Hour 1 - The Best of Clay and Buck

Summary

Summary of "Hour 1 - The Best of Clay and Buck" The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Release Date: May 26, 2025
Host: Clay Travis and Buck Sexton
Guest: Douglas Murray and Steve Hilton
Source: iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction

In this special episode titled "Hour 1 - The Best of Clay and Buck," Clay Travis and Buck Sexton delve into pressing issues surrounding Western civilization, democracy, and the socio-political landscape of the United States. The conversation features insightful discussions with renowned author and journalist Douglas Murray and political commentator Steve Hilton, addressing topics from the fragility of democracies to the systemic challenges facing states like California.

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Discussion with Douglas Murray: "Democracy and Death – Israel and the Future of Civilization"

Douglas Murray, author of "Democracy and Death: Israel and the Future of Civilization," joins Clay and Buck to explore the dire state of Western civilization and the pivotal role Israel plays as its frontline.

The Frontline of Western Civilization

Murray emphasizes Israel's critical position in safeguarding Western values. Reflecting on his visit to Israel in December, he states:

"I was blown away by the concept which I should have understood before, but I didn't until I stood on the ground that Israel really is the front line of Western civilization. If it falls, then Western civilization is in trouble."
[02:44]

Understanding Public Sentiment Post-October 7th

Murray discusses the aftermath of the October 7th attacks on Israel, questioning why many in America support Hamas instead of standing with democracy. He observes:

"Why did so many people here in America side not with the democracy but with the death cult of Hamas?"
[03:45]

He highlights the alarming trend of anti-Israel sentiments, noting that pro-Hamas demonstrations often reject American symbols:

"They never fly the American flag. In fact, when they find an American flag, they'll burn it."
[04:20]

The Role of Education and Generational Shifts

Murray attributes the shift in young Americans' perspectives to a redefined education system that fosters self-hatred and misperceptions of historical injustices. He asserts:

"They accuse Israel of genocide, of ethnic cleansing, of white supremacy, and of all of the sins that they have been told they themselves, as Americans born in the 21st century, are guilty of."
[08:42]

Path Forward: Learning from Israeli Resilience

Murray advocates for educating the younger generation by learning from Israeli youth's dedication to protecting their civilization. He concludes:

"It's the route that the young men and women of Israel... have chosen, which is the root of heroism."
[16:34]

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Conversation with Steve Hilton: "Califalure – Reversing the Ruin of America's Worst Run State"

Steve Hilton, political commentator and author of "Califalure: Reversing the Ruin of America's Worst Run State," engages in a critical analysis of California's governance under Governor Gavin Newsom and explores strategies for political and social reform.

The State of California

Hilton paints a grim picture of California's current state, citing high poverty rates, exorbitant housing costs, and poor public services. He states:

"With the highest rate of poverty, the highest housing cost, the lowest home ownership, highest cost for gas, electricity, water, everything. It's a disaster."
[23:10]

Ideological Drivers Behind Policy Failures

He attributes California's decline to deep-seated leftist ideologies that prioritize political correctness over practical governance:

"The Democrat machine in California... can be beaten."
[47:50]

Success Stories and the Potential for Change

Highlighting Huntington Beach's political shift as a beacon of hope, Hilton shares:

"In four years, that city has gone from 6:1 Democrat control to 7:0 Republican."
[47:50]

This example underscores the possibility of reversing Democratic dominance through grassroots efforts and strategic campaigning.

Addressing Leadership and Accountability

Hilton critiques Gavin Newsom's leadership, emphasizing the need for accountability and decisive action:

"He's going to put it down. It would be nice if the university judges stepped up to the plate."
[13:22]

He advocates for proactive measures to dismantle ineffective policies and restore common sense governance.

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Key Takeaways

• Frontline Defense: Israel serves as a crucial barrier safeguarding Western civilization against extremist threats. Its stability is intrinsically linked to the future of Western values.

• Generational Misalignment: Younger generations in the West are increasingly susceptible to anti-American and anti-Israel sentiments due to an education system that fosters self-criticism and misattributed guilt.

• Educational Reform: There is an urgent need to realign educational narratives to accurately reflect historical truths and promote resilience against extremist ideologies.

• California's Governance Crisis: California exemplifies the pitfalls of extreme ideological governance, resulting in economic hardships and diminished quality of life for its residents.

• Political Mobilization: Successful political shifts at the local level, such as in Huntington Beach, demonstrate the potential for broader change through concerted efforts against entrenched ideological systems.

• Leadership Accountability: Effective leadership requires accountability and the willingness to implement necessary reforms, breaking away from policies that exacerbate socio-economic issues.

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Conclusion

In "Hour 1 - The Best of Clay and Buck," Clay Travis and Buck Sexton provide a compelling exploration of the challenges facing Western democracies, the pivotal role of Israel in maintaining cultural and political stability, and the urgent need for political and educational reforms in states like California. Through the expert insights of Douglas Murray and Steve Hilton, the episode underscores the critical juncture at which Western civilization stands and the actions necessary to preserve its foundational values and democratic principles.

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Notable Quotes

• Douglas Murray:
  "If it falls, then Western civilization is in trouble."
  [02:44]

• Douglas Murray:
  "They accuse Israel of genocide, of ethnic cleansing, of white supremacy."
  [08:42]

• Steve Hilton:
  "With the highest rate of poverty... It's a disaster."
  [23:10]

• Steve Hilton:
  "In four years, that city has gone from 6:1 Democrat control to 7:0 Republican."
  [47:50]

• Douglas Murray:
  "It's the route that the young men and women of Israel... have chosen, which is the root of heroism."
  [16:34]

---

This detailed summary captures the essence of the episode, highlighting the critical discussions and insights shared by the hosts and their esteemed guests.

Transcript

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[Clay Travis]

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[Clay Travis]

We are joined now by a author journalist all around, incredibly talented guy Douglas Murray. New book on Democracies and death, Israel and the Future of Civilization. We appreciate you coming on. For those of you watching on video, the book is up beside me. Let's start right here. I got to go to Israel in December for the first time ever. I went to the kibbutzes on the border with Gaza. I went all the way to the north in Lebanon. I was blown away by the concept which I should have understood before, but I didn't until I stood on the ground that Israel really is the front line of Western civilization. If it falls, then Western civilization is in trouble. I know this is a big part of the book argument you make, but do people really understand the stakes, the consequences of what's going on in the Middle east, and more alarmingly, the fact that a lot of people in America and other Western civilizations have lost the ability to distinguish between good and evil?

[Douglas Murray]

It's very good to be with you and your listeners again. Firstly, the book is an attempt to describe the atrocities of 7th October 2023, how they came about, what happened. I've been there in the zone of the conflict for most of the last year and a half. And so it's a firsthand account as well as a tempt to write a first draft of history about the atrocities of that day. But the other thing that the book is really about is a much bigger question. It's the one, as you say, that affects us here in America and the rest of the West. Which is why when a democracy, an ally of ours, was attacked so brutally, with 1200 people massacred, 250 innocent civilians taken hostage, why did so many people here in America side not with the democracy but with the death cult of Hamas? And I come to not just ask the question, but also I hope to try to answer it. And one of the things that we've seen and I relate, I saw it straight away early on, on 8 October, as the massacre was still going on in Times Square in New York. I saw the demonstration of people supporting the terrorists supporting Hamas. In the year and a half since we've seen this disgusting outburst of hatred against the Jewish state and against the Jewish people. Just two days ago at Princeton University, Jewish students were screamed at by other students telling them to go home. The reason, in part, as you know, and you've covered so well on your show, is that we have lived through an era in which America, the West, all of our allies, are seen as the bad guys over and over again. And if I have a rule that I've developed in the last year and a half, wherever I've gone in America, when I see an anti Israel protest, I notice that they fly the Palestinian flag. They may fly the flag of Hamas or Hezbollah or one of these other terrorist groups. They never fly the American flag. In fact, when they find an American flag, they'll burn it. Compare it with the pro Israel demonstrations that have happened. They always have the flying of the Israeli flag and the flying of the American flag and the singing of the Star Spangled Banner and more. The the people who have been most vocal against Israel since the massacre are people who have also told us that they hate Israel first, but they hate America and the west most. And anyone who thinks that that is some kind of hyperbole. Just consider that the student group at Columbia most supportive of Hamas says in its founding statements that it seeks as its aim the, quote, complete destruction of Western civilization. The complete destruction of Western civilization. They see Israel as being the nearest targets, as Hamas does, but not the last targets.

[Clay Travis]

Why do you think young people, compared to older people in the United States in particular, are so susceptible to the argument that Israel is a force for evil and that in some way the Palestinians or the larger Middle Eastern community is a source of good, even in the wake of October 7th. Why has that worked with so many young people?

[Douglas Murray]

I believe because they've been prepared for this moment very carefully for years. I said in my last book, the War on the west, that Americans, this generation of Americans coming up, were being taught hatred of America and hatred of the West. We have seen in America the whole great history of America rewritten in recent years. Students and others told that to be an American is to be born into guilt, to inherit the guilt of slavery, of white supremacy, of colonialism, of genocide, and much more. Look at what the pro Hamas, anti Israel demonstrators on American campuses accuse Israel of. They accuse Israel completely falsely, as falsely against America. They accuse Israel today of genocide, of ethnic cleansing, of white supremacy, and of all of the sins that they have been told they themselves, as Americans born in the 21st century, are guilty of. This is what A psychologist would call projection on a massive scale. Tell me what you accuse the Jewish state of and I'll tell you what you've been taught that you are guilty of.

[Clay Travis]

We're talking to Douglas Murray. The book is on democracy and death, Israel and the future of civilization. What should happen? You know, we've heard a lot from people in the Trump era talking about the right and wrong side of history. If you can see the massacre of Jews, the worst day since the Holocaust on October 7th, and not recognize what the right and wrong side of history is, how do we rectify that? What should people who are smart enough to know better be doing?

[Douglas Murray]

Well, I believe that young people in the west, not just America, but principally America, but also I've seen this in the last year and a half in Australia, in Canada, in Britain and elsewhere, they've been taught into this Western self hatred and hatred. Now, that's been taught. Older generations of Americans do not hate America because they weren't taught to hate America. Older generations of Americans don't hate other democracies because they weren't taught to hate other democracies. Part of this generation, not all of them, there are some great young people coming up, but part of this generation has been taught this hatred. I believe that it is going to require a generation to teach them out of it.

[Clay Travis]

I think that's well said. We're talking to Douglas Murray. The book, I encourage you to all to go check it out, is on democracies and death cults. It's out right now. You mentioned younger generations and the need to teach them about what actually has taken place. How much of this is the perverse idea that you built on here, that white people are to blame for everything and that Jewish people are just seen as white? And therefore in the left wing, anti American and anti Western perspective, there is no ability to grapple with the idea that someone who is of lighter skin could actually be a victim here. I mean, it, I think is partly a function of just the broken worldview at play.

[Douglas Murray]

I think you're completely right. The thing that this generation has been taught, the thing that has been across our media, whether it's the New York Times 1619 project, whether it's radical Democrats talking about white guilt and all of this sort of thing, always the Jews were going to become a victim of this. And sure enough, the people who believe they're against racism are accusing again, it goes back to this thing. It's a mirror of their own sins as they've been told them always. They accuse Israel of White supremacy. I mean, you've been there like me. It's one of the most ethnically racially diverse countries on the planet. One third of people in Israel are of European descent, one third. The other two thirds are Middle Eastern. They are from countries across the region historically who were chased out of those countries, Iraqi Jews, Persian Jews, Assyrian Jews and many others, North African Jews. To see white college campus kids in America accusing black Jewish Israelis of white supremacy is even by the standards of our time and even with our probably wearied ability, ability to be shocked, absolutely shocking and shocking. Not least it just for its sheer ignorance.

[Clay Travis]

When you look. Douglas Murray, the author of On Democracies and Death Cults, encourage you to go read the book, what you just said, the, you know, white American college kids coming after this. When I went to Israel, the other thing that stood out was Trump being called Hitler when Israel, if it could vote in the American presidential election, would have voted like Wyoming did or like West Virginia did. That is basically 70, 30 pro Trump as someone who doesn't live in America. And when you hear that argument, how outrageous and outlandish is that analogy for our current president when it comes to his relationship with Israel?

[Douglas Murray]

Well, just one quick thing. I actually do live in America when I'm not living in various war zones. I hot footed it for my native Britain some years ago for very good reasons. And I'd like to think I'm one of the better American imports of research.

[Clay Travis]

We'll accept you. Yes, thank you.

[Douglas Murray]

Not for me to say, but, you know, because I love this country, I love America, I love the Founding Fathers, I love American history and I love American people. So it grieves me enormously to see some of the wild, wild hatred and wild claims that people have been encouraged into in recent years. Many people have been persuaded that basically, you know, all of history is just the 1930s and 40s.

[Clay Travis]

Right.

[Douglas Murray]

They only know one bad person in history and that's Hitler. And their aim is to be anti Hitler, which is like, wow, guys, that was a very brave and important thing to be in the 1930s and 40s.

[Clay Travis]

By the way, when many of the people were not actually anti Hitler. When it would have been helpful. Right, Exactly.

[Douglas Murray]

Would have really helped if there'd be more anti Hitler people in those days. But history is a bit more complicated when you're going through it. And we are going through it now. One of the things that we've seen in the last 18 months is how many people who regard themselves as being anti racists are in fact the Racists. How many people who think they're anti Nazi are literally siding with a Nazi movement? Hamas? How many people who think they would have been on the right side in the 1930s and the 1940s are on the side of an anti Semitic and anti Western death cult today? The people who told us for 10 years to believe all women are the people who don't believe Israeli women who were raped on the 7th of October. This tells us nothing about the Jewish state or the Jewish people. It tells us everything about the people who have been lecturing us for years now and how wicked they can be.

[Clay Travis]

Douglas Murray, last question for you. You hit on something that I think is hugely important. We have an historically illiterate country. Your point is? Yes, basically, the only historical analogy many people seem to be able to make is to Hitler and to World War II. How much of all of this is rooted in America, but also Western civilization in general, not having educated its people in terms of real history and having much of a depth of knowledge at all?

[Douglas Murray]

Well, I'll tell you, it's obviously the ignorance of history is profound everywhere, not just in America. Across the west, young British and Canadian school children and college students are also being taught versions of the same rot. One of the things I finish this book on, though, is to say, why not regard this, as I do, as a civilizational moment and a civilizational test? We all weigh ourselves up against the greatest generation of World War II, and we should we ask ourselves, would we do what our forefathers were able to do when the time of trial came? You can take the route, if you're a young American, of being led into the grievance culture, the victimhood culture that you and I have spoken about for years and that we hate. But you can also choose another route. And it's the route that the young men and women of Israel, who I had the honor to be with in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Israel in the last 18 months. It's the route they have chosen, which is the root of heroism. Protecting your people, protecting your faith, protecting your family, protecting your way of life, and knowing that your way of life will only continue if you're willing to fight for it. I'd like to see Americans learn from the Israeli youth on this, because if they do, we have a bright future, too.

[Clay Travis]

Well said. The book on democracies and death cults, Douglas Murray. Good luck on the trail and I hope you sell a lot of books. I know this audience will be very receptive to your book and the arguments you're making. Thanks for everything you're doing.

[Douglas Murray]

It's great to be with you. Thank you.

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[Ned Ryan]

You're listening to the Best of Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Our friend Steve Hilton joins us now. He's a political commentator. You know him from Fox. He's an author as well. New book out this week, Califalure, Reversing the Ruin of America's Worst Run State. Hey, Steve, great to have you on the program.

[Steve Hilton]

Hi, guys. Great to be with you. What fun. Can I tell you what a pleasure it is. And guess who wouldn't have me on his new podcast to talk about whether or not California is the worst run state in America? Gavin Newsom. What a shame. But it's very good to be here with you.

[Ned Ryan]

Well, we're not surprised that Gavin Newsom wouldn't have you. Have you on given that you recognize the problems not just of California, but specifically of Gavin Newsom's leadership. But I wonder, Steve, is it just the way it's going to be there? I mean, one of the problems that we see is the willingness to suffer for ideological reasons in some of these Democrat enclaves.

[Matt Gaetz]

Definitely.

[Ned Ryan]

In the case of cities like San Francisco, for example, or even New York, unfortunately is much higher than a lot of people would imagine.

[Steve Hilton]

Well, you're right. And ideological is the word. That is why we're in such a mess. You know, with the highest rate of poverty, the highest housing cost, the lowest home ownership, highest cost for gas, electricity, water, everything. It's a disaster. The worst business climate. I mean, that's the point really, which is that of course, across the country we see the video of the unbelievable homeless encampments and people wandering around like zombies and the crime and toothpaste locked up in Walgreens and now the fires and people see all that. But actually the underlying problems are even worse. It's a failure on every front and people have been putting up with it. And it's driven by ideology. And that's one of the things in the book I go into. Like, what is this ideology? It's not enough to just call it leftism. There's so many different components to it. And we've got to understand it because it's going to spread across the country. That's what's been happening. And if you look at where the Democrats are today, that seems to be where they're gravitating, the Bernie AOC thing. That's where the energy is. That's what we've got in California. Now, to your question about change, I think people are waking up. You saw even before the fires, if you look at the results last November in the presidential election, even without obviously competing in California, particularly because you're never going to get the electoral votes, Donald Trump got more votes than any Republican for a generation in California. You saw 10 counties flip from blue to red, including big counties like Fresno county, the fifth biggest city. And now with the fires, I mean I meet people all the time in Los Angeles. You have Democrats, independents who say we can't go on like this. It is just obvious that we need a change, we need some balance. It's been this one party rule for so long. We got to get some common sense ideas back in there.

[Ned Ryan]

You're enjoying the best of program with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. We're joined by our friend Ned Ryan, founder and CEO of American Majority. Ned has a new documentary out this week, American Leviathan the Birth of the Administrative State and Progressive Authoritarianism Documentary is out on X. It's also posted for you to watch and enjoy atclay&buck.com Mr. Ned, great to have you, sir. All right, dive into this documentary. It's certainly timely given the work of Trump and Doge Elon and the whole team.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, I mean one of the reasons I wanted to do a Buck was it's a companion to the book. But to really show people and give them real clarity on the fact that Rule of the Bureaucrat, as Elon mentioned a few weeks ago, that's not a bug. That's a feature that was always intended by progressives for the last hundred years and has nothing to do with representative government, has nothing to do with our constitutional republic. And what I wanted to do is cover some of the same themes in the book, but also have conversations with senators and with congressmen and with other people that have been in D.C. inside the belly of Leviathan to really discuss how D.C. works. And I think when people watch the documentary, they're going to understand with real clarity from the mouths of elected officials. Yeah, we don't really actually do the governing in this town. We don't do the real legislating. We pass these four and five thousand page bills, we send them over to the unelected bureaucrats in the Article 2 branch. We of our own volition sub delegate legislative authority to them to let them with their statutes and regulations do the real governing of this country. And then to make matters worse, Buck, they're blindly funding these unelected, out of control bureaucrats blindly. And then not demanding any oversight, not demanding accountability or transparency at all. And it's become one of those things that I think is pretty hard to miss these days watching what's going on in D.C. but I hope that the American people get real clarity because it's because of the American people awakening that they will inspire Congress to actually do what they're supposed to do to actually legislate and inspire the President, who has unbelievable amounts of moral and political courage, to keep going on the path that he's going on and then to brace the judges, which is of course a huge issue in the present moment, to maybe just do their Article 3 constitutional duty. Because the American people, I think, are going to understand that administrative power is a revival of absolute power and is a tremendous threat to their civil liberties, tremendous threat to our future freedom and prosperity. So once the American people wake up and understand what's going on and then demand these things of their elected officials, I think it's the beginning of, beginning of the end of administrative power.

[Ned Ryan]

How do we deal with the threshold that seems to have been. Well, it has been artificially created by the Congress itself that we have to get to 60 in the Senate to get any real legislation through because of the filibuster. Because, Ned, I just, it feels like the Democrats are the party of the administrative state. They have seeded the administrative state with their ideologues all. And we haven't even talked about the judges yet, but the administrative state with all these ideologues. And so the Democrat party is just not going to, no matter how outrageous the spending is at these places, no matter how useless they are, they're not going to come along with us. Right. So what do we do about that?

[Buck Sexton]

Well, well, I would say I'd probably come from a little bit different angle, Buck, because we already know Democrats are a lost cause. The problem being, and the problem that has been for decades in D.C. is that too many Republicans have gone along with it. They've accepted the premise that somehow this administrative state is a legitimate form of government and that they should continue to fund it and cede their control to these unelected bureaucrats. So while I understand that the problem is Democrats, in many ways, I would argue that in many ways it's been the Republicans in Congress who have been, I don't want to say that Congress has been the villain of the 20th century, but in many ways we have an administrative state and the unelected bureaucrats and out of control spending. And I would argue, again, abuse of our civil liberties and authoritarianism because Congress has, of its own volition, seated its control. And that's not just Democrats, it's Republicans. And so I would say the first step in getting us to the right place is for Republicans across the board to go, yeah, administrative state is deeply unconstitutional. It's deeply un American. We are going to demand that we get back our sub delegated legislative authority and actually do the governing, actually do the legislating instead of really, really passing the buck to these unelected bureaucrats to avoid making hard decisions. So let's get Republicans on the same page and then we can discuss how we're going to dismantle the Democratic Party moving forward.

[Ned Ryan]

We're with Ned Ryan, founder and CEO of Americ Majority. He's got a new documentary out, American Leviathan, which you can watch on X. It is posted on X also atclay&buck.com the judiciary as the protector of the administrative state. This is one of the biggest, and you know, I know you were ready for this. All the veterans of Trump's first term, everybody who was in that fight remembers the hashtag resistance judges. And unfortunately they were, they're successful even when they lose, right, Ned? Because if they drag it out and they, they burn time off the clock, they're getting some of what they want even if the Supreme Court takes it up and strikes them down, as has happened many times in the past. So what's the best strategy for this? What, what can be done so that they aren't able to run out the clock on the efforts to rein in the administrative state?

[Buck Sexton]

So you're absolutely correct. I mean, this, this is a continuance of lawfare, sadly, by the Article 3 judicial branch, the lower level judges, to prevent Trump from actually implementing his agenda. And they are acting as a protector of the administrative state. So a couple of things. You know, I hope that Donald Trump, and you can see this coming out of his doj, that he is going to obviously fight back as quickly as possible. I kind of like him to basically channel Andrew Jackson, obviously, that apocryphal story. But it's kind of the feeling, the spirit that I want Trump to have. You've made your decisions, now try enforcing them. Because the Article 3, what's going happening right now, Buck, is these lower level judges are overstepping their constitutional bounds and trying to dictate to the head of the Article 2 branch what is his constitutional right and authority, whether it's on foreign policy or domestic policy or who he can hire, what he can do with the various departments and agencies that are under him inside the Article 2 branch. And so he's got to tell you, he essentially has to tell them, that's great. I'm going to continue down this path. It would be nice if Congress actually stepped up to the plate. I think impeaching judges would be a little too far for most of those people in Congress. Because they're not exactly profiles and courage. But I would argue if they could find some. Some small sliver of political courage, why don't we think about defunding the lower courts? Because that's Congress's constitutional right to do that. But I think ultimately in the short term, you know, John Roberts is actually going to find. Have to find it within himself to go, hey, for the sake of the legitimacy of the Article 3 Judicial Branch, the Supreme Court is going to have to step in and put in some pretty strong guardrails and say, you can't do this. You're overstepping your constitutional bounds. And to be honest, Buck, I think John Roberts doing that probably 50, 50. So I think we're going to. We're in for a couple of interesting weeks and months ahead. But I think Donald Trump is making it very clear in the last couple of days he's not going to let them prevent him implementing the will of the American people. I mean, he was elected to enact a very specific agenda that was painted out in bold, bright colors last fall. And these judges are attempting to defy the will of the people as being implemented through Donald Trump's agenda. So I think Trump's going to be pretty aggressive on this, but it would be nice if John Roberts stepped up to the plate. But I have my doubts.

[Ned Ryan]

Where do you think the state of progressive authoritarianism is right now? Because it certainly is the case that the Democrat Party is in a rough spot, which is great, very exciting. Probably, probably the roughest spot it's been in a long time, which is a lovely thing. But the ideology that they have and the machinery that they have to push it, I mean, obviously the administrative state is a huge part of it. Do you feel like this is the first opening we have to do real damage to them? Do you worry that if we don't get it done, they'll just come, come right back and do the same stuff? I mean, how do you view it from. From the side of, of the, the opposition here? I mean, are. Where do you think they fall in this whole situation?

[Buck Sexton]

Well, I think you can see from their behavior, they realize this is an existential threat. I mean, politics is their religion, Buck. I mean, the administrative state is. Is their, their holy of holies, their vehicle for salvation? Politics is the religion. And when they look at Donald Trump and Elon Musk, they see them as existential threats, threats to those things that they hold so valuable. And that really has been. Is the undergirding for their entire movement. So I know that they view this as an existential threat to the continuance of their movement, to the continuance of the progressive administrative state. And so I don't think, just to be clear, I don't think you're going to see any dialing back of the violence or the rhetoric, because we know that Trump Derangement syndrome is an incurable disease. And I think Elon Musk Arrangement Syndrome is an incurable disease. And the only way I think you see it stop is rather to be serious legal consequences, which you can start to see rumblings of that coming out of the Trump administration, but they are in disarray. And the thing that I am trying to figure out, Buck, are there any rational Democrats left inside the party because the progressive movement has eaten it from within? They are the Democratic Party, the progressive movement. Is. Is there any ability for a rational Democrat to be able to stand up and go, hey, we are going in the absolute wrong path. We need to pivot out of this? I suspect they won't be able to, not in the near term. I, I think this is something where the, the black hole of progressive ideology is completely sucking in whatever vestiges of, of rational thought might be left inside the Democratic Party and, and, you know, moving towards kind of an annihilation. But that, that, to me, is a very good thing, Buck, because I think the only way you get back to a sense and a real sense of normalcy in this country is for the left to be beaten into unconditional surrender and never be allowed near political power again as you start to destroy these various institutions, like the indoctrination centers, like the administrative state, going after the corporate propagandists, because for the sake of the future of our country and prosperity and freedom and happiness, the progressive movement writ large has to be either shoved so far into the corner that it's a minimal voice in our society, or it ceases to exist.

[Ned Ryan]

I always make the case, Ned, that the good news about this is nobody should feel like if we were to crush the administrative state, if Trump, Elon, Doge, maybe even the Republican Party writ large were to mobilize and really make major progress on this mission and for this initiative, the people that are crying and all the gnashing of teeth and all the, oh, we're so upset, it actually will be better for them, too. This is what this is. Everybody wins. They may not realize it, but America will be a more prosperous, freer and better place if we don't have this nonsensical Leviathan, as your documentary is titled. American Leviathan trampling on our rights and just our day to day all the time.

[Buck Sexton]

It is something. So you bring up something I think is pretty interesting, Buck. I mean I'm just thinking, I've been thinking about and I've said some things public already. I'll say it again here. You know, Elon and Doge started as we're going to go after waste, fraud and abuse and then he realizes in this journey of his you can kind of see this epiphany of Elon along the way. Wait, we have the rule of bureaucrats? Well, yeah, that was always the point of progressives and now we've gotten the point of it really feels like the administrative state and the government writ large has become a leftist money laundering slash slush fund in which they're trying to advance their ideology and really truly undermine this country. I mean a lot of the stuff that they're funding I believe to be truly anti American and very aggressively going after not only this country and our foundational principles, but the American people's way of life. And I, I, it will be for the best if we end the administrative state, but I think we got to be realistic about it, Buck. I mean this took 100 years to get to this point. When you think about the founding of the administrative state really in the first term of Woodrow Wilson. We're over 100 years into this disastrous experiment. We're not going to get out of overnight, but it is going to require tremendous political courage and Donald Trump and Elon Musk have it in spades. We've got to figure out how Congress somehow gets injected with that courage as well to be able to do the right things and actually say we're not going to allow this anymore and for the will of the American people. Right. We're not going to allow this, this unconstitutional, unrepresentative form of government to continue on in this country because again, it has nothing to do with our constitutional tradition.

[Ned Ryan]

Ned Ryan, Founder, CEO of American Majority American Leviathan the Birth of the Administrative State and Progressive Authoritarianism is his new documentary. It's on X. You can also watch. We have it posted atclay and buck.com. ned, great work as always, my friend. Good to talk to you.

[Buck Sexton]

I appreciate it. Thanks, Buck.

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Efficient way to get caught up on a lot of news. It's called the seven from the Washington Post. It's a newsletter and podcast. Whether you're reading or hitting play, you get seven stories you need to know and you can consume it all in just a few minutes. The 7 is out every weekday morning by 7:00am Eastern. I'm Hannah Jewell, I'm one of the writers and I host the show Find the seven Podcast. Wherever you're listening. The newsletter link is waiting for you in the show notes.

[Ned Ryan]

You're listening to the Best of Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Our friend Steve Hilton joins us now. He's a political commentator. You know him from Buck and I.

[Clay Travis]

Talk about this a lot. It's not just that California has fallen apart, it's that and I'm curious what your experience was growing up and what you thought about California. I just came back from San Francisco. It is a beautiful geographic jewel, yes, the likes of which there are not very many of anywhere in the world. La obviously nearly perfect climate. You go on up the coast, Seattle, Portland. It's that left leaning ideas have destroyed some of the most beloved communities in much of the country. What did you think about California as a kid growing up far from California? And when did your perception start to change? Because I remember as a college kid I had never been to California before. I remember going out, I don't know, probably 2,000 thereabouts and just being blown away by how spectacular it was. It seems to have really fallen apart only in the last 10 or 15 years. And I know many Californians who've lived there feel the same way.

[Steve Hilton]

So I'll tell you a story about that. So I was totally inspired. The way I put it, I was in love with California even before we moved here. We moved in 2012. I got my citizenship four years ago. So now I'm a proud American, but also a proud Californian. I love California. In fact, the story about this is back in the day when I was working for David Cameron, this is before he became Prime Minister and I was leading our policy development, our political strategy. And there was a cover story in the Spectator magazine. We all know the Spectator website here in America. It's actually a printed magazine, the oldest in the world. Actually the political magazine in the uk. They did a cover story on the direction that we were working on for the Conservative Party. And the headline on the story was California Dreaming. And the first lines go on about. Steve Helton, David Cameron's policy guru, is inspired by California. And the theme of their policy work is to make the UK more like California. Like this is like 15, 20 years ago. And the question is, is there any political advisor to any politician anywhere in the world who would want to make their country more like California today? And it shows you just how far we've fallen, how quickly with this far left ideology dominant in California. But actually, the point is all the problems of California are self inflicted and we can turn it around. And actually part two of the book is called Califalia, but part two of the book is called Califuture. And that is my plan for how we actually turn things around and restore California to what it should be, which is the best of America, not the worst, which is what it is now.

[Ned Ryan]

Now, you didn't go on Gavin Newsom's podcast, but I want you to the degree that you can be as objective as you can in telling us, is this guy gonna be the leader of the Democrat Party in the next election cycle? Do you see him being able to swindle enough people in the middle that he's able to rise through the ranks and go from being governor to presidential nominee? Because from what I see, he has had some right wing people on his podcast and he's not abandoning the crazy left positions, but he's at least putting on a show of I'll have a conversation. I'm not that crazy.

[Steve Hilton]

Yeah, exactly. And I think you should not underestimate him. I know him a little bit, obviously, watched him closely. And that's the point about him, is that he is like Kamala Harris before, like Joe Biden, like Karen. You know, these are machine politicians, okay? And they. And they will say whatever is politically expedient. But Gavin Newsom says it better than most, and so don't underestimate him. In a way, that's why I wanted. Not partly why I wanted to write the book is like, this is the record that he's presided over. It's a total failure on every front. So, yes, you can talk. I mean, a good example, the difference between talk and action. So he's on, you know, as Charlie Kirk on. And agrees how unfair is. Deeply unfair was his phrase about, you know, biological men and girls, sports. What's he doing about it? Nothing. He's the governor now. Next week in the state legislature, there are two bills up for a vote that would stop this madness. Is he going to wait? So far, he's avoided even talking about it. So you got to pin him down on the actions. And the actions that have happened in California have been a complete disaster.

[Clay Travis]

Putting out fires seems like maybe the number one thing that people would expect the government to be capable of and expect a government to be responsible for. The fire situation in the Los Angeles area seems to have been for many people, a recognition that the policy choices they make, Karen Bass, for instance, as mayor, have consequences. Do you get the sense that that could change political voting behavior? Or is it so ideologically committed at this point that people would have to recognize that they made poor choices? And lots of people don't want to acknowledge mistake. How do you get them to change? And how did the fires potentially impact that?

[Steve Hilton]

Well, that's the job of. Of campaigning and to bring that home. I mean, I can tell you right now, I'm working with Nicole Shanahan on a recall campaign for Karen Bass, because every day that she's there is a disaster. And one of the reasons that we're doing that is to show if we can. If we can pull it off, that the Democrat machine in California, that kind of Democrat industrial complex of the unions that fund the politicians and the far left activists and the bureaucrats and all that, that it can be beaten. And if we can do it there in Los Angeles for Karen Bass, I think that's a very encouraging sign that people are ready for change. Look, if we don't pull it off, I still think we need to fight. We need to make sure that people understand. I'll give you a story that's really encouraging. Huntington beach, not the biggest city in California, an iconic one, Surf City, USA. So just over four years ago, the council in Huntington beach was 6:1 Democrat. A friend of mine, Tony Strickland, put together a team of strong candidates. In 2022. They took control of the council 43 on a very strong conservative platform. They then implemented that. They had a lot of energy, just like you're seeing from President Trump right now. They cleaned up the streets. They cleaned homeless encampments, they prosecuted crime. They dealt with the nonsense in the schools and the libraries. They actually put in a ballot initiative for voter ID, which passed. Then in November, just now, in 2024, they put forward seven candidates as a slate. They called themselves the Magnificent Seven. To show you where they were coming from, they had a clean sweep. They won all the seats. So in four years, that city has gone from 6:1 Democrat control to 7:0 Republican. So it shows what can be done if you actually fight. And I think that's what we need to show across California. That's why I really do believe change is possible sooner than many people think.

[Ned Ryan]

Steve Hilton, everybody. Go check out the book Califalure, which also goes into Califuture. So it's not just the problems, it's also the fix. And, Steve, best of luck to you. Please come back and tell us how it's all going and hang out with us again soon.

[Steve Hilton]

Absolutely. Thanks, guys. See you soon.

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