Hour 2 - The Future of Media

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 2 – The Future of Media
Date: January 28, 2026
Hosts: Clay Travis, Buck Sexton
Guest: Mark Halperin

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Overview

This episode of "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show" dives into several hot-button issues shaping American media, culture, and politics in 2026. Clay and Buck discuss misinformation, the responsibilities of public figures like NBA coach Steve Kerr, the evolving future of media and trusted brands, and current political challenges, notably in immigration enforcement under Trump’s second term. The episode features lively banter, sharp criticism, and a guest appearance from political journalist Mark Halperin, offering insight on Trump’s presidency and the media ecosystem.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Media, Misinformation, and Steve Kerr

• Steve Kerr’s Comments:

  • Clay raises concerns over Golden State Warriors’ coach Steve Kerr spreading what they term as misinformation during an NBA-mandated press conference, specifically on claims about ICE arresting "five-year-old kindergartners and US citizens" instead of violent criminals.
  • This sparks a broader conversation about the responsibility of high-profile figures and the platforms provided to them by major organizations.

• Cultural Impact:

  • Clay stresses how statements by people like Kerr influence “normal people,” many of whom might not follow detailed policy but trust public figures.

    "When I see the Steve Kerr lying, when I know that's going to reach so many normal guys, right? So many normal guys and gals sitting around, they're not paying attention...That's just not true." — Clay Travis [14:42]

  • Buck argues that such comments are symptomatic of celebrities being “out of touch,” and laments how the NBA and its teams handle these situations.

• Should Sports Leagues Have a Role?

  • Clay questions whether organizations like the NBA should require accuracy or take action when team representatives use official platforms to spread demonstrably incorrect statements—in the same way they would for false basketball-related comments.

    "Why should he be allowed to lie at a mandated contractual obligation about ICE not arresting violent criminals?" — Clay Travis [10:07]

• Notable Quotes:

  • "I think Steve Kerr is a moron." — Buck Sexton [09:12]
  • "They're preying on empathy…But…it's going to make people uncomfortable at times…illegal immigrants…shouldn't be here." — Clay Travis [14:42]

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2. Immigration, Enforcement & Political Tensions

• Current Policy Discussion:

  • The hosts criticize what they see as the failings of previous immigration compromises and express frustration at the idea of “empathy politics” used by progressives to justify less enforcement.
  • Buck asserts that the real focus of enforcement under ICE is "public safety threats," contradicting the broader narrative that ICE regularly targets the innocent or minors.

    "These are the murderers and rapists and gang members... at the top of the list of illegal aliens we want out of the country." — Buck Sexton [15:37]

• Libertarians and Immigration:

  • Buck offers a critical take on libertarians’ approaches to immigration ("an absolute disaster"), referencing politicians like Rand Paul.

    "Whenever you hear libertarian and then you start hearing immigration, bad things are going to come out of their mouths...The libertarians on immigration and weed are an absolute disaster." — Buck Sexton [13:22]

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3. Parenting, Sleep Training, and Listener Call-ins

• Personal Experiences:
  • After a brief tangent, Buck seeks input on sleep training babies, leading to a humorous but relatable segment on parenting philosophies.
  • Clay emphasizes every child is unique, and the listeners weigh in ("Train that baby, Buck!" — Katie, Caller [44:16]).

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4. Politics 2026: Trump’s Second Term & Cabinet Drama

• Mark Halperin’s Assessment:

  • Halperin discusses the strengths and challenges of Trump’s “2.0” presidency, mentioning early cabinet appointments, administration energy, and legislative roadblocks.

    "The four years off was extraordinary blessing for the president to get stuff done…This is a refreshed, energetic group." — Mark Halperin [25:32]

  • Ongoing cabinet drama, particularly surrounding Kristi Noem, is dissected, with predictions of her being sidelined but not dismissed.

    "My inclination is to say that she's going to be less visible...She likes her job and it's a big job and there's plenty to do besides be the spokesperson." — Mark Halperin [27:58]

• Protest Management:

  • Halperin suggests more robust crowd control at immigration enforcement incidents to avoid dangerous confrontations.

    “They just need to do that. I think that'll go a long way towards not only keeping bad things from Happening both to agents and civilians. But also great. Less of a copycat.” — Mark Halperin [31:53]

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5. The Future of Media: Personality vs. Corporate Brands

• Media Investment Advice:
  • Halperin sees the future in strong individual brands—not corporations—citing personalities like Clay and Buck, Megyn Kelly, and the development of appointment-based, community-connected media.

    "Trusted brands are individual brands...People listening to your show...care about you two." — Mark Halperin [36:44]

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6. Comic Relief & Generational Gaps

• Madden and Summerall Moment:
  • In a lighter exchange, Buck admits ignorance about legendary sports broadcasters Pat Summerall and John Madden, drawing mock horror from both Clay and Halperin and sparking a back-and-forth on cultural touchstones.

    "I have no idea." — Buck Sexton [33:26] "How do you host a show with someone who's culturally literate for our age?" — Mark Halperin [33:38]

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• On Misinformation by Public Figures:

  • "Why should he be allowed to lie at a mandated contractual obligation about ICE not arresting violent criminals?" — Clay Travis [10:07]
  • "We're at each other's throats right now. And, you know, you can't just say, I'm right, the other person's wrong...it's hard to decipher what's real." — Steve Kerr [07:44]
  • "They're taking five year old kindergartners and US citizens and detaining people." — Steve Kerr [11:52]

• On Immigration Enforcement:

  • "The laws that they're enforcing are laws passed by Congress. I mean, I don't know how much dumber you can get than this guy." — Buck Sexton [12:36]
  • "You gotta go, you gotta go. That's…" — Buck Sexton [14:42]

• On Parenting:

  • "My answer on this is every kid is different...you can treat them the exact same...entirely based on the kids' dispositions." — Clay Travis [23:03]
  • "Train that baby, Buck!" — Katie, Caller [44:16]

• Politics and Media:

  • "...if you guys take the show public. Number two would be my company. Two way. Number three would be Megyn Kelly's company. I think it's about trusted brands." — Mark Halperin [36:44]
  • "In the olden days, trusted brands were corporate brands. Now trusted brands are individual brands." — Mark Halperin [36:54]

• Cultural Humor:

  • "[On not knowing Summerall]...you could have offered me a million dollars on the spot to tell you who Summerall was. I would have gone home wanting." — Buck Sexton [35:42]
  • "[On Madden and Summerall] It's like saying...I don't know who Thomas Jefferson is because I'm young and I wasn't alive." — Mark Halperin [34:35]

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Important Timestamps

• [04:44] Clay transitions into the Steve Kerr/NBA media influence topic.
• [06:42] Steve Kerr’s first clip on "misinformation" and division.
• [11:52] Steve Kerr’s controversial "ICE arresting five year olds" clip.
• [13:22] Buck critiques libertarian views on immigration.
• [25:32] Mark Halperin’s assessment of Trump’s presidency.
• [27:58] Cabinet drama and Kristi Noem’s status.
• [33:19-36:06] Madden & Summerall generational joke.
• [36:44] Halperin on the future of media and trusted brands.
• [44:16] Humorous caller segment on sleep training.

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Tone and Style

Consistent with past episodes, the tone here is brisk, opinionated, occasionally humorous, and never shies from blunt criticism or banter. Clay Travis steers much of the show with clarifying questions and sharp commentary, while Buck Sexton offers contrarian, often caustic, rejoinders and social critiques. Mark Halperin brings a more measured, analytical presence, adding depth to the political discussions. Throughout, the language is accessible and direct, and the hosts maintain their trademark back-and-forth style.

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Summary Takeaways

• Media continues to be shaped more by personalities than by traditional corporate brands, leading to new kinds of influence and challenges.
• The political discourse—on issues like immigration—is often muddied by misinformation from both celebrities and regular news figures, with real policy implications.
• Parenting debates and generational divides offer moments of levity but hint at deeper cultural shifts.
• The Trump administration’s second term is marked by both renewed energy and persistent political obstacles, with intra-cabinet tensions a recurring theme.

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For listeners who missed the show:
This hour offers a rapid-fire, sometimes humorous, but always pointed look at how media and public discourse interact with American politics and culture in 2026, framing familiar controversies in fresh ways and highlighting how quickly the landscape is evolving.

Transcript

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome in our number two Clay Travis Buck Sexton show. We appreciate all of you hanging out with us. Okay, let me put a little, little bit of a bow on this. Elon Omar sprayed with an apple cider vinegar spray. Do not spray anyone with apple cider vinegar or any other object. Buck and I will be very, very disappointed if you are involved in anything of that nature. He said the man who did that has been arrested and the individual who did it, according to President Trump likely was doing it to try and this according to ABC News interview likely doing it to potentially as a false flag, for lack of a better way to describe it. You heard Buck and I discuss that at the end of the hour. I would co sign with him. This man is either crazily insane or. Or he was engaged in a surreptitious act which I would imagine will come out to try to make Ilan Omar look like a victim. Those are the only.

[Buck Sexton]

A false flag operation.

[Clay Travis]

Yes, those are the only two options. I think Buck is right about that. I can't imagine anyone else making the decision to do this. And unless some of you can come up with some explanation, even the apple cider vinegar spray, I don't even see that as having any sort of message in any way. So apple cider vinegar, the Hazmat team has analyzed it. I will say, Buck, she did not seem bothered by the incident very much. She continued on with her speech. Do not disrupt anyone who is speaking for any reason. We believe in the First Amendment here, but the fact that this is already largely fading is a sign that I think most people are recognizing this is either an insane man or there is some sort of action that is actually a. In some way designed to try to create sympathy for her. So that story is out there. I wanted to play this for you, Buck. Steve Kerr is emblematic of people on the left who only consume left wing media. And I'm fired up about this because I do think culturally this has a substantial impact. And you might be saying, okay, Clay, what are you talking about? Steve Kerr is the head coach of the Golden State Warriors. A lot of people out there will know him who are basketball fans because he played on the second Michael Jordan three Pete back in the 90s. He was the shooting guard, white guy, blonde hair. If you remember that era of the Bulls. He's been a basketball coach for a long time. He's been the Golden State warriors coach for a very long time. As well, and he is a strident left wing political figure who is often wrong and outspoken on many of his positions. But I just want you to listen to what he said. Now some of you are going to say, okay, why, why does this happen, Clay? The NBA mandates and the NBA teams mandate that coaches appear for press conferences before and after games to answer questions from the news media. So this is a Golden State Warrior NBA sponsored event. This is significant to me because it isn't a situation, Buck, where you're dealing with, you know, a guy on his own social media account saying whatever his political opinions are. This is an NBA sponsored, Golden State Warrior sponsored event. And I want you to listen to how wrong Steve Kerr is. Let's play that cut.

[Steve Kerr]

It should be an appeal to our better angels to look after one another and to recognize what's happening. We are, we're being divided by media for profit, by misinformation. There's so out there that is really difficult for all of us to sort of reconcile. And so you have to, in times like these, you have to lean on values and who you are and who you want to be, either as an individual or as a country. And I think that's the biggest thing.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so that was yesterday, Buck. Steve Kerr decrying misinformation out there and how difficult it can be to figure out what's actually going on. Here is Steve Kerr last night. That was two nights ago. Steve Kerr deciding to opine on misinformation. Here is Steve Kerr saying that all that's happening now is five year olds are being arrested by ICE and American citizens are being arrested by ice. Listen to this.

[Steve Kerr]

We're at each other's throats right now. And you know, you can't just say, I'm right, the other person's wrong. Not within this current climate of non stop news flooding at U.S. news. It's hard to decipher what's real and what's not, what's true and what's not true. People arguing over the exact same video and saying this happened. No, that happened. It is a confusing time to be alive and to be an American.

[Clay Travis]

I think that was a similar cut, what I wanted to play and I don't know if we have it, guys. Do we not have the cut of Steve Kerr saying that ICE is out there arresting five year olds and also arresting American citizens? Okay, we're going to have that cut in a sec. We'll play it for you. So that was Steve Kerr to crying misinformation, all these things. But why does this matter, it's lies, right? And we're going to play the cut for you of Kerr saying all ICE is doing is arresting five year olds and American citizens. And this does influence the culture in a substantial way. And I think unfortunately, it's one reason why there is opposition to ICE from so called normal people out there who may not be consuming news and for some reason trust Steve Kerr to be honest with them.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, I think Steve Kerr is a moron. So I don't know. I mean, to me it's like.

[Mark Halperin]

Why.

[Buck Sexton]

Would I care what this guy says? I agree with you that he's got a platform. And so anyone with a platform is going to have some people that to me, the more troubling part is that somebody with his money access and you would think connectivity to what's going on in the world around him could just be so delusional. And let me, let me ask you.

[Clay Travis]

This because you're, you're not a sports guy. I would just get, I'd be curious on your take here. To what extent do you think the NBA and the Golden State warriors should be responsible when they have. And I'm curious what other people out there think 800-282-2882 when they have mandated contractual press availabilities, right? Like they have to go talk to the media. This is a part of their job. The NBA is requiring it. And when they're going out there and saying things that are objectively false, to what extent should the NBA or the Golden State warriors be responsible for this? When it has nothing whatsoever to do with basketball, right? If Steve Kerr came out. Let me give you an example, Buck. If Steve Kerr came out in his post game press conference and he said Steph Curry tore his ACL and he's out for the rest of the season and that were not true, or Steve Kerr said that a player was 100% healthy and it turned out that it was not true, the NBA and the team would take action against him. He's not allowed to lie in a press conference about basketball related issues. Why should he be allowed to lie at a mandated contractual obligation about ICE not arresting violent criminals? You're going to hear this audio in a sec. He's 100% wrong on this. To what extent is, I mean, I think it's actually kind of a fascinating question.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, it's like the dude in the Big Lebowski when he says that's just like your opinion, man, they're gonna fall back on that.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, you're saying there Is a difference to me between, yes, if Steve Car came out, even though I think it's bad for the NBA and he said ICE in my opinion is a terror organization and we shouldn't be employed and we should abolish ice. Right. I would disagree with him, but that would be an entirely an opinion.

[Buck Sexton]

When you say it sound like he was running for Senate as a Democrat.

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[Clay Travis]

Yeah. But when you say here, play that here, I want you to hear it. Here's cut 33 that I thought we had earlier. This is Steve Kerr saying we're arresting five year olds and American citizens and not actually arresting violent criminals.

[Steve Kerr]

The protests here and nationwide will lead to much better solution for immigration. You know, where it's not like they're rooting out violent criminals, you know, they're taking five year old kindergartners and US citizens and detaining people. Immigration is a, is a problem that needs to be addressed, but it needs to be addressed by Congress, you know, legislatively, not by, you know, military force in the streets, you know, pulling people from their homes.

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[Buck Sexton]

It has been, has been addressed by Congress. The laws that they're enforcing are laws passed by Congress. I mean this is, I don't know how much dumber you can get than this guy. And this is the other side of this as well. You'll see over and over again people that say they also, I know immigration is a problem. Well, what solution do you offer for this? Yes, what, what, what is, what is the solution to people in the country illegally that doesn't involve making them not in the country illegally? There's only two things. They either stay or they go. It's actually a binary and you can call the staying a whole bunch of things. They're waiting for asylum. They're, they're getting, they're getting a pathway to citizenship. All we've been through this, the country's actually been through this and what we realize, and this is why, by the way, I'm going to say this and we get them all on Rand Paul. I saw some clip of Rand Paul. I think it's recent. I don't even care. Rand Paul on some things I think is great. On other things, unfortunately, whenever you hear libertarian and then you start hearing immigration, bad things are going to come out of their mouths. It's just the way it is. I'm sorry folks. The libertarians on immigration and weed are an absolute disaster. Ok? And they weren't good enough on Covid. Rand was good on Covid, but a lot of them were very bad On Covid, here's, here's the thing they say, well, I think we need to be able to let them stay and work, but not citizenship and not welfare. That's the current law. They're not supposed to get welfare and they do. And they're not supposed to be able to stay forever. And they do. And they have kids here and then they can never be deported and then the kids are citizens and then everyone else wants to come from the rest of the world. We all the things, Clay, that the people say they want instead of what we're doing have been tried and failed. All the different promises that have been made that they say will make the deals that will be struck. We've been completely double crossed and screwed over. So this is where half of the American people, more than half the American people are on this issue. According to last election we tried your way. It's a disaster. The country's falling apart when it comes to our sovereignty. Can't keep doing this. You gotta go, you gotta go. That's.

[Clay Travis]

Is all of this, I think is you get to a point where they're preying on empathy. And if you want violent criminals and if you want just plain old illegal immigrants out of the country, it's going to make people uncomfortable at times because it means that a lot of people who are here and might be trying to build a life here, they're illegally here, they shouldn't be here. And. But when I see the Steve Kerr lying, when I know that's going to reach so many normal guys, right? So many normal guys and gals sitting around, they're not paying attention and they're like, oh wait, we're not arresting violent criminals. We're detaining five year olds and we're actually arresting American citizens. Like, that's just not true. And I do think the Golden State warriors and the NBA should have a responsibility here.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, I think, I think the coaches and most of the people in the NBA speak out on politics are total morons. So they're not going to change their tune. And I wish they would, but this is why I don't listen to them for politics and I don't watch basketball. I would say this Clay on where this is, it's important that everybody remember this level of enforcement is actually the easiest to deport. Meaning they're going after public safety threats. They're going. And Tom Homan will do a better job of explaining this. Look, the Kristi Noem decision, I didn't, I never liked this, but I was willing to Play it out and give the former governor of South Dakota a chance. She has royally screwed this thing up. That is the reality. Trump won't fire her because he likes her, because she's loyal, because he likes Corey Lewandowski, and because he doesn't want to concede to the other side. But she has screwed this thing up. That is the reality that we are facing right now. Some of us knew this was going to happen, but nobody wanted to hear it then. So now we need everyone to be told by people like Holman who have gravitas and understand this system. These are the prioritized public safety threats we're trying to deport. These are the murderers and rapists and gang members and others who are at the top of the list of illegal aliens we want out of the country. And Clay, Democrats are acting like maniacs running sabotage operations over that. I mean, what do you think it's going to be like if we're actually going after, like, you know, kindly abuelos who have been here for 15 years but are here illegally? Like, that's going to be. This shouldn't be tough at all. But Democrats want everyone to stay. That's what you have to understand. They just want to live in the fantasy land of we can have open borders and still have a country.

[Clay Travis]

They want to have open borders because it benefits them politically in the House of Representatives and they desperately need it for the 2030 census.

[Buck Sexton]

That's like the Democrats that are actually running.

[Clay Travis]

You're right about that.

[Buck Sexton]

But I'm saying for Clay, for the. For the, you know, the Malibu chardonnay, you know, wine moms or whatever who are crying over this, they're just like, but I love my gardener. And like, I want everyone to stay. They don't think this thing through beyond. It makes them feel good.

[Clay Travis]

That's right. There's a lot of truth to that, too.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Mark Halperin]

Talk to your healthcare professional today.

[Clay Travis]

Call 1-833-OZEMPIC or visit ozempic.com to view the medication guide and to learn more about ozempic. Semaglutide injections 0.5mg, 1mg and 2mg.

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back into Clay and Buck. Wondering out there if we have any, any experts in, in like child rearing, not just parents, although I guess that makes you an expert in child rearing. But you know, actual like you do this for a living kind of a thing. Sleep training babies, yay or nay. I got to tell you Clay, this is a little bit like Googling. Is whole milk good for you as an adult? You will get people that say it is absolutely unnecessary, fatty, high in sugar and other people are like it's a superfood. So honey, I'm just, I'm putting it out. We're using the brain trust here online. We have vast knowledge in this esteemed audience. And I'm just wondering, sleep training for somebody who is 9 or 10 months old, yay or nay. Because we stand on the precipice of this decision. There we go.

[Clay Travis]

I my answer on this and everybody's going to be super opinionated. My answer on this is every kid is different. And so for some kids, like a certain type of sleep training works flawlessly. For others it does not. Our oldest was a maniac. Our second and third were cakewalks. And I think that's entirely based on the kids dispositions. You can treat them the exact same. And this is my take and I'm sure The baby sleep community is going to be fired up. Some people are going to agree. Some people are going to disagree. This is one of you stepped into a hornet's nest on this, my friend.

[Buck Sexton]

Because. But I don't have it. I'm asking for help. I don't have an opinion. I want to know.

[Clay Travis]

I'm telling you, you're going to get a billion opinions with everybody convinced that their way, the right way that I think is predicated almost entirely on what worked for their kid as opposed to the fact that every kid's a little bit different. But that's my take. The moms of America can fire, but I hope I don't lose a grandma. Support Prize picks available in all 50 states, including California, Texas, Florida and Georgia. I'm going to give you a pick next week for the Super Bowl. Right now you can get hooked up at prize picks. You can play in all 50 states. You get $50 when you play $5. That is go to prizepix.com, code C L A Y. You can also go and download the Prizepix app. Put in Code Clay and you will get hooked up with $50 when you play $5. That's win or lose. You get 50 bucks in your account. Prize picks. It's good to be right. You will love this. It will make the Super Bowl a little bit more funny. I saw 50 million people watch the NFC and AFC. Over 100 million are going to be watching the super bowl play. Along with us at prizepix.com, code clay, we are joined now by Mark Halperin, who's got a great show two way that he debates a lot of different issues on and we were on Buck and I were with him earlier this week and we'll get into Buck's knowledge of sports or lack thereof in a bit. But Mark, you've covered politics for a long time. You wrote the bestselling book Game Change, which turned into an entire movie and sold, I don't know, probably hundreds of thousands, if not a million copies or more. How would you assess the first year of Trump 2.0? And what do you see as the challenges as we move into Trump 2026, the second year?

[Mark Halperin]

Well, that's like a doctoral dissertation.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Mark Halperin]

But I'll do my best. I think that, you know, there's no denying would like the president or not. He's been very active and I think history is going to record and no one's really captured this. If I had time, I do a book on it the four years off was extraordinary blessing for the president to get stuff done. He was a little busy being indicted, but he had time to put a team together. He named his cabinet much earlier than most presidents do. Think about what he wanted to do, think about the mistakes from the first term and to be rested and to have people around him rested. Most second term presidents have a bunch of people who stay on after the election, but they're exhausted. This is a refreshed, energetic group. We talked yesterday on Next up with you guys about Scott Bessette and the view you guys have shared universally that he's just a rock star, this administration. He didn't serve in the last term. He's not tired after four years as treasury secretary. He's revved up. So I think the energy and the thoughtfulness and the planning, not all words you always associate with a Trump operation are right there as a main driver of how much he's gotten done. I think there's three big challenges in 2026 for them to continue to try to get things done separate from whether he makes the real lives of real people better. The biggest challenges, particularly on the economy, number one is how's he going to pass anything? How's he going to get 60 votes in the Senate for anything because he's so alienated to Democrats. And the way the Senate rules work, that's got to happen too, is China and the trouble of getting leverage over China, it is just a perennial problem for every president, and I don't think they figured that out yet. And then lastly, the midterms, they just loom over everything. As much as they don't want to have to spend every day thinking about that, they do. So those are, I think, sort of the orientation of, as you think about how's the president going to continue to try to get stuff on his to do list done.

[Clay Travis]

When you actually break down everything that is going forward, you laid out the challenges there. Trump basically decided that he didn't want to, you know, fire anybody largely in 2.0, because I think he thought that he overdid it in 1.0. How does that play going forward with Kristi Noem? Do you think he's going to make any moves? How would you assess when the pressure gets ratcheted up? We've kind of seen the media bounce from one to another.

[Mark Halperin]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

In the year so far. What happens going forward?

[Mark Halperin]

I mean, I reported last night that he's not going to she's. That she's going to stay. The first lady likes her. Ira was told the dynamic you said the President's just not inclined to get rid of people. But he publicly also said, you know, she was staying on. Now, he could fire her during this conversation because it's Donald Trump, so anything could happen. But my inclination is to say that she's going to be less visible as far at this hour as we speak. I don't believe she's done any TV since the Homan announcement that he was going to kind of take over, be the face of this and go to Minneapolis. And I think, you know, she's got a big job, she's got all of that dhs, that's more than just Border Patrol and ice. So I think she'll primarily focus elsewhere. I don't think she'll be out front on this stuff. But she has said now, and I reported last night, she was told to say all these things, all these things that members of Congress are pissed about her saying over the weekend. The White House told her to say, not just approved it, but told her to say it and told her afterwards. She did a great job. So I don't think she's interested in being a fall guy or gal for this stuff. And if I were betting, I'd bet she'll be around for a while. She likes her job and it's a big job and there's plenty to do besides be the. Be the spokesperson.

[Buck Sexton]

Mark, I gotta say, I think it's definitely telling that her defense involves. I said the not true things that have caused a huge problem because I was told to say them as if there's not the option for. I'm just not going to say them.

[Mark Halperin]

100% and 100%. If there's a lesson they need to learn, it's that there's just no mileage in going out and trying to win the momentary fight on X about to define what happened. Just say what Homan said. We need an investigation. This is unfortunate. Let's have an investigation. And the suspension of the officers who were involved. Putting them on leave is the right thing to do. It's a standard and that's how they should have handled it. So she needs to learn that lesson for sure. But so does plenty. So did Stephen Miller in the White House. So does the President.

[Buck Sexton]

It was, it was pretty remarkable that they messed this one up in that way. But I gotta say, I'm still very much of the mind that they can't. We haven't even gotten into this really yet on the show. We'll get into the third hour. But Mark, this is an opportunity to Bring up that you've got in New York City, a bunch of these maniacs. 65 anti ICE protesters were arrested. They were occupying the lobby of a Hilton hotel, reportedly housing ICE agents. So, I mean, this madness in Minneapolis I think, is possibly going to spread. If there's a sense that Trump has backed off. How do you think the administration should or will balance the optics of Minneapolis with they're going into a midterm election cycle, and if Trump doesn't continue to deliver on the deportations that in a large part, I think help get him elected, the base is going to be pretty unhappy, 100%.

[Mark Halperin]

And I know the president's political advisors are talking about this. You can't win the election in the midterms if the base is unhappy and the independents are turned off. Your immigration policy. Right. They've got to solve both of those simultaneously. There are many pieces to how to fix it. One is you've seen this. Even if the president has de. Escalated in his word, they're still emphasizing the fundamentals of the immigration policies that are popular that help the president win. I think there's one thing, and Stephen Miller highlighted this yesterday, and I think anybody who's ever covered a protest as a reporter or been to one or more than protest activists who want to interfere, they need some combination of federal force and state and local to create free speech zones and to keep people who want to interfere with their investigations and their act and their operations from interfering. Every time I watch these videos of the two people who died, same thing comes into my head from the very first time. Why are they allowed to get so close? They shouldn't be allowed to get so close. But the men and women who are doing the actual operations of seizing people for purposes of deportation, they can't also do crowd control. That's what's caused this. Right. They're trying to both be operators and crowd controllers. And so they either need to get the governor and the mayor and the county to do these things, whether it's in Minneapolis or anyplace else, or as Stephen Miller says was the policy, some of these colleagues need to be broken off and just say, you're crowd control. You're creating the perimeter. If I go as a journalist to cover something like that, I can't walk right up to the ICE officers who are interdicting some border patrol. Somebody's going to stop me. Somebody's going to set up a perimeter. They just need to do that. I think that'll go a long way towards not only keeping bad things from Happening both to agents and to civilians. But also great. Less of a copycat, right? Because why are there copycats? Because all this stuff's getting on the news and they want to be part of that.

[Clay Travis]

All right, let's play. You asked us famous duos and we had a fun discussion and we don't need to play the full discussion of this. But I just want to play. Guys, we can cut it off. We've got it. Mark Halperin asked Buck a question about which is the better duo. Listen, Madden and Summerall or Salt and Peppa?

[Buck Sexton]

I don't even know who Madden and Summerall are. I've never.

[Clay Travis]

No, be serious.

[Mark Halperin]

No, be serious.

[Clay Travis]

Dude.

[Mark Halperin]

You really don't know who Madden and Summerall is?

[Buck Sexton]

I have no idea.

[Clay Travis]

You know the Madden video game?

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, John Madden, the coach.

[Clay Travis]

Oh my goodness. Him I've heard of.

[Buck Sexton]

I have no idea.

[Clay Travis]

How do you host a show with.

[Mark Halperin]

Someone who's culturally literate for. For our age?

[Clay Travis]

I actually. So first of all, Buck, to put it in your.

[Buck Sexton]

What do you guys even tell you.

[Clay Travis]

Who is stopping the whole. This has gone by the way? A lot of people are reacting to it. So Mark, I'll let you react and then I'll let Buck defend himself here. But.

[Mark Halperin]

Well, we did a serious conversation. We talked about the future of Taiwan, we talked about Treasury Secretary Bessant high minded topics. But all anybody's talking to me about is the question of what has happened to America's youth. What do we do as a nation? How do we compete with the Chinese if our people have never heard of Pat Summerall. Now I am sympathetic to this because there's things that young people know that I don't know about. But for people our age and who grew up, these are. It's like saying, well, I don't know who Thomas Jefferson is because I'm young and I wasn't alive.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, I think that's a little extreme. Look, we got into this yesterday, the show on Mark's show, which you should all go check out. It was clear that we have a little bit of A Gen X vs Young and Spry millennial, which would be me issue here.

[Mark Halperin]

Sorry to interrupt, but have you googled today? Some are all in Madden. Have you gone on YouTube?

[Buck Sexton]

He's not even letting me get through the sentence.

[Clay Travis]

I want to know.

[Buck Sexton]

Let me explain. Let me explain this for a second. Hold on. I know who John Madden is. I used to play the Madden video game. But when you said Madden and Summerall and then I think the other. The others Was like a musician. I immediately had salt and pepper. Yeah. I just didn't know. I don't know who Summerall is. So I'm thinking, is this some kind of weird, like, easy listening jazz band that you old timers like I just did. Because I don't know Summerall. But then I got Madden. So the Madden part of it, obviously. Oh, John Madden. Like, I know who John Madden is from the video game. Not that I actually watch much football, but the Summerall thing, I'm not gonna lie, that flew way over. I had no idea. You could have offered me a million dollars on the spot to tell you who Summerall was. I would have gone home wanting.

[Mark Halperin]

Right. But. But it's like saying, who. Sonny and Sharon. You'd say Sonny and Cher. Never heard of him. Oh, Sonny. Sonny Bono. Heard of him. Cher. Never heard of her. I don't know about the Cher.

[Buck Sexton]

First of all, everyone's heard of Cher and not Sonny. If we're going to play that game, share is way more.

[Mark Halperin]

My point is, my point is again, please spend some time on YouTube. Go look at the body of their work. These are not fringe players. These are key, key cultural icons.

[Clay Travis]

And as we eventually got to Pat Summerall, this is something that I bet a lot of people don't necessarily know is Susie Wiles, President Trump's chief of staff's dad, which is pretty crazy. Mark, last question for you. You've been in media a long time. The media universe, I would argue, is evolving and changing more rapidly than maybe ever in history. Where would you want to buy stock in media right now? How do you see it going forward? And I know it's a broad question, but I'm just kind of curious how you would assess where we are and where we're headed.

[Mark Halperin]

Number one choice would be if you guys take the show public. Number two would be my company. Two way. Number three would be Megyn Kelly's company. I think it's about trusted brands. And in the olden days, trusted brands were corporate brands. Now trusted brands are individual brands like YouTube. Right. People, people listening to your show, they don't really care what the company is. They care about you, too. And I think it's pretty clear when people have a connection to their. To their fans, to their community. So if you guys go to a diner in Charleston, South Carolina, people will know you, they'll see you, they'll like you, they'll want to talk to you. That's. That's what I'd invest in. I'd invest in folks like you. Guys, folks who have connection to their community where it's a daily habit, appointment, listening, appointment viewing. I think those will be the companies that thrive across all platforms. It doesn't matter what the corporate brand is or how it's distributed. I think those, those are the places where I'd invest and and that's what I'm building my career career and now as well.

[Clay Travis]

Well, we appreciate the time. We encourage people to go check out the interview that we did with Mark. You can find him. Where's the easiest place to find you, Mark?

[Mark Halperin]

I do tied to basically do two things. I do two way which is my own company. I did two shows a day. You can go to two way TV or on YouTube and then, and then next up the show you guys run on the Megan Kelly network, find that on YouTube or as a podcast and grateful to you guys for making so much time this week and can't wait to get you on two way for sure.

[Clay Travis]

We appreciate the time with you encourage people to go check it out and hopefully Buck's doing research on Pat Summerall and the greatest calls of his career for sure. Thank you. That's Mark Halperin. Look, back in the day, Madden and Summerall had a lot of testosterone. That's one reason they might have been so popular. In fact I Aren't they making a Madden movie that's supposed to be out this year with Nicholas Cage playing John Madden? I think they are and I'm sure that Summer all will have somebody famous playing him as well. Buck can do his research but testosterone is the engine that fuels the male body. If you are out there and you're feeling tired or you don't have the energy that you used to get hooked up today with Chalk.com C-H O Q.com. you got kids, grandkids that you're out there chasing around. It can make a tremendous difference for you and you will be glad that you tried it out for your New Year's resolution. Putting some more energy back in your life can make a tremendous difference. And right now you will get a great offer. In the meantime, the male vitality stack this month only when you subscribe with my name Clay, that's C L A Y as the promo code. Chalk will pack a free 99 bag of chalk lit powder with your first delivery. You will be glad that you did it. That's chalk.com My name Clay. C-H O Q.com My name C L-A Y News and politics. But also a little comic relief. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.

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[Helena Merriman]

If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The history bureau. Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in here to Clay and Buck. I don't know, people don't need to send me like links to this summerall fellow Clay. I have, I have the Google machine. I, I know now, all right, I understand that I was caught unawares of this football announcer.

[Clay Travis]

If you see me react, by the way, on the video, I put my hand on my head because I was like, oh no, I, I could see. It was like watch Moving train wreck and, and, and Mark Halperin had no idea like what he was walking into.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, he thought I was messing with him too. Like I was playing. I legitimately did not. I mean, if you told me, I, I don't know, I didn't watch a lot of football growing up. It just wasn't really a thing. I did watch a lot of basketball growing up actually, but I did not watch a lot of football growing up. So I was not. But ever Madden. I'm just gonna say that like no, no, no. Shade to Mr. Summer album sure is a fantastic fellow. But Madden is like a cultural, like everyone knows Madden because of the video game, which I think is like a billion dollar video game franchise on its own. I mean it's a huge, huge deal. And I do like, I do like video games, so I will say that, much to my wife's chagrin, but I do like the video games. So there you go. And I was pretty good at Madden, I'll have you know. We have some calls. Mr. Clay, you got that screen up there? Oh, here we go. Katie in Northern California, cc, let's hear what she has to say.

[Mark Halperin]

Train that baby Buck.

[Clay Travis]

Katie in Northern California, my oldest, he's.

[Mark Halperin]

Six now and we sleep trained him.

[Clay Travis]

He has a great relationship with his.

[Mark Halperin]

Bed to this day.

[Clay Travis]

He will tell you when he's tired, when he wants to go to bed.

[Mark Halperin]

When he needs a nap. He's got a great relationship with it.

[Clay Travis]

If you're. If my mom were alive today, she.

[Mark Halperin]

Would say your bed is for just.

[Clay Travis]

You and Carrie, not your baby.

[Mark Halperin]

Love y'.

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[Buck Sexton]

Interesting.

[Clay Travis]

I'm going to. I'm sure I'm going to get blown up over this. I actually think that if every kid is different, our oldest slept like an angel when they get old enough. Right. I don't want to like, be giving like contra when they're old enough so that you're not worried about rolling over on top of them or whatever else. Slept like an angel between us and slept great hours. Everything else. 18 years old. They're probably not very fond of dad talking about this now. Turned 18 yesterday. Second and third didn't have the same kind of came to have setup. So I think every single kid is. Is quite a bit different now. There are there general rules that would apply? Yes, but you step into the sleep wars with moms out there and you are just gonna get absolutely deluged because everybody has a perfect plan and it's something that worked really well for their kids. But again, I don't think everything is universal. Every kid's a little bit different. That's my take. But again, I don't even want to check my mentions because I know the moms of America are coming for me. We come back, there's a raid going on right now in Atlanta. What's happening? We'll discuss.

[Helena Merriman]

If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Clay Travis]

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[Clay Travis]

Better Picks.

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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