday shopping online today, this is a gift you'll want to include. What Legacy Box does for families is great. They bring memories and moments back to life by digitally transferring home movies on videotape, Super 8 films, whatever might be old school media that your family used before the smartphone was in all of our hands. Right. Legacy Box does this so well. The quality of their work is second to none. I've done it. Clay's done it. You can trust your precious memories to Legacy box. The 65% price discount is huge. You might find them some days with like a 50% but 65% off. I mean this is really the best sale of the year. And if you order now, still time to get your memories digitized in time for Christmas. A great gift to get for yourself, for the family, something you'll all enjoy together. Go to legacybox.com buck to get an incredible 65% off for this Cyber Week event. That's legacybox.com buck legacybox.com Buck, you ain't imagining it.

[Clay Travis]

The world has gone insane. Reclaim your sanity with Clay and Buck. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Clay Travis]

Shh.

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[Buck Sexton]

All right, welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. Clay mentioned this very important we're going to continue to hammer this because the fate of the Congress in terms of control, the election that is going to be the focus of this show in a lot of different ways over the next 12 months is probably going to be determined by affordability. We're already seeing this. Things can change. You know, maybe Venezuela coup, crazy things happen. Fine. But right now everyone is looking very much at this affordability question and understanding that the people of America really care about this. A lot of you really care about this because you're dealing with it. And it's a problem and it's not one that you created. It's a problem that's been created by government policy. Overspending, all of that. But some good news to that end. Some good news on gas prices play cut to for the first time in.

[Clay Travis]

Four and a half years, gas prices.

[Buck Sexton]

Are averaging $3 a gallon nationally according.

[Clay Travis]

To AAA, down by 7 cents in just the past week. Gas prices were low a year ago as well, but they're even cheaper, cheaper now. This is encouraging to see because late.

[Buck Sexton]

Last month there was a period where gas prices were actually higher this year than last year. But that has reversed again and now we've just fractions of a penny away from breaking below $3 a gallon.

[Clay Travis]

We've got 20 states across the country where the average is actually less than 275A gallon, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin and Colorado as well.

[Buck Sexton]

Certainly nice to see this, Clay. Got to bring down prices. Got to bring down prices.

[Clay Travis]

No doubt. I think it is the number one story of the 2026 election and the fact that gas prices are down and the fact that they're down to four and a half year lows, as we were just playing that audio from CNN is significant in the context of the price of everything else is up over 20%. So inflation adjusted, the price of gas is even lower than we might realize. But this is one that is tangible. When gas prices were up around $5 a gallon, as many of us remember it out there in different jurisdictions, it was brutal. Now they are very much under $3. And it is a transformative difference there in terms of what it could mean and again, other prices have to stabilize, continue to come back down. But this is going to be the battle. It's going to be the story. It is in fact the number one issue as we move and get ready for 2026.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay. Travis. BUCK SEXTON SHOW okay, it is Cyber Monday and I don't know when they started. Everybody knows Black Friday. Cyber Monday is what in the last 10 years, Buck, everybody now refers to it. For those of you don't know, it's the Monday when everybody goes back to work. Work. And many of you, I think probably when work had a faster Internet connection than home. It used to be that people were maybe more excited to get on the Internet at work. I think most people have pretty good Internet connections at home, generally speaking. But Cyber Monday is the day when everybody starts to pivot and say, okay, the holiday season is upon us. It is the 1st of December. We are into Christmas month and we've got an incredible offer for you at Crockett Coffee. This is a company that we have built that is growing rapidly thanks to you guys. And we've got a couple of really awesome offers here. One, if you go subscribe right now in the month of December and you subscribe again. Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe. And what do we have? The code book is still out there, I think, floating around. Buck Is that work? You will get an autographed copy of my latest book. Balls. When you Sign up for Crockett Coffee. So if you go to crockettcoffee.com use code book the newest book that I have just for the holiday season. You will get an autographed copy of my book when you sign up and subscribe and become a Crockett Coffee member. We love all of you. This is a fun promotion and you can go to crockettcoffee.com the coffee is fabulous. I am drinking it right now. Named after Davy Crockett, not Jasmine Crockett. It is the coffee that loves America as much as you love America, that loves American history as much as you love American history. We're going to be doing some cool events in 2026. We're going to get down to the Alamo. There will be a lot of fun things coming with Crockett Coffee. There's also a ton of gear. Everything else up there, please go to crockettcoffee.com Mason your brother just texted us that last week was basically the best week that the company has had. So you guys are signing up like crazy. But right now if you go to crockettcoffee.com, you will get hooked up. Also, Buck, there is an offer you're not interested in the in the book, which I certainly understand. There is also an awesome offer where you can get out there and get 30% off everything when you order and a free mug 75 plus today. So 30 off free mug orders over 75 bucks for cyber Monday. Again, just go check it out if you haven't already. It's a great website. Crockettcoffee.com Buck, we're getting a bunch of emails rolling in and again we're going to talk to the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson and Matt Van Epps, who is the individual candidate at Tennessee 7. And Alan is a VIP. We appreciate all the VIPs out there. Love the show. I did not realize, he says that he was a part of the Tennessee 7 congressional district. He lives in the Clarksville area near Fort Campbell. For those of you who know the military, my wife and I will be at our local voting place tomorrow to make sure this deranged leftist doesn't represent Tennessee in any way. I can't believe she holds any kind of state seat as it is now. Time to flush her down the toilet. Send her packing. Keep up the great work. We appreciate you Allen, and we're glad that you have found out that you were in that district. Kathy in Houston we love our Houston listeners. Thanks to everybody down There. Kathy, what you got for us?

[Buck Sexton]

Hello. Good morning.

[Caller from Harris County]

I hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving.

[Clay Travis]

We did. Thank you. Appreciate you. And hope you guys did, too, as well.

[Caller from Harris County]

Yes, we did. Merry Christmas to you. Yes. I actually work for Harris county, and a lot of people do not know what district they're in, and a lot of them don't know the county either because our cities overlap a lot. So, I mean, we have, like an example, Friendswood. We have Friendswood in almost three counties. Harris, Galveston and Brazoria. It's very confusing, but yes, go to the website. I mean, I know you guys have a Davidson county there. Go to nashvillevotes.com I think it has, like a metropolitan Nashville. And try to put in maybe your zip code. I'm not sure that's how we have it here in Harris County. Put in your zip code and see if you're. I mean, if you're registered to vote, you will show up. And if you don't know if you're registered to vote, just put in your name. And it's pretty much that easy to do that.

[Clay Travis]

So thank you. Thank you. Yes. I encourage people. You can go online, find out the challenge here. Again, I'm speaking specifically because I'm in this district. It's a brand new district, relatively speaking, and they have split Nashville in three different parts. So you can be represented. This was true in my neighborhood. I can have one congressman. A neighbor two streets over can have a different congressman. So it's not separated by county lines. If you're in Williamson county, if you're in Davidson county, if you're in. In the Clarksville area, all the way down to the border with Georgia, all the way north to the border with Kentucky. The seventh cuts all the way down the whole state. So this is a long district and a lot of people are finding out. They don't know. They just don't know what district they're in. This. If Mark Green was your congressman, you are in this district. If you don't know your congressman, go do the research and figure out whether or not you are in that district. Let's go. Bb, talk back. What do we got here?

[Buck Sexton]

Hey, Clay and Buck. Appreciate both of you hanging out with me. It's a Dylan truck driver from northern Minnesota wanted to weigh in on Clay's girl Afton. I think if she gets elected, it could benefit the Republican Party because then she becomes one of the faces of the Democratic Party. As we move into the midterms, your district may be forced to drown despair, but the rest of the country could benefit and we could have a bigger majority in the House and the Senate than we already do.

[Clay Travis]

This is a truck driver who listens to the program a lot. I appreciate the logic there. He is now throwing my logic from New York City with mom Donnie as the mayor back on me. If I end up with a crazy left wing chick representing me in my congressional district, uh, the difference I would humbly point out here, although I do appreciate the humor, is the makeup of the overall congressional districts. I'm, I'm, look, if Mike Johnson is here and we're going to talk to him at the top of the next hour, he is incredibly nervous about what is going on in this district and also his overall majority. So if he's coming here, if President Trump is taking time out of his program, out of his busy schedule, to call into the rally and the White House reached out to me and said, hey, Clay, can you get Matt Van Epps on? We know this is in your backyard. This is going to be a close race. And so I, again, they're relying on people not knowing what district they are in and the fact that there's going to be a Thanksgiving hangover and turnout is not going to be high enough. And this is where, you know, this is true. Every, all of you out there, the people on the left, the crazy childless cat ladies of America, they show up and vote. They show up and vote for everything because they have such Trump derangement syndrome that in these special elections, Democrat hardcore voters are the most reliable people to turn out. And we know when Trump's not on the ballot, a lot of Trump voters don't show up. So this is a Trump +22 district. Trump won my district by 22 points. But if people don't show up, that's what they're banking on. They're trying to embarrass and humiliate us by, by pulling off this upset. Let me tell you, as we go to break here and we'll come back, we'll take some of your calls, continue to react to everything that you have out there. The prospect of peace in Ukraine is alive. For people like Maria, an 85 year old woman of Jewish faith living in Ukraine, it can't come fast enough. She's one of the many Ukraine citizens in need of necessary food, medicine and assistance with her heating bills. When the war broke out three years ago, no one imagined the hardship and disruption to daily life for the population in Ukraine so many years later. In fact, when war first broke out, many nonprofit organizations made helping Ukraine citizens a top priority. There was and is a great need for humanitarian effort, but today many of the nonprofit organizations that raced into Ukraine have moved on. Not the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, that's the ifcj. They're still there, continuing to do what they can to help people of the Jewish faith in Ukraine and particularly the elderly. And in this holiday season, you can do your part to help as well. You can get your gift of 25 helps provide a food box packed full of life saving essentials that will help feed families and individuals feeling especially ignored and left to fend for themselves. Don't delay. Your gift today will help provide life saving food and hope for those desperately in need. To rush your gift, call 888-488 IFCJ. That's 888-488-4325. You can also give online at fellowshipgift.org that's fellowshipgift.org Clay Travis and Buck Sexton telling it like it is. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Clay Travis]

Shh.

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[Buck Sexton]

All right, welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. We have much to discuss with all of you, including this very important congressional seat that is going to be up for grabs with the election, special election tomorrow, right? Man, it's already December. I'm trying to keep straight all the things that are going on here, but that is something that we want to really dial in on and we are going to have continued coverage of that here on the show. We also have Jonathan Alpert will be joining us. He is a psychotherapist, Clay. He's got a book coming out, Therapy Nation, but he's a guy who's just saying, and I've been saying this for years, and I am not a psychotherapist or an MD or anything like that, but it's quite obvious to me that Trump derangement syndrome is actually a true disorder of the mind, that people become irrational, unreasonable in a clinical way. So I want to talk to him about that because he has made that case in a recent Wall Street Journal op ed. He's gone on Fox News. People have gone nuts over Trump is really the point. And I don't just mean that in a general sense. I mean, no, I think there's a clinical diagnosis that should be made here.

[Clay Travis]

They need help, no doubt. And he wrote, you and I both became aware of him. He wrote a great editorial about this in the Wall Street Journal. And we actually were just texting about the editorial. And so I believe after we talked about it or shared it, he reached out. And so in the wake of Thanksgiving when some of you may have been surrounded by maybe possibly deranged anti Trump family members or friends, I, you may appreciate and enjoy and feel a bit enlightened by the arguments that, that he is going to make there. By the way, let me play this because this is a positive update. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrissey on the surviving National Guardsman who has been in critical condition Wednesday since that shooting in Washington D.C. we've got a positive report on the latest there. Cut 27, Andrew remains in serious condition.

[Buck Sexton]

We did have some positive news that we were told that Andrew was asked if he could hear the nurse who asked the question to give a thumbs up and he did respond and we were told that he also also wiggled his toes. So we take that as a positive sign.

[Clay Travis]

So again, shot on Wednesday, unfortunately, the, the awful attack which illuminated for many, many of you already knew it. The fact that we have let too many violent people into this country, people with a proclivity to hate this country, people with a proclivity to act out against the, the brave service members of this country. These people were targeted in Washington, D.C. for violence. Buck the President's mobilization of the National Guard is having substantial impact whether it's Washington, D.C. whether it's Memphis. The media has basically stopped covering it. But violent crime, the director of the FBI, Cash Patel told us on Wednesday, in Memphis, for instance, murders are down 55% in Memphis. The violent crime numbers that I have seen coming out of Washington, D.C. since the president mobilized resources are down nearly half. That's a real seismic impact. I mean, imagine if you had given that prediction beforehand. A lot of people would have said it would never have occurred. It's actually serving as an interesting test case, I think, for what could be successfully deployed to drive down somewhere around 20,000 murders that we have every single year in the United States.

[Buck Sexton]

Here is the President. This is Cut seven speaking on that shooting of the two National Guard members and calling it an act of terror. Play it.

[Donald Trump]

This heinous assault was an act of evil and act of hatred and an act of terror. It was a crime against our entire nation. It was a crime against humanity. We're not going to put up with these kind of assaults on law and order by people who shouldn't even be in our country. We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.

[Buck Sexton]

This is Causing a. Or forcing a discussion now, Clay, both about the resettled Afghans that were brought into the country, who a lot of people now are saying, hold on a second. Well, there was this discussion before, but there's a renewed focus on were they actually vetted, do we know who these people are? And there's also, I think, an understanding that there should be. No, if you're taking in people as refugees, effectively you should, these should be the people that love, that you are certain, love America the most in a way that, you know, you would, you would risk your life on it. I mean, you would be willing to risk the safety of your fellow Americans on it. Not everybody who claims they did something for coalition forces, hop on the plane, we're getting you out of here. Which is a lot of what happened.

[Clay Travis]

And also I think we have to contemplate what is occurring in this country because there are some discussions that his radicalization might have been accelerated by his exposure to American media. And we tend to think, oh, okay, these guys are radicalized entirely in their prior country. But what does it say if the radicalization. This guy being convinced, and obviously he's mentally unstable, but this guy being convinced in some way that, that his actions are justified by crazy left wing arguments that he's being exposed to in the United States. That's scary in and of itself because it makes you realize that while this guy might have been born in Afghanistan, this is the same kind of radicalization procedure that may well have occurred that led to the guy shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, that led to the attempted killing in West Palm beach, and that led to Charlie Kirk's assassination. We are creating and breeding a awful contingent of super left wing predators that are convinced that they are heroes based on the media that they're consuming in this country. And that is alarming wherever the individuals are coming from. But certainly the idea that we could take tens of thousands of young men from Middle Eastern countries and suddenly plop them down in the United States and there weren't going to be cultural consequences for the United States is, I think, laughably absurd, especially from a country as radicalized as Afghanistan.

[Buck Sexton]

We're going to continue to discuss the situation of immigration enforcement here in this country. Also, more follow up onto the conversations going on about the programs that led to the Afghans coming into this country and that the shooting of two National Guardsman that just occurred, one fatally so we shall have that, that conversation here as well. Team, we have a lot that's going on. When do we have Matt Van Epps.

[Clay Travis]

Joining us again, literally top of the next hour with the speaker of the House. So they will be with us from Nashville in about eight minutes.

[Buck Sexton]

That's like an alley oop right there. I throw it up, Clay throws it down. That's how we do it. We're going to be talking to you with Matt Van Epp apps coming up here in a second. He's got to win this race, everybody. We got a congressional election tomorrow. It's a big deal. Do you want to see tears on MSNBC or Ms. Now, which is what they call it? Make sure Matt wins. We'll talk to him in a few minutes.

[Washington Post Advertiser]

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[NordicTrack Advertiser]

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