Hour 2 - Rubio Rising

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Episode: Hour 2 - Rubio Rising
Release Date: June 23, 2025

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1. Overview of the Iranian Missile Attack

Timestamp: [22:15] – [23:48]

The episode delves into the recent Iranian missile attack targeting U.S. military bases in Qatar. Clay Travis initiates the discussion by briefing listeners that, as of the broadcast time, the missile launch did not result in any casualties or significant damage to U.S. assets. The missiles were intercepted successfully, averting immediate threats.

"So far it looks like the Iranian missile launch against US Bases has been nothing major in terms of any casualties or any losses on our side. The missiles have been shot out of the sky."
— Clay Travis [22:15]

2. Detailed Analysis of the Iranian Attack

Timestamp: [23:07] – [36:04]

Clay and Buck analyze the nature and implications of Iran's missile strikes. They draw parallels to the 2020 Soleimani strike, suggesting that Iran's actions are contained and expected. The commentators emphasize Iran's limited military sophistication compared to other global powers like Russia.

Karen Kilgariff highlights Iran's coordination with Qatari officials, indicating that the attack was strategically planned to minimize casualties and maintain an "exit ramp" for all parties involved.

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However, the analysis underscores the persistent threat Iran poses due to its ballistic missile capabilities and nuclear ambitions. Clay compares Iran's situation to Russia's in Ukraine, noting that Iran lacks the sophisticated military apparatus that Russia employs against Ukraine.

"The fundamental problem with all of this is that the people that run Iran are bad people. And, I mean, crazy isn't really the right word, but there is an ideological viciousness that is at the heart of the theocracy that is Iran."
— Clay Travis [08:55]

3. Political Analysis: Comparing Administrations (Trump vs. Biden)

Timestamp: [06:15] – [17:19]

A significant portion of the discussion centers around the contrasting approaches of former President Trump and current President Biden in handling Iran. Clay emphasizes that the current administration lacks the assertiveness of Trump's, leading to perceptions of weakness internationally.

"If Iran has no interest in having nuclear weapons, why do they need to enrich uranium and be pursuing nuclear energy in any way?"
— Karen Kilgariff [31:17]

Buck Sexton further critiques Biden's leadership, suggesting that his administration's perceived indecisiveness emboldens adversaries like Iran.

"The bad guys know they mean it and they know it will happen. That has meaning for moments like this."
— Clay Travis [13:21]

4. Stakes and Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy

Timestamp: [28:13] – [35:05]

The hosts discuss the broader implications of Iran's actions on U.S. foreign policy and global stability. They argue that Iran's pursuit of nuclear capabilities is a direct challenge to international norms and poses a long-term threat akin to North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Clay raises concerns about the potential for escalation:

"It's possible for a country that has gone down a path of extreme darkness, malevolency and militancy to turn around. But it is possible for countries to turn around. It does not have to be this way."
— Clay Travis [47:38]

5. Listener Feedback and Calls

Timestamp: [22:15] – [38:13]

Listeners call in to express their views on the situation. Jim from Missouri questions Biden's capability to respond effectively, citing his administration's perceived inaction during the weekend when the attacks occurred.

"There's no way Biden could pull this off for two reasons. Number one, it happened on the weekend and we know where he was on the weekend on vacation. Second thing is it happened after his curfew or lid time, which is 4:00pm Eastern."
— Listener Jim [22:15]

David from Alabama echoes similar sentiments, criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris and contrasting her with former President Trump, whom adversaries reportedly respect more.

"They respect Trump. And I think you're seeing it right now with Iran. I don't know if he, if they pulled their punches, Buck, or if they frankly just don't have the ability to throw a very hard punch because to your point, they're basically a third world country now."
— Clay Travis [23:35]

6. Concluding Insights and Future Outlook

Timestamp: [38:13] – [49:02]

Clay and Buck ponder the future trajectory of U.S.-Iran relations. They emphasize the need for clear policy directives to prevent Iran from advancing its nuclear program further. The discussion touches upon the role of international allies and the muted response from countries like China and Russia, who also have vested interests in restraining Iran's ambitions.

"The World War III thing never made any sense because there's no countries that are going to come to the aid of Iran."
— Clay Travis [36:04]

Clay reflects on the potential for change within Iran, drawing historical comparisons to Japan's post-World War II transformation. He remains cautiously optimistic but acknowledges the deep-seated challenges posed by Iran's theocratic leadership.

Karen Kilgariff adds a societal perspective, noting the growing discontent among Iran's younger population as they witness their nation lagging behind its neighbors in terms of quality of life and economic stability.

"At some point, embarrassment and anger starts to set in in Iran because you see people in Saudi Arabia having a better life than you."
— Karen Kilgariff [38:49]

The episode concludes with Clay urging listeners to contemplate the future of U.S. involvement in Middle Eastern affairs and the desired outcomes of such engagements.

"What do we really want in Iran? And we could spend some time on it in this third hour because to me, the question that..."
— Clay Travis [38:13]

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Notable Quotes:

• "You don't have to have the ability to do. You know, Russia, as we've seen, very different situation."
  — Clay Travis [08:55]

• "These countries don't give a. They don't care who's in charge in Iran."
  — Clay Travis [35:05]

• "Trust and Will makes it easy to protect what matters Most."
  — Karen Kilgariff [40:48]

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This episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show provides an in-depth analysis of the escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, contrasting administration approaches, and the broader implications for global security. Through expert commentary and listener interactions, the hosts offer listeners a nuanced perspective on a complex international issue.

Transcript

[Clay Travis]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

Back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show Saturday, United States attacks Iranian nuclear sites. Now, Iran is responding in real time as we are talking to all of you. There is footage playing of inside of Qatar missiles from Iran fired at the US Military base there. Iran has announced that its official response is underway. They are reporting that on Iranian state tv. That's their propaganda network. The attack on the Qatari US Base has begun. Also, other Middle Eastern US Forces now reportedly under attack as well. And we are waiting to hear what the impact is of the missiles that have been fired there. Again, this is in real time as all of us are talking with you. President Trump is with his top administrators right now. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. And the question again is how, what is the impact and the desire here, Buck? And this is where you as an intelligence analyst back in the day would be trying to scramble and assess. You and I were at Langley. We were on the CIA's campus just a couple of weeks ago, just in advance by like a day or so of the Israeli attack on Iran. And you remember, I can say this now, I think I asked, asked a question in a meeting and about Iran because there hadn't been that many reports about it to that point. And it was like all of a sudden a veil of silence just descended on the room where they were like, you didn't have to be an expert to know something. Might be a foot.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. And after I looked at Clay, I'm like, that was weird. We're striking Iran or there's a strike coming. I should say Israel striking Iran. It was pretty obvious.

[Karen Kilgariff]

So the question here, and I'll toss this to you, is to what extent is this? And look, first of all, we're praying. We want all of our forces in the Middle east to be safe. I know many of you out there listening may well have family members, friends. We're going to give you the information as it is reported accurately to the best of our ability in a real time dynamic situation. Big picture here, Buck. The question that is going to be integral and will go a long way towards determining what our response is, is how we assess what Iran is doing. Is this a face saving, hey, us, you can't, you know, rip our nuclear program to shreds without us doing something back. But it's a pulled punch, meaning we knew it was coming. It's not designed to deliver massive consequences, relatively speaking. Or do we judge this to have been an acceleration beyond expected Iranian response? Much of this now is a dance of diplomacy through missile, which sounds complicated but actually is important here as we Try and determine the significance and severity of the Iranian response. Is it face saving or is accelerating would be a way, I think, to sum up what we have to analyze at this point in time.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I think it's the best the Iranians militarily can muster against the regional enemies that they want to attack us. And the Israelis are the top of the list. It's not that Iran, if Iran could level Tel Aviv tomorrow, it would do so. The reason that Iran hasn't done that is they can't do that. And that's also true of their abilities here when it comes to hitting military forces in the region. They also, I think, state, you know, at some level have to understand that if they were to go after soft targets, non military targets, they would invite much more extreme retaliation. Look, this is a country that was, as I said, unable to protect its senior military leadership, unable to protect nuclear scientists from getting blown up in just their apartment buildings in like the corner of the building where they happen to live, unable to do any of those things in the opening of a conflict that they'd supposedly been preparing for, for really since the 79 revolution. In some way, yes, they're not militarily sophisticated as a country. That doesn't mean they're not dangerous. It just means they do not have a sophisticated first world military that can do. You know, Russia, as we've seen, very different situation. We're talking about Russia fighting against Ukraine. There have, you know, advanced planes, advanced drones, advanced communications, a lot of firepower. You know, they've got stuff that can cause a headache for anybody. The Russians do, the Iranians. It's a little bit of a different situation. So I think what we'll see is probably these Iranians, these Iranian missiles. Look, I don't, I don't want to prejudge it. Let's see what happens. Let's see what happens. If it's just the strikes that hit bases and there's no major US Casualties, I think Trump will repeat his calls for negotiations for some kind of, I guess, a ceasefire. You know, the part of this that is really wide open to me and I haven't seen much clarity on this, is we're not going to push for regime change. But we all, I shouldn't say we all. The Trump administration wants a different regime, but doesn't want to push and kind of topple the existing one. More than what we've through, more than what we've already done, it feels like we're going to head into this uneasy status quo of a somewhat defanged Iran that we're hoping wants to come to the table and stop being crazy. But really, Clay, the fundamental problem with all of this is that the people that run Iran are bad people.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

And, I mean, crazy isn't really the right word, but there is an ideological viciousness that is at the heart of the theocracy that is Iran. And so I also look at what happened in Syria. Yeah. Finally, the Assad regime came down. It took 13 years, and at one point early on, like, 2013, 2012 timeframe, there were suicide bombers, jihadi suicide bombers that were infiltrating, like the equivalent of Assad's Pentagon. I mean, they were right there knocking at the door. And the civil war was brutal, and the Assad regime held on for a decade plus. Do you have updates?

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, I think I've got some information here. This is the spokesperson for Qatar, and this is a translation from Arabic. So all of this is on Twitter. All right, so obviously, I do not speak Arabic. I'm not translating this in real time. This is according to. Yeah, this is according to the Google translation.

[Clay Travis]

This is Abu Abu Klei al Nashville. Go ahead.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes, this is my attempt. Here's what. This is what I want to get out, because I know there's a lot of people out there. We express the state of Qatar's strong condemnation of the attack on Al Yadid Air Base by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Consider it a flagrant violation of the state of Qatar's sovereignty, sovereignty, and airspace. Sovereignty, as well as of international law and the United Nations Charter. We affirm the state of Qatar reserves the right to respond directly in a manner proportional to the nature and scale of this blatant aggression and in accordance with international law. Okay. We are reassured that Qatari air defenses thwarted the attack and successfully intercepted the Iranian missiles. The Ministry of Defense will issue a statement clarifying the circumstances of the attack later. We also affirm the continuation of such escalating military actions undermine security and stability in the region. And so the base has been evacuated earlier in accordance with approved security and precautionary measures. In light of the tensions, all necessary measures were taken to ensure the safety of the base's personnel.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so so far? So far, so good. We shot down their stuff, and we're looking okay.

[Karen Kilgariff]

No injuries or human losses occurred as a result of the attack, according to this report, which has just come down. That has not been publicly reported by anybody else, but again, that is the Qatari spokesperson. So.

[Clay Travis]

So this is looking so far like it's very similar to the custom Soleimani retaliation, which was pretty much de minimis from a military, military damage perspective. And it was the Iranian regime doing really what's within their power militarily. Right. I mean, this is something that I think a lot of people, when we talk about this, we have to remember this. When you talk about something like Hamas, I mean, Hamas doesn't distinguish. In fact, Hamas prefers civilian targets. Not only they not distinguish military, civilian, they prefer civilian. They're not gonna go after the idf. They're gonna get their asses kicked. Hamas likes to go after, you know, elderly people, people in wheelchairs, children. Like that's Hamas preferred target set, which is heinous. And in the case of Iran, so far, they are sticking to military. To military response, which is a different thing under the laws of war and Geneva Conventions, etc. You know, this is something that you could say the Iranians are paying attention to. Will they go and cross that line and go Hamas and start having proxies on their behalf do this? You'd have to wonder, who are these proxies and what do they think they're going to get out of this? I think the message, you know, Clay, we can get into some more. JD Vance, for example, is on the Sunday shows with this administration, it is so different. And I truly, you know, this is not like, oh, talk radio, our side, their side, it is so different from the dementia puppet in chief and what we had before. When these guys say something, when Trump and Vance and Hegseth say something about if you kill Americans somewhere, we're going to drop the fires of hell on your head. They mean it.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

And the bad guys know they mean it and they know it will happen. And that has meaning. That has meaning for moments like this. Whereas with Biden, you know, we know the invasion of Ukraine happens. Look at this stuff. Like, no one takes the guy seriously. So I'll get into some of this because I think J.D. vance made it very clear that there are ways that the Iranians can respond to that will be, you know, within the, within the laws of war, the boundaries of armed conflict, I should say. And there are ways that they can go outside of that. If they go outside of that, I think this administration is going to punish them severely, and that's the way that it should be.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And you, you also understand better than anybody else, you have to know what somebody means in negotiation. You can't. Like, Biden was so weak, they felt like they could play him. And they knew that there was no spine behind anything he said. And these, these dictators, these mullahs, and they were right. Respond to violence.

[Clay Travis]

This is the thing. It's not. It's not like that was their perception and Biden was actually a sleeping giant or something, you know? No, it was. They were right by thinking he was an imbecile and not of sound mind.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And again, I think that sometimes you don't like it. And I think this is where Democrats, frankly, lack of masculinity becomes an issue. Most people who are in positions of power around the world are dudes who are mal. Actors. Right? Are men. And they respond to violence. That's what they respond to. It would be great if they would respond to argument, but ultimately all they care about is do you have the ability to do them harm? It's like bullies everywhere, right? Like, on some level, you don't usually talk a bully out of being a bully. You have to make the bully fear that you can kick his ass. And that is what Trump is willing to do, because I think he understands that. I think a lot of the soft, weak masculinity, frankly, of the Democrat Party might work when it comes to persuading lesbians of the truth of their arguments in the United States. It doesn't work when it comes to fundamentalist terrorist who are effectively in control of a country like Iran. I mean, that's the hard truth, and that's the reality. And they respect force and violence, and you have to sometimes show them that you're willing to deploy it. Biden wasn't. I think that's why Ukraine got invaded. I think the weakness that he showed in Afghanistan showed the world that he didn't have a steel spine and they took advantage of it. I don't think Hamas would have invaded if Trump were in office. I don't think that Ukraine would have gotten invaded if Trump were in office. And I think what's happening right now is Iran is learning that Trump isn't to be trifled with. Look, we don't shy away from the tough topics of the day on the program. We tell you exactly what we think. And these are some of the things that most Americans agree on. How about this? Boys shouldn't compete in girls sports. Another one. Healthcare coverage is just plain broken. Too expensive, too confusing, way too unfair to people who work for themselves and can't join a juke group plan. That's why there's a solution to health care coverage called Ease for Everyone. Offers affordable health care for as low as 262 bucks a month. You can keep your doctor, never pay a deductible and access over 400 prescription drugs for free. Go online to their website. See what plan is right for you and your family. Ease for Everyone Developed by smart forward thinking experts Located in my hometown of Nashville, you'll be speaking with guys and gals in Tennessee who live in your country and can speak your language. Answering your questions. Visit ease for everyone.com clay and join today. That's ease for everyone.com clay stories of freedom.

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[Clay Travis]

All right, welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. So far it looks like the Iranian missile launch against US Bases has been nothing major in terms of any casualties or any losses on our side. The missiles have been shot out of the sky. So we're not seeing any, any major damage from that. Want to take calls from you and, and hear from you on all this, how you think this is going. So let's get to Jim in Missouri, wants to weigh in. What's going on, Jim? Point. There's no way Biden could pull this off for two reasons. Number one, it happened on the weekend and we know where he was on the weekend on vacation. We watched for four years. Second thing is it happened after his curfew or lid time, which is 4:00pm Eastern.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, it's funny, Buck. I mean, I, when I was up late on Saturday night watching the news and following this story like everybody else, all I could think over and over again was, thank God we do not have Kamala Harris in office. Because to your point, do you think these bad guys respect Kamala Harris in any way? Are they afraid of what she might order against them? I mean, whatever you want to think about Trump, they respect Trump. And I think you're seeing it right now with Iran. I don't know if he, if they pulled their punches, Buck, or if they frankly just don't have the ability to throw a very hard punch because to your point, they're basically a third world country now.

[Clay Travis]

Look what they've done with, look what they've done with, with Israel. I mean, if they could, like I said, if they could have leveled an Israeli city with ballistic missiles in response to those strikes, they would have done it. They can't do it, thank God. But that's where things are. David, in Alabama. What's going on, David? Hey, guys. Kamala Harris couldn't order takeout and make anybody worry. But the, the comment I want to.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Make, did y' all catch Marco Rubio's.

[Clay Travis]

Joust or that mental midget on the over the weekend about up to date until. You know what, David, we'll play after our next break here. We'll play those for everybody and walk through those because Clay, I think, I think they were fantastic. Marco Rubio is, he is en fuego.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes. And by the way, more and more reports coming out that basically Iran let us know exactly what they were going to be doing, what the timing of their attacks were going to be. And we said this is very similar to what happened in 2020 after Soleimani. This is from the New York Times, which has a lot of assets in Iran. Iran coordinated the attacks on the American air base in Qatar with Qatari officials gave advance notice it was coming to minimize casualties, according to three Iranian officials familiar with the plans. Officials said Iran symbolically needed to strike back at the US but at the same time carry it out in a way that allowed all sides an exit ramp, they decided described it as similar to 2020. So that's kind of what we thought, but we continue to keep you updated.

[Clay Travis]

But rational action from the Tehran regime. So so we'll talk more about this. Pure Talk is all about thanking our military veterans for their service, recognizing them one more time for their service and sacrifice. A thousand of our military veterans are receiving a gift from our friends at Pure Talk, a new American flag from Allegiance Flag. Pure Talk's team believes every service member who has served this country deserves to proudly fly an American flag and one that is made here in America. You can participate in this great campaign too. Just switch yourself phone service to Pure Talk this month and a portion of your monthly rate will go to provide these high quality flags to deserving veterans. With plans from just $25 a month for unlimited talk text and plenty of data, you can enjoy America's most dependable 5G network while cutting your cell phone bill in half. The average size family saves over a thousand dollars a year. Just dial £250, say the keywords Clay and Buck and Pure Talk's US customer service team will get you switched in as little as 10 minutes. Dial pound 250 from your phone, say Clay and Buck to support veterans and switch to Pure Talk.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Welcome back in Clay. Travis Buck Sexton Show Again, Iran has responded so far. It appears that they telegraphed their actions. They are seeking to dial back after we kicked their ass on Saturday night. Either they don't have the ability to actually do anything to us, which is probably true and or they are afraid of what we might do in response to them and Buck. I loved on Saturday night when Trump came out about 10pm Eastern. Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth and J.D. vance all arrayed behind him, spoke for about three and a half minutes and then his top spokespeople Rubio, Vance and Hegseth all spoke Sunday publicly and I thought did phenomenally well. But this, sorry, this Marco Rubio vs Margaret Brennan on I think it's Face the Nation or CBS News or wherever the heck she works every time that it occurs it just is an absolutely epic beatdown. And let's just play a couple of a couple of these cuts. This is Rubio against Margaret brennan about cut 12 here just to give you a sense of the intellectual evisceration that took place on CBS Sunday morning. This is what it sounded like.

[E]

It doesn't matter. The order was given. They have everything they need to build nuclear weapons. Why would you bury, why would you bury things in a mountain 300ft under the ground? Why would you bury six? Why do they have 60% enriched uranium? You don't need 60% enriched uranium. The only countries in the world that have uranium at 60% are countries that have nuclear weapons because they can quickly make it 90. They have all the elements they have. Why are they, why do they have a space program? Is Iran going to go to the moon? No. They're trying to build an icb.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No, but that's a question. That's a question. That's a question of intent. And you know, in the intelligence assessment that it was that Iran wanted to be a threshold.

[E]

How do you know what I'm talking.

[Georgia Hardstark]

About with the public March assessment? And that's why I was asking you if you know something more from.

[E]

That's also an inaccurate representation of it. That's an accurate representation of it. That's not how intelligence is read. That's not how intelligence is used. Here's what the whole world knows. Forget about intelligence. But the IAEA knows they are enriching uranium well beyond anything you need for a, for a, for a civil nuclear program.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Okay, that's point one. Do you want to play let's play point two here? Because I do think it goes into the essence of the attacks that are being levied here by left wing media, which it should be mentioned, many people out there said, oh my goodness, if we do this, thousands of American troops are going to die. It's early, but we eviscerated, it appears the Iranian nuclear opportunity going forward and Iran basically rolled over and played dead. To your point, Buck, they are effectively after 46 years of Ayatollah rule, a third third world country that's being frankly passed rapidly in their own region by the Saudi Arabia, the uae, Qatar, countries that they used to look down on for generations are now having way stronger economies, way better, frankly, military and way more success as a country.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. Iran is an ancient and proud civilization that for the last 50 years has been brought low by moron theocrats who make everything worse for everybody in the country. That's what's happened. You know, it's a bit like you talk to Cuban Americans down here in South Florida about Cuba, a beautiful island with great people who have been immiserated and enslaved by communist imbeciles since the Castro regime took power. Right. I mean, this is unfortunately what can happen in some of these places. But here we've got Marco Rubio. Cut two. You want to play this one? Right? He continues on dealing with Margaret Brennan. Play it.

[E]

Why would you ENRICH Uranium at 60% if you don't intend to one day use it to take it to 90 and build a weapon? Why are you developing ICBMs? Why do you have 8,000 short range missiles and 2 to 3,000 long mid range missiles that you continue to develop? Why do you do all these things? They have everything they need for a nuclear weapon. They have the delivery mechanisms, they have the enrichment capability, they have the highly enriched uranium that is stored. That's all we need to see. Right?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Well, and that's especially in the hands.

[E]

Of a regime that's already involved in terrorism and proxies and all kinds of things are on. They are the source of all.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes, and no one's disputing. No one's disputing that. I'm not doing that here. And they were censured at the IAEA for that enrichment and for violating their non proliferation agreements. I was simply asking if we had intelligence that there was an order to weaponize. Because you said weaponization ambition.

[E]

We have intelligence that they have. They need to build a nuclear weapon. And that's more than enough.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean, here's a question for you, Buck. If Iran has no interest in having nuclear weapons, why do they need to enrich uranium and be pursuing nuclear energy in any way? They sit on one of the biggest oil fields in the world. They have more energy access than almost any country anywhere.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so, so you're asking, you're asking the basic and obvious questions that people that oppose this have to just refute. They can't address, can't deal with this.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's my question. Like, what would be the reason they would be ban carrying uranium enrichment mines? Basically, for lack of a better way of characterizing it beneath mountains while being on top of oil fields. If they weren't trying to create nuclear.

[Clay Travis]

Weapons, it's even, it's even worse than that, Clay. If they were willing to play ball with the international community, remember their signatories to the non Nuclear proliferation Treaty, which they just violate this. But put that aside, you know, treaties, right? You know, this is like Pompey Magnus of ancient Rome. Don't quote laws to men with swords. Like, okay, fine, we're in a power dynamics based world, not a, a treaty and obligations based world. Okay? If they were willing to work with the international community, such as it is, if they were willing to play ball with America, Europe, etc. And stop doing the things that they're doing that are destabilizing and that make the region so miserable, quite honestly, and so much violence. I mean, the French would build their reactors for them and people would help them. If the regime was willing to have real inspections, play ball, and do what has been asked here for a long time, civilian nuclear power, that there are ways that that could be achieved and done. Of course, you asked the question which is maybe even more important. Well, why would they even want that considering how much oil they have, which is just, you know, easier for them. And the answer is that they want to have a nuclear weapons capability. You see this, if you are a regime of bad actors for the last 50 years or so, if you have nukes, you don't have to worry really about external overthrow. That's, that's the lesson that a lot of people take from this. And that's. Which is why North Korea gets to do North Korea.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Right? North Korea is a perfect example. You can be a religious zealot run theocracy that has hell bent, by the.

[Clay Travis]

Way, which is basically what North Korea is. They just worship the Kim dynasty instead of, you know, Islam. But it actually, it really is kind of a theocracy and in a sense it's a necrocracy because the founder, Kim Il Sung is still kind of worshiped as the head of the Communist Party.

[Karen Kilgariff]

But to your point, again from a, from a international affairs response, I have actually seen some of the members of the Clinton administration saying publicly now, we blew it with North Korea. In retrospect, we should have have had attacks on their nuclear capabilities. Bill Clinton considered it in 1994. I even saw Rahm Emanuel come out and say it. And I think most people out there would say, hey, it would be better if this crazy North Korean dictatorship didn't have nuclear weapons. But because they have them, they basically have power in perpetuity because the risk of attacking them is nuclear war. And that is the lesson that I think Iran has taken. Now by attacking this regime, we are trying to prevent another North Korea. But we're also sending the message to other countries that may make the rational choice, hey, we need to have nuclear weapons too. There are consequences for pursuing these. And also, Buck, this is why I think the response from China and from Russia has been muted. Because deep down they don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons either.

[Clay Travis]

Yes, of course they can't Trust Iran. These countries, the non aligned countries or whatever you want to call them, that will work together. These are places, you know, Putin's right hand man can't trust Vladimir Putin. You think the Iranians, I mean, these people will only. These are countries that only will work together insofar as it is zero cost to them and in their immediate interest. No interest as long as the oil flows. These countries don't give a. They don't care who's in charge in Iran. They don't. You know, the Chinese get a lot of oil from Iran because of the sanctions and you know, they want that oil to keep flowing. And you know, the Russians, I know this seems strange to people, but the Russians actually buy a lot of Iranian oil too, even though the Russians have a lot of oil of their own. Right. Because it has to do with refining and the global markets. But Clay, there's no. The World War III thing never made any sense because there's no countries that are going to come to the aid of Iran.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yep.

[Clay Travis]

That want to lose their own soldiers in some conflict with Israel and, or with the United States. That's not going to happen. The thing for me, that's the biggest open question right now is what do we want if we're going to take this forward beyond where we are? It is possible, folks, we wake up tomorrow and Iran has managed to do something horrible and kill a lot of people somewhere and that will change the, that will change the dynamics in this conflict overnight. I mean, that is possible. So far, we haven't seen that. And what we've seen from Iran has been pretty contained and pretty predictable. Right. So what do we want? Meaning what do we truly the American people want now? The first thing is we want this to not be our problem and for us not to be involved. I get that. That's like first principle, that's numero uno here, is, okay, we don't want to make this our problem. But in terms of if we can foresee a future where we don't have to, wouldn't it be nice? I mean, how often do we sit around talking about, you know, the future of Kazakhstan, which, by the way, has a lot of natural resources. People think of Borat, it's actually a very large country, a lot of natural resources. I think a tremendous amount of. Not the potassium is what Borat always says. I think it has a lot of natural gas. Someone check me on that. But my point is we don't care about that. You know, Kazakhstan does its thing. Yeah. They don't have Free speech and whatever. It's not our problem. We don't have to worry about this. We really want Iran to be in that category. Yeah, it's just not our problem. And so if not our problem is what we want from Iran, what does that look like? How do we get there? And is that the Iranian regime just kind of sputtering along as it is defanged, as I've said? Or do we really want to see what happens if people start dragging the, you know, the IRGC and the besieged, which is their really. They're brown shirts. And if, I mean, they're. They're street militia, if you will, of the regime. If we start. If they start getting dragged out in the streets and beaten by, you know, the civilians with pitchforks and torches, so to speak, is that what we want? You know, I don't know. You know, this is where we get into the. I don't know. Again, not us doing it. I'm just saying, what do we really want in Iran?

[Karen Kilgariff]

I think that's the question at this point going forward. And we could spend some time on it in this third hour because to me, the question that. And by the way, Elon Musk, turn on starlink. Let the Iranians actually see what's going on in the rest of the world. Because, Buck, what they're going to say internally is we responded in force and wiped out the United States forces in the Middle East. Right. This is what Iranian state television is going to say. But bigger picture, what a lot of these young people in Iran are saying. When I say young, I mean people 35 and younger. Either you're, you know, having kids or you are.

[Clay Travis]

That's where we are now in life, Clay. We're like when all these whippersnappers in their 30s.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. All these young guys, but they are looking around now. At some point, embarrassment and anger starts to set in in Iran because you see people in Saudi Arabia having a better life than you. Bahrain, Qatar's having the freaking World Cup. Saudi Arabia is going to have the World Cup. They love soccer. Why is Iran getting left behind? It's one thing if the US And Israel are better off. Okay. But when your fellow Arab and Muslim countries are leaving you behind and you. To your point, Buck, used to be a proud member of the Persian Empire. Go study world history. They ancient history. They were ahead of the curve. They were long ahead of much of even Europe back in the day. And now they're falling behind. Quality of life. They can't even keep the power on, so they can take elevators and buildings. These are real questions that I think are going to start getting asked by the Iranian people. And where does it lead? That's the question.

[Clay Travis]

What comes next? What should come next? That's the question for all of you. Call us Talk backs on the iHeart app. You know what to do. If you have a family, you have a responsibility to think of their well being long after you're gone. You should have a will. Maybe both a will and a trust as well. Only a third of Americans right now have a will. When there's not a will, oftentimes your assets end up in probate, delaying the release of those assets to family members and costing everyone time and frustration and money. It depends on the state you live in, of course, but you'd be surprised what percentage of your assets can be claimed by the state. Writing a will has been made infinitely easier by a website that specializes in this, called trustandwill.com they make it simple, affordable, and the result gives you peace of mind now and your surviving family members clarity in the future. That website is trustandwill.com they're experts in creating personalized trust and wills that protect your legacy. Visit trustandwill.com Two guys walk up to a mic.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Anything goes. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

We haven't. Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Anybody here? Buck? Yeah, look, we should mention Iran has also said they fired back the same number of missiles at us that we fired at them on Saturday. This is their attempt to keep us from continuing to rain down on them.

[Clay Travis]

I know I've been saying that you can pick your historical analogy to support whatever point of view you want. I will say this. It is possible for a country that has gone down a path of extreme darkness, malevolency and militancy to turn around. I mean, you mentioned Hiroshima, Nagasaki. It's a pretty extreme situation. But you know, Japan, Japan's a good friend of the United States. Now the Japanese, what they did in World War II was on the same scale and, and level of horribleness as what the Germans did. They just did it in a different place. So anyone who knows the history knows that. So it's possible for countries to turn around. Now, it's way early in the game to be saying, well, Iran is, you know, Iran is also going to be like a representative democracy with a lot of people who love, you know, pop music and hello Kitty or whatever. I mean, you know, it's not going to turn into Japan tomorrow. But, but it is possible for a country to get better and for things to improve. It does not have to be this way. That's my only thing. Clay. Iran does not have to be this way. We should remind ourselves of that.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And maybe some of the Iranian people are starting to realize that as they get more left behind by other Arabs and Muslims in their region, that maybe it's not Israel and the United States doing that. Maybe it's your awful government and your awful leaders.

[Buck Sexton]

You know what's great about your investment account with the big guys? It's actually a time machine. Log in and zoom. Welcome back to 1999. It's time for an upgrade. At public.com you can invest in almost everything. Stocks, bonds, options and more. You could even put your cash to work at an industry leading 4.1% APY. Leave your credit clunky, outdated platform behind. @Public.com Go to Public.com and fund your account in five minutes or less. Pay for by Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC. Full [e-mail] disclosures hey it's Karen and.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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