Loading summary
iHeart Podcast Host
This is an iHeart podcast.
Rodney Williams
Riley Herbst from 2311 Racing here, and you know what grinds my gears? Waiting for coffee.
Travis Holloway
But instead of counting frappes and lattes.
Rodney Williams
I fire up Chumba Casino. No apps, no fuss, just fun social casino games to pass the time. By the time my coffee's ready, I've.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
Already taken a few victory laps.
Rodney Williams
Next time you're stuck waiting, make it entertaining. Play for free@chumbacasino.com let's Chumba Sponsored by Chumba Casino.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
No purchase necessary.
iHeart Podcast Host
VGW Group voidware prohibited by law 21.
Clay Travis
+ terms and conditions apply.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
Know what's underrated? Winning at the checkout line with the Verizon Visa card, you win by getting 4% in rewards on things you buy all the time, including grocery store purchases, gas, and dining out. As a cardholder, you can even use those earned rewards toward your Verizon bill or a new smartwatch. Apply now@verizon.com Verizon Visacard application required. Subject to credit approval. Must be a Verizon mobile account owner or manager or files account owner. See verizon.com VerizonVisa card for terms and restrictions. The Verizon Visa Signature card is issued by Synchrony bank pursuant to a license from Visa U USA Inc.
Rodney Williams
I'm Rodney Williams.
Clay Travis
And I'm Travis Holloway.
Rodney Williams
Welcome to the wealthbreak Podcast, a real conversation about financing. Let's be honest, building wealth doesn't look.
iHeart Podcast Host
The same for everyone.
Travis Holloway
I feel like sometimes being broke is a cycle and that we might have.
Rodney Williams
To revisit that and we're not stopping at success stories.
Buck Sexton
What happens when it doesn't go right? How do you cope with it?
Rodney Williams
Because wealth isn't just about money. It's about creating a life where you thrive and help others do the same. Listen to the Wealth Break podcast on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Christiane Amanpour, and I've been on the front lines and interviewing world leaders for more than 30 years. And I'm Jamie Rubin, a former advisor to both Presidents Clinton and Biden. We were married for 20 years and divorced for seven.
Clay Travis
Now we've joined forces on the X.
Rodney Williams
Files to make sense of how we.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
Ended up with no world order.
Rodney Williams
Listen to Christiane Amanpour presents the X files on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
The following heartwarming yet informative scene is brought to you by Trust and Will Son. Your grandpa and I used to work.
Rodney Williams
On this car together, and when I'm gone. I want you to have it.
Travis Holloway
Wow. Thanks dad.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
Doesn't count.
Clay Travis
What you need is a will. Luckily, trust and Will makes it easy.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
Designed by attorneys but customized by you, you can easily create a state specific, legally valid document that actually counts. Now let's let the engine do the talking.
Clay Travis
Am I right?
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
Start your will@trustandwill.com use opt offer code.
Clay Travis
Count for 20 off and make it count.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
Trust and Will is an online estate planning service.
Clay Travis
For details, see trustandwill.com thank you for listening. This is the Best of with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Rodney Williams
We are very pleased to welcome onto the program Dr. Laura Schlesinger who recently celebrated 50 years on the radio. She is a best selling author. She's also auctioning off some handmade items to support children of fallen patriots. Go to DrLaura.com for more of that. Again, DrLaura.com Dr. Laura, I just say it's an honor to speak to you because I've been hearing your voice ever since I got married because my wife is a longtime Dr. Laura listener and let me tell you, I am very thankful. I am very thankful for it.
Travis Holloway
Well then she's your girlfriend.
Rodney Williams
She's the best. She's fantastic. You know, I come home and we got married and I came home and there's dinner on the table and I say, honey, I want to go to the shooting range with the guy. She says you need guy time. You know all these rules and lessons. And then I found this book, the Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands, which is dog eared and underlined and everything else. I tell you, I'm very, I got married a little later in life. Dr. Laura so I got married around 40, I think it was 41. And my wife is absolutely love my life. She's absolutely fantastic. We're about to have a baby in, in a couple of weeks. So everything is going and I really wanted to have you on in part just to thank you because and I, this comes from my, my wife as well. I think you give so many women such incredibly important and powerful advice for them to have great, meaningful lives as, as wives, as mothers, as so I'm always, whenever Kerry starts saying Dr. Laura says I start nodding my head. Yup, that's, that's great. She sent in my wife's so I, I just got to tell you this, it's the truth. My wife sent in a question for you and Clay's wife Laura has a question too. She says, hi, Dr. Laura, I'm a longtime listener and read the proper Care and feeding of husbands. I also took the online course. Your wisdom has not only made me the wife I am today, but also led me to find an incredible husband who adores me. Fact check.
iHeart Podcast Host
True.
Rodney Williams
In a couple of weeks, we will be welcoming our first child. We're so thrilled to grow our family. But what is your advice for ensuring our solid and healthy marriage stays intact after the first baby comes? Thank you for all you do.
Travis Holloway
You don't stop having your hands all over each other. That means when you're walking around, that means when one of you takes a shower, maybe we could, you know, save on water. We could both be in the shower. It's really the physicality and the silliness everybody thinks. It's got to be marital therapy and heavy duty conversations, which you and I both know guys don't enjoy. So the more physical you are with each other and the more cute you are with each other, that's really all you need.
Rodney Williams
I love it.
Clay Travis
That's really good advice. Now, I don't even know what my wife has sent in, but there is audio. She went and used the app and then she needed more space so she.
Rodney Williams
Can just give context. Clay, how long. How long have you been married? Tell Dr. Laura.
Clay Travis
I have been. Yeah, so I've been married. Oh, man, 21 years will be August. So I've been married over 20 years. Now we have three boys, 17, 14, and 10 year old. And here is what my wife Laura wanted to ask you.
Travis Holloway
Listen, Clay and I are parents of boys, and thus far, I think we have weathered adolescents fairly well. However, some of our friends who have daughters, their experiences, the way they talk about it, sound very different. In fact, some of them say raising daughters through adolescence is a complete nightmare. I had a friend this morning tell me that she feels she's coming home to a bag of snakes every day when she comes home to her adolescent daughters, which is funny, but harsh. So, in general, do you have some great advice for parents going through adolescence with their children? Obviously, the children are going through adolescence. And do you have different advice for parents of girls weathering adolescence versus parents of boys weathering adolescence? Thank you. I thought you were just going to have me on for a few minutes. That's going to take me about half.
iHeart Podcast Host
An hour to get through.
Travis Holloway
Let me try to bring it down. Number one, whether it's a boy or a girl, that it's a tight family that does things together, that is sweet with each other, that the father spends time with the daughter, the father spends time with the son, the mother Spends time. And the family is always together for dinner if they have to go do sports things or what have you. That, you know, that's a very important part of the family. People keep divvying it up. Yeah, there are differences in how you raise girls from boys, and I'd have to come back another time to go through that. But the first and foremost thing, just like I spoke about husbands and wife and the physical and the cuteness, I was with a family and I thought, and I talked about them on my air, that this was the best family I had seen in decades. Anytime anybody got something, may I. Would you send me. Could I have. Yes, please. Thank you. Everybody was so concerned and polite to one another. That is not something that. That families do. You have two career families. You have all kinds of other stuff going on in the house. And it's not a family. It's mother and father and kids. But when it's a family, when people are always saying please and thank you and show concern for each other and discipline in kind ways with understanding and compassion, you'd be surprised how it minimizes how crazy it gets. And also take your kids out of public school.
Rodney Williams
Wow. Dr. Laura, we're definitely going to have to have you back. And I'm really looking forward to all the questions and comments we're going to get from the audience about you coming on and just beginning this arc of, of wisdom. And like I said, as, as a husband and a very happy husband who does completely adore his wife. And I know, you know, it's. It's so important that I think women get a lot of the messaging and men. And men. But that we both get a lot of the messaging that you're putting out there. And I wanted you to address something that's more just sort of general for the country right now. You know, we talk here about politics and national security and education, all these different things, but the importance of family and marriage is central. Should be central. Maybe should be is a better word these days. You know, there's a story just out today, and it says, and the headline is, American Women Are Giving up on Marriage. And one of the lines from it is, American women have never been this resigned to staying single. They are responding to major demographic shifts, including huge and growing gender gaps in economic and education attainment and beliefs about what a family should look like. What is going on and how do we fix it?
Travis Holloway
Not enough fathers in the home raising sons to be men of honor and courage and principle. And that's basically, again, the women, the Women have gone through the feminist thing where men are the evil empire, and all this negativity toward masculinity, it's all toxic. I think it's wonderful. Give me a guy with a cowboy hat and boots and I pay attention because there's a sense that there's a strength there. And women like to feel protected. That's probably the number one thing women don't admit. They want to feel protected. And that's why they like those silly books where there's this ripped guy on the COVID and she's being carried, you know, into safety. Why do they read those things at such large amounts? Because ultimately, as smart and incompetent as we can be, we want to be protected. And men have not been brought up to be that anymore.
Clay Travis
Are you more. You've been doing this for 50 years and buck just laid out Marriage is becoming less common. A lot of men are not present in homes, unfortunately, the overall birth rate in many western civilizations is collapsing. Are you more or less optimistic about the future of the family unit today than when you started? How would you analyze the scope of relationship that you've seen over 50 years?
Travis Holloway
Oh, no, I'm. I was more optimistic then that I am now because there have been so many forces. We have like one or two generations now, I think are lost. These are young people who are not being brought up, that you finish school and you aim to be and do things and you make a family and you raise kids and you have communities. And that was how I was brought up. And it was all this optimism. Now you have throngs of kids who have no idea where they can go and what they can be. And so they get involved in all of these cliques, like non binary. And, you know, I belong now to a group of people who are equally lost and don't have an identity and don't have a direction and don't have a sense of self other than I can belong to this community. It's like what we used to look at with groupies with rock stars. This is what's happening. So I'm worried. Be honest with you. I'm worried. But the one little piece of optimism I have is I'm still here. People are still calling. Somebody wants the help to pull it back together again and make life meaningful and something you can feel comfortable and safe with and productive and loving and receive all of that. So as long as I still get that response, I keep my optimism up.
Clay Travis
Dr. Laura, that's a great line. You just laid out some of the challenges how much do you think it has to do with kids getting phones too young? What advice would you give parents out there? My wife asked a question about adolescents, but what advice would you give to parents about social media and about what they allow their kids to be exposed to, particularly on the Internet?
Travis Holloway
Well, everybody tells me I'm insane to think, you know, you can push up against a tsunami. But it takes just everybody lining up. I tell people that they're irresponsible parents. If they give smartphones to their kids, any minor child, period, get them a flip phone that takes calls, that's it. No texting, no Internet. And instead of spending one's time with screens, how about we actually have families that do stuff together? I mean, when my kid was talk about a screen though, we would watch Law and Order as a whole family and then we would sit here and we would go, I think he did it. No, I think she did it. And so it was all of this thinking through, using pieces of information. And I just read today that our children are really suffering the inability to have fine motor skills because they're not playing with crayons, they're not playing with scissors, they're just sitting there like that. And so we're actually losing physicality. I mean, is that not shocking?
Rodney Williams
It's amazing. I mean, you think about all the influences that are on kids these days and what they're being told and how I think a lot of them are being set up for, for misery. I mean, Dr. Laura, you know, you have, I agree, the metrics these days, the metrics for young women in particular, in terms of happiness, self described happiness is terrifying. In terms of how bad it is, how do we start to turn again? It's, you're going up against a tsunami. But how do we start to turn that around?
Travis Holloway
Well, I just, it popped into my head as you were asking me the question, look at all the very intelligent and very attractive women that are now in positions of power in our government. I am so enthralled with that. And I think that's wonderful for young women to have something to aspire to keep my act clean. No more shacking up, using drugs, this and that and the other thing. I want to be like that lady who's now running the whatever it is. So having role models like that, you know, I have people calling who say, I was in a car seat in the back of my parents car listening to you, and now I have kids and I'm using what I've learned. So anytime you can be a positive influence do it.
Rodney Williams
My wife makes fun of me because I just always sit there in the car when she turns you on. I'm just like, Dr. Laura's right. So I'm just telling you. I was like, we have to have Dr. Laura. I'm like, Dr. Laura's right. And Carrie looks at me, she goes, oh, I know, Clay, go ahead.
Clay Travis
Last question for you. And we appreciate your time and you're certainly a radio legend. You've been so influential for so long. When you. The modern era, like I was reading the other day, the number of successful women that are choosing to go find a sperm donor to have a child with instead of an actual man is staggering to me. What kind of world are we? Okay, I wanted to get your take on this.
Travis Holloway
Makes me angry because kids need a dad and I just say to these women, oh, that's not. Well, I have money and I can take care of. I don't care about that. You had a mommy and a daddy and I'm sure that meant something to you. Now you're going to rob a kid of a dad because it's convenient for you not to commit and give of yourself and be vulnerable to another human being and be invested in each other's lives beautifully. That's a real shame. That's a real shame. That is so selfish.
Rodney Williams
Yeah, I don't like it. Dr. Laura, we gotta have. We gotta have you back. Because you know, for you to solve all problems of relationships and family and child rearing in about 10 minutes is asking a lot. But you did a remarkable job. Guys. There's so many books. I mean, the Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands. I've actually got Carrie's very dog eared and underlined copy in my hand. Great book. And go to drlaura.com because she's doing some great charity work too. Dr. Laura, we'd love to have you back and thanks for being here.
Travis Holloway
I would love it. Thank you guys. And I love listening to you too.
Buck Sexton
This July 4th, celebrate freedom from spills, stains and overpriced furniture with Annabe. The only machine washable sofa inside and out. Where designer quality meets budget friendly pricing. Sofas start at just $699, making it the perfect time to upgrade your space. Annabe's pet friendly stain resistant and interchangeable slip covers are made with high performance fabric that's built for real life. You'll love the cloud like comfort of hypoallergenic, high resilience foam that never needs fluffing and a durable steel frame that stands the test of time with modular pieces you can rearrange anytime. It's a sofa that adapts to your Life. Now through July 4th, get up to 60% off site wide@washablesofas.com Every order comes with a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not in love, send it back for a full refund. No return shipping, no restocking fees. Every penny back. Declare independence from dirty, outdated furniture. Shop now@washablesofas.com Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.
Clay Travis
If you're with Verizon at&t or T Mobile, you're overpaying for wireless. Period. You're paying for thousands of retail stores you never go into. You're paying for unnecessary perks you never use, and you're paying a massive premium for what you think is superior 5G service.
Rodney Williams
Guess what? PureTalk uses the same 5G network on the same 5G towers. The only difference? They don't charge you for any of that extra garbage.
Clay Travis
Instead, PureTalk gives you unlimited talk text, plenty of data for just 25 bucks a month. That's less than half the price of the big guys. During the time when saving a buck can really matter, you could be saving a fortune by switching to PureTalk. They're cutting the fat from the wireless industry.
Rodney Williams
I'm a Pure Talk customer. I made the switch. You can too. You can keep your phone and your number.
Clay Travis
Do this.
Rodney Williams
Go to puretalk.com buck. You'll save an additional 50% off your first month. You can literally be switched over to Pure Talk in less than 10 minutes. That's PureTalk.com buck to switch to Pure Talk Wireless by Americans for Americans.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
Know what's underrated? Winning at the checkout line. With the Verizon Visa card, you win by getting 4% in rewards on things you buy all the time, including grocery store purchases, gas and dining out as a cardholder. You can even use those earned rewards toward your Verizon bill or a new smartwatch. Apply now@verizon.com Verizon Visacard application required. Subject to credit approval. Must be a Verizon Mobile account owner or manager or files account owner. See verizon.com Verizon Visa card for terms and restrictions. The Verizon Visa Signature card is issued by Symphony bank pursuant to a license from Visa USA Inc.
Rodney Williams
In business, they say you can have better, cheaper or faster, but you only get to pick two. What if you could have all three at the same time? That's exactly what cohere, Thomson Reuters and Specialized bikes have since they upgraded to the next generation of the cloud.
Clay Travis
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure OCI is the blazing fast platform for your infrastructure, database, application development and AI needs where you can run any workload in a high availability, consistently high performance environment and spend less than you would with other clouds.
Rodney Williams
How is it faster? OCI's block storage gives you more operations per second cheaper.
Clay Travis
OCI costs up to 50% less for computing, 70% less for storage and 80% less for networking better.
Rodney Williams
In test after test, OCI customers report lower latency and higher bandwidth versus other clouds. This is the cloud built for AI.
Clay Travis
And all your biggest workloads right now with zero commitment. Try OCI for free. Head to oracle.com clay and that's oracle.com.
Rodney Williams
Clay President Trump was right when he said Obamacare Sucks. President Trump also said he didn't want to terminate Obamacare, but he wants to replace it with much better health care.
Clay Travis
Now you can replace your overpriced Obamacare with Ease for Everyone, the only group plan that any adult in the US Is now eligible to join. With a monthly cost as low as $262, you get free unlimited prescriptions with 93% of all drugs covered available at no extra cost, including insulin with huge savings on brand names.
Rodney Williams
There's free unlimited virtual primary care and urgent care with just a $30 copay. You get generous cash back reimbursements for doctor's office visits, emergency room visits and ambulance transportation.
Clay Travis
You can have affordable health care for as low as $262 a month. Today visit ease4everyone.com click clay that's ease for everyone.com forward/clay paid for by Affordable Benefit Choices. You're listening to the best of Clay.
Rodney Williams
Travis and Buck Sexton.
Clay Travis
Welcome back in Clay Travis buck sexton show. Dr. Laura was awesome. A lot of great reaction rolling in from her. She's a 50 year radio legend, much like Rush was a 30 plus year radio legend. Many of you grew up listening to to her as well as to him. And I think we could have talked to her for a long time Buck like that. She could have kept taking questions and I think we would have gotten a lot based on what I'm seeing rolling in from you guys as well.
Rodney Williams
And I think it's so important. I think a lot of people don't get. They don't get a basic framework like we're taught so many things about so much different stuff in our lives. How are you a good husband? How are you a good wife? What builds now? I know some people say, well I didn't get instruction and I've been married 50 years and I'm so happy and okay, fine. But the same way that learning about personal finance is just empowering, I think learning about healthy and productive personal relationships, I mean, you know, getting an understanding of it, not just going through the experiential side of it is really important with family and child rearing. You know, I'm reading books now about how to be a great dad and the expectant father and all this stuff. I think, I think it is a really good thing to know. I know a lot of you have a tremendous amount of knowledge from your lives about this but you know, does your 20 year old. I think the 20 year olds are getting terrible information about dating now. I think the 25 and 35 year olds are getting terrible information about how to find a husband or a wife.
Clay Travis
I also think that this ties in with boys and men in crisis. We have a lot of people who aren't getting raised by men. Somebody said on the show recently, or I think I heard it on our show, but that we basically have tried to turn women into men and men into women. That we've created sort of this amorphous unisex which frequently makes both men and women unhappy. But the data reflects, Buck, that the overall young men suffer by far the most from being in single parent households. Young women tend to not be bad probably because they're often being raised by women and they have a strong female role model. But as good as a mom is, it's very hard to do both sides of the raising and men frankly are not lifting up enough. And I think that's one reason we've seen masculinity in crisis. You're enjoying the best of program with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. We are joined by Anson Freirex, former president at Anheuser Busch, co founder Strive Asset Management, his new book Last Call for Bud Light the Fall and Future of America's Favorite Beer. And Anson, I appreciate you joining us here. I would submit that the failed Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light deal, the fact that they sent her the Bud Light cans, him whatever you want to say right around the March Madness tournament, I believe two years ago Bud Light sales, you can update me on them, I believe are still down 40%. Is this the most destructive ad endorsement product relationship that has ever existed in modern American capitalism? Can you think of a worse one or is this the worst?
iHeart Podcast Host
I mean Clay, I think this is the worst one. I mean maybe you could say that when there was New Coke and New Coke came out in the 1980s, and then that plummeted. Everybody hated New Coke. The good thing about the Koch executives, they actually learned their lesson. They say, hey, we screwed up. We apologize. And they went back to the old formula. And, you know, Coke's doing fine. But that's one of the big problems here, is that this company lost 30% of its sales two years ago. It lost another 10% of its sales last year with Bud Light. It's still declining this year. And one of the reasons is that still no one's taking accountability for this. I mean, the CEO is still there. There's been no apology. And that's why customers really haven't returned here, which is crazy.
Clay Travis
What would you do? Let's pretend that they came to you and they said, okay, Bud Light is your business. You have to in some way make it relevant again for the audience that has abandoned it. Is there anything they could do that would, as you point out, they're continuing to decline down 40%. Is the brand dead no matter what? Or is there a way to bring it back to life?
iHeart Podcast Host
No, I mean, I should think there's a way to bring this back to life. And I get into this in my. In my book Last Call for Bud Light, which you mentioned about. But I think one of the fundamental problems is, is that this company, Anheuser Busch, it's no longer American owned. It was actually purchased by a European company called Indev about 15 years ago. And then lots of mistakes were made over that time period. The InBev company moved the corporate headquarters from kind of St. Louis to New York City, brought in a lot of foreign executives that really didn't understand the US Consumer. They adopted a lot of device policies of ESG and dei. So a lot of those problems happen. I think a lot of those go away. If they actually sell Anheuser Busch here in the U.S. back to U.S. citizens. I mean, sell it to Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. Sell it to a consortium of firms I know Blackstone and Steve Schwarzman's group. Sell it to one of those. I think the first thing they can do, which I think would be good for this. This European business that hasn't been able to really understand the US and it'd be good for the business here. They could focus more here in the US they could bring in American executives. They could bring back, I don't know, a lot of the commercials that we all love, I think even most importantly is that they could tell their customers that we were sorry we screwed up and that was this old regime. We got rid of it, and now we're moving forward with kind of American regime, American values focused on our customer. We're not going to get involved in any political silliness that we got involved with over the last couple of years. I think that's the first step.
Clay Travis
Why do you think so many brands have ad buyers and marketing people who have no idea who actually consumes their product? Isn't that really kind of the essence of how you make a mistake like this? As you mentioned, you moved from St. Louis to New York City. I knew that Bud Light was in real trouble, and I said this, and it's remained the case. You go around the tailgates now, basically no guy who throws a tailgate at a football game is buying Bud Light anymore because their buddies are going to make fun of them in the wake of the destruction of the brand. But isn't this emblematic of larger issues? Whether it's with Target, whether it's with Disney, whether it's with espn, the NBA, There are just a lot of brands out there that have no idea who their actual consumer is. And as a result, they're completely alienating them.
iHeart Podcast Host
Yeah, Clay, I mean, you're 100% right about that. This is not just an Anheuser Busch problem. Anheuser Busch was the one that was holding the pin when this whole ESG di bubble pop two years ago. And they were the first time that you saw that millions of consumers ditched a brand that led to billions of dollars of loss of shareholder value. And this, for the first time, I think, actually was a wake up call to a lot of the broader corporations. I mean, you don't get the big rollback and ESG and DEI that you're seeing right now without the whole Bud Light example where you all sudden, this is the least sustainable thing that a company could do was to pander to a group that wasn't necessarily their customer base. And they got a brand involved in something that wasn't authentically Bud Light. You know, Bud Light used to be about sports and music and bringing folks together. Never got involved in controversial political issues. They lost sight of that because they had marketing people based in New York, and they used marketing based New York firms based in New York City. And then that was like one of the bigger issues that we saw really across corporate America. A lot of these firms that were based in St. Louis or in Arkansas or Texas, all of a sudden they were moving a lot of their headquarters in New York, hiring New York firms, taking in advice from a lot of New York based asset management companies. BL BlackRock's a good example who is foisting an ESG and DEI agenda on them. And so this led to a lot of problems and you saw a lot of companies that lost their way over the last couple of years. I'm actually pleased to say that there's companies like Disney that are at least making the right steps back in the right direction. They fired their CEO Bob Chapek, they brought back Bob Iger. Bob Iger said, we're getting out of politics, we're not doing it anymore. They've rolled back a lot of their DEI policies in recent weeks. Are they perfect? No. But at least they've acknowledged that there was a problem. I hope we're seeing that more across corporate America. I think Anheuser Bush is just a little bit behind the eight ball. On, on getting there, a lot of.
Clay Travis
People said, we're talking to Anson Frerics from Bud Light, former president there. He's got a book out. Last call for Bud Light. Usually people say, oh, this is not going to last. Two years later, basically we're still dealing with the continued fallout for Bud Light. Do you think they've been stunned by how toxic their brand has become? Do you think they ever expected it to go on this long? Is that why they didn't apologize? They just kept hoping, oh, this is going to go away. Oh, this is going to go away. And in the process, their brand just vanished?
iHeart Podcast Host
Yeah, I mean, 100% that's what they thought because there really hadn't been a very successful, I'll call it consumer boycott previous to this. You know, of course people were upset when in the NFL people were kneeling in the NFL. But what are you going to do? There's no other alternative on Sundays in the NFL. Yeah, people were upset at Disney when Disney got involved in parental rights issues in Florida. But you know, if your kids want to go to Disney World, not a lot of alternatives. Bud Light was uniquely susceptible to this massive boycott really for two reasons is one is that they have a commoditized brand where everywhere there's Bud Light. There's also Miller Light and Coors Light at the exact same price. And then secondarily people could actually see the impact of this boycott. Every single week there's sales data from retailers like Walmart and Kroger and 711 that gets reported. So every week you were seeing in real time that Bud Light sales were down 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%. And then with the effect of social Media. You had everybody that was posting photos and videos online of, like, the Bud Light line at a baseball game empty and a coors light line 30 deep. And so that has just had this big impact on the business that they didn't realize how susceptible they were because for 95% of the American population, they can't tell the difference between Bud Light, Miller Light, Coors Light. The only thing that differentiates them is their brand. And Bud Light used to be that fun sports music, backyard barbecue, and kind of like Americana brand that you're talking about. All the guys used to drink at tailgates as the most acceptable brand of the biggest beer brand. And then when they lost that identity and all of a sudden it became this almost like, brand, like Ben and Jerry's. Where are they advocating for certain social issues and more progressive causes by getting involved with Dylan Mulvaney and not even being able to articulate to the customer what the brand stands for moving forward? I mean, you. You remember that right after this happened, their CEO had multiple botched attempts of trying to talk about Bud Light, never apologize. Their loyal customer base. That was called Friday out of Touch. Nor talked their more progressive customer base and said, you know, hey, we're going to be more like Ben and Jerry's. And I don't know, when you walk in the middle of a cultural battlefield, they ended up getting shot at from both sides.
Clay Travis
No. And I think that's a really important part here about the commoditized brand nature. Chick Fil? A got ripped to the high heavens. And even people out there that are super left wing or like, you know, I might not agree with Chick Fil? A on whatever LGBTQ I issue there is, but they got a great chicken sandwich, and so I'm going to keep showing up. I love their waffle fries. I'm not trying to give a free advertisement for Chick Fil A, but I love the brand, and it's hard for me to think of something they could do that would make me change my decision. But to your point, for a lot of people who go into a grocery store or go into a gas station and are going to grab a 12 or a 24 pack of a beer, there isn't a lot of difference between Miller Lite, Bud Light, Coors Light. I know I'm going to get blown up by guys out there. Like, I could tell a tremendous difference. I disagree. Like Guinness, right? You know when you're drinking a Guinness. You know when you're drinking a certain type of beer that has a different flavor and Taste. I think for most people light beer is relatively easily replaceable. Let me ask you this question and I think that's an important part about why the boycott works so well. It was an easy change for people to make Target. Smart guy. I really like him. James Earth Meyer, now the Attorney General in the state of Florida. One of the first things he's done is file a lawsuit against Target. Going after them for burning up a great deal of shareholder value, he says by basically going all in with the Tuck bathing suits. Everything else what you do now I think is important, but in some way is that the effective method to get businesses back to just saying, hey, can you just serve everybody? Democrat, Republican, Independent, you don't need to go after this woke agenda. Is there a lawsuit mechanism in your mind that could be pursued and should be pursued?
iHeart Podcast Host
I mean there, there is a lawsuit mechanism if you, you know, if you go back, really the lawsuits that are coming out right now goes back to really the Civil Rights act of 1964 which essentially says that you cannot discriminate based off of race, sex, gender, national origin, etc. And a lot of retailers, I mean Target was one of these and in the post George Floyd era that they came out with a lot of essentially racist policies against certain people. They said that you we are going to hire a certain quota of people that look this way. Target was allocating shelf space at their stores based off of race, sex, color. That just doesn't make any sense in the society we're living in. I mean we live in a meritocracy. You should be able to put the products on the shelf that sells. That's the right thing for the customer. That's the right thing for your shareholder value as well. I think that's the bigger issue that Target's facing is like why are you pushing forward with a certain really social type agenda as opposed to putting what sells? And I think that the bigger issue with Target was when you walk into a Target store, their most valuable real estate is that first big display area right when you walk in. And when they're putting tuck friendly bathing suits across every single Target across America. Well, that's not what the majority of their customer base wants. And that's not good for shareholders, not good for shareholder value. Yes, I think the lawsuits will make sure that they're abiding by sort of the Civil Rights act and making sure they're not discriminating against people. I think even more importantly, I think that the American consumer has gone to Walmart, has gone to other areas And Target stock price has been in the tank over the last year or two since this controversy. I think what's going to turn around is again, Target recommitting this fundamental principles of serving their customers, bringing customers back by giving more of the products of what they want. I think that's the more effective way to get the this thing turned around. And consumers, again, just vote with your wallets. That's the more effective way to get back to serving all customers.
Clay Travis
The book is the Last Call for Bud Light. Anson Freirex, former president Anheuser Busch speaking with us. Last question for you. On a positive side, is every major brand in America now having meetings on a regular basis where they say, whatever we do, let's make sure we're not the next Bud Light? Have does the American consumer sent a huge and important message to corporate America by not buying Bud Light?
iHeart Podcast Host
I think they have. And most importantly, I think most brands right now are having a conversation about just how do you build trust with the consumer and you do it by being authentic. I mean, you mentioned Chick Fil A earlier. Like, I know on Sundays Chick Fil A is going to be closed. That's like, you know, I can trust that it's going to be closed. And I also know that because the family who owns it, I mean, they're like, you know, Seventh Day Adventists. That's their right. They can be closed. They can do what they want to do. They can advocate for policies they want. That's Chick Fil A. Let Chick Fil A be Chick Fil? A. That's what makes it unique, interesting and different. And the same thing with Bud Light. Like, one of the things that was just authentic and true about Bud Light is that it was this funny, bratty, you know, kind of, kind of inside humor type of brand. Let Bud Light be Bud Light. It didn't need to be Ben and Jerry's by getting involved in every single social issue. And I think that's more the conversation that's being had. That's what my book talks a lot about, is about that authenticity, getting back to trust with brands, building that back in corporate America. And I think that we're starting to see the pendulum swing back. I'm optimistic that it will continue to. That'll be good for, I think, American businesses, American shareholder capitalism. I think it'll be better for democracy as well, for keeping businesses out of. Out of politics.
Clay Travis
Check it out. Last call for Bud Light. Anson Freirex. Appreciate the time. Have a good weekend.
iHeart Podcast Host
Thanks, Clay. Have a good one.
Buck Sexton
This July 4th celebrate freedom from spills, stains and overpriced furniture with Annabe, the only machine washable sofa inside and out where designer quality meets budget friendly pricing. Sofas start at just $699, making it the perfect time to upgrade your space. Annabe's pet friendly, Stain resistant and interchangeable slipcovers are made with high performance fabric that's built for real life. You'll love the cloud like comfort of hypoallergenic high resilience foam that never needs fluffing and a durable steel frame that stands the test of time with modular pieces you can rearrange anytime. It's a sofa that adapts to your Life. Now through July 4th, get up to 60% off site wide@washablesofas.com Every order comes with a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not in love, send it back for a full refund. No return shipping, no restocking fees, every penny back. Declare independence from dirty, outdated furniture. Shop now@washablesofas.com Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.
Clay Travis
If you're with Verizon at&t or T Mobile, you're overpaying for wireless. Period. You're paying for thousands of retail stores you never go into, you're paying unnecessary perks you never use, and you're paying a massive premium for what you think is superior 5G service.
Rodney Williams
Guess what? PureTalk uses the same 5G network on the same 5G towers. The only difference? They don't charge you for any of that extra garbage.
Clay Travis
Instead, PureTalk gives you unlimited talk text, plenty of data for just 25 bucks a month. That's less than half the price of the big guys. During the time when saving a buck can really matter, you could be saving a fortune by switching to Pure Talk. They're cutting the fat from the wireless industry.
Rodney Williams
I'm a Pure Talk customer. I made the switch. You can too. You can keep your phone and your number.
Clay Travis
Do this.
Rodney Williams
Go to puretalk.com buck. You'll save an additional 50% off your first month. You can literally be switched over to PureTalk in less than 10 minutes. That's PureTalk.com buck to switch to Pure Talk Wireless, buy Americans for Americans Know what's underrated?
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
Winning at the checkout line with the Verizon Visa card, you win by getting 4% in rewards on things you buy all the time, including grocery store purchases, gas, and dining out as a cardholder. You can even use those earned rewards toward your Verizon bill or a new smartwatch. Apply now@verizon.com Verizon Visacard application required. Subject to credit approval. Must be a Verizon Mobile account owner or manager or files account owner. See verizon.com Verizon Visa card for terms and restrictions. The Verizon Visa Signature card is issued by Symphony bank pursuant to a license.
Rodney Williams
From Visa USA Inc. President Trump was Right when he said Obamacare Sucks President Trump also said he didn't want to terminate Obamacare, but he wants to replace it with much better health care.
Clay Travis
Now you can replace your overpriced Obamacare with Ease for Everyone, the only group plan that any adult in the US Is now eligible to join. With a monthly cost as low as $262, you get free unlimited prescriptions with 93% of all drugs covered available at no extra cost, including insulin, with huge savings on brand names.
Rodney Williams
There's free unlimited virtual primary care and urgent care. With just a $30 copay, you get generous cash back reimbursements for doctor's office visits, emergency room visits and ambulance transportation.
Clay Travis
You can have affordable health care for as low as $262 a month. Today. Visit ease for everyone.com clay that's ease for everyone.com clay paid for by Affordable Benefit Choices Grand Canyon University, a private Christian university in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona, believes we're endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. GCU believes in equal opportunity and the American Dream starts with purpose. GCU equips you to serve others in ways that promote human flourishing and create a ripple effect of transformation for generations to come. By honoring your career, calling you impact your family, your friends and your community, you can change the world for good by putting others before yourself to glorify God. Whether your pursuit involves a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree, GCU's online, on campus and hybrid learning environments are designed to help you achieve your unique academic, personal and professional goals. With over 340 academic programs as of September 2024, GCU meets you where you are and provides a path to help you fulfill your dreams. The pursuit to serve others is yours. Let it flourish. Find your purpose at Grand Canyon University Private Christian Affordable Visit gcu Edu. You're listening to the Best of Clay.
Rodney Williams
Travis and Buck Sexton Ben in Colorado. What's going on Ben?
iHeart Podcast Host
Hey, hey Buck. Yeah, I think the imports of all the Somalians into into Minnesota has caused it. Also, like you said, the the city centers. You know, I used to live up in Minnesota in The boundary waters. And it's a pretty, pretty sweet little place too. So, you know, it's just those city centers.
Rodney Williams
Yeah, no, I hear you. Thanks, Ben. I remember I used to go, I've mentioned before the show used to go with my dad and my brothers on camping trips in the boundary. And it feels like another world now, but we would. You could. I, I don't recommend you do this, certainly not now. But we would drink the water out of the lake, which now any camping trip that I know of in the lower 48, like, people don't really do that the same way. Yeah, it was, it was amazing. You'd see eagles and wolves and all kinds of stuff. So. Yeah, I know. It's very beautiful territory. It's just a shame that the politics of it have gone so far left and it's going to continue in that direction. Unfortunately, I don't see it getting better. I, I, you know, I don't know, do I have time to get into the. Yeah, I got a little time to get into this. So I'm not like a dating coach or, you know, a life life coach or any of that kind of stuff, but I have been around the block a little bit and I know some stuff about some things. And there's this show Love is Blind where the contestant Sarah Carton left the would be groom Ben over the. Over the issue of politics, left him at the altar. And this went viral over the weekend. And it's because this is. Let's play. Cut to. She says she left him because of his opinions on BLM and the vaccine and trans stuff. Play two.
Travis Holloway
Like, I asked him about like Black.
Clay Travis
Lives Matter and I'm no expert, but like when I asked him about it.
Travis Holloway
He was like, I guess I never really thought too much about it. That affected me, especially in our own city.
Clay Travis
Like, how could it not, how did.
Travis Holloway
It not make you think about something?
Clay Travis
I asked him too, like what his.
iHeart Podcast Host
Church'S views are and he said he didn't know.
Clay Travis
And so then I watched a sermon.
Travis Holloway
Online from his church about, yeah, sexual identity.
iHeart Podcast Host
Okay.
Travis Holloway
And it was traditional.
iHeart Podcast Host
I told that to, to Ben.
Travis Holloway
Doesn'T really have much to say about it.
Clay Travis
You know, I want them to think about that stuff. Equality, religion, the vaccine.
Rodney Williams
The vaccine, trans identity issues, blm. This guy is the luckiest guy. He, he thinks he got left at the altar. He was walking across the train tracks looking the wrong way and a train went by him at 100 miles an hour and just, just clip the end of his nose. He's lucky. He is the luckiest guy you will see. This woman was going to make him suffer for as long as this marriage was going to last. So yeah, guys, do not ignore the red flags out there if you're a single guy. If you're out there still trying to get married, she says, you don't have good policies on trans identity. Run Introducing Family Freedom from T Mobile.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
We'Ll pay off four phones up to $3200 and give you four free phones.
Rodney Williams
All on America's largest, largest 5G network. Visit t mobile.com familyfreedom up to $800.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
Per line via virtual prepaid card typically takes 15 days.
Rodney Williams
Free phone via 24 monthly bill credits with finance agreement example Apple iPhone 16128 gigs $829.99 Eligible trade in example iPhone 11 Pro for well qualified credits end.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
And balance due if you pay off early or cancel contact us Know what's underrated? Winning at the checkout line with the Verizon Visa card, you win by getting 4% in rewards on things you buy, all the grocery store purchases, gas and dining out as a cardholder. You can even use those earned rewards toward your Verizon bill or a new smartwatch. Apply now@verizon.com Verizon Visacard application required. Subject to credit approval. Must be a Verizon Mobile account owner or manager or files account owner. See verizon.com Verizon Visa card for terms and restrictions. The Verizon Visa Signature card is issued by Symphony bank pursuant to a license from Visa USA Inc.
Rodney Williams
I'm Rodney Williams.
Clay Travis
And I'm Travis Holloway.
Rodney Williams
Welcome to the wealthbreak Podcast, a real conversation about finance. Let's be honest, building wealth doesn't look.
iHeart Podcast Host
The same for everyone.
Travis Holloway
I feel like sometimes being broke is a cycle and that we might have.
Rodney Williams
To revisit that and we're not stopping at success stories.
Buck Sexton
What happens when it doesn't go right? How do you cope with it?
Rodney Williams
Because wealth isn't just about money. It's about creating a life where you thrive and help others do the same. Listen to the Wealth Break podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Clay Travis
Oral health goes beyond just aesthetics. It's deeply connected to your general health and well being. That's why preventing oral health problems before they start is so important. When you use the Colgate Total Active Prevention System, you're not just helping to prevent oral health problems like cavities and gingivitis, you're laying the groundwork for overall wellness. Colgate Total's three product routine includes a reformulated toothpaste, an innovative toothbrush, and a refreshing antibacterial mouthwash that all support a healthy mouth. In fact, the three products were designed to work together to be 15 times more effective at reducing bacteria buildup in six weeks starting from week one compared to a non antibacterial fluoride toothpaste and flat trimmed toothbrush. Take control of your oral health and get the Colgate Total Active Prevention System today so you can be dentist ready. Visit shop.colgate.com total.
Rodney Williams
I'm Christiana Manpour and I've been on the front lines and interviewing world leaders for more than 30 years. And I'm Jamie Rubin, a former advisor to both Presidents Clinton and Biden. We were married for 20 years and divorced for seven.
Clay Travis
Now we've joined forces on the X.
Rodney Williams
Files to make sense of how we.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger
Ended up with no world order.
Rodney Williams
Listen to Christiane Amanpour presents the X files on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.
Summary of "Hour 2 - The Best of Clay and Buck Sexton"
Podcast Information:
Timestamp: [02:44 - 05:38]
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton introduce the highly esteemed guest, Dr. Laura Schlesinger, a radio legend celebrating her 50th anniversary on air. They express admiration for her work, both professionally and personally, highlighting her influence on their lives and the lives of their spouses. Rodney Williams shares a heartfelt anecdote about how Dr. Laura's advice has positively impacted his marriage, emphasizing the importance of her guidance in fostering strong family relationships.
Notable Quote:
Timestamp: [05:28 - 09:42]
The discussion shifts to the central theme of family and marriage in contemporary society. Rodney Williams underscores that wealth isn't solely about financial accumulation but about building a thriving life and supporting others. Dr. Laura Schlesinger and the hosts delve into the declining rates of marriage among American women, attributing it to significant demographic shifts, including gender gaps in education and economic attainment.
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: [09:42 - 15:55]
The conversation delves deeper into the societal factors contributing to the decline in marriage rates. Travis Holloway highlights the erosion of traditional masculinity and the lack of paternal presence in homes, asserting that women still desire protection and traditional male roles. The discussion touches on the impact of feminist movements and the toxic framing of masculinity, which have led to a crisis in male identity and roles within the family structure.
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: [12:31 - 14:26]
Rodney and Travis discuss the adverse effects of early smartphone exposure and excessive screen time on children. Dr. Laura Schlesinger advises parents to limit smartphone use, recommending simpler alternatives like flip phones to foster better interpersonal interactions and physical skills. The conversation emphasizes the loss of fine motor skills and the importance of family activities that do not involve screens.
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: [04:59 - 07:02]
The hosts seek Dr. Laura's advice on sustaining a healthy marriage after having children. Dr. Laura emphasizes the importance of continued physical affection and maintaining a playful dynamic between spouses. She advocates for "marital therapy" and open communication, recognizing that these practices can help navigate the complexities that come with raising children.
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: [05:59 - 14:26]
Travis and Rodney bring up the unique challenges of raising adolescents, particularly daughters, who often report more difficulties than sons. Dr. Laura offers strategies for parents to maintain a cohesive and supportive family environment, suggesting that politeness, mutual respect, and consistent family activities can mitigate the stresses associated with teenage years. She also touches on the importance of disciplining with understanding and compassion.
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: [10:41 - 12:31]
Discussing broader societal trends, Dr. Laura expresses concern over the current generation of youth lacking direction and a sense of self. She laments the shift away from traditional community and familial values, noting that young people today are more inclined to seek identity through transient communities rather than stable relationships and long-term goals.
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: [22:05 - 37:22]
In a transition from relationship-focused discussions, the podcast features Anson Freirex, former president at Anheuser Busch, discussing the failed endorsement deal between Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney. Anson provides insights into the significant decline in Bud Light sales post-endorsement, attributing the downturn to a lack of accountability and failure to apologize for controversial marketing decisions.
Key Points:
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: [27:10 - 36:11]
The discussion broadens to address the larger implications of the Bud Light incident for corporate America. The hosts and Anson highlight the dangers of brands alienating their core consumer base by adopting agendas that do not align with their customers' values. They cite examples like Disney and Chick-fil-A to illustrate how authenticity and understanding customer expectations are crucial for maintaining brand loyalty.
Key Points:
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: [36:11 - 37:22]
The podcast wraps up the interview with a reflection on the importance of authenticity in branding and the necessity for companies to rebuild trust with their consumers. The hosts express optimism that lessons learned from the Bud Light crisis will lead to more responsible and consumer-focused corporate strategies in the future.
Notable Quotes:
Overall Insights:
Recommendations for Listeners:
This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and conclusions from "Hour 2 - The Best of Clay and Buck Sexton," providing a valuable overview for those who have not listened to the episode.