Hour 1 - Missiles Talk, BS Walks

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show — Hour 1: "Missiles Talk, BS Walks"

Date: May 15, 2026
Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Episode Theme:
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton dive into the aftermath of President Trump’s China visit, the ongoing Taiwan and Iran situations, and the ripple effects on global security, tech, and U.S. politics. Using headline events, headlines about DEI in Hollywood, and their trademark banter, they blend analysis with cultural commentary.

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Overview

Hour 1 centers on:

• The diplomatic tension following Trump’s visit to China, especially regarding Taiwan and Iran.
• The strategic significance of Taiwan for global semiconductor supply and the U.S.-China tech race.
• Iran’s disruptive presence in the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. policy ambiguity.
• Hollywood's 'woke' casting controversy surrounding Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming “Odyssey.”
• Broader implications for U.S. politics, global security, and culture wars.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Aftermath of Trump’s China Visit: Taiwan & Strategic Ambiguity

• Trump’s Takeaways: Trump spoke on Air Force One about his conversations with Xi Jinping, emphasizing non-committal “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan.

  • [06:43] Trump (clip): “President Xi and I talked a lot about Taiwan...He does not want to see a fight for independence because that would be a very strong confrontation... I have a lot of respect for him.”

• Biden’s Trip-ups: Strategic ambiguity means not publicly declaring if the U.S. will defend Taiwan, a delicate position all presidents have tried to maintain.

  • [07:22] Clay Travis: “Is it the only position in all of American politics where the goal is to actually say nothing?”
  • Historically, Biden has slipped by explicitly stating the U.S. would defend Taiwan; the White House had to walk those back. (See [13:12])

• Semiconductors & Geopolitics:

  • [09:39] Clay Travis: “Taiwan is producing the engine that drives all AI evolution... If China took Taiwan, there is more of a strategic gain than ever before...the power that China would have if they took over Taiwan is more substantial than it ever has been.”
  • TSMC’s chips are vital; U.S. cannot make 90% of those chips domestically ([10:33] Buck Sexton).

• Security at TSMC:

  • [11:13] Buck Sexton: “Getting into TSMC is harder than getting into Langley...The Chinese are trying to steal their stuff all the time.”
  • Both marvel at TSMC's ironclad security to protect against Chinese theft.

2. Iran, Strait of Hormuz & Diplomatic Pressure

• Trump’s Fricton with Media:

  • Trump bristles at New York Times/CNN coverage on Iran, claiming military victory is ignored.
  • [12:05] Trump (clip): “We’ve had a total victory except by people like you that don't write the truth...It’s treason when you write like they're doing well militarily.”

• Strait of Hormuz Crisis:

  • Only 3 ships have gone through in the last 24 hours — a 95% drop in traffic ([13:56] Buck Sexton).
  • U.S. pressure on China can't cut as deep as on Russia (due to economic interdependence; all iPhones come from China, for example, [14:10] Clay Travis).

• Diplomacy with Xi:

  • [15:35] Trump (clip): “I'm not asking for any favors because when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return... I think [Xi] would like to see [the Strait] opened up. He gets about 40% of his energy or his oil from that...We get none.”
  • Trump prefers not to “owe” China, but expects global pressures will push Xi’s interest toward resolving Strait issues.

3. Missiles Talk, BS Walks: U.S. Arms Shipments to Taiwan

• Will Trump Deliver on Missiles?

  • [16:06] Buck Sexton: “Does he allow the $11 billion of arms shipments...they have already been approved for Taiwan? Does he follow through on that deal? Missiles talk, BS walks.”

• Market Prediction:

  • [16:53] Clay Travis: “96% chance that we give Taiwan all the military that we have told Taiwan we're going to give them, according to polymarket.”

  • Both agree it’s likely Trump will deliver, as halting the transfer would be read as abandonment.

4. Iran: Strategic Delay Ahead of U.S. Midterms?

• Coup de Grace Postponed?

  • [21:46] Clay Travis: “Maybe they try to resolve everything for the short term through the midterms…get gas prices back down...then potentially go in after...and ‘finish the job’ in Iran.”
  • Clay wonders if a more decisive Iran intervention is delayed to avoid political fallout before elections.

• Buck’s Skepticism:

  • [23:51] Buck Sexton: “Trump's obviously sensitive about it because he knows there's political risk...He's saying, 'Yeah, we destroyed their military.'...That's not the mission. The mission is to stop them from ever getting a nuke.”

5. Hollywood DEI & "The Odyssey" Casting Controversy

• Culture Clash over Race-Bent Casting:

  • Focus on the backlash as Christopher Nolan casts a Black actress as Helen of Troy and possibly Elliot Page as Achilles.
  • [28:10] Clay Travis: “They lost nearly $200M in modern dollars on the Snow White remake that they decided to make super woke. That's a distillation there of what happened.”
  • Buck ridicules “The View” and particularly Sunny Hostin for using “bad history” to justify casting decisions and for overall “ignorance” of historical facts.
    • [32:42] Sunny Hostin (clip): “People that are saying that Helen of Troy could not possibly be played by a black woman don't know history.”
    • [33:06] Buck Sexton: “She cites a book that is completely refuted, trash. And she's like, and you don't know history. It's amazing.”
  • Clay references Homer’s original text describing Helen’s “white arms, pale skin” as a contrast to modern casting decisions ([34:20]).

• Oscar Eligibility as Motivation for DEI:

  • [37:49] Clay Travis: “This may be required in order for Christopher Nolan's film to be able to win an Oscar...If you just did an ancient Greek epic and it only starred white people...you would be in a position where you don’t qualify for an Oscar.”
  • The guys argue that, in the current climate, historical accuracy is sacrificed for diversity mandates.

• Double Standards in Representation:

  • Both mock the idea of a white Barack Obama in a biopic ([36:36]), or Asian/Latino Zulu warriors as equally silly distortions for the sake of “inclusion.”
  • [41:07] Buck Sexton: “Anything that involves white history, completely rewrite, completely change, alter and unmoor it from the facts. There you go. That’s really what the rule is.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On U.S.-China-Taiwan Triangle:

  • “If China took Taiwan, there is more of a strategic gain than ever before...the power that China would have if they took over Taiwan is more substantial than it ever has been in the life of anybody listening right now.” — Clay Travis [09:39]

• On TSMC Security:

  • “Getting into TSMC is harder than getting into Langley…No photos of the building. Nothing...Chinese are trying to steal their stuff all the time.” — Buck Sexton [11:13]

• On Media and Iran:

  • “We’ve had a total victory except by people like you that don't write the truth...it’s treason when you write like they're doing well militarily.” — Donald Trump [12:05]

• On Hollywood’s DEI Policies:

  • “This is, I think, emblematic and a perfect distillation of how woke destroys everything. The success of Snow White basically built the Walt Disney Corporation...and then they lost nearly $200 million...on the Snow White remake that they decided to make super woke.” — Clay Travis [28:10]

• On Historical Accuracy and Race:

  • "If there were a historical record of a famous good-looking black woman and a white woman were put in that role, Hollywood would burn...this is like the whole Bridgerton thing." — Clay Travis [34:20]
  • “Anything that involves white history, completely rewrite, completely change, alter and unmoor it from the facts. That’s really what the rule is.” — Buck Sexton [41:07]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:23 | Show intro: Trump’s China visit, Taiwan, Iran, and upcoming guests | | 06:43 | Trump on Taiwan: Strategic ambiguity with Xi Jinping | | 10:00 | Taiwan’s semiconductor industry & its global importance | | 12:05 | Trump lashes out at NYT/CNN about Iran coverage | | 13:56 | Strait of Hormuz blockade and shipping statistics | | 15:35 | Trump on not asking Xi for favors over the Strait of Hormuz | | 16:06 | US arms shipments to Taiwan: Will Trump follow through? | | 21:46 | Iran’s fate: deal before or after the U.S. midterms? | | 28:10 | Disney’s “woke” Snow White; DEI catastrophe | | 32:42 | Sunny Hostin and the "Black Athena" debate on “The View” | | 34:20 | Homer’s description of Helen; double standards in casting | | 37:49 | Oscar rules and the pressure to include DEI in period films | | 41:07 | Summation on cultural double standards and historical revisionism |

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Tone & Style Notes

• Language & Tone: Conversational, opinionated, often sarcastic; at times combative, especially on culture war topics (Hollywood/“The View”).
• Speaker Dynamics: Buck handles much of the foreign policy, Clay expands on tech and cultural themes. Both interject humor and cultural references.
• Audience: Listeners are presumed conservative, politically engaged, and wary of “woke” culture in media and politics.

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Key Takeaways

• The U.S. stance on Taiwan remains “strategically ambiguous,” and the stakes have never been higher due to advanced semiconductor dependency.
• The Iran crisis over the Strait of Hormuz threatens global oil and remains unresolved, possibly due to electoral calculations.
• Hollywood’s drive for diversity in casting is critiqued as both ahistorical and hypocritical, a reflection of larger cultural battles over representation and history.
• Clay and Buck frame all of these issues as evidence of the complexities (and sometimes absurdities) of modern politics, diplomacy, and culture.

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For further context and deeper discussion, listen to the full episode at [iHeartPodcasts/The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show].

Transcript

[Buck Sexton]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Amazing.

[Buck Sexton]

We'll have Katie Zachariah on the show later, our California based analyst of all things out there. She'll be with us. We also have. Oh boy, we have a clay. We have a whole run of guests today. John Yakilek, I don't know if I got that one right. We'll ask Yam when he's on. I know it's Jan. That one I'm, I got. He's the author of Killed to Order. My Friends. This is a book that is very from, from what I know and I've talked to people who cover this stuff closely. Very well sourced and it is stark, it is macabre, it is bloody. That there is organ harvesting that goes on in China where they are killing prisoners and giving organs to Communist Party members to basically extend their lifespan. It's Sci fi level creepy stuff, but it's apparently quite real. And Jan, who wrote the book on this, Killed the Order will be with us to talk about that also. Paul Renner, he's a former speaker of the Florida House Representatives, candidate for governor here in Florida. Equal time is a real thing, my friends. He is a duly certified candidate for the Florida governor's race. And he will be on with us and we will talk to him about whether he can expand his current, I believe, 1% showing in the polls. So we will have that conversation about what comes next for him and why people should pay more attention to his campaign. Did we also. Was this also. Yeah, we got Comey, Clay. We didn't get this yesterday. I told you guys, Comey's like, I'm going to be indicted a fourth time, a fifth time. So hard to be me. But I love being on TV to talk about it. He's having his moment in the sun, but let's, let's. Oh, and then more on the Odyssey, on the political throwdown around DEI Odyssey with this Christopher Nolan movie. It's coming out. It's supposed to be the biggest movie of the summer. So people are already talking a lot about it. Hundreds of millions of dollars, Clay spent on it. So there is that. But here is the meat of the matter with China. This is Cut four. Trump on Air Force One on the way back saying that he talked to Xi Jinping a lot about Taiwan. Listen to it.

[Donald Trump (clip)]

President Xi and I talked a lot about Taiwan. He thinks it cannot have anything to do with what they're doing. I mean, he's, you know, against very much what they're doing. We talked about Taiwan, we talked about Iran a lot. And I think we have a very good understanding on both on Taiwan. He does not want to see a fight for independence because that would be a very strong confrontation. And I heard him out. Are you going to get into the word? I didn't make, I didn't make the comment on it. I heard about. I have a lot of respect for him.

[Buck Sexton]

Non committal, kind of status quo. But there was the issue of the arms sales, which we'll talk about in a second. What did you think about all this?

[Clay Travis]

I think that's where you have to go. I mean, it's such a weird position, strategic ambiguity. Is it the only position in all of American politics where the goal is to actually say nothing? You know, every now and then a politician will stumble on how to address this? I think. Didn't Joe Biden have to issue an apology because he said we would defend Taiwan in the last couple of years. And then they immediately came back and said, actually that was not a hundred percent what he intended to say. Team, look that up. And it's not just even I know Joe Biden is incompetent. It's not just Joe Biden who's had to do that. Because when the line has gotten a little bit too close to we will definitely defend them or we will definitely not defend them, there has been a public pronouncement where they're saying, hey, there's been no intent to try to change the strategic ambiguity perspective. Here's what I would say in general, Bach, and I bet you would sign off on this after your trip to Taiwan. I think Taiwan matters more today in terms of the semiconductor industry than it has ever mattered in the history of Taiwan being an independent country, by which I mean, Taiwan is producing the engine that drives all AI evolution. And I am stunned by the quality of responses you can get from very basic prompts on AI at this point from grok. And that's the one that I primarily use, the amount of research, the quality of it, the ability to just. I used it, for instance, recently to analyze whether Olympic athletes were ever asked about the political situation in the United States prior to Trump. And the answer was virtually never. Right. It is amazing how quickly you can search the entirety of the Internet and it can give you really reliable data and information that takes up a lot of power. And so the pursuit of power, and I don't mean it in the sense of you're the president or you're a senator or you're a governor. I mean it in the sense of we got to turn the lights on. The amount of power that AI consumes is extraordinary. And the only way you can build bigger AI compute engines is with the semiconductors that are primarily being produced in Taiwan right now. So if China took Taiwan, there is more of a strategic gain than ever before. And that is where I think this matters. It's always mattered in the context of China's global ambitions, but the power that China would have if they took over Taiwan is more substantial than it ever has been in the life of anybody listening right now, because semiconductors have never mattered more than they do right now to overall global commerce.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, I mean, you can also forget about the US China tech race because they win, basically, or they will win for the foreseeable future. Right. That the advantage that they would have from gaining that technology for making it part of their immediate supply chain, having control over, we would Be. There's a look, we can't make the 90% of the chips that Taiwan, can we America can't do that right now. So that tells you a lot, I think and that tells you that there's something particularly special about where they are. This technology. Clay, as I told you, I mean they. It's harder to. Getting into TSMC is harder than getting into Langley.

[Clay Travis]

They.

[Buck Sexton]

You're not allowed to take that. They ca. They collected our phones at the bus get like in the you know, even

[Clay Travis]

parking onto the physical location.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh yeah.

[Clay Travis]

To restrict your.

[Buck Sexton]

No photos of the building. Nothing. I mean total. Total, you know have to go in totally clean. And this was for a meeting in their conference room with their, you know, their, their public affairs team. I mean it wasn't like we were going into anything but they are places on total because they're. The Chinese are trying to steal their stuff all the time. So very aggressively. Probably other countries as well. The other thing that I think was interesting is Trump is a little, it's a little testy about the Iran situation here. He was speaking to this again on Air Force One. So sorry, the audio is not perfect, but we want you to hear what the president himself said. This is cut to. He's talking to New York Times a New York Times reporter and well, you can imagine how that went play it

[Donald Trump (clip)]

had a total military victory. Guys like you write incorrectly. You're a fake gu. Guys like you write about it. We've had a total victory except by people like you that don't write the truth. You know, you should write. I actually think it's sort of some reason is what you write. But you and the New York Times and cnn, I would say are the worst. You should know better. Your editors tell you what to write. And you're right. I actually think it's treason when you write like they're doing well militarily and have no navy, no air force, no anti anything. And then I read the New York Times and they act like they're doing well. Everybody knows. And that's why your subscribers are way down. You know, the Times subscribers are way down because it's fake news.

[Buck Sexton]

Trump seeming to be a little agitated with the question about how things are going with Iran. Here's the situation. We don't have an Iran deal yet and it's middle of May and right now the strait. How many I should check how many boats have gone through the strait in the last couple of days. How many of the of the ships are actually moving through Clay they got to Figure this thing out. They got to figure it out fast.

[Clay Travis]

Yes, they do. And a couple of things to clean up. Yes. According to the team which immediately went to chat GPT, I would suggest GROK should be our go to because I think it's more truth seeking than some of these others. But Joe Biden more than once suggested the US Would militarily defend Taiwan. And after several of those remarks, this is According to ChatGPT, White House officials clarified that they had not changed the policy, meaning they are sticking to strategic ambiguity. So that is Biden, but that has happened several different times where the goal has been to kind of let people not know what we're doing. I don't know what the intent was from Biden there, Buck, can I just

[Buck Sexton]

say, Clay, I checked and the last 24 hours there have been three ships that have gone through the Strait of Hormuz. It's down 95 plus percent. So the Strait of Hormuz is not an active waterway for, for commerce right now.

[Clay Travis]

I think they let Chinese ships through at the beginning of this trade discussion. Let's check on that because I think there were reports that 30 Chinese flagships went through since the start of the week. Check and see if that's correct. Here's the other thing though, Buck. On the Taiwan front, and obviously this impacts Iran too. But the US Tried to shut off all relations globally, so did the rest of the world with Russia when they invaded Ukraine. And arguably that just strengthened Russia internally. But Buck, the US can't cut China off. So it's not like we can just say, okay, China, we're going to give you significant consequences for invading. They produce so much of the manufacturing that under undergirds the entire US economy, including the iPhones that virtually everybody has in their pocket. All of it comes out of China. And so this is, look, the Iran situation, the China situation, China has a lot of ability to basically act as they see fit. And so I do think this is going to be an ongoing dance and we have to just hope China doesn't decide to do it because they think militarily it's too difficult to accomplish.

[Buck Sexton]

This is cut five. Trump here said that he was not asking Xi Jinping for any favors to help open the Strait of Hormuz. Hit it.

[Donald Trump (clip)]

President Xi make any commitment to put pressure on the Iranians to reopen the Straight of Hormuz? I'm not asking for any favors because when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return. We don't need favors. Ask him to put pressure because I don't, I don't need favors. I think he will, I think automatically he'd like to see it opened up. He gets about 40% of his energy or his oil from that, you know, from the straight. We get none.

[Buck Sexton]

So he's saying he didn't use any chips on that one. Something that I'm going to. We're going to, I think Clay, keep a very close eye on all the words around this stuff. Yeah, it matters. People love to get into the, the tea leaf reading in diplomacy. But does he allow the $11 billion of arm shipments? Is 11 or 15. Check that one for me, team. The billions of dollars of ARM shipments that have been a pre. That have already been approved for Taiwan. Does he follow through on that deal? Because, you know, missiles talk, BS walks. I mean, if, if he's actually arming up Taiwan, what he says about Taiwan matters a little bit less. The most important thing is giving them the capacity to defend themselves.

[Clay Travis]

96% chance that we give Taiwan all the military that we have told Taiwan we're going to give them. According to polymarket. I looked that up this morning because I was curious. There was discussion about whether Trump might back up a little bit. All of the money coming in is

[Buck Sexton]

saying, well, Trump said, he said, maybe I will, maybe I won't. He's being very Trump, but I think that's. He's going to. He just wants to say, maybe I will, maybe I won't. I agree with you. I think it's very likely he'll do that because it would be a huge sign negatively for Taiwan if at this point he cut off that arms deal. So I don't think that's going to happen. Business insurance is a must have if you're running a business. Super sure is the first company that we know of that makes sense of all the business insurance policies that owners like you must maintain to operate their business wise. Wisely. Business owners complain. There's so many policies, applications, all these different brokers, it's a mess. Super sure changes that. 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 facts tool that translates the legal jargon into plain English so you know what's covered and what's not. Go online to supersure.com buck and 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 buck one powerful platform, all your policies in one place. Super sure.com buck paid for by Super Short Insurance Agency, a licensed insurance agency. Laugh, learn and hang with the guys.

[Clay Travis]

Play it Buck preset on the iHeart app.

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay Travis BUCK SEXTON SHOW we're talking about President Trump, Trump's trip to China. Record high. Stock market pulling back a little bit today. The stock market is but yesterday, yet another record high result. And I think the big question now as President Trump comes back from China, Buck, you hit on it. It's going to be ok, what does a resolution look like when it comes to Iran? And to what extent is there able to be a resolution that exists before the midterms? And I would just float out this idea that I do think may be within contemplation, which is trying to resolve everything for the short term through the midterms and get gas prices back down, say, hey, we've got a ceasefire and then potentially go in after the midterm voting has already taken place and really kind of finish the job in Iran. I do wonder if there's an element of contemplation associated with that. I don't think that Iran can build itself back up between now and November in a significant way. And I still think, Buck, President Trump is always going to favor the big cinematic coup de grace where you can go in and say we ended this. And that to me is seizing the so called nuclear dust, which I think could take a substantial period of time and would require basically putting boots on the ground and setting up a perimeter and being in Iran for some period of time. I don't know that they want to try that before the midterms happen. So increasingly I'm of the opinion that they're going to try to get some form of resolution and then we may Go back in as soon as the voting has taken place and really kind of quote unquote finish the job. You buy that as a possibility? How do you assess it? Sitting here mid May, I thought that we would be done by the beginning of May. That was my call from the get go. So far we are not.

[Buck Sexton]

I got to tell you, my grumpy, I used to work for the CIA in the Middle east twinge about all this stuff feeling pretty good right about now. We should, this thing should be fixed, the straits should be open. Trump's obviously sensitive about it because he knows there's political risk associated with this for the Republicans and he's saying, yeah, we destroyed their military. We destroyed their military. Okay, true. That's not what the mission is. Even by his end, that's not the mission. So we can keep saying that that's not the mission. The mission is to stop them from ever getting a nuke. No one believes that that's going to happen based on what's going on right now and rather that we're already there and no one believes the strait is fully open. This is where we are. It's just turns out the Mideast kind of a mess can be a little, little tricky, sometimes a little trickier than Venezuela. Was that too grumpy?

[Clay Travis]

No.

[Buck Sexton]

All right. I mean it's true, it's true.

[Clay Travis]

All right.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

the scene, some of these scuttlebutt, if you will.

[Buck Sexton]

First of all, it's Whoopi show and everyone has to do whatever Whoopi says. Just so you know, like she, she can, she rules the View with an iron fist. Used to be Barbara Walters, now it's Whoopi Goldberg who just cheese queen bee and everyone else can like and I'm sure Sunny Hostin doesn't particularly like that. But Sunny Hostin is the most hostile of the co host there. I don't even, I don't even know. It's the only ones I know. It's Behar Hostin and then Whoopi and then there's the, the, the good looking Trump turncoat chick. I don't remember his name. Thank you.

[Clay Travis]

And then I believe there do they is, is the other Anna Navarro. She's not regularly on. Right. Is it usually four? I'm not sure what they generally I

[Buck Sexton]

think they have a. Yeah, they, they, they work it in and out. I mean or they work people in and out. Anyway, point is work it in and

[Clay Travis]

out would be a hell of a double job.

[Buck Sexton]

So, so, so Sunny Hostin, Sunny Hostin is talking here about the controversy that has erupted around the Odyssey. Now people will say, oh, this is just giving them free press. No. Do you guys remember what happened to Woke Snow White? All we know is nothing really happened because that thing went down in flames.

[Clay Travis]

It was the biggest money losing film in the history of Disney. Snow White. This is, this is, I think, emblematic and a perfect distillation of how woke destroys everything. The success of Snow White basically built the Walt Disney Corporation for people out there who are business savants. Disney made over a billion dollars on Snow White in 1930s adjusted inflation adjusted dollars. It's to a large extent why the company exists today, why Disneyland exists, why Disney World exists. And then they lost nearly $200 million in modern dollars on the Snow White remake that they decided to make Super Woke. So that's a distillation there of what happened.

[Buck Sexton]

And so this is not. Oh, if you're talking about it, you're giving it attention because sometimes the negative attention brings these things down and really brings them down in flames. And I think that Christopher, some of you are probably huge Christopher Nolan fans. And that's okay. No one's perfect. You're allowed to be wrong about some things. He has made a couple of good movies and a lot of very bad movies. That movie Dunkirk has some very cool parts to it, but do you really go back and watch it more than once? It's kind of. Kind of becomes kind of long, eerie and boring after a while. My opinion, the other one's Inception. Just a trash movie. Just a trash movie. It makes no sense. The whole thing is just absurd. I don't even remember I saw it. I don't remember anything about other than this is a bad movie. The Batman movies are good. I get credit. Word. The Batman movies are very good. Credit where it's due. What else is a Christopher Nolan movie? I've never seen is Interstellar. Christopher Nolan movie.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. Interstellar is pretty good. I like that one. And he initially made his movie. Made his name, I think. Do you remember Memento?

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, Oppenheimer. Nope. Nope. See throwing a flag. Oppenheimer. Way too long, way too boring. Way too soft on the reality of the commie penetrations of our. Of our nuclear program. You know, it's so sad. They're being mean. Yeah, well, they're actually. Are spies stealing nuclear secrets, guys. They're going to be mean about that.

[Clay Travis]

I haven't ever seen. I still haven't seen Oppenheimer.

[Buck Sexton]

But he made has one hour. That's good. The middle hour. Clay is good where they're actually focused on the nuclear program. The beginning at being at first Hour and the third hour where it's like, are they oppressing him because they say he's a communist? Yeah, he actually was a communist and he was surrounded by communists and they stole our nuclear secrets and it almost ended the whole world. So I think it's bigger than the hurt feelings of Oppenheimer and okay, the

[Clay Travis]

ones that he made his. Made his name on really were Memento in 2000 and then did you watch Insomnia back in 2002? Pretty good movie that was set, if I remember correctly, in Alaska. Yeah, it's where the sun never goes down. It was a.

[Buck Sexton]

He did that movie, that movie that was like. Well, there's a badly titled. Because that movie makes you fall asleep. That movie sucked.

[Clay Travis]

I thought it was pretty good.

[Buck Sexton]

Movie sucked.

[Clay Travis]

I'm looking at the plot again.

[Buck Sexton]

He's talking nonsense.

[Clay Travis]

He's just solid. That's how he got the, the trilogy. That's how he Gotta tell you guys. Trilogy.

[Buck Sexton]

When Clay agrees with it with me though, that a movie or TV show is bad, it should. That that movie or TV show should die in a fire and be buried like, you know, in the center of the earth. Like it's the worst thing because Clay is very. He's, he's, he's.

[Clay Travis]

I went to go see the Michael Jackson movie last night. Pretty good. Pretty good. The Michael Jackson movie.

[Buck Sexton]

I couldn't do it, dude. I couldn't do it.

[Clay Travis]

He was so talented. It was really good. I took, I took all three kids. I took all three kids. It was good. It's I think number one movie in America. So. So let's play Sonny Hostin because this is. Now they have, they have made casting decisions. They put. How do you pronounce Lupita Nuongo or something like that?

[Buck Sexton]

I don't know. But she's, she's a.

[Clay Travis]

She's Helen actress.

[Buck Sexton]

She's. She is, she is. She's, you know, very, very dark skinned. She's. She's attractive. I'm not going to say she's nice. Not. She's not pretty, but she's very dark skinned. She's clearly African. And they have cast her as Helen of Troy. They've also allegedly cast the. The trans actor as Achilles, Elliot Page,

[Clay Travis]

who used to be named Ellen Page. Sorry to dead name. And it has gone crazy. Memes because they have put.

[Buck Sexton]

I know the memes are amazing and hilarious. Do you think that, that I, I think they did it. I don't think that they would go this far with it if it wasn't pretty solid. Reporting on this, that Ellen Elliot page or whatever is the. Ok, but. But back to the. The historical part of it. This is the most perfect Sunny Hostin thing ever. Getting all huffy about it. Play cut one.

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This idea was also explored in a book called Black Athena. I think people should read it. Which argues that classical Greek culture is heavily indebted to Afro Asiatic and Near Eastern roots. I actually taught Greek mythology to 8th graders and so I covered this fun stuff. So people that are saying that Helen of Troy could not possibly be played by a black woman don't know history.

[Buck Sexton]

She's a moron. That book Black Athena that she has is basically it is a punching bag for the entire archaeological classics historian. It is absolutely trash heap. Garbage everyone. It's a mockery. Actually, the Black Athena book, it came out like almost 1990 around then. Some of you, like I took some classics at Amherst. So some of this stuff, you know, when you go back, you recall this book. Clay. One of the premises is that in, you know that basically, first of all, Egypt as part of Africa is a whole other thing as well. I know it is part of the continent of Africa, but when you're talking about sub Saharan Africans vs Egyptian, the Egyptians who were there and the Greek Mediterranean at the time, it's very different than what people think. Like Cleopatra was Greek, Cleopatra was not black. But put this aside for a second. She cites a book that if you. Everybody even left wing, left wing archaeology. Like it's tough to get all people in classics and archaeology. Clay to agree on something. She cites a book that is completely refuted, trash. And everyone says it's nonsense. And she's like, and you don't know history. It's amazing.

[Clay Travis]

So a couple of things. I went to the actual text, which is what they always tell lawyers to do anytime there's disputes over anything, right? Contract dispute. What matters? The contract. The contract. The contract. Here is what Homer used to describe Helen of Troy. In case you wonder. He frequently describes her as white, armed, over and over and over again. White arm, pale skin. Ok, so to the extent that you care. He also describes her as lovely haired or beautiful haired and which is well cured for hair. Long lustrous hair. So those are two descriptors. There are. And then beauty. Over and over again, all of these different things. So if you are choosing to cast a black actress in this role, you are making the decision to not follow the historical record and put a really pretty white woman in this role. What I would tell you is if there were a historical record of a famous Good looking black woman and a white woman were put in that role, Hollywood would burn. Okay, so this is, this is like the whole Bridgerton thing or your example yesterday where they decide to put a black Viking in even though there's no way it's going to happen.

[Buck Sexton]

Excuse me, a black female Viking.

[Clay Travis]

Viking.

[Buck Sexton]

Because there were a lot of, A lot of black female military leaders in Norway circa 800 AD.

[Clay Travis]

Yes. So I mean, it's totally historically ridiculous, but not any more ridiculous than Bridgerton, which is set in my understanding. I've never watched it. Which is set in 17th and 18th century England. And then there are just tons of otherwise white characters. Pride and Prejudice, she's done this to that are played by black characters. Because race is an illusion. And it doesn't matter. I was outside this week, Buck. They're doing a musical called 44, which is a Barack Obama inspired musical that was showing right across the street from where our studio is in Washington D.C.

[Buck Sexton]

you couldn't pay me to go see that, by the way. Like, there's no sum of money that would make me sit.

[Clay Travis]

I might, I might give you a sum of money that would make you do it. What if they made a white guy play Barack Obama? Can you imagine if they said race is an illusion? We have decided to cast a white guy to play Barack Obama in the musical 44. There would. They would burn down the theater in Washington.

[Buck Sexton]

We could do the smug thing that they do on the left whenever they do this. By the way, control of history is not something that is just. This isn't just an intellectual exercise. People like to change and control history to inform the president. As we know a lot of political policies that are pushed on us today. We're always told because of the legacy of. Because of the history of. They use these phrases explicitly when telling us, give us more of your stuff. You can't have this. The laws don't apply equally, whatever it may be. It's the legacy of the history of. They cite. Now you might say, well, they won't do that with ancient history. No, they actually do. Because the whole point here is that we can't have a celebration of Western civilization. Western civilization is the theft of other civilization. This is all lies and they do it for a reason. And that's why it's worth actually pushing back. Because also I think people should know what is true. And I think knowing the truth about history matters.

[Clay Travis]

I think all of that is true. You might be saying, okay, why did this happen? To a large extent, this may be required in order for Christopher Nolan's film to be able to win an Oscar. Because if you just did an entire epic. Epic focused on Odysseus, right, Who I believe is played by Matt Damon. Am I correct in that? If you just did an ancient Greek epic and it only starred white people, then you would be in a position where you don't qualify for an Oscar. And I would think someone in Hollywood would have raised their hand over this. Did Saving Private Ryan win the Oscar for Best Picture? Did Schindler's List win the Oscar for Best Picture? I think they both did.

[Buck Sexton]

Schindler's List. Did Saving Private Ryan. Did not Shakespeare in Love beat it that year? Which people are very. I know, I know.

[Clay Travis]

Retroactively ashamed for the decision made by Hollywood. But my point on that is you would not be able to make either Saving Private Ryan or, I mean, heck, I don't know. Shakespeare in Love is set in Elizabeth. Elizabeth in England. So I don't believe you could make that movie even now. Because white people have to play the roles. Because historically it was pretty much. I know you can talk about Othello, but pretty much most Shakespearean roles were intended for white actors.

[Buck Sexton]

So if you're setting that era Othello, the more they were very clear about where he came from and who he was.

[Clay Travis]

Correct. And so my point on this is, let's just use Saving Private Ryan as an example. It would be better if it had won the Best Picture. But how do you make a movie about D Day that's diverse? It's a bunch of white dudes who stormed the beach and tried to kill a bunch of white dudes. Right. And if you're going to accurately reflect the battle of D Day, it is a bunch of white people shooting at each other. You could not make. It would not qualify under existing Oscar diversity rules. You could not make that film and win an Oscar for Best Picture. So this might be the motivation for Christopher Nolan is that he had to put in this diversity in order to qualify, even if it's a historical.

[Buck Sexton]

You know, there's a movie, Zulu with Michael Caine, which I actually own the DVD of when I was in college. Randomly, if you cast all the Zulu warriors as, like, Filipino actors because of where you. We're filming. For example, this actually happened, by the way, in the Rambo movies. They have a lot of Mexican actors playing the Vietnamese guys. Just putting that just so you know that's a real thing.

[Clay Travis]

Go to it. Go to a Chinese restaurant in America. There's a lot of. A lot of Mexican dudes that are playing the role of Asian people.

[Buck Sexton]

But, but if you set a historical piece and you said these, this is a band of Zulu warriors and then you had them all and you had like half of them cast with, you know, Asian and like Latino actors, people would completely lose their minds over this. The same people who want to tell you that the Helen of Troy thing is totally fine. So, you know, Clay, this is the point. They want to have it both ways always. So what's theirs? Quote, unquote. What's non white history is sacrosanct.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

Anything that involves white history, completely rewrite, completely change, alter and, and you know, unmoor it from the facts. There you go. That's really what the rule is.

[Clay Travis]

No doubt. We'll come back, we'll take some of your calls and we will continue to follow all of the craziness that is unspooling as we roll into the weekend. But I want to tell you, if you're out there right now, maybe you got some roof damage. Maybe you just wonder if you have roof damage. Check out Aerie home. They've got an incredibly awesome deal. A full free [e-mail] Clay today for you to see if you might need a new roof. If you do, they will give you a 50 year warranty and they will take $1,200 off the cost. You have nothing to lose if you've been thinking about getting a new roof and maybe you're worried about who might be doing the roofing because that can make you very nerve wracking. This is a very reliable company. They've been in business for a long time. They will give you a 50 year transferable warranty meaning if you ever sell your home that warranty will transfer into onto whomever buys that home. This is a reliable, trustworthy company that can take care of your roof@erie home.com Clay $1200 off if you decide to use them. Free inspection Erie Home.com clay what do you have to lose? ErieHome.com clay preset your pals Clay and Buck on the Iheart app.

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