Hour 2 - Thanks, BLM

Summary

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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 2 – Thanks, BLM
Date: August 19, 2025
Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

In this hour, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton take aim at crime and policing—especially in Washington, D.C.—amid a crackdown led by President Trump. They discuss the aftermath of the "Defund the Police" movement, new federal intervention in D.C., the dramatic drop in crime statistics, and the shifting narrative in liberal media. The hosts also touch on the challenges of restoring urban safety, the practical effects of tough-on-crime policies, and whether federal successes could be replicated in other cities. Their tone blends humor, incredulity, and pointed criticism of progressive policy failures, particularly around Black Lives Matter (BLM) and urban governance.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. D.C. Crime Crackdown & Federal Intervention

• President Trump initiates a "massive rehabilitation" of Washington, D.C., targeting rising violence and visible homeless encampments.
• Citing personal experiences living in D.C., both Clay and Buck emphasize how much the city has changed regarding public tent cities and lawlessness.
• After the Supreme Court's ruling, Trump acts quickly to clear homeless encampments, drawing national attention.
• D.C. Crime Stat Drop (per D.C. Police for the week following Trump’s intervention):
  • Robbery: down 46%
  • Carjackings: down 83%
  • Car theft: down 21%
  • Violent crime: down 22%
• Hosts express astonishment at the rapid improvement:

  "In the one week that we have seen a surge of police on the streets, overwhelmingly, the numbers have been moving in a very positive direction."
  — Clay Travis [03:51]

2. Shifting Liberal Media on Crime & Policing

• Clay highlights recent columns (Maureen Dowd in NYT) and the New York Times' (NYT) lead editorial acknowledging failures of the "Defund the Police" movement.
  • NYT excerpts admit lawless conditions in cities and that the "defund" experiment was a failure.
  • "Real world results were miserable. Parts of San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and other cities came to feel lawless, with people defecating and shooting up in public and store owners locking up items to reduce theft or simply closing their shops.” — Clay Travis reading NYT [07:39]
• Buck points out the disconnect between reported crime numbers and lived experiences:

  “There was some of this Clay with D.C. Is really safe. I’ve lived here for five years. I’ve only been mugged once, only had one car stolen, only had, you know, three incidents where people threatened to like stab me in the street. But other than that ... it’s really good.”
  — Buck Sexton [06:15]

3. Data Manipulation & Public Distrust

• DOJ investigation: Questions arise about the accuracy of reported crime drops, with Trump’s DOJ probing if D.C. police manipulated data.

  “Does anyone really think that crime rates just suddenly drop 30% in D.C. for no apparent reason?”
  — Buck Sexton [10:18]

4. The Legacy and Consequences of “Defund the Police” & BLM

• Buck and Clay call out BLM’s impact:

  “You look at places that had the BLM murder spike, which is what happened.”
  — Buck Sexton [11:31] “Nice work, BLM. A lot of murders going up all over the country. That’s what that movement ... was all about.”
  — Buck Sexton [11:38]

• Hosts emphasize that violent crime is highly localized: nearly half of all D.C. arrests occurred in Wards 7 and 8.

5. Quality of Life and Urban Decline

• The hosts tie the conversation to the everyday experience of city residents.
  • Locking up everyday items like toothpaste and shaving cream is cited as a symbol of urban breakdown.
  • Clay shares stories about crime warnings in Memphis and contrasts the divergent fortunes of Memphis and Nashville.

6. Is Crime a “Will” Issue, not a Technical One?

• The idea that crime in cities like D.C. and Memphis can be solved if there is political will, not just technical solutions.

  “My question for everybody is, what if Trump’s right? ... What if Trump makes D.C. crime drop by 50%? Suddenly you have to start having conversations about why can’t we solve some of these problems that we claim are unsolvable.”
  — Clay Travis [32:43]

7. Justice System Challenges & Repeat Offenders

• Call-in from Kevin in NYC asks what happens if those arrested are released by a lenient justice system.
  • Clay and Buck argue that with Judge Jeanine Pirro as head attorney in D.C., new rules will apply.
  • Discussion of the effectiveness of three-strikes laws and the pattern that most “low-level” offenders have longer criminal records.

  “The notion that someone is, let’s say, carjacking a person, and you think that’s the first crime that person’s committed...”
  — Buck Sexton [25:22]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On changing liberal narratives:

  “Now, suddenly, with Trump in office, Democrats, some of them, at least their allies in the New York Times are willing to acknowledge that they blew it and that they created these awful scenarios.”
  — Clay Travis [09:05]

• On the BLM "murder spike":

  “Nice work, BLM. A lot of murders going up all over the country. That’s what that movement ... was all about.”
  — Buck Sexton [11:38]

• On quality-of-life policing:

  “You walk in and you think, where am I living? That every single product in the entire CVS or Walgreens or whatever it is, is under lock and key. And let me say this ... It’s a sign that we have had society collapse. I’m sorry. It just is.”
  — Clay Travis [26:17]

• On federal intervention’s replicability:

  “If Trump is able to lower the rate of violent crime in D.C. I would be very supportive of ... putting them to work in Memphis to lower the crime rate there. And we’re going to use as ... a road map what Trump did in D.C. Why would we not do this everywhere?”
  — Clay Travis [26:48]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:35] – Show begins: Background on Trump’s crackdown in D.C.
• [03:51] – D.C. police stats: Crime drops after federal action
• [07:24] – NYT editorial excerpts: Liberal acknowledgment of policing failures
• [10:18] – DOJ investigation into crime data accuracy
• [11:31] – “BLM murder spike” and national urban crime surge
• [13:37] – Arrests concentrated in high-crime D.C. wards
• [22:30] – (Caroline Levitt, Trump’s press secretary): Update on D.C. arrests and removals
• [24:09] – On illegal immigrants and crime
• [26:06] – Personal anecdotes on urban decline (Nashville, Memphis, NYC)
• [38:44] – Caller Kevin: The cycle of arrest and release in blue city justice systems
• [40:21] – Three-strikes laws and the real stories behind plea deals

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Tone & Style

• The show is marked by a mix of incredulity (“I felt like I was taking crazy pills”), humor, and combative takes on political opponents.
• Hosts are unsparing in blaming Democrats for urban disorder, the BLM movement for increased violence, and the liberal media for a delayed acknowledgment of policy failure.
• Listeners are encouraged to adopt a skeptical, results-oriented perspective on policing and public safety.

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Concluding Thoughts

Clay and Buck argue that D.C.'s early progress under federal intervention could serve as a model for other struggling cities—provided political will replaces progressive inertia. They challenge listeners, politicians, and skeptics alike to confront the legacy of "defund the police" and push for practical, tough-minded solutions to public safety. The hour closes with a call for replicating successes elsewhere and a promise to monitor these rapidly evolving stories.

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Transcript

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay Travis, Buck Sexton show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us as we are rolling through the Tuesday edition of the program and again continuing to follow yesterday's big events with Zelensky and all of the leaders of Europe visiting the White House. But an ongoing story that began last week, if I remember correctly, on Monday, just eight days ago, the president of the United States decided the level of violence in Washington, D.C. is unacceptable for a capital city. And given the fact that much of the decision making for Washington, D.C. is under federal control, Trump has set about a massive rehabilitation of Washington, D.C. and one of the things that he has done that has already, I think, been significant is he said, we're not going to let people just put up tents and sleep in property all over Washington, D.C. and I went up two years ago, I think it was to visit Washington, D.C. a city that I lived in for four years in college and a city that Buck lived in for multiple years as well. So we actually have decent ideas of what Washington, D.C. is like, can be like and should be like. And I was blown away by the number of homeless encampments that had been allowed to occur in parks throughout the city. And I don't mean somebody is sleeping in them. I mean somebody basically is saying, this is my permanent home. And I know, Buck, you saw a lot of these homeless encampments and it kind of rocked. And, and, and was ridiculous to you, too, because I'm not claiming DC Was perfect when either you or I live there, but it was a city where you couldn't just decide, hey, in the middle of this park, I'm going to put up a tent and this is my home now and I'm going to permanently live here. I'm not saying homeless people didn't exist, but you just didn't have these homeless encampments. So one of the first things Trump did is Supreme Court has basically given states and cities the ability to clean homeless encampments up. And in fact, the new mayor of San Francisco, I was reading the other day, has basically said, we're done with this in San Francisco, but. But Trump came through almost immediately and tore down all of these homeless encampments, swept everything up, and said, no longer. We're going to beautify the community. So that was one step. But Here is the D.C. police Union. They shared this yesterday. One week of increased federal attention in D.C. they have brought in National Guard troops from all over the place. They have been arresting people. Listen to these numbers. D.C. crime since the announcement of federal control versus the seven days prior. This is from the D.C. police. Robbery down 46%. Carjackings down 83%. Car theft down 21%. Violent crime down 22%. In the one week that we have seen a surge of police on the streets, overwhelmingly, the numbers have been moving in a very positive direction. Couple of other things here, Buck. Maureen Dowd, who probably is the most famous columnist at the New York Times, I think maybe Thomas Friedman. Maureen Dowd has been there a long time. She lives in Washington, D.C. she shared her sister's story about her sister's car getting stolen and how common it was in Washington, D.C. and she actually said, Democrats have to be careful because Trump can be imperfect, but he's basically a hundred percent right on this. Um, and I thought, to her credit, I mean, that was an interesting column that I read on Sunday. I also saw this in the Sunday New York Times, and I don't know if you saw this, Buck, uh, but it kind of blew my mind. Uh, this is the New York Times lead editorial. This is the newspaper talking about crime. The second lesson involves the importance of law enforcement. During the 2020 protest, many progressives embrace calls to defund the police. And some prominent Democrats, including Kamala Harris, AOC and Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, supported the defund movement. But police funding, nonetheless, the protesters seemed to have an effect. Some officers, disheartened, quit their jobs. And it continues. And it says, and I. I thought I was taking crazy pills. Basically. This was an unacceptable position to have that it was unacceptable for this argument to be out there. They also, they also said, hey, Covid, shutdowns were a disaster. It basically sounded like Clay and Buck four years ago. But it is interesting how the Democrat conversation on this story has changed.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, it's one of these areas where whatever the numbers may be, and there's even a lot of Pushback going on right now from Trump and his team about whether the numbers are honest. When it comes to crime in D.C. people know what they've experienced and people know what they're dealing with. And you've had it reminds me a little of the, remember the required genuflection during COVID from people when they would say, I've come down with COVID You know, some like 35 year old staffer at Politico would tweet out, I've come down with COVID 19 and, and I'm going to be okay, but I just want to say I'm thankful that I am vaccinated and boosted. It's like, oh, you're thankful that you got a vaccine and got sick anyway. And you know, this was the. You tell these things, you remind yourselves of these things now and it feels like it's not real. There was some of this clay with DC Is really safe. I've lived here for five years. I've only been mugged once, only had one car stolen, only had, you know, three incidents where people threatened to like stab me in the street. But other than that, in five years, it's really good.

[Clay Travis]

Listen to this from the New York Times editorial. I felt like I was taking crazy pills on Sunday again. I read it so all of you don't have to, but listen to what they wrote. This is the newspaper. This is not one random guest editorial. This is what the newspaper said. Virtually all sides in the defund the police debate made mistakes. Among the most damaging was the growing belief among Democrat officials that enforcing the law could be counterproductive when it involved low level offenses such as public drug use, shoplifting and homeless encampments. Some Democrats believed enforcement of these laws disproportionately hurt minority groups and did not contribute much to public safety. This argument never made much sense, especially given polls showed strong support for basic law enforcement across racial and income groups. Listen to this buck. And the real world results were miserable. Parts of San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and other cities came to feel lawless, with people defecating and shooting up in public and store owners locking up items to reduce theft or simply closing their shops. The defund movement is considered a failure and many of its old backers have distanced themselves. And it just continues with. It even says with crime starting to fall, there's a risk public officials will become complacent. Democrat leaders in particular should remember the lessons. I mean, I've read all this and I thought this sounds like a radio show. I mean, to specifically be pointing Out San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, where I know a lot of you out there are listening to us right now and rip the Democrats to shreds on defund the police. Now, it wasn't that long ago that even saying all these things, they would say, oh, you're racist, or, oh, you don't have any idea what you're talking about. Now, suddenly, with Trump in office, Democrats, some of them, at least their allies in the New York Times are willing to acknowledge that they blew it and that they created these awful scenarios. And again, what if what Trump is doing actually works in D.C. that's what they're terrified of. That's the real story here.

[Buck Sexton]

I think they're terrified. Additionally, not maybe quite as much, but it's. It would be bad. You see the headline of the Washington Post right now, breaking news, justice department probes whether D.C. police manipulated data to make crime rates appear lower. So you have the Trump go DOJ saying, show me these numbers again. Because a big part of the. You can't do that, Trump. And it's not even worth doing that because crime rates are down so much from the last year.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, really?

[Buck Sexton]

Does anyone really think that crime rates just suddenly drop 30% in D.C. for no apparent reason? That's what we're supposed to believe. There was no special initiative. There was no crackdown. There was no change from the prosecutors. Crime rates, violent and major crimes are down a third from a year ago, and they're still too high, which isn't that interesting. Even if that were true, the crime rate is still too high. But, Clay, what happens if it's clear that the books were cooked here by D.C. you know, additionally to everything else we're talking about? Because I think there's a very real chance that that's what we find out here.

[Clay Travis]

Does the stat that D.C. today is as bad as New York City in 1990 stun you? Because I think for people who live in New York City, that is a crystallizing. Holy crap. Imagine in 1990 if people in New York City had said, oh, everything's perfect, everything's fine. That's basically what they're trying to say about D.C. and right now, its levels. Right now, D.C. crime is at the levels of the worst in New York City before Giuliani even came into office, before they declined the homicide rate by 90%. That is where D.C. is on a per capita basis is where New York city was in 1990.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. And, you know, you look at places that had the BLM murder spike, which is what happened.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

Nice work blm. A lot of murders going up all over the country. That's what that movement, that Democrats and CNN pundits and assorted liberal millionaires were all, oh, it's Kamala Harris, big BLM supporter, big BLM fan. You know, a lot of let's have as many race riots and anti police mayhem as possible in the streets of America during a, during a pandemic, no less. But Clay, Chicago had about 800 homicides that year. 800. Chicago's a quarter the size of New York city. You'd have 3200 murders in Chicago if it were New York City's size per capita. When you start to extrapolate, when you start to expand out what these data sets are telling you, same thing. I think there was a year recently where Philadelphia had something like six or six hundred murders, which was the all time high for its. You know, again, I can't. You guys are very fastidious. What was the thing that I got wrong just a moment ago? Oh, I said the DA from Massachusetts and all the boss, all the Bostonians and all the Massachusetts listeners were like, that's Rhode island, buck. Rhode island, don't put that on us. So apparently that DA was from Rhode island who went crazy at the cops. But back to our numbers here, Clay. You're looking at a crime rate in D.C. today that's so bad that it would mirror the crime rate in New York City when residents said, we're fed up, we can't take this anymore. Takes whatever it takes. And that's what Giuliani stepped into and did, whatever it takes. So the fact that the liberal intelligentsia, for the most part, some of them realize this is a losing issue for them, are saying, DC safe. I've only been mugged five times, had two cars stolen, been punched in the face twice. You know, in the last three years, it hasn't been that bad. They really, it's like they have Stockholm syndrome or something. It's like that the criminal class in D.C. has somehow managed to get the Politico and Washington Post writers of America to think that they deserve to get.

[Clay Travis]

Beat up and robbed and also to just lie. I mean, the other thing here is most of the arrests, I think 48% of them are happening in Ward 7 and 8, I believe it is of D.C. where the violent crime rates are the most significant, which suggests some of the lessons of what they did in New York City to make it far safer, which is focus, where the crime is the worst because the crime is not evenly spread across the entire city or state or everywhere else is actually making a big difference. Look, if you're trying to save money right now, Verizon AT&T and T Mobile are charging it too much. In fact, what you're mostly paying for are thousands of retail stores you never go into, sponsorships you never benefit from, and a massive premium for what you think is superior 5G service. Guess what? PureTalk uses the same 5G network on the same 5G towers. Only difference? They don't overcharge you for their cell phone service. You can get unlimited talk, text, plenty of data, 25 bucks a month. That's less than half the price of the big guys during a time when saving a buck can really matter. And with Pure Talk, you can keep your phone and your same phone number. Here's how you save a bundle up to a thousand dollars a year over the course of a year for a Family this dial £250 and say clay and buck and you'll save an additional 50% off your first month. You can be switched over in about 10 minutes time. Again, that's £250. Say the keywords clay and bit clay and buck to switch to Pure Talk Clay and Buck when you hit £250. Wireless for Americans Buy Americans want to be in the know when you're on the go. The Team 47 podcast Lights from the week, Sundays at noon Eastern in the Clay and Buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Hey there. I'm Mary Kathryn Hamm.

[Carol Markowitz]

And I'm Carol Markowitz. We've been in political media for a long time.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's why we started Normalely a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.

[Carol Markowitz]

We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sassy, you're our kind of people. Catch new episodes of normally every Tuesday.

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And Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay. Travis, Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us. We've got a lot of different comments that have rolled in and yesterday was so serious because we had the the breakdown going on of what exactly the story was going to be surrounding Zelinsky and the European leaders all in office. So let's hit some of these talkbacks from a wide variety of different topics over the past few days. What is the the most recent one you just texted me? Gigi. Let's hear Gigi, Clay and Buck. Fabulous show today. I appreciate it. Everybody now calling the show Fabulous.

[Buck Sexton]

We appreciate the word play. We'll take it.

[Clay Travis]

By the way, some people take us very seriously when we're not intending to be serious. I think this might have been Ali's dad who called in. This is a. A. My Mark in Phoenix is upset that Allie, who, by the way, totally blew it the other day about when the flight was going to land in Alaska. But we don't draw attention to her mistakes. That's just not something we would do. Even though she totally blew it. Here is Mark upset from Phoenix.

[Mark (Caller, Ally's Dad)]

Clay and Buck, you better be nice to producer Ali. Never let. Never make her bow or scrape or do any of this other stuff again. She's doing a great job and you guys are basically lucky to have her. Okay? So just back up. Don't ever do that again. And have a great weekend and take care. Bye.

[Clay Travis]

We would never.

[Buck Sexton]

Wait. Hold on.

[Clay Travis]

Messed up. I appreciate her dad calling in.

[Buck Sexton]

No, I was going to say. Was that Moby? I think it was Moby.

[Clay Travis]

Good, Buck. Off the top. Yeah, that. I don't tell Gerard. Sounded like Moby was calling incredibly good looking husband of Ally. I think that was Moby. Ali. Do you. Your. Your old boyfriend Moby. Did you have to put the bat signal up? The Moby signal, as it were? Where is she? She's. She's hiding.

[Buck Sexton]

She's just leaving us. She's icing us out right now because you were so harsh on her.

[Clay Travis]

I just crawled under my desk. Was that Moby? Did you have him call in because you thought we were being too tough on you?

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Bob's my uncle.

[Clay Travis]

I would not be surprised. We like to have fun on the show. Producer Ali does a phenomenal job. We are very lucky to have her, even though she really screwed up and told us again not to draw attention to it, that the Air Force One had already landed in Alaska. Thankfully, it did land eventually after all he said it did by several hours. But again, we don't draw attention to anybody screw ups on this show. This is. Speaking of screw ups, this is. I am using the word fabulous too much. This is. Let's see. This is B.B. jeffrey. What we got.

[Buck Sexton]

Clay, it's not that you say fabulous, it's how you say fabulous. Fabulous is all right. Fabulous maybe not so much all right.

[Clay Travis]

I had no idea this was such a controversial thing that I've been doing.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton show Caroline Levitt is having a White House press conference right now. And we started off this hour giving you some of the Data on Washington, D.C. crime. And I thought I would let you hear it from Caroline Levitt herself. Here is cut 36.

[Caroline Levitt]

President Trump's efforts to make D.C. safe again are working. There have been a total of 465 arrests since the start of this operation on Thursday, August 7th. Last night, there were a total of 52 arrests, including the arrest of an illegal alien, Ms. 13 gang member with convictions for DWI and drug possession. Thanks to President Trump's leadership in the outstanding work of both federal and local law enforcement, dangerous gang members like the one picked up last night will not be allowed on the streets of our nation's capital. Other arrests last night included assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing, parole violation for robbery, murder, outstanding warrant for attempted murder, assault on federal law enforcement officer, and felony assault. Four more homeless encampments were also removed during yesterday's reporting period.

[Clay Travis]

How can anyone be opposed to any of this? I mean, other than your reflexively Trump is Hitler stupidity, Right? Because Trump, as we said earlier, is trying to win the Nobel Peace Prize by ending as many different wars as possible. How can anyone with a functional and rational brain hear everything that Caroline Levitt just said? 465 arrests. You heard many of them for violent acts and 465 arrests. D.C. i believe has a population of around 700,000. So that's not an insubstantial portion of the overall population. And remember, we've talked about it. How many hard and fast criminals do you think live in D.C. a thousand? Two thousand? Five hundred? It's, it's a small percentage.

[Buck Sexton]

It's a few thousand. And you know, this is where I mean a couple things. One is, is the, the Democrats have underestimated that the attitude about illegals in this country who commit crimes is you're getting in trouble with the law, and you're not even supposed to be here. Like, that is completely unacceptable. Right? Yes, this is. And any other country. Could you imagine if. What do you think would happen, you know, if you were in Japan as. As an illegal. Not even there, as a. As a visitor on a visa or something, and you committed a crime? You think they'd be like, you know what we're gonna do? Let's keep this guy around. Let's. Let's keep him around for a bit. Let's not send him back to his home country that's actually responsible for him and that he is, and that has sovereignty over him legally. So. So that. That's one part of it. And then the other part is that you. You don't actually have to lock up that many people to have a huge effect on crime, because it is serious criminals who are repeat offenders who are the overwhelming problem in these major cities.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

Known gang members who are out, you know, they. On an attempted murder beef. They're out after, you know, five years or something, and now they're back out there, and now they're robbing people again. And they haven't gotten. Remember, people don't get caught for every crime they commit. That's another part of this too.

[Clay Travis]

Tiny percentage, actually.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. Yeah. The notion that someone is, let's say, carjacking a person, and you think that's the first crime that person's committed.

[Big Three Basketball Announcer (Alternate)]

Right.

[Buck Sexton]

You think the carjacker is like, you know what? I was gonna go for a walk in the park today, but instead I'm going to use an illegal handgun, hold it up at someone's head, threaten to murder them and take their vehicle. No. They've been doing all kinds of crimes that aren't even listed in the statistics up to that point, maybe even aren't reported up to that point. So to your point, Clay, if you take couple thousand people in D.C. and a lot of other places, by the way, couple thousand people and lock them up, everybody's a lot safer.

[Clay Travis]

And I also think this ties in with quality of life. You and I, when we were in New York City, I think it was a couple of years ago. I think you had to buy like, toothpaste or something. I had not.

[Buck Sexton]

You were shocked by. That was in my. Not to interrupt you, that was my actual drugstore that I used to go to all the time to get, you know, toothpaste and whatever. That was where I lived.

[Clay Travis]

I could not believe when I walked in there and I was just back up in New York City when I guest hosted, what, Fox and Friends in March. I think I had to go get shaving cream because I had forgotten it. I had to ask somebody to come unlock the shaving cream for me. And why do I mention that? These are major quality of life things that make you feel like you're living under siege. When you can't walk into a grocery store and buy shaving cream or you can't buy a toothpaste without somebody having to unlock it, it's a sign that we have had society collapse. I'm sorry. It just is. And a lot of, you know that feeling where you walk in and you think, where am I living? That every single product in the entire CVS or Walgreens or whatever it is is under lock and key. And let me say this. I live in, obviously, many, most of you guys know Nashville, Tennessee area. Memphis, down the road west from where I am, has one of the highest rates of violent crime anywhere in the world. It's unacceptable. If Trump is able to lower the rate of violent crime in D.C. i would be very supportive of the governor of Tennessee saying, we're marshaling all resources and putting them to work in Memphis to lower the crime rate there. And we're going to use as a, as a, as sort of a roadmap what Trump did in D.C. why would we not do this everywhere?

[Buck Sexton]

You know, this is, there's the question why we would not do it everywhere. But Clay also showing that it can be done establishes a new baseline going forward. Because what you have in a lot of places is essentially a, A, a politics of urban despair. You know, crime happens. You know, this, this attitude is it has, has to be this way. D.C. has been, you know, crappy when it comes to crime for as long as you and I have been alive. Okay, yes, we're getting old now. D.C. has been a mess for going on 50 years or more. And there are other cities, you know, Detroit, other cities that come to mind, too, that have just been these holes of crime. And it doesn't have to be that way. And when people really see that in a way that the media has to cover, it changes the whole conversation going forward. Because then it's not, what do we do? We don't know. It's, do you want this to go away or not? Do you want the problems to be fixed, or do you want the problems to endure? And how are you voting? Who are you putting in power to deal with this? It becomes a choice. Instead of apathy or despair and that's why I think it's so important, in addition to what you're talking about, which is just the tactical replication which will happen in other cities.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. And look, I, I, and the reason why I mention, you know, D.C. as a potential roadmap, as a simple potential example, I live in a red state. We have a red governor, we have red senators, Eight of the nine congressmen are Republicans. But Memphis has blue city leadership and that leadership has failed. New York Times just told you the leadership failed in San Francisco, in Seattle, in Portland. If the New York Times is mentioning that that is true, then there is no real argument to the other side. I mean, they're the left wing bible right now. So why, I mean, I just mean this, honestly. I'm not the governor of Tennessee, you know, but if I were, I would be looking at what's going on in Washington, D.C. and I would be thinking, why can't we solve this mess in Memphis once and for all? In the same way that Trump is going after the mess in D.C. let's.

[Buck Sexton]

Assume that Tennesseans make a very wise move and put our friend Senator Blackburn in the Governor's mansion going forward. Right.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

For example, there's somebody who, as governor, I think would work hand in glove with federal resources from the Trump administration to make Memphis a success story. Memphis should be. Look, I haven't been there, but I actually thought at one point about investing in the city of Memphis some years ago. So I did some research on investing in property there. I didn't end up doing it. And the crime was a big crime, was a big problem because it affects property values around the city. But it should be awesome. It's, you know, it's on the river there. It's got a vibrant downtown, obviously, incredible music scene, great food. Memphis should be a great city. The fact that when the, the first thing, a lot of people, at least outside of Memphis, maybe inside, I don't know, think about when it comes to that city now nationally, is, wow, there's a lot of shootings there.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

Which is just, that's, that's heartbreaking because it should be a great town and it has everything there to be a great town. And, you know, 99% of the people who live there would make it a great town if it was just up to them, but there's 1% that need to be taken off the streets.

[Clay Travis]

I will give you two good examples of what you just said. My son, one of my sons, had a sporting event in Memphis. I think I've said This on the air before, but it was in March. We went and stayed in the hotel because he had an all day sporting event going on in Memphis area. The next day. I forgot my cell phone charger and I was thinking, well, I don't want my phone to die. I'm going to go buy a new cell phone charger at a gas station. I went down to the front desk and you've had this happen. You talked about it in St. Louis. The front desk clerk said, be careful. Said it's 8 o' clock on a Friday night and you're telling me to be careful going to a gas station to buy a charger. No one in America should have that. Now if it's 3am, 4am I still think you should be safe, but I understand it's, it's, you're out super late. 8 o' clock on a random Friday night in Memphis. Be careful. Going to buy a charger. Unacceptable. Now they're part of this. When I grew up in Nashville and most states have examples of this, two big cities, they have kind of a rivalry. You know, Dallas and Houston have a rivalry, Nashville and Memphis have a rivalry. Tampa and Miami have rivalries, and Jacksonville and Orlando like all these different cities right inside the states, there's kind of like a little bit of a rivalry. We had a real rivalry when I was a kid. Nashville or Memphis, which is the better city? I haven't heard that argument in 15 years. Even when I started in media, you could occasionally still have fun locally, you know, kind of gigging people about that rivalry, which is a good natured rivalry. I haven't had that heard that argument made in almost a generation now. Because Nashville made rational mayoral choices mostly now you can question some of the recent ones, but made rational choices and, and just left Memphis in the rear view. And there isn't a comparison between those two cities. In fact, many of you listening in Memphis right now have friends and family that finally got fed up with the crime and said, I can't raise my family here, it's too dangerous. This is a real issue. And it's as if we just say, oh, there's nothing that can be done. My question for everybody is, what if Trump's right? Like he was on the border. Everybody said, oh, the border can't be fixed, it's impossible now. Border is most secure it's ever been in any of our lives. What if Trump makes D.C. crime drop by 50%? Suddenly you have to start having conversations about why can't we solve some of these problems that we claim are unsolvable. I think it's just a will issue, not an ability issue. And so I think this is super, super interesting and, and I am cautiously optimistic that we are going to see a real difference there. Speaking of a real difference. God, I love these guys. Good ranchers. They have incredible meat products. Born bred right here in the good old usa. Whether you want salmon, whether you want beef, whether you want chicken, whether you want bacon, whether you want chicken nuggets, your kids are going to be like my kids. They're going to love it. You're an adult, you're going to be like Buck Sexton. And you're absolutely going to love it too. They just have incredible products and again, no added preservatives. They've got all the health that, that thanks to Ben and his wife Corley have put in place. And you can save 65 right now just by trying it out. You get $40 off the first shipment, another 25 off every shipment after that. 65 bucks off right now when you just use my name Clay that C L A y go to goodranchers.com pick the meats that are right for your family. They come right to your home. They do not have the hormones and antibiotics that you worry about everywhere else. These are local American raised meat products. You're gonna love them and just try them out. Just trust me. Go to goodranchers.com my name Clay. That's goodranchers.com my Name Clay. You're gonna love them as much as I do and you can save 65 bucks in the meantime just to try them out. Goodranchers.com code clay news you can count on and some laughs too. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts this Labor Day.

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[Big Three Basketball Announcer (Alternate)]

The reviews and ratings are in and Ice Cube's Big three is the surprise hit of the summer and to cap off the season, AHA presents the Big Three basketball playoffs this Sunday at 3pm Eastern. The remaining four teams battle it out for the right to make the Big Three Championship in the most physical, fierce and competitive basketball league in the world. The action starts with the Big 3 Monster Energy Celebrity Game where your favorite stars compete in Big 33 on 3 basketball. Then the first of two semifinal games features Dwight Howard and the LA Riot taking on Montrez Harrell and Dr. J's first place Chicago Triplets. The finale will see popular Miami 305 with stars MVP Michael Beasley and Lance will make you Dan Stevenson take on Nancy Lieberman's Dallas Power, who finished the season winning five straight weeks to capture second place. Can Glenn Rice, Greg Monroe and Paul Millsap stop Miami's physical assault? Or will Miami impact Beasley put an end to Dallas's winning ways? Who will make it to the big three championship? This no holds barred action starts Sunday at 3pm Eastern, 12 Pacific only on CBS.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Hey there. I'm Mary Kathryn Ham.

[Carol Markowitz]

And I'm Carol Markowitz. We've been in political media for a long time.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's why we started normally a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.

[Carol Markowitz]

We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

So if you're into common sense, sanity and some occasional sass, you're our kind of people. Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday.

[Carol Markowitz]

And Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm drinking my Crockett coffee here. My Overmountain Club mug, which I highly recommend you go [e-mail] company that you all are building. We appreciate it. Delicious coffee. You will absolutely love it. The mushroom coffee is fantastic if you never tried to go check it out. Crockett coffee.com and 10% of the profits annually goes to Tunnel the Towers Foundation. We have calls here Kevin in New York City. What's going on? Kevin, hi.

[Kevin (Caller)]

Great show, guys. Listen, I'm in tremendous support for Trump and what he's doing in D.C. and we arresting 400, over 400 people is great. But what happens like we have in all these blue states, we have a failed judicial system, no jail, no bail. And what happens when those 400 people get let out three hours later?

[Clay Travis]

Well, I think this is where Judge Jeanine Pirro, being the head attorney in D.C. is going to have more say over what happens there. Right. So I think a lot of the cashless bell, a lot of the lenient treatment that has gone towards people who were arrested. Remember, the one group that got no lenient treatment at all, in fact, they got the book thrown at them when they were lowering felonies to misdemeanors for almost everybody else, they were elevating misdemeanors for felonies was the January 6th defendants. So it's not that they can't be cruel on, and cruel is the wrong word. They can't be difficult. They can't treat criminals like criminals should be treated. It's that they have only focused on doing that to political opponents as opposed to the actual truly violent perpetrators who, as Buck said, you don't just carjack one time. You don't accidentally end up stealing someone's car. You've done 20 other crimes probably before you make your way to carjacking. Most people stairstep their way to more violent and more dangerous offenses.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, this is why I also think there was this whole campaign to get rid of California had a three strikes law. Other places have had it as well. I think that there should be, you know, states that are serious about this stuff. If it's your third time committing a serious felony, it should be. There should be a mandatory, whatever it is, five years, or you got to go away for a while. Okay? You got to get rehabbed, you got to spend some time thinking about your choices, and you got to stop being a problem for your fellow human beings who don't want to live around crime and the threat of serious criminality. So these, these are mistakes. These are mistakes that were all made really in the late 90s, early 2000s, when things got safe. People started saying, let's get rid of things. And it was always, oh, but someone went away for stealing a thing of toothpaste. Okay, well, you know, no one should go. That's not a felony. No one should go away for stealing a tub of toothpaste. Right. This is, this is like when people said, oh, people are getting locked up for weed for 20 years for having a joint. Not really. I mean, maybe Blue Moon.

[Clay Travis]

This is hugely important. I'm glad you brought this out. Most of those guys, they're almost all men, they're playing down to a lesser charge when they get when they are accepting a punishment for a they're not getting charged. That's like the eighth different charge that they have. And as part of a plea agreement, they plead guilty to a lesser charge. Most people who are pleading guilty to low level offenses actually have a second or third level offense that is more significant above that one and that is their plea deal. So a lot of times you're not getting an honest evaluation of a criminal past. When we come back, we're going to be joined by Missouri Senator Eric Schmidt. Then Buck. I am hopping into a car because I am speaking down in Chattanooga, Tennessee to the Young Republicans. Tonight. I'm also going to be visiting our friends at Legacy Box who have an incredible factory down there. So you will finish up shop after we talk with Eric Schmidt.

[Buck Sexton]

Can you get some good video content for our amazing YouTube channel with you and the Young Republicans and maybe also you at the amazing factory of our Legacy Box friends?

[Clay Travis]

That is a good idea. I am not great at taking photo or video of anything that I do. So yes, I will ask the younger, more savvy social people there to hopefully get videos and be able to post it. It should be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to heading down, spending some time with a bunch of y' all in Chattanooga later tonight. But up next, we got Missouri Senator Eric Schmidt.

[Big Three Basketball Announcer]

IHeart presents the Victory Championship next Sunday, August 24th. The remaining two teams fight it out for the Big Three Championship Doctor J Trophy in the most physical, fierce and competitive basketball league in the world. The action starts with the Big Three 8th annual All Star Games featuring All stars Dwight Howard, Montrezarrell MVP Michael Beasley, Lance will make you Dan Stevenson, Jordan Crawford, Greg Monroe, Earl Clark, Nazia Kor and more show you why they are the best 3 on 3 basketball players in the world. Big 3's exciting all star game plus the crowning of a new big three champion. The no holds barred action starts Sunday at 2pm Eastern, 11 Pacific only on CBS.

[Mary Kathryn Hamm]

This is an iHeart podcast.