Hour 2 - Gov't Spending Porn

Summary

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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Hour 2 - "Gov't Spending Porn"
Date: March 6, 2026
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts

Episode Overview

In this hour, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton lead with a major recent political shake-up: the firing of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. They’re joined by Senator John Kennedy (Louisiana), who unpacks the controversy surrounding massive government ad spending. The hour hits on government waste, agency management, political strategy, and electoral integrity. Later, journalist Brianna Lyman of The Federalist discusses the crucial SAVE Act legislation on voter ID and proof of citizenship, plus a statistical case for why voting Republican saves lives. Characteristically, the hosts infuse the conversation with wit, directness, and signature Southern humor.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Firing of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem

Guest: Senator John Kennedy

• Government Ad Spending Scandal

  • Senator Kennedy explains his tough Senate questioning of DHS Sec. Noem regarding a quarter billion dollar ad campaign that prominently featured her (“spending porn”). He calls out the questionable contracting and management decisions.
    • “These ads cost a quarter of a billion dollars. They featured the secretary prominently... I consider this to be spending porn, and I'm gonna call it out every single time.”
      —Sen. Kennedy [06:17]

• Trump's Reaction and Handling

  • Kennedy details a late-night phone call from President Trump, who was furious about the ad spending and Noem’s claim under oath that he approved it.
    • "He was mad as a mama wasp... he told me he had nothing to do with it." —Sen. Kennedy [03:36]

• Management Issues at DHS

  • Kennedy points to deeper problems: alleged obstructing of internal investigations and personal scandals, but clarifies his focus is fiscal stewardship.

• Allegations of Lying Under Oath

  • Clay asks if Noem lied under oath about the president’s approval; Kennedy says he can't say for certain, but that it’s now a closed chapter after her dismissal.

• Personnel Change: Markwayne Mullin

  • The hosts and Kennedy discuss Sen. Markwayne Mullin as the new DHS pick:
    • “Markwayne’s tough as a pine knot... A, he's smart. B, he's tough. C, he's a good businessman... even if those things weren't true, I wouldn't say otherwise because Markwayne would whip my ass. I mean, he's like a cage fighter." —Sen. Kennedy [11:54]

Notable Quotes

• "I squeak when I walk and when I see spending porn or what looks to me like spending porn, I'm gonna call it out." —Sen. Kennedy [06:17]

• "She was as dead as Woodrow Wilson. You know, I can tell when the President's made up his mind and he usually acts pretty quickly." —Sen. Kennedy [03:14]

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2. Book Promotion and Personal Moments

• Senator John Kennedy pitches his bestseller:
  • “How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will” (HarperCollins)
  • Reflects on the surprising success and the work it took to record the audiobook:
    • “If you read the book, I hope it'll make you think—it may discourage you, may make you want to day drink. But every, every bit of it is true.” —Sen. Kennedy [13:17]

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3. The SAVE Act & Voter Integrity

Guest: Brianna Lyman (The Federalist)

• Legislation Overview

  • The SAVE Act would require documentary proof of citizenship and photo voter ID for registration.
    • “The only thing standing between a non-citizen and our free and fair elections is...the honor system. And that is absolutely not enough.” —Lyman [22:12]

• Why It's Urgent

  • With extremely tight races (sometimes decided by just a few votes), insecure elections can be swayed by ineligible ballots.

• Problems with Current Safeguards

  • Loopholes: In states like California, gym memberships can serve as ID for registration—no real check on citizenship.

• Blocking the Bill

  • Political will is missing in the Senate. Even though the bill has wide bipartisan public support (~80%), Majority Leader Thune is reluctant to force a talking filibuster to bypass Democratic resistance.

• Rebutting Counterarguments

  • Lyman calls the idea that voter ID is racist “insane” and notes data shows it does not disenfranchise minorities; in fact, election fraud disenfranchises citizens.

Notable Quotes

• “This stuff’s not going to go away for a while. I would like to know about the quarter of a billion dollars that was spent and who got it, whether we can recoup any of it.” —Sen. Kennedy [10:13]

• “If you vote Republican, particularly when it comes to DAs and the prosecution of violent crimes, the data reflects lives are saved because there’s far less violent crime.” —Clay Travis, summarizing Lyman’s article [29:23]

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Sen. Kennedy on Noem Firing & Spending – [01:10] to [12:50]
• Discussion: Book Plug & Humor – [12:50] to [14:56]
• Brianna Lyman Interview (SAVE Act & Crime Study) – [21:01] to [31:23]

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4. Crime Study: “Voting Republican Saves Lives”

Summarized by Brianna Lyman

• Recent study shows that electing Republican DAs leads to a 6.6% reduction in deaths among young men.
  • “Republican prosecutors... hold criminals accountable... they levy consequences that restrict criminal access to firearms, reduces suicide, and reduces gun violence.” —Lyman [29:59]

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5. Interludes: Listener Feedback and Lighter Moments

• Batman & 80s/90s Pop Culture ([17:50]–[19:37])

  • Playful debate over “The Dark Knight” vs. “Batman Begins”; reminiscence about parenting and sharing 80s/90s music with kids.

• Taylor Swift & Generational Music ([19:19])

  • Clay calls Swift “the Beatles of her modern era.”

• Listener Comments

  • Davy Crockett: Tennessee vs. Texas legend ([33:17])
  • Kurdish fighters respected for their valor ([34:16])
  • Headphone etiquette and the plague of noisy leaf blowers ([36:58])

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Most Memorable Moments and Quotes

• “Dead as Woodrow Wilson”: Sen. Kennedy’s signature Southern humor describing Noem’s standing post-scandal. [03:14]

• “He was mad as a mama wasp”: Kennedy’s vivid description of Trump’s displeasure. [04:59, 11:19]

• Lyman on ID Requirements:
  “Your gym membership. What protocols do you go to to get a gym membership? Nothing... And you can use that to verify your identity to vote.” [23:45]

• Lyman’s Closer on The SAVE Act:
  “This is not a 50-50 issue. It is an 80-20 issue.” [28:06]

• On Tough-on-Crime DAs:
  “Republican prosecutors... reductions in deaths among young men, 6.6%. That is not a drop in the bucket. That is a substantial decrease.” [29:59]

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Takeaways

• Senator Kennedy’s grilling and the President’s subsequent action underscore the impact of Congressional oversight on executive branch accountability, especially in spending.
• The ad campaign scandal reflects ongoing concerns about government waste and potential conflicts of interest in contracts.
• The SAVE Act debate illustrates the challenge of passing popular electoral reforms in a hyper-partisan Senate.
• There’s strong journalistic data that law-and-order prosecutors reduce violent deaths—a talking point for conservative justice reformers.
• Amidst heavy political discussion, the hosts maintain rapport and relatability with cultural references and listener engagement.

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For Those Who Missed the Episode

This hour delivers a rich blend of government accountability, electoral integrity, data-backed conservative policy argument, and off-the-cuff humor—from “spending porn” to “mad as a mama wasp.” Senator John Kennedy distinguishes himself both as a watchdog for taxpayer money and a consummate southern storyteller. Brianna Lyman articulates both the legislative nuts and bolts and real-world stakes of voter integrity laws. Whether you’re tracking political scandal, curious about the mechanics of election law, or just need a dose of personality with your policy, this segment offers insight and entertainment in equal measure.

Transcript

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in our number two Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us. We are rolling through the Friday edition of the program taking you into the weekend. Big breaking news happened yesterday when DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was let go while we were live on the air near the end of the second hour. And a big reason why I believe this guy's questions of her on Tuesday. We are joined now by Senator John Kennedy of the great state of Louisiana. And Senator, let's just dive in right off the top. What was your reaction when you saw that Kristi Noem was out? Were you surprised? Did you expect it? Take us into your, your process there as you came to see that news.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I wasn't surprised. Look, I like the secretary. I think she did many good things. In fact, I started my questioning by congratulating her on her success in securing our southern border and implementing the President's plan. But there have been a number of management decisions and certain management behavior at the department in the last three or four months that I think have they, they were really distracting from the President's agenda and our agenda and the, the, the quarter of a billion dollar advertising campaign that, that featured the secretary prominently has always bothered me. I'm, I'm, I'm very opposed to spending porn. But anyway, my point is I didn't tell anybody. I, I didn't get anybody's permission. I just decided to ask the secretary some pretty tough questions and when I asked her about the, the, the advertising campaign. I was a little surprised. That's why I asked her twice that, that she basically said the President approved every bit of it. And I didn't believe that. That night, about 9:30, I got a phone call from the President. He was mad as a mama wasp. He, he, he, he, he told me he had nothing to do with it. He wasn't aware of the advertising, advertising campaign. He would not have approved a quarter of a billion dollars. He wouldn't have approved no bid contracts to allegedly the friends of the secretary. And I had a feeling that he was going to make a change. He, he, he ran a couple of names by me about new secretaries. He asked me for my opinion on a few, and that was the end of the conversation. But I could tell that in all likelihood that the secretary was, she was as dead as Woodrow Wilson. You know, I can tell when the President's made up his mind and he usually acts pretty quickly.

[Clay Travis]

Dead as Woodrow Wilson.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I was just going to say I was also not surprised at Mark Wayne because we talked about Mark Wayne and I told him, okay, we'll get into

[Clay Travis]

that in a sec. But when you say Trump was mad as a mama wasp, what does that sound like? You talk to President Trump a lot. What does that sound like when you get a call from the President and he's that angry? That conversation sounds like what take us into, take it into what that experience is.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, he wasn't, he wasn't screaming or anything, but he was angry. I mean, I could tell he was angry. And he started off by saying, I hope, you know that I would never spend this kind of money on something like that when we're scratching and clawing to try to reduce our spending and therefore reduce our debt. And you know, he was very firm, I'll put it that way. But he wasn't screaming. But I could tell he was going to make a change.

[Buck Sexton]

Senator Kennedy, can you tell us a little bit more about, first of all, how could such a huge, how could anyone think that such a huge budget for an ad campaign for a government employee, not the President, would do anything other than raise a lot of eyebrows? And then also you mentioned this contracting. This seems like this is quite a messy thing. If there is money that is going, taxpayer dollars going in large sums to newly formed corporations right before they are doled out. What do we know about this? And is there going to be further looking into this?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yes, it's going to be looked at very carefully. I sit on the Appropriations Committee. But even if I didn't, when it Comes to taxpayer money. I'm pretty cheap, guys. I, I was state treasurer in Louisiana for 17 years. I squeak when I walk and when I see spending porn or what looks to me like spending porn, I'm gonna call it out. I don't care who, who did it. These ads cost a quarter of a billion dollars. They figured, or they featured rather the secretary prominently. You've seen them. She's on a horse in front of Mount Rushmore. I think any fair minded person would look at these ads and say, well, there could be a number of purposes, but they're primarily to promote the secretary. And I think during my questioning of the secretary, I asked her, I said, did you bid these out? I mean, and she said yes. And I knew that wasn't accurate. She, she didn't get the names of the people who got this quarter of a billion dollars off zip recruiter. I think some of them she knew beforehand and some of these were brand new companies. I don't know all the details, but I think what disturbed me the most from the testimony was that she, you know, she basically blamed the President and said, you know, he, he okayed it and he didn't. And you see the consequence.

[Clay Travis]

Now, you're a lawyer. I believe I'm a lawyer. You said the President said he didn't do it. She said he did. She said he did it under oath. I mean, to me, when you say something that is untrue under oath, I mean, I think that sets off a lot of alarm bells for people out there. Do you think based on what you know, that she lied under oath about this?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I don't know. As far as I'm concerned, it's over with. We've. And again, I like the secretary. She did many good things, but we were ha. We've, we've had a lot of management problems. In fact, if I, I had only 10 minutes to question her. I got to two subjects. I had eight to talk to her about.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, can I, to that end, Senator, can I jump in there? Because another thing that's gotten a lot of attention to headlines is the allegations about the secretary not just having an extramarital relationship and their allegations, and I know that she has denied them in the past, but with somebody who's a special government employee, so essentially traveling with her on taxpayer funded aircraft and going everywhere and in the chain of command, that is the allegation. Was it fair for Democrats to ask about that? And is it true that the President was unhappy with her responses?

[Senator John Kennedy]

He and I didn't talk about that. By him, of course, I mean the President. I don't know if those allegations are true. They were raised by a number of people in our hearing. They will. Look, this is not likely to be over. One of the things I wanted to talk to her about, but haven't, is management at the department has been obstructing their inspector general who works for us in Congress, and his job is to find waste and corruption and, and, and, and that sort of thing. And I know he's going to continue to probe. My guess is there will be others. But, but look, this isn't perfect.

[Buck Sexton]

Is that a fair. Is it a fair question? Is it a fair question, though, Senator, to ask, given that that involves somebody who might be in chain of command in your estimation, is it a fair question?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, look, I, I don't, you know, I'm pretty libertarian, guys, but 90% of my philosophy is don't hurt somebody unless they're trying to hurt you first, and don't take other people's stuff and leave me alone. So I, I don't really care that much about someone's sex life. But now, if it's a government employee, for example, in Congress, if, If a, If a congressman, a woman has an affair with somebody who works for you, it's, it's illegal. But my guess. My guess is it's just a guess, but it's not going to come from me. This stuff's not going to go for a while. Away for a while. I would like to know about the quarter of a billion dollars that was spent and who got it, whether we can recoup any. Any of it. But again, guys, it wasn't personal. I'm doing my job. That is my job. I consider this to be spending porn, and I'm gonna call it out every single time. And my experience with the President is that he doesn't like it either.

[Clay Travis]

No. Yeah, you said he was Matt. I wrote it down because I love the quote. Matt is a mama wasp. Let's talk about something positive, because you started to talk about it a little bit earlier. Senator Mark Wayne Mullen. You said the President bounced a bunch of names off you potentially as replacements for Secretary Noem. What can you tell us? We love Mark Wayne Mullen. He was with us Tuesday. Now he's got a big promotion. Who knows? Maybe you'll get a big promotion after this interview, too. But Mark Wayne Mullen, now head of the dhs, as someone who worked alongside of him, what should we know? What kind of job do you think he'll do?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, Mark Wayne's tough as a pine. Not guys, I, I, I, he, A, he's smart. B, he's tough. C, he's a good businessman. I told all this to the president. He's a good businessman, which means he's a pretty good manager. And as I told the folks yesterday, and D, even if all things, all those things weren't true, I wouldn't say otherwise because, because Mark 1 would whip my ass. I mean, he's like a cage fighter or something. I don't know. But I like Mark 1 and I think he'll do a good job and I think he'll be easily confirmed. He already has some ideas about some of the changes that he wants to make and it's, you know, new blood. Doesn't, doesn't hurt sometimes.

[Clay Travis]

You've got a best selling book. Buck Sexton also has a best selling book. You guys have been on the New York Times bestseller list together. What's it been like to be a best selling author? People are buying your book like crazy. I'll let you know. Pitch it.

[Buck Sexton]

Not that you need, I'm just, I'm gonna say, I, I think senator has an unfair advantage with the audiobook. With that accent. I'm just gonna tell you, I think it's unfair. There should be like a different category for, for charming Southern accent audiobook. But go ahead, Senator.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, man, you know, it took like 20 hours to record that audiobook. Oh my gosh, I had no idea. It takes on. Look, the name of the book is how to test negative or stupid and why Washington never Will. Harper Collins was a publisher. That wasn't my first choice for a title. My first choice was have always be yourself unless you suck. But they wouldn't let me use that title. So we settled on this one. You write a book. It was a lot of work, you know, nights and weekends in my kitchen table. And you, you finish it and you have no idea what's, how it's going to do. So I'm not trying to be humble here. I mean, honest to God, I had no idea and I really was surprised. I mean, we've only been on the New York Times bestseller list for 21 weeks. And I'm gratified. I think it's because it's not a policy book, it's a storybook. I use stories to talk about policy. The stories are, some of them are bizarre, some of them are funny, all of them are true. If I hope, if you read the book, I talk about my colleagues to talk about what it's really like if you read the book, I hope it'll make you think it may discourage you, may may make you want to day drink. But every, every bit of it is true.

[Clay Travis]

Senator Kennedy, we appreciate you. You always got an invitation on the program. Thanks for trying to take down the spending porn. And by the way, I'm a fellow Vanderbilt graduate, so it's always good to see Vandy guys having some success.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Go Doors. Listen, guys, y' all take the rest of the day off and also pay your taxes. We need the money. Okay.

[Buck Sexton]

All righty, we're on.

[Clay Travis]

It is Senator John Kennedy. We appreciate his time. Interesting comments there on a variety of different fronts. We come back, we'll unpack them a little bit. We're also scheduled to be joined by Brianna Lyman here on the Friday edition of the program. Want to tell you all about my friends at prize picks. You can play in all 50 states. I'm up in D.C. right now. From one coast to the other, you can play along. Pricepix.com code clay you get $50 when you play. $5 World Baseball Classic underway. Going to be really cool. Not too far from the NHL NBA playoffs. March Madness is officially here. It is a good time of year if you're a golfer. It's not too far till Augusta now with the Masters, all of that, you can play along in all 50 states buck has played. It's easy to pick more or less. Even if you're not a diehard sports person, you will enjoy it, I'm telling you. Go check it out. Prizepix.com Code Clay that is prizepix.com Code C L-A Y.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

We have a bunch of talkbacks I wanted to get to from all of you, including. I like this one, Clay. It's a Friday, so we have some fun ones here. We have Brianna Lyman, by the way, from the Federalist, joining us shortly. Talk about the SAVE act, some are saying talk more about the SAVE Act. Yes, we will. We'll talk about it. We'll keep talking about it. They should pass it. They should force the filibuster on the floor. We agree with all of this. But here this talk back. See Mike in Boston. Let's hear from Mike Schwein. Dittos from Hutto, Texas. This is Bill. And it's so nice that Clay knows so much about the Kurds. And it's wonderful to hear him way in.

[Clay Travis]

Yuck.

[Buck Sexton]

Yuck. All right. They played the wrong one. That was a dad joke. Kurds. And way in case you missed that

[Clay Travis]

one, I was gonna now play the correct one, which I was like, that doesn't sound like Boston to me.

[Buck Sexton]

No, I know. That was very not Boston on the accent. All right, second time, Mike in Boston. Let's go, Buck.

[Clay Travis]

That is today your best take. I completely agree. And you have no idea how many people push back on The Dark Knight

[Buck Sexton]

vs Batman begins, but Batman Begins is

[Senator John Kennedy]

one of a kind.

[Clay Travis]

There is no other origin story that is that solid. I mean, you cheer for his transformation from the beginning.

[Buck Sexton]

It's.

[Clay Travis]

It's the best out there.

[Buck Sexton]

Fully agree.

[Brianna Lyman]

Well said.

[Buck Sexton]

Thank you, Mike in Boston. Astute. Elite level take, as Clay would say, elite level take on the Batman movies.

[Clay Travis]

I need to go back and rewatch the Batman movies. This is one thing you're going to have to look forward to, which is one of the coolest. There's a lot of great things about raising kids, but if you're around our age, getting to take your kids and rewatch a lot of the movies that you loved when you were a kid and get to see it again fresh through their eyes and is really, really fun. For those of you out there that are around bucket minds age 80s, 90s, if you grew up with a lot of great 80s and 90s movies, man, do they hold up. And a lot of kids, like when I'm in the car now driving with my son, he wants to listen to 80s rock, it's, it's actually really funny. The music's way better when you guys are growing up.

[Buck Sexton]

So much better.

[Clay Travis]

You're right.

[Buck Sexton]

80s music was. 80s music is fantastic. Honestly, timeless 90s, I think is a little more of an acquired taste. I love it, but I can understand. But the best music in the 80s is truly, truly timeless. Unlike Taylor Swift's music, which will fade out within a matter of decades.

[Clay Travis]

Well, you know, kids today, they understand that I'm right, that she is the Beatles of her modern era. And I was reading this morning on the way doing prep, you know, Taylor Swift's so popular, Buck. She went to a crappy mall in London to film a video and it got so popular that the mall is now packed. That's how amazing she is. She brought old London malls back to life.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

We are now joined by Brianna Lyman of the Federalist. She has done a ton working and writing about the SAVE act and we'll start there. But I also want to get into. Remind me to ask Brianna about the study out there that says if you vote Republican, you actually save lives, which is a pretty good thing.

[Buck Sexton]

We knew that. We knew that before the study. But we'll take data too, so why not?

[Clay Travis]

And we'll get to Brianna on that. She's also doing a Great Series on America 2:50. But let's start with this. We've got a super close race. I believe it's in the North Carolina Senate. The last I saw Brianna was it came down to two votes. This is the State Senate, um, and the SAVE Act. Now we've got Ken Paxton down in Texas saying, hey, if you'll pass the SAVE Act, I'll consider dropping out of this race because he wants for John Cornyn to support it. There's around 80% of voters who support this. I know many people out there are frustrated. What's the latest on it? And how in the world can we not get basic voter integrity? Vote with a license, vote with a voter photo. The photo ID passed.

[Brianna Lyman]

Yeah, and I'm happy you brought up that North Carolina race because it is still down to two votes. And when you have elections that are literally decided by two votes, it doesn't make election security less important, it makes it more important. It makes things like the SAVE act more important. Because remember, the SAVE act would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. And then voter id. Right now, the only thing standing between a non citizen and our free and fair elections is, is a little square box in the federal registration form that says you attest under penalty of perjury that you're a citizen, AKA the honor system. And that is absolutely not enough. And so when you look at races like this one in North Carolina, when you look at Marionette Miller Meeks In 2020, she won her congressional race by six votes. Imagine if six non citizens had cast a ballot in that race. That could have quite literally changed a congressional seat, changed the balance of Congress. That is unacceptable. And right now you have leaders in the Senate like Leader Thune, who dragging his feet on legislation like you said, that is popular nationwide amongst Republicans, Democrats, blacks, Latinos, whites, you name it. Everyone's saying this is common sense legislation and yet it's not being done.

[Buck Sexton]

What entirely is in the SAVE Act? I mean, you mentioned there's. It's clearly about election integrity, but what are all the different pieces that it contains? Are there any things that aren't getting attention that would be really important for election integrity? It's just people are talking about the SAVE Act. I think it's important that everyone also know what's in it.

[Brianna Lyman]

Yeah. And what the SAVE act does. So there's the 1993 NVR, NVRA, the National Voter Registration Act. And what that does right now is it actually hamstrings the government from requiring proof of citizenship to vote. Because I think it was 2013, the Supreme Court, I think, wrongly interpreted that 1993 law to prohibit states from requiring documentary proof of citizenship to vote. So if you think of Arizona, Arizona has two registration forms. You can prove that you are a citizen and vote in state and federal elections. But if you can't prove that you're a citizen, you can only vote in federal elections. And so what The SAVE act would do is it amends that law, it fixes the problem we've had for 30 years and says, no, you have to require documentary proof of citizenship. Right. States should not be sued by the Obama and Biden DOJs for trying to make their elections more secure. President Trump seemed to hint in a truth Social post that he wanted to add no trans and kids maybe into the whole SAVE act negotiations. I think that was a bit unclear. But right now, the two biggest things, proof of citizenship to register and voter id. And a lot of people will say, well, we already have safeguards. And they cite things like HAVA and HAV, which are early 2000s legislation. Do you know, in a state like California, let's say you don't have your driver's license or your Social Security. Right. And you have no identification, you can still register to vote. And you know how you get to prove your identity? Your gym membership. What protocols do you go to to get a gym membership? Nothing. You just take a picture in front of the little thing and they say, okay, here's your name. You can come to the gym and you can use that to verify your identity to vote. So our elections are so insecure, and when you have 20 million people in this country illegally, we can't take chances.

[Clay Travis]

Brianna, one of the things that I would just point out is the contrary argument does not exist. Right. Because the argument is, well, it's racist to require photo id. That's insane. As we, as you said, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, people of all different backgrounds agree that you should have to have voter id, photo ID to vote. So really, isn't this just an implicit acknowledgment from Democrats that they're cheating and worried that they might get caught because otherwise none of the other arguments stand up.

[Brianna Lyman]

Yeah. There is no legitimate reason. And if you talk about. Let's go over, first of all, the racism thing, right? Remember Jim Crow 2.0 in Georgia? What was that, 21? They told us that black people would never be able to vote again. CNN and the Washington Post actually did articles after the first big election, after the legislation went through and they interviewed black voters who said it was actually easier to vote now than it had been in the past. They weren't encumbered, they weren't prohibited from voting. So that never actually manifested. Right. It was just that. Rah, rah. Then you have claims that this will disenfranchise voters. And again, I bring it back to these smaller races that are decided by razor thin margins. Take this. In December, a woman from the Bahamas who is not a citizen admitted to the Georgia State Election Board. She has voted in multiple elections. Not because she was trying to do something illegal, but she said, look, they kept sending me papers. I thought I was eligible. So I did it. Right. It wasn't nefarious, but there was no security and safeguards to stop her. Imagine she had cast a vote in this North Carolina race and one other non citizen did that. Right. That would change the outcome of an election that actually disenfranchises American citizens. So Republicans and Democrats who say, well, oh well, this might disenfranchise people, think about the Americans being disenfranchised by non citizens voting.

[Buck Sexton]

Speaking to Brianna Lyman of the Federalists and Brianna, the folks who write into us are saying, we got to pass the SAVE Act. It's critical to pass the SAVE Act. And we have a problem here, of course, which is one, Majority Leader Thune does not seem willing to push for this. But even beyond that, without a 60 vote threshold, there's the threat of filibuster, not an actual talking filibuster. That is assumed to be enough to shut this down. So that means that it doesn't get passed. Right. So what is the best thing? Let's say we could get, we could get Majority Leader Thune to sit down right now with all of us. What should he do in this situation, given how important election integrity is and how much sense and how much support from the general public this Save act has?

[Brianna Lyman]

Yeah. And Chip Roy actually wrote a letter explaining the talking filibuster, which is that, you know, Leader Thune has to basically call and have Democrats. They have to follow the rules and they have to talk. They get two times to talk each. Once they stop talking, they don't get to resume. Right. And if Republicans were to enforce already standing procedures, Democrats would eventually just run out of time. And then you can hold a regular vote in which you only need 51 votes to pass this legislation, which we know we have because Fetterman is on our side. And if a Republican is going to resign themselves to say, well, we, you know, we don't want to get rid of the filibuster, but we want this legislation passed, then they're admitting they're never getting it passed. Republicans are never in our lifetime likely going to get a filibuster proof majority. That is silly thinking. So what, what Republicans like Thune are saying is, well, I guess we're just going to have to settle for only doing things that Democrats want. But just remember something, Chuck Schumer has made it very clear. When Democrats take back power, nothing, including nuking the filibuster, is off the table. When Democrats take back Congress, whether it's in 20, 26, 28, whenever, they will do what's necessary to push their agenda. And I wish Republicans would have the appetite to do the same on legislation that is universally popular. This is not a 5050 issue. It is an 8020 issue.

[Clay Travis]

We're talking to Brianna Lyman of the Federalist. All right, everybody out there who's fired up about the SAVE Act? We are fired up. We want it to happen. Uh, but let me ask you about this, which is actually a very positive story I was reading about this week. There is now data out, and I believe you wrote about this or have talked about this as well, saying that if you vote Republican, particularly when it comes to DAs and the prosecution of violent crimes, the data reflects lives are saved because there's far less violent crime. Seems like kind of an important story that should get more attention. What did the data show? What does it tell us? And why? Is it significant?

[Brianna Lyman]

Yeah, yeah, this was, this was data that was kind of, I feel like, hidden. Granted, you know, the Iran war started, so it did get buried. But what it shows is that despite people telling us that if you vote for a progressive prosecutor, you're being compassionate and empathetic, that compassion comes at a very deadly cost. And what this study by a Vanderbilt professor and a Wellesley College professor found is that when you narrowly elect a Republican prosecutor over a left wing counterpart, you see a reduction in deaths among young men, 6.6%. That is not a drop in the bucket. That is a substantial decrease. And obviously you don't need a study to show this, but Republican prosecutors, they actually want to hold criminals accountable. They send them to jail. And most importantly, they levy consequences on these criminals that do come with the consequence of restricting their access to firearms. It reduces suicide among young men. It also reduces other forms of gun violence. And so you, you think to yourself, democrats hate gun violence. Everybody hates gun violence. But Democrats also hate the Second Amendment. Instead of taking away the second amendment from law abiding citizens, if you want to reduce gun violence, elect a Republican prosecutor. Tell your progressive prosecutors what they're doing is not only not working, but it's deadly and dangerous. For that, Democrats claim they want to help. They want to help victims of gun violence. This is how you do it. Be a tough on crime prosecutor.

[Buck Sexton]

Brianna Lyman, great to have you with us from the Federalists. Come back soon.

[Clay Travis]

Thanks for having me in Israel citizens are on high alert any hour, any minute next to incoming missile or drone might be headed in their direction. The vulnerable population of Israel is the most effective. That's the young, that's the old, that's those without substantial resources. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. They're on the ground preparing large scale distributions of life saving food, first aid and emergency essentials for security personnel. I saw it for myself on the ground what the IFCJ does. They build brand new store bomb shelters. They build new underground hospitals because hospitals are targeted, believe it or not. They have to turn parking garages into their emergency wards and into their own hospitals. They do incredible work to take care of everybody in Israel. And right now they could use your help. 888488 IFCJ. As bombs rain down in Israel, you can go [e-mail] and help the people there. This is the Fellowship of Christians and Jews. IFCJ.org that's IFCJ.org.

[VRBoCare Announcer]

Day or night. VRBoCare is here 24, 7 to help make every part of your stay seamless. If anything comes up or you simply need a little guidance, support is ready whenever you reach out. From the moment you book to the moment you head home. We're here to help things run smoothly because a great trip starts with the right support. And hey, a good playlist doesn't hurt either.

[Buck Sexton]

We've got a lot of talk, facts, a lot of conversation and commentary coming in here and we will get to it. Let's see. Podcast listener David in Tennessee, a bone to pick with those of us from the Crockett Coffee World, which you should all be joining by the way. Crockett Coffee dot com. But here's what David has to say. Talk back beat Clay as a fellow

[Clay Travis]

born and raised Tennessee.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And I'm shaking my head that you

[Buck Sexton]

called Davy Crockett a legendary Texan.

[Clay Travis]

He was born in Tennessee. Dude, did I do that? Do we have.

[Buck Sexton]

I don't know.

[Clay Travis]

Can we, can we go to the tape and see? I remember this was a conversation when we were making fun of Jasmine Crockett that I called Jasmine Crockett a legendary Texan in mock derision. That might have happened too. I just want to go to the transcript if I would like to apologize to the state of Tennessee. Although I would say Davy Crockett is both a Tennessee and Texan legend.

[Buck Sexton]

His legend was sort of enshrined forever because of the Alamo in Texas. But he was legendary just based on being a congressman in Tennessee and a great bear Hunter and all these other things. So one point thought of as a possible presidential candidate. By the way, this is a great email in from vip. Tony. This is the amount of brain trust that listens to this show every day, and the experience that all of you bring to these conversations is truly incredible. VIP emailed Tony. I was a civil affairs team chief in Mosul and Nineveh province in the surge, so I was outside. Tony. I was there about a year before you. I was outside the wire every day, meeting with practically everyone. Sheikhs, government officials, business people. Bottom line up front. Some of the greatest fighters I ever watched were Kurds. As late as 2008, 2009, there were still Peshmerga compounds in eastern Mosul flying the Kurdish flag. The Kurds also protected the ancient Assyrian Christian communities in eastern Nineveh province. Your strategic assessment is spot on. We need to be leery of fomenting ethnic conflict in a very complicated area. The spillover effects could be worse than what the administration is trying to achieve. That's a guy who knows what he's talking about with the Kurds, obviously, and with that whole region of the world. Yeah, Clay, the Kurdish enclave in Iran, there's a little bit in the northeast, I think, the very tiny bit, but it's really all in the northwest. It's like 10% of the country. So, yeah, I mean, can the Kurds, sure, they can help us there, and maybe they can create a kind of rear guard area for strategic projection for whatever the resistance may be, but it's. It gets very complicated. Yeah, and the pesh. I knew SF guys, I knew task force guys, SEALs, Delta, and they were like the Kurds. Look, they didn't have the sophisticated ttps we did, and they didn't have the same whiz bangs they could call upon. But you give a Kurd a rusty AK and say, man that post. He'll stay there and fight until he runs out of ammo, and, you know, we'll die trying. He'll die in defense of. Of his team and his people. So I. I. Full credit to the Kurds. I. I have a tremendous amount of respect for those people, Clay. When I would travel outside the wireless, anytime we went, any. Any Kurdish compound, anywhere we went felt totally safe. Not the case with the Sunni Arab compounds I went to, but that's a whole other conversation. All right, a podcast listener. Wendy, play it.

[Brianna Lyman]

I just wanted to say something about the new rule for United Airlines and the headphone usage. I just want to know how I get that instilled in My own home with my husband, who is constantly playing TikToks in the background of my life. And I'm like, put in your headphones.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, man. I'm with her on this one. Clay, you. You gotta. You gotta control your own sound in the home too. You gotta use the headphones if someone else isn't watching what you're watching. This is just basic courtesy.

[Clay Travis]

You have stepped into a big sound battle. I landed up here in D.C. and I immediately go into my, my, my mentions, and Buck has come after the leaf blowing community, which I've come after before too. And we do need some civility. We just had Brianna Lyman, who was great, talking about the fact that if you elect Republican DA's, you save lives. I think we need to go after big leaf. I don't understand why we can't create leaf blowers. First of all, that don't get used at 6am in neighborhoods which you people are terrorists who bring out the leaf blowers early in the morning, especially on. Why do they have to be so loud? We have cars that make no noise. In fact, electric vehicles like my Tesla make so little noise that they actually had to add noise because pedestrians were in danger. Because in neighborhoods, you wouldn't hear a car coming and you start to cross the street and boom, you get hit. Why can't there be leaf blowers? This is my request for you American brilliant technologists that make no noise at all. Why is that not?

[Buck Sexton]

Some people seem to think that their leaf blower should sound like a chainsaw.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

And, and I disagree. I, I don't think we need to have. Because that's essentially the same noise. I mean, it sounds like someone's using a chainsaw out there. And anytime I'm walking down a beautiful quiet street here these days on a. On an otherwise perfect Miami day, I've got like three leaf blowers going at all times. Yes.

[Clay Travis]

Early in the morning, everywhere. I agree. And how about most of the leaf blowers are just blowing their leaves into their neighbor's yard and then the other guy blows the leaves back to the other side. You're just in. You're not actually making anything cleaner. We'll take some. We got some more funny talkbacks. It's Friday, final hour of the week. Up next, open phone lines. Let's hang and have some fun here on Clay and Buck.

[Buck Sexton]

It.