Hour 2 - Trust Trump

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show: Episode Summary – Hour 2: "Trust Trump"

Release Date: April 1, 2025

In the second hour of "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show," hosted by Premiere Networks, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton delve deep into the pressing issues surrounding President Donald Trump's economic and security policies. The discussion is rich with insights, debates, and critical analysis, aimed at providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the current political and economic landscape.

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1. Economic Policies: The Tariff Debate

Clay Travis opens the conversation by addressing the mounting stress from the media concerning President Trump's tariff policies. He emphasizes the administration's focus on revitalizing the American economy by countering decades of offshoring, outsourcing, and deindustrialization.

• Stephen Miller’s Insight: At [00:50], Clay cites Stephen Miller, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, highlighting the administration's long-term vision:

  "This is the great healing and rejuvenation of the American economy after half a century of rampant offshoring, outsourcing, and deindustrialization."

• Immediate Implementation of Tariffs: Buck Sexton discusses the rapid implementation of Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, noting their aggressiveness and immediate effect:

  "President Trump’s promised tariffs are a day away and they'll go into effect sooner than some had expected, as in immediately." [01:35]

Senator Tommy Tuberville weighs in at [03:29], acknowledging the short-term pain but expressing confidence in the long-term gains:

"This is one thing that President Trump has got to sell, but it's also going to work. But it's going to be a slow pain first before we get the gain."

Discussion Highlights:

• Economic Impact: The hosts debate the potential economic dislocation caused by tariffs. Buck expresses skepticism about expert predictions, stating:

  "My trust level in experts is at an all-time low personally because everything they have told us for the past several years... feels like the experts are batting zero." [05:14]

• Global Tariff Practices: Clay questions the logic behind widespread global tariff practices, questioning why other nations impose tariffs if they are indeed detrimental:

  "If tariffs are so self-evidently self-defeating, why do so many countries have tariffs against the United States on different issues?" [05:57]

• Consumer Benefits vs. Trade Deficit: Buck counters by highlighting the benefits to American consumers from lower-priced imports, using flat-screen televisions as an example:

  "The average American consumer is getting a really good deal because flat screen televisions can be made more affordably elsewhere." [06:32]

• Future Projections: Both hosts contemplate the political ramifications of tariff policies, considering their potential impact on upcoming midterm elections and the Republican agenda:

  "What if this starts to look like it's blowing up in Trump's face... it slows the whole agenda down." [05:14]

2. Security Concerns: Near-Assassination Attempts on Trump

A significant portion of the discussion shifts to the security lapses surrounding two attempted assassination incidents against President Trump.

Buck Sexton shares his personal experience visiting the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, where he learned about a recent near-fatal assassination attempt:

"This guy was going to come insanely close to Trump at an area where you could not miss." [20:58]

Clay Travis probes into the failures of the Secret Service, expressing alarm over the repeated security breaches:

"If there aren't any benefits to this, why are other countries do them?" [12:52]

Key Points:

• First Attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania: On July 13th, an assailant nearly succeeded in killing Trump during a rally. The swift response by the Secret Service prevented the tragedy.

• Second Attempt at the Golf Course: In late August, another individual positioned himself dangerously close to Trump at the golf course. Despite multiple rounds fired by the Secret Service, the attacker managed to escape, raising serious questions about security protocols.

• Host Concerns: Buck emphasizes the incompetence of the Secret Service in both instances:

  "It is utterly indefensible... how close both of those instances were to potentially taking the president's life." [27:03]

• Implications for Future Security: Both hosts express concerns about Trump's safety moving forward, especially given his new role as President and the higher stakes involved.

3. Federal Workforce Reductions

Clay Travis highlights recent developments regarding the reduction of the federal workforce, citing a New York Times report.

• Layoffs and Cuts: As of April 1st, planned layoffs include 10,000 CDC and other federal health workers, with total reductions potentially affecting up to 12% of the 2.4 million civilian federal employees:

  "There are impending layoffs of 10,000 CDC and other health federal health workers confirmed cuts..." [18:52]

• Impact on Federal Agencies: Significant cuts at agencies like USAID, Voice of America, and the Department of Education signal a push towards increased efficiency and reduced government size.

4. Listener Engagement and Calls

The hosts encourage listener participation, discussing various topics submitted by callers.

• Free Trade vs. Fair Trade: A caller from Big Sur shares personal insights on the shift from free trade to fair trade, echoing the podcast's critique of traditional free trade paradigms:

  "Things have changed now. So you can be a conservative and a sane individual in good standing if you stand for things that now we've moved from free trade to fair trade." [35:14]

• Personal Anecdotes: Discussions about economic impacts on personal lives and reflections on policy shifts provide a relatable dimension to the broader political discourse.

5. Concluding Thoughts

Throughout the episode, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton maintain a critical stance on the current administration's policies while championing Trump's efforts to reshape America's economic and security frameworks. They call for voter engagement, especially in key congressional districts, framing the ongoing political climate as a referendum on Trump's leadership and policies.

Notable Quotes:

• Clay Travis on Tariffs:

  "If tariffs are only downside, why are other people doing it?" [12:52]

• Buck Sexton on Consumer Benefits:

  "Almost everyone has an iPhone now. IPhones are almost exclusively manufactured in China and the Philippines." [08:51]

• Clay on Security Failures:

  "Secret Service got incredibly lucky in 2024 that the worst didn't happen." [28:52]

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This episode provides listeners with a thorough examination of President Trump's tariff policies, the critical security lapses threatening his safety, and the broader implications of federal workforce reductions. Clay and Buck's engaging dialogue offers valuable perspectives for those seeking to understand the complex interplay of economics and security in contemporary American politics.

Transcript

[Clay Travis]

All right, second hour. Clay and Buck kicks off right now. Thanks for rolling with us. I had to go do a quick refresh, get Clay some Crockett coffee. That's right. Making it, brewing it right here at home. He's even got a Crockett mug for it. Go to crockettcoffee.com please subscribe. And you've got amazing products there. And you will love this coffee. Plus 10% of the profits goes to Tunnel Towers foundation, which Clay was just with them yesterday. Tunnel Towers and Frank Siller doing amazing work. We love that partnership in all respects with this show and also with Crockett Talk. So please check out Crockett Coffee. Subscribe. And it's how we get through the show because it keeps us fired up and ready to go. We have now a lot of, a lot of stress being put on us from the media about, oh, my gosh, the tariffs and what's going on here. First of all, here's a reminder from our buddy Stephen Miller, who's the deputy White House chief of staff, that what's going on right now is not a typical presidency. It is fixing and setting right big parts of what this country, America, is all about, not just for this week or this month, but for future years and even generations to come. Play nine. This is the great healing and rejuvenation of the American economy after half a century of rampant offshoring, outsourcing and deindustrialization. There was once a time in which Motor City in Michigan, Detroit automakers powered the entire globe. There was once a time when you could drive through Pennsylvania and all you.

[Buck Sexton]

Would see were humming steel mills, humming.

[Clay Travis]

Coal plants, manufacturing facilities again that were supplying the entire world, supplying Americans and all of planet Earth. Foreign countries, countries like China, Canada, Mexico, Cambodia, Vietnam and the European Union took advantage of our country and our leaders. So we know that the tariffs are a major focus with the economy right now from the Trump administration. And there's going to be. Here you go. Trump's Liberation Day tariffs will go into effect immediately. According to the White House just eight minutes ago, Clay, President Donald Trump's promised tariffs are a day away and they'll go into effect sooner than some had expected, as in immediately. According to the White House Liberation Day trade policy announcement is expected to be the most aggressive tariff move yet by President Trump. And he has vowed to slap tariffs on U.S. imports for a whole range of different solutions. Now, Clay, they're saying this is going to be costly. They're saying this is going to create a lot of economic dislocation. And to be fair, even here's Senator Tuberville, who is a big Trump guy, big Trump supporter. We've had him on the show many times and he is the one to which, to whom I'm supposed to say war eagle.

[Buck Sexton]

That is correct. By the way, Roll Tide probably celebrating over the weekend as the Auburn Tigers rolled into the Final Four for their second time ever, playing against your wife's alma mater, the Florida Gators, on Saturday. Big game.

[Clay Travis]

My beloved Florida Gators, because they are my wife's beloved. So whatever the Florida Gators, whatever I could do for them, I love doing. But here we go. Here's Senator Tuberville on the tariff situation. You say, look, it's not going to be without a little bit of, a little bit of pain before we get to the gain play it.

[Tommy Tuberville]

This is one thing that President Trump has got to sell, but it's also going to work. But it's going to be a slow pain first before we get the gain. We have to get jobs back in this country. We have to get manufacturing to come back. We can't control that. As a Senate, the one thing that we can control, as you said, we can control the tax cuts. We have to get those done and we have to get it done this week. And we'll let President Trump do the tariffs, we do the tax cuts, get the debt limit put in with this reconciliation fund the border wall fund, all the immigration processes going on. We have to get back to business up here. We've been dragging our feet, but I think with the tariffs this week and also the budget, budget reconciliation that we'll do for the tax cuts, I think it's all going to come together.

[Clay Travis]

So, Clay, I think at some level what we're seeing here is Trump is right on the immigration has been and continues to be right on the immigration issue has proven the case. The numbers speak for themselves. The border is the most secure it has been in truly decades. A lot of interior enforcement still has to happen. We can get into some of those numbers. DHS Kristi Noem talking about that. We can get into that in a little bit. But on the economic side of things, what Doge is doing is important. But the tariff issue might even have more short term political impact if things get rough between now and really next summer. All right, or not this coming summer, it'd be the following summer before the midterms. Right. So really, you've got 15 months or so if this starts to look like it's blowing up in Trump's face. Even if the media is able to make that case, and that's not a fair assessment of it. The problem here is what happens if the midterms go against the Republicans because of the tariffs. It slows the whole agenda down. So it feels like it's a gamble, but it's one that Trump is all in on.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah. And I don't know about you, but economic geniuses have gotten so much wrong. My trust level in experts is at an all time low personally because everything they have told us for the past several years, it feels like the experts are batting zero on pretty much every major issue that has occurred now until tomorrow. We won't know exactly what Trump has planned, but I do think it's significant that Israel just announced that they were ending all tariffs on American goods in the last few hours.

[Clay Travis]

What is your. Let me ask you this because I think we've talked about this a little bit, but I haven't. I asked this question, I asked this honestly. If tariffs are so self evidently self defeating, why do so many countries have tariffs against the United States on different issues? Why does Canada have a 200% dairy tariff for U.S. dairy imports if it's so stupid and it does nothing good for them? And that's just one of hundreds that we could talk about here, never mind China and the policies that they have vis a vis the rest of the world.

[Buck Sexton]

I think where Trump is right is we have a lot less to lose on tariffs than other countries do. And what I mean by that is this is what happens when you are a net importer of goods, when we have the massive trade deficit that we do now. The arguments out there, for those of you that are paying attention, the economic gurus of the world who are opposed to tariffs would say, well yes, the United States is a net importer of goods. That is we spend more money than we, than than we make off of our products. But the result is that our products that we purchase are incredibly affordable. And I would just use as an example, Buck, I'm sure you remember this. Back in the day, one of the most expensive things I bought when Laura and I first got married was a flat screen television. Do you remember when flat screen televisions were like five, six thousand dollars? They were really expensive.

[Clay Travis]

I remember pooling money with my colle mates to get for our common room. Yes, that you know, because we all, we all lived in like the shared housing to get for our common room. And we carried. It was, it was like when they find the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of a Lost Ark. We carried that thing with reverence up the stairs.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes, that flat screen television. Many of you out there are going to remember when you were able to first buy one. Speaking of Costco, which your wife Carrie loves and one of the few.

[Clay Travis]

We're working on the wokeness. We're working on the wokeness over there.

[Buck Sexton]

One of the few places that I actually walk into, you can get a 70 inch flat screen television for like 700 bucks. Now. Now these things are manufactured almost entirely outside the United States. The reason why I use flat screen television as an example is that is something where you would say the average American consumer is getting a really good deal because flat screen televisions can be made more affordably elsewhere. I mean, almost everybody, I'm holding mine up for video. Almost everybody has an iPhone now. IPhones are almost exclusively manufactured in China and the Philippines. I think now, now they're starting. Apple has said we're going to invest more money in them. But the reason why Apple has the profit margins it does is because of the manufacturer there. Sneakers, all sorts of products.

[Clay Travis]

Okay, so they used to make them all at Foxconn where they had to put up net to prevent people from jumping out and committing suicide the hours they were working. So rough stuff.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, this is also why I got so fired up over the Nike products. You know, the NBA players saying, oh, America's an awful place and we're, you know, our people are being taken advantage of. And then they never mentioned that their tennis shoes are being made basically oftentimes for slave labor overseas. And they make hundreds of millions of dollars off of those deals. The most ridiculous of them actually had deals with Chinese sneaker companies Buck that bragged about the fact that they used slave labor in Xinjiang province, cotton produced there. So the modern day NBA star athlete with a Chinese sneaker deal, and there were many of them, was actually making money off slave labor. And meanwhile they're lecturing all of us about how America is an awful country and taking these during the national anthem. The hypocrisy was too much. So the argument is, okay, yes, we are Net X, our money is leaving the country, but we're getting better value than we would if that was produced here. I don't know that that is 100% true. In other words, what would it look like? I've made this argument for a long time. LeBron James. What if LeBron James had said, hey, I'm asking all these people to make pay $200 for sneakers. What if he had gone to Nike and said, I want My sneakers produced in Akron, Ohio, a industrial Midwest city that is struggling. And I understand the profit margins will be lower, but we'll be able to employ a lot of Americans to make my shoes. That would have actually been a really interesting argument. Of course, LeBron's never gonna say it because all he cares about the money that he's making, not about the larger society. But my point on this is some guys that have the economic power to relocate to resource actual goods here and create American jobs that are high paying that people who otherwise wouldn't get them deserve them. This is the argument that Trump's making. He basically is doing the anti LeBron. He's saying we should be making goods that Americans buy here and we're going to level the playing field to help make that happen.

[Clay Travis]

This is one of the areas where Trump is going the most against the consensus, even on the Republican side. Longstanding Republican institutions, think tanks, GOP apparatus, you name it. Free trade has been a, almost a religious mantra on the right for as long as you and I have been alive and really going back to Milton Friedman. And free trade has been a thing that you just say and everyone has to assume it's the best possible way. Now, theoretically, I can see why. And when I hear the arguments about this, I go, yeah, of course. It seems like everybody, everybody benefits, you know, when, when you have a free trade system. Challenge, though is we don't have free trade globally.

[Buck Sexton]

That's right.

[Clay Travis]

So this is where. And this is when Trump came in with China in the first term. They said he's going to start a trade war. And the people who really knew what was going on specifically with China said, we're already in a trade war with China. We're just not doing anything.

[Buck Sexton]

And Biden didn't change anything.

[Clay Travis]

But that's exactly the point that he won on that one, that he went against the consensus, so much so that even Biden's like, look, I'm not going to mess right this stuff. He's so was this another one of those moments? And I bring this to the. It's really, to me, to me it's more almost a question of logic or common sense. If this is so bad and self defeating, which you are hearing not just from Democrats who hate Trump, forget about them, we don't care. They don't know anything about the economy. They want to ruin Western civilization. A lot of Republicans are saying, ah, I don't know about this, ah, it's going to be rough for the markets. They're telling you to kind of brace for impact. Okay, but if there aren't any benefits to this, why do other countries do them? Same way that I Clay, I always knew that they're lying. The media was lying to us about illegal immigration because you could never get somebody in the media to admit that illegal immigration had a downside. Well, if it has no downside, why do we want to stop it?

[Caller]

Right?

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

It makes no sense. Same thing I feel like with tariffs. If tariffs are only downside, why are other people doing it? I mean other countries doing it for decades and very aggressive about it. So I think it's about things that you want and things that you can get and there's a negotiation to be had here.

[Buck Sexton]

I also think. And we'll know more tomorrow afternoon, 4:00 Eastern. This is scheduled. Markets really hate uncertainty. Whatever you think of any particular economic decision. As soon as business can understand what the cost structure is going to be and adjust accordingly. Oftentimes we see the markets adjust. And to me Buck, part of the biggest challenge here in general has been we don't really know what the implementation of these policies gonna look like come tomorrow afternoon. In theory we will have an idea of exactly what Trump trade policy looks like. And if you watch the stock market on a regular basis, typically when the stock market moves is when something hasn't been priced. There is a surprise, there is an uncertainty, there is an expectation that is upset relative to the existing marketplace. I would say in general, this is what I've said for a long time. Buy S&P 500 index funds don't overreact to any day to day market manipulation or movement. And if you believe that the future of America is bright and I do, every 10 years or so your index fund should double. And most of the time people get in trouble when they respond emotionally to stock market prices. You look at prices going down, people sell, you look at prices going up, people think they're always going to go up. Most people are emotional, not as much rational. Which is why the best thing to do with your 401ks is not pay that much attention to it on a day to day basis. I get that it's hard, but that is my best advice. And tomorrow at 4:00 I'm sure we'll be talking about this on Thursday's show. Hey, what do we expect the actual impact's gonna be and what will the stock market do? Will get that first kind of read on that Thursday when you switch your.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

Want to be in the know when you're on The Go the Team 47 podcast Trump highlights from the week, Sundays at noon Eastern in the Clay and Buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. In continuing to echo the call that we have made since the show started today, get out and vote. If you're in Florida's 6th congressional district, Florida's 1st congressional district, and the entire state of Wisconsin. These are unexpected, frankly, election days, when you really break it down six months after the big election in November. But it's going to be used in some way as a referendum on Trump. And also we do want to make sure that we preserve as many of these House seats as possible given that the margin in the House is incredibly tiny. Buck, when we come back, I want to hit you with what I think is a story that is still not being talked about enough. Trump was almost killed on July 13th. We know virtually nothing about the would be assassin on that day in Butler, Pennsylvania. But yesterday I played the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm beach and I'm angrier now about the attempted assassination that took place by that crazy Ukraine lunatic where the guy was posted up on the sixth hole for hours and hours all day long and he nearly got an opportunity to kill Donald Trump. Was that in late August, even after what happened in July, the fact that this was allowed to occur and now that I have seen that location myself, I want to talk about it because I think we're not being told enough about how close both of those instances were to potentially taking the president's life. I also want to tell you Final four set. And right now we have got an incredible offer for all of you. If you are a big Florida Gator fan, if you're an Auburn Tiger fan, how about the Houston Cougars or the Duke Blue Devils? The top four overall number one seeds have advanced. Major League Baseball has also begun. The NBA playoffs will begin sooner rather than later. All of that taking place and you can get hooked up right now at Prize picks just by simply saying more or less. $5 picks can lead to $50 for you in guaranteed money in your account. You can play in Florida, where I am right now. You can play in California. You can play in Texas. You can play in Georgia. If you're feeling left out, 40 different states. Go ahead and download the app right now. Use Code clay. You get $50 when you play. $5. If you're a sports fan like I am, you will love this app. You'll have a lot of fun with it. That's prizepix.com code clay for $50. Prizepix.com code clay welcome back into Clay and Buck.

[Clay Travis]

A couple things to take a quick look at here. One is the reductions in the federal workforce force just as of as of April 1st is in the New York Times. I'm assuming this is not April Fools. There are impending layoffs of 10,000 CDC and other health federal health workers confirmed cuts, according to the New York Times here, at least 49,000 so far. Many of these employees, though, have been temporarily reinstated after court orders have come down. As we've discussed, after the hashtag resistance judges, employees who took buyouts, 75,000. I can't do the math on that. But what is that as a percentage of the overall well, there's about 2 million. Is it 2 million federal employees. So, you know, you're looking at what they think it might get up to 5%. Maybe it'll get up to 5%. We'll see. And then planned reductions at least 171,000. There's a lot of efficiency stuff that is going on right now. USAID basically gutted and gone more than 99%. Voice of America gutted and gone more than 99%. Education Department of Education 46% down. And then HHS Energy, IRS, CFPB, all down in the teens. You know, the numbers are 12, 13, 16 around there. So this is they think it could affect a total clay of 12% of the 2.4 million civilian federal workers so that's the total affected. Maybe the buyouts could be 5 to 10%. They've thought maybe more like 5%. But I think you have a particular perspective here. The Secret Service, which had a very bad year in 2024, let's just be frank about that. A very bad year for this. I mean it could have been worse, God forbid, but it was pretty bad as it was. You were at the golf course. Tell everybody where the second assassination attempt against Trump occurred and what did you learn from seeing that environment yourself up close.

[Buck Sexton]

So first of all, I encourage you guys, go donate tunnel to towers t2t.org the reason I was there playing was Frank Siller. The work that they do, the last time I played with them was New York. They're now doing a major fundraiser down in Florida and they're going to do it multiple years at Trump International Golf Course. So if you are in Florida and you would be interested in playing in that event, which I hope I'll be able to do next year with them as well, they raise millions of dollars at these events and they go to help people who were either killed or catastrophically wounded military first responders, you guys know their, their work, 95% of every dollar goes to help those in need. They do phenomenal work. So that's where I was. That's why I was playing there. I had not been to this Trump International Course in West Palm beach before. I'm an awful golfer. I love playing golf. I don't get to often but as we're going around the course yesterday and thank you for holding down the fort on the show, I got to see and my caddy was there explaining to me exactly the locations of this would be second assassin. And having seen it on the ground now for myself, it is unbelievable to me that we have not gotten more details about this because this guy was going to come insanely close to Trump at an area where you could not miss. And what I was told by people who were there was that it was the glinting of the sunlight off of the barrel of his gun that made him noticeable. Trump was only one hole away from this guy being able to murder Trump right after the July 13 terrorist had come within would be assassin had come within a quarter of an inch of killing Trump on live television at that Butler, Pennsylvania rally. Buck this area, the fact that it was not swept, the fact that the Secret Service didn't have people in those Bush lines, the fact that they allowed this guy to get there at dawn and be there for hours and have Trump, one hole away from him walking up and being killed right there is indefensible. And we have not gotten. I don't think the full story on either of these would be killers. This guy after Butler, Pennsylvania. I would argue it's even more indefensible than what happened at Butler because it wasn't like the guy was on the roof of that building in Butler for eight hours in advance. I can't believe that this happened.

[Clay Travis]

I, I totally see what you mean about the second one. The first one, I do think the very first place that anybody would have wanted to clear would have been the roof where the guy said Oxford.

[Buck Sexton]

This is what I'm saying about this. If you went to that golf course with me, Buck, you would look at this and you would say, how in the world do they not have this parking lot managed? Like have agents walking along inside of this Bush line? The fact that they allowed this to happen, it feels intentional to me. It feels like there was, first of all, some sort of inside knowledge that this guy knew that Trump was likely to be playing that course on this day. But of all the places that you would be on this course, this is really the only place you need to secure.

[Clay Travis]

So really what you're saying is there were two assassination attempts against Trump that both relied on the most obvious possible platform for the shooter, positioning for the shooter of all?

[Buck Sexton]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

I don't know.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, this is, we're not, we haven't talked about. I mean, and I'm saying the collective media as a whole, for this to happen after the failures of Butler, Buck, we're talking. It's one thing Butler, you know, it comes out of nowhere. And I'm with you. It was utterly indefensible. But the most predictable places that you would expect someone to try to kill the President were unsecured after Butler, they let it happen again. And we still don't know anything about these guys. Right? I mean, compare what we know about these guys to the average mass shooter who they have front page articles about. We know everything about them. And when I, when I played this course yesterday, it just, I stood there and I looked at that Bush line and I said, how is it possible that they let a guy sit there all day and nobody was securing that area? Again, the course is not particularly complicated to secure.

[Clay Travis]

Again, I don't like to take us into a really dark and macabre direction, but imagine the feeling in the country if after that first assassination attempt, a second assassin, just as blatant and honestly, tactically lacking in Proficiency was successful, even just in wounding Trump a second time. Never mind, God forbid something else could have happened. Who would have believed that that was just grotesque incompetence twice over by a, you know, multibillion dollar federal agency that's supposed to be able to protect the President of the United States.

[Buck Sexton]

Buck, he got away too. It, he got into a car and drove away. And the only reason we caught him like 50 minutes down the road was because a woman in the parking lot saw him fleeing and wrote down his license plate. In other words, if this guy had been able to get shots on Trump, which he nearly did, he might have been able to get away.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

So it's not even, I think at a minimum, most people think, well, if you get a shot at the President, you're giving up your life. This guy got away. And the only reason we knew who he was was because a random woman, thank the Lord she was there, took down the license plate. And again, I understand people say, well, he's okay now, he's been elected President. I understand that that is, thank the Lord, happened. But I don't think we can let July and August and what nearly happened just vanish and not be having a bigger question about who knew what. How did these guys end up in the position that they did? And are we just supposed to expect and, and, and, and believe that these were totally lone wolf would be assassins? It just feels unlikely to.

[Clay Travis]

Didn't, didn't the Secret Service also fire a bunch of, Someone fired a bunch of rounds at him from pretty close and didn't hit and didn't hit him, right?

[Buck Sexton]

Yes. And he got away again. He got into his car and drove off.

[Clay Travis]

My understanding was it was, I, I, I should check and see, but it was a number of rounds from a pretty close distance. Well, that's why I bring up that the guy was able to get away. So you can, you can set up a sniper position against the President and Secret Service doesn't figure it out until you almost were able to get the shots off again the second time, never mind the first time when he did get a shot off and hit the President in the ear, which is still something I feel like our national psyche is processing, you know, how close we came as a country to the abyss. I don't even like to think about it or go there because heaven forbid, just, you know, God was on Trump's shoulder that day and we got lucky as a nation. I don't care what somebody thinks about Trump. We got lucky as a nation because that didn't you know, the worst didn't happen that day.

[Buck Sexton]

That's right.

[Clay Travis]

But that the Secret Service, I don't know what needs to be done to, to fix it so that their procedures are more, you know, it's a, I think it's a $3 billion a year agency. And they really have one job. I know they protect a bunch of people, but, you know, the Hunter Biden protection detail is different than the Trump protection detail. I think we all understand that. Right. And they had one job and they almost couldn't do that. It's pretty, pretty terrifying when you think about the incompetence. You know, we talk about the incompetence at USAID and these other places. Secret Service got incredibly lucky in 2024 that the worst didn't happen.

[Buck Sexton]

Trump would be dead. If they had had a truly competent, trained assassin, oh, definitely trying to kill him at either of those times, yeah, he would be dead. And the fact that we allowed that to happen in July and we allowed it to happen again in August, to me, is utterly indefensible. And again, being on the ground and seeing that, if all of you walked that golf course with me and you said, okay, where is the most dangerous place that's going to be on this golf course? We would all flag that exact location. And the fact that the Secret Service allowed that guy to be there all day for hours, not like he pulled up 10 minutes beforehand. He was there since dawn and came within a few hundred yards of the president being right in front of him and it being almost impossible for him to miss. I just, it's not talked about enough. And it makes me nervous because it makes me worry about Trump safety going forward, even though he's now the president and even though he now has a better protective detail. If they failed that bad twice, why would they not fail that bad a third time?

[Clay Travis]

Well, I think Trump is putting some of the people in positions now.

[Buck Sexton]

You would hope.

[Clay Travis]

You would hope. But I think he is. I mean, you see, you know, cash at FBI. Dan Bongino, FORMER Secret SERVICE as DEPUTY FBI Director, I know that's not Secret Service, but these guys understand what's at play here and are going to fix it. I think so. But, yeah, it is, it is incredibly important that these issues are addressed from the whole gamut of a bloated federal government with way too many people doing nothing, to the parts of the federal government that we need to be good.

[Buck Sexton]

And need to be perfect.

[Clay Travis]

Secretary HEGSETH at the DoD, for example, this is, this is his mission. The parts of our government that have to be absolutely a game need to be a game. It cannot be. And Secret Service, dod, these places cannot make the biggest mistakes and make them repeatedly. If you're one to donate to a worthy cause, look no further than Preborn. You'd be amazed at what $28 can do when you donate to support their mission. Put that money aside to make a donation to Preborn and their networks of clinics in cities nationwide, and in doing so, you'll be helping to save the life of of an unborn child. For the better part of two decades now, Preborn has welcomed pregnant women at their clinics in an effort to convince them there's a better plan for their unborn baby than the contemplated abortion. Preborn operates clinics in communities across our nation where abortion rates are the highest. They do this on purpose because they want to meet and welcome pregnant women who are in a crisis pregnancy, meaning it was unplanned or they're getting pressure. They don't know what to do. They want to help those moms decide between life or abortion for their unborn child. The resources and services they offer, including an ultrasound so mom can meet that unborn baby most often lead that mom down the path of choosing life. That ultrasound experience is so important and powerful in making that emotional connection between mother and child so solid. In 20 years time they have saved 300,000 plus lives doing this. When you make a donation to Preborn, your gift provides for that ultrasound. $28 is the cost of a single ultrasound, a dollar figure that you can choose to donate every month. Some of you are incredibly fortunate, have been very successful in your business and in life and you can afford to do 280 or $2,800. Whatever you can spare goes directly to this mission and it is 100% tax deductible. To donate securely, dial pound250 say the keyword baby. That's pound250 say baby or visit preborn.combuck that's preborn.com b u c k sponsored by Preborn News you can count on and some laughs too. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

[Buck Sexton]

Find them on the free I Hard radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in Clay Travis, Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us. Why don't you want to weigh in on topics we've been discussing discussing so far? Let's go ahead and hit some of Those calls here. 800-282-2882. As always encourage you. Also hit the Talk Back button on the iHeart app those roll in directly to us. You don't have to wait in line and see whether or not you can get out there with your opinion. Josh in Marietta, California, what you got for us?

[Clay Travis]

Hey, what's up? Playing Buck. Love the show. Catch it every day.

[Buck Sexton]

Appreciate it.

[Clay Travis]

Also, just a quick congrats.

[Caller]

Quick congrats to Buck for the huge.

[Clay Travis]

Blessing coming next week to him. That's amazing.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

So with regards to the media's hypothetical fear tactics on terrorists, let's just remind everybody of the actual pain of Biden's inflation rates. You know, sometimes hitting double digits stacked year over year. That's still a pain that we're feeling today.

[Buck Sexton]

No doubt. I think that's hugely important. And remember, all Trump is asking for is mutuality of fair trade. In other words, if we are not putting major tariffs on your products, then you shouldn't put tariffs on our products. Israel is a good example. Israel just said, yeah, we're doing away with all tariffs on American goods. And I would imagine that America will not have tariffs on Israeli goods and what those goods are. Exactly. I mean, Israel is a much smaller country, but this is where we have a competitive advantage because other countries need our market more by and large than we need other countries markets. Art in Big Sur, California, this beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

[Clay Travis]

Everyone gets excited about how beautiful Big Sur is. What's going on, Art?

[Caller]

Oh, hey guys, thanks for having me on. I was responding to something you said earlier about free trade, and I was reminded of my college experience and I think Buck can relate to this. I suppose I'm a little older, but anyways, back in the 80s, I went to the University of San Diego. I majored in economics. Peter Navarro was one of my professors. And you know, back then, you know, it was kind of a conservative campus. I mean, we used to kind of laugh at the lib professors and whatnot, especially in economics. And, you know, the idea of free trade was just like religion. It was like, yeah, of course, you know, I mean, and back then, if you remember, you know, the unions had kind of a death grip on things. And, you know, the, the opening of China, all of the things that happened with free trade really benefited us in terms of keeping inflation down, you know, challenging the conversion of American industry towards the service sector and whatnot. But I mean, things have changed now. So you can be a conservative and a sane individual in good standing if you stand for things that now we've moved from free trade to fair trade.

[Buck Sexton]

Thank you for the call.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, that's true. By the way, I think he's describing the shift in conservatism that has occurred, or rather in certainly in the GOP with Trump leading it.

[Buck Sexton]

The first super smart person I heard that I knew saying he was voting for Trump was my father in law in Michigan. And he was basically voting Trump because he said we need to build more things.