Hour 2 - Awful Optics for Democrats

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 2 – Awful Optics for Democrats
Date: January 22, 2026
Host: Clay Travis & Buck Sexton
Producer: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton dissect the latest political and legal controversies confronting the Democratic Party, with a specific focus on the fallout from recent arrests of Minneapolis church protesters and the shifting media narrative. The hosts also spotlight new crime statistics highlighting drastic national reductions in murder rates during President Trump’s second term, framing them as a major accomplishment for his administration. Through call-ins and guest commentary, the show questions Democratic strategies, the enforcement of federal law, and the ability of political actors to respond to both optics and policy.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Arrests of Minneapolis Church Protesters: Democrats on the Defensive

• Incident Summary: Several protesters were arrested inside a Minneapolis church. Many expected Democrats to defend these individuals, but instead, there has been notable silence or condemnation.

• Political Fallout: Clay notes that even Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey condemned the arrests as inappropriate, yet no major Democratic figures have defended the protesters at a national level ([02:42]).

• Optics:

  • Clay suggests this is a “code red” for Democrats: “It feels like there has been a sort of code red ordered on behalf of Democrats to throw this crew to the wolves and not defend them, because I think they recognize the optics were so bad.” ([03:37])
  • Comparison to Past Incidents: Clay compares this to earlier cases (e.g., Milwaukee judge and ICE interference) where defense evaporated once video evidence emerged ([04:19]).

• Legal and Moral Angle:

  • Buck emphasizes the sacredness of religious spaces and the legal necessity to protect them:
    “If a church isn’t protected, neither is a synagogue, neither is a mosque … anytime you want attention you can interrupt a house of worship … Of course not.” ([05:23])
  • Buck argues the law is essential to prevent chaos and describes the protesters as “street Communists” suffering the consequences of a strategic misstep ([06:09]).

2. Trump’s First-Year Crime and Public Safety Achievements

• Record-Low Murder Rate:

  • Clay reads from Axios, highlighting that the U.S. murder rate in Trump’s first year of his second term is the lowest since 1900—an unprecedented national safety milestone ([06:35]).
  • Supporting Data: Murders fell 21% in one year (largest drop ever); aggravated assaults down 9%; gun assaults and robbery down 22% and 23%. Some cities saw murders fall over 40% ([07:08]).
  • Clay links improvements to Trump’s “law and order” stance and new border enforcement strategies.

• Democratic Response:

  • Buck argues opponents would “rather more people get shot and killed … than admit that Trump was right and that he’s saving lives.” ([09:57])
  • Clay adds a provocative claim about the positive impact on black communities:
    “No one has saved more black lives than Donald Trump. I mean, in the history of the presidency.” ([11:03])
  • Clay ties national safety to Trump’s “Making America Great Again”—not just a return, but “a new standard of excellence when it comes to safety” ([15:09]).

Notable Quote

• Clay Travis ([10:36]):
  "Do you know what Donald Trump has done? He’s actually proved Black Lives Matter because overwhelmingly the people whose lives were saved were black."
• Buck Sexton ([11:03]):
  "No one has saved more black lives than Donald Trump."

3. Media Coverage and Democratic Narratives

• Media Silence:

  • Clay repeatedly notes lack of coverage on MSNBC and CNN regarding the Minneapolis arrests:
    “It’s really as if they put the word out, ‘Hey, we’re just going to pretend this never happened.’” ([21:45])
  • Buck critiques left-wing media for their lack of self-awareness, highlighting hypocrisy related to ICE enforcement fears and protests that intimidate worshippers ([18:51]).

• Jacob Frey’s Critique of ICE Raids:

  • Clay plays a clip of Mayor Frey accusing federal authorities of terrorizing immigrant communities, which Buck refutes as political grandstanding ([19:31]-[20:35]).

Notable Quote

• Buck Sexton ([20:09]):
  "I think he’s just lying about everything at this point…They won’t even notify ICE."

4. Call-In Responses: Party Politics and Accountability

• Several callers express both support and dissatisfaction with Trump and the Republican Party.

  • Larry from Ocala criticizes the GOP for historically failing voters and claims Trump’s successes were “easily done”—suggesting only Trump had the courage, not the party:
    “We had been lied to over and over… The only way that we can stick our finger in the eye of the Republican Party is to vote for Donald Trump.” ([28:53])
  • Hosts Push Back: Clay highlights the significance of current accomplishments, arguing they are not easily replicated ([29:59], [32:04]).

• Legal Perspective from Maine Gubernatorial Candidate Bobby Charles:

  • Charles describes political interference with federal law in Maine (obstructing ICE), linking it to national trends and suggesting federal obstruction statutes may now apply ([25:18]).

• Columbus Caller Ransom: Urges for legal accountability for sanctuary city politicians and notes the impact of the Bud Light boycott as an example of public pushback ([33:00]).

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote/Highlight | |-----------|--------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:37 | Clay Travis | “No one is out there really defending these individuals who were arrested… Optics were so bad.”| | 05:23 | Buck Sexton | “If a church isn’t protected, neither is a synagogue, neither is a mosque… Of course not.” | | 10:36 | Clay Travis | “Do you know what Donald Trump has done? He’s actually proved Black Lives Matter…” | | 11:03 | Buck Sexton | “No one has saved more black lives than Donald Trump…” | | 19:31 | Jacob Frey (audio) | "This is about terrorizing people. This is picking Somali and Latino people up off of the street…" | | 20:09 | Buck Sexton | “I think he’s just lying about everything at this point…” | | 21:45 | Clay Travis | “There is a great deal of omission… MSNBC is not covering these arrests, CNN not covering...” | | 28:53 | Larry (caller)| “We had been lied to over and over…The only way…is to vote for Trump…” | | 32:04 | Clay Travis | “I think it’s hard to…if you had told me a year ago…lowest murder rate since 1900 and…zero people crossing [the border]…” | | 34:45 | Ransom (caller)| “Once one politician goes down, guess what? There’s a precedent… All these little people that think they’re great politicians, they need to be accountable…” |

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Minneapolis Church Protest Arrests – [02:42] to [07:00]
• Crime Statistics and Trump’s Impact – [06:35] to [13:13]
• Calls on Party Accountability and Sanctuary Policies – [25:18] to [34:45]
• Media Coverage Critique & Democratic Narrative – [18:51] to [22:34]
• Discussion of Filibuster & GOP Obstacles – [41:02] to [42:31]

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Style & Tone

• Clay and Buck maintain a conversational style that mixes sharp political critique with humor and incredulity.
• Their tone is unapologetically right-leaning, often provocative, and sometimes confrontational—especially regarding Democratic politicians and media coverage.
• Callers bring in a mix of frustrated, supportive, and candid perspectives that host Clay often challenges or elaborates on.

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Conclusion

This episode showcases Clay and Buck at their most combative and analytical, taking Democratic leaders to task for their handling of protest optics, celebrating Trump’s law-and-order record, and scrutinizing both party politics and media narratives. The discussion is data-driven yet colorful, punctuated by pointed listener call-ins and a few memorable one-liners.

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For listeners who missed the episode:
You’ll get a mix of hard data, behind-the-scenes political analysis, and caller passion; all wrapped in the hosts’ signature mix of humor and sharp-edged commentary. Notably, the episode’s centerpiece is the sharp decline in crime under Trump, which Clay and Buck frame as a historic and underappreciated achievement—and a major problem for Democrats as the election cycle heats up.

Transcript

[Buck Sexton]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Clay Travis]

That's odoo.com welcome in hour number two. Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. Okay, we got a lot going on. As has been the case for the last several weeks, Breaking news. Minneapolis church protesters have been arrested, several of them. There have been charges brought or attempted to be brought against Don Lemon, among others. There are reports from CBS News confirmed by the Daily Wire that a judge refused to sign the complaint allowing Don Lemon to be arrested. Jack Smith has been testifying. All three news networks have been covering his testimony. We will play some of it for you. But again, the Minneapolis News, I think, has taken precedence. And maybe the most surprising thing to me about this at all, Buck, is no one is out there really defending these individuals who were arrested. In fact, the opposite. And even Mayor Fry, who weighed in and said, this is a completely inappropriate arrest. It's the first comment that he has made at all about the protest inside of the church. But it feels like there has been a sort of code red ordered on behalf of Democrats to throw this crew to the wolves and not defend them, because I think they recognize the optics were so bad. In fact, yesterday, whether we believe him or not, remember, Don Lemon said he hadn't even seen the video of the protest from inside of Minneapolis when he was asked Gavin Newsom was at Davos about this incident. So it feels like maybe the politics on this are so bad that everybody is running from it. And I'm stunned, frankly, that there are no coverage on MSNBC of these arrests, no coverage on cnn, because if you remember, Buck, remember when that judge in Milwaukee got arrested for interfering with the ICE proceeding, and immediately it was everywhere, and they said, oh, my goodness, this is fascism and Trump. And then the video came out of the judge and everybody stopped defending her, and she was later convicted and she's no longer a judge. I do think this is maybe that where the video came out and Democrats just said, this is such a bad look for us. We're not even going to fight on this ground. Mayor Fry has. But I haven't seen anything of any significant nature from any sort of outspoken national Democrats on it.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, I think that they recognize this is a very tough one because like I said of the video and the fact that there are specific laws, and do they want to say that those laws shouldn't exist? You know, this is the next level of it is do we want to be in a country where, keep in mind If a church isn't protected, neither is a synagogue, neither is a mosque, neither is, you know, a Hindu temple. Go go down the list anytime you want to get attention for yourself and your lunatic cause you can interrupt a house of worship and cause a riot and shout at everybody and ruin their religious service because you feel like it. By the way, a black church, same thing. You know, if you're, if you're in this, if you're in the south and you're at a black church, should some maniac, you know, right wing, left wing, doesn't matter, be able to just shout down everybody in that black church and intimidate them? Of course not. So the law is actually a good law because we don't want what these morons did. They Clay, this was a huge tactical error on the part of the street Communists and they're paying the price because the Trump administration isn't playing games.

[Clay Travis]

Third arrest in the last minute. Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that a third individual is now in custody. Again, Politico has reported that there are seven arrests, seven charges, seven people charged. And that process is underway. We'll go to some of your calls here in a moment. But I did want to hit this too, off the second, top of the second hour because I don't think it's going to be talked about very much. And I actually think it is a tremendous accomplishment. One of the best accomplishments so far of Trump 2.0. I'm reading from Axios. Buck US murder rate hits lowest level since 1900. I want to repeat that because it should be everywhere. Everybody should be talking about this. The murder rate in Trump 2.0 year one just hit the lowest level since 1900. Murders fell 21% last year, the biggest one year drop ever. Likely the lowest rate since the year 1900. Axios data says the decline signals a complete reversal of the COVID era crime wave. Here are a couple of data points inside of this. Aggravated assaults fell by 9%. Gun assaults and robbery down 22% and 23% respectively. And in some cities, Listen to this. Buck murders fell 40% in Washington, D.C. do you remember when they told us that Trump surging resources in Washington, D.C. was going to have no impact? 40% in D.C. and in Omaha, Nebraska. Murder down 41% in Denver. And in general, the national murder rate is down to 4 per 100,000 people, the lowest level it has been at since 1900. This is a big deal, a really big deal. And I think it's a sign of Trump's endorsement of law and order. And it's having real impact already.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, I'm sure it's coming. Minneapolis right now is the focus, as is Greenland and the negotiations at Davos. But I think this White House is probably going to have a press conference in the days ahead where the first thing we hear from Caroline Levitt is going to be all these stats that you just shared. If they haven't done this already. Maybe I've missed some of this, but they should do that because a few things, one, they deserve, the administration deserves the credit for making a decision in the face of tremendous pushback. And also, this really matters. This isn't adjusting the marginal tax rate for a, you know, 12 month period until we figure out what the next appropriations bill is. This is saving people's lives. And so it's important that everyone understands. The old way of, sorry, we just have to have x hundred number of murders in this city or that city, because that's the way it is. Should no longer apply. What's even more, what's the word? Shocking, but maybe it shouldn't be shocking is Clay. All the people that were opposed to this should now be saying, wow, murders are way down. Trump was right. We should do more of this. But they won't because they would rather, I don't know how else you could frame this. They would rather more people get shot and killed in D.C. in, in Memphis and in all these different cities we're talking about. They'd rather more people get shot and killed because they don't have to see that and deal with it. If they don't live there or they don't live in one of the bad neighborhoods that admit that Trump was right and that he's saving lives. Think about that. Imagine that's where. That's your moral calculation because that's the calculation Democrats all across the country are making.

[Clay Travis]

And Buck, this is just going to be 100% true based on the data. Do you know, as we hit the lowest murder rate since 1900, do you know what Donald Trump has done? He's actually proved black lives matter because overwhelmingly the people whose lives were saved were black. Because overwhelmingly.

[Buck Sexton]

You got to get that on a T shirt, Clay. We got to sell the clay. Travis Trump has proven black lives matter.

[Clay Travis]

No one has saved more black lives than Donald Trump. I mean, in the history of the presidency. I don't know who was president back in 1900. But, but when you look, I mean, in all seriousness, it's, it's, it's unfortunate truth that the black murder rate that is people who are black, who are murdered is. I think it's 20x the white murder rate. I think that number is correct.

[Buck Sexton]

In other words, the victim's not perpetrator. Shocking, right? It's. It's. I think it's. It's 10x perpetrator, 20x victim rate, something like that. That's.

[Clay Travis]

You're about to. I think that's about right. We'll have a. We'll grock it. But I think you are 20 times as likely to be murdered if you are black as if you are white. So my point on that is when murder rates come down, they overwhelmingly are leading to fewer black murders because the numbers are statistically what they are. So if you truly believe that black lives matter, and you've been focused on it since George Floyd, no one has done more to save black lives as a president than President Trump has. And the reality is, what I. What I love about this, in addition to the fact that way more people are alive, which is a good thing. The D.C. numbers, Buck, we got lectured. So many journos came out and they said. They wagged their fingers, and they either said it's not actually that dangerous, because that's one of the things they would say.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, they tr. Then the national. You're right about this. But I think it's interesting, Clay, because remember, we talked about it. Journos who didn't live in D.C. wrong. D.C. is great. I went there on a school trip, and it was really nice.

[Clay Travis]

You know, they're super safe. I don't know what they're talking about.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, I went to a cocktail party once in Georgetown and didn't get shot. What a surprise. The. The actual journals in DC though, including some libs you remember, there were cracks, there were breaks in the ranks on this where they were like, yeah, no, it's really dangerous. They were the ones who live there. Some of them started speaking up because they were sick of being worried about getting robbed for their phone on their street corner in nice neighborhoods. So that was real.

[Clay Travis]

The numbers have plummeted 40%. D.C. murders overwhelmingly saved black lives in D.C. because almost everyone who dies of murder in D.C. is black. I mean, that is what the data actually reflects. Also, Buck, this ties in with what we're talking about in Minneapolis. Do you think that just maybe letting ICE go arrest violent criminals in the United States and put people on notice that they're coming for them might also have impacted in a significant way the overall murder rate that we saw happen in this country? I just think if. If you just objectively step back and just said, hey, let's look at what the data actually reflects. This is where I think President Trump is correct. He's not getting credit for having a transformative first year of his presidency when it comes to border security, when it comes to actual murder rates nationwide, when it comes to locking bad guys up. Think about this. No one alive listening to us today, this is pretty incredible. No one alive listening to us today has ever lived in a United States safer than last year in the United States. That's a pretty remarkable stat. Unless you were. Unless you're. I don't think anybody's 125 years old or 126 years old right now. Then none of us have ever been alive in a United States that was safer than President Trump's first year in 2025. And it's a remarkable turnaround since 2020, when the murder rate skyrocketed, that we now have gone to a level of safety that no one living today has ever seen before. You know what I might call that, Buck? Making America great again.

[Buck Sexton]

In fact, it's not making America safe again. For sure.

[Clay Travis]

Making America safer than it's ever been before. We're not even going back to the word again. We're going to a new standard of excellence when it comes to safety in the country. I. This should be the number one story everywhere in the nation right now, and I bet many of you will not hear it, but for having heard us talk about it. And we'll take some of your calls. We got loaded lines, by the way. Everybody wants to weigh in. We'll take your calls when we come back. Stick with us if you would, and we'll continue to update you on that Minneapolis situation. But in the meantime, I want to tell you prize picks. I've got a pick for you. NFC Championship Game. The Seattle Seahawks are hosting the LA Rams. And I've got Matthew Stafford to throw more than one and a half touchdown passes. And I've got Sam Darnold to throw more than one and a half touchdown passes. If I am correct in that pays out at 2.75 to 1, that is $5 becomes what, probably $14, nearly triple your money. And when you play $5 for the first time, guess what you get $50 deposited in your account that you can use when you play. $5. You can play in all 50 states. Bucks in Florida, he can play. I'm in Tennessee, I can play. You can play out in California, you can play in Texas, you can play in Florida. All over the country. Get hooked up [e-mail] code clay that is pricepix.com code clay. Go sign up. You're gonna love it. Pricepix.com code clay stories of freedom. Stories of America. Inspirational stories that unite us all. Each day spend time with Clay and Bob. Find them on the free iHeartrad radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in here to Clay Anne Buck. You know one thing that you're seeing is a lack of self awareness for many of these Democrats, whether it is the Mayor of Minneapolis or the people talking about this on Ms. Now and other left wing channels, they don't, they don't understand. They'll talk about how upset they are that ICE is making people afraid, but they forget that they just had a bunch of lunatics who share their beliefs go into a church and terrorize people. But here's Jacob Fry, who is, who is really leaning into this stuff. This is cut 24. He's saying that the reason ICE is in Minneapolis is just to create fear. Play it.

[Clay Travis]

They're saying this about murderers and rapists. And like, if it were, again, there would be very obvious mechanisms to work together. This is not what it's about. This is about terrorizing people. This is picking Somali and Latino people up off of the street that are American citizens. This is discriminating only on the basis of. Are you brown? And then virtually no discrimination thereafter, which.

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[Clay Travis]

Is resulting in people that are completely innocent. Completely American citizens have done nothing wrong whatsoever getting detained, getting ripped apart from their families.

[Buck Sexton]

I think he's just lying about everything at this point. Like there's no reason, there's no rhyme or reason to it other than say as much negative stuff as you can about the opposition. He just said there are ways to work with them on these. No, they won't. The whole point is they won't work with them if they have a murderer in custody who has. Or an alleged murderer who has an ICE detainer on him, Clay, they will not hold him and Jalice picks him up. They won't do it. They won't even notify ice.

[Clay Travis]

Well, this is why I've said I don't understand how that's not an obstruction of federal immigration policies. I mean, on its most basic level, when you have a argument that you are not going to enforce federal law, we have a supremacy clause for a reason. Federal law dictates. It was frustrating when Biden was in charge that states that disagreed with his immigration policies, like Texas, were helping.

[Buck Sexton]

I think you get into omission versus commission here, right?

[Clay Travis]

As in, well, you can't.

[Buck Sexton]

It's one thing to do something to prevent someone from doing what they need to do, but you. Look, this was pretty, pretty rough, but I thought this was going to happen. One of the cops in Uvalde who just sat there while kids were dying, little kids, not got found not guilty of child endangerment, many counts of it. So there's no level of cowardice which you can be punished for as a civilian even, or rather as a law enforcement officer in this country. You can be the biggest coward in the world. Little kids can be dying and you're there. You have a job. You're sworn law enforcement. You have a gun. You do nothing, you will not be punished. But again, omission versus commission, the failure to act is something that is rarely punished.

[Clay Travis]

No doubt. By the way, I know I said I'd get to your calls. I 100% promise we've got loaded lines. I will get to all of you when we come back. On the flip side here, 800282 2882. As you hear people drop off, you can hop on, but we will get to all of those calls. And again, Buck, what I would say is most interesting. You talk about omission and commission. There is a great deal of omission when it comes to nobody covering this. Like MSNBC is not covering these arrests, CNN not covering these arrests. It's really as if they put the word out, hey, we're just going to pretend this never happened. This is not the battle we want to fight because these protesters who stormed the church must be an awful look for Democrats in their own count.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Promo code buck welcome back in Clay Travis. Buck Sexton show Politico has now updated their story to say Don Lemon was not charged. We told you. CBS News reported and Daily Wire confirmed, confirmed that a judge had refused to sign off on the complaint to allow Don Lemon to be arrested. To be arrested. But Attorney General Pam Bondi just posted last few minutes that a Man named William Kelly had been arrested. He is the third individual arrested for going into this church. And I believe we have the audio. I'm just trying to make sure that I get the number right here. Here is cut 36. One of the Minnesota church protesters. Yesterday, he taunted Attorney General Palm Pam Bondi and dared her to come arrest him. 36. So you know Pam Bondi, you want to come and arrest me, you want to come and give me charges, so be it. And for all the people getting, you know, giving me death threats, threatening my life, kill me. Go ahead, kill me. Because you know what, as Fred Hampton said, you can kill the revolution missionary, but you can't kill the revolution.

[Buck Sexton]

All right, well, not the thing you want to be saying about the AG right now.

[Clay Travis]

There's a couple of other clips of him taunting, taunting Pam Bondi. I don't think that went very well for him. Bobby Charles, running for governor in Maine. He's been waiting a while to come on with us. Thank you. And I think you have a big legal background. If I remember from our last conversation. Have you heard of a judge like in Minneapolis, as reported by CBS and Daily Wire refusing to sign off on a complaint for charges to be brought? Do you, have you experienced that in your career?

[Bobby Charles]

Actually, no, I never have. I, you know, politics has infused itself into the judiciary now in ways that it never was before. And I was a litigator in New York and in Maine and in D.C. and I clerked on the Ninth Circuit U.S. court Appeals. I never saw a judge not sign off on a valid complaint and particularly a complaint from the Attorney General of the United States. I, I just, you know, to be honest, I called in with just two simple points and I just leave your listenership with them and I don't want to take up your line. In addition to the fact that we are up by double digits in this state and very likely to become the next governor. The first point is that we are living Maine is the next Minnesota. A spoiler alert. We are living in a state here in Maine where the governor, the Secretary of State and others, including down to the mayor level, are provoking, in my opinion, violence. Our Secretary of State blocked the issuance of undercover license plates for ICE last week. She directed that anybody who sees ice, that is a government employee needs to let her know, presumably so if you stalk and then, then she can tell the so called nonprofits that are involved in fraud and illegal immigration up here that they can harbor those people, get them out of the. And the third thing she did is she directed our DMV employees, even though there's a federal statute saying that they should and can report illegal aliens to ice, that they not do so. So, you know, the second big thing I'm just going to say, and it's very simple, is we're living in an environment nationwide. Minneapolis happens to be the current flashpoint. It may well be that Lewiston, Maine, or Portland, Maine, become the next flashpoint in which you have leftist groups and leftist officials who are, who are literally in the business of trying to incite without appearing that they're inciting. And I will tell you that as a former litigator and as a former federal investigator, I did the Waco hearings. I was one of Newt Gingrich's top investigators for five years. We have a statute, it's an obstruction statute, 18 U.S.C. 1501, 1505, 1510, which is interference with criminal investigations that I think we're at the moment where the federal government should look at these not just private individuals and not just these nonprofits pushing illegal aliens, but look at people like the Secretary of State, Maine, who incidentally is leading on the left to become the governor. And I think she hasn't got a chance. But on the other hand, the machine is strong here. She is provoking people in such a way that I think it violates 18 USC 1510. And I think, you know, at a certain point, you have to at least alert people that if you are obstructing justice intentionally out there trying to rile people up, that there are federal consequences.

[Clay Travis]

Well, thank you for the call. I love this. How can people who are in Maine right now listening to you and saying, boy, that sounds good. What can they do to help?

[Bobby Charles]

Well, we are, I mean, we are just charging ahead. This, this campaign has gone vertical. It's the first time since 1962 that it looks like we could even get a majority rather than a plurality victory and win the House and Senate so this state could turn red. I encourage them all to bobby for maine.com Every dollar counts on the Jimmy Stewart guy in this, not the Mr. Potter. So every dollar counts. And again, it's just bobby for maine.com.

[Clay Travis]

Thank you, sir. Good luck. We want you to continue to fight the good fight up there, Larry. And Ocala, he's not happy. Ocala is a great place in Florida. You spend any time there, Buck?

[Buck Sexton]

I've never been to Ocala.

[Clay Travis]

It's a good spot. What do you got for us, Larry?

[Caller Larry]

Man is great. It's good weather. Getting a little too big, but you know, everywhere is, I guess, especially in Florida, man, I think people are missing why we voted for Donald Trump the first time in the first place. We had been lied to over and over about repealing Obamacare. We're going to shrink the size of government, we're going to reduce spending. Republicans lied to us and lied to us and lied to us. And then they gave us, you know, Ted Cruz, they gave us Marco Rubio, they gave us all these other candidates that we, you know, that we were going to pick from, that are conservatives. And we said no. And we said the only way that we can stick our finger in the eye of the Republican Party is to vote for Donald Trump, the guy who acted like a Democrat, but it was a closeted conservative, which was.

[Clay Travis]

Okay. So let me, let me ask you this. I got you, Larry. You're not happy with Trump first year?

[Caller Larry]

No, not at all. Not even a little bit. Now you have to take out all the things about the border and all this kind of stuff. Those are easy problems that we have.

[Clay Travis]

Larry, hold on, hold on, Larry, let me pause you here for a sec. I would suggest shutting down the border and making it the most secure it's ever been in the history of our country. And also, if you were listening earlier, having the lowest murder rate in the country since 1900, record high stocks prices. I would suggest those are pretty good accomplishments in general and not that easy to do or else we would have done them before.

[Caller Larry]

Easily done. Trump did it in less than a year. Very easily done. The difference is the Republican Party don't want it. They don't have the stomach for it. They just won't do what's required to be done. And also, whenever they pass a tax cut, they make it permanent for the corporate class and then make it temporary for the taxpayer. And then, then they come back and say, well, in order to keep the tax cuts, we got to make this big, massive spending bill.

[Clay Travis]

So you would. So, okay, let me ask you this, Larry. If it were 20, 24 all over again, you would not vote for Trump based on what you've seen so far in year one?

[Caller Larry]

Well, let me ask you a quick answer to my.

[Buck Sexton]

Larry, come on.

[Clay Travis]

Who would you vote for? Are you a white dude for Harris? Do you think Kamala would have done a better job?

[Caller Larry]

Your argument, the argument for the two party system is old and outdated. We can no longer say that. Oh, well, if you can't vote Republican, who are you going to vote for?

[Clay Travis]

Okay, I'm just asking you if you could go back in time, you're unhappy. But I'm just saying if you go back in time, you would not vote for Trump because you're so unhappy with this year.

[Caller Larry]

I would not vote for Trump for this reason. I'm a service technician by trade. I diagnose problems and then create solutions to fix them. It's what I do for a living. The first thing we have to do is diagnose the problem. And the Republican Party not listening to its voters is the problem. And once we have that.

[Clay Travis]

Thank you, Larry. Thank you, Larry. Thank you, Larry. I appreciate you diagnosing the problem.

[Buck Sexton]

I like Larry's passion.

[Clay Travis]

I do like Larry's passion.

[Buck Sexton]

I think he's not the guy you Want to call it 2am if your H Vac goes down, though, I feel like he might be pretty ticked off.

[Clay Travis]

I would just say, look, there is a segment I looked at. What's the number there? There's something like Trump has the highest approval rating among Republicans I think that he's ever had in his entire political career. Right now. That doesn't mean that everybody is in the still Trump camp, but I really think, I mean, again, the lowest murder rate since 1900, a completely secure border, a record high stock prices, rapidly accelerating growth rate in the country, and inflation that has come down. I think it's hard to. If you had told me a year ago that we were going to have the lowest murder rate since 1900 and that we would have zero people crossing illegally into the country, I would have thought that was very, very difficult to accomplish. And Trump has done it. In fact, I wouldn't have said there's no way that's going to happen. Ransom in Columbus, Ohio. Ransom.

[Caller Larry]

You guys got the golden microphone and Rush would be proud of you.

[Clay Travis]

Thank you.

[Buck Sexton]

Thank you.

[Caller Larry]

Just, just a couple comments. As far as Minnesota goes, they're doing the hearings in Washington. All the state politicians are testifying with, you know, being sworn in for perjury if they lie. And every one of them have come out and said that they believe that Walls and the AG knew that all this fraud is going on. So I, I would say that I would like Pam Bondi to do conspiracy charge against both of those guys and then she should take on French fry mayor there in Minneapolis because once one politician goes down, guess what? There's a precedent. And Clay, you're a lawyer, you know that if you have a precedent for one thing, then it's easier to try the next case. And I would like them to come and get my mayor in Columbus, Ohio, because he's labeled as the sanctuary and the chief of police and they said on video, and you could check it out, that they said in no shape or form are they going to help ice. And we just had a big raid there. So all these little people that think that they're great politicians, they need to be accountable to the voters who gave them their trust. And I appreciate you guys and I. The last thing I want to say is, can you beat the ban on the Bud Light thing that you did about a year ago? Because you guys kind of hammered that thing and next thing you know, Bud Light conformed to the will of the people. We need to get our federal judge in there, drop him, have a great three years here and all. Then you won't have these problems with these magistrates not signing off for the right thing. And I appreciate you guys, thank you.

[Clay Travis]

Well, thank you for calling. He had a lot of things there. I do think in the years ahead, what he, what he pointed out about Bud Light, I think it was one of the most transformative, consequential, anti woke responses that we've seen on any level. And I think it changed fundamentally the way that most, not all, but most companies in America do business and dragged everybody back to the middle part of the country and sanity as opposed to insanity. Look, what he's hitting at is I think a real question that is very valid and that is how in the world can mayors and governors defy federal law and do the sanctuary city aspects? It was one thing when Biden was in office and you could then say the immigration policy somewhat signed off and agreed on those. I think it's a real question that's valid across the country and we will see. I will just say buck as we go to break here and you take us out. But one of the most interesting things about these arrests in Minneapolis, Democrats are on their back heels and they're not fighting these arrests at all. I think the protests in Minneapolis, which they thought initially were going to benefit them quite significantly. Maybe the numbers they're seeing nationwide aren't reflecting that. Most Americans agree that these protesters are making the Democrat Party look better. And now that it's starting to get super cold in Minneapolis, I wonder whether the word is going to go out. Hey guys, this is not the win that we thought it was going to be because they're not standing up for these guys getting arrested right now at all.

[Buck Sexton]

Look home. Break ins occur twice every minute on average nationwide. Now, Trump's done a lot to bring down the murder rate nationwide, which is fantastic. But unfortunately there's still a lot of burglary, a lot of home invasions that happen, and that's just the reality of the country we're in for the foreseeable. So you need to tend to your own defense, that of your family, your household. And Saber has the best non lethal products on the market for this. The Sabre Home Defense Launcher, for example, has seven powerful pepper projectiles that will stop the threat in a non lethal fashion. Because when you need to defend yourself, having extra stopping power can change everything. And protection doesn't stop at your front door when you're on the move. Saber pepper sprays, pepper gels and stun guns give you compact, reliable protection wherever life takes you. When safety matters, America chooses Sabre, the number one brand trusted by law enforcement and people nationwide. Sabre is how it's spelled. S A B R E S A B R E. Don't wait for a close call. Get protection now@sabre radio.com that's S A B R E radio.com or call 844-824 safe.

[Clay Travis]

You ain't imagining it. The world has gone insane. Reclaim your sanity with clay and bun. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. We'll get to some of your talk back, some of your your thoughts, your calls, all of that good stuff. Want to remind you there's some great stuff happening on the video side of things now with this show, YouTube. Go to YouTube.com Clay and Buck Baby Speed makes appearances. Ginger Spice back after her 90s retirement. This is a very different pop superstar. This one a Labradoodle, but she and then Clay will occasionally just borrow a cute nearby baby that's a friend of his. And you have great stuff that happens on the video stream as a result of this. So go check out the you, plus the actual commentary from the show and everything else. YouTube. Please subscribe. There. Also a little plug for Crockett Coffee. We're going to do a special book situation for Crockett. Still getting that go. But it's for the subscribers. Gotta subscribe to some Crockett coffee. My Crockett delivery, I think, is actually arriving next couple of days. I drink it every morning. It's delicious. So does Carrie.

[Clay Travis]

You'll love it drinking it right now.

[Buck Sexton]

There we go. Clay's even wearing the T shirt. Not in fact, affiliated with Representative Jasmine Crockett. So this is what we got going on. Oh, and Katie Zachariah will be with us. Talk about California. Gavin Newsom and all of that good stuff. CC Podcast listener Rob from Arizona wants to weigh in on the talk back. Play it.

[Clay Travis]

That last caller is spot on. The Republican Party GOP is not for their voter base. They are not. They are playing games and they're working with the Democrats to obstruct Trump. Most of these people know what they're doing. We all can see it. That last caller is spot on.

[Buck Sexton]

I like the last caller's passion. Ok, but I need to know what like I'm not saying it's you're wrong. I just we need to speak in specifics here. Things like the GOP is obstructing Trump where? And again, I'm not saying that there's not an answer to it, but I need, we can address obstructing them how? By, by not doing what? Now, if you're going to say things like blue slip laws or not law, rather blue slip process in states, not a law important. If you're going to talk about not getting rid of the filibuster, I think.

[Clay Travis]

It'S only the, I think it's pretty much only the filibuster, honestly.

[Buck Sexton]

Ok. And this gets into the conversation about strategy and the conversation is if we, if we get rid of the filibuster, what are we going to do? And then what are the Democrats going to do when eventually they're in charge? And which one of those is going to have a more long term, either positive or negative impact on this republic of ours? Clay, you know, I personally, I feel like the filibuster is going to go one way or the other, but it's a little bit of a game of chicken out there. Like who wants to be the first one to pull the plug?

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, look, and my concern is that, well, we'll talk about the filibuster a little bit when we come back. By the way, Katie Zachariah is going to be with us. Remember, the only reason that Biden and wasn't able to further destroy the country was because the filibuster existed, because otherwise he would remember he wanted to spend 5 trillion more dollars than he did. And it was only because you had the craziness from Kirsten Sinema relative to Democrats. Kirsten Sinema and the, and the guy from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, who said, no, we're not going to spend the 5 trillion. They wanted to eliminate the filibuster then. So yes, that is a real debate, that's a real discussion. I think it's an interesting one. When we come back, Katie Zachariah and more hanging with you.

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