Hour 2 - Make More Babies Again!

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 2 – "Make More Babies Again!"
Date: April 10, 2026
Host: Clay Travis & Buck Sexton
Guest: Ryan Girdusky (Numbers Game podcast, National Populist Newsletter)

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Episode Overview

This hour of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show focuses on two major topics:

• The political aftermath and polling trends surrounding the Iran conflict, with particular emphasis on gas prices and their lingering impact on the electorate.
• The surprising and significant new CDC birth rate data, including a discussion around America's cultural and demographic shifts and the effect of immigration policy on fertility trends.

Ryan Girdusky, data analyst and host of the Numbers Game podcast, joins for expert insights, lively back-and-forth, and deep dives into the numbers you won’t hear anywhere else.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Polling & Political Fallout from the Iran Situation

Timestamps: 00:39–10:09

• Republican Support & MAGA Loyalty

  • The narrative that “all Republicans back Trump” regarding Iran is misleading. Ryan explains that opposition and undecidedness among Trump’s base have grown—especially among non-college-educated white voters:

    "Among Trump's most loyal voting bloc, which is whites without a college degree... opposition has climbed to over 55% in almost every poll now, especially because of gas prices and inflation." (Ryan Girdusky, 03:03)

  • Discussion on how defining "MAGA" in polls is tricky and mostly self-identified.

• The Insidious Effect of Gas Prices

  • Ryan illustrates the political volatility of gas prices: anger over expensive summer gas can last into fall, impacting both congressional and presidential races.
  • Gas prices are a “constant visible indicator of inflation”—even if you drive an electric car, you still see the pump price everywhere.

    "Gas being $4 a gallon is going to really tamper on their summer plans, make it a lot harder to go on vacation, have residual effects on the economy." (Ryan Girdusky, 05:15)

  • Clay and Buck joke about their own car choices (Tesla vs. SUV) while agreeing prices must come down before summer for political safety.

• How Long Does Voter Anger Last?

  • Ryan says the critical window is short (2–2.5 months). If high gas prices disrupt summer plans, political damage can persist into the fall:

    "If it affects their summer plans, I think that anger boils over into the fall... the window is maybe two months." (Ryan Girdusky, 08:35)

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2. CDC Birth Data & the "Make More Babies" Crisis

Timestamps: 12:01–17:31

• National and Global Fertility Decline

  • US rates are down, but still higher than other developed nations: 1.57 children per woman—not enough for “replacement level” (2.1).

    "Birth rates are down worldwide. It's not just an American phenomenon. Actually, America, for a developed country, is still at the higher end at 1.57 children per woman." (Ryan Girdusky, 12:46)

• Impact of Immigration Crackdowns

  • Recent steep birthrate declines among immigrant groups (Chinese down 17.5%, Colombians 10.5%, Mexicans 13%, etc.) reflect the tangible effect of Trump’s immigration enforcement:

    "Among immigrant groups that have more than 1,000 children a month, we're seeing double digit declines. Fertility is a lagging indicator of immigration enforcement." (Ryan Girdusky, 13:09)

• Sharp Drop Among Black Women’s Births

  • Black American women have seen the most dramatic drop—now averaging fewer births per woman than whites for the first time ever. Reasons:
    • 90%+ reduction in teen pregnancies since the 1990s.
    • Significant increase in college attendance among Black women.

      "Nothing delays pregnancy and childbearing more than college for women." (Ryan Girdusky, 15:44)

  • Data: From Jan–Feb 2025 to Jan–Feb 2026, births to Black women declined nearly 10%, contributing to their share of national births dropping toward just 10% by the end of the decade.

• Delayed Childbearing

  • More women now have children in their 30s; most abandon 20s for career/education, making hitting replacement levels mathematically unlikely.

    "You have fewer children, and you have them later on in life. Absolutely... The number that they want, number they're having is very different. People want more than they're actually having." (Ryan Girdusky, 17:01)

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3. Memorable Quotes & Moments

On why so few babies are being born:

"Babies are a vote for the future. I really do believe this. It’s hard to be pessimistic if you've got a young baby in your hands..."
(Clay Travis, 12:14)

On poll skepticism:

"I don't like that question in polls because there's nothing to identify if you are a MAGA Republican or not, aside from you saying so."
(Ryan Girdusky, 01:52)

On the Strait of Hormuz as a hostage crisis:

"It's not that they control the Strait so much as they have taken the strait hostage."
(Buck Sexton, 28:07)

On the struggle to correlate ceasefire, open strait, and policy:

"Iran will say the Straits open—there's just not anybody trying to come through it. And then other people are going to say, well, that's because they're afraid you're going to blow up their ships."
(Clay Travis, 36:10)

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4. Listener Calls, Analysis, & Real-Life Perspectives

Timestamps: 19:00–36:59

• Show fields several insightful listener calls, mostly about the ongoing tension in the Strait of Hormuz, viability of pipeline solutions, and oil and gas market dynamics.
• Clay and Buck break down the implications of terrorism-by-threat for shipping, and why having overwhelming naval strength isn’t a panacea when a few simple attacks can sow chaos.
• Key realization: while America is now an energy superpower, high summer gas prices are a political “third rail.” Voters won’t tolerate them for long.

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Notable Timestamps

| Time | Segment/Highlight | |------------|----------------------------------------------------------| | 00:39 | Girdusky introduced; numbers behind Iran support | | 03:03 | MAGA and non-college white voter opposition up | | 05:11 | Economic impact of $4+/gallon summer gas | | 08:35 | Voter anger lingers 2–2.5 months after price hikes | | 12:46 | CDC birth rate data & Girdusky’s demographic analysis | | 13:09 | Effect of immigration policy on specific groups’ births | | 15:44 | Teen pregnancy, college's effect on Black birthrates | | 17:01 | Delayed childbearing and its math for fertility | | 28:07 | Buck summarizes the “hostage” reality of Strait crisis | | 36:10 | Ceasefire versus open strait policy dilemma clarified |

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Tone & Style

• Approachable, witty, and sharply political
• Data-driven but laced with humor and personal anecdotes
• Intentionally provocative—hosts frequently challenge orthodoxies and minimize mainstream narratives
• Girdusky is praised for “teaching” even the hosts new facts and delivering raw analysis

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Conclusion

This episode offers a deep look at how data reveals hidden realities behind headlines: the persistence of economic anxiety over gas prices, shifting demographic patterns, the unexpected effectiveness of recent immigration controls, and what these trends mean for the American political and cultural future.

The underlying message: big issues—war, migration, the economics of family—are driven by both hard numbers and cultural changes that often go unnoticed. Listeners are left with new perspectives and, as always, strong opinions on how individual choices and policy shape the nation's trajectory.

Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human second hour of clay and Buck kicks off right now. Our numbers guy, the data guru of Clay and Buck world, Ryan Gardusky, is with us now. It's a Numbers Game is his podcast, which many of you have been listening to on the Clay and Buck network. I know that because I get to see the numbers special Secret Sauce. And Ryan, your podcast is doing phenomenally well because it turns out people like to know the real data, the facts, the figures, the what's going on in politics, and you explain it so very well and do such good analysis of it. So congratulations on that.

[B]

Appreciate it.

[C]

Thank you for, for giving me this opportunity. I really, really appreciate. I try really hard to make sure that everyone is as well informed as I am.

[A]

Well, absolutely. And this is the thing. If you give Ryan your time, I'm just really going to give him a plug. If you give Ryan your time, you listen to Numbers Game, you're going to know more than when you started listening, and you're going to know more than a lot of people who think they know a lot about politics, which is this is always. I used to tell Ryan this too, is like, why do I want to work with Ryan? Why do I have him on as a guest? Because he's one of the rare guests who calls in or joins, who teaches me things about politics. You know, I got a lot of people, like, I'm a political consultant. I'm like, well, that guy knows nothing. Ryan knows a lot. So there's a lot of that, as you know, out there.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

So let's. We want to talk about this birthday data situation, which you did a piece on recently for your substack, which is also excellent, the national Populist newsletter. But first, what is the truth about support for this Iran situation? I'm sure you've been crunching these numbers, too. Some people say all of all of Republicans are behind Trump. Other people say his numbers are in the toilet nationally. What's really going on?

[C]

Yeah, the numbers are very bad. I mean, for Republicans. And I said this time and time again, no one was going to care so long as it didn't affect them at home because they just naturally trust Trump. But the thing is, now that gas prices have soared, the numbers have tanked. What you're referencing is, how does MAGA feel? I don't like that question in polls because there's nothing to identify if you are a MAGA Republican or not, aside from you saying so. So I could look at your voter file and say, You're a man, you're between this ages, you live in this area, yada, yada, yada. And that will be a quantifier to say, okay, this person is actually telling their details about themselves correctly. And we could properly weigh the poll. You could be a MAGA Republican today and not a MAGA Republican tomorrow. And that's what's your opinion 10 times over. It basically says, do you or do you not support the president? And among people who say they are MAGA Republican, it is around 90% among most of these polls. What you want to look for, though, is other indicators of likely Trump voters and how they feel. So among Republicans and among people who voted for Donald Trump, opposition or undecidedness, that's the other thing I look for, is if you're undecided about your opinion about it. That has slowly been climbing. It was around 12 to 13% according to the NPR and Washington Post poll back in March 1, when this whole conflict began. By the time you get to the Fox poll and other and other polls since then, like the Quinnipiac poll, that number climbs about 26%. Right among Trump's most loyal voting bloc, which is whites without a college degree. Whites without a college degree supported this war at the very beginning by double digits in some polls, around 55, 56%, according to CNN, the Washington Post and other ones there that support among that demographic, the most important demographic to the Republican coalition opposition, has climbed to over 55% almost every poll now, especially because of gas prices and inflation. And once again, there's a lot of anxiety about the economy. And anytime Trump talks about foreign policy and gives a lot of emphasis, voters feel that he's not paying enough attention about the which is what they are concerned about.

[D]

Ryan, it wasn't very long ago that Democrats were saying Minneapolis is going to be the story for midterms. No one talks about Minneapolis anymore. I haven't heard Alex Preddy or Renee Good's name in forever. I think it was ultimately a sign of just how quickly our news cycle can move. I don't know when we're going to get a resolution with Iran. I'm not sure exactly what it's going to be, but I feel like it will likely happen in the couple of months, presuming that that occurs. If we get to June, July, August, which is kind of the summer season where people tune out and Trump has managed to turn the conversation back domestically. Do you really think in September, October, November, again, if we get some resolution by Memorial Day, which I think we will in Iran. Do we really think that we're going to still be talking about the situation in Iran? I get that it's bad for Trump if it's still, still is a story, but I just feel like stories come and go so quickly that the reason they made the decision to attack on February 28 was because they knew by the summer they could pivot back to domestic affairs. And whatever we thought were going to be the big stories for this year, they're just gone and kind of in the waste bin.

[C]

So as long as gas prices go down because that contingent one, people want to go on summer vacation, they want to go to the beach, they want to go on holidays, gas being $4 a gallon is going to really tamper on their summer plans, make it a lot harder to go on vacation, have, has, have residual effects on the economy. That will be a negative. Right. Also, the thing about gas prices, it's a, it's a, you see a gas price every four blocks wherever you travel in this country. It is an indicator of inflation. He really needs gas prices to go down, whether that be a gas tax holiday, whether it be more domestic, you know, reducing our petroleum reserves, whatever the case may be, gas prices are going to be really hindering him, as they have every previous president. Even if you have an electric guitar. Electric. Sorry, electric guitar. Electric car. You have electric car. You see gas prices no matter where you go, and you're like, wow, that's very, very high right now. That just shows inflation. And what we saw in the latest jobs and wages numbers that came out today is that it's because the inflation jumped with gas prices increasing the wage, the, the growth in income is being eaten away at higher inflationary costs because of gas prices.

[A]

So gas prices, Ryan, I just have to jump in really quickly then. Clay, I think, has a real question for you. But your point about electric cars, not necessarily true. Because when Clay drives by people in his Tesla and sees the price of gas, he says, haha, peasants.

[D]

Well, to be fair, as with all things, I cover both ends of the spectrum here. I have both a Tesla, which I love, and I would encourage everyone to buy, and I'm not being paid anything for it, although we should be paid honestly. We need to talk to Elon this. We should get paid by Tesla. But, and by the way, he's got plenty of money to be paying us. I also have an suv, so I only am covering both ends of the spectrum. I'm both paying way less and way more than the average car driver. But going to your Point, Ryan, is there any data on. So early voting will start, you know, sometime in October, most places. Right. And then lead into. Is there any data on. Let's presume oil prices are down in October, because I think you're right. If oil prices are high, it's going to be a negative. How much backlog on oil prices. Again, I don't know. What's the average? About $4.10 a gallon or something like that, if I'm not mistaken. And let's say that they're back down around $3 ish, you know, and again, every time I say this, people are like, I pay. Okay, this is a nationwide average. In California, you're getting.

[A]

I love how great Aunt Ethel is the only one who buys gas.

[D]

Every time I mentioned the price of anything, remember when eggs was a big story, I was like, well, you know, eggs, somebody's like, I paid this morning. You know, it's like, okay, it's a nationwide price. Everybody is going to pay a little bit different. All right, so let's say that the average. The average nationwide can be different. In California, New York and Florida and Texas and Tennessee, where I am, average is $3. Will people still be angry about gas prices in April, May, June? In other words, how long does gas price anger linger? And if it's back down to around $3, which I predict it will be in the fall, you can grab this one and call me out if I'm wrong on it. Do people still stay angry about what the price was in April and May?

[C]

I think that if it affects their summer plans, I think that anger boils over into the fall. He really has to get a. In a very, very short period of time. The window is very, very small. It's maybe two months. I would say two to two and a half months is where you want to get down. If it is still high in the summer and they're saying, guys, guess what? We're not going on vacations here because we can't afford gas, which in many places is very high. That will be absolutely impactful. It also depends on the places where gas is the highest. One of the highest places for gas right now is Alaska, $4.65 a gallon. According to AAA, Alaska has a very, very critical U.S. senate race in it that will guarantee that will decide how this election plays out for the U.S. senate. Control the Senate. So it depends on where. Also, Maine is very high. Maine, $4.06 a gallon. It depends on where, and it depends on how fast you want to get it down as fast as possible before it affects people's summer plans and the anger over that and the anger of anxiety over the economy, how long that moves forward.

[A]

So, Ryan, can we keep you through? Because I actually want to. Want to save this for the discussion. Save some time for the discussion about your sub stack on the CDC data on birth. Fascinating stuff on who's having babies in this country and what's changing and get into immigrants and, you know, immigrants who are coming here, all this stuff. Can we keep you through for another segment? And Clay can speak. Okay. Well, Ryan Graduski, it's a, It's a Numbers Game is his podcast, guys. He'll stay with us. We'll get into some numbers on Bert. I'm telling you, the birth data stuff is fascinating. So stay with us. And Clay wants to talk about one

[D]

of our beautiful sponsors, beautiful new sponsors doing phenomenal work. They've got a great business and we're excited to have them a part of the team. And they are somebody who's trying to solve some of your issues with insurance. Do you own a business? You need business insurance, but that doesn't mean you have to have six different brokers for the half dozen kinds of business insurance you need. Super sure will change all that. One broker for all your business insurance, backed by a team working with you year round, not just at renewal. And if you've ever stared at a policy, as lots of us have, wondering what in the world that actually covers, super sure has a fine print facts tool that will translate all the legal jargon into plain English so you know what's covered and what's not. Go online to super sure.com to get a full report on your current policy with no obligations. Find out if you're overinsured, underinsured, or somewhere in between. Go to super sure.com one powerful platform, all your policies in one place. Again, great business, doing a fantastic job of streamlining your insurance needs. Super Sure.com that's Super Sure.com paid for by Super Sure Insurance Agency, LLC, a licensed insurance agency. Miss the show. While you're on the go, wind down your day with the daily Review podcast. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back in. All right, Ryan Garduski with us. This is actually a threat to the future of humanity. Not, not climate change, which has been the obsession for the last generation. People are not having babies. Buck has started to do his part. He and Carrie, we're working on.

[A]

We're gonna build out the roster, buddy. We're working on.

[D]

You got to build out the roster and help save humanity. I've got three. I, I legitimately, Ryan, tell my boys now that my favorite kid is going to be the one that has the mo, gets married and has the most kids and does the best job of being a dad because I and people sometimes like my boys legit roll their eyes at me over this. But if you look at the numbers, the number of kids that are being born, babies are a vote for the future. I really do believe this. It's hard to be pessimistic if you've got a young baby in your hands and you're thinking about the future that they are going to one day be a part of. And it's incredibly important, obviously, to the furthering of the country. What's going on here?

[B]

Yes.

[C]

So birth rates are down worldwide. It's not just an American phenomenon. Actually, America, for a developed country is still at the higher end at 1.57 children per woman. You measure per woman, not per man. So 1.57 children per woman. You need 2.1 children per woman to meet replacement levels. What we're seeing in the new CDC data for February 2026 is one an indicator that Trump's immigration crackdown is actually highly effective because among immigrant groups that have more than 1,000 children a month, we're seeing double digit declines. I always say fertility is a lagging indicator of immigration enforcement. In other words, if you are seven months pregnant when Trump came in and you're an illegal alien, you're going to have the kids so it gets American citizenship, you're not going to flee. As the crackdowns have happened on legal immigration or illegal immigration, as people have self deported that number, obviously as time goes on and there's fewer pregnant women, they've had the babies since Trump became president, There will be less children being pregnant and being born afterwards. So among immigrants from China, legal and illegal, the number is down 17.5%, Colombians 10.5%, Ecuadorians, 22%, El Salvadorian, 15%, Guatemalans 16%, Haitians 16% and Mexicans 13%. These are all the groups that have more than 1,000 children per month. So among that it shows there is clearly an effect of either self deportation and mass deportation happening because you're seeing it now in the birth data as well. The most interesting thing about fertility data that is coming out, it's a story that no one really is covering, is the massive decline among births happening among Black American women. 2024 was the very first year that whites had more children on average per woman than blacks did in this country. The numbers in 2025. Sorry, sorry. 2026, rather, this year so far, that number is wildly high. It's an average of 1.55 for white women and 1.44 for black women. And the drop off on black women on how many kids they have is down nearly double digits every single year as a percentage. Right. So in 2020, in January and February of 2025, Black women gave birth to 76,000 children in this country. In January and February 2026, it was 70,000, down nearly 10%. The Black. The percentage of black children being born in this country is usually 13 and a half to 14%. It will be below 12% by next year, by 2027, and could by the end of the decade be as low as 10%. That's a dramatic, dramatic drop in the percentages. And that's really one of the bigger groups that has led to an overall population body. But their decline is larger than any other group in this country, and no one's talking about it. Is a true cultural phenomenon happening right now?

[A]

Why is that happening, Ryan?

[C]

Great question. A lot of people talk about abortion. It's not abortion. Abortion was obviously way more easily, more accessible before Roe being overturned. It's two things. A 90% reduction in teen pregnancy. Teen pregnancy when I was growing up in the 90s was not super common, but it was common. You know, you could see it in a lot of places. Teen pregnancy has declined more than 90%. Actually, it was more common for a woman between 15 and 19 to have a child than a woman between 20 and 24 to have a child back in the 90s. It is now far less common. It almost never happens. The second thing is the growth in college applications and black women going to college. Nothing delays pregnancy and childbearing more than college for women. And the amount of black women who go to college is substantially larger than has ever been. So those are two big cultural phenomenons. Also, having a child by accident is rarer and rarer in this country. You really.

[D]

We only. We only have one minute left, Ryan. The data that I saw was women in their 30s are having almost all the babies now, relative to past. Have we oversold from a data perspective, women on abandoning having kids when they're in their 20s. And also you mentioned teenagers. And it's just a math equation, right? Once you get to your 30s, it's harder to get to 2.1.

[C]

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. You have fewer children and you have them and you have them later on in life. Absolutely. You know, Meghan McCain is a friend of mine. She always says women need to take their fertility as well as serious as they take their job. And that's, that is a, you know, that's the truth. You're not rarely are you a celebrity who has their first kid at 45 years old. If you want to have children, you should plan for that early and try to have it as early as you possibly can in order to make sure you have as many as you want. The number that they want, number they're having is very different. People want more than they're actually having.

[A]

Ryan, one last quick thing. What are you hitting on the podcast next? What's the next episode going to be?

[C]

Why I'm doing the whole episode, this just came out is about this number and the number on my from Monday show is about Maria Salazar, her long record of advocating for illegal aliens and her so called dignity act that she has been pushing.

[A]

Oh, you're going to take a two by four to the dignity act. That's going to be great listening this weekend. Everybody go check that one out. Ryan Graduski, It's a numbers game.

[D]

Listen to it.

[A]

Ryan, thanks so much.

[C]

Thank you.

[A]

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[D]

Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

[A]

Welcome back in to Clay and Buck. My friends. Looking into our VIP emails, it is reminiscent for our dear friend Clay of the opening of the Dickens classic A Tale of Two Cities. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. We have very different feelings about some of your analysis on the Strait of Hormuz. And let's, let's dive into some of this for a second. First off, we have. Hold on, where did it go? Here we go. VIP email from Willis. Am I the only one that understands that Clay is arguing that the straight being shut down does not hurt Americans like it did in the 80s because the US is energy independent? Clay isn't saying that the strait being closed is good. He is merely pointing out the shifts in the balance of power over time. This is a mechanism that historians use to try to understand the past. Clay Willis is essentially saying, you are the talleyrand of the sec.

[D]

Very positive comment, I'm sure is immediately accompanied by, as is often the case, by someone who is calling me a moron simultaneously, which also happens. And I believe you have that.

[A]

And this then brings us to the worst of times. VIP email from Robert Clay. You are talking out of a place that rhymes with grass. The 3% of the country who drill, refine, invest and retail in the oil gas industry are happy. The other 97% of the country are ticked off at $4 a gallon gas and higher overall prices that come from higher gas prices in the supply chain. The GOP is toast this fall if this price lingers into the early mid summer because the negative narrative will be baked in. I don't think you disagree with, well, certainly not the guy who says you're a genius, but in this guy you're saying you would agree that if the price of gas stayed high to the midterms, we're in deep, deep trouble. You're just saying you don't think it'll last that long. You think some people are benefiting from the high prices and we can sustain this better than people had thought because of America. America is the world's true energy superpower. We don't say this enough. We just think like we're the best at, you know, we're the best at making cool stuff. And I certainly what we're the best

[D]

at sports,

[A]

handsome radio hosts, but we're also the best at energy.

[D]

I think that a lot of people, again, there's a difference between recognizing a reality and saying that it is a good thing. And I think sometimes when you recognize reality, people take it as saying, oh, this means that you're hugely in favor of it. What I am saying is the political calculus on this is such That I don't believe the pressure on Trump is the same that it would have been when we were having to import overwhelmingly the oil and gas that we consumed in the 80s and the 90s compared to now. Much of the dollar of increased oil and gas stays in our country and even is coming from external locations. And so much of much of life is just an analysis of, especially when it comes to negotiation, who can withstand the pressure longer? Who can withstand the pressure of a strait of Hormuz, that is that is restricting the ingress and egress of oil and gas, Iran or the United States? And almost every single person in the media right now to a man and woman is telling you, oh, Iran, both controls, which is not accurate. They're just threatening terrorism controls the strait. And the US Is in a difficult position. Trump understands negotiation. I think he has more leverage in terms of time than a lot of people are recognizing. Yes, it is the case in October. If we're playing 450 a gallon for gas, Republicans are in trouble. But if the gas prices come back down in the fall, as they typically do, and by Sep. That's a question I was asking Ryan. By September and October, it's back around $3 a gallon. I don't think consumer anger is going to necessarily carry forward through the summer, if that makes sense. That's kind of my argument. And I haven't heard a lot of people make it doesn't mean that I'm right, but I do think I'm right about the larger external realities of oil and gas prices actually being very different now than it would have been in the 80s or 90s. And I know this, there's a lot of people in Texas right now that are very happy with $100 a barrel. And we took a bunch of those calls. And I appreciate all Those callers that $70, $75 to them might be the most ideal price. But again, it costs a lot of money to get oil and gas out. And when it's $50 a barrel, a lot of them are saying, hey, it's basically impossible to make money for many people at $50 a barrel. We need it to be 65, $70 a barrel. So just FYI,

[A]

it seems very, seems very reasonable. I still think it's not a good harbinger of things to come that the strait isn't open and Trump threatens basically civilizational annihilation to get it open. But we shall see. We shall see how it goes. And honestly, it was just fun also to have all the people working the oil industry who listen to our show calling in, you know what I'm saying? It felt like an episode of Landman here. All of a sudden, they're like, well, Buck, when you get out deep in the patch and you're up to your elbows in that black gold, that none of them actually sounded like that. But that's what it sounds like in my head.

[D]

This is the same question. Thank you. And I think it speaks well to what you said, which is one of the great things about doing this program is we can basically say it doesn't matter what the expertise that we need is. We can specifically say whether it's like, hey, how do you fix a. How does special ops handle a helicopter that gets shot? A bunch of guys call in and they're like, well, this is the back, you know, get shot down. This is what our plan would be. This is how we're going to do it. Or we can say, hey, oil and gas. How do we handle this? And this is the number one question I would say that we keep getting. And I'm going to keep going to it, because I understand people are listening at different times of the day. We've addressed this several different times. But the fact that it keeps coming up, I think, means that there's a lot of discussion about it. Mike in Jacksonville, fire away with your question.

[B]

Hey, guys, appreciate the time. So we. We basically, from what they're telling us, devastated a. The entire country in what, six weeks?

[D]

Yep.

[C]

But I'm struggling with. Is we can't take the Strait of Hormuz.

[B]

I don't.

[C]

I'm just struggling with that.

[D]

You know, it's a. It's a common question that we're getting, and we'll keep answering it. Thank you for the call, and thank you for listening. It doesn't. I'll. I'll start it. You can finish it, Buck.

[B]

Sure.

[D]

The easiest way to think about this is it's not a naval aircraft or a airplane, a jet that is taking out oil and gas tankers. It can be a tiny little drone or one guy with a missile on his shoulder. And so think of it as the equivalent to. The question you're asking is why does terrorism still exist? Well, terrorism still exists because the cost of terrorism is relatively low, and the number of people involved typically is also very low. So if you load up a car with a bomb and you drive it into. Or you just drive a car through a crowd, it's very hard to stop small terror attacks that can have significant consequences. What I would say here is you need to Think about what Iran is threatening as a terror attack, not a military operation. Does that, that sum it up? Well in your mind?

[A]

Buck Talleyrand of the SEC nails it again. Or perhaps the Metternich. I'm trying to think the clause of its, the Sun Tzu for those of you eastern oriented that that would all be. I, I would think you should put Hannibal by the way and that people don't think of Hannibal as the. Because he didn't write about his strategy. But if you're just thinking about military genius, you would have to have. Talleyrand is more of a, almost a foreign relations like a foreign secretary kind of a guy. But no, what you're saying is true. It reminds me of the, the IRA back in the early 80s when they put out that message to Thatcher when they, they had a bombing that didn't get her. They said today we were unlucky. But remember, we only have to be lucky once. You have to be lucky always. That's pretty much the case with an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. If Iran did decide that, you know what, screw it, we're, we're just going to blow up a tanker to make a point here. It would be an enormous disaster. Ok. An enormous disaster. It's not that they control the Strait so much as they have taken the straight hostage.

[D]

Yes, that's a different. It's very, very well said, I think.

[A]

Thank you.

[D]

But I think that that is a complicating factor and it's also why I think the media, when they use the word control, I think they confuse people because it makes people think, oh, Iran is just, you know, if we eliminate their military, how do they control it? To Buck's point, that's a good way of putting it. They've taken the straight hostage and they basically said, hey, we got a gun and we're waving it around in the air and we might just decide to shoot a random person. Would you decide to go then? And then again we've talked about the economic realities. If you have a hundred million dollar boat, are you risking a hundred million dollar boat on whether a crazy person is going to decide to blow it up or not? I'm not. And I think that's why you've seen a lot of hesitance and a lot of boat captains not very interested to, to work their way through the Straight. Because I think Buck's right. They've taken it hostage. I hope that explains it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So who else we got on the lines there, Clay?

[D]

You can see Harold in Tennessee has got a really good question. Harold, fire away with your question. We'll answer it.

[B]

It's time to build more pipelines across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea. Connect all the Emirates, all the oil exporters and then when that's done, cut, just close the Straits of Hormuz. Forget Iran. Don't let them, don't let them sell any oil. They can't support terrorism.

[D]

Thank you for the call. This is good old Tennessee common sense. He's right to the extent. And, and look, I, again, there are many of you out there that know infinitely more about oil and gas than Buck and I do. But there is a pipeline. The challenge with building pipelines is it's very expensive and it takes years to get ready to be able to do. But I do think that's a long range solution for a short term problem. If Iran were to continue to have these terror threats and holding the Strait of Hormuz hostage at some point in time, they just say, okay, we're going to cut out Iran's ability to control the Strait of Hormuz and we're going to have pipelines instead of oil tankers and we're going to be shipping as much oil and gas that way as we can. I, I think that is the, you know, but that the problem is, and again, many of you have built pipelines that are listening to us right now. That's a long range process. And even if you do it efficiently, we're talking about that coming online years into the future. And then the challenge with pipelines is they're still subject to the danger of terror attacks. One of the things that Iran has done is try to hit the biggest Saudi Arabian pipeline. To my understanding here recently, we know what happened, Buck, with the, the, the pipeline that was blown up by Ukraine that was supposed to connect Russia and, and, and Europe, the Nord Stream pipeline, they blew it up. So the danger on pipelines is instead of having, I don't know, a thousand ships which are harder to shut down, a thousand ships, one pipeline getting blown up and the next thing you know, you don't have the ability to have that, that pipeline work at all. But I think it's a super smart question that he's pointing to, which is at some point you start to recognize the economic realities require you to change the way you've done business because you're negotiating with terrorists.

[A]

Yes, all very, all very astute, all very good. And I certainly hope that Clay is correct and that everything all works out. We live happily ever after. Unfortunately, some of us sit Here and we were Debbie Downer. Some of us are stuck in Debbie Downerville and think that the Iranians are crazy and they're going to do wild stuff, meaning they'll do a lot of suffering and they'll play all kinds of games with us because this is how they are. Now when I say Iranians, I mean the regime obviously, not like the rank and file Iranian people. I'm sitting here and I'm running out of any kind of hydration, which is usually a problem, except you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go downstairs, I'm going to get some of the good stuff, the blue stuff from my friends at Chalk because that is their Chad mode. I take it straight in the water. I just put the chat. Now you can put it into different juice or you know, if you drinking some seltzer, whatever you want. But Chad mode is a phenomenal pre workout from our friends at Chalk. But Chalk has all kinds of fantastic supplements. They make really top quality stuff. I take Chalk supplements every day and I'm a big believer in proper supplementation along with all that other stuff. You got to get your steps, you got to get the, get your macros squared away. You gotta make sure you're doing some strength training. But proper supplementation is really important and for the guys out there, Chalk's Male Vitality stack is a multi supplement bundle that supports men's vitality, energy and healthy testosterone levels. Gotta have healthy T levels or else you find yourself weeping while you listen to the Pod Save America podcast. You don't want that. You want to be sitting around feeling strong. Chalk my friends choq choq. $99 bag of chocolate powder with your first delivery. When you use, when you use my name, Buck as your promo code. That's chalk choq.com promo code.

[B]

Buck.

[D]

If you truly care, pass along this common sense to family and friends.

[C]

Clay and Buck owning the airwave.

[D]

Welcome back in play Travis Buck Sexton show. Let's see a lot of different reactions pouring in straight of Hormuz. Primary topic of discussion. Brad in Colorado, what you got for us?

[B]

Hey guys. So I've been listening and you know, got a couple of comments. The oil and gas guys from, you know, around the country. Super glad to hear from them. I was in oil and gas here in Colorado for 10 years and, and they make their money. I can assure you what you know, the Straits of Hormuz. The way I see this right now we are, we are trying to get rid of 47 years of filth and badness from that country. I joined the Marines as a young man partly because of the attacks on Beirut and the nonsense that's gone on over the years. But people aren't going to stomach high gas prices for very long. We'll take it, we understand, because what we're going through and what we have gone through for decades, but, you know, it's not going to be a long term thing. I don't believe, secondly, we'll get past it. We produce more oil and gas in this country than any other country in the world. And I don't believe it's going to, I mean, let me back up a bit. The Straits of Hormuz and what's going on right there. And you know, some of the movement and non movement, it's political. Everything we do with oil and gas is political. Colorado doesn't have an oil and gas industry because of the politics here. It's been destroyed completely. And that's why Pennsylvania and Texas and North Dakota are the primary places. So again, I think this is a political thing. It's a short term, it's a, it's a, it's a negotiating point.

[C]

All of it is.

[B]

Trump is a master negotiator. You know, I'm not in the Trump camp 100%, but the guy's doing a hell of a lot better than what we've seen over the last 40 years in this country.

[C]

That much is for sure.

[D]

Thank you for the call. Scott in Kentucky weighing in. Scott, what you got for us?

[B]

Keep up the good work. Hey, seems like we're missing a really big picture here.

[C]

When Trump announced the ceasefire, he said the ceasefire is contingent upon the Strait of Hormuz opening up, meaning Iran opened

[B]

up the Strait of Hormuz. Okay, so here we are, two or three days later, the Straits not open. So what about the ceasefire then?

[D]

I think you're raising a thank you for the call.

[A]

This is what I've been saying.

[D]

Very good question. Buck also raised it. At some point Trump is going to get frustrated and he's going to bomb him again. And so the question is now Iran, probably because Trump also said they're way better negotiators than they are fighters. Which is a pretty, pretty fun, pretty funny analysis. But I think it's probably true. Iran, Buck, I guarantee you in Pakistan will say the Straits open. There's just not anybody trying to come through it. And then other people are going to say, like us would point out, well, that's because they're afraid you're going to blow up their ships, you know, so they can hold the hostage. I think you said, well, they can hold the straight hostage. And the fear, even if the straight is technically open, can be the reason that the ships are not coming through. So, again, this is going to be a major point of discussion over the weekend, and it wouldn't shock me if Trump feels like he has to drop some more bombs.

[A]

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