Hour 2 - Senators Bernie Moreno & Markwayne Mullin

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show – Hour 2 with Senators Bernie Marino & Markwayne Mullin

Release Date: August 1, 2025

In this compelling episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton engage in in-depth conversations with two influential U.S. Senators: Bernie Marino of Ohio and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma. The discussion spans critical issues ranging from urban violence and political leadership to Senate procedural bottlenecks and partisan dynamics. Below is a detailed summary of the key topics, insights, and notable quotes from the episode.

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1. Addressing Urban Violence: The Cincinnati Incident

Guest: Senator Bernie Marino
Timestamp: 00:06 – 15:33

The episode opens with Senator Bernie Marino discussing a harrowing incident of mob violence in Cincinnati, Ohio, which has gained viral attention. Senator Marino narrates the tragic event involving a woman named Holly, a single mother with a special needs child, who was brutally attacked while trying to intervene in a fight to protect a friend.

Key Points:

• Incident Details: Holly and her friend were celebrating a friend’s birthday at a downtown Cincinnati club during a jazz festival when they were attacked by a mob of approximately 50 people. Holly was severely beaten, resulting in lasting physical and cognitive injuries.

• Lack of Response from Authorities: Marino criticizes the local political and law enforcement leadership for their inadequate response. He highlights the absence of timely police intervention, lack of a police report, and the mayor’s dismissive attitude towards the incident.

• Political Leadership Failures: Senator Marino underscores the failure of local leaders, including Congressman Greg Landsman and city officials like Vice Mayor and Mayor, who either neglected to address the violence or downplayed its severity.

Notable Quotes:

• "This is attempted murder. There's really no other way to say that she was knocked within an inch of her life." (02:15)
• "This is top to bottom system failure in the Cincinnati political leadership." (04:50)
• "We cannot just turn the other way and say, well, yeah, New York's and so is Chicago and oh, well, no, we're gonna take these cities back." (11:18)

Discussion Highlights:

• Media Silence: Senator Marino laments the lack of coverage from mainstream media outlets like CNN and MSNBC, suggesting a partisan bias that overlooks such critical incidents in Democratic-majority areas.

• Call to Action: Marino urges for immediate reforms in Cincinnati to enhance civil rights protections, properly staff the police force, and develop comprehensive safety plans. He threatens federal intervention if local authorities fail to act within 30 days.

• Counteracting Misinformation: The senator addresses false claims labeling Holly as a Russian national, emphasizing her American citizenship and the motives behind the attack.

2. Media Coverage and Partisan Narratives

Timestamp: 06:11 – 15:33

Clay Travis and Buck Sexton delve deeper into the media’s role in shaping public perception of the Cincinnati incident. They express frustration over the minimal coverage and biased reporting that sidelines incidents in Republican-leaning cities.

Key Points:

• Viral Impact: The violent incident has galvanized local citizens and businesses, leading to protests against political inaction and discussions about reclaiming urban safety.

• Political Support: Notable figures like JD Vance and Vivek Ramaswamy have publicly supported the victims, highlighting a bipartisan concern over urban lawlessness.

Notable Quotes:

• "You called Jake Tapper to cover this story. Let me tell you, Senator Marino covering the story, That's a waste of your phone call." (07:34)
• "They have got to put President Trump back in office. They can't get away from that base, though." (30:52)

3. Senate Nomination Bottlenecks and Procedural Challenges

Guest: Senator Markwayne Mullin
Timestamp: 19:52 – 31:22

The conversation shifts to Senator Markwayne Mullin, who discusses the significant delays in Senate confirmations of presidential nominees. He outlines the historical context and current challenges facing the Senate’s procedural operations.

Key Points:

• Historical Comparison: Senator Mullin compares the current nomination process under President Trump’s administration to previous administrations, highlighting an unprecedented bottleneck where every nominee has been filibustered except Marco Rubio’s.

• Impact on Governance: The delays have resulted in over 150 nominations being held up, exacerbating governmental gridlocks and hindering the administration’s ability to implement policies efficiently.

• Proposed Solutions: Mullin advocates for breaking the filibuster to expedite the confirmation process. He discusses the "nuclear option," a procedural move to change Senate rules and allow for easier passage of nominations.

Notable Quotes:

• "We have to take that option even farther to where instead of having four votes where we've got to go in and out of executive session, we'll do a day where you just, you stay in executive session all day." (24:02)
• "Underneath the leadership of Chuck Schumer, they have got away from the decorum of the Senate which is going to force the rules change." (25:30)

Discussion Highlights:

• Bipartisan Nominees: Senator Mullin suggests allowing bipartisan nominees to pass through via voice vote or unanimous consent, potentially reducing the bottleneck.

• Internal Senate Dynamics: He points out the resistance from Senate "old guards" who are keen on maintaining traditional Senate decorum, thereby hindering necessary procedural reforms.

4. Partisan Dynamics and Internal Republican Diversity

Timestamp: 26:41 – 31:22

Senator Mullin explores the diversity within the Republican caucus, contrasting it with Democratic approaches. He emphasizes the varied backgrounds of Republican senators and how this diversity contributes to robust policymaking.

Key Points:

• Caucus Diversity: Mullin highlights differences among Republican senators, such as variations in professional backgrounds and personal interests, which enrich the party’s perspectives.

• Impact of Partisan Polarization: He discusses how the Democratic Party’s shift towards more extreme positions has created internal conflicts, affecting legislative cooperation and overall party cohesion.

Notable Quotes:

• "They put President Trump back in office. They can't get away from that base, though." (30:52)
• "We have to take our cities back. And that's why I'm on this story. That's why we'll be relentless on this story." (11:18)

5. Lighthearted Segment: Pickleball and Fashion Humor

Timestamp: 26:41 – 36:26

Towards the end of the episode, the hosts and Senator Mullin engage in a more casual and humorous discussion about pickleball and personal fashion choices.

Key Points:

• Pickleball Competition: The senators joke about their pickleball skills, showcasing camaraderie and a lighter side of political discourse.

• Fashion Talk: A playful exchange about Clay Travis’s wardrobe leads to humorous banter, highlighting the personal dynamics between hosts and guests.

Notable Quotes:

• "She went on social media and said they deserved the beating. Got. You heard that right." (06:11)
• "I will never play Bernie Marino in pickleball ever again. Ever. It was the most humbling thing I've ever had done to me in my life." (31:09)

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Conclusion

This episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show offers listeners a deep dive into pressing political issues with firsthand insights from Senators Bernie Marino and Markwayne Mullin. From addressing urban violence and critiquing political leadership to navigating Senate procedural challenges and highlighting internal party diversity, the conversation provides a comprehensive look at current American political dynamics. The episode balances serious discussions with moments of levity, making it both informative and engaging for a broad audience.

Key Takeaways:

• Urgent Need for Urban Safety: The Cincinnati incident underscores the critical need for effective law enforcement and responsive political leadership in American cities.

• Senate Reform Required: The bottleneck in Senate nominations calls for procedural reforms to ensure timely governance and support for the administration’s agenda.

• Bipartisan Efforts Essential: Highlighting diversity within the Republican caucus and the detrimental effects of extreme partisanship emphasizes the importance of bipartisan cooperation for effective policymaking.

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Notable Quotes Summary:

• "This is attempted murder." – Bernie Marino (02:15)
• "We cannot just turn the other way." – Bernie Marino (11:18)
• "Every single nominee has been filibustered." – Markwayne Mullin (19:52)
• "We have to take that option even farther." – Markwayne Mullin (24:02)

For listeners seeking a thorough understanding of these critical issues, this episode serves as a valuable resource, blending expert analysis with engaging dialogue.

Transcript

[Bernie Marino]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay. Travis Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us. We are rolling through the Friday edition of the program taking you into what we hope is going to be a fabulous weekend. We got a couple of different guests coming to you this hour. We're going to head to the Senate. Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno about to be with us. And and then Mark Wayne Mullen from Oklahoma going to be with us at the bottom of the hour. We'll get into a variety of different topics with them. And Senator Marino is with us now. Let's go ahead and bring him up. One of the reasons that Republicans have a 53 to 47 majority in the Senate is he flipped Ohio's Senate seat. And we're gonna get into a bunch of stuff with you. Senator, congratulations again on the big win back in November. But you have been aggressively following a story that went mega viral, an attack on what appears to be innocent people in the streets of Cincinnati. That has been a, it feels like clarion call for many people all over the country to acknowledge crimes of violence taking place in many of our cities and, and how they've been allowed to happen. So let's start here for people who do not know this story, kind of tell us a little bit about it and what has happened to what appear to be a man and a woman who were victims of violent mob beatings in the Cincinnati area, what the response has been and where we are. And thank you for joining us and congrats again on your election win in November.

[Bernie Marino]

Well, thank you very much. Let me just start by saying that Cincinnati is a great American city. Amazing people there, amazing companies. This is storied city with amazing assets but with obscenely awful political leaders. So let me tell you this story from the perspective of Hawley. Holly's a middle aged woman. She's a single mom of a special needs child, lives not too far from downtown Cincinnati. She wanted to have a night out. She hadn't had a night out in a long time. You know what, for those people who have special needs children, they know what this is like. It's a all consuming mission of love. So she, she decided she was going to go celebrate a friend of her with a friend of hers, his, his 62nd birthday. She's a little bit younger than that, but not much. They went to downtown Cincinnati. They went to a nice club. There's a jazz fest going on. So they participated in those activities and went out to a place as they were walking out the door, a gentleman Knocked him in the head. And you saw a brawl that ensued. I say brawl, probably a mob of 50 people attacked this gentleman, knocked him unconscious three times on the ground, dragged him by the foot into the middle of the street. Holly, of course, like any woman watching that, tried to stop the fight and a complete thug beat her to the edge of her life, knocked her down on the ground, her head fell on the ground, she got knocked unconscious. When she woke up, as she told me the story, all she could think about is just how much blood she saw. Me just completely drenched with blood all over her. Finally, towards the end, one police officer came over. The mob scattered. The police didn't do much of a report. The society police, unfortunately, completely overwhelmed. They're down anywhere between 100 to 300 officers. She went home in an Uber, then go home in an ambulance. Didn't go to the hospital, no police report. Literally got on a phone, called an Uber and went home. Of course, when she got home, realized the severity of her injuries, went to the hospital and has had suffering from breathing problems, from cognitive issues. Again, this is a lady who's literally, this is attempted murder. There's really no other way to say that she was knocked within an inch of her life. And here's what's most distressing about this. You and I understand trolls online and people online say all kinds of stupid things, but I'm going to talk to you about the leadership of the community, the political leadership. The congressman for that area, Greg Landsman, didn't make any comments about this. Instead was tweeting about why we should send more money to Ukraine. Now, however you may feel about Ukraine when your citizens are viciously attacked like that, I think that takes priority. At least I think it should. The mayor had gone to a mayor's misfit concert conference of misfit mayors up in Cleveland and then went to Canada on vacation. Didn't come back until yesterday. This thing happened last Friday night. The vice mayor didn't make a statement till yesterday and basically her statement was, leave us alone, we don't need any help, we're good here. The chief of police blamed social media instead of acknowledging that they're down 100 to 300 officers and said that the whole story wasn't exactly told. I'm not sure what other story you want to know other than you had a middle aged woman that got the crap kicked out of her. Then city council member Victoria Parks. Remember that name, Victoria Parks. She went on social media and said they deserved the beating. Got. You heard that right, that this Middle aged woman who did nothing other than try to stop a mob from killing her friend and got the life almost taken away from her. Got the beating she deserved. The judge Mallory had set the guy who beat her up, he had been in front of that judge a few a few weeks earlier for all kinds of gun charges. Led them off on a $400 bail. This is, this is top to bottom system failure in the Cincinnati political leadership. I've told them they have 30 days to put together a plan to protect the civil rights of their citizens, staff the police properly, and come up with a safety plan for their citizens. And if they don't do that in the next 30 days, the only tool I have is to ask the President United States to suspend federal funding to that city until they do. Now, of course, the citizens have to do the long term, which is to get rid of these morons and replace them top to bottom.

[Clay Travis]

That's an incredible story and I want to make sure our team clips it because I think you illustrated it all so very well. We're talking to Senator Bernie Marino, who is discussing what happened in Cincinnati. Holly, you shared her photos. I want everybody to see them. And so I have retweeted it. Let's make sure that the Clay and Buck social feed, they're brutal to look at. But, but to your point, the fact that a police officer let her get into an Uber and after what happened to her is staggering to me. I am somewhat encouraged. JD Vance has spoken out about this. I believe he lives in Cincinnati. Vivek Ramaswamy aggressively has spoken out about this. I know he's running for governor. You are speaking out aggressively about this. And it sounds like a lot of citizens, including restaurant groups. I saw the local downtown restaurant group, the Ruby Conglomerate. I think they have a great steakhouse. I know they've got one in Nashville. They got them all over the place. But it sounds like citizens are using this viral incident as evidence that they're fed up with what's been allowed to take place in Cincinnati. And I think this is a sort of a larger, a smaller story of Cincinnati, but I think every city in America has a story like this, which is why it's caught so much fire.

[Bernie Marino]

Yeah, you're exactly right. I think this is a moment where we say enough is enough. We're not just going to continue to move out in the suburbs of rural America to have law and order. We're going to take back our great American cities. You see the Mandami movement, I call it, on the other side, which Is lawlessness defunding the police, all kinds of insane communist policies. And I think, honestly, as conservatives, by the way, as just normal Americans, we gotta say, no, I'm sorry, we're not going to relinquish our great American cities to these lawless mobs. And we're going to take our cities back. And for me, that means restoring Cincinnati to greatness. Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton, these are cities that have been completely mismanaged for decades. You know, my wife is from near Chicago. She used to love going to Chicago after watching that video. My wife is about Holly's age. If that happened to me and my wife, I can't even imagine what this would feel. If that was your mom, what would you feel like if that happened to her? And then I'll give you one little more wrinkle to the story that's happening as I speak to you right now. The police department, now, they deny that they did. The New York Post says they did. They claim that Hawley is a Russian national that fled back to her country because, of course, Russia, Russia, Russia. Holly was born and raised in Ohio, has no ties. She's Germanic background, has no. As are a lot of people there. Nothing to do with Russia. But you see how they're trying to disparage her and the mob angry machine on the Democrat side. These are evil, horrible people. And I said to the chief of police, I actually told my team to tell her I have no interest in talking to her until they correct that record. Because the New York Times ran a story, the headline was russian woman attacked. It's not a Russian woman. It's an American citizen that was brutally attacked. An innocent person. I was on with another friend of yours earlier. He wanted to start a GoFundMe page. I said, please don't do that without Holly's permission. I called Holly just this morning and she said, I really don't want anybody doing that for me. This is somebody who just wanted. She's what? She's just an. A normal American wants to live a good life. And the idea that they even attempt to vilify it. I called Jake Tapper on Sunday as Jake Tapper to cover the story. He said he'd look into it. Silence from cnn. Silence.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, by the way, that's a. You called Jake Tapper to cover this story. Let me tell you, Senator Marino covering the story, That's a waste of your phone call. I've known for a long time.

[Clay Travis]

But it is interesting to point out because if you flip the races here in any way, it would be the number one story in America. We'd be having a national conversation about white supremacy and how unsafe it is for black people to go anywhere in this country. And the fact that you got a mom of a special needs kid getting knocked out in the streets of Cincinnati. It does say something that CNN and MSNBC just.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, I mean, there was also. There's no. We all saw the video. The woman getting attacked. She's doing. She's just trying to stop somebody from being beaten to death in the street and then punch her in the face is such a vicious and criminal thing to do. Felony criminal thing to do. Where's Governor DeWine on this? Senator Moreno? What's up with him?

[Bernie Marino]

So the governor has offered. This is even crazier part of the story. So the governor offered the city of Cincinnati, state highway patrols, all kinds of assets, different task forces that, that, that he can bear, that bring to bear for Cincinnati. No charge, by the way, saying, look, the state will provide this. We won't charge you a cent to. The vice mayor turned it all down and then the mayor overrode her and they took just a piece of it, which is just the troopers doing traffic, routine traffic stops. But this was the mayor's like, we don't need any help. We're good.

[Buck Sexton]

So Governor DeWine wants to help and they don't want the help. Like they've got.

[Bernie Marino]

They don't want the help. Great. And what's happened as a result? Two big conventions have been canceled this week in Cincinnati. One, companies leaving downtown again. We can't let this happen. We can't let our cities just be taken over by these lunatics. And by the way, this is about the destruction of America. Let's just be clear about that. This isn't about just Hawley. This is a pattern of destruction of our country, starting with our big cities. And we have to take those cities back. And that's why I'm on this story. That's why we'll be relentless on this story. Because we cannot just turn the other way and say, well, yeah, New York's and so is Chicago and oh, well, no, we're gonna take these cities back. Look what President Trump has done here in Washington, D.C. this is becoming a different place because President Trump has said, I'm not putting up with it. This should be a shining city. This is our nation's capital and it's not going to be disgraced by moronic leaders.

[Clay Travis]

Bernie, you mentioned the disaster. I thought press conference from Cincinnati's sheriff for the person who's in charge in theory of protecting the people of Cincinnati. What in the world are they even saying? When she said, oh, we don't have the full context of the video, Buck and I came on and talked about this. I don't know what context you need to see to know that 20 dudes trying to beat up one other guy is not in any way justified. I mean this is not self defense. This is not. No matter what happened. Have they even tried to contextualize that and say what she was even attempting to explain? Do we have any idea?

[Bernie Marino]

Well, what she's trying to do is just brush it all under the carpet. Right? She's not explaining why she didn't get called into an ambulance and taken to a hospital immediately, why there weren't cops on the scene. And the answer is because she has to then admit they're down anywhere between 110 to 300 police officers. And how do you let that happen? How are you a leader of a police department, A police chief in a major American city and you're down 100 or 300 officers? This is insanity. And then to disparage the victim, by the way, there's no context you need for Holly. Holly's a middle aged woman that almost got murdered by a mob.

[Clay Travis]

Totally.

[Bernie Marino]

Yeah, right. So there's no context needed. That's it. So look, the chief is a mess. We need a top to bottom flushing out of political leaders there people just care about one. It's very simple. This isn't a complicated thing. When you get elected, your job is to ensure the safety and prosperity of your citizens. That's it. That's all you have to do. And this is the opposite of that. It's sad because look again, Cincinnati is an amazing, great place. We have all kinds of incredible assets there with incredible people and, and they just deserve better. And these leaders just. Can you imagine the mayors in Canada? In Canada, right? Flip the script. And was there any context to George Floyd? Was there any conversations about maybe this or maybe that, when in reality there needed to be a lot more conversation there, but instead that caused their entire country to have our cities burned down. And here it's like, well, it doesn't fit our narrative. Jake Tapper would become a citizen of Cincinnati if the races were flipped. He'd be broadcasting their live for 10 years.

[Clay Travis]

Totally true. Is it a hate crime in your mind based on what you've seen? Do you think race played in? We got to go quickly, but I'm just curious.

[Bernie Marino]

She thinks it did. You know, I wasn't there whether she feels definitely that it did, that they were 100% targeted. They think it was a setup. That's why they think so many cameras are there. I don't know about that. You know, Cash Patel and, and Attorney General Pam Bondi and Harvey Dillon are going to be leading an investigation there. So they're going to answer those questions. All I know is a middle aged woman from Ohio should be able to go to dinner in Cincinnati and not get beaten to death. Very simple.

[Clay Travis]

Amen.

[Buck Sexton]

Senator Marino, Sanity, thank you so much. Appreciate you calling in. We'll talk to you. And anytime you need someone who's going to talk about important stories and bring some ethics to it, you know, to come to Clay and Buck. Don't go over to CNN, man.

[Bernie Marino]

Well, by the way, you have 10 times more people that listen to you so that you're.

[Buck Sexton]

Also true. Also true. Welcome anytime. Senator, thank you so much.

[Bernie Marino]

Thank you guys.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Mark Wayne Mullen]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Bernie Marino. I thought that is a story that has a lot of legs and I think is important and it's not going to shock you that you will find almost no coverage of it in many of the outlets that focus on the left from legacy media. They're just pretending it didn't happen even though it's on video. Encourage you to go check out again. It's awful, but you need to see what happened to this woman Holly, who's out for a night out on the town. Could be anybody out there and suddenly gets attacked by a mob, there need to be severe consequences also. Speaking of news, we'll talk about this a bit more. We're about to be joined by Senator Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma coming back. But Trump just posted in the last few minutes, based on the highly provocative statements of the former president of Russia, Dimitri Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council, I've ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions just in case. These foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that. Words are very important. So the situation Russia and Ukraine seems to be increasing in significance and intensity. I want to tell you, if you want to feed your kids good organic American raised meat products, you need to go right now to goodranchers.com use code clay get $40 off. Ben and Corlee two mom and dad out there just like many of you. They got four young kids. They wanted to provide their kids with great American feet, with foods without all the preservatives. They are putting great food on your table, on my table, if you haven't already checked it out, whether you want chicken nuggets, whether you want salmon, whether you want beef, whatever types of meat you want to feed your family, they will do it in a healthy and organic way. Put good food in your family. American raised products go to good ranchers.com my name Clay. $40 off. Go check it out today. That's good ranchers.com my name clay. For 40 bucks off. Welcome back in Clay. Travis Buck Sexton show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us. You just heard us talking with Senator Bernie Marino about everything going on right now surrounding that awful sit in Cincinnati. I mentioned that we would be talking to another senator. He's joining us now. Mark Wayne Mullen, Senator, appreciate you joining us. I think the last time I saw you was pretty awesome event was the NCAA Wrestling championships. President Trump was there. It was incredible in Philadelphia. So it was good to meet you in person there. There's a huge back bottleneck right now in inside of the Senate. 150 different, some odd nominations being held up. What's the latest there and what should happen in your mind with that bottleneck?

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

Well, yeah, I wanted to talk about that because I just want to point out something. The Democrats always talk about diversity, but I want to talk about the diversity inside the. Inside the Republican Congress. I mean, just look at the difference, the way that Bernie and I are built. I mean, Bernie's built like a tech guy and I'm built like an athlete. See, there's a big diversity between the two. I mean, if you know Bernie, I mean, he's a. You. He's a car salesman. And, you know, I was a. I was a plumber. But if you also also know that he. Bernie could become professional in one sport, by the way, you're not fighting, obviously. He's probably one of the best pickleball players I've ever played against. It's ridiculous.

[Clay Travis]

What is his strength on, you know, by the way, I played pickleball for the first time ever. My wife Laura got me out there. We had a good time. Ye. What's his. What's his strength as a pickleball player?

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

He is very precise with his hits, and he can get more spin and lift off the ball than I've ever seen.

[Bernie Marino]

He is.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

He is a technician when it comes to it, and it drives me freaking nice. He will make me run all over court and he won't move two steps, and it makes me so mad. And the matter you get at pickleball, the worse you get. And that is not my strength of sport.

[Clay Travis]

That's really funny.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

I just had to throw that out. So the bottleneck. So dealing with the bottleneck, we have a unique situation going on right now. And I just want to throw some numbers out there to you. In Bush 41, 98% of his civilian nominees, which is 99% of the nominees we do, 98% went by either UC, which is unanimous consent, or a voice vote, meaning that the Senate actually never had to take a vote on it. And it speeds the process up. In Obama or Clinton, I'm sorry, 98% of his nominees also went through by voice vote or unanimous consent. Underneath Bush 43, 90% of his went through. 90% of Obama's went through. And then when Trump came in, that's when this first term, that's when the bottleneck happened. And so this time last year or this time in 2017, there was only 55 nominees that Trump had got through. Now, we have already confirmed 121 nominees, but this is the first time in history, in history that a president United States has not had one single nominee go by Unanimous consent or voice vote. In fact, the only nominee that hasn't been filibustered is Marco Rubio, and that was our very first one. Ever since then, they have literally filibustered every single nominee, which is why we had this bottleneck. But we are still, we still have 121 compared to President Trump's first term, to 55. So Thune has done really good at saying we're going to do this hard way or the law or the easy way. And that's why this Congress has voted more times than any Congress in 300 or the last 35 years, because we're having to take. It takes four votes per nominee to get him confirmed. And that's crazy if you think about that, because we have to vote to go in and out of session, meaning we got to go from legislative session to executive session. We got to vote to invoke culture, we got to invoke to end culture, and then we got to vote on the nominee. So it is a long process, and underneath the current process, it's, it's impossible to do if you do it all in one day. If you take everyone those votes every, every day, it's. It's almost impossible to do more than two a day.

[Buck Sexton]

So what should happen now, Senator? What, what do you want to see to break the logjam? We've had a few of your colleagues on talking about this. I've been very frustrated by this. I've seen Democrats once again, of course, they're in the break the glass era of anything goes to stop Donald Trump in whatever way they can, as petty as it has to be. They don't care. They're stopping US Attorneys from getting through. They're stopping judges from getting through. All good faith out the window. So what do we do? What do you want to see your Republican colleagues do?

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

It only leaves us with really one choice. If they won't allow the Logan to be broken, start allowing bipartisan nominees, at least those that are come out of committee in a bipartisan vote. We have 55 of those setting right now. If they would at least allow those 55 to come through in a voice vote or a UC unanimous consent, then if they won't allow us to at least do that, then we don't have a choice but to change the rules. That's kind of the nuclear option, because it goes two ways, right? If you do the nuclear option, and then the nuclear option will always stay in place. Harry Reid kind of did this, and then Chuck Schumer really did this in 2017, which Mitch McConnell. The irony of that Mitch McConnell actually warned about where we're going to be if that happens. And sure enough, it's exactly what he said in 2017 is where we're at. And that's when they ended the debate on every nominee being 30 hours to two hours. And what you're probably going to see is that we're going to have to take that option even farther to where instead of having four votes where we've got to go in and out of executive session, we'll do a day where you just, you stay in executive session all day and you limit the bait to maybe 15 minutes or you limit the debate to 10 minutes or you, or you limit, or you, or that you make the nominees where they're non debatable even at that with the way the rules are in the Senate, you could get done about two an hour if you were to do, if you could get that passed. The problem we have in the Senate is we have some old guards that wanted to, want to protect the decorum, what they call it, the way the Senate's always operated and they don't want to change it. And so we have some people that are very protective of those rules. And to get 51 votes on there, I believe we can do that. I wouldn't be surprised if, if, if, if J.D. vance would have to come up here or Vice President would have to come up here and break the, the tie because I think we'd probably lose some and he would have to come up and break it. However, that's probably going to be our option and that's actually what we're currently talking about as you and I speak. I stepped out of a conference that we're having and this has been a very structured and passionate meeting that I stepped out of to discuss what our next options are. And I believe the Democrats are going to force this. So it wouldn't be us changing the rules. They have got away from the decorum, the senators and on the Senate side from the Democrats on the, on the Democrat side, I mean, underneath the leadership of Chuck Schumer, they have got away from the decorum of the Senate which is going to force the rules change.

[Clay Travis]

We were just talking about earlier in the show the craziness. You were talking about the difference in the Republican caucus. In the Senate you got Eric Swalwell posting videos of him bench pressing 135 pounds, which is good. You know, I may be good for my ninth grade son who's trying out.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

For his football team 135 pounds.

[Bernie Marino]

Oh, man.

[Buck Sexton]

Rough day for Smallwell on the Clay and Buck show. Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

So you understand, like, yeah, hey, if you're a one plate on the bench guy, like that doesn't really motivate a lot of guys to think, hey, this is a big. This is a dude that I can look up to. But you also have, you know, this Sydney Sweeney thing has taken over all week where you got a pretty girl doing a jeans commercial and Democrats have decided basically that that's just a code word for Nazism. Big picture here. Did you ever think that Democrats would go this insane? And what Buck and I were talking about is privately, are there guys on the Senate floor who are Democrats and they just will say to you privately, like this whole men and women's sports is just absolutely insane. I mean, they still have to have some dudes, right, even on the Democrat side who privately will point out that this is just absolute insanity. Or are they like that in private too? I'm not asking you to out guys who say it necessarily, but I'm just kind of curious. In normal guy conversations, do Democrats acknowledge how ridiculous all this is?

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

They, this is, this is quote, what they say, we have lost. Lost our effing mind. I didn't say the whole word. I just said they, they say that. And yes, there is several of the guys and some of the ladies.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, they just. Right as he's giving us. Oh, wait, there we go. So you got cut off there for a sec. You said there are several guys and some of the women that will say privately, this is crazy.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

Yeah, well, they actually say we've lost our ever loving mind or their effing mind. Yeah, and they absolutely have. But this, that they can't move. And the reason why they can't move is because they would lose their primary election because their party has went so far that they can, yes, win a primary, but they're going to have a hard time winning the general. That's why you see these polls that there's a 30 point swing between favorable and unfavorable is because this base, their base has become so woke, so socialist, so anti, everything that makes common sense that they can't move off of it. But that's the base they built. And it started, honestly during the 2015, 2016 election. And they, and then, and then they just fed into it for four years underneath President Trump's first term. And they, they wanted the, I mean, I debatable if they want an election. I actually don't say that, but I'm Just saying, they put Biden office one way or the next. And then during that four years, it destroyed our economy, destroyed morale in the service industry. It destroyed the morale within our men and women in uniform. It destroyed the morale of our, you know, just common sense and any day walk of life. We saw what happened in schools, we saw what happened during school boards. I mean, it just got crazy. American people woke up and said, we're not doing that anymore. And they put President Trump back in office. They can't get away from that base, though. But privately they know it's destroying their party. I think if they had their choice, they would love to go back and to the JFK Democrats. But you see what happened to Chuck Schumer. Let's just look at what happened to Chuck Schumer. Chuck Schumer voted with us to do a continued resolution to keep the, to keep the government open. He got destroyed at home. I mean, here's a guy that's never had a tough reelection and he got destroyed at home. And now AOC is threatened to run against him. His behavior changed so much because now he can't allow AOC to be to his left that now he has to behave just like that, which is causing them to not be reasonable on anything we're doing moving forward.

[Clay Travis]

Good stuff, Senator. We appreciate the time. Good luck on the pickleball court. Tell Bernie that we'll challenge him at some point.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

I will never play Bernie Marino in pickleball ever again. Ever. It was the most humbling thing I've ever had done to me in my life.

[Clay Travis]

Tell your wife congrats, by the way, on being able to out bench the most manly Democrat of all, which is obviously Eric. Yeah. Mr. Fang thing.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

Yeah. All right. Appreciate it.

[Clay Travis]

Appreciate that.

[Senator Mark Wayne Mullen]

Have a good weekend.

[Clay Travis]

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[Mark Wayne Mullen]

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.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay Travis, Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us as we are rolling through the program. Good stuff from Senator Bernie Marino and from Senator Mark Wayne Mullen there. We got a bunch of you weighing in on a variety of different topics. Let's go. Let's play the talk. Is the Talk back working again now? Because I see it looks like we have a new Talk back. So it is back up and running. Let's first hit a a and get that response from the talkback universe. Fire away, guys.

[Caller]

Clay, I can't stand it anymore. I just saw you on Jesse. You need help with your clothes, man, in a bad way. I've been in the clothing business, custom clothing business, 40 years. If you want some help, tell your staff to call me. I won't charge anything for the console. Just I'll just show you what to buy. Call me. You need help horribly.

[Clay Travis]

I need help horribly. I, I thought I actually looked okay. Every time I go on television, people don't. Did you hear that, Buck? People don't pay attention at all to what I say. And it doesn't matter what I wear. I could go on television in a full tuxedo and people would be reacting angrily to what I'm wearing. I'm on television with Fox News almost every day. I gotta have a bunch of different blazers. You know, this Buck. Like I'm usually in shorts. Otherwise it's not like I'm dressed, you know, to the T. Here I thought I actually looked pretty solid. So I wear a lot of different color blazers. Guys just teeing off on me last night. I go on Jesse Waters doesn't point out the brilliant arguments I made. Doesn't point out any of the great lines. Just tease off on me on clothes.

[Buck Sexton]

Sometimes you look a little bit like you're trying to offer somebody a great deal on a timeshare. But you know, your analysis is very high level.

[Clay Travis]

I don't even know what that look. I, I, I don't, I'm clearly not an expert on clothing, but I bet if I took a picture, I Bet I have 25 different suit coats, sport coats, whatever you want to call them in my closet. And I don't always want to wear the same color, so I try to wear a different one. Like a rotation of, like, question for you. This is important.

[Buck Sexton]

Laura is very well dressed. Cara Carrie is very well dressed. Like, they have style and fashion. Carrie, sometimes I'm just going to say it. She'll veto.

[Clay Travis]

Like, there was the.

[Buck Sexton]

There was the Home Depot shirt incident of 20. Earlier, 2024. I thought I was wearing a cool kind of electric blue polo, and she was like, am I getting a deal on a new washer dryer? Like, she did not.

[Clay Travis]

Like, didn't she say that you were going to work at Best Buy? That was Best Buy. I'm sorry.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, I said Home Depot. I meant Best Buy. Yes, the Best buy incident of 2024, which everyone agreed with her. And by the way, I gave that shirt away. I'm just going to tell you, I actually gave it away. Clay, does Laura ever veto. Does she have to veto what you wear?

[Clay Travis]

She does occasionally veto. What I have found to be the far more common wife response is, are you gonna wear that? Are just the question, are you gonna wear that? Is that what you're wearing? Not even a you shouldn't be wearing that. As if it's my choice to change. But it's just like the question of, are you gonna wear that?

[Buck Sexton]

That's the bless your heart of the fashion world.

[Clay Travis]

I will also, to be fair, point out that I have been married for 21 years. Roughly. I have been asked probably 18,000, 648 times, what should I wear? Meaning she asks me about events that we are going to and then doesn't listen every single time. Well, I don't know the answer. I've never known what my wife should wear to any event in 21 years of marriage. Still don't. No idea.

[Bernie Marino]

This is an iHeart podcast.