Hour 2 - Call in the Guard!

Summary

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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 2 - Call in the Guard!
Date: September 2, 2025
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts

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Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton dive into the surging crime rates in major U.S. cities, particularly focusing on Chicago and Washington D.C. They analyze political responses to the crisis, including debates over federal intervention, the effectiveness of Democratic vs. Republican leadership on law and order, and the public's hunger for safer communities. The hosts also explore the political implications of these issues, touching on voter shifts and intra-party conflicts. Listener interactions and local anecdotes further enrich the discussion.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Strategy and the Politics of Crime

• Buck Sexton opens by crediting former President Trump for making crime in D.C. a “big political winner” by both taking action and “forcing Democrats to defend the indefensible” (01:04).

  • “He is putting wins up on the board while also encouraging…Democrats to defend the indefensible.” – Buck Sexton [01:14]

• Chicago crime as an emblem:

  • 50 people shot, 8 fatally, over Labor Day weekend, described as “out of control” but not abnormal for the city (02:21).
  • “These numbers are out of control…there are a lot of weekends where you have 30 shot, 40 shot.” – Buck Sexton [03:21]

2. Media and Political Responses

• Joe Scarborough’s comments on MSNBC:

  • Advocates for bipartisan partnership to address crime, suggesting Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker should work with Trump to save lives while respecting federalism.
  • “Let’s work together to save lives.” – Joe Scarborough (clip) [04:17]

• Hosts discuss the significance of Democratic voices echoing Trump’s line:

  • Clay notes losing MSNBC personalities to Trump-aligned talking points signals a weakening of the anti-Trump media narrative.
  • “If you are losing Joe Scarborough on msnbc…that to me is a sign that the virulent Trump is Hitler agenda … doesn’t rate anymore.” – Clay Travis [05:14]

• Contrast with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s opposition to federal involvement:

  • “No federal troops...No militarization force in the city of Chicago. We’re going to defend our democracy…” – Mayor Johnson, quoted [07:14]

  • Buck calls this “meaningless community organizer slogans,” adding, “It will do nothing to bring down the murder rate, nothing to address the crime rate.” [07:32]

3. The Realities and Logic of Safety

• Clay & Buck discuss what real safety means for Americans:

  • The ultimate test: “Are you comfortable with your wife, your girlfriend, your daughter, your granddaughter going for a jog at dusk in a neighborhood?” – Clay Travis [09:39]
  • Many listeners, even in cities like St. Louis and Memphis, would not feel safe (multiple anecdotes, 11:44–12:12).

• Calls for State or National Guard deployment

  • Clay expresses support for drastic measures: “If I were the governor…I’d be considering calling in the National Guard to deploy…in Memphis and say we’re not going to allow Memphis to have a murder rate that is basically 20x what’s happening in New York City.” [12:20]

4. Political Consequences and Shifting Voters

• Buck predicts Democrats will be forced to “co-opt” crime and border security issues due to mounting public dissatisfaction.
• Growing support for Trump among Black voters:
  • “Over 20% of them [black men] voted Trump in 2024...That’s a real conversation that’s taking place now in the black community.” – Clay Travis [14:17]

5. Listener Responses & Community Anecdotes

• Listners share personal stories:

  • One describes being warned about the dangers of 79th Street in Chicago, challenging public officials to ride those routes without security (36:51–37:54).
  • Another shares experience on city council, noting that black community members are often the most concerned about local crime (38:13–38:49).

• Hosts urge politicians to “walk the streets” without a security detail to gauge genuine safety.

6. New York City, Mayoral Politics, and Leftist Policy Debates

• Debate over NYC’s political future:

  • The hosts discuss Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams, and the danger/capabilities of a potential leftist mayor, Zohran Mamdani (22:58+).
  • They scrutinize whether Mamdani would actually implement radical policies if elected—Clay doubts Mamdani has the management skill to do so, Buck suggests even incompetence could be “helpful” in preventing bad policies [29:06–33:30].

• Historical context:

  • New York's turnaround with Giuliani/Bloomberg, the decline under De Blasio, and the current state under Adams.
  • “[Bloomberg] was a fantastic mayor and people can say what they want…they would not say a bad word about Bloomberg full stop.” – Buck Sexton [32:36]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On crime statistics and city size:
  • “Chicago’s not that big. It’s 2 million people…New York is 8.5 million by comparison…50 is a lot in a weekend.” – Buck Sexton [02:40]
• On the core public safety test:
  • “The test of whether a neighborhood is safe is…are you okay with your wife…going for a jog at dusk…” – Clay Travis [09:39]
• Calling out hollow leadership:
  • “Just slogans, meaningless community organizer slogans that will do nothing to bring down the murder rate.” – Buck Sexton [07:32]
• On the difference in perspectives:
  • “Are you speaking from the perspective of someone who spends most of the year at their house in the Hamptons… or [from] a member of the community in a high-crime area?” – Buck Sexton [38:49]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:04 – Buck credits Trump’s approach to crime
• 03:21 – Outrage at Chicago’s crime statistics
• 04:17 – MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough suggests bipartisan efforts
• 05:14 – Clay assesses media narrative shifts
• 07:14–07:32 – Chicago Mayor Johnson’s stance, Buck’s critique
• 09:39 – Clay’s “jog at dusk” safety litmus test
• 11:44–12:20 – Host anecdotes about urban danger
• 14:17 – Clay on Black voters moving toward Trump
• 22:58+ – Analysis of NYC mayoral candidates and leftist threats
• 36:51–37:54 – Caller: challenge to politicians to ride dangerous Chicago bus routes

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Listener Interaction Highlights

• 18:13 – A caller stresses black residents’ desire for security aligns with common sense measures.
• 38:13 – “It was the blacks around here saying, we want to stop the crime.” – Wade, Fayetteville, NC

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Tone & Style

Clay and Buck utilize a conversational, often humorous style, blending anecdotal evidence, direct listener feedback, and pointed political commentary. They operate from a perspective critical of progressive policies and highlight the disconnect between left-leaning elites and urban communities facing crime.

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Key Takeaways

• Violent crime in American cities remains a crisis that resonates across racial and political lines.
• Trump and Republicans are successfully leveraging crime as an electoral issue; Democrats may be forced to moderate their public stances.
• There is broad, bipartisan public desire for tangible action to restore basic public safety—sometimes even support for deploying State or National Guard.
• Political elites and media figures may be out of touch with the lived reality in high-crime neighborhoods.
• In cities like New York, voters face a potential shift to more left-wing leadership, but questions remain about the efficacy and practical impact of such candidates.

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Transcript

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome in second hour of Clay and Buck. It kicks off right now. Thanks for being here with us. So as we know, a major push by this Trump White House. The President himself has been on the issue of crime in D.C. we spent a lot of time on it and I think so far it has been a big political winner for Donald Trump because he's doing two things simultaneously. It's a brilliant Trump move. Brilliant Trump move he has. He is putting wins up on the board while also encouraging, in essence, because he pushed for it, Democrats to defend the indefensible. So it's coming at this from two sides. One is it's just the right thing to do. It's a good thing to do. Make people safer. Bring down the murder rate, bring down the carjacking rate. Yay. We think we'd all be on board for that, right? But two Democrats go, hey, like, so there's a lot of murders in D.C. i mean, who doesn't have this problem? Well, a lot of places don't have the problem. But you know what I mean? They're trying to suggest like no big deal. And in the process everyone looks at them, including some Democrats look at them and say, what is your problem? Like, we, we actually want fewer murders. We, we need to be a party. Some places it has to be, which one of us is better at achieving the desired goal and the murder rate should be one of them. Are Democrats or Republicans better at bringing this down. It shouldn't be. Democrats are the. This is pretty good. And Republicans are. No, it is not, because it is clearly way too high in D.C. and it's clearly way too high in Chicago as well. Over the weekend, 50 people shot, 8 fatally. Over Labor Day weekend, 5, 0. 50 people were shot in the city of Chicago. Chicago is not that big. It is 2 million people, about 1.8 million, I think, Clay, is the number. New York is 8.5 million by comparison. So Chicago is. Is it. Is it still larger than Houston? Houston is like its own. You know, you can like, drive for.

[Clay Travis]

An hour and a half and still.

[Buck Sexton]

Be in Houston, I think, technically. So it's a little tough to metro areas.

[Clay Travis]

It's still New York, LA, Chicago, 1, 2, 3. I think Houston and Dallas are 4 and 5, if I'm not mistaken, again, on the metropolitan areas.

[Buck Sexton]

But again, Houston, it's like. What is Houston? Well, it's a very big place. So 50 people shot. That's too many people. I think we're all clear on that. It's not like this is aberrant numbers for Chicago either. This is some random. No. On Labor Day weekend, you go back, there are a lot of weekends where you have 30 shot, 40 shot. I mean, these numbers are out of control. And it was very interesting to me, Clay, this morning, sure enough, on good old msnbc, there was a conversation that was happening, and it was Joe Scarborough who. We'll get into this. Reaching out, in essence, to the Democrat intelligentsia, including the governor of Illinois, of course, includes in its environs the city of Chicago, saying that it is time to partner up with Trump on the issue of crime. This is on msnbc. Play for.

[Joe Scarborough]

I actually think that JB Pritzker should do something radical. I think he should pick up the phone, call the president and say, you know, and I know you don't have the constitutional authority to deploy the National Guard here and to police my. You can do that in D.C. you can't do that in Chicago. But let's partner up. These are the most dangerous parts of my state. We would love to figure out how to have a partnership that's constitutional, that respects the sort of balance of federalism between the federal government and the state government, and let's work together to save lives.

[Buck Sexton]

That sounds entirely reasonable, doesn't it, Clay? It sounds like the kind of thing that somebody who might be trying to make a. Make a move to be a voice to bring the Democrats not toward the center but towards sanity, would be making good old Morning Joe. I think he sees Elaine Clay, he's.

[Clay Travis]

Wrong saying the President doesn't have the authority. He's 100% right with everything else he said, this is what should happen. This is to be, to give her credit, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser seems to be doing to the best of her ability an attempt to work with Trump to make Washington D.C. safer. And I don't understand why anyone out there would be trying to prevent the President from making his or her city or state safer than it otherwise would be. And we have here is Brandon Johnson, the mayor of Chicago, contrasting with the reasonable take that we just heard. That's what you would have heard on msnbc. Worth noting that if you are losing Joe Scarborough on msnbc, how many MSNBC viewers might be hearing somewhat same takes suddenly as part of Trump 2.0. That to me is a sign that the virulent Trump is Hitler agenda. Leave aside the fact that we all know it's a lie. It doesn't rate anymore. It doesn't actually motivate the viewers.

[Buck Sexton]

Even you have Morning Joe there. Joe Scarborough himself, who remembers a former Republican so he can play. You want to talk about code switching this guy, he'll switch jerseys, he'll switch, you know, whatever was going to.

[Clay Travis]

He wrapped the Florida Gulf coast, one of the most beautiful places in the country, I believe. I'm not mistaken.

[Buck Sexton]

So he would have been the 30A congressman, right? I mean, he would say that at one point, right? I think so, yeah. As close as God's country. On the Gulf of America, no less. On the Gulf of America. He would have been a congressman for it. But there's that position. And then you get the more hardcore left wing Democrat position here from Chicago. Mayor Johnson, this is cut 5. Here's the other approach to Chicago. Play it.

[Clay Travis]

No federal troops in the city of Chicago. No militarization force in the city of Chicago. We're going to defend our democracy in the city of Chicago. We're going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago.

[Buck Sexton]

Just, just slogans, meaningless community organizer slogans that will do nothing to bring down the murder rate, nothing to address the crime rate. I mean, somebody should just ask, somebody should ask the mayor of Chicago. Is 50 people over the weekend shot in your city too much? Do you view that as an urgent problem, sir? And try to pin him down on this? Because he would just go back into the slogans.

[Clay Travis]

Clay, I don't understand what the audience is for arguing. We're going to stand up to the president trying to bring more law and Order to cities that 81% of Americans believe have too much violence, 99% of Americans believe have some form of violence. That's too much. I don't understand who is out there. Again, this ties in buck, with the argument we saw from Mayor Karen Bass where she just said the quiet part out loud. She said, well, we can't have more police and more National Guard troops because then too many black and brown people are going to get arrested. So you really have the argument being made of, well, there's gonna be too many black and brown people arrested. So that's why we don't want more law and order in the city. But what about all the black and brown people who are going to be victims if these people are not arrested? That is the immediate question that's begged. And I think the vast majority of people out there, regardless of your background, want your kids to be safe and want to be able to walk in the streets and not worry about it. I have said for a long time, to me, the test of whether a neighborhood is safe is are you okay with your wife, your girlfriend, your daughter, your granddaughter going for a jog at dusk in a neighborhood like if, if you're, if you're a woman who is significant in your life or a girl who's significant in your life, goes outside and it's 6pm and she's like, hey, I'm going to go for a jog for 30 minutes. Are you comfortable with her doing that? It should be the point. It should be the case that everywhere in America, we are comfortable with that happening. But right now, tons of you listening, you'd say, yeah, my daughter, she can't go for a jog. My 16 year old, she's training cross country, or she's a soccer player and she's trying to stay in shape, she can't go jogging if she might get out after dusk. So that is the ultimate test.

[Buck Sexton]

I lived this test, this reality in New York City in the, in the 90s.

[Clay Travis]

Yep.

[Buck Sexton]

Where it was, you can't go jogging at night. That's why the Central park jogger case was, well, obviously horrific, but also it was so it hit home for so many people. Like, you can't even go jogging in Central park in this city. That was the. Without something horrific happening.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

And. And then you had the, the, you know, the realities of. You couldn't go to Central park at night. But I would say, Clay, in these cases we're talking about, would you be comfortable driving through these neighborhoods in a nice car in broad daylight? That's a different, that's a difference. The standard you're talking about is true safety. I think the standard you could apply to the south side of Chicago, or I guess it's the south and some of the western precincts of Chicago. Or, you know, you could apply to the more dangerous parts of Memphis, New Orleans. You get on the list of these cities is would you be willing to drive, you know, would you get in your friend's Mercedes or your friend's BMW or whatever and drive through these areas, spend an hour driving around and feel safe? And I think in some of these places you would say absolutely not.

[Clay Travis]

Would you stop and get gas? When you talked about this, in, in, we're not, I think the primary people who are going to be victims of crime. And by which I mean we're grown men, not elderly. Like we're not in theory, easy marks.

[Buck Sexton]

You see all those push ups that Clay did on that video? No one's going to mess with Clay.

[Clay Travis]

We're not easy marks. I mean, we're six foot, you know, decent sized guys, right?

[Buck Sexton]

Got some, got some weight to throw around over here. Maybe a little too much. But you know, I could, I could box out if I need to.

[Clay Travis]

But when you were in St. Louis and they told you, hey, you can't walk anywhere at this hotel. And when I was in Memphis, they.

[Buck Sexton]

Told me not to go stroll around at night by myself in the downtown, the night like the main part of downtown, the heart of the city. They straight up told me that I'm.

[Clay Travis]

Staying in one of the nicer areas of Memphis with my kid because he's got an event going on. And the lady working the front desk at the hotel at 8:30pm was like, Are you sure you want to go outside? And I was like, well, I, you know, I forgot my charger. I'm just going to go fill up my gas tank and get a charger at the, you know, local gas station here. It's like, okay, be careful at 8:30. I mean, I mean this is where we are to your point, St. Louis, I want the National Guard called in, State Guard, but obviously in many different. I want to call it everywhere. I live in Tennessee. I wish they would call the National Guard in and deploy it in Memphis. Your point on St. Louis, I think a lot of people out there who live in the St. Louis area are like, yeah, I'd like more security. Kansas City, New Orleans, Chicago, Baltimore. Why would we not? If I were the governor. And a lot of you out there are like, oh, I don't know about that, Clay. If I were the governor, I'd be considering calling in the National Guard to deploy in the State Guard, but National Guard to deploy in Memphis and say we're not going to allow Memphis to have a murder rate that is basically 20x what's happening in New York City. Not going to allow it. There's too many innocent people being killed. I think this is a great decision all over the place.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, I think that on, on crime and also on, on the border, for example, going forward, there's going to have to be some national level Democrat attempt to co opt these issues for themselves a little bit. As in, yeah, they, they have to come up with we're part of the solution, not continue to perpetuate the problem because these have become huge political liabilities for them. I mean, the immigration thing, the illegals, the 10 million under Biden was clearly a major, might have been the deciding issue, quite honestly, in this last election. I think you could argue that it was meaning the single most, you know, intractable, pervasive and Democrats getting hammered on an issue. And so I think on this, on this issue also of making cities safer, you know, it may not change the vote in Chicago, but it might change the vote in some places that are purple. It might make people think in the suburbs of some of these cities, you know what? I can't vote for some lunatic Democrat again. And that's where the political weakness lies.

[Clay Travis]

I'll tell you what it does. I think a lot of black guys, again, over 20% of them voted Trump in 2024. I think a lot of them look around and say this is unacceptable. And they don't accept the Brandon Johnson argument of hey, we got to stand up, like why should we not have more safety? Why? And look, black women too, but they have been more committed to the Democrat Party. When you get to the point where it's 1 in 5, 1 in 4 black men are voting for Trump, that's a real conversation that's taking place now in the black community. And I think when you look around in Chicago, you say this is unacceptable. By the way, I am fired up. The NFL is back this week. Buck. I don't even know that Buck knew, but there was an unbelievable college football game in his backyard, basically in Miami with the Miami Hurricane Canes hosting Notre Dame Catholics versus convicts. Old school matchup.

[Buck Sexton]

You never hear that phrase convicts, sir. Good heavens.

[Clay Travis]

Miami Hurricanes were the convicts and the obviously Notre Dame was the Catholics. And it's a little politically incorrect maybe, but also a great nickname for a great game. Now we have got tons of games going on Thursday night. Cowboys, Eagles, Friday night, Chiefs, Chargers and then everybody plays by Sunday. You can get hooked up with price picks right now. Get 50 bucks. We're going to give you a pick every Thursday or Friday on this show of an NFL NFL game. Players. I'm going to give them Buck's going to learn some of their names. We're going to be rolling. All you have to do is go to prize picks. The Use Code Clay available in over 40 states right now. California, Texas, Florida, Georgia. You can play it easy to use. We'll give you the picks. You get $50 when you go. Sign up right now at pricepix.com code clay that is pricepix.com code clay Want to be in the know when you're on The Go the Team 47 podcast Trump highlights from the week 6 Sundays at noon Eastern in the Clay and Buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay. Travis Buck Sexton show let's hit some of your talkbacks first. Email from Eric says she's cosplaying. I'm black, although I don't speak for all of us, she's only appealing to a small group of blacks. Step and fetch it comes to mind. Growing number of black conservatives highlight the stranglehold being released from the necks of blacks. Thank God. Curtis from Florida says though Clay's Playing right into Jasmine Crockett's hands by calling her dumb.

[Buck Sexton]

AA Clambug.

[Caller or Listener]

Love the show. Tuning in to you talking about Jasmine Crockett. I think she's playing. You're playing into her hands, Clay. Gotta go with Buck on this one. Rush was a master at this. He'd say, cut something controversial, get the left in an uproar. They totally take it out of context and fall into his trap. I think, Clay, when you say she sounds dumb, it. It enforces what she's saying to this black audience that she's pandering to. Hey, they think you're dumb. I get you. I sound like you. I can talk like y' all right now, anytime, any day.

[Clay Travis]

Good take. I disagree, but fair take. Jalen from Memphis says, let's see what Jaylen has to say. BB Hi, Clan Buck. As a black guy, I've been black all my life. What I want to say is that unfortunately, because liberals are emotion based, Jasmine.

[Buck Sexton]

Crockett's speaking style, it connects with the.

[Clay Travis]

Emotional type of issue, emotional type of mindset that liberals have, and it does have an effect.

[Buck Sexton]

All right, I agree with Jill. I agree with Jalen and Curtis. Go ahead.

[Clay Travis]

Keep. Keep firing away. By the way, I asked for AOC sounding like Jasmine Crockett. I think they found at least one of these. Let's see if she sounded like Jasmine Crockett. This is June 24th. AOC at a Bronx cut. 28. Give me three seconds.

[Buck Sexton]

I know about you.

[Clay Travis]

I'm gonna give AOC by the way, it's a little bit hard to hear there. That is nowhere near Jasmine Crockett level. I mean, that's AOC I remember this rally where she's, like, jumping around in tennis shoes.

[Buck Sexton]

I think they're playing hip hop music in the South Bronx, and she's like saying, I'm tired of y'.

[Caller or Listener]

All.

[Buck Sexton]

You know, y'.

[Clay Travis]

All.

[Buck Sexton]

I don't know about y', all, but I'm tired. I'm out here fighting. I think she said on these streets or something like that was the quote, Clay. She's Sandy. Sandy Cortez from Westchester. Tucker has been putting this out for years. That's her. That's what she went by. Sandy Cortez. Yeah. All right, look, there's a home invasion approximately every 30 seconds in this country. Do you have the right tools to protect yourself? Our sponsor, Sabre, can set you up with pepper sprays, pepper gels, and projectile devices that are so powerful when you have to rely on them. Their projectile device is in the shape of A rifle or pistol, depending on the brand on the model you get. And they're highly recommended by law enforcement officials for non lethal self defense. Remember Sabre, we're talking non lethal self defense but highly effective. Whether you're somebody who's a big two, a guy or gal or not, you want to have multiple options at your disposal. Saber is the best in class. For non lethal, go to sabre radio.com that's S A B R E radio.com you'll save 15% with their mega bundle today. Or call 844-824-SAFE. Welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. Appreciate you all being with us and we're going to get to some talkbacks and calls, all of that good stuff. Remember 800-282-2882 on those phone lines. The talkback is fabulous. To borrow a word. It's a fabulous talkback. What you do is you go to the iHeartRadio app, which is my favorite audio app, and you go to the Clay and Buck page. You should subscribe because we got a great podcast network. There you go. You can also listen streaming to the show but you click the little microphone and then you just send us voicemails. We get transcripts of all of them, by the way. We play as many as we have time for on the air but obviously we get more than we we could otherwise just do three hours of talkbacks but we appreciate all of them. So please do send them in and we'll try to get a bunch more on the air and that will be a very good thing. With that in mind, Mr. Clay, I have to bring attention for a moment here to the New York Times and the way that they are trying to run interference or obfuscation propaganda for Mamdani the commie who is a, I believe self described as a democratic socialist. And so now we're going to get into this game where somebody to get, to get support and to get the left behind them. They say I'm a democratic socialist. I a democratic socialist. And we say okay, so you're a socialist, right? And this should be pretty straightforward because it's in the name. But they play the games. This is from the New York Times over The weekend that Mr. Cuomo used both of his appearances on Fox News last week talking about the opponent from Mamdani in the New York race, Cuomo to criticize Mamdani's left leaning views, warning that they would be a death knell for New York City. New York City people are not socialists. Mr. Cuomo said new York City people are not socialists. Neither actually is Mr. Mamdani. The new York Times rejoins he is a democratic socialist, which means his beliefs are similar to those of socialists, but not exactly the same. He is a member of both the National Democratic Socialists of America and its New York City chapter. What does the New York Times think that it's doing here? It's funny because really more and more it's only read by left wing people or people on the right who want to trash it and they're trying to tell everybody, don't call him a socialist, even though he's a socialist.

[Clay Travis]

What do you think his term in office would actually be like? Because the reason why I bring it up is again, I'm frustrated that there hasn't been a coalition of somebody to sit down with Andrew Cuomo, with Curtis Lewa and with Eric Adams and, and really say, okay, get out of the race. One of you has to be the guy. And I think Eric Adams would win if everybody else got out. I'm not sure Cuomo would win.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh no, I think, I think you have it backwards on this one. I think Cuomo has a much better chance than Adams. Clay Adams, his numbers are absolutely like pitiful. He's in single digit support, I think.

[Clay Travis]

Well, so I think he would could win. I could be wrong. I think that Cuomo could win. I think that Sliwa has virtually no chance of winning. So I don't understand what he's doing and I understand that a lot of you at WO are he's a Republican. I'm not saying that I disagree with him on the policies. I'm saying that if you look at this situation, Mamdani is such a big threat that otherwise not political allies should come together from keep him from going to office. Having said that, it seems like he is saying that he would not change very much suddenly as he is now trying to run for office. For instance, Jessica Tisch, who has done a really good job, it appears to be fair to her running the nypd, driving down crime. All these things. Buck, I looked it up through the end of August and New York City team, you can correct me if I'm wrong on this. I believe there were only 201 murders in New York City between so nine months. So that would put us on pace for 270, something like that. Ish. Because probably a little bit lower because summer tends to be higher rates of crime in general. That's really good, right? I'm not saying that. I wish, I wish there was no murders. All Those things, I get that they're still.

[Buck Sexton]

Clay is, is decidedly. Despite all the pushback anti murder, as.

[Clay Travis]

We have discussed, I'm going to, I'm going to stick as hard on the anti murder camp as I can. But he's now saying he would leave her in charge. I wonder how much of him is going to be. He says all these crazy things and then when push comes to shove, when he actually gets into the office, whether he's not going to do very much to actually implement the agenda he claimed he would implement. Does that make sense?

[Buck Sexton]

This is big. That's. This is quite a gamble, right? I mean, now you're talking about a situation. So, so I'm very clear, I think, on what happened through because I was living in New York, right? So Giuliani comes in and he's Wyatt Earp. You know, he cleans up the town, he fixes it, he gets it on the right course. NYPD, CompStat, it all, it all comes together and, and now you have this city that is, that is incredibly on the rise and is a cry, a crime reduction story. Not just for the country, by the way, it became a globe. New York City has connections to police departments all over, all over the world. This has been a long standing practice, but they have very close relationships with other. And they do information sharing. I was a part of this in intel division. Now it's Intel Bureau. It's actually gotten bigger since I left. And Jesse Tisch, who's now the commissioner, was one of my, one of my peers. We didn't work in the same office, but on the same general issue at the time. And because she's only a couple, I think she's your age, Clay. She's only a couple of years older than me. And the NYPD story is that they managed to fix all this stuff. And then Bloomberg comes in and says, okay, look, I'm a Democrat, but I also like safety and investment and clean streets. And so I'm going to keep doing the smart things. Does Bloomberg say what you will, he's a smart guy. I disagree with him on sodas and gun control, but he's a smart guy. De Blasio comes in and he's like, we've had way too much prosperity, safety and growth. It's time for, it's time to start just turning the, the wheels of communism from inside the system. And it, you know, if he inherited a great situation. So it took a while. It's like Gavin Newsom in California takes a while to ruin these places, right? You know, The Bolshoi was still, like, the best ballet in the world in the 70s in the Soviet Union, because they had, you know, 150 years of, like, a mate or 100 years of, you know, it takes a while to ruin some of these things. And I'm just. You know. And some of the greatest writers of the 20th century were Soviet writers, not because of the Soviet Union as, like, a font of. Of creative energy, but because Russia and its history. Okay, so he comes and then. And then you get to Mayor Eric Adams Clay. And then the wheels of communism because of de Blasio are just chewing up the city and ruining everything. And Adams comes in, and he's like, okay, I don't want to do this anymore. But he's not. He's not an adept enough leader and manager to stop it, really. Maybe he has slowed the progression, but it's. It's. You know, it's kind of kept going. Where would Mamdani be on this? That's. That's really bring us back to the question, would he be a de Blasio or would he be something else? Because de Blasio, I truly believe, for ideological reasons, intentionally ruined the city of New York as much as he could. He didn't ruin it totally, but he intentionally made every bad decision that could be made, every stupid move that he could possibly have pulled off. If Mamdani were to speak left and govern right, first of all, I would give 10 or 1 to 10. I always get this wrong. Whatever the odds are, very long odds that he would do that.

[Clay Travis]

10 to 1.

[Buck Sexton]

10 to 1. I'd give 10 to 1 odds that he would do that.

[Caller or Listener]

And.

[Buck Sexton]

And even if he did, I'm not sure that he has the. This is where I think it's an Eric Adams thing. I don't think he has the ability to figure it out. Right. So maybe on the NYPD side, at least he knows to leave a good commissioner in place. But there's a lot of other stuff that the city needs. Needs help with.

[Clay Travis]

I just don't know if he has the functional ability, because he's never really had a job like this, to actually implement a lot of the things that he's saying. And so, look, is it a big risk? Yes. Do. Would I live in New York City? No. If I made a good living and my job were something where I could live other places, I would probably say, I'm out now. I understand a lot of you have kids in school. It's hard to move. You've got jobs that are not Portable in nature. Nature. You've got family that you are deeply connected to in neighborhoods and all those other things. But if he's actually going to implement the agenda that he is saying he's going to implement, then I think New York City is in severe.

[Buck Sexton]

I know, I know Florida Realtors personally who are already running specific ads online to target, you know, in a good way, but to target New Yorkers who they think are high income and will want to flee to Florida if Mamdani wins. Like that's already happening here. So if you, if you're wondering if your Florida real estate prices are probably going to keep going up, they. I think they are.

[Clay Travis]

I, I would be nervous if. I'm a New York City guy and gal and I just, I look at it and a part of me thinks could this be a bait and switch where he says all these crazy left wing things and then when it comes to actually delivering on them, it's very difficult to deliver on them. And I just.

[Buck Sexton]

So, so you're talking about lax. Sounds like you think that he's. Even if he's like a Leninist, he's an incompetent Leninist, so maybe he can't get it done. That's a different thing than I actually repudiate Vladimir Lenin. You know what I'm saying?

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, I think that there could be. I'm not sure how committed he actually is to it. I think this guy just wants to be elected mayor and I think he may not be able to implement it because what's he done to succeed? What management ability does he have? Where you look at it, you say, boy, this guy's been really, really good. To your point, Bloomberg, Bloomberg is in a phenomenal business. Right. Like he is. Whatever you think about Mayor Bloomberg, he built one of the all time great media and, and business.

[Buck Sexton]

I think he was the richest New Yorker. I think he was the richest New Yorker in New York state when he was mayor. I think that's true. He was worth like $60 billion or something like that.

[Clay Travis]

I mean the guy is an incredibly skilled business figure. De Blasio is a mess. Giuliani I think really got it with, what was it Bratton, his initial commissioner that he worked with in the New York City pd. I think he knew because he was a prosecutor. What do you have to do to move the levers of crime in New York City? I just don't know that Mamdani has the skill set, Buck to actually implement anything that he's claiming he's going to.

[Buck Sexton]

Do according to Grok Bloomberg is still the richest guy in New York state worth over 100 billion.

[Clay Travis]

And unless I'm mistaken, Bloomberg made all of his money. Yeah, no, he did not inherit, he.

[Buck Sexton]

Didn'T inherit 80 billion and wants to tell you about the 20. Let me tell you something. If you inherit 80 billion, the last 20 is not hard. But you know that, that, yes, that is the case. He completely built his own business. So he's clearly a very high iq, very capable guy. And that showed in the city of New York. I, he was a, he was a fantastic mayor and people can say what they want. I, I knew very conservative cops in the NYPD and they would not say a bad word about Bloomberg full stop. Even though they disagreed with him on some stuff. They're like, he's doing a great job. Mamdani Clay, you could have a commie who's also incompetent. Now this is what the question that I was asking you is. Does the incompetence work in the favor of the city?

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

Because. Yes, you know, that's, that may be the case. Like when he says things like running, I mean having city run grocery stores.

[Clay Travis]

Is one of the craziest ideas on the planet. It's just, it's just bonkers.

[Buck Sexton]

It's, it's also you think about this.

[Clay Travis]

The fact that the grocery store is one of the hardest business. They have a 1 or 2% profit margin. The produce is constantly, constantly having to be replaced because obviously it has perishability issues. Getting, you know, this better than anybody, all you guys getting things into New York City is incredibly expensive, difficult shipping, all the, I mean the idea that somehow the government is going to run a better grocery store and save people money is so crazy. By the way, 209 murders in New York City year to date through the end of August. That is a 20% decline from last year and would put them on pace for somewhere in the 200s, which is a very good number for a city the size of New York City when it comes to murder. Getting it down as low as possible. Want to tell you about our friends at Tunnel the Towers who do phenomenal work to help make sure that so many of you out there are able to support so many people putting their lives on the line on a day to day basis. After joining the US Army, Thomas Kennedy served two tours of duty in Iraq, one in Afghanistan. Earned dozens of awards, service medals throughout his honorable career. But while he was deployed in eastern Afghanistan, soldiers life tragically cut short because he was killed by a Taliban suicide bomber. He left behind his wife, Cami. They're beautiful twins, Maggie and Brody. They were just weeks shy of their second birthday when they lost their dad because of friends like you. Cami and her children didn't face the loss alone. Tunnel the Towers provided the family with a mortgage free home. You and other caring friends out there help Tunnel the Tower. Step in. Offer a ray of hope to Cammie, Maggie and Brody. Families like the Kennedys who have sacrificed so much for us and our nation need your help now more than ever. Join both of us in donating 11amonth to Tunnel the Towers at t2t.org that's t the number two t.org news you can count on and some laughs too. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts this Labor Day.

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[Clay Travis]

Crossing Crossing Paths Here, let's play this. Well, you know What? I'll say. J.B. pritzker for the top of the next hour, let's get a bunch of these calls. Canon Lehigh Acres, Florida what you got for us?

[Caller or Listener]

Yes, about 30 years ago in 1990, right around the 90s, I was at Ford City Mall and I'll tell my father that I was going to take the 79th street bus all the way from the mall all the way to the Red Line in Chicago. My dad told me, look, stay off that bus. It says don't even go near 79th Street. It's bad. I end up taking the bus you know, I defy him. Took the bus all the way to the red line. Well, one of the stops had about eight people right at the corner. The bus driver drove right by it. Bus driver turns around, when he went by him, he says, I just saved your butt. And then I continued to take the red line all the way down into the city. Now, that was in 95. Between 95 and 2000, that's how bad it was then. Now, my dad was a former cfd. He worked in that neighborhood. So did my uncle worked in that neighborhood. Now, in those 30 something years, that neighborhood's been, has never been safe. I challenged the governor and I challenged the mayor to, without a security detail to take that, take the 79th street bus, which is one of the worst streets in Chicago, and take that to the red line. I guarantee there's a lot of trouble on both of them.

[Clay Travis]

Thank you. I actually don't think that's a bad idea. If you are, if you are the mayor, if you're the governor, just walk the streets of the community in the most dangerous areas without a huge security detail. Would they do it? I'm sure they wouldn't. I'm sure their security details wouldn't let it happen. Wade, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, what you got for us?

[Caller or Listener]

You know, you were talking about protecting black and brown from crime in the areas there. I ran for our city council back in 2011. I actually got elected. Crazy. But I went to all the community watch meetings, and guess who populated the community watch meetings the most? It was blacks. And this is in mixed race communities. Everything else, it was the blacks around here saying, we want to stop the crime.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Caller or Listener]

You know, and so I don't understand not wanting to go in there and do that, because that's exactly the people that want you to come in and stop doing, you know, well, there's, there's.

[Buck Sexton]

A, it's a, it's a great point, Wade, and thank you for calling in. What you have is a lot of, of wealthy people is really the point here. But wealthy, white and black and you name it, commentators on CNN and msnbc who, especially in the case of like a black commentator, will say that they are speaking for the black community on this issue or in some capacity speaking from a black perspective. It's like, well, are you speaking from the perspective of somebody who spends most of the year at their house in the Hamptons that's worth five or ten million dollars, like a lot of these TV hosts, or are you speaking from the perspective of a black member of the community who lives in a high crime area because they're entirely different perspectives you're bringing to the issue. It's really easy Clay for like the morning well, Morning Joe is changing their tune on this, but it's really easy for an MSNBC host worth millions to be like, crime in Chicago is no problem. It's like you live in a Lincoln. I mean in a mansion in Lincoln Park. So yeah, you probably think that walk.

[Clay Travis]

The streets without your security detail. I bet they wouldn't do it. If they did, their opinion would change.

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