Hour 1 - Iranian Game of Chicken

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Hour 1 – Iranian Game of Chicken
Date: April 13, 2026
Host: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton focus on the quickly escalating standoff between the U.S. and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump’s unprecedented naval blockade, and the high-stakes question of Iran's nuclear program. The hosts analyze the geo-political game of chicken now underway, discuss the domestic political fallout, dissect President Trump's live remarks, and touch on major political developments in California as Eric Swalwell abruptly exits the gubernatorial race.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Escalating U.S.-Iran Tensions and the Naval Blockade

• Pakistan Negotiations Collapse:
  • After 21 hours of fruitless negotiations, Iran and the U.S. are further apart than ever; both sides have "red lines" they refuse to cross ([02:04] Buck).
• Iran’s Hostile Actions:
  • Iran claims the right to board ships, demand $2 million per vessel, and has mined the Strait of Hormuz. Trump calls these acts terrorism and a form of "taking the Strait hostage" ([03:40] Clay).
• Trump’s Blockade:
  • In response, Trump initiates a full naval blockade, allowing some international ships through but stopping all Iranian oil exports.
  • Quote: “We now control the Strait of Hormuz and we're not going to let Iranian ships go." ([02:21] Buck)

2. Economics of the Blockade

• Oil and Gas Dependency:
  • Iran's economy is highly oil-dependent; without exports, its regime is starved for revenue, unlike the U.S., which is a net energy exporter ([05:28] Clay).
• Market Reactions:
  • Despite the blockade, oil markets remain relatively stable, indicating some confidence in a favorable resolution and benefiting U.S. energy companies ([12:14] Clay).

3. Game Theory: Domestic Vs. International Pressure

• Domestic Fallout:

  • Buck speculates that Iran is playing for time, hoping U.S. political pressure (especially vulnerable Republicans worried about upcoming elections) could weaken Trump's resolve ([09:35] Buck).
  • Quote: “Can Iran hold out to the point where Republicans are begging the administration for mercy... unless you stop this?" ([09:35] Buck)

• Iran’s Choices:

  • Iran can delay and hope for U.S. political fatigue, or escalate dangerously—possibly by attacking ships ([10:01] Buck).

4. The Nuclear Question: Will the U.S. Seize Uranium?

• Seizing Iranian Uranium:

  • Clay and Buck predict the grand finale could be a U.S. special operation to physically seize or destroy Iran's uranium stockpile, as Iran is unlikely to hand it over voluntarily for fear of regime survival ([07:53] Buck & Clay).
  • Quote: “It has to be taken. So you're right about that. It has to be taken.” ([08:15] Buck)

• Operational Challenges:

  • Extracting uranium would require a highly complex ground assault, air superiority, and forward bases within Iran’s territory ([11:16] Buck).
  • Clay notes that for Trump, the cinematic appeal of this operation—and a contrast with Bush's WMD failure in Iraq—would be irresistible if feasible ([14:10] Clay).

5. Live: President Trump's White House Remarks on Iran

• Trump’s Red Lines & Negotiation Demands ([25:55] onward):
  • Iran "will never have a nuclear weapon...we're going to get the dust back. Either they'll give it up or we'll take it." ([26:10] Trump; [33:17] full replay)
  • Quote: “Iran will not have a nuclear weapon and we're going to get the dust back...either we'll get it from them or we'll take it.” ([26:10] Trump)
• Purpose of Blockade:
  • Designed to force a return to the negotiating table, reduce global gas prices, and prevent the world from being “blackmailed” by Iran ([26:41] Trump).
  • Trump asserts U.S. and allies don't need Hormuz oil: “We have more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia. Think of this.” ([26:51] Trump)
• International Coalition:
  • Trump indicates that other countries have offered to join the blockade, and details will be announced soon ([28:08] Trump).
• Blockade Status:
  • "Started at 10 o'clock" ([28:19] Trump).
• Military Threat:
  • "If they don’t agree, there’s no deal. There’ll never be a deal.” ([26:10] Trump)
  • “If [a deal] is not reached by the end of the ceasefire… it won’t be pleasant for them.” ([29:58] Trump)

6. California Politics: The Fall of Eric Swalwell

• Swalwell Drops Out:
  • Buck and Clay discuss the “code red” ordered by Democrats to end Swalwell’s gubernatorial bid after surfacing sexual misconduct allegations; Steve Hilton (R) discussed as a possible beneficiary ([03:00]-[03:40], [17:32]).
• Political Mechanics:
  • The unique “jungle primary” in California could open a path for a Republican win ([17:32] Buck, [17:55]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Buck on Iranian negotiations:
  “Iran is playing a game here too. Their game is who can last longer politically versus economically.” ([08:15])

• Clay summing up Trump’s approach:
  “Trump has a lot more economic power than a lot of people have recognized. That’s why the blockade move did not surprise me.” ([12:14])

• Clay (on uranium seizure):
  “If we take it, they can lie to their people, just say it didn’t happen. That feels like some form of resolution that would be of a scope that could allow us to say, okay, this is over.” ([07:53])

• Trump (on Iran’s nuclear ambitions):
  “Iran, you mark in it down. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And we're going to get the dust back...Either we'll get it back from them or we'll take it.” ([33:17])

• Clay (on political hypocrisy):
  “Imagine doing all of that and deciding that you were going to spend huge amounts of your political time focusing on Epstein and also arguing that Trump was unacceptable, when you as a married member of Congress are basically engaged in all sorts of wacky behavior.” ([24:15])

• Buck (on political survival in Iran):
  “If they agreed to just give over the uranium, they think they would end up with bullets in the back of their head. And by the way, I think that’s correct.” ([08:04])

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Key Timestamps

| Segment | Time | Topic | |---------|-------|-------| | Opening State of Play | 00:02 | Buck on a “bountiful news feast” and summary of issues | | Iranian Blockade Announced | 02:04 | Buck & Clay analyze collapse of Pakistan talks and escalation | | Iran Takes Strait Hostage | 03:40 | Clay explains Iranian strategy—blockade as terrorism | | Economic Analysis of Blockade | 05:28 | Economic impacts, pistachios, oil dependence | | Seizing Uranium Speculation | 07:53 | Clay & Buck on feasibility and geopolitics | | Iran’s Political Survival | 08:04 | Why regime can't simply surrender uranium | | U.S. Political Consequences | 09:35 | Buck on domestic political stakes in the U.S. | | Special Operations Discussion | 11:16 | CBS-level detail on an Iran uranium raid | | Market Reactions | 12:14 | Price stability, American advantage | | Trump Live: Blockade & Red Lines | 25:55 | Trump: “Iran will not have a nuclear weapon” | | Blockade’s Start Time | 28:19 | “Started at 10 o’clock” – Trump | | Trump Unyielding on Uranium | 33:17 | “Either they’ll give it up or we’ll take it” | | Swallow and CA gubernatorial race | 17:32, 24:15 | Political implications & hypocrisy | | Chess, AI, and Human Excellence | 22:12 | Humorous interlude—metaphors for the crisis |

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Tone & Language

• Buck and Clay keep a conversational, often humorous and bantering style, while tackling weighty topics with urgency and clarity.
• Trump’s own language is forceful, absolute, and brimming with confidence in U.S. power—“We have more oil than anyone,” “Either we get it, or we take it.”
• The show blends high-level strategy, inside-political baseball, and pop culture asides, maintaining relatability and energy throughout.

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For Listeners

If you missed the episode, you'll come away understanding:

• The immediate stakes in the U.S.-Iran confrontation and why the Strait of Hormuz matters
• Trump’s uncompromising approach to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and his willingness to use not just economic but military power
• The broader political and economic chessboard, including why Iran is betting on domestic U.S. pressure
• The wild political fallout of a Democratic scandal in California
• The hosts’ informed speculation on what a daring U.S. “Iran Uranium Raid” could look like—and why it plays to Trump’s instincts

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Next up: The Swalwell scandal and more reactions to President Trump’s high-risk strategy in the Middle East.

Transcript

[Donald Trump]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Buck Sexton]

Guaranteed Human. Welcome everybody to the Monday edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show. Today is one of those days, my friends, where right at the jump, we've got probably five hours of show that we wish we could talk to you about in only three hours of time. So a ton of stuff. Let's talk for a moment here. Let's lay out the, the bountiful news feast. Let's look at the menu and let you know where we're going, what we're talking about today, what the big things are. I'm going to start with this, actually. We'll get into this later. I'm going to go in a little bit of reverse order. Swalwell is done as governor to be of California, which is a remarkable turnabout. It was, as I joked on Twitter, Clay, it looks like Swalwell was two weeks away from getting a nuclear weapon. The concerted all out Democrat media takedown of this guy. Now, to be clear, this stuff is really bad. Like I, they were hiding what everybody kind of knew and they've known about this for a long time, but just the, the coordination of the total eradication of this guy's political future about things that they had been keeping. Remember, they had known for months, in some cases years, these allegations were out there. Um, Swallow is a scumbag. I think that is very obvious. Is he a criminal? That is what is alleged at this point only. But he is done and our friend Steve Hilton, who is running, was running against him, was his chief competitor on the Republican side. He will join us in the third hour and just talk about this because, wow. I mean first off, the allegations, really, really bad stuff about, I mean sexual, not just sexual harassment, real sexual assault allegations. It was, and a lot of cases, people on the record, total mess. Ok, now that's about the domestic politics front. I actually want to start us off though, Clay, and we can get to some of the latest from Trump last night at Andrew's, Andrew's joint base. But the situation with the Iran and the straight Iran war, the straight of Hormuz. So here's what happened. As some of us expected and predicted, the negotiations which went on for 21 hours in Pakistan, went exactly nowhere. Iran is like absolutely not your red lines. And our red lines are in conflict. As in there are things that Iran is just flatly refusing to do that we will not bend on either. No deal. And so Clay, this brings us to this current moment where Trump has said, ok, so you've already basically violated the ceasefire because you're at least threatening now. It's, that's a little bit. They haven't blown up any ships or anything. They haven't crossed that red line. But Iran is claiming the right to board ships, to take money, to effectively hold the ship almost hostage, right to take a $2 million per ship bounty. And Trump and they've mined the Strait of Hormuz too. Trump has said, all right, you know what we're going to do? We now control the Strait of Hormuz and we're going to let some ships go, but we're not going to let Iranian ships go. So Clay, we have now seen Trump say we're going to blockade you. Iran. We were being nice before, but now you're going to have a full on oil blockade. You, my friend, Mr. Clay, are the optimistic voice on the achievement of these goals with Iran. How are you feeling about this right now?

[Clay Travis]

Well, this is kind of what I expected to happen on the blockade. Arguing that Trump was frustrated with the way the media had covered this by saying that Iran controlled the Strait of Hormuz, which you, I think summed it up well by saying basically they're trying to take the Strait of Hormuz hostage and effectively they are threatening terrorism, which is not a sign of control. It's just a sign that you are crazy and you're willing to extract a toll from people who are trying to be law abiding and go about the business of oil and commerce otherwise. So it doesn't surprise me at all that President Trump says ok, if you're going to be picking and choosing who you're going to allow in and out of the Strait of Hormuz, we are going to put a blockade. We're going to control ingress and egress and we're not going to allow Iranian oil to reach global markets. Now I pulled this because I thought it was significant because this is where now we go to the economic impact here. Roughly, roughly there is, and I think you said this on the program back in the day, that they're that about 20% of overall exports, that oil and gas about 20% of the overall Iranian economy. But by far other than your beloved pistachios, which by the way have surged in cost as Iran is a top pistachio exporting economy.

[Buck Sexton]

If you thought pistachio creme brulee was fancy before, it is now the caviar of sweet desserts, no doubt.

[Clay Travis]

And so the reality is the Iranian economy basically does not work if they're not getting a lot of Oil and gas brought into their. Into their country. And so Trump has said, okay, instead of Iran being able to pick and choose who gets through, we're going to set up a blockade and we're going to control this. Now, the real issue, I think, is not going to be the Strait of Hormuz. I think that what will happen there is Iran will agree to open back up the Strait of Hormuz eventually, and in the process, we will unfreeze many of their assets that are frozen right now in foreign banks that allow them to do business, and, frankly, that allow the corrupt ruling regime of Iran to remain wealthy. Here is, I think, the crux of all this, Buck, and here's my prediction. It's the uranium. You're right. I think that Iran will not just give up nuclear ambition or hand over the uranium, but based on what we know happened when we rescued the airman who was hiding in a crevice in an Iranian mountain, and we basically built an airfield, we had to abandon some of the planes, but we established we will leave no man behind as a part of rescuing him. I think it was also kind of an interesting test, because what we established is we can build an airfield, we can take our people in and out of Iran, and they really can't do anything about it. We can set up a perimeter that surrounds all of those assets on the ground, and due to our air superiority, Iran can't really get to them. So we talked about this before. It feels to me, Buck, if the uranium is seizable, if it's seizable, we don't know because it's buried. How. How long would it take to reach? Is it reachable? To me, the cinematic into this feels like Trump is going to want to seize their uranium, pull it out of the country, have a grand, huge special operation. Iran, to me, may not necessarily oppose that because it doesn't make them look weak in the country. To me, it's weaker if they hand it over voluntarily. If we take it, they can lie to their people, just say it didn't happen. That feels like some form of resolution that would be of a scope that could allow us to say, okay, this is over.

[Buck Sexton]

I think with the current government there, which is the same as the old government, it's just new people. If they agreed to just give over the uranium, they think they would end up with bullets in the back of their head.

[Clay Travis]

Correct.

[Buck Sexton]

And taking a dirt nap forever. I think that's. And by the way, I think that's correct. So that's not happening. It's a form no world in which

[Clay Travis]

Iran cannot agree to. In their own leadership.

[Buck Sexton]

They absolutely cannot agree to it. They would be signing their own death warrants, I think, because remember, they can agree to it. And then there's people around them who are probably thinking they should be in charge anyway. And it just gets really easy to be the one who is eliminated because then you would also have created all of this carnage and chaos to protect an asset that you then give over. No, it has to be taken. It has to then. So you're right about that. It has to be taken. Now here's where this gets to me. Interesting. All right. Iran is playing a game here too. And their game is who can last longer politically versus economically. As in economically, yes. America is the world's energy superpower. We don't get that much oil from Iran. We're going to be fine. Oil prices are going to rise and they might rise pretty considerably and they've already been rising. No one can really predict how high that they'll go, but going to rise. Okay, but what are the politics of this look like here at home? Can Iran hold out to the point where Republicans are begging the administration for mercy, essentially saying we are going to lose 30 seats in the House, we are going to get absolutely crushed in this midterm election unless you stop this. You can come back to it later.

[Clay Travis]

Right.

[Buck Sexton]

This is the thing Republicans say, hold on, no one's saying, Mr. Commander in Chief, you can't finish the job, but you got to give us some kind of an agreement here until the midterm so that we're not focused in on this. And of course Iran's whole game here is no, no, no, maximum, maximum pain, maximum disunity at home. But I got to say I was, I was knew that the, I mean the Pakistan thing, Clay.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

I wouldn't, if they had asked me to go along just to observe, I mean it might have been interesting to go, but they'd said, buck, do you want to be involved in negotiation? I would say no because it's going nowhere. It's a total waste of time. And it was total waste of time. But Trump now saying, okay, we're doing a full on Iranian blockade. That's interesting. That's now ratcheting this up and that what's Iran's move? Either sit there and think they can wait it out or Clay, if the pain gets high enough in Iran, maybe they blow up a tanker. Those are their options. Their options are continue this game of chicken or go for the well, not the Nuclear option, thankfully. But their absolute, Their absolute final option is blow up a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and see what happens. I don't. I don't know if they'll do it. They could do it.

[Clay Travis]

So this also comes back to can we extract the uranium? But Buck, this comes back to my oil and gas.

[Buck Sexton]

That's. That's a ground assault with a lot of people. I mean, just to be clear, that's not like, you know, that's not a small thing. That's a big Trump is.

[Clay Travis]

I'm telling you, this is going to appeal to Trump's cinematic nature. I just. If it's doable. I'm not sure it's doable because it may be so buried that we can't even get access to the.

[Buck Sexton]

I think it's doable. I think we would have to set up a Ford operating base on the fly.

[Clay Travis]

Yes. Much like what we did to rescue the airmen, which is kind of a little bit of a test of whether

[Buck Sexton]

we would have to set up. We would have to set up a cordon, a security cordon with an air corridor where we had. But now you're talking about setting up a forward operating base on the ground in a sovereign nation that still has about a half a million men under arms in their military. I mean, this is like really intense operational stuff. If you ask our Delta guys can they pull this off, they'll be like, yeah, of course. Just tell us, Mr. President, like, they'll do it. So. So it's possible, but I mean, that would be the most. I don't know if there is a more because the Iranians know where it is. So they know where they have to set up their reinforcements and set up their. Their protection. You know, I don't know, man. I wonder what those Pentagon reports look like about what kind of assets the Iranians can bring to bear to try to defend them.

[Clay Travis]

Here is the other part of this Buck that I think is significant. This is what we were talking about with oil and gas and America being a next net exporting country. Now, oil and gas numbers haven't moved that much. And so even with the blockade now set up, the expense here has been priced in and a lot of the benefit it in yours to American energy companies. So it's very different. Again, the economic reality, Iran can't function if we don't allow them to sell their oil and gas for a few weeks here. I don't even think prices at this point would move very much. I think they're basically stable at this point in time. And as a result, I think Trump has a lot more economic power than a lot of people have recognized. And that's why the blockade move did not surprise me. And to your point, now's the question on Iran. I think if they seize the uranium, it's actually helpful and it sounds crazy to Iran because it allows them to avoid the bullets in the back of the head scenario where if they truly give up their uranium, they're in a situation where the people in positions of power there can't stay in power. We'll take some of your calls. We may have some special ops guys out there. How feasible is the extraction of the uranium? Buck? The other thing Trump would love about this is it embarrasses George W. Bush on Iraq because there were no WMDs. If he shows up with uranium canisters and says, boom, we went and took this out, it is a different level of success and it demonstrates just how different that situation in Iran was with Iraq. I just, it feels like this is what's going to appeal the most to Trump. Is it risky? Yes. But it feels like a way to end this. Sometime in the next couple of weeks. We'll see.

[Buck Sexton]

Take your calls on this. One very interesting situation playing out there. And we haven't even gotten into the domestic political front as much as we will with swallow and all that. So, you guys, we could have a Republican governor of California. This could happen. So we'll talk about that with Steve Hilton later. He's obviously running. Business owners insurance is a must for your operation, but that doesn't mean you have to have different brokers for the various kinds of business insurance you need. Business operators describe a scenario with multiple insurance policies, multiple applications, and no clear view of how it all fits together. And when questions come up, it's not easy to get the clarity you need. Super sure changes that. There's one broker for all your business insurance, backed by a team that works with you year round, not just at renewal. And if you've ever stared at a policy wondering what it covers, super sure has a fine print fax tool that translates the legal jargon into plain English so you know what's covered and what's not. Go online to super sure.com, get a full report on your current policies with no obligation. Find out if you're overinsured, underinsured, or somewhere in between. Go to super sure.com one powerful platform, all your policies in one place. Go to super sure.com that's super sure.com paid for by super sure. Insurance Insurance Agency, LLC, a licensed insurance agency.

[Clay Travis]

Common sense never sounded so good. Clay and Buck owning the airwaves. All right, we got a bunch to get into here. Here. We'll continue to talk about the Iran situation, the blockade, as the market observer. Market not moving very much at all. As again, I think there's general optimism that there's going to be some form of resolution sooner rather than later. One thing, Buck. I actually was doing my research on this. You and I have been talking about this off air. Why was there so much of a difference in oil prices depending on which market you were looking at? I figured out the answer on this. Usually the oil markets are pretty consistent, that is the prices between the spot and the futures. This is me going into energy world research. What has happened is we've got the largest divergence between spot, that's current, like if you needed to buy a barrel of oil right now, and futures. So if you. Usually they're relatively similar in cost right now because of the current blockade. But also the other uncertainty, the lack of willingness to come through the current spot market has, which is, again, if you needed to buy a barrel of oil right now, has diverged significantly from the futures market. And that is why you're sometimes seeing, oh, oil and gas, 120 a barrel versus 95 a barrel. And. And we'll get into that. But that's a little bit of info for you if you're looking at both those. Okay, let's set the table here, Buck. Eric Swalwell has withdrawn from the race for governor. We're going to talk with Steve Hilton, the leading Republican candidate endorsed by President Trump the top of the third hour on the program. He's been a friend of the program for a long time, but it feels to me like Democrats just ordered the code red on him because there were so many stories out there about Eric Swalwell, inappropriate relationships and everything else. And he was the leading candidate. And I think they got afraid it was going to come out in the general.

[Buck Sexton]

So there's that, Clay, but there's also, because of the jungle primary, we have to get into the specifics of this. Swalwell and the other candidates were splitting up the vote in a way where Steve Hilton could win. And so it wasn't just a code red of, oh, we can't have this guy because he's too vulnerable in a general. It was, we have to stop this guy no matter what, otherwise a Republican might become the governor of California. That's really where this was. Which is. Which is Just wild politics. We'll get into that more. All right. In 2026, you buy tree shrubs and plants online. Fast Growing Trees is the company leading the way with some 2 million customers already. If you're thinking of planting new tree shrubs or flowers in your yard this spring, Fast Growing Trees will send you the best versions of them. Fast Growing Trees Online Nursery gives you the size and scale and most importantly, the knowledge of many of the best horticulturalists in the nation. Kerry and I are working with the green thumbs at Fast Growing Trees. In fact, we just got a beautiful outdoor plant from Fast Growing Trees yesterday. It is so cool. It's going to be perfect for our balcony. And we know it's great for this current climate because we talk to Fast Growing Trees people about it. Everything you order is backed by their alive and thrive guarantee. So just go to fast growing trees dot com. Use my name Buck as your promo code to get 20% off your first order. That's fast growing trees dot com promo code Buck for 20% off. Welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. So let's. Is Trump talking right now, guys? Is that really happening?

[Clay Travis]

He, he will go live at any moment. Presumably it's about Iran, although we didn't see Melania's Epstein comments coming either. So who knows?

[Buck Sexton]

To be fair, yeah, I was, I was surprised at those comments and apparently Trump was too. We were sitting here. Usually as soon as something happens, Clay and I, it's like the wheel is going with the, like, this is why this happened and this is why this makes sense or doesn't and everything. But the Melania thing, we're both like, what, what is this?

[Clay Travis]

Nobody's talking about Melania is going to do a White House press conference on it. Even Trump said, I'm not really expecting it. And that's not the advice, you know, necessarily that I would have given. And I think there's a lot of married men out there that, that understand that sometimes even, even the president of United. This is why it's so funny. Like, Trump's a dictator. His wife just had a press conference and he was like, I didn't really want it to happen. But he's a married guy and you know, gentlemen, he lose. He doesn't have control of his, his own marriage necessarily.

[Buck Sexton]

A lot of you are going to nod your heads in this and hopefully your wife isn't sitting right next to you when you do. But there is something about being a guy, being a guy, being married and you are making choices. Part of being a man, married man, is you are making choices for peace over being right, for peace over what was necessarily the best option or the wisest move. And I think that applies to Trump too, sometimes. Sometimes the wife wants to do something and you just have to go, you know what? Fine.

[Clay Travis]

I love that he gave that answer. They were like, well, did you. He's like, I didn't really know. I mean, I'm paraphrasing Trump on this. He's like, I didn't really know she was going to do an Epstein press conference. Probably wasn't the advice that I would have given. Right.

[Buck Sexton]

But that's him choosing peace over the wise move because that was.

[Clay Travis]

She decided. Yeah, she decided she was going to have a press conference. And he probably said, are you really sure that's the best idea? I don't know. And she was like, no, I'm doing it. And you. And I thought, well, there must be another story coming out. So far, there hasn't been anything else that she was getting in front of.

[Buck Sexton]

I've learned that ninja level husband is when your wife insists that you take a different route than the one that you're used to taking or that you want to take in the car. And it becomes clear that this is now longer that you say, I'm glad we're taking this because it just means I get to spend more time with you. That. That is the ninth degree black belt level of husband ness. It is definitely not. I told you this was the wrong route. That is. No, no.

[Clay Travis]

That is.

[Buck Sexton]

No, no.

[Clay Travis]

And was wrong ways. You just get ways and you just follow it and sometimes it leads you astray, but you just point to ways and you say, ali just texted us. The most powerful piece in chess is the queen, which is a very good line.

[Buck Sexton]

That's a very good line. I never thought about that before. Do you play chess at all? I actually really enjoy chess. I wish I played it more.

[Clay Travis]

I used to play my dad and I used to play my sons. I got them involved in playing chess because I think it's good strategically to kind of think through it. And they played a lot as, as young kids.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, it should make a comeback. It's a fun game. A lot of people, I mean, I

[Clay Travis]

think it's more popular than it ever has been before. Online people play chess at incredible rates and it's just a good way to, you know, challenge your brain. It's actually. We'll get to more on swallow here in a moment, but this is actually my pro AI take chess. Remember back in the day when it was, hey, when is the computer going to be better than a human at chess? And it happened, I don't know, 25 years ago or something, that I think IBM created Deep Blue and it could beat everybody. And then people just stopped caring. Because computers are infinitely better than humans at chess. But chess has never been more popular because people want to see humans compete and pursue excellence. We know that at some point artificial intelligence is going to exceed our processing capacity. But human excellence and human creativity and, and competition, I think, is going to continue to thrive. And chess, to me, is an interesting metaphor there. Okay,

[Buck Sexton]

can we do swallow hours? I want to do something. I think we're going to get to Trump here in a second. So can we put a pin in the swallow

[Clay Travis]

on top of the next hour?

[Buck Sexton]

Cause I want you to just lay the whole thing out like I want your whole Swalwell take. It was wild starting on Friday, just looking at all the stuff coming in, all these stories, all these allegations and the stuff that this guy was doing. And then all these people online, some of whom I'm familiar with their work, people in the media, journalism space, whatever, who are. Oh, yeah, everybody knew this. Everybody knew this. The Democrats were running a guy who was sending photos of his privates to random women online. As a member of Congress and a married guy with three kids, by the way, I always think this is true, too. Single guy versus married guy with kids. Different sets of. I'm talking about legal stuff now, but different sets of rules. You know, you're sliding in the DMs as a single member of Congress. OK. But you can't slide in with your private parts. You can slide in and say, would you like to have a beverage with me? But you can't slide in with, hey, look at this. Not good.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. I mean, that whole story was pretty crazy. And we'll get into it a lot next hour because I think it tells us much. What I would say is imagine doing all of that and deciding that you were going to spend huge amounts of your political time focusing on Epstein and also arguing that Trump was unacceptable. When you as a, as a married member of Congress are basically engaged in all sorts of wacky behavior.

[Buck Sexton]

I have two thoughts for you on this. One is in psychology, Clay, they call this projection.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. Which is clearly something that every accusation is. A confession is a phrase that. That is out there for sure.

[Buck Sexton]

You could say swivel, doth protest too much about sketchy sexual behavior when it came to Trump. The other thing that I would point out is they want. They. He's out of the governor's race. Now he has suspended his campaign. He's out of the governor's race. But why is he still in Congress, everybody?

[Clay Travis]

Great question.

[Buck Sexton]

We're gonna have to get to that. Do we have Trump now? I was trying.

[Clay Travis]

Trump is speaking, I think right now. I can't tell exactly who he's with.

[Buck Sexton]

Take him live.

[Clay Travis]

A food delivery worker at the White House.

[Donald Trump]

It's supposed to be me as a doctor making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better. As an example, the 11,000. I understand your husband's going through treatment.

[Clay Travis]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[Donald Trump]

He's going through some very serious cancer treatment. So, yes, this goes a long way.

[Clay Travis]

Yes, sir, it sure does. Round of 10 talks planned with Iran.

[Buck Sexton]

And if so, will you send Vice

[Clay Travis]

President Jamie Vance with.

[Donald Trump]

Well, he's done a good job at Steve and Jared. They've all done a very good job. And I can tell you that we've been called by the other side. They'd like to make a deal. Very badly. Very badly.

[Clay Travis]

Point over. You said it was over nuclear.

[Donald Trump]

It was over nuclear. Very similar. Yeah. Very good. I guess you're listening. It's over the fact that they will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran, you marking it down. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And we agreed to a lot of things, but they didn't agree to that. And I think they will agree to it. I'm almost sure of it. In fact, I am sure of it. If they don't agree, there's no deal. There'll never be a deal. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And we're going to get the dust back, Mr. President, we'll get it back. Either we'll get it back from them or we'll take it.

[Buck Sexton]

Mr. President, as far as the naval

[Clay Travis]

blockade is concerned, what's the end game? Is it to force Iran back to the negotiating people? Is it to open up the straits so that gas prices ultimately come down?

[Donald Trump]

Maybe everything. I mean, both of those things, certainly. And more. We can't let a country blackmail or extort the world because that's what they're doing. They're really blackmailing the world. We're not going to let that happen. And you know, the amazing thing is we don't. Can you believe this? We don't use this trade. We don't need this trade. We have our own oil and gas, much more than we need. We have more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia. Think of this. We produce more Saudi Arabia and add Russia to it, substantially More, and by next year we'll have double that amount. So we don't need it, but the world needs it and many ships are heading to our country right now as we speak to load up with the best. Really. I guess you could say somebody said the best and sweetest. I don't know exactly what sweet is, but when it relates to oil, it's a good thing. But they're coming to our country right now. There are many boats coming to our country now. It could very well be. This is going to be settled before that. We've been called this morning by the right people, the appropriate people, and they want to work a deal. They would like to work a deal.

[Clay Travis]

Is it your anticipation, expectation, Mr. President, that other countries will assist in this effort to blockade Iran and those.

[Donald Trump]

Yeah, other countries are going to also.

[Clay Travis]

Which countries, sir?

[Donald Trump]

We don't need other countries, frankly, but they've offered the services. We'll let it, we'll let it be known probably tomorrow.

[Clay Travis]

Has the locking started, sir?

[Donald Trump]

Yeah, started at 10 o'. Clock. Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

You apologize.

[Donald Trump]

No, I don't. Because Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I'm doing with, with regard to Iran and you cannot have a nuclear Iran. Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result. You have hundreds of millions of people dead and it's not going to happen. So I can't. I think he's very weak on crime and other things. So I'm not. I mean, he, he went public. I'm just responding to Pope Leo and you know, his brother is a big MAGA person and he's a great guy, Louis. And I said, I like Louis better than I like the Pope. Now you have to have law and order in our country and that's what we have now. We have the lowest crime numbers we've had in a long time, despite the fact that many criminals were allowed into our country. But we've gotten a lot of them out. We've done a great job on crime. So we have the lowest murder rate in 125 years, since 1900, the lowest murder rate. So we believe strongly in law and order. And he, he seemed to have a problem with that. So there's nothing to apologize for. He's wrong. The other thing is he didn't like what we're doing with respect to Iran. But Iran is a. Wants to be a nuclear nation so they can exterminate the world. Not going to happen.

[Clay Travis]

Is not reached by the end of the ceasefire. Does your threat from before still stand?

[Donald Trump]

Yeah, I don't want to comment on that but it won't be pleasant for them. Let me put it that way.

[Clay Travis]

Has your timetable changed in any way in terms of ending this conflict?

[Donald Trump]

No, I would just, just going it's going on because right now there's no fighting. Right now we have a blockade. They're doing no business. I didn't like seeing boats come out if they were doing business with Iran, but if they weren't, no boats came out. So now they're doing. Iran is doing absolutely no business and we're going to keep it that way very easily. Don't forget their navy is gone, their air force is gone, their anti aircraft is gone, their radar is gone and their leaders are gone.

[Clay Travis]

Let's come back in here. We got to get hit A commercial break. We're going to continue to run on this audio from President Trump at the White House. Buck what stood out to me and we'll pull this. He said about the nuclear dust, the uranium, whatever capacity it's in right now, either they give it up or we take it. Which I thought is maybe the most significant thing that I heard so far. Again, we haven't been able to listen to at all.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. That means this operation involving substantial ground troops and the whole thing is on the table. Yes, full stop on that is on the table. Which let me just say Trump sounds like he is committed to finishing off the Iranian threat come hell or high water.

[Clay Travis]

No doubt. And let me tell you, come hell or high water, it's Monday. And maybe some of you are not as fit and fiddle as you had hoped. Maybe you indulged a little bit too much while you were watching the Masters. Maybe you had too many different events. Maybe you just weren't ready for the start of the week. And you're looking already at all the obligations you have on the calendar going ahead and you're thinking to yourself, you know what we need to get taken care of right now. I need more energy. Vim, vigor, vitality. That's what Chalk's all about. They have a male vitality stack. It's all natural. Helps to increase your testosterone by 20% in just three months time. When you subscribe with my name Clay as the promo code, Chalk will also give you a free $99 bag of chocolate powder with your first delivery. Chalk.comchoq.com My name Clay. Get hooked up today. That's chalk.com My name Clay. Get the best possible deal. Put some vim, vigor vitality back in your life. Just feel better than you do. Right now by getting hooked up today with chalk. That's chalk.com my name clay99 bag of chocolate powder. When you sign up and subscribe with your first delivery, do it today. Level up your brain and balance out your day with the right amount of information and entertainment. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. Okay. President Trump continuing to speak. He's talking about the UFC fight right now. I don't know exactly what led to that question, but I do want to play. I believe we have the cut, which is the most significant statement I've seen so far on the nuclear dust, as he called it. Either they give it up or we take it. Cut 35 over the fact that they

[Donald Trump]

will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran, you mark in it down. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And we agreed to a lot of things, but they didn't agree to that. And I think they will agree to it. I'm almost sure of it. In fact, I am sure of it. If they don't agree, there's no deal. There'll never be a deal. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon and we're going to get the dust back. Mr. We'll get it back. Either we'll get it back from them or we'll take it.

[Clay Travis]

So I haven't heard a follow up question of that. Sometimes I get frustrated by the morons that are in the media because they don't even notice the most significant things that are said and follow up with it because he might not answer the question and but him saying either they will give it up or we will take it is exactly how we open the program. Buck with you. And I agree that Iran can't give up their new they might say publicly, as they have said before, hey, we're, you know, not going to pursue nuclear weapons. But the idea that they would hand over the existing uranium, it's not a

[Buck Sexton]

starter, it's a non starter. This is, this is an intractable part of the negotiation. This is why I've been saying there's not going to be a deal. Everybody okay, because we're saying they have to give up the uranium. I'm telling you, there is zero chance they're going to give up their uranium willingly. Zero. It's not happening because that would mean, because if they were willing to do that, why have we gone through all of this? Why have we been doing all of this? Right? This is the, the whole thing comes down to that. Keith and from Melbourne, Florida, this is G On the talkbacks hit it is

[Donald Trump]

correct on this one.

[Buck Sexton]

It would be really stupid for us to try to extract that uranium. They have a half a million men under arms. As Buck said, they would be laying in wait for us. Now, to be clear, I didn't say it was stupid. I said it would be tough and quite an operation. But do I think it's within the US Military's capability to pull this off?

[Clay Travis]

Probably.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, what would happen is whatever entrenched soldiers, etc. They would have around these sites, we would lay waste to them from the air, which we can do. Right? That's the thing. They can't just camp out there because if they just camp out there, we're going to pound them from the air. So they'd have to have ways of having a quick reaction force nearby that we can't get at. You know, they're going to put surface to air missile sites, clay, things like that. But that's I think where, you know, the military planning on this could be pretty next level.

[Clay Travis]

What I'll also say is if our goal is we have to know that they're not going to have nuclear weapons. They lie all the time. So the only way to ensure is to get this. I think Trump wants it cinematically. I don't think they will give it up. Here's the other part of this, Buck, that I think is significant. A lot of those nuclear locations are isolated. So it's not as if they were creating the nuclear weapons in the middle of downtown Tehran. They mostly were remote. We will break down all of this and more when we come back. We got a couple of more cuts for you from President Trump in the Oval Office. I will say stock market has all turned positive on his comments as there does not seem to be a great deal of panic over the blockade being put in place. And we'll continue to take your calls.

[Buck Sexton]

You're kind of the anti panicking. Take two of clay with a glass of water and your panicking disappears.

[Clay Travis]

I feel good about it. Let's see whether I'm a moron or not eventually. The next hour fall well, we'll discuss.