Hour 2 - The Truth About Taxes

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 2 - The Truth About Taxes
Date: January 19, 2026
Podcast Host: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show dives into the current political and economic climate in the United States, focusing on themes of gratitude (or lack thereof) regarding American opportunities, the ongoing debate over taxation—as especially exemplified by California's wealth tax—and the demographic and ideological divides shaping both the Democratic Party and American states. The hosts blend humor with sharp criticism, emphasizing the differences between high-tax and low-tax states, the implications of mass wealth migration, and the internal frictions in Democratic politics.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The "Ingratitude" Debate: Ilhan Omar and Immigration

[02:31 - 07:21]

• Ilhan Omar's Wealth and Attitude Toward America:

  • Clay Travis points out that Ilhan Omar, a refugee from Somalia now worth millions, is often critical of the U.S., despite thriving as a congresswoman.
  • Clay Travis (03:31):
    “She’s a refugee from there. You would think she would love this place. But she complains about it a lot and she even says stuff like this.”

• Clip Played – Ilhan Omar:

  • Omar (audio clip, paraphrased): Expresses shock and disapproval at perceived injustices in the United States.

• Hosts' Reaction:

  • Both hosts argue Omar demonstrates a profound lack of gratitude for the opportunities America has provided.
  • Buck Sexton (05:37):
    “The profound degree of ingratitude… You're coming and taking our taxpayer dollars and you're lecturing us about how awful this country is.”
  • Clay argues this attitude exemplifies why immigration policy should prioritize those who “love the country and dramatically benefit this country.”

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California’s Wealth Tax & Silicon Valley’s Discontent

[07:21 - 16:25]

• Kara Swisher’s Comments on Wealthy Tech Entrepreneurs Fleeing Taxes:

  • The hosts play a clip of Kara Swisher, a prominent media figure, who calls departing tech founders “ungrateful pieces of bleep” for objecting to California’s taxes.
  • Swisher advocates for a “shock and awe” approach to taxation targeting wealthy Californians.
  • Kara Swisher (clip at 08:09):
    “I said you made all your money in California, you ungrateful piece of… You could figure out a way to pay more taxes and we deserve the taxes from you given you made your wealth here.”

• Clay and Buck's Response:

  • Clay notes that Swisher's rhetoric reflects a prevailing left-wing mindset in elite Democratic circles, viewing high earners as obligated to fund expansive state programs.
  • Buck questions whether business geography is as critical as before, given remote work and digital communications.
  • Buck Sexton (09:50):
    “Do you believe that the geography of where you base your business is the same significance that it used to be? Because I don't.”
  • The hosts argue states like Florida, Texas, and Tennessee—with no state income taxes—are now more attractive to talent and investment.

• Government Efficiency & Taxpayer Value:

  • Buck stresses that taxpayer resentment grows when they see government waste and fraud.
  • Buck Sexton (11:40):
    “If the government was fabulously well run… it would be easier to argue, hey, the government deserves a certain percentage of your wealth. But… I don't feel like my money is being well spent.”

• Federalism and States as Laboratories:

  • Clay advocates for competitive federalism, where states are “laboratories of democracy.”
  • Clay Travis (12:46):
    “You want states to be competing in some sense—laboratories of democracy… There has to be a cause and effect to these policies or else they'll just get crazier and crazier…”

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Wealth Migration and the Decline of High-Tax States

[13:28 - 16:25]

• Impact of Wealth Exodus:

  • The hosts discuss the potential for a trillion dollars in wealth to leave California due to tax policies.
  • Buck points out the ripple effect as companies (e.g., Oracle, SpaceX, Ken Griffin, Google founders) move headquarters and assets to lower-tax states, bringing jobs and ancillary wealth.

• Declining Value in High-Tax States:

  • Buck: High-tax states are delivering fewer services of lower quality, despite collecting more revenue.
  • Buck Sexton (15:24):
    “New York takes twice the overall tax bite as Florida does… and provides nowhere near as good of government services.”

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Critique of Progressive Mentality on Tax Policy

[15:38 - 16:25]

• Lack of Humility from Progressive Leaders:

  • Clay argues that instead of introspecting about why people are leaving, progressives “double down” and label leavers as ‘ungrateful.’

• Prediction for the Future:

  • Buck foresees worsening decline for New York, California, and Illinois as wealthy people “vote with their feet.”
  • Buck Sexton (16:25):
    “People who have the most money have the most flexibility to make a home… California, New York, and Illinois don't have a monopoly on awesomeness anymore.”

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Democratic Party Tensions and 2028 Primary Speculation

[22:35 - 31:59]

• Josh Shapiro Memoir & Kamala Harris Vetting:

  • The hosts discuss new revelations from Gov. Josh Shapiro’s upcoming memoir, in which Kamala Harris’s team questioned his loyalty due to his Jewish heritage.
  • Buck Sexton (26:19):
    “Had I been a double agent for Israel, as you referenced, he was told, well, we have to ask, have you ever communicated with an undercover agent of Israel?”
  • The incident is framed as indicative of the Democratic Party’s struggles with identity politics.

• Kamala Harris Candidacy & Democratic Primary Changes:

  • Speculation on the Democratic Party’s 2028 primary strategy and how changes in the early state lineup could benefit Kamala Harris.
  • Clay Travis (29:02):
    “If they go with majority black voting states… that’s a sign they are working in favor of Kamala Harris… If she won several early states… that would make her very hard to catch.”

• Criticism of “Political Lifer” Mentality:

  • The hosts chastise politicians whose only career is politics, contrasting them with those who pursue public office after success elsewhere.
  • Kamala Harris’s purchase of a luxury Malibu mansion is highlighted as evidence of self-serving ambitions.

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The Wealth of Politicians—Ilhan Omar Example

[34:32 - 35:51]

• Ilhan Omar’s Household Wealth Scrutinized:

  • Discussion about Omar's reported $6–$30 million household wealth, primarily attributed to her husband’s venture capital business.
  • Both hosts highlight the recurring issue of politicians' spouses prospering in fields potentially benefitting from congressional connections, drawing a parallel to Nancy Pelosi.

• Buck Sexton (35:51):
  “This is what often happens… The spouse is the person who ends up cashing in on the connections of the individual who is in office.”

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Noteworthy Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Buck Sexton on Immigration & Gratitude:

  • “If I had been born elsewhere and… became fabulously wealthy in [my new country]… I cannot imagine saying a single negative word about that country.” [05:00]

• Kara Swisher (via audio clip):

  • “You made all your money in California, you ungrateful piece of… You could figure out a way to pay more taxes and we deserve the taxes from you given you made your wealth here.” [08:09]

• Clay Travis on Federalism:

  • “You want states to be competing in some sense—laboratories of democracy… There has to be a cause and effect to these policies or else they'll just get crazier and crazier.” [12:46]

• Buck Sexton on California/NY Financial Exodus:

  • “The most successful people are bailing.” [15:38]

• Buck Sexton on Politicians’ Spouses:

  • “Your husband is now worth potentially tens of millions of dollars… That’s awfully convenient when you look at how much success there is breaking all of that down.” [35:51]

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Structured Segment Timestamps

• Democrats' Mood, Ilhan Omar Wealth & Gratitude: [02:31 – 07:21]
• California Wealth Tax Debate & Kara Swisher Clip: [07:21 – 09:50]
• Business Geography & Tax Value Arguments: [09:50 – 12:46]
• Federalism and Wealth Migration: [12:46 – 16:25]
• Democratic Party Primary and Kamala Harris: [22:35 – 31:59]
• Ilhan Omar’s Financial Disclosure & Politicians' Wealth: [34:32 – 35:51]

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Tone and Style

The hosts blend sharp political critique with humor and a conversational tone. They are openly skeptical of left-leaning economic and social policies, frequently invoking direct criticism and sarcasm—especially when discussing Democratic leaders and high-tax-state policies.

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Final Thoughts

This episode critiques the attitudes and policies of America’s progressive elites, particularly around topics of taxation, immigration, and political ambition. The hosts contend that gratitude for American opportunity is fading, high taxes are driving out the nation’s economic engines, and the Democratic Party is mired in identity politics and self-serving leadership. Their message: the consequences of policy choices, especially regarding taxation and political leadership, are playing out in real time—and have profound national implications.

Transcript

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Clay Travis]

To the second hour of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show. Check in on the mood of the Democrat party for a second. Shall we?

[Buck Sexton]

First hour.

[Clay Travis]

We talked a lot about the interruption, obstruction and desecration of a Southern Baptist church service in Minneapolis by anti ice lunatics. We'll get back into that story, of course, and we'll be discussing the political implications of that. But in the meantime, I think it's interesting to see where are the Democrats on a whole range of things going on right now. How is the mood of the Democrat party at this point in time? And I've got a few things to get to on this. First of all, Ilhan Omar. Ilhan Omar is a refugee from Somalia who's now worth millions of dollars, as I understand it, which is interesting.

[Buck Sexton]

Third, not even just millions. $30 million, supposedly.

[Clay Travis]

I would really like to know how that came about. That's. That's interesting. 30 million. That's a lot of money.

[Buck Sexton]

Not one or two. 30.

[Clay Travis]

Right. That's a lot of money. Uh, if that is in fact the case, I want to know where that money. She's a member of Congress. We should be able to easily find where all that money came from. Uh, but here she is. This is somebody who fled a. A country that, as I've told you, among my former special operations slash intelligence officer compatriots, Somalia is generally considered the worst place in the world of the last 30 years. I think that's fair. Fair to say. And she's a refugee from there. You would think she would love this place. But she complains about it a lot and she even says stuff like this. Cut nine.

[Buck Sexton]

The one place where we thought we would never experience this is the US Goddamn states.

[Clay Travis]

Profaning the country that she fled to that gave her safe harbor and has now turned her into a politician as well as a very wealthy woman. I think it's appalling that this is the attitude that we and people might say, oh, that's just one clip. Yeah. But it's her whole attitude about the US Complains about it. Wants to push socialism here, wants to push identity politics, race politics, all the rest of it. This is why we need a better immigration system.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

Because we can't bring people into the country who don't love the country and don't dramatically benefit this country. It's supposed to be for our benefit, not for their benefit.

[Buck Sexton]

Can you imagine going to any country in the world if you were poor and ending up worth $30 million and holding a position, whether we like it or not, of extreme prominence in that country. She is a congresswoman. She's one of only 435 of them in the nation and criticizing ripping the country that you have benefited from to such a degree. I mean, look, we're fortunate. Most of all of us out there listening, and some of you are not you immigrated legally. But we're fortunate, most of us, to have been born here and what I think is the greatest country that's ever existed in the history of the world. But if I had been born elsewhere and like Congressman Omar, I had been able to come to a new country that I became fabulously wealthy in and that I achieved a huge measure of political capital in as a congressperson, I cannot imagine saying a single negative word about that country. I mean, if she were still in Somalia, she would have a pinprick of the success in her life as she's been fortunate enough to have in the United States and to have that level of lack of gratitude, the ingratitude for which she is showing the opportunities that were provided to this country. I think it's where so many people out there have gotten angry about the whole immigration system. First of all, it's something like 15.6% of Americans today were not born in the United States, which is the highest level that's ever existed in any of our lives. I think that's the current number right now. And then it's one thing if that existed, but the number of people who have come to this country and immediately become leeches and immediately say awful things about the place that they came. The profound degree of ingratitude. Yes, is what many of us are saying. You're coming and taking our taxpayer dollars and you're lecturing us about how awful this country is. What about go back to the place that you were born and try to make a living of it there and. Or come here and express all the time about how amazing the opportunities are in this country. I think it speaks to the disconnect between Democrats on immigration policy with many of the people that are in their base now, to say nothing of. You're interrupting a church because you're angry. The people who are illegally here being taken out of the country and then arguing that Jesus would be on the side of the protesters. I think that's a tough, tough putt to sink.

[Clay Travis]

Speaking of ingratitude, California has a gratitude problem when it comes to the sector that, even much more so than Hollywood, has been really the single cash cow for their budget for a very long time, which is Silicon Valley and all the tech bros. Now there's a lot of layers to this conversation. On the one hand, I certainly have no sympathy for the multi, multi billionaire tech bros who funded left wing lunacy as well in their own state as well as throughout the country by making things like Google hard left in their politics. You know, so, so they brought this upon themselves. But here is this woman has a very big Democrat podcast. Kara Swisher, she with the New York Times. Is that right or no?

[Buck Sexton]

I think she has her own media company now.

[Clay Travis]

Her own media company. Here she is on the California wealth tax. I just want you to. When, when the, when the Marxist banshees really let it rip, they'll tell you how they feel about these people who have been paying the bills of their massive welfare state in California and the bureaucracy and just all the waste and the mess they have been holding the socialism up there, you know, meaning, you know, holding it so that it can actually exist. And here is Keris Swisher on the Guys who Want to leave play 11 specifically targets. I got 100 people I think it is who are threatening to leave California except for Jensen Huang who's apparently staying. I have two minds of this. One is you made your and I set it to one this weekend. I said you made all your money in California, you ungrateful piece of. You could figure out a way to get pay more taxes and we deserve the taxes from you given you made your wealth here. The second thing is yes, there are different ways to do this, but the length of time it would take at the kind of vehemence you would fight, whatever happens means nothing would happen. So why don't we just do shock and awe at this point? Because you don't seem to be, you know, availing yourself to thinking that you owe your state something more. Clay, here she is. But this is, this is a lot of the elite Democrat left. This is how they think you're an ungrateful piece of bleep. If you think that the tax hikes are too much in the highest tax state in the country and it needs to be quote, shocking. All basically just, just rip a lot of your private property away on a whim because they want it, a lot of it to give away to illegals.

[Buck Sexton]

In California, by the way, I think this is important. I got two real thoughts on this. One, do you believe that the geography of where you base your business is the same significance that it used to be? Because I don't. In other words, used to be you had to to a certain extent found a business in New York City or LA or the Silicon Valley in order to get economies of scale and be able to grow and have the talent necessary to grow your business. I don't think that's true anymore. And look, I had a pinprick of success compared to a lot of other people. But when I founded Outkick in Nashville, a lot of people said you can't run a media company from Nashville. You need to move to New York or California. I don't think that's true at all. A lot of people are moving to many different areas all over the country. In fact, there is an argument that the city we're sitting in right now, Miami, is starting to replace New York City as the financial capital of the United States because tax situations are so much better here. There is no state income tax. Same thing true where I live in Nashville. Same thing true where we have the biggest audience listening to us right now, State of Texas. So I think geography to argue you benefited from California location and you wouldn't have been successful, which is the implicit argument that Kara Swisher is making. I don't buy that anymore. I think you can found companies all over the country and in fact, I think Florida, Texas, Tennessee, to name three, are going to have much more successful businesses because there's no state income tax and because so location is fungible and so is talent to a certain extent. And in fact they talent wants to go where they're going to be taxed less. So that's point one. Point two on this. If the government was fabulously well run and our money that we pay in taxes was invested and returned seismic value, I think it would be easier to argue, hey, they the government deserves a certain percentage of your wealth. But when I see what's happening in Minneapolis and when I see the way that the government is spending, when I see Scott Besant say he thinks there's $600 billion of fraud that's occurring at least in our government every year, I'm fortunate. Now I pay a lot of taxes. I don't feel like my money is being well spent. I feel like I can donate money to all different sorts of causes out there that can more efficiently allocate capital in order to be more successful. And so it's twofold. To me. I don't think the geography argument makes sense. And also if I'm an efficient business owner, do I think that my money that I'm paying in taxes is being spent in a way that is going to make the country better than I could spend it myself? I don't think so, and I think that's where a lot of these California entrepreneurs who may be traditionally of the left are now looking around and saying, no, no, no, no, we're not about this, we're leaving, we're going somewhere else.

[Clay Travis]

And this is the checks and balances of federalism that the founders envisioned. You want states to be competing in some sense laboratories of democracy. You want places, you want the state government of California. I mean, if California does not have a limit at which people will start to leave, why not just make the top income tax rate 80%? I mean, at some point you can see there has to be a cause and effect to these policies or else they'll just get crazier and crazier and more destructive. And for, for California to lose the portion of the, of the population that looks like they're going to leave, it's not a lot of people, but the amount of wealth, it's like a trillion dollars that's at stake.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

Of actual wealth held by those individuals. Now it's almost all in companies. They're not just like sitting on, on gold coins. But this is something that everyone needs to understand, affect the future. California already can't afford what it has if you scare away these guys. Without Silicon Valley, California would have been, would have been toast a long time ago in terms of its budget.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. And it's not just these guys either because there is an entire penumbra of wealth that surrounds them. Oracle is about to open a huge campus in Nashville that's going to bring tens of thousands in theory of employees into the Nashville area. David Sachs has talked about the fact that he is going to move much of his assets to Texas. The same thing has happened with Elon Musk, the SpaceX companies, bringing so much of the highly paid employees into those states. And by the way, where we are right now in Miami, Ken Griffin just walked out on Chicago and said too many of my guys have been attacked legitimately right outside of our headquarters. What, what is the cost of the headquarters that he's now building in Miami? It's one of the most incredible facilities just down the road from us. The Google founders have bought properties worth hundreds of millions of dollars in, in the Miami area. What I think is happening really quickly and it is happening in real time is the virtuous circle here is going to lead to super wealthy people. Go to states like Florida, Texas and Tennessee, bring all of their assets with them. The employment opportunities that surround those individuals then explode. The tax base grows in all of these states which leads to Better results. You talked about this. You left California, New York takes twice the overall tax bite as Florida does right now and provides nowhere near as good of government services. That's not good when you're taking twice as much money to deliver an inferior product. And I think a lot of people who can are going to vote with their feet, which is going to make New York, California, Illinois, for example, left wing locations far less successful because the most successful people are bailing.

[Clay Travis]

I also think with the point that this Kara Swisher woman makes here, or what she shows you about her mentality is how about a little humility in this stuff instead of getting angry at people who are making an entirely lawful, reasonable decision about where as an American, which they have every right to do, about which state they want to live in. Maybe think, hey, California, which is home team for the Democrats, it's still the Democrat stronghold, California, New York, but California is a lot bigger. Maybe it shouldn't be run so poorly. Maybe it shouldn't waste so much. Maybe it shouldn't have so much bureaucracy. Maybe it shouldn't be so completely devoted to failed left wing ideas. That's what a normal person would do, not double down and be like, you're ungrateful. We're going to come after you even more now.

[Buck Sexton]

And look, it's not stopping here. I think this is the huge part of this. Like, even if they take this money, do you think they're going to stop there? The budget is broken in California. They're not spending the money. Well, I just think again, we're on a trend line here where states like California, New York and Chicago are going to suffer at expense of better run, lower tax states. And the people who have the most money have the most flexibility to make a home. Miami's pretty nice. Nashville is pretty nice. Houston, Dallas, Austin, pretty nice places to live. California, New York and Illinois don't have a monopoly on awesomeness and network effect like they used to. And I think you're seeing it and it's going to play out in real time very rapidly. Look, prize picks available in all 50 states right now. We had an awesome weekend of games in the NFL. We've got a national title game going on tonight in college football, if you like football. And I know based on the data that a huge percentage of you listening right now do. Rush had one of the highest indexing NFL fan base audiences out there across the country. And many of you have stuck with us and we've continued to grow that audience. And you can play along with prize picks you can download the Prize Picks app today. You get $50 instantly in your account when you play $5. If you go to prizepix.com use my name C L A Y. You can play in all 50 states. Tennessee, Texas, Florida. Low tax states. High tax states like California, New York, Illinois. You can play everywhere all 50 states. You get $50 in your account prizepix.com code clay. You can also download the prizepix app. Use code clay play everywhere with prizepix again that's code clay for $50 when you play $5 in your account prizepix dot com code clay I'll have Stories.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Spend time with Clay and Bob.

[Buck Sexton]

Find them on the free iHeartrad radio app or wherever you get your podcast.

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

They asked him if he had ever been a double agent for Israel. I read that. I was like, whoa, okay, that is.

[Buck Sexton]

That is pretty crazy. But we said like, hey, are you a trader?

[Clay Travis]

I'm just wondering, you might be my vp, but are you a trader to your country?

[Buck Sexton]

We told you on this program the reason they didn't pick Josh Shapiro was to a large extent because he was Jewish and that's how they ended up with Tim Walls, the moron. That was not helpful for them when it came to getting male voters. Also, by the way, how about 19 out of 20 Democrat candidates try to avoid discussing whether men can become women. That's also out there. More people cut back on household expenses in January, any other month, new year, new discipline, plenty of holiday bills to pay. It all makes sense and many of you have lived through it, including us. How about saving money on your cell phone bill? Switch to Pure Talk from Verizon, T Mobile or AT&T this month and you can save $600 to $1,000 before the year is out. That is a tremendous difference for you and your family. How much would an extra thousand dollars have meant for you at the end of 2025? Make the choice to switch today. It's easy. Dial pound two five zero, say Clay and Buck. And PureTalk's US customer service team will help you switch in minutes again for just 20 bucks a month. £250, say Clay and Buck. That's £2 5 0, say Clay and Buck.

[Clay Travis]

All right, welcome back into Clay and Buck, coming to you live from Miami Beach, Florida. Loving it down here, although it's like 60 degrees. Clay says he didn't sign up for this. He left Tennessee expecting to be swimming in the ocean and basking in the sunshine. But at least it's not Minneapolis level cold right now. It's definitely a bit chilly up there. We'll take you back to the showdown in Minneapolis over ice, ICE enforcement operations in a moment. But I did want to spend a little time, Clay, on this. This is from the New York Times. Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania, writes that Harris team asked if he had ever been an Israeli agent. In his new memoir, the Pennsylvania governor suggests that when Kamala Harris's team vetted him to be her running mate, AIDS focused on Israel to an extent he found offensive. Now, there's a few things that are worth discussing here. One of them is I think that Kamala, there were several reasons why she didn't pick Josh Shapiro. One of them is he would come across as just smarter and more competent than her. And that's not a good look for someone in Kamala Harris position. I really believe that, that I'm not going to discount that. I think that's real. But I also think that she was concerned with where the Democrat Party was at that point in time with their.

[Buck Sexton]

Very loud.

[Clay Travis]

Muslim constituency in Dearborn, Michigan. And now, as we see in Minneapolis, Somali Somalia is 99% Muslim. Somalia is basically an entire entirely Muslim country. And she didn't want to have a Jewish guy as the vice president at that point in time. The same way that she also said, she said herself she didn't want to have a gay vice president at that point in time. Isn't it interesting how the Democrats, for all their talk of, of diversity and the need for different voices and all this stuff, oh, they play the game ruthlessly to whatever bigotry, to whatever demands are made by their, by their base.

[Buck Sexton]

Look, I mean, here are the direct quotes. And again, this is from his book. According to the New York Times, had I been a double agent for Israel, as you referenced, he was told, well, we have to ask, have you ever communicated with an undercover agent of Israel? Kamala's questioner asked. And he said, if they were undercover. I responded, how the hell would he know? He also said, I thought some of this was interesting, too. When they were waiting on what the, what the outcome was going to be of the vice president's decision for Kamala Harris, he said that, that he was told that his family didn't have very much money and so it was going to be really expensive for his wife. This is kind of crazy, too. She said she knew we didn't have a lot of money and that Lori, his wife, was going to have to get all new clothes and, and pay for people to do her hair and makeup. Like, this is what they said in the, part of the, as a part of the process. And the book is not out till next week, but it's already leaked to the New York Times, which is likely what was going to happen. And he also said that Kamala, this I think, is interesting, Buck, because there's a lot of elbows being thrown right now. He said that Kamala didn't like being vice president. Quote, she noted that her chief of staff would be giving me directions and complained that she didn't have a private bathroom in the office and how difficult it was for her at times. Like, I, I, I don't know. I mean, complaining about not having a private bathroom is next level strange from Kamala Harris. I will say, though, Buck, in the same day that this story is coming out about Josh Shapiro, here were a couple of details. Kamala's on her book tour.

[Clay Travis]

Ah, here we go here. Now we get Team Kamala coming to.

[Buck Sexton]

The Restore book tour. She's being treated like a rock star by black men and women and white women, which I thought was very predictable. In fact, remember the only group that Kamala Harris improved on in 2024 compared to Biden in 2020, white women. Black women did not improve on voting for her, which is interesting in and of itself. She is at the top of the list. And there's one argument out there. One top Democrat told Axios and I don't think this was Buck Sexton, but I think Buck would sign off on this. Kamala hasn't accepted. She's not running yet. But Kamala's southern tour has drawn thousands and thousands of people to packed auditoriums in New Orleans, Jackson, Mississippi and Memphis. Black voters are showing up for her in a big deal. And right now there are 12 states. Remember, this is a big story that isn't getting a lot of attention. Biden changed the 2024 calendar for Democrats. It used to be everybody went to Iowa and then everybody went to New Hampshire. Then he decided that Iowa and New Hampshire were too white. So he made South Carolina the first state in 2024 to help to forestall any challenges he thought cause James Clyburn. Biden won South Carolina and swept to the nomination after that. Right now, a dozen states have applied to be the first primary. Delaware, New Hampshire, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, New Mexico and Nevada. Okay, why does that matter? Whichever state the Democrat party selects as its first state and then second and third is going to give you a lot of indication of where they're putting their finger on the scale. If they go with majority black voting states, like in the Democrat primary, like South Carolina, like Georgia, potentially like my home state of Tennessee, that's a sign that they are working in favor of Kamala Harris because she's going to win large black voting percentages in the Democrat party. And if she won several early states, if she runs, which I think she will, if she won several early states, Buck, that would make her very hard to catch.

[Clay Travis]

I just can't imagine the Democrats are going to. I'm talking about Democrat primary voters. Forget about what a truly disastrous campaign she led. I also think that they're very foolish to ignore something. And they were very foolish to ignore Biden's dementia as long as they did, because everybody knew, but they thought they could still just get away with it somehow. They are ignoring. If they go with Kamala in the primary, they're ignoring that Kamala ignored Biden's dementia. More than that, she was a big part of the lie of the COVID up. I think that it's very clear to anybody who's being honest with Themselves. Kamala earned her 107 days of incredibly ineffective and pathetic campaigning because she was the, she was the number one complicit party in the COVID up of Biden's dementia. The whole time she's the vice president. She should have been having meetings with Biden advisers in year two, being like, guys, like, if we're not going to 25th amendment, this guy, we got to at least make sure we all understand he's not running again, right? Yeah, right.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

But Kamala is not a leader. That's another thing too, by the way, as she's doing this book tour and everything else, this idea that these politicians are doing public service, I really do take issue with this. A lot of them are doing self service very publicly. There's really no downside for them. In fact, if they couldn't do politics, what would they do? Right. They're, they're not really skilled at anything other than this self promotion, lying BS nonsense that's out there. And you know, Kamala, she just moved her or she just bought her $8 million Malibu mansion, you'll notice, you know, not like going to the most diverse area of an up and coming part of a major city or something. She's going to like.

[Buck Sexton]

No, she's really sunny.

[Clay Travis]

The elite, most elite, most heavily white place maybe in all of America. Ok. I mean, it's basically like this is the Palm beach of the West Coast. Malibu is wildly expensive. And I just think it's interesting, you know, she's a woman of the people, $8 million beach house in Palm Beach. But I think that she's somebody who, politics has always been the thing that she does because it is best suited for the advancement of her wealth and her power. I don't think that she could point to anything that was a sacrifice. I mean, say what you will about Trump, the guy was a super famous billionaire before he decided to do this. He could have just rode that out, played golf, hung out at his mansions. He didn't need politics to be a big deal. A lot of people need politics to be anything.

[Buck Sexton]

I agree. And this is why I like people who have had success and decide that they want to give back as part of their political career after they've had success, as opposed to typically being politicians for life. Now look, there are people who do really great work as politicians for life, but by and large, I think having had life experience outside of the world of politics, success elsewhere makes you a better public servant and actually makes you a public servant as opposed to somebody who is just out There who doesn't really have the ability to have any other job that has decided to take these jobs. Now, look, some people decide to get into other jobs after politics because that's where they can make money. For instance, I think Jasmine Crockett is going. She's going to get smoked, I think, in this Texas Democrat primary. And it's becoming increasingly likely that that's going to occur. But to me, her entire decision to run for Senate in Texas was about creating an opportunity for her in media where she could make more money. A lot of that is going on here, too.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so interesting. I looked at this, if you want to know where Ilhan Omar now, Ilhan Omar has a household wealth between 6 and $30 million as of 2024. So at least 6 million clay up to 30 million. I'm not sure if it is. If we know that she's at 30. But even $6 million, they had broad.

[Buck Sexton]

Ranges on these disclosure forms. So it can be hard to know exactly.

[Clay Travis]

Very broad range.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

Like, can we do it by increments of 5? You know, 6 to 30 million is a big. If you include your house in that, that's a very big, very big difference. So they're saying the spike in wealth is attributed to the business ventures of her husband, who is a. Has a venture capital firm. Now, what I find very interesting is what kind of, you know, what kind of access. I'm not alleging anything illegal, but what kind of sort of access, connections, etc. Her role in Congress might provide. And this is what people always say about Nancy Pelosi with her husband. Right. It's, oh, sure, her husband's a really great investor. His wife's also been speaker of the House a number of times, knows everybody in D.C. wielded power with an iron fist, could call in favors. That's pretty valuable stuff when you're making investment decisions.

[Buck Sexton]

Totally. And this is what often happens is the spouse is the person who ends up cashing in on the connections of the individual who is in office. And then they say, well, this is not me making money. I only get paid. I think it's $175,000 a year. I think that's roughly the salary of a congressperson right now. But, yeah, your husband is now worth potentially tens of millions of dollars. That's awfully convenient when you look at how much success there is breaking all of that down. So we'll continue to follow that. By the way, Harmeet Dillon, who is talking about the investigation going on in the church, we'll read a couple of the individual what she is saying about this church protest that took place that has gotten in galvanized so much attention out there. When we come back, a couple of her tweets and we've also reached out to her to invite her on the program to talk about potentially what charges might be out there. I also just was Texting with Trisha McLaughlin who is the spokesperson for DHS and we're going to get her on to talk about what is going on with ICE in Minneapolis as well and and have her share with all of you those processes and investigations that are underway.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

Anything goes. Clay, Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Clay Travis]

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Talk to your healthcare professional today. Call 1-833-OZEMPIC or visit ozempic.com to view the medication guide and to learn more about ozempic. Semaglutide injection 0.5 milligram, 1 milligram and 2 milligrams. I'm betting that I am going to need some coffee tomorrow before the show because the game is going to be late tonight and we are not going to get a normal night's sleep. And so I bet that there will be an abundant amount of Crockett coffee being consumed and maybe a lot of you out there who stay up for the game, especially on the East Coast. This thing's not going to be over till probably 11, maybe 11:30 and so there's probably going to be some tired eyes including these eyes tomorrow after a late night. So crockettcoffee.com get signed up. Buck's book comes out in a few weeks. You can get an autographed copy there. You can get an autographed copy of my book Code book. Crockett Coffee is a fantastic way to prove that you still love America and do not support the insanity that is going on all over the country. In fact, we love everything having to do with the overall trajectory of American history that is being celebrated as part of America 250. And so that is all going to be taking place too. When we come back, we will talk about this Greenland situation. We're also scheduled to be joined by Congressman Byron Donalds, who is the front runner to be elected the next governor of Florida. He's raised $45 million on his campaign. That is going to be discussed during the course of the third hour of the program as well.

[Clay Travis]

And tomorrow, if Clay is really hungover, don't worry because he'll be here with me. I'm going to make sure he's got Crockett coffee and then some to keep him going. And I'll give you my post game analysis of the big game tonight that has Miami in it and another team that Clay's going to remind me.

[Buck Sexton]

Are you nervous about how late the game's going to go already? Are you already thinking like, oh, man, like we're not going to get back from this game till super late. It's going to be chaotic because the president's going to be there. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. I told you that we have to leave early to get in because they're going to shut down all the roads to get in this place. I mean, it's going to be a heck of a scene.

[Clay Travis]

It's going to be like, well, we had, we had a great time together, the Kentucky Derby, but we did walk about six miles afterwards in circles not knowing where we were going. At least it won't be nighttime in 50 degrees though, because it might be here. That's, that's the thing. So. Because it mean, you know, the derby shut down a whole section of town because it's so big, so well attended. This is the Hard Rock tonight. The President's.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, it's going to be a heck of a scene. Should be awesome. And I'm curious. I think the president will be getting a great reception from Indiana and Miami fans. But we'll see.

[Clay Travis]

Are we going to, are we going to let him just enjoy the game or are we going to try to go sneak in and say hi to the big guy, give him a high five play, work some of that sports ball magic you've got.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, I got to text and see how I don't know which suite he's going to be in. We'll see if we can get the security to get near him. May be pretty substantial. Yes, we'll see exactly how that shakes down. I just saw him last week, so maybe we can give another hey Travis.

[Clay Travis]

Twice in a month. Greatest month ever.

[Buck Sexton]

We'll be back with more on the chaos surrounding Greenland and beyond. Next Want to score? When your favorite player does well, you can't unless you download Better Picks. Who is giving away a free $10.

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

Shipt since I signed up for target circle360 no price markups When I order same day delivery from tons of local stores, only a handful of alcohol retailers and items don't count. I won't lie, I've had too much fun being like Markups on groceries not in my fridge. Markups on pet food, not for my dog. Markups on tools, electronics, home goods, meds. Not in my house. Anyway, it's awesome. Order [e-mail] 360 terms apply. 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.

[Buck Sexton]

But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it.

[Clay Travis]

It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story.

[Clay Travis]

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. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.