Hour 1 - Sen. Majority Leader, John Thune

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show Episode: Hour 1 - Sen. Majority Leader, John Thune
Release Date: March 4, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton engage in a comprehensive discussion featuring Senator John Thune, the Senate Majority Leader from South Dakota. The conversation delves into pressing political issues, including international relations with Ukraine, legislative challenges in the U.S. Senate, and the ongoing cultural debates surrounding gender in sports.

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Ukraine and U.S. Foreign Policy

The show opens with a focus on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's recent statement expressing a desire for peace under President Donald Trump's leadership. Zelensky's message emphasizes Ukraine's readiness to negotiate and his appreciation for America's support:

Zelensky (Transcript): "Ukraine is ready to sign it anytime and in any convenient format. We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees. And I truly hope it will work effectively."
(Timestamp: 02:45)

Clay Travis and Buck Sexton discuss the implications of Zelensky's remarks, questioning the sincerity and strategic motives behind Ukraine's shift towards seeking peace. They express skepticism about the effectiveness of such statements given the ongoing conflict dynamics.

Senator John Thune responds by critiquing President Trump's unconventional approach to diplomacy:

John Thune: "When you look at what has already occurred, it does seem to be that Trump is using the leverage that he should use on issues that matter to get us to a better resolution."
(Timestamp: 03:15)

Thune acknowledges that President Trump's methods diverge from traditional State Department strategies but emphasizes the importance of tangible results over diplomatic niceties. He also highlights the challenges posed by Russia's increasing military capabilities and alliances, underscoring the limits of U.S. intervention.

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Democrats' Opposition to Men's Participation in Women's Sports

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the recent legislative battle over a bill aimed at prohibiting men from competing in women's sports. Notably, all Democratic senators opposed the bill, a move that has sparked widespread controversy.

Clay Travis questions the rationale behind the Democrats' unanimous opposition:

Clay Travis: "Every single Democrat senator voted against it... What in the world are Democrats thinking on this bill?"
(Timestamp: 22:30)

Senator John Thune defends the Republican stance, arguing that the bill is in line with common sense and public opinion:

John Thune: "It's an 80, 20 issue, as you point out, with the American people. So I just can't explain it. I think they did. There was no lesson learned from the election."
(Timestamp: 23:42)

Buck Sexton adds a personal perspective, reflecting on the impact of the bill on female athletes and highlighting the societal implications:

Buck Sexton: "...having biological males as the opponents of young women is both fundamentally unfair and it's potentially dangerous, honestly."
(Timestamp: 24:49)

The conversation underscores a growing cultural divide and questions the alignment of Democratic policies with the majority sentiment among Americans.

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Senate Procedural Challenges and Budget Reconciliation

The episode delves into the intricacies of the U.S. Senate's legislative process, particularly the budget reconciliation method. This procedure allows the Senate to bypass the filibuster, requiring only a simple majority rather than the usual 60 votes needed to advance most legislation.

Buck Sexton explains the significance of this process for advancing President Trump's agenda:

Buck Sexton: "Senate Republicans believe, and I think the president does, too, and hopefully the House will get there to make these tax cuts permanent so we don't have to go back and deal with it again down the road."
(Timestamp: 28:54)

Senator Thune elaborates on the strategic use of reconciliation to pass key legislative priorities, including border security, national defense, energy dominance, and preventing tax increases:

John Thune: "We're here. The Senate's ready to enact as much of the president's agenda as we can through budget reconciliation."
(Timestamp: 28:54)

The discussion highlights the procedural hurdles Republicans face in the Senate, emphasizing the need for unified support to achieve legislative success.

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President Trump's Upcoming Address to Congress

A significant portion of the episode anticipates President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress. The hosts and Senator Thune speculate on the content and potential reception of his speech.

Buck Sexton predicts that Democrats will likely attempt to disrupt the address, reflecting a heightened partisan tension:

Buck Sexton: "I think the American people, that's not what they want to see. I don't think they want to see a bunch of lefty ideologues... creating a ruckus and disruptive to the president of the United States."
(Timestamp: 32:13)

Senator Thune expresses confidence in President Trump's ability to communicate his accomplishments and future plans effectively, despite anticipated opposition:

John Thune: "The president has a great opportunity to present to the American people how things are going to be in his second term and what his priorities are relative to the last four years under Biden."
(Timestamp: 34:19)

The anticipation centers on Trump's critique of the Biden administration and his outline of policy goals for the forthcoming term.

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Cultural Commentary: HBO's "White Lotus"

Towards the end of the episode, the conversation shifts to a cultural analysis of the HBO series "White Lotus." Senator Thune discusses the show's portrayal of Trump voters versus liberal characters, noting a perceived bias against Republican viewpoints:

John Thune: "... they had a Trump moment on it and I've seen so many... it's just Republicans."
(Timestamp: 41:38)

Clay Travis agrees, highlighting the show's approach to political caricature and its reflection of broader societal divisions:

Clay Travis: "The way it was being characterized... the liberal from New York and the liberal from Los Angeles... came off worse than the lady from Texas who had voted for Trump."
(Timestamp: 42:00)

This segment underscores the hosts' concerns about media representation and its impact on political discourse.

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Conclusion

The episode concludes with Senator John Thune expressing optimism about passing key legislative measures through budget reconciliation and addressing the immediate concerns of securing the border and maintaining national defense. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton reinforce the importance of continued Republican efforts to advance their policy agenda amidst a challenging political climate.

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Notable Quotes

• John Thune: "All that really matters is the results... when something happens in response to a decision, an action, an agreement that Trump has taken."
  (Timestamp: 03:15)

• Clay Travis: "The United States is not blameless here. We have in many ways created, I believe, a total mess, and now Trump is trying to clean it up."
  (Timestamp: 05:54)

• Buck Sexton: "This is an 80, 20 issue, as you point out, with the American people."
  (Timestamp: 23:42)

• John Thune: "AI is rewriting the business playbook, with productivity boosts and faster decision making coming to every industry."
  (Timestamp: 17:13)

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Final Thoughts

This episode offers a deep dive into Republican strategies in the Senate, critiques of Democratic policies, and the complexities of U.S. foreign involvement in Ukraine. Through insightful dialogue with Senator Thune, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton provide listeners with a clear understanding of the current political landscape and the challenges ahead for the GOP.

Transcript

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome in Clay. Travis, Buck Sexton show. I hope all of you are having a fabulous Tuesday news coming as it often does during the Trump regime at a rapid fashion. We will dive into all of it here momentarily. Reminder, Trump is also speaking tonight in front of a joint session of Congress, a usual State of the Union, although I think in the year after the election it's not officially called the State of the Union. But that is what will be going on tonight and many will be watching to see what the president says. Let me give you a little bit of a roadmap. We're headed. Senate Majority Leader John Th going to be on with us at the bottom of this hour. Every single Democrat senator voted against men being prohibited from playing in women's sports. In other words, they support men who identify as women being able to compete in women's sports. Every single Democrat senator. It's crazy. Our friend Bill O'Reilly will join us at the top of the next hour. That is where we are headed. But Buck, the biggest news that is out there in the last hour. Zelensky has decided to bend the knee to Donald Trump and beg for peace. Let me read a little bit of what he said. I would like. This is Zelensky's Twitter account. I would like to reiterate Ukraine's commitment to peace. None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump's strong leadership to get a peace that lasts. We value how much America has done. Our meeting in Washington at the White House on Friday did not go that way. It was supposed to be regrettable that it happened this way. It's time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive regarding the agreement on minerals and security. Ukraine is ready to sign it anytime and in any convenient format. We see this agreement as A step toward greater security and solid security guarantees. And I truly hope it will work effectively. All right, Friday, the blow up. Tuesday, the apology. Again, that statement a little bit longer. Buck, what do you think people should take from this situation that we are currently in with Ukraine and where do we go from here?

[John Thune]

Well, Trump is doing what he does, which is a non traditional approach to try to solve problems. And I think that the people who have, at every step of the. Every step of the way, questioned him, undermined him, said he's crazy, said he's a dictator, are doing what they always do, which is more of that. When you look at what has already occurred, it does seem to be that Trump is using the leverage that he should use on issues that matter to get us to a better resolution. All that really counts, and this is contra the diplomacy, State Department foreign policy consensus mindset. All that really matters is the results, Right? All that really matters is when something happens in response to a decision, an action, an agreement that Trump has taken. How we get there I think is far less important. And so, yes. Was it a little bit of a surprise to see that dust up in the Oval Office? Sure. Do I think that Zelensky was the one who instigated it? Largely, yes, I do. And now are we back in a place where Zelensky is saying all the things that we wanted to hear from him the first time around? Yes. So that, to me indicates that Trump is on the right track. I also think that this is forced out into public view that the people who just are all about the Ukrainian fight and don't ever go beyond, Ukraine is the good guy, Russia is the bad guy, are being forced to justify in public. What exactly is your plan if this war goes on for another five years? In what way is Ukraine in a better position then than they are in now? Russia has more men, more materiel, more North Korean troops, I might add, pouring in. Russia has allies who are working directly in this fight.

[Buck Sexton]

And.

[John Thune]

And we refuse to do that. That is our red line. So how is Ukraine going to be in a better position other than losing a lot of our money and a lot of their men? They don't have an answer to this. Trump knows that. So we're trying to get to where we are with the deal. Now, Clay, if the negotiations were to break down because what Putin wants is just so unthinkable, is so beyond the pale, well, at least we would know that, right? At least then we can have a conversation. Putin really is being crazier than anticipated on this. So maybe he does need to suffer the consequences a little bit more or whatever. But right now, there's no reason to believe that the option that the Ukraine hardliners want to take is better.

[Clay Travis]

Look where we are right now. And my wife has been fired up about this, so she will not stop talking about it. I do think that the United States has. Has created much of this mess, meaning the invasion, the battles over territory, and all that's happening now is Trump is trying to clean up the mess. Right. You go back to the agreement when Ukraine gave up their nukes. There was some form of protection agreement entered into and Ukraine took it as the United States won't let Russia invade us. Obviously, Obama did not take it that way. Biden did not take it that way. Russia has for a long time not wanted NATO on its border. We have continued to expand NATO to Russia's border. And I think this war is actually a result of much of the failure of American policy, both as it pertains to Ukraine and. And to Russia. Significantly, Buck, none of which Trump was involved in remotely. So he is now in this mess where he is trying to end up in a situation where he's trying to put this all back. Right? And so the United States is not blameless here. We want to be saying, oh, Slava, Ukraine. Ukraine is the hero and Russia is the villain. America's not coming to this situation with clean hands. We have in many ways created, I believe, a total mess, and now Trump is trying to clean it up. And so I hope that we can get a ceasefire here and that people can stop dying. My concern, Buck, is now we're moving into, ok, what does a negotiated peace look like? What does a ceasefire look like? It seems to me, and I'm curious if you would agree with this, that to a large extent, wherever the lines are drawn now, where the stalemate has basically come to exist, it feels to me like Russia is going to get a large percentage of those eastern parts of Ukraine where exactly that line is drawn will be a huge debate. And then I hope that Russia doesn't decide to invade again. I don't think it will happen with Trump in office, but my concern is if Kamala Harris or Gavin Newsom or whomever, the Andrew Cuomo, if one of those guys or gals, were to win in 2028, I think Putin would go right back to invading again because I'm not sure he would respect the Democrats, as he has shown he did not respect Obama and as he has shown he did not respect Biden.

[John Thune]

There are some. There are some very fundamental questions here that I think Trump sees properly. And one of them is, do. Do we care enough. Do we, as Americans, care enough about who's in control of 25% or so, 15, 20% of Ukraine, that we're willing to lose American soldiers and. And spend billions, perhaps even trillions of dollars, never mind the possibility of a nuclear. Nuclear exchange, which is the euphemism, of course, we use for nuking each other's militaries in the theater, which would be horrifying. Do we. Are we willing to do those things? No, we're not. And so at some level, this is all just, I think, a recognition that there's going to be an ability that Russia has in its sphere of influence here or to expand its sphere of influence here, because it's not a NATO country and because we don't want to do their fighting for them. And so there are limitations on what we're willing to do. There are also limitations on the timeframe in which we're willing to continue doing what we are already doing in terms of the money and material and training and everything else that we have been giving them. This is a messy situation. It's terrible how much life has been lost here. You brought up Clay, and this is true. You go back to the. You know, the Maidan and Yanukovych and the efforts to figure out who's going to be in charge of Ukraine stretching back now over a decade, the west backing one side, Russia backing another. You know, we've been playing with this as some kind of a proxy territory for much longer than there have even been bullets flying over there. So to get this thing to be no longer a festering sore, but to be in a position where there's an agreement going forward, you know, as far as the Russians are concerned, look at the dismemberment that the Soviet Union suffered into all these different countries and all these breakaway republics. For them, the notion that the map is now and forever going to remain the map is laughable, clearly. And they very much feel that way, and that's why they've been willing to go to this extent. And you'll notice that no one even talks anymore about how Putin's gonna be overthrown or all this people said moronic stuff. And, I mean, U.S. senators, I don't have to name them. I could name them in the very beginning of this conflict, delusional about how we'd be able to defeat the Russian war machine in this theater without actually engaging US Military forces in the process. So we Just want this whole thing to end. I think there's tremendous frustration with it. I think it also, Clay, comes out of fighting in multiple decades long counterinsurgency, gwot wars in the Mideast that what did we get? What did we get in Afghanistan? Exactly. That's a really tough one to answer. What did we get in Iraq? Maybe even, isn't it funny? Afghanistan was the good war. We basically got nothing. We ended up killing bin Laden in Pakistan, everybody. So, you know, we didn't really get very much for our Afghanistan efforts, did we? And then you look at Iraq and, you know, it's marginal right now that it's better now than it was under Saddam Hussein. So there's been a lot of reason for us to see what's gone on with US Foreign policy and military interventions and say, have we learned the lesson, Clay? And I think that's Trump's fundamental guiding principle on this. Have we learned the lesson?

[Clay Travis]

Do you think we have? I'm not sure that we have.

[John Thune]

I'm worried that we haven't, actually. I think that's a very good. Yes. I think that unfortunately there are a lot of people still who think, oh, no, you don't understand, we could do this. And they, you know, I don't know if they've just been playing too much Call of Duty or I don't, I don't get it. I don't know why they would think that this is going to be something that we want to get deeper and more involved in. I do not care who is in charge of Crimea, meaning I do not care enough that I want to sacrifice a single American or any American interest for Crimea, for Donbas, for Luhansk and Donetsk and these places. I do not care. Now, that doesn't mean I don't care about the suffering of the people there. I do. But, Clay, I care about the suffering of the people in South Sudan as well, which is going through yet another mass genocide situation in slow motion. But we're not about to land troops there either.

[Clay Travis]

Here's. Do you agree with me on a positive side? If we can get a ceasefire? I actually feel like Vladimir Putin will not invade Ukraine further while Trump is in office. Do you agree with that? That he respects Trump enough that he won't do it?

[John Thune]

Yeah, I do. I think that he recognizes that, you know, Trump, Trump is willing to upset the apple cart. You don't want to tick him off. No one even thought Biden was leading the country, so who cares? Doesn't matter what he says.

[Clay Travis]

So the concern is not necessarily the next three years. It's again, what you and I have been talking about. And I think it's something that everybody out there needs to realize. You can believe that Trump is amazing and doing phenomenal things. And we do. Guys, four years is not enough to fix a lot of what ails the United States. We've got to stick and stack several different wins together one after the other. And that's why I'm already kind of focused on what happens in 26 next year and what happens in 28. Because as enjoyable as every single day is with Trump in office right now, it's a date certain when it comes to a close. And a lot of our enemies out there are going to be sitting around hoping that they can get President Kamala Harris or President Gavin Newsom or President Andrew Cuomo, whoever the Democrats are going to elevate to run. We got to stack together a lot of different wins because the problems we have are so substantial.

[John Thune]

You just heard Clyde say it, and it's true. Trump can't fix all of our problems. He's doing great stuff. But there's a lot that is still going to be very challenging over these next four years and are going to be problems for years to come. The debt is very high, maybe even top of that list. So what can you do in the meantime? You've got dollars that are evaporating through inflation day in and day out, and there's nothing that you can do about that. But you can do something to protect the value of your dollars. That's where gold comes in. Gold is a hedge against this kind of persistent inflation. And the good news is you can own gold and have it safely stored in your savings account, 401k or both. You can store your physical gold at home just as easily. Birch Gold Group can help you with this, as they have so many listeners already in this audience. When you talk with the people at Birch Gold, they'll offer you a copy of a new study on how gold will prevail in the Trump era with a forward by Donald Trump Jr. To get your free copy along with Birch Gold's information kit, text my name, Buck to the number 989898 or go online to birchgold.com Buck again, text my name b u c k to 989898 or go online to go online to birchgold.comb.

[Clay Travis]

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[John Thune]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[John Thune]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[John Thune]

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[Clay Travis]

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[John Thune]

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[Clay Travis]

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[John Thune]

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[Buck Sexton]

Is going to go on for a.

[John Thune]

Long time and he better not be right about that. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, that's a horrible thing. That because the only reason you'd want the war to continue from a strategic standpoint would be if you think that somehow you're going to be able to launch a counteroffensive to knock out the other side. Clay, there is no realistic chance at all that Ukraine can do that to Russia. So how does the continuation of the war help?

[Clay Travis]

It doesn't. And what is weird is Zelensky said that yesterday and then he just read, we read for you his statement that he posted about an hour ago. There doesn't seem to be any logical connection between the two in any kind of reasonable spot. Right. I just, I don't understand how you can go from, hey, we're going to fight as long as we can. Now, obviously, Trump also said that he's going to restrict the future sale of arms to Ukraine. Maybe that's the final point. Or maybe behind closed doors, all these European leaders are saying to Zelensky something very different than what they're posting on social media. And that is, hey, it's time to get a ceasefire. We'll talk about that. And we'll talk about this with Senator John Thune. What does he expect from the address tonight as well as the women sports bill that went up in flames because of Democrat opposition? But we want to tell you all about our friends at Rapid Radio's modern day version of all those walkie talkies you used to play with when you were a kid. With a single button, you can talk to anyone nationwide, not just in the neighborhood. Like when you would run around with a walkie talkie when you were a kid. Just one of many reasons why these are selling so quickly. Families, friends, co workers, they can all stay in touch, particularly when there's disruption like a natural disaster. And some cell phone networks might be down. Go online right now to rapidradios.com you get up to 60% off free UPS shipping from Michigan plus a free protection bag. Add code radio for an extra 5% off these Rapid Radio walkie talkies batteries with a five day charge. Rapidradios.com code radio. Welcome back in Clay Travis, Buck Sexton Show. We got a lot to talk about with this man, the Senate majority leader from South Dakota, John Thune. Appreciate him joining us right now. Big night on Capitol Hill with Trump addressing Congress. We'll get to that in a moment. But Senator, appreciate you making the time. I wanted to start with this. I still can't believe this is real. Every single Democrat senator opposed a bill that would keep men from competing in women's sports. That is Every Democrat senator that voted were you. Can you believe this has become a political issue? And given the fact that 79% of Americans agree men should play men's sports, women should play women, including 67% of Democrats, what in the world are Democrats thinking on this bill?

[Buck Sexton]

Right. Well, you. Good question, guys. I mean, I just. It's mind blowing to me that this has become a political issue where the Democrats are so tethered to their, I guess, transgender ideological political base that they're willing to throw common sense out the window. I mean, this is just, to me, almost incomprehensible that we're even having this conversation. It's, you know, having biological males as the opponents of young women is both fundamentally unfair and it's potentially dangerous, honestly. And so, you know, Coach Tuberville, Tommy Tuberville, the senator from Alabama, led this on the floor. We had a vote on it last night. And you are correct. Every single Democrat to the person voted against it. And it's an 80, 20 issue, as you point out, with the American people. So I just, It's. I can't explain it. I think they did. There was no lesson learned from the election. I think it's common sense issues like this that the American people expect their leaders to act on, and they just block voted against it.

[John Thune]

What can you say, Senator Thune, when they vote against it, though, are they claiming publicly? I'm just wondering because this has just happened and it's hard to believe that they just did this for a lot of us. But I guess if you've been paying attention to Democrats, insanity is not new to them. But are they saying there's some problem in the text of the bill or some procedural or are they openly just saying, we think dudes should be able to play against ladies and that's the way it should be?

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, I mean, I think that's really honestly the substance of it. You know, you could say that the bill could be changed this year or that way, but it's really very straightforward. And, you know, I mean, and there was a day when Democrats would have been, you know, quick to defend Title nine, and here we are. But, you know, I mean, this is. Again, I had a. I mentioned this on the floor yesterday, but I had a business professor in graduate school who used to say some things are just intuitively obvious. And I think this is one of those things that's intuitively obvious to people. And I know something I obviously feel strongly about as a father of two women who played sports and, you know, one of whom is in her high school and college hall of fame. I just, I can't imagine a world where you would have guys competing against women and taking away opportunities not only to excel in their field and their sport, but also for college scholarships and things that this has serious downstream consequences. But the Democrats on a substance level, on a political level, seem to have made a decision that they would rather defend, again, an ideology that is completely out of step with the American people.

[Clay Travis]

We're talking to Senator John Thune. Explain to us because I'm curious myself, I don't know why a majority of senators voting for this, which Republicans have and which marshaled itself last night, is not enough to make this a law. The House passed it. Only two, I believe Democrats voted for it in the House. By the way, zero senators in the voted for this on the Democrat side. But you needed to get to 60. Why explain that for our audience.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, I know it's hard. It's an inside baseball thing here. It's unique to the United States Senate. But under our rules in the Senate, and this is kind of the system that the founders handed us, it takes a super majority to do almost anything consequential. And this is so it's 60 votes. And the Senate is required to move legislation with very few exceptions. And one of the things we're working on right now, you've probably heard, your listeners have probably heard too, the president talk about budget reconciliation. When you have unified control of the government, in other words, the House, the Senate and the White House, there are things you can do with 51 votes in the Senate that you otherwise wouldn't be able to do through a procedure that is again unique to the Senate. But on most issues, and this is an issue where, you know, again, it's a, it's a bill that we put in front of the Senate. And this, honestly, this was just a motion to proceed to the bill. This wasn't even the, this was just to get on it, just to debate it. They voted against even having a debate about it. And that takes 60 as well. So it's a 60 vote threshold. And I know that's for most Americans. Everybody's like, well, isn't 51amajority in the Senate? The answer is yes. But the rules of the Senate and the history and the heritage of the Senate is such that it requires a super majority on most legislation.

[John Thune]

So what can you hopefully get done through that reconciliation process? As some of the top agenda items we've seen this, this slew of executive orders coming out from Trump, a lot of Them we've been talking about here in the show, we think they're doing great things. Of course, we all also know that executive orders can be overturned by the next administration if in fact, it's a Democrat. So legislation matters and we don't have a super majority. So, Senator Thune, you're the majority leader. What are some of the top things you're hoping can get through the Senate, the House, and get signed by the president using that reconciliation process?

[Buck Sexton]

It's a long list, and we are going to do everything we can and push the limits of what's allowable. You know, there are limitations on how it can be used. But the Democrats expanded the scope of reconciliation. They passed two major, major $3 trillion worth of new spending in two reconciliation bills when they had unified control of the government, when they had House, Senate, White House. So they've given us a template for how to. Obviously, we have a very different agenda than what they wanted to do, but we're united. We want to enact all of President Trump's priorities as quickly as possible. And that deals with the border, securing the border, it's bolstering our national defense, it's restoring American energy dominance and preventing a $4 trillion tax increase at the end of the year on the American people. So, you know, we believe, and I say Senate Republicans believe, and I think the president does, too, and hopefully the House will get there to make these tax cuts permanent so we don't have to go back and deal with it again down the road. But we're here. The Senate's ready to enact as much of the president's agenda as we can through budget reconciliation. And that entails all the things I just mentioned. And I hope that as we work through this process, we will be as aggressive as we possibly can to use that opportunity at a 51 vote threshold in the Senate, as opposed to 60, to get as much of the president's agenda down as possible.

[Clay Travis]

What's the timeframe to get that done? We've heard a variety of different aspects out there. I heard early, hey, we hope to get this done by Easter. When do you think this, these bills in particular, dealing with tax cuts and the budget will be complete? As you look at the calendar, I.

[Buck Sexton]

Think it's Easter's probably ambitious, I would say. But I think that as we look at the kind of the May timeframe, obviously we got a deadline week after next March 14th. We've got to deal with all the crap the Democrats left us, all the pile up of spending they didn't do any spending bills last year. And so we're up against this deadline and we got to fund the government or the government shuts down. So that's the immediate concern. But then the reconciliation bill starts with a budget resolution. Both the House and Senate have to pass the same one. And right now we've passed budget resolutions, but they're different. But we'll have to, we'll align those and then we will both act on it. And then that creates, that unlocks reconciliation. But reconciliation is another separate, big, you know, piece of legislation. And so it's really kind of a two step process and it takes some time. And these are complicated issues. I mean, the President wants some things done in tax policy. We got a lot of senators and House members who want to see things done in tax policy that are different than what's in front of us in terms of just, you know, a strict extension of the, of the current bill or the current tax policy. But there are all these things as we move through in these moving parts. And ultimately I tell people, when they ask me, can you do this, can you do that? Then in the end, it really comes down to the two numbers that matter. 218 and 51. You gotta have 218 in the house, you gotta have a simple majority there. And even under reconciliation, you still have to have 51 votes in the Senate. So that's the math of it. And as we think through what we can do and can't do, it's a function of trying to figure out how do we get this thing in a shape, whatever this bill looks like, that can secure the necessary 218 in the House and 51 in the Senate.

[Clay Travis]

We're talking to Senate Majority Leader John Thune. What do you expect tonight? Let's shift gears to Trump's address tonight. What do you expect to hear from the President? What should our listeners expect to hear? And what sort of reception do you expect to see from Democrats? I was reading this morning that they're planning all sorts, potentially of outrageous and outlandish disruptions during the midst of this speech. Potentially. What do you expect?

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, I mean, I think they will. The Democrats are, I mean, they're still in the stages of grief and they're really, they're trying to find a message, they're trying to get some traction with something. And so far all it is, is whatever he's for, I'm going to be against. I think that, you know, Democrats right now are afflicted with a really, really bad case of Trump derangement. Syndrome. And so my assumption is that when they come tonight, they're going to try and be disruptive. But, you know, at the end of the day, I think the American people, that's not what they want to see. I don't think they want to see a bunch of lefty ideologues who can't even bring themselves to vote to keep boys out of girls sports, you know, creating a ruckus and disruptive to the president of the United States, who I think will be there to talk about after four years of, you know, rising costs, lawlessness at the southern border, weakening of America on the world stage, be talking about turning the page and getting our country back on track. And I think it's a. The president has a great opportunity to present to the American people how things are going to be in his second term and what his priorities are relative to the last four years under Biden. And you can just look already at what they've done at the southern border. I mean, the top issue in the last election and this administration has been returning order in a short amount of time. Think about the month of February. There were fewer than 9,000 crossings at the southern border under Trump. That was a typical day under Biden. I mean, this is how dramatically things have changed already as a result of President Trump's leadership. And we want to be good partners for him and do as much as we can to get his agenda across the finish line, which is why we worked really hard to get his cabinet confirmed as quickly as possible. So it's, I expect he, you know, he got a decisive mandate from the American people in November. And I think he's going to be talking about not only what he's already done, but what he's going to do in the four years he has available to him to really change the direction of this country in a way that gets it back on track.

[John Thune]

Majority Leader Thune, appreciate you making the time for us on Clay and Buck. We'll talk to you again soon.

[Buck Sexton]

Thanks. Thanks, Clay. Thanks, Buck. Talk to you. Bye now.

[John Thune]

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[Clay Travis]

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[John Thune]

Edu welcome back to Clay and Buck and a great day for Crockin Coffee, my friends. Go to crockettcoffee.com please subscribe. That's the best way you can buy it. One off if you want to try it. If you use code book, you'll get a signed copy of Clay's American Playbook. He has. We've already got a thousand of you who have signed up that way and gotten your book. We got a few hundred more books to move, though. So go to crocketcoffee.com sound cop, even make American Playbook when you subscribe and you will love it. It's great coffee. I just was drinking it this morning and it's fantastic. Hopefully the tariffs don't run the coffee prices up so high because we don't really grow coffee in the US So that's going to be a little bit of an interesting one. We should talk tariffs here. We'll talk to Bill O'Reilly about that coming up momentarily. Oh, don't forget, 10% of our profits at Tunnel the Towers Foundation. 10% of our profits at Crockett Coffee goes to Tunnel the Towers Foundation. So it is the best coffee you will find absolutely anywhere. Clay, maybe we should get to it a little bit later. I know we don't have the audio right now, but I did think, because you and I were just discussing this, the cultural shift is, is somewhat apparent here in a, in a few ways. And I mean that in terms of the pop culture shift. There's a show, White Lotus, which I think some of you see, very few of you probably overall watch, it's on hbo.

[Clay Travis]

What percentage of our audience do you think has watched season one, season two or season three of White Lotus?

[John Thune]

Oh, 10% or less, I would think, probably.

[Clay Travis]

I think that's, I think that's accurate, actually. Hit me and Buck on Social. I would be curious if you have watched this because I do think what you're about to say is emblematic of how things have changed pretty substantially.

[John Thune]

So there are three women. The, the, the scene, the concept of the show is pretty straightforward. Super luxury resort. And then stuff happens, right? If you're in a super luxury resort.

[Clay Travis]

A murder is gonna happen. You don't know who's gonna get killed at the super luxury resort.

[John Thune]

Basically something like, yeah, like there's gonna be some extreme events that, that occur. And you get to know these different couples who are in the resorts and they do, they do a good job. Like they, they, the characters are interesting and I think it's a pretty well written show. Carrie likes it, I like it. So thank heavens we can actually agree that it's a good show, but they had a Trump moment on it and I've seen so many. Like one of the reasons I thought the movie Midnight in Paris was pretty entertaining, except the guy who was always taking shots, if you remember this, the Woody Allen movie, every time he would just bring up Trump and it was, yeah, but every time the guy would bring up Trump, it was, he would get, you know, it was made, it was meant to make him look like an imbecile. You know, it's like, well, I think Donald Trump. Well, this is back in 2016, so this is very early. Anyway, I think that. Oh no, it wasn't Trump. It was. Maybe it was just Republicans. I think it was just the Republican Party. I can't remember how old that movie is. Now the point is they introduce among these three, you know, wealthy women who are all life, lifelong friends, who are in their probably 40s, 50s, late 40s, I would say. And so, so they introduce all these people and then one of them, it comes out, is probably a Trump voter and she is not an object of ridicule on the show. In fact, I would argue that the liberal from New York and the liberal from Los Angeles on the show are made to look a little like they're being kind of judgy and a little, little quick on the, quick on the trigger on this issue. What do you, what do you make of it? Cuz this hbo, which is a very left wing channel, they were not, I have not seen them do mockery of the Trump voter in this situation in that scene.

[Clay Travis]

We need to get the audio to play for you guys because I was actually impressed. And again, the general consensus is none of these people are great. You see these characters, warts and all. But I thought the way it was being characterized, the New York and the LA women were actually coming off worse than the lady from Texas who had voted for Trump and simply said that she was an independent and sort of shocked her friends from LA and New York in the process. And I bet there are a bunch of you men and women out there that voted Trump in 2024 and you've had conversations just like the one that HBO had on Sunday. I want to play for that for you guys because I do think it's emblematic of a culture shift.