Hour 2 - A Dark Network

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 2 – A Dark Network
Date: September 16, 2025
Host: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle current U.S. crime trends, focusing notably on the fallout from recent high-profile assassinations, including that of Charlie Kirk, and the involvement of dark online networks like Discord in radicalization and planning. The hosts also scrutinize political responses—especially Donald Trump's crime intervention strategies in cities like Memphis—and discuss the implications of judicial decisions in major murder cases. Listener calls from Memphis and analysis of radical online communities highlight the disconnect between public perception, law enforcement, and real-world policy responses.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Crime Surge and Federal Response in Memphis

• Background: Memphis is flagged as having among the highest violent crime rates per capita in the nation, compared with other embattled U.S. cities (St. Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, Kansas City, Baltimore), and also with cartel-warped cities in Mexico and South Africa.

• Trump’s Approach:

  • Following accusations that Trump only deployed federal help to “blue” cities, he now announces the Memphis SAFE Task Force, surging federal resources into crime-ridden Memphis, Tennessee—a “red state.”
  • Quote – Trump (cut 29, 04:48):

    "I'm signing a presidential memorandum to establish the Memphis SAFE Task Force...because of the crime that's going on, not only in Memphis, in many cities, we're going to take care of all of them step by step, just like we did in D.C."

  • Governor Bill Lee expresses gratitude for federal support and the multi-agency approach (Tennessee Highway Patrol, local police, FBI, U.S. Marshals).
  • Quote – Gov. Bill Lee (cut 31, 05:32):

    "We realize that this effort of multi agencies...can make significant change in our city."

• Analysis:

  • Clay, as a Tennessee native, describes the rapid decline of Memphis vs. the growth of Nashville, attributing Memphis’s spiral to unchecked violent crime.

• Notable Commentary (06:16–13:46):

  • Clay: “Nashville has just left Memphis behind.”
  • Buck: “It’s just completely out of control.... Why should we have failed cities?”

  Memorable Moment:
  Clay’s personal anecdote about shockingly high risk in Memphis, being advised not to visit gas stations after 8:30pm—“My neighborhood in the Nashville area is filled with successful Memphis refugees...just said it's not safe to raise families here.” (10:35)

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2. Comparison to Global Cities and the Failed City Paradigm

• Buck draws stark lines between American cities like Memphis and global hotspots wrecked by cartel violence or failed governance, emphasizing:
  • “We’re not a failed state. Why should we have failed cities?” (09:12)
  • “The efforts to demonize Trump over this...they are just failing. And Democrats are floundering on this one.” (13:49)

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3. Update on the Luigi Mangione Case (United HealthCare CEO Murder)

• A judge in NY (Gregory Caro) throws out top terrorism-related murder counts against the accused assassin of UnitedHealth CEO, Luigi Mangione, keeping only a second-degree murder charge.
• Buck’s Reaction:
  “Okay, so this judge is a moron. Yes, so the judge is a moron. That was quick. Yeah, the judge is an idiot.” (20:55)
• Public outcry as left-wing supporters chant “Free Luigi” outside the courthouse:
  • Clay: “A lot of people defended it on the left and said, well, insurance companies are really frustrating, so the CEO should have expected that he might get killed.” (21:59)
  • Both hosts highlight the absence of equivalent right-wing mob support for murderers.

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4. Assassination of Charlie Kirk & Dark Online Networks

• Focus on the investigation into the online Discord chat tied to the Kirk assassination.

• Cash Patel (FBI Director) Congressional Testimony:

  • The FBI is investigating not just the killer but all members in the suspect’s Discord group—possibly many more than the 20 originally thought.
  • Quote (25:39):

    "It's a lot more than [20 users]. And we're running them all down." (26:47)

  • Digital evidence is being secured for potential prosecutions; all funding links are under scrutiny.

• Follow the Money Angle:

  • Patel: “I've always said we follow the money…we are reverse engineering to hold those accountable...to who funded them and knowingly funded them.” (28:52)
  • Buck notes that the weapon used wasn’t exotic or expensive, questioning whether cash is just making a general warning or signaling a specific funding trail.

• Discord’s Role and Online Radicalization:

  • Clay and Buck explain Discord as a private, largely unmoderated message board system—potentially the “dark network” for conspiratorial or radical chatter, like the old jihadist chatrooms.
  • Buck: “Discord may be kind of the wild west a little bit. That's the sense you get.” (36:37)
  • Reportedly, the assassin confessed his act on Discord, suggesting a powerful sense of belonging within these toxic online groups.

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5. Public Reaction and Memphis Listener Calls

(Segment start: 41:54)

• Caller 1 (Guy, Albany, OR):
  • Recalls a time when Memphis was safe and lively in the 1980s, questions how things deteriorated so dramatically.
  • Clay points to a gradual, then rapid, decline after 2000 as Nashville rose and Memphis fell, largely due to out-migration of those with means.
• Caller 2 (Chris, Memphis, TN):
  • A 27-year-old Black resident, Chris, says the out-of-control crime spike started circa 2016–2017, emphatically welcomes Trump’s intervention.
  • “Yo, we really do need help because it's crazy that we were top 5, top 10 in murder rate.” (44:59)
  • Both callers reinforce the hosts’ diagnosis: Memphis is a failed city in urgent need of outside help.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Clay Travis:

  “Nashville has just left Memphis behind.” (06:16)
  “This is a failed city and it's failed because Democrat leadership has allowed it to occur.” (11:26)

• Buck Sexton:

  “Why should we have failed cities? It shouldn't be this way.” (09:12)
  “The Discord may be kind of the wild west a little bit. That's the sense you get.” (36:37)

• President Trump:

  “I'm signing a presidential memorandum to establish the Memphis SAFE Task Force...step by step, just like we did in D.C.” (04:48)

• Cash Patel (FBI):

  “We're running them all down. Every single one.” (26:49)
  “I've always said we follow the money.” (28:52)

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Key Timestamps

• 04:48 – Trump announces Memphis SAFE Task Force
• 05:32 – Gov. Bill Lee thanks Trump and details multi-agency approach
• 10:35 – Clay’s personal anecdotes of Memphis’s decline
• 13:09–13:46 – Memphis’s per capita murder rate vs. New York
• 20:15 – Update on Luigi Mangione murder case, dismissal of terrorism charges
• 25:39–26:49 – Cash Patel testifies on Discord investigation
• 28:52 – “Follow the money” on left-wing funding of terrorist acts
• 36:37 – Analysis on Discord as a “wild west” for radicalization
• 41:54–45:20 – Memphis callers describe lived experience of the city’s crime crisis

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Conclusion

This episode presents a sobering portrait of urban American decay, the politicization of crime and justice, and the increasingly important role of dark digital networks in violent radicalization. The hosts assert that robust, federal interventions—led by Trump—are welcomed both morally and politically by besieged communities. At the same time, revelations of online conspiracies and calls for platform accountability highlight the ever-growing complexity of fighting violent extremism in the digital era.

Listeners in Memphis and across the country are left with a sense of urgency for bigger solutions and a warning about the unchecked rise of hidden, toxic online ecosystems—a “dark network” endangering both public and political life.

Transcript

[Tristan Redman]

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[Asma Khalid]

America is changing and so is the world.

[Tristan Redman]

But what's happening in America isn't just the cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.

[Asma Khalid]

I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, DC.

[Tristan Redman]

I'm Tristan Redman in London and this is the Global Story.

[Asma Khalid]

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[Tristan Redman]

Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Clay Travis]

Now you can stream Fox News live on the Fox One app. Stay on top of breaking news and the biggest stories live as they happen. All from the Fox voices you trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find anywhere else.

[Buck Sexton]

Start your 7 day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox one for complete terms and conditions. Fox One we live for live stream streaming now.

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[Clay Travis]

Learn [e-mail] appreciate all of you hanging out with us. We're continuing to discuss the awful fallout of the Charlie Kirk assassination last week, and we will continue to do that during the course of the program. But Buck, I thought we could jump in here a bit to another interesting decision that is taking place, which is having driven down crime substantially in Washington, D.C. and the numbers are pretty extraordinary when it comes to violent crime by surging National Guard troops and by bringing to bear more resources to Washington, D.C. trump, a lot of Democrats started saying, well, Trump only is doing this in blue areas, right? And the reality is cities which overwhelmingly have Democrat mayors are where there are huge rates of violent crime. But Trump, I think, has responded in an actually very smart way that continues to be beneficial to the country. And he has said, look, here's what we want to do. We are going to go into a red state, happens to be my home state of Tennessee, and we are going to go into Memphis, which has, according to much of the data out there, among the highest rates per capita of violent crime anywhere in the country. And we are going to surge support in the city of Memphis. Senator Blackburn came on with us yesterday and talked about this. Senator Hagerty in Tennessee are in favor of it. Bill Lee, the governor of Tennessee, they were all in the Oval Office with Trump yesterday. And, and here is Trump saying, cut 29 I am signing a presidential memorandum to help try and make Memphis safer.

[Donald Trump / Bill Lee]

Cut 29 today, at the request of Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee, who's standing with us, as you know, I'm signing a presidential memorandum to establish the Memphis SAFE Task Force. And it's very important because of the crime that's going on, not only in Memphis, in many cities, who are going to take care of all of them step by step, just like we did in D.C. we have virtually no crime in D.C. right now and we're going to keep it that way. So our nation's capital, we're going to keep it that way or we're going to federalize it if we had to, but we don't have to anymore because it's in such great shape.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so that's cut when we play this, too. This is the governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee, saying thank you. It's time to address crime in Memphis.

[Donald Trump / Bill Lee]

Cut 31 thank you for your commitment for federal resources to the great city of Memphis. And it is a great city and it has a great history and a great legacy. And we are very hopeful and excited about the prospect of moving that city forward. I've been in office seven years. I'm tired of crime holding the great city of Memphis back. And I have spoken today with the director of the U.S. marshals, with the director of the FBI, with General Bondi. We realize that this effort of multi agencies that will combine the work of the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the local police departments, when we come together, we can make significant change in our city.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, Buck to me, more good results for President Trump. This is. I'm a born and raised Tennessean. I've been to Memphis a lot over my life. Nashville and Memphis used to have a rivalry. I know we've talked about this. Lots of different states have multiple big cities. I know a lot of y' all listening. In Texas, for instance, Houston and Dallas used to be a rivalry. What's the better city in Tennessee, Nashville or Memphis? Nobody even talks about it anymore. Nashville has just left Memphis behind.

[Buck Sexton]

And a big reason why for Memphis, because of the crime rate, which everyone's very aware is just completely out of control. You know, there's only a couple of US Cities that sometimes make these lists of the most dangerous per capita. Now, war is a different thing. Right? But we're talking about criminal murders, not, not, you know, armed gang, armed, you know, militaries. Some of the only cities that make it onto those lists are Memphis, St.

[Clay Travis]

Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, Kansas City. There's relatively few.

[Buck Sexton]

There's only a few of them that get on these lists. By the way, I was curious about this. Do you know what has the. Just interesting data as I was pulling this, as we're talking about this. Well, what country has the city with. You won't guess the city because it's very obscure and I know a little bit about it. So I'll get into a second. But what country do you think has the highest per capita murder rate in the world?

[Clay Travis]

For a city, I would think somewhere in, well, probably Haiti.

[Buck Sexton]

That's interesting. I think that Haiti is off the list because I don't even think that they are able to keep, I mean.

[Clay Travis]

Port au Print because there's no central government.

[Buck Sexton]

No, it's true.

[Clay Travis]

There's no. Basically just run by gangs.

[Buck Sexton]

You know, I had a guy who was in my, my pistol instructor course who's, who's law enforcement and he's, you know, Haitian American. And he said that he used to, because he grew he grew up there. He became a U.S. citizen. And he said that he used to go there and because he knew people and everything else, he felt comfortable visiting his family, he'd be armed. And I said, do you go back now? He goes, he goes, no, because now it's like there are technicals, like people with the trucks with the heavy machine guns and there's roving. He's like my carrying a pistol there means nothing. Everyone's got machine guns and there's no. There's basically no central government. So Haiti is kind of in its own category. It's a failed state. So I don't think that, like, I don't think they know what the Port au Prince murder rate is because I don't think anyone's counting. Sudan, Mexico.

[Clay Travis]

Mexico because of narco terrorism.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. It's Colima is the city in Mexico, which is kind of down a bit. And the reason that it's such if the last couple of years it is the site of all out cartel wars because it has access to a port on the Pacific side of Mexico, which is where all the precursors are coming in for. So control of that port is essentially control of, you know, and that's a.

[Clay Travis]

Big de facto war in.

[Buck Sexton]

So it's a narco war. To be fair, there is something of a narco war going on there. Tijuana, Mexico has a super high murder rate. Some cities in South. South Africa have very, very high murder rates per capita. But again, bring us back to the U.S. context. It's New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis. You know, Baltimore sometimes gets on there. And this is just a list. I bring this up, Clay, because this is a list that no American city should be on. I think once. The reason I bring up these other places is, yeah, okay, Colima, Mexico, some little city. It's a site of a narco turf war where they're just. People are blasting each other in broad daylight all the time. It's crazy. We're not a failed state. Why should we have failed cities? It shouldn't be this way. And I think that's what Trump has. He's changing the thinking about this. And with DC was a perfect place to start. And you and I have lived in D.C. so we've experienced this. Anyone who lives in D.C. is like, this place is too violent, too dangerous. I mean, there's some great things about D.C. but the crime rate is unacceptable. And I think he's won this argument. Remember Mario Bowser, who I said in the beginning, actually likes the idea of getting some help? She's been pretty supportive of. Well, supportive is maybe too strong, but.

[Clay Travis]

Passive in criticism, not publicly antagonistic consistently, which is I think what the Memphis mayor said.

[Buck Sexton]

Also.

[Clay Travis]

I was on Fox News talking about this earlier this morning. Memphis used to be a great city and the people of Memphis deserve to have security. A lot of people who can flee that city have. My neighborhood in the Nashville area is filled with successful Memphis refugees raising families who just said it's not safe to raise families here. A lot of people who could leave and can't afford to leave have left Memphis. And to me, this is a, this is a sign of Democrat failure because they've had, I don't know, the last time Memphis had a Republican mayor, but it's just gotten progressively worse and worse. And we have right now, I believe, maybe the highest rated show in Memphis. So there are a lot of people, you guys could load up the lines, I'm sure just from Memphis right now that are saying hallelujah, thank you. I told you this last year, Buck. In March, I was in Memphis for an athletic event for, for my son. They were playing a private school there. The lady was like, what she told you in St. Louis when you were visiting St. Louis? The lady at the front desk told me to be careful going out, to go to a gas station to buy a charger at like 8:30 at night. I mean that, that is the degree of crime and violence in Memphis that going to a gas station in decent neighborhoods after dark, not late at night, 8:30 when you leave the hotel, they're saying, hey, you've got to be careful. They also have. I knew Memphis was going into a tailspin, Buck. A few years ago I was in Memphis and I was doing an event. And if you ever go to a hotel that basically locks down at night, you can't get in a lot of Memphis hotels after 10pm without going through security. Even high level Memphis hotels. This is a failed city and it's failed because Democrat leadership has allowed it to occur. They aren't doing their job of taking violent people off the streets and keeping them there. Memphis police, remember the Tyre Nichols case, just vanished. But that innocent guy's driving gets the crap beaten out of him by Memphis police. Because all the cops were black and because Tyre Nichols was black, that story just vanished. It was worse by far to me than the George Floyd case. But because it was not a racial element to that case, it, it just vanished. Again. Not every cop is perfect, but I think it's instructive of the collapse that we've seen in law and order in.

[Buck Sexton]

Memphis, I always think of when New York was at its absolute worst for homicides. Early 90s, 1991, over 2000. If you were to, on a per capita basis look at Memphis in 2023 had 397 homicides. Clay, that means that if Memphis in 2023 was this, you know, per capita, the size of New York, New York is about 12ish times the size, let's just say. So we'll say 10 plus, you're looking at 4,000 murders.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, it's crazy.

[Buck Sexton]

4,000 murders. If you were to be the size of New York City. To put it in perspective, Memphis has.

[Clay Travis]

More murders than New York City overall. Straight up.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, straight up.

[Clay Travis]

Straight up.

[Buck Sexton]

Which is. So it clearly has more than 10 times the murder rate. And that's just unacceptable. And the efforts to demonize Trump over this, I really think that they are just failing. And Democrats are floundering on this one. They don't really know how to handle it. Because what is the argument that we should have a great city with its heritage and music and rock and roll and all this? That is on the list for, along with, like, narco war places and parts of South Africa where people have to hire, like, private security details and have, you know, flamethrowers on the sides of their cars to stop carjackings. Like, this is not. This is not what it should be. And I think that Trump taking this on makes a lot of sense. And also it would just be good. It's just the right thing to do.

[Clay Travis]

Yes. And I think Trump has innately gotten this and the criticism of Democrats of, well, why are you just focusing on D.C. i think Trump has said, you know what? Good point. We need to do this lots of places. So Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans, St. Louis, Kansas City, you name it. Detroit. When you look at these cities that have incredibly high per capita violent crime rates, let's address it and try to solve it, at least drive it down massively like we have seen take place in Washington, D.C. i think this is something where we've talked about it. Trump's political instincts are strong here because crime is out of control in the mind of many Americans.

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[Clay Travis]

And so fixing it is something that a politician should do. It's also morally the right thing to do. It's awfully oftentimes a great situation when the political and the moral come together and demand and beg for the exact response that we are seeing from President Trump in Memphis. So if you're in Memphis and you want to react, I'm curious how conversations in Memphis are going about this and I am cautiously optimistic. This is going to go really well. Look, we're about to to roll into another week of college football, another week of the NFL, and you guys know that I love Prize Picks. In fact, I've got a big debate with Stephen A. Smith. It's going to be live in about what, two and a half hours from now. And the Prize Picks crew is up to watch that debate. I think they're going to enjoy it. They are fantastic supporters of this program and they want you to just have a little bit more fun with football. Price picks available in 40 plus states California, Texas, Georgia if you're feeling left out. Simple stats, easy to play. The most fan friendly app to make picks all transactions on the app Fast, safe and secure. All you have to do is pick two or more players across any sport. Click a button more or less on the projections. If you're right, you can cash in. We won week one. Derek Henry let us down in week two. You can get hooked up right now on Price Picks. When you play $5, you get $50 instantly, win or lose. 50 bucks just for signing up and playing. Why not try it out? I promise you're going to enjoy it if you like football. Price Picks code clay that's pricepicks.com code clay go there today. $50 when you play $5. Join us for the Thursday play. I'll give it out to you on the air on Thursday. Pricepix.com Code Clay want to be in the know when you're on The Go the Team 47 podcast drop highlights from.

[Buck Sexton]

The week, Sundays at noon Eastern in.

[Clay Travis]

The Clay and Buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Asma Khalid]

America is changing and so is the world.

[Tristan Redman]

But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.

[Asma Khalid]

I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. i'm.

[Tristan Redman]

Tristan Redman in London. And this is the Global story.

[Asma Khalid]

Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection where the world and America meet.

[Tristan Redman]

Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[NFL Shop Advertiser]

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[Clay Travis]

Now you can stream Fox News live on the Fox One app. Stay on top of breaking news and the biggest stories live as they happen, all from the FOX voices you trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find anywhere else.

[Buck Sexton]

Start your seven day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to FOX one for complete terms and conditions. FOX one we live for live streaming now.

[Propane Advertiser]

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[Buck Sexton]

To Clay and Buck. We've got an update on a different assassination case than the one we've been very focused on for the last few days, the Luigi Mangioni case, the alleged assassin of the United Healthcare CEO. And I just want to update you. Well, first update you on what happened and then you'll hear about what it sounded like outside the courthouse here in New York where we are for this week. A judge has thrown out the top counts in Luigi Mangione's state murder case, rejecting claims the accused killer can be charged as a terrorist. And a huge blow to prosecutors. Judge Gregory Caro tossed charges of murder in the first degree as an act of terrorism and murder in the second degree as an act of terrorism against the 27 year old. He did keep alive the other second degree murder charge for allegedly executing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4th of 2024. Let me see. The people presented sufficient evidence that defendant murdered Brian Thompson. That does not mean the defendant did so with terroristic intent. Okay, so this judge is a moron. Yes, so the judge is a moron. That was quick. Yeah, the judge is an idiot. And speaking of idiots, here is outside the courthouse when the top counts were dropped against this guy, this is what it sounded like to a bunch of people or from a bunch of people gathered. Free Luigi.

[Clay Travis]

Free Luigi. Free Luigi.

[Buck Sexton]

Free Luigi. I have a lot of feelings about this, Clay. One thing is, you know, the whole both sides ism, not a single Trump voter in that crowd, I can assure you, not one. It's all leftists, all Democrats.

[Clay Travis]

Well, this is where I think a lot of us, and I'll put myself in this camp, became aware of the uniquely toxic environment on the left when just down the road from where we are doing our show, you can almost see the location of this assassination of the United Healthcare CEO. A lot of people defended it on the left and said, well, insurance companies are really frustrating, so the CEO should have expected that he might get killed and even said it's a good thing. And they tried to turn Luigi Mangione into a heartthrob because remember, it took multiple days to catch him because he had done the shooting wearing a mask and immediately fled. There's the bike racks right outside the front of this building where he grabbed a bike and then vanished.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, we're right here in midtown near where the assassination occurred. So we know that street very well. And I just, I think about one the, the assassin of Charlie Kirk, him and his. Which we'll talk more also about. They're looking into who else knew and what did they know and was anyone aiding and abetting in any way? We'll get to that in the third hour. But Clay, they certainly were aware of these in the discord chats which I was learning about what this court is. Certainly were aware of Luigi and wasn't the joke, wasn't there a joke made, you know, don't go to a McDonald's or something among them because that's where Luigi got caught, I think.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, that's right. He got turned in by a guy who recognized him at a. I think it was a Pennsylvania era area, kind of rural location where the guy recognized him. And I just again, there. To your point, there is no equivalent to this on the right. I can't remember a situation like this where we've seen a reaction.

[Buck Sexton]

Right wing people don't cheer. Don't cheer for murderers. That's just the reality in America today. All right, mark my words on this. Two weeks from today, September 30th, you'll be hearing a whole lot more about the size of our federal government deficit. That's because that date marks the end of our government's fiscal year and our Congress has not yet passed a budget bill for the following year. Will the next budget push our federal deficit higher? If so, that's only going to benefit the price of gold. It's going to go up again whether you do it as a hedge against inflation or just because, you know it's time to diversify. Birch Gold Group believes every American should own physical gold until September 30th. If you're a first time gold buyer, Birch Gold is offering a rebate of up to $10,000 in free metals on qualifying purchases. To claim eligibility and start the process, request an info kit now. Just text my Name Buck to 989898 +BIRCHGOLD can help you roll an existing IRA or 401K into an IRA in gold and you're still eligible for a rebate in free metals of up to $10,000. Diversify with gold like I do. Text My name Buck to 98.98.98. Claim your eligibility today. Again, text Buck to 9898 98.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us. We are here in a New York City city down in D.C. cash Patel, director of the FBI is testifying on Capitol Hill. And this came out a little bit earlier. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri was asking Cash Patel, hey, we know that this one guy has been arrested, that he is a left wing zealot and there are lots of suggestions out there that many people in the trans community may well have known that this attack was coming based on different social media posts, different activity out there. The investigation is ongoing. But this question cut 40 I believe is from Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri for Cash Patel. Listen to the answer. Here it is.

[Cash Patel]

In terms of what we do for an interrogation perspective, we go and reach out to the family and community immediately and we've conducted those investigations and interrogations with local law enforcement and we're continuing to do that because those closest to the suspect are going to hopefully know the most about the suspect and his beliefs and his Ideology. On top of that, unfortunately, it has been leaked that there was a Discord chat. And for those unfamiliar with it, it's a gaming chat room online that the suspect participated in. So what we're doing, we've already done a sort of legal process, not just on Discord, so that the information we gathered is sustained and held in a evidentiary posture that we could use in prosecution should it be decided to do so. And we're also going to be investigating anyone and everyone involved in that Discord chat.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, very good.

[Buck Sexton]

I see the public reports that the.

[Clay Travis]

Discord thread had as many as 20 additional users. It sounds like you're trying to run down all of that to see if that's accurate. Who else may have been on that thread, what they may have known? Is that fair to say it's a.

[Cash Patel]

Lot more than that. And we're running them all down.

[Clay Travis]

It's a lot more than 20.

[Cash Patel]

Yes, sir.

[Clay Travis]

And you're running all of that together?

[Cash Patel]

Every single one.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so one of the challenges here, Buck, and again, that's Cash Patel responding today, testifying on Capitol Hill is going to be did people know or did they not know about this plan? Because there are a lot of social media posts saying that something was going to happen to Charlie Kirk on that day. Now, what we don't know, Buck, to be fair, is Charlie Kirk speaks all over the place. Are posts like this common? In other words, were death threats against Charlie Kirk so common that people regularly said, oh, something's going to happen to Charlie when he speaks at this location or that location. I'm sure the FBI is looking into it. But the trans universe out there, that is the people that are connected to this trans individual that the alleged killer was living with, seems fairly substantial. And many of those people were very active. And they tried to scrub a lot of the commentary by deleting accounts and by deleting comments that were posted? It's going to be a big part of this investigation, I think, to find out how many people might have been involved or had pre existing knowledge of this assassination attempt.

[Buck Sexton]

They're going to look at everything they can and get into these Discord chats. The thing about all these electronic communications is that people think that they there's security on them, meaning you can say things and the authorities won't find out. No, they can get into it and they will. They'll get into all these different servers and see what was said. And they'll also, I think, chase down additional leads as well. There's been discussion from Cash Patel, about funding for this incident or anything similar to it. Any left wing terrorism that is out there, they want to see who is funding this stuff. I think that's also very important. Cash saying that we are in essence we are going to. Here you go. Actually, this is cut one. Would you guys play this one for me? I wanted to pull this one up. Here's Cash saying they're going to go wherever the money takes them.

[Cash Patel]

I've always said we follow the money. And whether it's terrorism or attacks based on ideology or attacks on institutions of faith or people of faith, someone's paying for it. And we are reverse tracing those steps. We are not stopping at the perpetrator themselves. We are reverse engineering to hold those accountable in our investigations to who funded them and knowingly funded them. And we will bring the appropriate steps against them with our partners at doj.

[Buck Sexton]

So that's interesting. Follow the money. Terrorism or tax based on ideology, someone is paying for it. Is. Is he speaking, Clay, you think just in general about these kinds of violent incidents or is there something about this one in particular? Because the rifle that was used, you notice there's not much of a talk about gun control because oh, of course, if you try to ban this rifle you're banning. I mean this is a. Basically an old school bolt action hunting rifle is essentially the murder weapon that was used here, the assassination weapon that was used. So that's not, you know, there's nothing about that that is expensive or sophisticated or out of the ordinary. I think it's interesting. I'm not sure if Cash is just speaking about this to set a general tone that for any of these incidents and if there's going to be in the future, let's say antifa or transfer riots in neighborhoods, are they being funded by some of these shadowy carve outs that have tie ins to anybody funded by Soros or whatever it may be, or is there something about this that they're specifically looking at a money trail? That's for him to bring this up. I just think it's interesting that he's talking about money in this incident. Whether, whether there's anything that they've seen that makes them think. Because they're looking for coconspirators, they're looking for people that knew. They're looking at all these different aspects of it. I wouldn't think the logistics of this would require financing really. It's not like, you know, jihadist terrorists. You have to get. Maybe they're getting fake passports and they're getting plane tickets and they're coming over here or whatever. But there is stuff we clearly don't know yet and that even the FBI doesn't know they're trying to chase down.

[Clay Travis]

Isn't it interesting to a large extent that the mass protests have not existed for year one of Trump? I know there have been some. They had that one. No Kings Day or whatever it was.

[Buck Sexton]

But it's kind of a dud, sad.

[Clay Travis]

Exclamation kind of a dud. The anti Trump protests on Inauguration Day. You and I have talked about being in the midst of those and how sad and muted they felt. It was cold.

[Buck Sexton]

We want to give those old ladies a cup of hot Coke.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, like I just, I felt like they needed bigger coats.

[Buck Sexton]

Their purple hair was turning into icicles. It was sad out there.

[Clay Travis]

I walked into Fox News today And there were eight or so bedraggled protesters, all 75 or older, standing outside of Fox News protesting. It is to me somewhat intriguing that all of the counter protests to Trump have kind of dried up. And the reason why, I wonder is did blm, did a lot of people suddenly realize that they were going to get looked into in a real way because remember how suspicious it always was? Some dump truck would pull up and suddenly there would just be bricks that were able to be picked up and two by fours and other objects of violence that just materialized for everybody. There are a lot of paid protesters. I think a lot of us have come to recognize that there are many people who paid to show up. But it does feel like those overall what they tried to label organic protest have suddenly vanished. In Trump 2.0 there was a clearly.

[Buck Sexton]

A rent a mob phenomenon that had had occur left wing protests. I think that's definitely the case. I also think that now when they look at the places where this stuff is being organized and, and planned out, it is in places like these discord chats. This has become, and I think the perfect example is neither you nor I, who are very Internet aware and active are on Discord or doing any of this stuff. Certainly not on Twitch. But if you were to think about where do people in Antifa and where do those kinds of radicals find each other? I mean, I go back Clay, to the old jihadist chat room. This was something that for a long time and a lot of the counterterrorism investigations of the call it the 2010s around there, it all started with people who found each other. This is now jihadist terrorism we're talking about. But they found each other on a chat and then maybe they started Attending the same mosque. They'd try to go to a more radical mosque. And then maybe they would start doing a little bit of firearms training together or talking about how to build a bomb. And they would share articles from Inspire, which was Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's propaganda arm, slash, telling people, go, go do terror attacks. Here's how you do it. Right. But they were finding people in these chat rooms is the point. And that. And then it became very clear over time, FBI and other entities are very actively monitoring any terrorist conspiracies going on there. And I think that they're going to find a lot of really scary and, and, and very likely illegal stuff being discussed when they start to look at the. Because these things tend to be linked to each other.

[Clay Travis]

Right.

[Buck Sexton]

This group is talking, maybe this group also has this other group and they, they communicate in this online ecosystem.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I think what you're going to find with Discord, and I know a lot of you are not hyper online necessarily listening to us, but you basically have a series of private message boards. And I think when they now know that this Discord group chat that Cash Patel referenced exists, I think there's going to be a lot of people saying, wait a minute, to what extent should Discord chats?

[Buck Sexton]

Right.

[Clay Travis]

Like, again, I understand this is getting in the weeds a little bit for some of you, but Reddit is a public forum. Twitter is a public forum. That is, everybody can see what is posted on these things. So if, if you or I are.

[Buck Sexton]

Tweeting at somebody, hey, let's get the rent a Mob together to go, you know, go bash some windows down at this place at this time, guess who else is seeing it?

[Clay Travis]

The cops and everybody, so that, that they can track. But I wonder to what extent there's going to be questions now raised about private message board servers in Discord and the conversations that are being facilitated inside of that marketplace does that because it's bringing strangers together. And. Well, this is what I mean about.

[Buck Sexton]

The old, the old school jihadist chat rooms.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

This is where people would find each other online.

[Clay Travis]

That's right.

[Buck Sexton]

And then that's the format that would be the formation of the cell or the formation of the sort of radicalization process would start there and then things would follow on to that. Then the action would come. Instead of the old school chat room, which, you know, now it's this, specifically these Discord servers.

[Clay Travis]

So I wonder how much of an investigation is going to go on here. And I think you're raising good, interesting questions, which are how much of these private conversations in a public forum. Discord is a company that is hosting and making money off of these. How much of them are incredibly toxic and how many of them are criminal in nature? And what is the responsibility of Discord when it comes to monitoring in some way those conversations and. Or for authorities to monitor those conversations?

[Buck Sexton]

I wonder what kind of, what do they call it when they, you know, they have the people like.

[Clay Travis]

Moderating.

[Buck Sexton]

Thank you. Moderating. Because Facebook and these and these other major platforms have gotten far more savvy about moderation. They've. They've had to, but they also, I'm sure, using not just algorithms, but AI increasingly to do this stuff. Discord may be kind of the wild west a little bit. That's the sense you get. Right. It may be almost like an anything goes in this chat room. And these people feel like no one else is going to see this or find this. And as the FBI starts to kick over some of those stones, we could see some really ugly stuff.

[Clay Travis]

Also, reportedly, this assassin confessed in Discord.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

That would suggest that he sees this group as profoundly connective tissue for him. And to your point, I wonder how much of the toxicity that we are seeing is emanating from these toxic people finding each other and driving each other to additional forms of radicalism by trying to normalize the hate that they are experiencing. Again, there's lots of hate on all sorts of social media sites, but I think there's a difference between public, that is what everybody can see, and private, which is taking place on these Discord chats. We'll talk about this. We'll play some of your talk backs when we return. But in the meantime, when your cell phone service with Pure Talk, you're getting the best price and quality service. Pure Talks coverage, same towers, networks, big carriers, but at a fraction of the price. My two oldest boys have pure talk phones for just 25 bucks a month. You can get unlimited talk, text, plenty of data on America's most dependable 5G network, and the average size family of four can save up to $1,000 a year when they switch to Pure Talk. How much difference would an extra thousand dollars a year make at the end of the year for your family as it comes up on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's with Pure Talk's US Customer service team, you can also switch hassle free in as little as 10 minutes. You can keep your phone and your phone number, and you can dial £250, say the keywords clay and buck to make the switch to save an additional 50 off your first month. Again, that's £250, say clay and buck to start saving today. Pay for what you need while not paying for things you don't need. Pure Talk Wireless by Americans for Americans.

[Buck Sexton]

News you can count on and some laughs too. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

[Clay Travis]

Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Asma Khalid]

America is changing and so is the world.

[Tristan Redman]

But what's happening in America isn't just the cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.

[Asma Khalid]

I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, dc.

[Tristan Redman]

I'm Tristan Redman in London and this is the Global Story.

[Asma Khalid]

Every weekday we'll bring you a story from this intersection where the world and America meet.

[Tristan Redman]

Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Clay Travis]

Now you can stream Fox News live on the Fox One app. Stay on top of breaking news and the biggest stories live as they happen. All from the Fox voices you trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find anywhere else.

[Buck Sexton]

Start your 7 day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to FOX one for complete terms and conditions. FOX one we live for live streaming now.

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[Buck Sexton]

To Clay and Bach. We'll take some calls and talk backs now. I want to hear from all of you also momentarily. I believe they're going to be announcing the official charges against the assassin of Charlie Kirk. So that will be happening here momentarily and we will bring that to you live if, if that is, if that does in fact happen. Just a few minutes. So we'll get to calls first here. Guy in Albany, Oregon, guy, what's going on?

[Caller]

Hey, guys, thank you so much. My heart's just broken for Charlie and especially his family, his little kids.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Caller]

Anyway, I want to talk about Memphis. I just couldn't believe that I got out of Navy boot camp in early 1980 and got sent to Millington, Tennessee, which is just very close to Memphis. We had base buses that would go back and forth over there all the time. We had so much fun down in Overton Square so late at night and everything else. Even watched Van Halen live way back then. That's when Roth was still with them. And we walked all over through that town. There was never anything going on except just a lot of fun. They wanted people to come in and have fun.

[Clay Travis]

Yep.

[Caller]

I'm just wondering what the heck happened to Memphis? When and how did this get so freaking crazy that now, you know, that's.

[Buck Sexton]

That'S an interesting question, guy. Thank you for calling in. I'll put this to Clay because he's our resident Tennessee expert. Did Memphis have a downturn period where it was clear that it, you know, was it like the 90s or when, when did it start to become so dangerous?

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, it's a good question. I think it was, you know, what's the great line from Hemingway about how you go bankrupt?

[Buck Sexton]

Bankrupt, rather.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. Gradually and then all at once. Yeah, it progressively got worse. And I remember going to Memphis again. I've been going my whole life. I really started to note Nashville and Memphis moving in opposite directions in a big way around 2000. And it was as if every year Nashville got better and Memphis got worse. Because as a kid in the 80s and the 90s, you would go back and forth kind of good naturedly over Memphis or Nashville, which is better. And about 2002 or 2003, that argument just ended and it is just precipitously gotten worse. I think what's happened, Buck, is a lot of the people with substantial assets, resources and the ability to move, they left.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, it creates a vortex effect. It keeps getting worse. Chris lives in Memphis, wants to talk to us about it. What's going on, Chris?

[Caller]

Yeah, hello. Can y' all hear me?

[Clay Travis]

We got you.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, we got you.

[Caller]

Oh, yeah. I'm just 27 year old black man from Memphis, man, and this, this, the crime is, it's getting out of control.

[Clay Travis]

I'm sorry, when did you. Sorry to cut you off, Chris. Buck asked a question. When did you notice it starting to get really bad there? You're 27.

[Caller]

I'm gonna say about 2016, 2017.

[Clay Travis]

And you want more resources there to help Memphis people?

[Caller]

Yeah, I mean, yo, we really do need help because it's crazy that we were top 5, top 10 in murder rate.

[Buck Sexton]

Yep, it's nuts. Yeah. Chris, you know, the, the Trump cavalry though, I think is coming. I think he is going to really try to help your city and that would be a great thing. I assume you agree with that.

[Caller]

Yes, sir, I do an rip. Charlie Kirk, man.

[Buck Sexton]

Absolutely. Chris, thank you for calling in from Memphis. Appreciate you listening. Thanks for, for waiting to get into the conversation here. We are going to have these charges announced, I believe shortly. And also more on this Luigi Mangione situation. That's all coming up in just a moment.

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[Clay Travis]

Now you can stream Fox News Live on the Fox One app. Stay on top of breaking news and the biggest stories live as they happen, all from the Fox voices you trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find anywhere else.

[Buck Sexton]

Start your seven day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox One for complete terms and conditions. Fox One we live for live streaming now.

[Asma Khalid]

America is changing and so is the world.

[Tristan Redman]

But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.

[Asma Khalid]

I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. i'm.

[Tristan Redman]

Tristan Redman in London and this is the Global Story.

[Asma Khalid]

Every weekday we'll bring you a story from this intersection where the world and America meet.

[Tristan Redman]

Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[NFL Shop Advertiser]

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[Clay Travis]

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