Hour 1 - NATO Summit Success

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 1 – NATO Summit Success

Date: July 8, 2026
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts

Overview

In this hour, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton break down major world events centered on President Trump’s live remarks at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. The discussion focuses heavily on U.S. policy and military strikes against Iran, the implications for NATO, defense spending, and the shifting strategic landscape in the Middle East. The hosts provide real-time analysis of Trump’s statements, explore the situation in Iran, debate on NATO member commitments, and touch on how these events could affect global energy prices and U.S. politics.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Real-Time Reactions to Trump at the NATO Summit (03:56–09:22)

• Trump touts military strength: The President claims near-total destruction of Iran’s military assets and highlights record defense spending. He emphasizes increased NATO financial commitments and American dominance in global military technology.
  • Quote:

    "We have the strongest military in the world by far. Not even close. Everybody admits that."
    — Donald Trump (03:56)

• NATO spending benchmarks: Trump discusses raising NATO’s defense spending target from 2% to 5% of GDP.
  • Quote:

    "We achieved an unprecedented agreement to increase the annual defense spending... raising it from 2% to 5% of GDP..."
    — Donald Trump (03:56)

• Respect for the U.S. restored: Trump claims that other NATO countries now respect the U.S. due to his leadership.
  • Quote:

    "They didn't respect us two years ago. They laughed at us. NATO laughed at us. Everybody laughed at us. They don't laugh anymore. There's no more laughing..."
    — Donald Trump (03:56)

2. The Iran Question: Bombing Campaigns & Ceasefire Prospects (10:23–18:51)

• Escalating military action: The hosts highlight that negotiations with Iran have collapsed, with Trump openly dismissing further diplomacy.
  • Quote:

    "To me, I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum... If they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned, it's over..."
    — Donald Trump (17:38)

• Analysis from Clay and Buck: The hosts agree with Trump’s characterization and cast doubt on the possibility of any credible diplomatic progress with Iranian leaders.
  • Clay Travis:

    "There's no such thing as a deal with these people... They will break their word, they will break their bond, they will lie, they will cheat, they will steal, they will kill." (19:18–19:24)

3. Economic Fallout: Strait of Hormuz & Global Oil Markets (12:29–14:19, 29:14–30:55)

• Oil transit disruptions: The hosts explore the impact of military escalation on oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and projections for oil prices.
  • Buck Sexton:

    "Clearly a lot of people are just gonna stop using the Strait of Hormuz... the usage of the Strait of Hormuz is going to continue to decline." (12:29)

• Price tracking: Oil prices have dropped despite conflict; hosts link this to alternative shipping routes and decreased Iranian capacity.

4. Intra-Iranian Politics and “Mow the Grass” Strategy (29:14–30:55)

• Fractured Iranian leadership: The hosts discuss reported power struggles between Iranian hardliners (IRGC) and pragmatic leaders, speculation about the “Gayatollah’s” health, and why even moderate voices are outmaneuvered.
  • Clay Travis:

    "Nobody in the power structure there with real power is going to be reasonable. They are all complicit in the madness." (30:55)

• U.S. and Israeli military options: Discussion turns to whether the U.S. should let Israel target more Iranian leaders, and if military attrition (“mow the grass”) is the only viable strategy.

5. NATO Cohesion and U.S. Leverage (02:08, 34:43–36:21)

• Trump as strongman at NATO: Trump claims personal credit for tough negotiating and increasing NATO spending, implying his leadership style coerces allies to greater commitment.
• Skepticism from hosts: Clay and Buck debate whether Iran really believes Trump will follow through on threats, acknowledging that fear of U.S. resolve is the main source of leverage.
  • Buck Sexton:

    "If they truly don't fear Trump, then we have no negotiating leverage." (36:26)

6. Notable Entertaining Asides

• The hosts make cultural and light-hearted references—comparing debate over Iran’s leadership to old movies (Beverly Hills Cop), riffing on trending movies, and mocking woke Hollywood casting (21:28–25:51).
• Notable Quote on U.S. and Israeli Capabilities:

  "The Israelis can sneak grenades into their Cheerios."
  — Clay Travis (20:16)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• Trump on Iran's military:

  "Their radar is gone. Their everything's gone. Their leaders are gone, frankly. And their combat capability is pretty low..."
  (03:56)

• Trump on negotiations:

  "As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars."
  (17:38)

• Buck on Iranian negotiating style:

  "Trump sounds like somebody who has decided the guy that he’s been negotiating with can’t be trusted and he's just done with the negotiation, period."
  (18:28)

• Clay on the repeated nature of U.S.-Iran relations:

  "It's going to be, okay, let's have a talk. You don't want to talk. Boom, boom, boom, bombing a bunch of things..."
  (19:24)

• Trump on potential escalation:

  "We knocked out a piece. I said, don't touch the oil because maybe we'll take over Carg Island. We may take over Carg Island. There's not a thing they can do about it."
  (33:58)

• Buck on Iran’s mindset:

  “How much of this is just Iran wants the attention because it legitimizes them in some way?”
  (39:13)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening News Rundown: 01:04
• Trump NATO Press Conference Begins: 03:56
• Iran Strikes and Defense Spending Discussion: 03:56–09:22
• Analysis of Iran and Strait of Hormuz: 10:23–14:19
• Trump on Ceasefire & Hostility Toward Iran: 17:38
• “Mow the Grass” Strategy and Israeli Involvement: 19:24–20:22
• Cultural Commentary & Movie References: 21:28–25:51
• Iran’s Internal Power Struggles and Leadership: 29:14–30:55
• Trump Threats Against Iran’s Infrastructure & Carg Island: 33:58–34:43
• Debate: Does Iran Fear Trump?: 36:21–39:13

---

Conclusion

This hour is dominated by President Trump’s aggressive address at the NATO summit, chiefly on pressuring allies for higher defense spending and escalating action against Iran. Clay and Buck give critical, pro-Trump analysis with skepticism toward diplomatic breakthroughs with Iran. The episode is rich in real-time news analysis, geopolitical insight, and candid skepticism about the intentions and capacity for peace among Iranian hardliners—punctuated with the hosts’ characteristic banter and cultural commentary.

For listeners wanting an unfiltered look at evolving U.S. policy in the Middle East, as seen through a pro-Trump, conservative lens, this episode delivers with direct quotes and lively debate.

Transcript

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.

[Buck Sexton]

The first ever X Games League championship is going down live and New Orleans has the call. Three days of elite action sports, a season's worth of competition coming down to one final weekend. Watch July 24 through 26 on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, or stream on the ESPN app, X Games, YouTube, Kick Roku sports channel and Amazon. The championship starts July 24. Don't miss the moment it becomes history. What God started in my life, he's going to finish. The Joel Osteen Daily Podcast. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. What was meant for my harm. Lord, I want to thank you. Right now you're turning to my advantage. Your daily source of hope and encouragement. Your second wind is on its way. God is about to breathe on your life in a new way. Listen to the Joel Osteen Daily podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your favorite PODC podcast.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome everybody to Clay and Buck. A busy, busy news day unfolding and we are here to make sense of it all. Bring you the latest as of course we are live with you all across America and in some cases around the world. We've got a whole situation once again with Iran. We have strikes, a lot of strikes, and the Iranians fighting back. Is this the end of the mou? We have Trump speaking about that this morning. The memorandum of understanding, gas prices play unfortunately going up a little bit, a little bit right now. People are expressing some concerns about where this is all heading and certainly if you listen to Trump's latest from this morning, by the way, the latest from this morning might be shortly superseded by Trump speaking in Ankara, Turkey, the capital of Turkey. For those who are wondering, and we will, you know, it's a good.

[Buck Sexton]

I would not, I don't think I would have gotten the capital of Turkey. I don't think I would have gotten that one.

[Clay Travis]

You know, the CIA taught me some things and I think that we'll hear from Trump shortly. Covering a whole range of issues. Now he's there to speak about NATO. He also had some harsh words for Spain. Is this maybe clay 4D chess to throw them a bit before their big World cup game coming up. I don't know because he said the nation of Spain, we don't want to trade with them anymore and that they're not pulling their way to NATO. Maybe he's throwing a little brush back pitch for World cup purposes. I don't know. It could be.

[Buck Sexton]

It would feel a lot better if the brush back pitch were in favor of our men's soccer team and we hadn't been obliterated by Belgium, the team that is going to be playing Spain.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, but sometimes you just want to be a hater. So we have, we have that to work through. We also by the way have more details from the trial of the alleged Charlie Kirk assassin. The early stages here underway of really preliminary hearings and we'll see where that goes. But we've also got a lot of presented in a court, sworn evidence, testimony, facts, real things. We are a fact based show. We are a reality based show. We will present you with what is true, what is verified, what is sworn by many, many people who are in either law enforcement or. Oh guys, we have Trump speaking right now. Do we want to, I think we need to take it live. He's the leader of the free world. He's in Turkey right now.

[Buck Sexton]

Let's hear what the President has to say. Also, by the way, say this, we are also trying to stream this live on our video feed at Clay and Buck on YouTube. We will see if it works or not. Fingers crossed. But you should definitely get the audio.

[Donald Trump]

When you look at Iran essentially demolished their military in a couple of weeks. They had a good military, they had a good Navy that 159 ships. Everyone's at the bottom of the sea. They had hundreds of airplanes. They were all gone. They're all lying burned up on the runways. They were totally decimated. Their radar is gone. Their everything's gone. Their leaders are gone, frankly. And their combat capability is pretty low. They have a small percentage of missiles left. They have some of the launchers, missile launchers left, call them launching pads. But most of that's been destroyed too. So we are, we have the strongest military in the world by far. Not even close. Everybody admits that last year's summit in the Netherlands was great also. And we achieved an unprecedented agreement to increase the annual defense spending. And it's the benchmark raising it from 2% to 5% of GDP, which everybody said was. And now they're all thanking me and most of the countries have agreed to it. We have a couple of, couple of that didn't. But I have a feeling they're going to end pretty quickly. In fact, today they were very positive. One of them in particular was, I didn't think a good team player today was a great team player as all of the leaders understand very well. The United States remains by far the largest contributor to NATO monetarily and maybe otherwise and the strongest military anywhere in the world, and they respect us as a country. Again, they didn't respect us two years ago. They laughed at us. NATO laughed at us. Everybody laughed at us. They don't laugh anymore. There's no more laughing. This year we invested a record $1 trillion in our armed forces, and we're going to be asking for 1.5 trillion. Coming up, we have the money being spent on the best equipment anywhere in the world. In the working session this morning, we discussed the progress other members are making toward the 5% target. And they're making great progress. Many of these countries are very rich, by the way. We don't have to feel sorry for them, but it doesn't mean they're properly protected. There's a big difference. Some have truly answered the call, and others are making big changes and will be answering the call. I think I can say in all cases, they're going to be answering the call and we'll be, we'll be taking in over a trillion dollars a year toward defense. And that's a tremendous amount of money. It's a big up. They were at 2%. They were actually at 1%. I got them to 2%. Then I wanted to get them to 5. And we got up to 5 the last time. And they're, you know, just, again, if you could have seen the respect and the love in the room. And it's love really, for the country, for our country. I don't want to say me because you'll say, oh, he's so conceited. He's such a conceited person. But they do, I mean, you know, they like the job I'm doing. They said, we love, sir, we love you. These are grown people saying that. Isn't that nice? Maybe, I don't know, maybe they're trying to get to me. And in a way they did because there was tremendous unity in that room. And I urge all nations to accelerate their plans to get the benchmark as quickly as possible. The benchmark is going to be that 5% number. That's the number it should have been for years. As a result of the commitment we achieved last year, defense spending of other NATO members surged by more than almost $150 billion in 2025. And much of that money is being spent on American made equipment. They all want American made equipment. We're, we're pushing very hard to have the defense companies. They're great. We make the best equipment. The Patriots and the Tomahawks and everything we have is, is considered to be the best. Not by me. It's, everybody wants it, but I wish we made it faster because we could sell as much as we could make. And as you know, I had Lockheed and every one of the companies, all of the companies who are Raytheon as an example, Boeing. So many of those great companies are now building plants. They had big plants, but they were using them 24 7. I said that's not the way to do it. You have to build more plants. You don't have to just go, overtime, no tax on overtime. Remember that place, no tax on overtime. Those people are happy, but they go. They were doing literally 24 hours to get the Tomahawks done and the Patriots done and all of the other defensive and offensive equipment done. It's the most sought after equipment in the world. You saw that with Venezuela, where they had a lot of great equipment. It wasn't ours and it didn't work. Our equipment, our equipment works, but we have to produce it faster for other countries, for everybody, including ourselves, we have to produce it faster. So we think within a year, year and a half max will be all right.

[Clay Travis]

We're going to continue to monitor this NATO, this NATO hearing, rather NATO press conference. And we will bring you the highlights of him. Right now, Trump is talking pretty specifically about the NATO situation. I assume, Clay, he will get into what is much more on America's radar right now, so to speak, which is the situation with, with Iran. I know he's, he is there to talk about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and what's going on with Turkey and there's an F35 deal in the mix and whole bunch of things. But the reality right now is is it looks like the negotiations with Iran are. Well, there is no deal. There is no deal. There is a lot of explosions happening in Iran. We're blowing up a lot of stuff there. We have in the last 24 hours. And Trump says we're going to blow

[Buck Sexton]

up a lot more.

[Clay Travis]

And more to the point, Clay, I mean, I think this is what really gets to the situation as it stands now. Trump is essentially telling everybody, look, they're, they're bad guys, they're bad people. And I here he is saying, this is cut 17, guys. This is at the Naito summit. He's saying, these are scumbags. Play it.

[Donald Trump]

I had a very good talk with President Putin. We had a long talk yesterday, lasted a long time. And I also spoke with President Zelensky right after that. I think they both want to make a deal. It's too bad it took so long, but I Think there's going to be something's going to come out and the President's also helping us with that. But I think there's something, you know, I settled eight wars and I think we're going to be settling and it doesn't seem likely now. But sometimes when with war I see when it's least likely, that's when it happens. I had a very good talk with President Putin. I had a very good talk with, I would say as a combination, a lot of times I do well with Putin and Zelensky would be a primaries or vice versa. Zelensky would be great and Putin would be. They both want to get it settled now.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, that's the wrong clip. I want him on the status of the cease fire with Iran. Cut 17 on the list for Wednesday, July 8 here guys, the cease fire with Iran. Can we play that please? Or let me know if we do not have it because that is the critical issue right now. Do we have this cut? Okay, Clay, you know what we're going to do? We're going to tee this one up and we're going to come back to it so everyone can hear. But the long and the short of it is quote Trump saying quote to me, I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum. They're led by sick people. As far as I'm concerned. It's just a waste of time dealing with them. We're blowing up their stuff. We're calling them scum. You can expect this trade of Hormuz to see a massive cessation of traffic. It already was at about 30% before this. Clay, what happens now?

[Buck Sexton]

I think we're just going to continue to do this. I think your mow the grass strategy is probably accurate. The price of oil and gas had dropped back below where it was on before we actually had invaded, before we had begun the war with Iran. It hasn't really come back that much. Here's one thing that I think is going to be significant going forward and I don't know that Iran really has thought through this cuz I'm not sure they're actually very good at contemplating significant economic decisions. Clearly a lot of people are just gonna stop using the straight of Hormuz and there is now going to be, I think a multi year move against this. And, and so whereas 20% of oil and gas in some way had been able to transit the Strait of Hormuz at some point in time right now, I think first of all a lot of the backlog has been taken care of. The reports are that we're getting 30 or 60 ships through. And so I think that's part what has, partly what has frustrated the irgc. We should dive into this. There's been a lot of reporting that Iranian leadership is feuding and what's really going on is the hardliners in the IRGC are reaching out and attacking ships, even though the sort of moderate component of Iran opposes this. But I think long term Iran is cutting its own throat because I think the usage of the Strait of Hormuz is going to continue to decline. But we'll talk about that a bit more when we come back and what the impact is. Price of oil and gas $75 got down to about 68, 67. So it's still not much different than it was in February. And prices, as many of you have noticed, have come down substantially all over the country from the highs that were set back in May.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

learn and hang with the guys. Clay and Buck preset on the iHeart app. The first ever X Games League championship is going down live and New Orleans has the call. Three days of elite action sports. A season's worth of competition coming down to one final weekend. Watch July 24 through 26 on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 or stream on the ESPN app, X Games, YouTube, Kick, Roku sports channel and Amazon. The championship starts July 24. Don't miss the moment it becomes history. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile now. I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills, but it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment

[Donald Trump]

of $45 for three months, $90 for

[Clay Travis]

six months or $180 for a 12 month plan. Required $15 per month equivalent taxes and fees. Extra initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes. Me slow when network is busy.

[Buck Sexton]

See terms what God started in my life. He's going to finish the Joel Osteen Daily Podcast. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all what was meant for my harm. Lord, I want to thank you. Right now you're turning to my advantage. Your daily source of hope and encouragement. Your second wind is on its way. God is about to breathe on your life in a new way. Listen to the Joel Osteen Daily podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Welcome back in rolling through the Wednesday edition of the program, President Trump still speaking in Turkey. A lot of the attention again. We're following the Charlie Kirk situation. Graham Platner, what's gonna happen in Maine? But the biggest story out there right now is the latest on Iran. Um, and Trump has just said in his talk here, and we'll grab this for you as well, quote, I'm seeing we'll probably hit them hard again tonight. So Trump saying that we are going to hit Iran hard again tonight. This is what he said, cut 17 a bit earlier today.

[Donald Trump]

To me, I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum. You know what scum is? They're scum. They're sick people. They're led by sick people and they're vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. I'll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate. They're good people. Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner. But they have to come back to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars. We make a deal and they if I make a deal with him, we have a deal and he goes out. He talks, we make a deal. Everyone's agreed, no nuclear weapon. We make a deal. They go outside, talk to the press, they say, we never even talked about it. There's something wrong with them. They're cuckoo. As far as I'm concerned, it's over the bad people. And frankly, I don't want to waste my time with them now. I'll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don't see it. I don't like these people. You know that.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, buck this from President Trump is effectively like, strip away the geopolitical implications. Anybody who's ever done a business deal, Trump sounds like somebody who has decided the guy that he's been negotiating with can't be trusted and he's just done with the negotiation, period. That would not make me feel good if I were Iran right now.

[Clay Travis]

Well, let me say, though, I, I don't think this is posturing by Trump. I think and Clay, this is what, you know, my experience of dealing with Mideast crazies before I got into media was, I think, informative for my view that there's no deal, there's no deal to be had. Even if you have a deal with Iran, they will break the deal. There's no deal. There's no such thing as a deal with these people.

[Buck Sexton]

They will break their word, they will

[Clay Travis]

break their bond, they will lie, they will cheat, they will steal, they will kill.

[Donald Trump]

That is it.

[Clay Travis]

And I'm not saying Trump isn't aware of that, and maybe you can say he has to go through this process of trying to do this with them, but now we are in a situation where, and I use the mow the grass analogy very early on. It's going to be, okay, guys, let's have a talk. You don't want to talk. Boom, boom, boom, bombing a bunch of things. Okay, guys, have you had enough yet?

[Donald Trump]

No.

[Clay Travis]

Boom, boom, boom, bomb a bunch of. I mean, this is where we are.

[Buck Sexton]

I think the question that's now going to become readily apparent is do we take out more of their leadership?

[Clay Travis]

I don't know that we can. I think their leadership has learned some lessons from the sucker punch that we gave them in that massive meeting.

[Buck Sexton]

And that may, that may well be true, that they're hiding better and it's not as easy to take them out, but I think that's.

[Clay Travis]

The Israelis probably can. The Israelis can sneak grenades into their Cheerios. So, you know, there is that.

[Buck Sexton]

So do we take the sort of the governor off of Israeli attacks and say, wipe out whoever else you want? I mean, that's what I get from Trump is Like, I wouldn't feel good if I were on the Iranian negotiating team right now. I want to tell you all about our friends at Chalk. If you need more protection and more energy and more vim and vigor and vitality in your life, then you need to get hooked up with chalk. Add chalk stuff supplements to your daily routine. Formulated with natural ingredients, Chalk's been a game changer for so many of you out there in this audience. Spelled C H O Q male vitality stack leading ingredient. Been found in studies to increase testosterone levels by 20% within three months. For guys, that's one of the primary sources of energy. And you can get hooked up right now with any $99 value bonus product there. Lit powder. Awesome for exercising for free. When you sign up today, take the first [e-mail] that C H O Q. My name Clay.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome back into Clay and Buck. Every time I hear that song, I gotta tell you, the intro music there, all I can think about is Beverly Hills Cop, which, as everybody knows, is one of the 10 best movies of the 80s. And it's just a great scene, a great intro. Government tax stamp.

[Buck Sexton]

You.

[Clay Travis]

You can't beat that. It's just fantastic. If you haven't seen Beverly Hills copy, you haven't rewatched it in a while. Let me just tell you. Go back and enjoy. A side note, we're about to get into Iran and war and peace and the most important news issues in the world. I have seen a lot of chatter that this young Washington movie, which is in theaters, is quite good, and they've

[Buck Sexton]

already announced a sequel. I mean, based on making over $20 million in week one, just FYI and Ali.

[Clay Travis]

Isn't this Angel Studios? Is our Kevin Sorbo involved in this? Who is this? We should. We should get somebody on from. I think it's an Angel Studios production and people are saying it's a great. Because Clay, our baseline thesis on this, kind of the same way that I said that Twitter, starting in 2011, I'm like, so Twitter is boosting communists and it's a totally rigged game. And people are like, that's a conspiracy theory. And of course that was true. And we all knew it was true later on, all came out. If you made good movies for the American people, they don't have to be super expensive. It doesn't have to be the Transformers 7 or Avengers 15 or Fast and the Furious 35. You can make a movie about a great story rooted in American history, and just with good writing and acting, people want to see it. We Are not done with movies. We are not done with great stories and yes sir.

[Buck Sexton]

What do you mean? I accidentally hit a button here trying to post one of our social media clips and it went out loud.

[Clay Travis]

Clay gave me the like I thought, I thought he was about to drop like a bomb here on the air like oh guess what. But no, instead he actually just unked. He unked the. The board which is a thing that he does. Yes, he unked it. So I just want to give a shout out to that because I haven't seen it yet. I want to see it. I'm not going to see the Odyssey. We'll talk more about this. I've seen enough in the previews. I've seen enough in the. In the pre game. I don't want to contribute to this. I'm also not a Christopher Nolan guy in general. I like the Batman movies. That is it. I'm not a fan of his other movies. I thought they were all ponderous, boring and really self important. So I'm not a big Christopher Nolan guy period. But this Odyssey thing, Clay now not going to do it.

[Buck Sexton]

Did you see the video of Elliot Ellen Page coming out in the suit stand. Here is a question. I'm just tossing it out there. Has anyone changed their gender appearance and looked better as the new gender? Elliot Page looks like what he. She is a tiny woman pretending to be a man. Like a pre adolescent male. Ellen Page was actually a cute girl. I just. And now trying to make him Achilles. Like maybe I'm wrong.

[Clay Travis]

It's not. Not Achilles that that was actually he is in. She is in the movie. Whatever. Sorry. She's in the movie. But I don't think. I don't think that's Achilles as some other role. I'm not sure.

[Buck Sexton]

Okay, but here's. And I'm probably that by the way

[Clay Travis]

that would have tanked the movie. Like that actually would have killed the movie.

[Buck Sexton]

I am going to be probably put on some hit list. Can anyone name a man who has decided to identify as a woman or a woman who has decided to identify as a man that looks better. And by the way, we can almost always tell right like if there's a

[Clay Travis]

picture always in person, always. The photos can be deceiving and with AI and filters now. Sure. You know, you know some of you guys out there who are on dating apps watch what you're swiping. You don't necessarily know what's going on. But that's 2D when you get into 3D. I always know. You always know.

[Buck Sexton]

I I. I just. I mean, I think that that is a good example. And maybe Ellen Elliot, whatever. Paige is happier now and that's fine. At least this person waited until adulthood to make the switch. But I remember. Was it Juno, the movie that. That she won an ACT Oscar for? I think pretty good movie. She was.

[Clay Travis]

You know why liberals hated that movie? Because movie. Because she actually had the baby. God. God forbid you actually give life to your child when you're stressed out about it because obviously they want everyone to just abort the baby. It was. It was really, really horrific, by the way. To this day, like, that's the part of Dirty Dancing that I'm like, we just kind of. That's just sort of like in the background is woman had to have like a. Like a, you know.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, I didn't even remember abortion.

[Clay Travis]

Dirty Dancing. This is a part of Dirty Dancing that, you know, everyone's like, oh, it's such a sweet movie. I'm like, no, it's not actually. It's actually not such a sweet movie. But anyway, shall we talk Iran now? I wanted to move just because the Washington. I love that these YouTubers made this obsession movie. Apparently it's super violent, so obviously don't watch that with your kid. I haven't seen it yet either. There is that one scene, though, that maybe does remind me of a couple of ex girlfriends, neither here nor there, where she just goes, you know, in the restaurant. It's really. It's classic now. So Obsession has done super well financially and I'm just happy to see an independent movie like that do well. And now this Young Washington movie is apparently great. I don't go to. Why don't we have a thing. There should be a portal where I'll pay movie ticket price for a movie like this to watch it at home. Is it. Why isn't that.

[Buck Sexton]

It will be on streaming very quickly. It seems like they go to streaming very fast, but I think there still is a cachet associated with trying to get people to go to movie theaters.

[Clay Travis]

No, I agree. But, you know, I would be happy to pay the movie theater. Like I would buy this movie.

[Buck Sexton]

Surprise me at all that you don't want to go to the movie theaters and that you would pay whatever it takes to not have to be surrounded by other people and watch movies so that you could see it in your home by yours. That does not surprise me at all.

[Clay Travis]

Judged, everybody. I feel like I'm being judged right now. A little harsh, but yes, that is true. I would pay 30 bucks to be able to watch it at home. I'd pay whatever to be able to watch it at home. So, young Washington, go check it out. And, guys, let's reach out to the team who's behind that movie because we should have them on and talk about it. All right. At Iran. Iran, Iran. Let's get into it. Trump talked about how, look, he says we hit him very hard yesterday. Obviously easier to do these strikes at night. We're hitting them again tonight. He says play 12.

[Donald Trump]

They are behaving very badly as they have for 47 years. And, you know, we hit them hard last night after they launched. They launched a couple of. You don't have to know about this. You got stuff on your mind. But they launched a couple of drones and one rocket, one missile, a chip, because they were in the straight, which they have every right to be. And so we hit them very hard last night. Very, very hard. Probably hit him hard again tonight. I'll give them a little warning. We're gonna hit them hard tonight, but we'll see how it all works out. No, I'm not happy with them. You know, I think we've made a lot of progress. And they'll get out of the room, we'll talk about it like we're here. They'll agree on everything, and then they'll go have a news conference and say, we never even talked about it. They're cuckoo. There's something wrong with these people.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, this is. Can I just say, Clay, I have been saying this all along. These Iranians, people will say, oh, no, they're rational actors. Well, yeah, I mean, sometimes Ted Bundy

[Buck Sexton]

was a rational actor, but then there

[Clay Travis]

was the bad stuff that he did. Right. I mean, you know, there's. They can be rational insofar as they can see their interests and that, but their view of their interests and what is a good outcome for the region and the world is. Is dramatically different from ours. They are cuckoo.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. And look, I think one of the big challenges. And we'll play these other cuts, too. But I think one of the big challenges out there is there is a rash. Based on my reading, there is a rational element of Iran that once recognizes that economically they have been left behind over the last 47 years and wants to make rational changes that would theoretically make the economic situation in Iran better. But there is a hard line element that is fighting against that. Buck, I also think there's a big story here that is receiving very little attention. Is the gay Atolla even alive? I. I mean, he supposedly is the supreme Leader. The New York Times had a bunch of stories where they said we don't know what's going on with him. And also, by the way, he doesn't actually dictate choices anymore. He hasn't shown up for any of the morning surrounding his father, his wife and his kid were who all killed evidently in this attack. Now, to your point, there may be nervousness about him being in public because he's going to get taken out too all those things. But I do think that what we're really seeing happen and play out in Iran is a battle between somewhat rational Iranian leadership that Trump feels like we're negotiating with. And, and then as soon as there's an agreement, the crazy hard liners come out and immediately undercut any sort of agreement at all, which is why I'm back too. Do we just say Israel maybe you're going to have to wipe out some more leadership and we'll keep killing people until we find somebody that actually has power that we can negotiate with.

[Clay Travis]

The people who are going to take over from those people are also going to be crazy. They have rooted out nobody in the power structure there with real power is going to be reasonable. They are all complicit in the madness. They all hate Israel and the Jews. They all think America is evil. They all believe the sort of post colonial everything is America and the west and Israel's fault. You know, this is the problem. So, you know, I don't, I don't really see where this goes. I just hope that we get the gas prices down so or keep them down or have them down by election day so that the lunatic communist democrats don't take over because of this war, which unfortunately it's very clear that they still can cause problems in the straight of Hormuz. So this is, we're seeing the reality here, which is that we were not able to destroy them enough that they are entirely defanged. But Trump says we're going to hit them again. Okay. I think we also clay, have this idea that, oh, the Iranian people, the suffering of the Iranian, you know, military or the Iranian people overall is such that they'll eventually cry uncle. Their capacity to take. This is why I remember I talked about they used to have a special Brigade in the 80s, not that long ago, the Iranians, okay, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps had a brigade that had this really advanced idea for clearing minefields with their war with Iraq, which was have people walk across the minefields. That's who we're fighting. Everybody, okay? That's who we are up against. They have not gotten more normal since then. And once you understand that and people are signing up for that, they're like, sweet, put me in the mine clearing role. Then you can see how much suffering they can take. Making them cry uncle and concede really in a meaningful. This is by Clay. The reason we can't get a deal with them is Trump keeps saying, ok, you'll agree to this, and then this mechanism for enforcement. Right, right. No, no, they'll agree as long as they can break the agreement. We're going to keep running back into this. This is going to be the constant cycle.

[Buck Sexton]

I think I, and most people out there just want low gas prices. And, and I think that's the way that most Americans think about this right now. So my hope is that we can have some form of normalcy through the midterms. And then the question becomes, how committed is Trump to really trying to remake the situation in Iran?

[Donald Trump]

And

[Buck Sexton]

again, do we just take the handcuffs off Israel and say, all right, go kill whoever you want?

[Clay Travis]

I mean here, by the way, he's talking once again about taking Kharg. Kharg Island. This is 14 on the list, guys, let's hit this one.

[Donald Trump]

We're not attacking at the highest level. The highest level, the bridges there, which we can knock down. I would say in one day, we knock down every single bridge in Iran. There's not a thing they can do about it. There's electric, manufacturing facilities. Right? Their electric plants, where they make their electricity. We will. We have to. We'll take them out. I don't want to do that, but if we have to, we'll take them out. They have desalinization plants. We'll take them out if we have to. I hate to do that. That's probably the one I would like not to do least. We attacked Carg island last night. We knocked out a piece. I said, don't touch the oil because maybe we'll take over Carg Island. We may take over Carg Island. There's not a thing they can do about it. But I said, don't hit the pipes, just hit everything else. And they hit it. They may hit it again tonight.

[Clay Travis]

Clay, the real question with all that, it's all true what he says. Of course we could do all those things. Do the Iranian leaders believe we would do those things, that Trump would do those things?

[Buck Sexton]

It's a great question.

[Clay Travis]

Let's, let's, we can, we can get into that here. Coming up in just a second. But look, it's 2am Your family's asleep. You hear someone inside your home. What happens next? Most people hope they'll never face that moment. But hope isn't a plan. That's why more families are choosing the Sabre Home Defense Launcher. Powerful, less lethal protection designed to help stop threats from a distance. Trusted by police and millions worldwide, Sabre is the number one pepper spray brand. And by the way, protection doesn't stop at home. Sabre pepper sprays, gels, and stun guns help keep you protected wherever life takes you. Right now, save up to 15% on select Saber bundles. Because when you're responsible for the people you love was love most being prepared matters. Don't wait until you wish you had that protection. Get it now. Get prepared. Go to saber protect.coms a b r e protect.com or call 844-824-safe 844-824 safe.

[Buck Sexton]

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. Buck, you are asking the question, does Iran believe that Trump is willing to truly unleash, in the words of your, one of your favorite movies and mine, to gladiator will, do they believe that he will truly unleash hell upon them?

[Clay Travis]

Can I tell you, I think the answer is no.

[Buck Sexton]

I don't think they believe it. I don't think they believe it.

[Clay Travis]

Nope.

[Buck Sexton]

I think they do. If they don't, then he may have to unleash holy hell on them. Because you have to. The only thing I do think Trump gets this with, for these dictators, the only thing they respond to is fear. Right? And if you're right and they don't actually fear that Trump truly will do what he is threatening to do, then there is no negotiating leverage that we have. So I think they do fear that he'll do it. Now, what is the impact of truly going into Iran in a very significant way, as he has threatened to do? Um, I mean, look, that opens up its own proverbial can of worms. But if they truly don't fear Trump, then we have no negotiating leverage. Because they believe that with the midterms coming up, Trump is going to back off. And honestly, like, I feel like he's going to have to do something to prove that he is willing, maybe not rain down holy hell on them completely, but do something more significant than what they anticipate.

[Donald Trump]

The.

[Clay Travis]

The thing that comes to mind would be. And he's talked about it, so this isn't. He's just said in that clip before taking Carg island, say, okay, now we actually have our foot on the throat of your entire economy. Will you say, uncle, what do you

[Buck Sexton]

think would happen if we took Carg Island? We'll talk about this in the next hour. Because, I mean, this is where it gets challenging. You're basically playing game theory and you're trying to contemplate what the impact is on a positive side. We would then control Iran's oil supply completely. Presumably we could keep that running. Would Iran blow up their own oil because we had control of it? They're crazy. I mean, that's what I'm saying. Like, this is one of the challenges of this situation is you're not dealing with rational, capitalistic, motivated, money motivated actors.

[Clay Travis]

And I think they're out is always, okay, okay, let's, let's talk. Let's talk. We're willing to talk now. And we go through this.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

And they don't agree. And then Trump has to bomb them. And at some point, I think people also, they probably assume the Iranians think that there'll be American voter fatigue with, okay, now we're bomb them again. We're back in negotiations again. And, you know, I don't know. I think maybe, maybe Kushner and Lutnick weren't the best guys to send his emissaries on this. That's also something to think about.

[Buck Sexton]

Also, everybody has dealt with somebody who, in a relationship, who is an attention hog, how much of this is just Iran wants the attention because it legitimizes them in some way.