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Buck Sexton
This is an iHeart podcast.
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Buck Sexton
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Clay Travis
Way less than that even.
Buck Sexton
I mean 20 years ago.
Clay Travis
Yeah, if you consider what we, what I, I'm big on this because I think Buck perspective is the key to life and gratitude is a huge part of life if you what you expect as part of your normal day to day existence. Heck, I'm holding this up right now. The phone, the Idea that you could have every bit of information that has ever existed basically in the history of the world, accessible to you in the palm of your hand at any moment of any day, all day long in 1998 would have seemed crazy. I'll give you an example for what I do, Buck. When I got to law school in 01, it was still the era of lawyers have to go to libraries and pull off tons of books to do research on what cases are. You can get every case that's ever existed basically on Google now in 30 seconds. I was playing around with AI. I was researching a legal issue this week. The quality of research that I can get from a prompt into Grok about fiduciary obligations is better than I could find in 2001 in the law school like the. At my fingertips. And so I just think a lot of discomfort and dismay is not functioned based on perspective of understanding how much wealthier we all have and what our expectations are as it pertains to that wealth.
Buck Sexton
Well, again, the naval paradigm, wealth versus status. What people like mom Donnie and AOC and Bernie Sanders, even though they're all quite wealthy personally themselves in different ways, depends on the perspective you want to take. Bernie is a multimillionaire, I think. I don't know what AOC is actually worth. But these individuals, what they do is agitate based on status. As in where do you fall relative to other people? You're never going to make everybody of the same status in a society. There will always be some who have more than others. There will always. And this, by the way, the communists in general, this is like the baseline of the communist youth. Those, whether they're economic communists or race communists. You're never going to have perfect equality among all people at all times in any society. It's not going to exist. But what you can do or what you see them do is agitate around topics of envy, of status, of class warfare and completely forget about the fact that actually the system that we all talk about here, capitalism, of which we are a proud part on this program and our, you know, parent company iHeartMedia, a capitalist entity that is selling great products and providing great services, is that this does good things for. For people. Capitalism, commerce makes us all wealthier. And I'm thinking about this because Jeff Bezos, I really like this, he sat down with CNBC and I'll never forget, by the way, he sat down with Andrew Ross Sorkin who was it's science. Listen to Fauci double mask. The science is clear. So he's Just not very smart. Or he's a coward. I don't know which you want to say, but he was terrible. He was one of the most smarmy Covid people. Andrew. Not Jeff Bezos. Andrew Ross Sorkin. He was one of the meh. Listen to Fauci or you're a dumb person. Anyway, he gets an interview with Jeff Bezos because CNBC is still something that the finance bros watch. Listen to what Jeff Bezos says. Clay. I think this is really important for people to hear. Play 15.
Jeff Bezos (Interview Clips)
If I do my job right, the value to society and civilization from my for profit companies will be much, much larger than the good that I do with my charitable giving. And I think this is an important point to make because people forget or they sometimes don't see that when, you know, when you create something like Amazon and you're saving. I get letters from new mothers all the time that say like, I have no idea what I would be doing right now if I didn't have Amazon. Thank you. Or what we did in the pandemic when people could really see what an essential service we provided to them. And so Amazon creates tremendous value. And by the way, all companies are creating value of some kind.
Buck Sexton
The value creation of capitalistic enterprises creates wealth for all of us is the fundamental point.
Clay Travis
Yeah.
Buck Sexton
Is something that I think gets very lost in all this. All of our brothers and sisters who work in the fossil fuel oil industry and you got all these people, all, you know, they're price gouging or whatever or they're polluting the planet or whatever it is. They make all Americans and actually the whole world without fossil fuel, the whole economy comes to a screeching halt. They're making all of us wealthier in our day to day lives, more comfortable improving health care. The world is actually getting richer and wealthier. Humanity is overall. And then you have all of these people, these demagogues who point at each other and say, you know, they're the problem, they're the problem. I'm not saying that there aren't issues that have to be addressed. Of course I think taxation is too high. I think there's too much regulation. There's all these things once you get below that macro level view. But Clay, people now are trying to. They're doing all this stuff where they want to oppose AI or we need to have all these restrictions on A and I and all this stuff they're forgetting at every phase of the game. The people that have tried to hold back technological progress have been wrong because it makes humanity Wealthier. It makes our lives easier, better, literally makes our lives longer in many cases, and certainly makes them more comfortable. And I think Jeff Bezos pointing out, yeah, I can write a lot of checks to charities. Elon Clay is a fantastic example of this. Elon is changing the world and making money doing it. And so many of the people who change the world for the better are making money doing it.
Clay Travis
And I just, I think that this
Buck Sexton
gets these days very lost and people, oh, and you know, the Mamdanis and the commies and all this other nonsense. It's never a bureaucrat waving a magic wand who makes your life actually better. People need to know this.
Clay Travis
I, I, I think, look, I think what Bezos said there is actually incredibly well said. I think what you're saying is also really well said. The other part I would say about AI is it's not a binary meaning. If our companies don't win AI, another country's companies will, probably China. So to your point, the world is so global now that if we say, okay, we're going to forestall the creation of AI. I had a conversation recently with some senators and they were talking about AI and I said, you know, you know what Bill Clinton did during the rise of the Internet? Almost nothing. If you remember back in the 1990s, as the Internet started to take over in the United States, there was a lot of discussion about what sort of regulations could be put in Place. Section 230 was put in place which basically said, hey, you're not responsible for the comments that people make on your content. Which I think is probably a good general rule, because it would be super hard to, I mean, basically you couldn't have commenting if you're responsible for everything that any user posts at any moment of any given time. And again, this is the platform versus
Buck Sexton
publisher distinction, platform versus publisher.
Clay Travis
But generally speaking, Bill Clinton, who reminder was a Democrat, just got out of the way and said, let's let the Internet come into its own place and buck. You remember, one of the biggest things he did was you didn't get taxed on the Internet for a long time. Used to be able to, the state tax, used to be able to go on to Amazon. It was a huge advantage for Amazon and they didn't tax. And as a result, people dove in and they bought things more frequently. And you can make arguments, hey, that was an unfair competition and everything else, but in general, it was a pure laissez faire relationship that we had with the Internet.
Buck Sexton
Well, I don't think it was an active decision so much as it was the regulation needed to catch up with the Internet. And the people who were actually supposed to write the laws had no idea what the hell they're doing, including Bill Clinton, by the way. But that's a different thing.
Clay Travis
That's actually my argument. If you don't know what you're doing, sometimes the best thing to do is nothing, because otherwise you end up putting in place policies because you're so clueless that aren't able to understand and comprehend what's going on. And I actually sent in Bezos, actually said a lot of interesting things. I want to play this cut as well that I sent in from Bezos just a couple of minutes ago. He also, then I agree completely, by the way. Amazon is more effective at making people's lives better than the vast majority of charities in the United States.
Buck Sexton
Amherst has saved me, and I'm sure most of you with us right now, thousands of hours of my life that I didn't have to go somewhere. Amazon that I didn't have to. Oh, my God, I said Amherst. That is false. Amherst did not save me anything. Amherst was too expensive. Amazon, sorry. Yes. Amazon has saved me thousands of hours of my life that it has given back to me to do better, more productive things. Whether it's just spend time with my family or, you know, get back to work or get sleep or whatever it is, it has saved me from burning time in massive quantity. And it's true of so many people. Clay, you know, used to, oh, I need to. I need to get the thing to fix the thing behind my toilet. Now I got to get up the Yellow Pages. Now I got to find a, you know, a plumbing supply store. Now I got to drive to some place in Queens when I lived in New York and go to the, you know, or I could have it delivered at 8am the next morning by pressing a button. This is how much it has changed people. And I'm not saying everything is perfect. And I know that people, oh, you know, Amazon needs to pay its workers more. Whatever. Overall, though, this is a massive increase of wealth. What was the clip you wanted to play, though?
Clay Travis
I wanted you to get to cut 26 here because Bezos also weighed in on spending and taxes. Listen to this. Cut26 quoted all the time as, you
Jeff Bezos (Interview Clips)
know, the wealthy should pay their fair share and we can argue about what the fair share is. That's a policy debate. That's okay. But the vilification is the thing. That's just a distraction. And by the way, if you really are Being honest about it, we don't have a revenue problem in this country. We already have the most progressive tax system in the world. The top 1% of taxpayers pay 40% of all the tax revenue. The bottom half pay only 3%. We have already. And I think it should be zero. I don't think it should be 3%. I think it should be zero. So we'd be making more progressive that way. We actually have a spending problem.
Clay Travis
This is so well said, right? I mean, sometimes I think you have to cut through the noise. And there are people like our Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin that point this out all the time. We do not have a revenue problem in this country. We have a spending problem. The government has more money than they know what to do with and they're still going to spend more. There is no dollar figure you could give to our government where Democrats would say, we have enough now. We never need to take more from you. It's always grabbing more. And I think that conversation needs to happen more frequently. And business guys understand it because they have to make a profit.
Buck Sexton
And Bezos, actually, we'll come back to this on the other side. Clay Bezos spoke about this in even more sort of personal terms. But we'll, we'll come on the, on the other, come back on the other side of this and, and people can hear what I'm talking about. But this interview with Jeff Bezos, very interesting. And notice, I think Bezos still has a lot of work to do on becoming more conservative. You know, I think he's one of these guys who, at least he embraces capitalism. He's obviously incredibly smart. And, and you have to respect what he has done. I mean, to build Amazon. It's, it's an amazing company. There's a reason this guy is worth. What is he worth? Like hundreds of billions. And now I don't even know what the, what the figure is. They would guess it's certainly in, in the hundreds.
Clay Travis
Hundreds of billions.
Sponsor Announcer (Public Investing)
Yeah, it's a good question.
Clay Travis
What they. Exactly.
Buck Sexton
There's a reason this guy is one of the richest. One of the, you know, probably five, I think, richest people on the planet. Same thing with Elon Musk. They're doing amazing things. But part of this that I think people need to remember is Democrats. All they want to do is talk about how to take, take, take, take, take more from these people, these businesses, these entities are actually doing incredible things. Look at Elon. Between SpaceX, Starlink, Tesla, the boring company, his purchase of X, which I totally agree with, Gad Saad, by the way, essentially saved free speech on the Internet because you needed a dramatic intervention. These things are making life better for people and making us wealthier. And I think it's really important and really powerful to take note of that, Clay. So I'll come back into into some more of this. But you know, we always talk about these commie Mondani and these ignorant fools. There's the other side of this. The people who know what they're talking
Clay Travis
about, no doubt having actually made a profit and understood revenue and profit and that there's a difference between the two. I'm not sure Aoc Evian understands that. I want to tell you about Cozy Earth, though. Whether you go big like Buck did, buying all those different pants, or you start out with just a few different, you're gonna love this. They have a brushed bamboo jogger set. If you're by the water this summer, you can get yourself a pair of Cozy Earth's lake house clogs. Just trust me on this. They have an incredible set of phenomenal products. Just go check it out. Right now. If you go to cozyearth.com that's c o z y cozyearth.com you use my name Clay, you get 30 off all the way through June 1st. Just through June 1st. This is basically kind of a Memorial Day special from cozy earth. 30 off everything on the entire site. When you go to cozyearth.com and use my name Clay again, that is cozyearth.com just trust me on this. Go to the website. You're gonna love everything put in Clay when you get to the checkout and you get 30% off everything. Cozyearth.com code clay, that's cozyeart.com code clay for 30% off everything. If you truly care, pass along this
Buck Sexton
common sense to family and friends.
Clay Travis
Clay and Buck owning the airwaves.
Sponsor Announcer (Public Investing)
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI, it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available@public.com disclosures these days it
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Cindy Crawford
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Clay Travis
Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. We're going to Talk with Steve Hilton here coming up at the bottom of the hour about the race in California. And I think it ties in, actually with the conversation that we are having right now. Jeff Bezos, with a lot of very interesting quotes that are out there right now. I just sent in a clip on what would happen if Amazon were to run the New York City school system. And it's actually a great analogy. I believe we have another cut from Bezos here. And cut 16. You could double the taxes I pay.
Jeff Bezos (Interview Clips)
People sometimes say that, you know, I don't pay taxes. So true. I paid billions of dollars in taxes and it's a perfect. Again, if people want me to pay more billions, right, then let's have that debate. But don't pretend you know that this, that that's going to solve the problem. You could double the taxes I pay. And it's not going to help that teacher in Queens, I promise you. So you can't connect those two things, not logically.
Buck Sexton
This is so critical, Clay. You could take all the money that all the billionaires make, period, in any given year in terms of income. It would not help somebody making $70,000 a year living in New York City, not help them one bit, which is
Clay Travis
what Democrats are selling to them, which is why it's such a lie. And I give credit to Bezos for speaking out on these issues and I think doing it quite eloquently. We'll talk about New York City school spending and how it would be different if Amazon were involved instead of the government. But on the downside, the backside of this hour here, we're about to be joined by Steve Hilton. We're going to go out to California, find out the absolute latest on the governor's race there. We'll also ask him what he thinks about the LA Mayors race with Spencer Pratt. All that and more coming your way momentarily.
Buck Sexton
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Clay Travis
Right.
Buck Sexton
But this is about the, you know, it's interesting. I actually talked years ago to Marco Rubio about this incident on radio, Clay, before we teamed up when Marco was a senator here in Florida. It's about the shoot down of the civilian aircraft that belong to the Cuban American group Brothers to the Rescue. Four people, three of them Americans killed in the attack. Keep in mind there is no, and you know, this is a, this is a clear, I think legal principle that's entirely defensible. There's no statute of limitation on murder. And so they are going after Raul Castro here. And, and we will come back to this. But my friends, things are heating up for the commies in Cuba right now because this indictment, it's not just for the paper that it's printed on. There's more coming. Let's talk to our friend Steve Hilton though. We're going to shift gears to California from down here in the South Florida Cuba area. Steve, you actually can, let me just say it, you actually can win this thing. This is pretty amazing. Governor of California, you actually can win. Tell everybody what's going on.
Steve Hilton
It's amazing. Very simply, we are done in California. We are done with the Democrats. And you see, and I saw you talking about this, Clay. I saw you on just last night talking about it. We've got, on Fox, we've got my campaign, which is we're leading in the polls in California, the governor's race. You've got Spencer Pratt and all the energy there in Los Angeles. And I know it's a difficult environment this year for Republicans. We all know that, although you're seeing some great signs that that may be overstated. But certainly in California it is time for change. That age old political message is just so strongly felt. And we're leading in the polls, looking good for the primary. I don't take anything for granted. It's June 2, but election day is today and yesterday and tomorrow because it's early voting for a month now. And I'm just feeling very optimistic that we really can get this done and save California and thereby help the whole country to stop our big state drifting further into total insanity and decline.
Clay Travis
Yeah, I did say on Jesse Waters show last night, Steve, thanks for joining us. That I'm very optimistic about your campaign and also Spencer Pratt's campaign. I have a ton of really good friends in LA and they are talking about your campaigns in many ways connected. Because what it represents is just extreme frustration with the way things are being done right now. And I'm sure you're picking up on that energy. But I'm curious how much overlap you see between the momentum that Spencer Pratt is developing in L. A and the momentum that you're developing as governor and whether there are kinships there in terms of why you're connecting with people.
Steve Hilton
Yeah, it's really interesting. We're very, very different people, different races. Spencer's campaign is for mayor of L. A that is one city among 80 or so within Los Angeles County, a huge county, largest in the country, 10 million people, 23% of the total vote in California. But his race is a nonpartisan race. I'm running as a Republican statewide, very different. But the thing that we have in common and I really see all the time, you know, the memes being generated and people saying, vote Spencer Pratt to save L. A, Vote Steve Hilton to save California, is that we're both outsiders, we've never run for office before. And we just not afraid to point out the total failure and corruption of this Democrat machine that's been running L. A, that's been running California without any check or balance OR challenge for 16 years now. Statewide, they've run absolutely everything. And the results are a total disaster. A complete failure on every front. Highest poverty rate in the nation, Highest unemployment rate in the nation, Highest cost of living by far. U.S. news World Report ranks California 50th out of 50 states for opportunity. Of all things. We're supposed to be number one in that. That's the whole image of California as our land of opportunity. We're 50th, we're for business climate again. We think of ourselves as a great state of innovation, and of course we are. I've just been touring an incredible pistachio plant in the Central Valley. You should see the incredible innovation and automation that goes into that. But yet Chief Executive Magazine ranks California 50th out of 50 states for business climate. Everywhere you look, it's a failure. On top of that, they've doubled the budget. We have the highest taxes in the country for the worst results. Newsom has doubled the budget in the last 10 years. And every single thing is worse. What you're seeing in California is the far left progressive governance experiment tested to destruction. They've had everything they wanted they could get. Every policy, every insane idea, everything they wanted, they've got in California. And we now see the results. Total failure.
Buck Sexton
You mentioned pistachio, Steve. Have you ever tried pistachio creme brulee? Just wondering. Side note here.
Steve Hilton
Well, that isn't. I don't think I have. I just. I've just eaten a ton. Basically this.
Buck Sexton
Will you at least agree, Steve? I'm on a big Steve Hilton kick here. I think you're going to win the governor's race. Will you agree no matter what? My friend Clay here says that pistachio ice cream is in fact a top tier flavor.
Steve Hilton
Oh, my goodness. It's amazing. I totally agree with that.
Buck Sexton
Yes. Clay thinks you have to eat it with a top hat and a monocle on.
Clay Travis
He's very should do the show with a top hat and a monocle on because he has the highest end, most, most expensive taste on the planet. Pistachio ice cream is not even in the top 25 best ice cream flavors.
Buck Sexton
That's the craziest thing. That's the craziest thing he's ever said.
Steve Hilton
Massive fight here. Gonna, gonna be developing. So I don't know when we're gonna hash it all out, have some kind of taste test.
Buck Sexton
Well, you know, we'll come to the governor's mansion when you win and we'll have an ice cream taste test. Okay, but how do we, how do we get you there at this point? Where are we with the Democrats that you're opposing? Obviously, the Swalwell thing. I was the fastest destruction of a political career I've ever seen in my life. Honestly, I don't think anyone's ever gone up in flames faster than that guy. And he was the heir apparent to Gavin Newsom. So where do things stand now with the people that want to keep ruining what I think should be the most beautiful state in America? And it really would be if they weren't ruining it.
Steve Hilton
Yeah. And by the way, just let's not forget that the entire Democrat political elite and establishment and machine were getting behind Swalwell, the teacher unions, the fci, all these big unions, Adam Schiff, the Pelosi cronies, all of them getting behind him, knowing everything about his reputation and all of this stuff. So let's just not let them get away with that. Where we are right now, new poll out yesterday which is pretty much in line with all the other polls. It's actually the Democratic Party did this one. I'm leading, I think the numbers Yesterday, I'm on 22%, Javier Becerra, 21%. The billionaire climate fanatic Tom Steyer, who let's remember, has spent, wait for the number, $193 million so far, right, nearly $200 million he spent of his own money, he's at 15%. The other Republican, Chad Bianco at 10%. Everyone else below that, including, I'm very sorry to say, Katie Porter, who seems to have been fading lately. I was so looking forward to all the mashed potato jokes that would have ensued if she was my opponent in the general election. Looks like she's not going to make it. It feels very much like it's going to be me and Javier Becerra, Biden's utterly useless HHS secretary. Wow, how bad do you have to be? You've got Biden administration officials openly mocking him, joking about how this, they cannot believe that he's in this position. And you got to ask yourself, how useless do you have to be if Joe Biden and his team think that you're incompetent?
Clay Travis
Steve, you're a business guy. You've got a business background. If you spent $200 million as a Democrat to get in the top two of the California governor's race like Steyer did, and you didn't get into the top two of the California governor's race despite spending $200 million, what would you do? It's kind of, it's kind of its own endorsement of his incompetence that despite trying to run for an office that Democrats have owned for, for, for decades now and having more money probably than almost everybody else does combined, he can't even get in the top two.
Steve Hilton
It's insane. Also remember that Tom Steyer, pathetically, because he's so desperate, this has been run sucking up to every union and far left activist group. And that's why he's got these insane positions, you know, abolishing ice bringing, he's actually talked about bringing back to America illegal immigrant criminals who've been deported. He wants single payer health care. You know, all these things he's been saying to get the endorsement and backing of all these leftist groups. And he's still only at 15% in the NATUS poll. And it's just unbelievable.
Buck Sexton
I know. We really just want everyone to be focused in because we have a very large California audience. Because, Steve, as you can imagine, we have great stations, including like Keib in Los Angeles and we have stations throughout the state, in the major cities, Sacramento. But we've got people who feel like they're a little bit behind communist lines. Right. So we can bring some sanity to them. And you talking to them does the same thing right now. With all that, with all that in mind, I'm just curious if you could help us read the tea leaves a little bit. Who do you think is the more powerful brand out of California right now, again from the opposition, Gavin or Kamala? Because you know that that's coming.
Steve Hilton
Oh, for sure. I think that Gavin's going to, going to have the energy. I really do. Now here's, here's the thing, though, that's very important to be aware of. This is why he talked about this break glass scenario last week that got a lot of attention.
Buck Sexton
Yeah. Can you wait, Steve, can you explain that to everybody? We actually didn't play that clip on the air yesterday. We meant to, but can you tell everybody what he said?
Steve Hilton
So he was asked about the governor's race. He has not endorsed in the governor's race.
Clay Travis
I think Steve is breaking up here. Let's see if we can get a cleaner Gavin News.
Buck Sexton
Why don't we. Can we hold up? Let's. Yeah, let's keep Steve Hill. Guys, let's keep Steve through. We could play that Gavin Newsom soundbite. Have him react, have him set it up. And in the meantime, Clay, we can pay some bills and do some great things. Commerce. We're big believers and just doing great things. You want to do something fantastic?
Clay Travis
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Clay Travis
guys right there when you need them most, Clay and Buck just preset them on the iHeart app.
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Clay Travis
Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show Steve Hilton. We lost him in there for a moment. We went to break. We appreciate him standing a lot, hanging out with us, given how busy he is. I wanted to play this for you, Steve. This is Gavin Newsom saying, hey, I've got a plan. If by chance things aren't going my way in California cut 31.
Jeff Bezos (Interview Clips)
We all have agencies.
Buck Sexton
We can shape the future. There's still a lot.
Jeff Bezos (Interview Clips)
Look, I. I've said this before, so I'll repeat it.
Buck Sexton
I don't anticipate this need to be the case, but there is a blank break the glass scenario, and there's many people that have a deep understanding of what it would look like if Democrats were locked out. And we're going to do everything to make sure that doesn't happen.
Clay Travis
What do you think he's talking about doing, Steve? And how involved do you think Gavin's going to be in a race that really is for his successor?
Steve Hilton
Well, it's. By the way, this is one of the reasons I hate this whole ridiculous top two system, because instead of discussing how we're going to cut taxes and the insane regulations and the gender ideology, all this insanity in California we're discussing the minutiae of who's in the top two and how the math works out, but that is the system. So let's get into it. What Gavin Newsom desperately wants is two Democrats in the top two, because he knows that if you have two Democrats in the top two, then there'll be no discussion of his record in the general election campaign in California, because it will all be about how far left they can go outbidding each other. If it's Becerra versus Steyer, which is what Gavin Newsom wants, they won't be talking about how useless Gavin Newsom has been. If it's me, that obviously is what I'll be talking about, because we're going to be making the point that we need change. Another point. If there's a prospect of a Republican governor taking office at the beginning of next year, that is a disaster for Newsom's presidential campaign because, A, he'll be entering the Democrat primary having just lost his home state of California, the crown jewel of the Democrat machine. Secondly, when I take office and I'll up the mess that he left behind, I'll be not just helping everyone in California, I'll be helping everyone across the country understand exactly what a disaster Gavin Newsom would be as president. So he's trying to avoid that. And what he's actually trying to do here is raise the prospect of two Republicans in the final as a boogeyman and trying to keep alive. And here's how it works. There's one other Republican in the race, Chad Bianco. He's far behind me. As I mentioned in the poll just Now, I'm on 22%, he's on 10%. He can't actually make it in the top two. But what Newsom and the Democrats want is for his vote to go up so that you end up with two Democrats taking those top slots. So there's a very simple point that everyone needs to understand right now in California who hasn't voted yet. A vote for the other. A lot of people may be saying, look, Steve Hilton looks like he's got this. He's leading in the polls. I can try and get the other Republican in the top two by voting for him. No, that is a disaster because that is how we would end up with two Democrats. We've got to get behind the leading Republican, that's me, to make sure that we get a Republican in the final. Every vote right now for Chad Bianco, the other Republican, is actually a vote for two Democrats in the top two, very important. We understand that.
Clay Travis
A.B. hernandez. This is really crazy. It's been going on for multiple years now. This is a boy pretending to be a girl winning multiple girls championships. Are you hearing about it on the campaign trail?
Steve Hilton
Very much so. And in fact, this is a track and field championships. California Track and Field championships. And it was last year, a year ago, I actually went there to announce my position on this and how I've got a very strong commitment to overturn the law that set up this insanity of biological males in girls sports and in locker rooms and all the rest of this is a bill that was passed 13 years ago. AB 1266. It's a good example of how this far left insanity starts in California and then infects the rest of the country. Thirteen years we've been living with this. Well, I'm going to overturn that bill and we're going to end this insanity in California. And yet again, it's happening this year in this year's championships. And it's just an outrage. I mean, in fact, there's a fantastic campaign of Sophia, who gave me a wristband back a year ago when I announced this position at a press conference with campaigning against this insanity. The wristbands have saved girls sports and I promised her then I would wear it until I actually do it. And that's what I will do as governor.
Buck Sexton
Steve Hilton, everybody. He's running for governor. I think he can pull it off. He's got a beard now. Clay bearded Steve Hilton. He's coming through with the W, everybody. It's happening.
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Episode: Hour 2 - Can Steve & Spencer Pull it Off?
Date: May 20, 2026
Hosts: Clay Travis & Buck Sexton
Special Guest: Steve Hilton
Hour 2 of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show dives deep into the intersection of wealth, capitalism, and American public policy, featuring rich discussion spurred by recent comments from Jeff Bezos. The latter half centers on the California gubernatorial race, with special guest Steve Hilton sharing insights about his campaign and the state’s political climate. The episode is marked by candid analysis, economic philosophies, California-specific political drama, and the show’s signature blend of wit and skepticism toward progressive governance.
[02:16–09:35] The Value of Capitalism:
[08:44–11:00] Jeff Bezos Interview Clips:
[09:26–11:16] AI, Technological Progress, and Global Competition:
[14:58–15:49] Bezos on Taxes and Spending:
[23:15–23:39] Bezos on ‘Taxing the Rich’ Myths:
[22:39–44:43] Steve Hilton on the Gubernatorial Race & State of California:
Steve Hilton, Republican candidate for governor, discusses momentum in his campaign and links it with outsider Spencer Pratt’s LA mayoral run.
Both campaigns, though different in scope, are driven by utter frustration among Californians with progressive governance.
Hilton criticizes California’s prolonged one-party rule, highlighting:
Key Quote (Hilton, 28:44):
“The thing that we have in common...is that we’re both outsiders, we’ve never run for office before. And we’re just not afraid to point out the total failure and corruption of this Democrat machine...”
Hilton discusses the importance of party unity—warns that splitting the Republican vote could result in two Democrats in the November runoff due to California’s “top two” system.
Calls out Democratic opponents by name (Javier Becerra, Tom Steyer, etc.) and mocks Steyer’s lack of traction despite $200 million spent.
Critiques the “break glass” scenario floated by Gavin Newsom, which seeks to prevent GOP advancement in the general election.
Key Quote (Hilton, 44:06):
“A vote for the other Republican...is actually a vote for two Democrats in the top two, very important. We understand that.”
[44:43–45:58] Gender Policy & Sports Controversy:
Buck Sexton (Naval Ravikant’s idea, 05:05):
"Wealth is not zero sum. ...You and I sit here and everyone, all of you with us right now, you have, you are eating better food, you have better medical care, you have more comfortable, higher end, more durable clothing, living generally in...certainly bigger houses...than everybody on earth...100 years ago?"
Clay Travis (On technology progress, 05:06):
“The idea that you could have every bit of information that has ever existed basically in the history of the world, accessible to you in the palm of your hand...would have seemed crazy [in 1998]...”
Jeff Bezos (On value creation, 08:44):
"If I do my job right, the value to society and civilization from my for-profit companies will be much, much larger than the good that I do with my charitable giving."
Bezos (On taxation, 15:09):
“We already have the most progressive tax system in the world...We actually have a spending problem.”
Steve Hilton (On the state’s decline, 28:44):
“What you're seeing in California is the far left progressive governance experiment tested to destruction. They’ve had everything they wanted… And we now see the results. Total failure.”
Light-hearted moment: Pistachio debate (31:03–31:38):
For listeners seeking an understanding of contemporary debates over wealth, taxes, regulation, and the future of California politics—and a generous side of irreverence—this episode hits all the major points.