Hour 2 - Just "Don't" Do It - Lessons from Nike

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 2 - Just "Don't" Do It - Lessons from Nike
Date: December 19, 2025
Host: Clay Travis (Buck Sexton on vacation)

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Overview:

This hour of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show centers on the cultural and financial decline of Nike, using it as a lens for exploring broader themes of internal accountability, corporate culture, politics in sports, and the importance of the meritocracy. Clay Travis revisits Nike’s brand pivot from athletic excellence to woke political activism, reflecting on market consequences, American values, and lessons for conservative listeners. The episode closes with thoughts on Christmas movies and the importance of internal culture in families and organizations.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Show Gratitude to Listeners and Recap of Show’s Growth

Timestamp: 02:35 – 05:15

• Clay thanks listeners for their support over five years, noting their continued presence and the show's growth from 350 to over 550 affiliate stations.
• Emphasizes the privilege of hosting in Rush Limbaugh’s former time slot and intends to help "speak sanity into an all too often insane world."
• On longevity in the talk radio world:

  "You can imagine a lot of people, when you step into shoes that are this massive, say there's no way on earth these two knuckleheads are going to last any time at all. And it's credit to you guys that not only have we lasted, we have thrived." (03:58)

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2. Nike's Decline: “From Meritocracy to Woke”

Timestamp: 05:30 – 14:00

• Nike Stock’s Slide: Clay highlights Nike stock dropping below $60, contrasting it with market growth elsewhere since 2018.
• The Jordan Era: Nike’s past was built on the pursuit of excellence, symbolized by Michael Jordan and the “Republicans buy sneakers too” ethos, which strove to unite rather than divide.

  “Sports is a unifying force... when you’re in a stadium or an arena and your team wins, you shouldn’t be thinking about anything other than high fiving the person around you. And Jordan got that.” (06:57)

• Cultural Highmark: Notes the record-setting 1998 NBA Finals Jordan game as the height of “basketball as unifier,” far surpassing today’s viewership.
• Pivot to Woke Activism: In 2018, Nike made Colin Kaepernick the face of its brand, using activism over athletic merit, which Clay sees as the crucial mistake.

  “Suddenly, Nike decided instead of Kobe Bryant, instead of Michael Jordan, instead of the greatest athletes of their era representing the brand, they were going to pivot, they were going to go woke. They gave millions of dollars to Colin Kaepernick. And they said, this is the new Nike.” (11:36)

Memorable Quote:

• Michael Jordan’s enduring appeal:

  “Even to this day, Michael Jordan’s Air Jordan brand outsells every current NBA player, sneaker combined. Think about how wild that is.” (08:28)

• On Kaepernick’s selection as brand face:

  “The minute that Nike decided, hey, we’re going to focus on an athlete for an advertising campaign that has nothing to do with excellence on the field and everything to do with a political perspective...they basically extended a middle finger to half of America and said, screw y’all.” (14:06)

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3. The Cost of Cultural Shifts: Performance vs. Politics

Timestamp: 13:49 – 18:30

• Mocking Kaepernick’s “Sacrifice”: Clay is critical of Kaepernick’s portrayal as a martyr, pointing out his financial gains post-NFL exit.
• Investment Outcomes: If investors had followed Clay’s call to sell Nike stock in 2018, they would have outpaced market returns significantly.

  “Seven years later, $85 share price, now it's $59. It's not just that the price has declined substantially. It’s that the rest of the market has gone up substantially. You’ve lost a ton of money if you bought Nike stock and held it because they went woke.” (16:33)

• Lesson: Culture trumps everything—success is dictated by internal standards, not external threats. Culture “virus” leads to decline if not checked.

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4. Broader Application: Culture Starts at Home

Timestamp: 22:03 – 23:30

• Clay parallels Nike’s internal rot to families, communities, and the country:

  "I don’t think people think enough about what we do to destroy often the things that we love internally based on the choices that we make. Nike is actually emblematic of what often ends up happening." (22:30)

• Introduces metaphor: "We recruit our own problems," originally from a college football coach. Most failure is internal, from bad culture or values.

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5. Personal Responsibility and Conservative Values

Timestamp: 23:30 – 36:00

• Advice to Young People:

  "Graduate high school, get married, get a job. If you do those three things, your poverty rate in America is basically zero." (24:27)

• Emphasis: External blame is a distraction; cultivating responsibility and a high-performance culture internally is key.
• Cites Ben Shapiro’s speech at AmFest about combating dishonesty in the conservative movement, reinforcing that truth and principle matter over conspiracy.

Notable Quote—Ben Shapiro via audio clips:

"We have a duty to truth, we also have a duty to provide you with evidence of the claims that we make. Emotive accusations, conspiracy theories, and just guessing questions that's lazy and stupid and misleading." (31:00) "The conservative movement is in serious danger... from charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle, but actually traffic in conspiracies and dishonesty." (31:55)

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6. Internal Threats Over External Enemies

Timestamp: 36:00 – 38:00

• Clay argues America’s greatest threats are internal, not foreign:

  "But I’m more concerned about what we’re doing inside the country. To freedom, to the marketplace of ideas." (36:56)

• Examples: European censorship of criticism about immigration; canceling of “Grinch” cards over perceived discrimination.

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7. Lighthearted Segment—Christmas Movies

Timestamp: 41:20 – 43:49

• Clay asserts “Christmas Vacation” is the best Christmas movie, calls for listener feedback, and set up for final fun segment before closing out the year.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Opening on the value of the show’s audience:

  “We have enjoyed every single moment. We hope that we have helped to make the country a little bit better than it otherwise would have been.” (03:46)

• On Nike’s brand mistake:

  “When they started to sell the face of the brand...that has nothing to do with excellence on the field and everything to do with a political perspective...Republicans buy sneakers too. And they basically extended a middle finger to half of America.” (14:06)

• On success and culture:

  “The only way we advance is by embracing the meritocracy. The best among us should have the highest possible results.” (17:33)

• On internal versus external threats:

  “Most destruction is internal, not external. And do we recruit our own problems?” (23:21)

• Ben Shapiro on conservative grifting:

  “These people are frauds. They are grifters, and they do not deserve your time. And they are something worse than that: a danger to the only movement capable of stopping the left from wrecking the country wholesale.” (31:55)

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Recommended Timestamps for Key Segments

• Show opens & listener gratitude: 02:35–05:15
• Nike analysis begins: 05:30
• Michael Jordan, Air Jordans as branding: 07:00–09:30
• 2018 “Believe in Something” Nike ad: 12:29–13:49
• Nike’s post-2018 stock and culture analysis: 14:06–18:30
• On culture vs. external threats: 22:03–23:30
• Ben Shapiro's AmFest speech: 31:00–32:33
• Personal responsibility summary: 23:30–36:00
• Fun Christmas movies debate: 41:20–43:49

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Takeaway

Clay Travis uses the trajectory of Nike’s brand as both a warning and an opportunity to reflect on the broader cultural struggles facing America today. The central lesson: cultures—whether corporate or national—thrive when rooted in meritocracy and personal responsibility rather than divisive politics or blame. With the year closing, Clay encourages listeners to take stock of their own “internal cultures” at home, work, and in their communities.

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For listeners seeking insight on culture, politics in business, and the imperative of internal strength over external blame, this episode delivers both a case study in Nike and a resonant message for the holiday season.

Transcript

[Clay Travis]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in our number two final show of the year for either Buck or myself, and Buck is already on Christmas vacation. I will soon be joining my family on Christmas vacation. The boys, the Travis boys are all out of school and super excited as kids are to be out of school. I'll mention this again in the third hour, but I wanted to make sure I didn't forget to do it here. Thank you guys. From both Buck and myself. We started this show, this ride with you guys in 2021. So we've been with you in 2021-2022-2023-2024, and now 2025. So that is parts of five years. And next year when we go into 2026, that will be six years. And I know a lot of you out there are thinking to yourself, there's no way that's true because as you age, the years move by super fast. And so I'm kind of blown away by that, too. But we have enjoyed every single moment. We hope that we have helped to make the country a little bit better than it otherwise would have been. And we are certainly honored every single day to sit down in front of this microphone that Rush Limbaugh made famous and to help to speak sanity into at all too often an insane world. So we thank you for this opportunity, this privilege, and thank you guys for, for letting us move into a sixth calendar year with all of you starting next year. And it's been another really good year for growth. I've mentioned this before, but I think it's worth noting when we came in in 2021, we had 350 stations nationwide. As we are finishing 2025, we now have over 550 stations nationwide. So we have grown by 200 stations over the course of the past four or five years. And that's a credit to you guys because you're listening all over the country in all 50 states. And certainly we, we love all of you that are listening right now on the podcast. But you can imagine a lot of people, when you step into shoes that are this massive, say there's no way on earth these two knuckleheads are going to last any time at all. And it's credit to you guys that not only have we lasted, we have thrived. And I think it's quite clear that we love hanging out with you every single day for three hours. So thank you. All right. Opposite of thriving. I teased this last hour, and as I was reading and getting ready for the show today, I couldn't help but go through my usual review of the stock market to see how things are moving there. You guys know I love to, to update you as as needed Sometimes more often than some of you care on what's going on in the stock market, what's going on in the media landscape. And this morning Nike stock is tanking. And I know some of you probably have Nike stocks, so I'm not trying to add to your misery here in the holiday season, but Nike stock has now dropped below $60 a share. I wrote seven years ago in September of 2018 that it was a bad idea to buy stock in Nike because Nike had moved from a company that embraced the meritocracy. This was really a large part the thesis of my book Republicans buy Sneakers Too from a company that's goal was to speak to sports fans everywhere and sell them sneakers and sell them gear. Michael Jordan was right. He's now admitted that this was a quote. He was asked in the 1990s, why aren't you political, Michael? Why do you not speak out on so many different issues that confront the country? And his answer was Republicans buy sneakers too. I love that answer. Because sports is a unifying force and it should be the case and I really believe this, and I founded much of my career on it that when you're in a stadium or an arena and your team wins, you shouldn't be thinking about anything other than high fiving the person around you. And Jordan got that. And it's why to this day, sorry for all the people in Salt Lake. The most watched game in the history of basketball was game six, 1998 NBA Finals. When Michael Jordan, yes, he pushed off Brian Russell a little bit, stepped back and hit a jumper to win the sixth title for the Chicago Bulls in eight years. Over 30 million people watch that game. It is the most watched game still in the history of basketball in America. Never have more people watched a game. Lots of other sports have set new record highs. Super bowl for instance, that we just watched. Many of us in in February of this year was the most watched football game that's ever aired in the history of the United States. So the NFL has continued to set records. The NBA hasn't. Why? It's because Nike decided to go woke. I'm going to play an ad for you from back in 2018 in a moment. But think about when you grew up. Nike epitomized athletic excellence, the meritocracy. If you remember, if you grew up around my age, you will BO Knows. Do you remember the BO Knows commercials that were so great? If you remember all of the Michael Jordan ads for Nike. If you are around my age and you remember how every time a new Air Jordan Sneaker came out. We all couldn't wait to see them. We hoped that we might be able to afford them. Heck, some of y' all are out there right now and you're sneaker heads to this day because you grew up on Air Jordans. Great stat for you. Even to this day, Michael Jordan's Air Jordan brand outsells every current NBA player, sneaker combined. Think about how wild that is. That's how beloved Michael Jordan was when they released that documentary, the Last Dance During COVID when there were no sports going on, more people watched the documentary about the 1990s Chicago Bulls than watched the actual NBA Finals with LeBron James in them that year. People would rather watch a documentary about Michael Jordan than an actual game featuring LeBron James. Why? Why did all this happen? Because deep down, American DNA craves excellence. We want to be the biggest, the best, the baddest ass that has ever existed. That was Jordan. Now, can it come with pratfalls? Yeah. Most people who are driven to be the best at something, they also have a few flaws. Elon Musk, right now, I think, is the greatest American capitalist of all time. If you look at what he's done with Tesla, if you look at what he's doing with SpaceX, if you look at what he's doing with X and Xai, the Boring Company, all of them are extraordinary successes, the likes of which. And I'm. I don't think I'm exaggerating here, it's the greatest capitalist ever. Susie Wiles talked about this in the Vanity Fair, but he's also a bit of an odd duck. He's got a lot of kids by a lot of different women, 14 kids, I think, by a lot of different women right now. It's probably not always really easy to get along with Steve Jobs back at Apple. Really difficult to get along with. You know when you say, like Steve Jobs did, my job is not to give people what they want. It's to give people what they aren't even aware they want yet. I've got to create that. It's kind of cocky. And so if you're looking at that and you're saying, yeah, can there's a downside to it. But if excellence is the standard, Nike made its focus the meritocracy. The best man or the best woman. They wanted their sneakers on you. They wanted to convince you that you would run faster, jump higher, that you would in some way emulate the successes of the people that they put on the Nike brand. It was all about excellence. The meritocracy Nike wanted the best man or the best woman. Not the best man pretending to be a woman to win. And then a record scratch moment happened in 2018. I'm going to play this ad for you. Suddenly, Nike decided instead of Kobe Bryant, instead of Michael Jordan, instead of the greatest athletes of their era representing the brand, they were going to pivot, they were going to go woke. They gave millions of dollars to Colin Kaepernick. And they said, this is the new Nike. And this aired seven years ago.

[Colin Kaepernick (Nike Ad Voice)]

Listen, if people say your dreams are crazy, if they laugh at what you think you can do, good, stay that way. Because what non believers fail to understand is that calling a dream crazy is not an insult, it's a compliment. Don't try to be the fastest runner in your school or the fastest in the world. Be the fastest ever. Don't picture yourself wearing OBJ's jersey. Picture OBJ wearing yours. Don't settle for homecoming queen or linebacker.

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[Colin Kaepernick (Nike Ad Voice)]

Lose 120 pounds and become an ironman after beating a brain tumor. Don't believe you have to be like anybody to be somebody. If you're born a refugee, don't let it stop you from playing soccer for the national team at age 16. Become the best basketball player on the planet. Be bigger than basketball. Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.

[Clay Travis]

All right, stop it right there. When they believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything, they tried to cloak their message in the guise of Colin Kaepernick there. But people said, wait a minute. Colin Kaepernick is making way more money as an advocate than he ever had as a quarterback. He got multiple Netflix documentary deals. He got paid millions of dollars by Nike. If Colin Kaepernick had been the best quarterback in the NFL and he had decided to take a knee to protest anything, do you know what would have happened? He would have stayed employed. But when they started to sell the face of the brand, now is Colin Kaepernick believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything? Colin Kaepernick wasn't the best quarterback in the NFL. I'm not sure. He was the 25th best quarterback at the NFL at the time that he took a knee. Michael Jordan, whatever you thought about him, heck LeBron James, heck Kobe Bryant, whatever you thought about those guys, they were the best of their era. The minute that Nike decided, hey, we're going to focus on an athlete for an advertising campaign that has nothing to do with excellence on the field and everything to do with a political perspective. They turn their back on Michael Jordan. Republicans buy sneakers too. And they basically extended a middle finger to half of America and said, screw y'. All. And that's being kind for what they said. Left wing politics or nothing. When that ad ran Nike stock, I wrote about it at USA Today. I've linked it on my Twitter account. Nike stock was $85 a share. Seven years later, stock market is up about 150%. That is if you had a dollar in it. Now you've got nearly 250, right? All the rest of the market has gone up substantially. Nike stock, as I speak to you right now, is 59 a share. You would have lost if you had just seen that cultural pivot like I did and said, sell your Nike stock. Which I did. And everybody in the whole sports media came after me and said, clay Travis has no idea what he's talking about. Seven years later, $85 share price, now it's $59. It's not just that the price has declined substantially. It's that the rest of the market has gone up substantially. You've lost a ton of money if you bought Nike stock and held it because they went woke and burned down the entire framework of the company. All of the culture that was created with Michael Jordan was gone with Colin Kaepernick. And I think it's emblematic. Some of you can say, well, why should I care about Nike? This is what happens. Culture wins. Culture wins in everything. The culture that you create in your family, in your company, in your city, in your state, in your country, ultimately dictates the result that you're going to get. And if you allow this woke culture virus into your family, into your company, into your city, into your state, into your country, the results are going to be awful. Because the only way we advance is by embracing the meritocracy. The best among us should have the highest possible results. When we start saying the athletes we should aspire to embody are people who are speaking out about politics whatever they are, not about the excellence of their actual performance, the culture is lost. This is what I think about all the time. Now that I'm getting to be an old guy. Culture, culture, culture. The culture that you create in life dictates every element of success individually and also in a larger context. It's no surprise to me that the culture Nike created, which turned away from excellence in the meritocracy of Michael Jordan to the left wing activism of Colin Kaepernick, led ultimately to the cratering of the company. If you go woke, everything else will be in disastrous rubble. Doesn't matter what it is. Hope. That's a lesson that we're starting to learn, but it's one that a lot of us knew a long time ago. All right, I want to tell you Rapid Radios we're going to be on the road for the holiday season. Lots of you are going to be on the road too. We're going to be using Rapid Radios to communicate while we're on the road because sometimes we may not have reliable wi fi. How many times you look down at your phone, suddenly the bars are gone and you think to yourself, oh no, I'm in a no call zone. Rapid Radios will find a way for you to be able to still communicate. They're great for young people, they're great for old people. They're great for times of potential catastrophe. Five day charge. All you have to do is go to rapid radios.com and get hooked up right now. Great Michigan company. Good holiday gift season suggestion. Great choice. Go to rapid radios.com make sure your family and friends are never out of reach. That's Rapid Radios.com no promo code needed. Rapid Radios.com stories of freedom, stories of America. Inspirational stories that unite us all each day. Spend time with Clay and Buck. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.

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Someone will be eliminated.

[Clay Travis]

Pressure is coming, coming down. Trainer games on Prime Video January 8th. Watch the trailer on trainergames.com Season 2.

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Of Unrivaled Basketball is here and the talent is unreal. Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more are back to redefine the game. Unrivaled basketball season two, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, tips off January 5th on TNT, TruTV and HBO Max. It's the most wonderful time of the year and Valpack is here to make it even better this month as you sip through holiday mail, don't miss the blue Valpak envelope. From dining to holiday shopping week, this There's a slate full of savings in your mailbox, plus a chance to instantly win $100. That's right, you can find $100 Christmas cash inside. Want to save even more money on what you love? Go to valpak.com for local coupons and offers. It pays to open Valpak. No purchase necessary for instant Win voiper prohibited prices are randomly inserted. See specially marked Valpak envelopes for details.

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back. Ant Clay. Travis Buck SEXTON SHOW A lot of you reacting to my Nike destroying its brand culture take. But I do think and I'll build on this a little bit more when we come back. How much time do you spend thinking about the culture that you're creating? A lot of times we don't because we're so focused on the external noise. What is somebody going to try to do to me? What is somebody going to try to do to my family? And that's great to protect yourself from external forces. What is somebody going to do to my company? But I don't think people think enough about what we do to destroy often the things that we love internally based on the choices that we make. Nike is actually emblematic of what often ends up happening. And if you want to protect your family, you want to protect those you love, but you want to do it in non lethal fashion. That's what Sabre does. Go to saberradio.com right now. S A B R E they have all sorts of protective devices for your family. Non lethal pepper spray projectile launcher. It's shaped like a gun, but it sets off. The pepper spray will protect you. Maybe you got people coming in to your house at all hours. I was just live on the show and I got five people walking in to work on one of my cameras to the right side of me. There's people around all the time. Maybe there's a lot of people, people coming in and out. Maybe you got teenagers, it's Christmas. Maybe they're going to be out with their friends, sneaking in late hours. Get hooked up at Saber Radio to protect your family. Saberradio.com incredible deals s a b r e radio.com go today we are continuing to follow. They now say the Brown shooter, the Brown University shooter is dead. He has shot himself. And they are now saying that he also likely, as we started off the show discussing, killed the MIT professor as well. And we were talking about culture as it pertains to Nike and how the culture of whatever you create your family, your own self. If you don't have a big family, your company, your state, your city, your country, culture ultimately dictates everything. If you make good choices, then you're going over time to end up in a better place than if you make bad choices. And if you question that, I make a lot of bad choices in my golf game. Golf as a metaphor for life is not a bad symbol for those of you out there that golf at all. How often do you find yourself out of the fairway? Very often for me. How often do you find yourself with a bad lie? Very often. And how often do you try to do a hero shot to put yourself back where you should have been if you had just stayed in the fairway in the first place? A ton of times. If you ever find yourself in golf thinking, I'm going to cover my face right after this shot, which I have found myself doing a lot of times, you are attempting a hero shot. If you are playing with a friend and he's in the golf cart and he leans over in preparation for your shot to ensure that you don't beat him in the back of the head and kill him, you are attempting a hero shot. If you have ever started to take a golf swing and thought this shot might well ricochet and take out my teeth or break my nose, it's probably something you shouldn't do. Speaking of which, you know, I've done a bunch of these charity pro ams now. Ja Rule the Rapper. Did you guys see the video of his tee shot where he hit it such an improbable angle that the person who was filming it, who was basically perpendicular to him, it should be very difficult to hit a golf shot that way. You should be safe in that tee box. Nah, he hit him. If you haven't seen that video, that is an example of a bad golf shot that is leading the culture amok. But I do Think it's important and instructive as we finish 25, to think about that quite a lot. And I think about it in the context of a quote that I heard back in the past that some of you may have heard before. A college football coach told me, we recruit our own problems. And I just thought to myself, that is such a perfect way of describing much of what goes on in life. We recruit our own problems. Most of the time we worry about external. Oh, what's that person going to do to me? Oh, what's that company going to do to me? Most destruction is internal, not external. And do we recruit our own problems? The coach was talking about the culture you create. The culture you create dictates success. If you create a culture that blames everybody else, this woke mind virus. If you create a culture that says, oh, actually this company, well, it's, it's taking advantage of people, it's pillaging them. If you create a culture of futility and blame, you're going to have a culture that collapses. And I was thinking about that right now because on the right wing in this country. Well, let me first give you a little bit of advice. My advice is we finish off 20, 25, clip it, share it with your kids, graduate high school, get married, get a job. If you do those three things, your poverty rate in America is basically zero. Graduate high school, everybody can do it. No matter how rich your mom or dad are, no matter where you're going to school, everybody can graduate high school, everybody can eventually get married, and everybody can eventually have kids. After those two things you do that, you have a poverty rate basically of zero. But I wanted to play a cut. Ben Shapiro yesterday was speaking out at Amfest. Erica Kirk, big news, I would say the wife of Charlie Kirk endorsed J.D. vance. But Ben Shapiro was speaking about truth and trying to be honest with audience and what the impact of that can be in a significant way. And I thought he did a really good job of calling out things that are untrue and people who are spreading untruth. Sometimes people who are spreading untruths and being actually rewarded for them. And I am scrolling through right now. Let's start with Erica Kirk, because I thought Erica was good in what she said. This is cut 13. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The mission didn't end with Charlie's life. It's being lived out through each and every one of you in your own way. Again, it doesn't matter. Your age doesn't matter. Your race doesn't matter your background. Amfest is not about echo chambers. It's very important to know that because it's about sharpening one another. It's. It's about digging deeper into ideas instead of retreating into slogans. And it's about remembering that freedom requires responsibility and truth requires courage. Okay, that's well said. And certainly on this show, we like to say the First Amendment is alive and well. I've always believed that the marketplace of ideas, sometimes you're going to get a bloody nose, sometimes you're going to get a black eye. People are going to come after things that you say, and they may not agree, and that's okay. And the marketplace of ideas requires that the best ideas win, but also it requires that there be a marketplace, a variety of opinions, so that you're not just constantly the preacher speaking to the choir. You have to convert people to your way of thinking. You have to evangelize for the truth and for the First Amendment. So I thought Ben Shapiro here going after one of his former employees, Candace Owens, over lies that she has spread about who killed Charlie Kirk, was pretty strong. Elbows, punches, sometimes scraps get nasty. This is cut 14.

[Mindset Coach]

Because we have a duty to truth, we also have a duty to provide you with evidence of the claims that we make. Emotive accusations, conspiracy theories, and just guessing questions that's lazy and stupid and misleading. None of them are a substitute for truth. None of them are a substitute for evidence. So when Candace Owens says, I don't know. No, but I know that is retarded, and we are all more retarded for having heard it.

[Clay Travis]

Going after her aggressively. And then I thought, ben again. I watched his address yesterday at amfest. I thought he did a good job. Here's a little bit more of that. Look, you have to speak not in the name of just what people respond to, but also in the name of principle. And if you have to balance between the two, it's better to stand on principle than on audience. I thought this was really well said. Cut 15.

[Mindset Coach]

The conservative movement is in serious danger. It is in danger not just from a left that all too frequently excuses everything up to and including murder. The conservative movement is also in danger from charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle, but actually traffic in conspiracies and dishonesty, who offer nothing but bile and despair, who seek to undermine fundamental principles of conspiracy conservatism by championing enervation and grievance. These people are frauds. They are grifters, and they do not deserve your Time. And they are something worse than that. A danger to the only movement capable of stopping the left from wrecking the country wholesale.

[Clay Travis]

I thought all of that was really well said. And again, it goes to threats. It's very easy to focus on external threats. It makes us feel better if we prepare for things that are out there, people who can do things to us. We want to protect our family, we want to protect our communities. But most of the time, most, almost always of the time, failure is not external, it's internal. And that's tougher to realize because we spend a lot of time trying to protect those that we love from others. But often the failure that we create is internal because we don't do a good enough job taking care of the culture that we're creating. I don't hear a lot of people talking about that. To me, the foundation of conservatism is first, individual responsibility. If you can't in some way control yourself and put yourself in a position to make things better for your family, your state, for your country, then how in the world can you seek to police others? The first thing you have to get right is internal. And that's hard, right, because that requires self analysis. It requires, frankly, hard work. And most people aren't willing to do that because it's easier to focus on external threats than it is to build a strong culture internally. Now, Ben Shapiro is right. People on the left have awful ideas. They will kill us for the ideas that we even are willing to express. The left is attacking Western civilization. But what I think we are learning as a country is it's actually internal. We don't. Look, I'm concerned about what China does. I'm concerned about what Russia does. I'm concerned about what people in other countries might do to us. We have a military to protect our nation from foreign invaders. But I'm more concerned about what we're doing inside the country. To freedom, to the marketplace of ideas. Look at what's going on in Europe right now. They just sentenced somebody to 18 months in prison for saying that. Im basically making criticisms on social media about immigration. I was just scrolling through this morning getting ready for the show and I saw that they had pulled a card off of the marketplace in England. It was a holiday card with the Grinch on it. This is according to the Daily Mail. The headline, the card said, this Christmas I'm identifying as a Grinch, had a picture of the Grinch. It was pulled off shelves because, quote, it invalidated the lived experiences of trans people. What are we doing internal destruction of Western civilization is clearly the goal and it's not being foisted upon us externally. It's a cultural battle that is occurring inside of this country every day. And I think Nike is emblematic of that. I think it's important for you guys to see it. I think certainly what Ben Shapiro is pointing to is evidence of that as well. We have to internally battle with strength in order to create an external culture that is worthy of preservation. Think about it a little bit as we roll into the holiday season. I don't want to be entirely serious on the final show of the year. So we're also going to play some of your funny takes on the Christmas holiday season movies which I asked for. You guys have loaded us up also, 800-282-2882. We'll take some of your calls in the third hour and we're going to be joined at the top of the next hour by Oklahoma Senator Mark Wayne Mullen. All of that coming your way. Last night I watched a great game, kicked up my feet, watched the Seahawks play the Rams on Thursday Night Football. I bet a huge percentage of you watched. And our Prize picks pick it one. I'm going to give you the last prize picks of the year in the third hour. That is right after we talk with Senator Mark Wayne Mullen who is, I believe at the big Oklahoma Alabama game taking place in Norman, Oklahoma today, the first game of the College Football Playoff. You can play along and hopefully we will win as we won last night with the final prize picks pick on this radio program of the 2025 calendar year. No pressure. You can sign up and play along with us. Prize picks.com or the prize Picks app. Use my name Clay C L A Y Clay. And when you put in $5, you get $50 in credits deposited into your account. We just won last night. Let's see if we can make it two wins in a week. Prizepix.com Code Clay that is prizepix.com Code clay. You can play in California, Texas, Georgia, 40/states, 13 million people playing prizepix.com Code Clayton stories of freedom, stories of America, inspirational stories that unite us all. Each day spend time with Clay and buck on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.

[Trainer Games Announcer]

10 athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points. You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract worth $250,000.

[Mindset Coach]

This is where mindset comes in.

[Trainer Games Announcer]

Someone who will be eliminated.

[Clay Travis]

Pressure is coming down. Trainer Games on Prime Video January 8th. Watch the trailer on trainergames.com Season 2.

[Unrivaled Basketball Announcer]

Of Unrivaled Basketball is here and the talent is unreal. Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more are back to redefine the game. Unrivaled basketball season two, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, tips off January 5th on TNT, TruTV and HBO.

[Valpak Advertiser]

Max your ticket to big Savings is that big blue envelope in your mailbox.

[Clay Travis]

Valpak.

[Valpak Advertiser]

It's big, brimming with deals from big name brands and your favorite local spots, dining services, stuff you're already buying. All for less. And you could score $100 or other instant prizes just for opening it. Or save even faster with mobile coupons you can use right [e-mail] Valpak there's definitely something in it for you.

[Whimsound Advertiser]

Bring incredible sound into every corner of your home this holiday with the new Whimsound Smart speaker. Get high resolution Audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control and modern design in one powerful speaker for just $299. From Quiet Mornings to lively holiday gatherings, Winsound makes every moment sound better and feel better too. Get the gift of the season for the music enthusiast in your life or for yourself. Whim sound Beautifully designed, effortlessly connected. Shop now at Amazon and search Whimsound. That's wiim S O U N D.

[US Ski and Snowboard Insider Announcer]

The world's best ski and snowboard athletes are chasing medals. Now you can follow their every move. JO Insider, the official US Ski and snowboard fan loyalty program, and get premium viewing at World cup ski events, exclusive athlete meetups, discounts from brands you love, and a custom welcome gift mailed direct to your doorstep this winter. Show your support as they race for the podium. Head to insider.usski and snowboard.org and join today.

[Clay Travis]

All right, I've given you tons of different opinions across the cultural sphere. Everything you could possibly imagine. Now you're really gonna get mad at me because the best Christmas movie beyond a shadow of a doubt, after much contemplation and as I continue to age, is a is Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. It is the best. The Goat Undisputed Christmas Vacation Heavyweight Champion. All of you who disagree with me are wrong. It is Christmas vacation. I want you at this point in time to pick up your phones and go in iheart and you can say, Clay, you're brilliant. You're 100% right. I don't know how anyone could disagree with your reasoned analysis of Christmas movies, but I would also like you to attack the Christmas movies that you believe are overrated, that some of your friends and family might have the temerity, the gall, the audacity to argue is actually the best Christmas movie. It is Christmas vacation. Tons of you are weighing in and we will play some of these and we will have fun as we roll through the final show from Buck or myself of the year. And we have a ton of talkbacks here and I'm going to try to get through all of them. I'm right now scrolling and eventually I'm going to have those talk backs in front of me and I'm going to make sure that we hit them and we will just start with aa. Well, let's go to bb. BB Dive in, Mike. Yes, I agree. Break it down in categories. A Wonderful Life and Christmas Story is a great, great, great classic. Die Hard and First Blood is a great action Christmas movies. Great ones. Funny one is like Christmas Vacation obviously and Elf and Grinch. So yeah, I think you need to be some categories. Christmas shoes is a very sad but good one too. There you go. We will play all of these. I promise that we will get them in the third hour. Up next, our buddy, Senator Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma. He's at the big game between Alabama and Oklahoma. We'll talk about everything with him.

[Trainer Games Announcer]

Ten athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points. You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000.

[Mindset Coach]

This is where mindset comes in.

[Trainer Games Announcer]

Someone will be eliminated.

[Clay Travis]

Pressure is coming down. Trainer Games On Prime Video January 8th. Watch the trailer on trainer games.com Season.

[Unrivaled Basketball Announcer]

Two of unrivaled basketball is here and the talent is unreal. The best women's players on the planet are running it back with even bigger moments and bigger stakes. Don't miss as Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more. Take the court and redefine the game. This isn't your regular season. This is unrivaled, where the pace is faster, the energy is higher and every athlete shines unrivaled. Basketball Season 2, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, tips off January 5th on TNT, TruTV and HBO. Max.

[Valpak Advertiser]

Your ticket to big savings is that big blue envelope in your mailbox, Valpak. It's brimming with deals from big name brands and your favorite local spots, dining services, stuff you're already buying. All for less and you could score $100 or other instant prizes just for opening it, or save even faster with mobile coupons you can use right [e-mail] Valpak there's definitely something in it for you.

[Whimsound Advertiser]

Bring incredible sound into every corner of your home this holiday with the new Whim Sound smart speaker. Get high resolution Audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control and modern design in one powerful speaker for just 299. From Quiet Mornings to lively holiday gatherings, Whim Sound makes every moment sound better and feel better too. Get the gift of the season for the music enthusiast in your life or for yourself. Whim Sound Beautifully designed, effortlessly connected. Shop now at Amazon and search whimsound. That's wiimsound.

[US Ski and Snowboard Insider Announcer]

The world's best ski and snowboard athletes are chasing medals. Now you can follow their every move. Join Insider, the official US Ski and snowboard fan loyalty program, and get premium viewing at World cup ski events, exclusive athlete meetups, discounts from brands you love, and a custom welcome gift mailed direct to your doorstep this winter. Show your support as they race for the podium. Head to insider.usski and snowboard.org and join today.

[Unrivaled Basketball Announcer]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Clay Travis]

Guaranteed Human.