Hour 2 - Thank You, Clay & Buck Audience

Summary

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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 2 - Thank You, Clay & Buck Audience
Date: December 17, 2025
Host: Clay Travis & Buck Sexton
Guest: Senator Rand Paul

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Overview

In this episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton reflect with gratitude on the past year, celebrating their audience and the show's growth while addressing key current events. The discussion covers topics including New York City politics and public transit policies, urban migration trends, and broader issues such as affordability and federal debt. The second half features an in-depth interview with Senator Rand Paul, touching on U.S. intervention in Venezuela, border security, healthcare reform, and the economic challenges facing Americans. The hosts blend humor, sincerity, and pointed political critique in their signature style.

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Highlights and Key Discussion Points

1. Gratitude to the Audience & Reflections on Growth

[02:22 - 05:14]

• Clay and Buck open with heartfelt thanks to their listeners for a successful year.
• Buck highlights the show's expansion:

  "We added 86 stations this year. We have added, thanks to you guys, over 200 affiliate stations since we launched this show in 2021... now I know we are over 550." [03:41]

• Plans for 2026 include increased video content and a push for audience engagement across all platforms, especially YouTube.

Notable Moment:
Clay shares a personal interaction:

"Someone was jogging Clay yesterday who listens to the show and stopped his jog for a minute to come alongside me to chat a little bit." [05:14]

2. Praise for the Audience's Character & Mission

[05:14 - 07:29]

• The hosts express a sense of kinship with their listeners, suggesting shared values of intelligence and discernment.
• Clay:

  "I truly immediately, this little thing in my brain goes, oh, you're one of the good, smart conservatives who doesn't waste his time with nonsense." [05:45]

• Both hosts emphasize gratitude for those who stick with them amid the “noise” of online discourse.

3. New York City Politics & Free Buses Debate

[07:29 - 14:34]

• Discussion shifts to the incoming NYC mayor (Mamdani) and his push for free public buses.
• Buck explains why he’s skeptical of a mass exodus from New York post-election, noting such moves are challenging during the holidays and predicting more migration in the spring/summer.
• Clay critiques the logic behind free buses, comparing it sarcastically to allowing shoplifting to prevent security altercations:

  “Just make it legal for people to steal stuff. There we go. That’s another approach to this, right?” [09:27]

• Both share personal anecdotes about riding city buses, with concerns about safety and unintended consequences—like buses becoming de facto homeless shelters.
• Discussion of urban safety, the economics of public transit, and real-life versus policy theory.

4. Migration Trends and Urban Resident Choices

[14:34 - 16:50]

• Speculation about whether the new mayor’s policies could trigger more people to leave New York.
• Clay points out most major stated intentions to relocate for political reasons aren’t acted upon, referencing public figures like Rosie O’Donnell.

5. A Personal Tribute: Vietnam Veterans

[19:14 - 22:34]

• Clay pays tribute to his late uncle, a Vietnam veteran, and uses the moment to honor Vietnam vets more broadly:

  “I actually think we should be doing a better job of saying thank you to everyone who fought in that war.” [19:54]

• He encourages listeners to cherish family connections and to recognize the service of veterans, especially during the holiday season.

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Interview Segment: Senator Rand Paul

[24:06 - 37:16]

U.S. Policy on Venezuela

[24:06 - 25:13]

• Rand Paul criticizes interventionist U.S. policy:

  “War should be in self defense. And this, to me, is an offensive war. ... I just don’t think it’s the job of the American soldier to, you know, go around and spread freedom at the point of a bayonet.” [24:17]

Grades for Trump 2.0 & Border Security

[25:13 - 26:51]

• Paul gives Trump's second term high marks for border control and tax cuts, but poor marks (consistent for both parties) on spending and debt:

  "A triple plus on controlling the border... On spending and deficit...the same grade that all parties get...terrible." [25:43]

U.S. Military Strikes on Narco Boats

[26:51 - 28:58]

• Paul raises due process and proportionality concerns:

  “We don’t shoot unarmed people. ... The ratio of boats that have drugs to those who don’t is about one in four ... That’s a pretty high error rate to expect that we’re going to kill unarmed people.” [27:21]

Healthcare Reform Proposals

[28:58 - 31:54]

• Discusses failed efforts to enable insurance across state lines and the broader fight over healthcare.
• Advocates for association health plans and expanding health savings accounts:

  “Why not join a private collective that negotiates better prices? ... I would let everybody in America have a [health] savings account.” [29:39, 31:17]

Affordability, Inflation, and Housing

[31:54 - 35:01]

• Paul links affordability crisis to inflation from government overspending:

  “The price of things goes up because the value of your dollar shrinks. ... [Under Biden] about 20% inflation in four years and wages rose less rapidly.” [32:50]
  “Rent control in New York is a disaster. That’s why you have no apartments and none of them get fixed up.” [34:08]

Federal Debt & Entitlements

[35:04 - 37:12]

• Paul urges Trump and Congress to prioritize a balanced budget while highlighting the political difficulty of tackling entitlements:

  “Most of the money are entitlements... So we are really behind the eight ball. This gets worse over time. ... If we gradually start fixing the entitlements. But ... it's the third rail.” [35:17]

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• Clay on audience connection:

  "You always should feel like you can come up and talk to us, and we feel like we know you because you spend so much time with us over the course of the year." [05:30]

• Buck on show legacy:

  “And we all hope that we're doing a great job and that Rush is smiling down on us from heaven, thinking that we're carrying on the legacy and holding the torch as best as we can.” [03:17]

• Sen. Rand Paul on U.S. intervention:

  “I just don’t think it’s the job of the American soldier to...spread freedom at the point of a bayonet.” [24:36]

• Sen. Rand Paul on border policy:

  “A triple plus on controlling the border. ... Within three months [Trump] controlled that.” [25:43]

• Sen. Rand Paul on entitlements:

  “We are really behind the eight ball. ... It’s fixable now. If you do something...if we gradually start fixing the entitlements.” [35:32]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Thanking the audience & show growth: [02:22 - 05:14]
• NYC politics & public transit debate: [07:29 - 14:34]
• Personal tribute to Vietnam veterans: [19:14 - 22:34]
• Senator Rand Paul interview begins: [24:06]
  • Venezuela & military intervention: [24:06 - 25:13]
  • Border/tax policy grades for Trump: [25:13 - 26:51]
  • Narco boat military action concerns: [26:51 - 28:58]
  • Healthcare reform proposals: [28:58 - 31:54]
  • Affordability and inflation: [31:54 - 35:01]
  • Federal budget/entitlements discussion: [35:04 - 37:12]

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Tone and Style

The episode mixes sincerity with humor and candid political critique, in the trademark conversational style of both hosts. Emotional moments—such as Clay's tribute to his uncle and the Vietnam vet community—are balanced with policy analysis and lighter audience interactions.

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Conclusion

This episode stands out for its blend of audience appreciation, policy analysis, and personal storytelling, capped by a substantive interview with Senator Rand Paul. Listeners gain both a behind-the-scenes look at the show's growth and clear perspectives on hot-button national and local issues, delivered with the directness, wit, and warmth characteristic of Clay and Buck.

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Transcript

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome in everybody to the second hour of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show and we are continuing with our last week of live shows for the year. Very, very much want to say while I can, thank you to all of you for helping us have such a great year.

[Buck Sexton]

Or you are the reason we had.

[Clay Travis]

Such a great year on the program. I know it's we're still in the news cycle. We'll be getting into all this in a second, but since I only have you for today, and then Clay is going to be throwing a Christmas keg party for you for the next couple of days afterwards. We've had a great, really, honestly, a great year on this show. It has been an honor to be able to spend time with you all, every day, or y', all, as I'm allowed to say now because so many of you are Southerners and you've given me permission.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, you married a Southerner, so I think that helps your ability to embrace the word y'. All.

[Clay Travis]

That's true. And so we just wanted to say thank you to all of you. Honestly, it's been a phenomenal year. Our team in New York City is the absolute best. Our audience is the absolute best. And we all hope that we're doing a great job and that Rush is smiling down on us from heaven, thinking that we're carrying on the legacy and holding the torch as best as we can. And I can promise you we do that absolutely every single day. And.

[Buck Sexton]

And to build on that, which is well said in the this will be when we come back in January together, it'll be. We're working on the fifth year. We added 86 stations this year. We have added, thanks to you guys, over 200 affiliate stations since we launched this show in 2021. So that's a testament to a lot of work going on behind the scenes. I think we were around 3:50 when we when we launched ish. And now I know we are over 550 and added an absolute ton of stations this year. And many of you are listening to us all over the country on stations that weren't with us in June of 2021. So thanks to all those stations out there, Obviously we want to be on as many platforms as possible. Every Clay and Buck podcast network is rolling and we're going to have more and more video for you. As many people out there. I never really would really believe this is where we were headed, Buck, but a lot of people consume audio on video. In fact, it's more popular to consume audio on video now often than it is just plain audio, particularly the younger you are. So we're going to be adding in more and more video attributes of this program. It's a big part of the 2026 plan. So we would like for you to be out there subscribing to us on all those platforms, including YouTube, because there's going to be a lot more video Coming for all of you.

[Clay Travis]

And I will say this, and this is definitely self serving, but also 100% true when any of you come up and see me. Someone was jogging Clay yesterday who listens to the show and stopped his jog for a minute to come alongside me to chat a little bit, some ideas.

[Buck Sexton]

And I felt bad.

[Clay Travis]

I was like, I'm interrupting your jog. It's like, well, yeah, right, Sexton, I gotta. But we always appreciate whenever you see any of us and, and you always should feel like you can come up and talk to us and, and we feel like we know you be. And you feel like you know us because you do, because you spend so much time with us over the course of the year and, and some of you, even a couple of hours, two or three hours a day when you have the time. I would also say that whenever we meet somebody who listens to this show, I truly immediately, this little thing in my brain goes, oh, you're one of the good, smart conservatives who doesn't waste his time with nonsense. So I'm just saying that is honestly what I think. So I think it is to your tremendous credit, all of you, that with. I know there's so much noise out there, there's so much stuff that is online in particular these days, and there's a lot of sort of petty nonsense and people getting crazy and getting a little reckless. And you stay with us here and you stay with the mission, and we greatly appreciate that. So I wanted to say thank you and I do have a high opinion of each and every one of you who listens to the show. So. So that is. That is from bottom of the heart. All right, now we can do some news. You. You mentioned Mamdani. Now I'm going to tell you something. There are people who are claiming now, Clay, that since Mamdani came into New York, or rather since he won the election, he becomes mayor January 1st, I believe since he won that election, there have actually been some people moving to New York to experience Mamdaniism. There has not been the flood of residents to. Or new residents to Florida that even some realtor friends of mine were expecting. People tested. They, they, they want to know that the lifeboat is there. They did not get into the lifeboat, though overwhelmingly, I have not. By the way, if you, if you happen to be somebody who has left New York because of mom, Donnie and moved anywhere, let us know. The numbers show. This is a very small group.

[Buck Sexton]

I will say that I think most of those people, if they leave Buck, they're going to let Mom Donnie try it out. Most people have kids, they have grandkids moving around Christmas is hard to do. So I think you'll see if people are going to flee Mamdani's era. New York. It will happen in the spring and summer. So that's when I'm actually curious to see whether or not there will be any sort of mass movement because you'll have a few months. He gets inaugurated in January. You'll have a few months to see how the, how the process of Mom Donnie is going. And then people's school years get out and then they start to move. We'll play the Mom Donnie. By the way, new videos being released now as we speak, of a person of interest leading the news on Fox News, leading the news on MSNBC right now in that Brown University shooting. So a little bit better visualization. We'll try to share some of those videos from the Clay and Buck account for any of you out there that may be in that area or just trying to figure out who that person of interest is. But you were mentioning Mom Donnie and I teased this buck. Momdani weighed in on how he thinks free buses are actually going to make there be less issues on public transportation. And it's a heck of a of a whopper that he told here.

[Senator Rand Paul]

Listen, we made five bus routes free in New York City when we made those bus routes free. After a year, assaults on bus drivers dropped by 38.9% on the bus drivers. Bus drivers, because unlike the train, the act of fare collection on the bus happens on the bus. It's there. And bus drivers and unions have shared anecdotally that about 50% of assaults happen around the farebox. So when you eliminate the farebox, you make for a safer experience for the bus driver, for everyone.

[Clay Travis]

Can I, can I, can I take Mamdaniism to its logical conclusion here? You know where there can be scuffles in drugstores and supermarkets and things like that by the front door with security when people steal stuff. So you know what we could do, Clay, to eliminate scuffles with security. Just make it legal for people to steal stuff. There we go. That's another approach to this, right? Just say, you know what? You can take whatever you want. Now, I understand public service, public transportation, they can change the fee schedule. But my point here is you are just rewarding bad behavior and thinking that that's going to stop the bad behavior. It's just not true. This is a really stupid idea. And also, he does not have the funding for it. But he's going to stay with this.

[Buck Sexton]

I write. Did you ever ride public buses? Very much when you.

[Clay Travis]

I've done a ton of subway in my life. I mean, I was a real subway guy for a long time. I have done very little. The New York City bus is a, is a humbling and often depressing experience. I've worn the bus.

[Buck Sexton]

We didn't have, we don't have a subway in Nashville. So as a kid, and we did not have. I went to a public school in Nashville, but there were no public school buses for my school from seventh to 12th grade. Martin Luther King was a school downtown Nashville. So if you rode the bus, you rode the city bus. So when school got out, a lot of us kids would go and we would get on the city bus and we would ride the city bus all over the, you know, city. And it's, I don't know, I look back now and I'm like, man, I was 12 and I was just getting on the city bus and I was just riding into downtown and I was just walking around the city streets. I, there's a zero percent chance my wife would let our seventh graders do that. I'm, I'm just saying I think people have gotten more protective of kids and I think there are benefits and disadvantages to it. There's a movement, I know of parents out there to have free range kids, to have kids out and about in streets and cities more often. My point on this is getting on the bus and paying and having your token, token or having your, your, your bus pass and then having your fare is something that makes it way safer. And I just say this is somebody who rode city buses because otherwise vagrants, when it's cold, if there is no charge, will just get on the bus and they will sit there and they'll never leave. And producer Ali has talked about this. There are people who get on the subway and they stink and they're homeless and it's cold and they just stay on. I don't understand in any way. I bet Buck, they did that pilot program. I bet they did it on the nicest routes that you run in the New York City area. I, I find it impossible to believe that making all buses free is in any way going to make it safer for the people who are riding the buses or that the environment's going to be better. I just, it does not comport with any element of any experience that I've had as a city bus rider. It's been a long time since I did it. But the bus is not that expensive. And I cannot imagine that there are that many people who would otherwise ride that can't afford a bus fare in some way.

[Clay Travis]

What kind of person do you think is physically assaulting a bus driver? Do you think it's a person who, if only they had a free bus fare, they wouldn't be laying hands on and becoming violent with a city employee? No. Okay. This is a total misunderstanding from Mamdani or a really just, I think ignorance of what it's like for people who live in low income, high crime neighborhoods where there are people who are just going to get into trouble, they're going to do things, they're going to break laws, they're going to hurt people. Making the bus free, as I've said all along, will turn them into mobile homeless shelters. That's part one, so no one's now going to feel like they want to be on the bus. And two, also, how much more redistribution of wealth and how much bigger debt does the city of New York want to run up? So now this would be another thing that other people have to pay for in a city that already has a huge welfare state in addition to federal benefits that people get. And I just think that it shows it's totally wrongheaded in its approach. We need a society where people have greater personal accountability. We want to promote a society where people are held responsible for their actions and we are all treated as equals and as adults. But we also have consequences for when we violate that trust. That's the only way to make things better, to placate the people who break the rules, are violent, break the law. It just encourages more of it.

[Buck Sexton]

Totally. And I, again, I think your point on, hey, people, there's not been a mass departure from New York in general. I think people exaggerate what they are going to do when someone gets elected that they don't like. We hear all the time, if Trump wins, I'm moving to Canada. And to her credit, Rosie o' Donnell is like the only person that has been famous that has left the country. She went to Ireland. I give her credit because she at least stood behind her comments. Uh, she doesn't seem like she's doing very well in Ireland. Doesn't seem like the Irish people like her that much. Doesn't seem like her family's doing that well. But she followed through on her promise, which most people do not do. What I will say is I do believe that in the spring and summer when school years end, I think there are going to be a ton of people in the New York City era area that will kick the tires on potentially leaving. With that in mind. You live through it. Buck, if you were willing to stay in New York City through Covid, I don't know how much worse things would have to get for you to finally say this is my breaking point. For a lot of people, the COVID restrictions was the breaking point. If you're still in New York after five years, six years of COVID going into next year, then I just don't understand how this is going to finally be the tipping point that sends you off into a new horizon. Look Rapid Radios can make a great Christmas gift. Modern day walkie talkies helping families stay connected even when there's a service disruption or a power outage. Rapid Radios work on a nationwide LTE network, meaning you can talk with anyone anywhere in the US with just a touch of a button. When you give a pair of Rapid Radios you're giving away to stay in, you're giving a way to stay in touch in the best of times as well as during emergencies. Rapid Radios deliver peace of mind when it matters most. No monthly fees, no complicated setup, just pre programmed reliable communication when it counts. Rapid Radios because every just in case matters, go to rapid radios.com make sure your family's never out of reach. That's rapid radios.com no promo code needed. Rapid Radios communication redefined.

[Clay Travis]

You don't know what you don't know, right?

[Buck Sexton]

But you could on the Sunday Hang with Clay and Buck podcast.

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[Clay Travis]

Pressure is coming down.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

Max welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton show we're going to be joined by Senator Rand Paul at the bottom of the hour. I was out yesterday. I wanted to mention this. So many of you said nice things and I appreciate it. My uncle Kenneth died at the age of 84 and I was at his funeral in East Tennessee and he was a Vietnam vet and worked for Buck 30 years for South Central Bell, going around working on phone lines all over the Chattanooga, Tennessee area. And he was just such an amazing guy. And I know there are many also Vietnam War veterans out there that are listening to us right now. And I know somewhat that has changed in the past couple of decades about how we've responded to the people who fought in that war. But I actually think we should be doing a better job of saying thank you to everyone who fought in that war. Certainly when they came back, they were not embraced. It wasn't their choice to go to that war. It wasn't their choice to be putting their lives on the line. But they were willing to answer when the country called. And my uncle is representative of that generation. You know, he worked on helicopters, served in in Vietnam. And as I was at his funeral yesterday, he was supremely healthy for 83 and a half years. Just got very sick in the last six months with cancer. But I wanted as they had the flag at his casket and as they were talking about his, his service there at the, at the funeral, I wanted to just think about that. Say thank you for the responses that people have shared out there in the audience. But bigger than that, say thank you to everyone out there listening to us right now that is a Vietnam War vet. Because I think in many ways we have largely neglected saying thank you for everybody out there who put their lives on the line in that war. So thank you for everybody. He had an amazing life. Phenomenal guy. I feel honored that I had the 46 years of my life to be able to experience with him. He was as good of an uncle as anybody could be. And it's the holiday season comes up, I would just encourage all of you, you know, hug and kiss as many friends and family members as you can because we don't know when the holiday is going to be the last one that we get to spend together. So hopefully we all have a lot more. But last Christmas was our last Christmas with him. Didn't know it and just would encourage everybody out there to say thank you to the Vietnam vets in your life and also to make sure that you don't neglect saying thank you to anybody out there that is a member of your family that you may not get to spend another Christmas with. All right, hopefully that wasn't too negative. But I just wanted to say thank you. Buck. We got Senator Rand Paul who's coming up here in a moment will feed us all the latest info from Capitol Hill.

[Clay Travis]

There's a lot you learn from living in D.C. in the past and covering politics day to day and being in the media world. And what you see is that financial power often comes from political connectivity and the insiders have a head start. But we're changing that. So I started Money and Power, an E newsletter that's totally separate from this program. It's something I'm really committed to, though. Just like this radio show, Money and Power is a newsletter meant to give everyday Americans access to the kind of fast moving intelligence that used to stay locked behind closed doors. My team and I monitor DC for every move, every spending bill, executive order, and keep a close tab on what's happening out there in the markets to give you actionable intelligence for investing purposes. Go to join Buck.com to sign up for this newsletter today. Money and power 82% off the regular price. Go to join buck.com that's joinbuck.com paid for by Paradigm Press. Welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. And we have Senator Rand Paul with us. Senator Paul, appreciate you being with us. Let's just jump right into this. So now we have an embargo going or actually a blockade, I'm sorry, a blockade going on of ships carrying oil from Venezuela. We have a flotilla the likes of which the Caribbean has not seen in quite some time of US Naval and, and other military power. We have a effectively an ultimatum from Maduro. Is this regime change what's going on?

[Senator Rand Paul]

It looks like it's going to be regime change. It's sort of regime change in the process. Personally, I think that war should be last resort, that we should try to attempt to avoid war and that we should act in a way that we have to go to war when we have to defend our country. So war should be in self defense. And this to me is an offensive war. It's a war because we don't like the government of Venezuela. You know, I don't like socialism. I wrote a book called the Case Against Socialism. In it, I open in the beginning of the book talking about gangs in Venezuela looking for food because the economy so desperate under socialism. But at the same time, we could probably list two dozen countries around the world that have either authoritarian rule or authoritarian socialist rule. And I just don't think it's the job of the American soldier to, you know, go around and spread freedom at the point of a bayonet. So now I'm not for this war and I think it ought to be voted on by Congress. The presidents under the Constitution don't have the power to initiate war without approval of Congress.

[Buck Sexton]

Where we're talking to Senator Rand Paul and there are a ton of things going on out there as we finish year one of Trump 2.0. What would you, if you were giving a letter grade, given the fact that exams are going on all over the country right now, what letter grade would you give President Trump and his administration on year 1 2.0? And what do you think should be the top priorities when Congress returns to action in January of 2026?

[Senator Rand Paul]

Well, I'd say a triple plus on controlling the border. And in fact, they did so well and did it so quickly that they've actually forgotten to tell the American people they did it. So it's become accepted. You know, just everybody expects now the border is controlled. But this was a border that Biden was letting millions of people cross unattended, many of them a danger to our community and a lawlessness at the border. He came in and within three months controlled that. I think the mistake is they've moved on to other things instead of promoting and telling the people about what a good job they did on the border on maintaining the tax cuts that I supported back in 2017, a triple plus great idea to continue those tax cuts on spending and deficit. You know, about the same grade that all parties get. You know, Republicans and Democrats have historically been terrible with the debt. And I think the debt continues to accumulate at an alarming rate. We now have over $1 trillion in interest. So I think they can do much better on spending and debt, but on the taxation level, pretty good. And on the border, great.

[Clay Travis]

Now you have been very vocal, Senator Paul, about these strikes on suspected or alleged narco boats in mostly the Caribbean, also some in the eastern Pacific off the coast of Mexico. Are there other Senate colleagues on the Republican side who share your concerns? And what would you like to see? What would the administration have to do, this White House have to do for your concerns to be allayed regarding these strikes?

[Senator Rand Paul]

You know, one of the questions I've been putting forward is are they armed? I mean, we have a long standing tradition, not just here, but around the world among civilized people that we don't shoot unarmed people. So, you know, some questions came out. Do we shoot shipwrecked people when people are clinging to wreckage? And it's actually part of our military law that we don't. We also usually don't shoot unarmed. So these boats that are alleged to carrying drugs, probably a lot of them do have drugs. I'm not disputing that. Most of these boats don't have the capability to even get to the United States. They can go about 100 miles and have to refuel. So a lot of these drugs, if they are drugs, are being distributed by unarmed people into some of the lower Caribbean islands. What we've done historically for crimes is we capture you and prosecute you. It's difficult work, it's not easy, but that's what we have always expected. Coast Guard interdicts these boats routinely, still does. And the ratio of boats that have drugs to those who don't is about one in four of every boat that's boarded doesn't have drugs. So that's a pretty high error rate to expect that we're going to kill unarmed people based on an error rate of about one in four being picking up the wrong people. So I'm absolutely opposed to this. I think that, you know, there are some on the Republican side who are uneasy, but most voices have been somewhat tamped down on the Republican side on any policy they disagree with the president. But I think that makes us weak as a country. I think we all need to be big enough to be able to, you know, have criticism, even within the party.

[Buck Sexton]

What should happen on health care? I know you and the president have been going back and forth on some disagreements and issues, but there's talk that maybe the government's going to shut down again. In January, I saw where Chuck Schumer refused to say that he would not shut down the government again. Tell me if, if you think I'm wrong, Senator, but it feels like to me that a big part of the 2026 Democrat plan, as they get ready to run in the midterms, is going to be shutting down the government. Arguing that Republicans all want to take away everybody's health care and they want everybody to die. I mean, we all know how this is going to play out. It seems kind of clear to me what should happen, what will happen in the world of healthcare.

[Senator Rand Paul]

You know, on health care, President Trump and I have a great deal of agreement. We worked together in the first administration to craft an executive that the intention was to allow people to buy insurance across state lines and insurance as part of a co op or a collective like Sam's Club or Costco. The problem with the executive orders, the problem we often have with executive orders, is the law's not changed. We try to bend the law through an executive order. People sue in court. So all the Democrat AG sued, they tied it up in court and never really got to have its full effect. But I've communicated with the president in the last couple weeks, and he says he still favors this policy that I've been pushing, and mine would basically cost nothing. Doesn't cost the taxpayer anything. Just makes it legal to buy across state lines and makes it legal for anybody that wants to collect people together, particularly groups that already exist like Amazon, Costco, or Sam's Club to buy insurance as a group. What would happen is you really have no more individual market. So if you're an accountant and you have three employees you buy insurance for, or maybe you're a construction guy and you got 100 employees, why would you want to buy insurance on your own? Why not join a private collective that negotiates better prices? And I think we could really drive prices down. If you just take the subsidies that we're currently giving to insurance companies and you give those subsidies to people's health savings accounts, I think that's just a, you know, a distinction without a difference. You're still giving away money we don't have. And it's still going to all wind up in the insurance company's pocket. So my association health plans would bring prices down. The other thing I would do is I wouldn't give taxpayer money to health savings accounts, but I would let everyone have a health savings account. Right now, only 10% of insurance plans sold. Is it legal to have a health savings account? People on Medicare cannot have health savings accounts. I would let everybody in America have a savings account. All I got to do to think about this is think about how many kids have braces. I had three kids that all had braces. But I did it with pre tax money through my health savings account. It's not fair that only 10% of the public gets that. We should let that great benefit accrue to everyone.

[Clay Travis]

Speaking of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Senator, affordability is the big catch word for what is a focus of 2026 policy and politics. People are already projecting that the midterms will take affordability into account in a major way. And affordability is really just kitchen table economics. Right. This is a concept that we've been dealing with for as long as American political parties have been vying for attention and power. But what do you see as the ways that the administration and to the degree Congress. Well, I'm not sure Congress is going to be able to do much on this. But what do you see as the best way forward, especially on the housing issue because there's. It's so complicated, so important, and it has gotten too expensive for the average American family to be able to afford the median home in this country. What can be done? What should be done?

[Senator Rand Paul]

Well, people have to realize the price of things goes up because the value of your dollar shrinks. So part of the reason that President Trump won this last time around was because it was becoming unaffordable to live under Biden. Biden had about 20% inflation in four years and wages rose less rapidly. So if you add in a little bit of inflation under Trump plus the 20% under Biden, it's about 25% inflation over the last five years, that 25%, unless your wages went up 25%, you've all gotten poor. So people are being squeezed. Things are less affordable because of the value of the dollar. Why does the dollar lose its value? Because of the debt. The debt is bought by the Federal Reserve. They buy it by introducing new dollars into circulation and it devalues the dollars we have. That's what price inflation is. It's not a mystery. It comes from debt. And then the Printing of money to pay for the debt. So I explain it better, explain where inflation comes from, and then you combat it basically by introducing balanced budgets and less debt. And the problem is both parties are terrible with debt. You know, Biden was terrible with it, but really, the previous Trump administration added 8 trillion, then Biden added 8 trillion. We're on target to add another 8 or 9 trillion under this administration. So we have to do a better job at controlling debt and affordability. With housing, part of it's the loss of the value of the dollar, but part of it also is controls that forbid you from raising or improving the value of things like rent control in New York is a disaster. It's why you have no apartments and none of them get fixed up. Because if you can only charge $400 to live in Manhattan, guess what? There's no money left over to do any of the repairs. And so these apartments are just decaying in New York. But, but people need to realize that rent control in New York is the same thing they have in Venezuela. That's why they have no food. So when you have price controls, it's a variation of socialism. And they've just elected a socialist mayor in New York. So I think it's going to have to get a lot worse before it gets better until hopefully the young people of America will see socialism for the disaster that it is.

[Clay Travis]

What is the one. Sorry.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, no, go ahead.

[Clay Travis]

I was gonna say, what is the one thing, Senator Paul, that if you could get President Trump to really dial in and focus on, for him to spearhead and try to accomplish next year in advance of the midterms, what would it be?

[Senator Rand Paul]

Proposing a budget that balances proposing to spend less money. The hard and difficult part of that equation, though, is that most of the money are entitlements. Two thirds of the spending of government is entitlements. One third is military and non military discretionary. That's what we vote. The hard part about the deficit is the deficit's about 2 trillion and the budget that Congress votes on is about 2 trillion. So you could actually zero out. And I'm not proposing this, but if you had zero military spending and zero discretionary welfare spending, you'd balance your budget, which means basically the taxes that come in are equivalent to all the mandatory programs without the discretionary programs. So we are really behind the eight ball. And this gets worse over time. I mean, it's going to become an escalating problem that will at some point spiral out of control and it's fixable now. If you do something, if we gradually start fixing the entitlements. But the president, as many of his predecessors have said, oh, I'm not going to touch entitlements. It's the third rail. So we're going to stay away from that. And then when we have the discussion over the big beautiful bill, some of us tried to fix Medicaid in that bill and say, look, they ought to at least have the same formula for the states that we once had. Where the states pay part, federal government pays part. Instead, Obamacare added all these people to Medicaid and said, oh, the federal government will pay the whole thing. And those people are still on. And because it was free or virtually free to the states, the state said, sure, we'll welcome more people in Medicaid and more people join Medicaid. Everybody's gotten on food stamps. We serve Coca Cola to people on food stamps. We serve Ding Dongs, Twinkies, donuts. I mean, it's just candy. You can buy candy on food stamps. So we've got to do more on having government live within its means.

[Clay Travis]

Senator Rand Paul, appreciate you, sir. Merry Christmas and we'll talk to you in the new year.

[Senator Rand Paul]

Same you guys.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

But also a little comic relief. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Pressure is coming down.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

Max I saw this this morning as I was getting ready for the show and I absolutely loved it. There is a 101 year old patriot who got up. He's a World War II vet and and he was singing the praises of President Trump and I thought to myself, we've got to make sure that everybody out there hears this, this man's name is Bill Dillon. This is the Champions for America, second annual gala celebration. He said he'd like to get back and return to military service for President Trump. Listen to this enthusiasm. Cut one. Nobody.

[Senator Rand Paul]

Cares more for this than this guy that you're looking at. And I think, and I think Trump is not over the President of the United States. He is the president of the world. I think he does a fantastic job in negotiation. I'm 101, going on, going 102. Damn it, put the unicorn on me. I'm going tomorrow.

[Buck Sexton]

A little bit difficult maybe to hear that. I don't know why, because I could hear it perfectly on my phone. But he is up and he says, I'm 101, going on 102, and if President Trump would let me, I'd put on the uniform and go fight for him today. And so I, I just thought that was awesome and wanted to make sure I shared it before we rolled into the holiday. A lot of awesome things going on. I know sometimes we focus on some negative things and there's a lot of awesomeness out there. Buck, when we come back, let's. Let's dive into a little bit more on that Brown University shooter. What's going on there. And Scott Besson is pointing something interesting out that is, as millions of people have left the country who were here illegally, something extraordinary starting to happen.

[Senator Rand Paul]

Happen.

[Buck Sexton]

Basic economics are at play. Rents are starting to come down across much of the country. It's amazing how that works. We'll talk about some of that. Plus we've got Katie Zacharias scheduled to join us at the bottom of the hour. And it is Buck's final hour of the year.

[Clay Travis]

She's up next. Actually, she's up. She's up in a few minutes. We're talking about California and all the good things going on or not so good things going on over there. Stick around.

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

Pressure is coming down. Trainer Games On Prime Video January 8th. Watch the trailer on trainergames.com these days.

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