Hour 2 - Why Borders Matter

Summary

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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Hour 2 - Why Borders Matter

Date: February 4, 2026
Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show (iHeartPodcasts)

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Overview

This episode centers on the ongoing border crisis in the United States, the role of law enforcement (particularly ICE), and broader themes of law, order, and identity politics. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton use recent events in Minneapolis as a springboard to discuss the consequences of open borders, the effects of enforcing immigration laws, recent shifts in public attitudes, and related matters such as reparations and gender ideology. Featuring guest Kevin Roberts (Heritage Foundation), the hour is packed with direct commentary, data-driven arguments, and the duo’s trademark humor.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Minneapolis ICE Showdown and Law Enforcement Tactics

• Context: Minneapolis has become a flashpoint with anti-ICE protests—including roadblocks and clashes with law enforcement, leading to fatalities.
• Clay and Buck emphasize that making America safer hinges on supporting ICE and law enforcement, pushing back against left-wing narratives.
• Guest Insight: Tom Homan, former acting ICE director, provides stats on arrests and law enforcement cooperation (see quotes below).
• Tactical Shift: The administration is drawing down ICE officers due to improved cooperation with local authorities, making operations more efficient and less resource-intensive.

2. Crime, Border Security, and Public Safety

• Clay asserts a direct link between tighter border security, reduced violent crime, and increased national life expectancy.
• Stats Highlighted:
  • 125-year low in murder rates (since Trump's policies tightened the border)
  • Fentanyl-related deaths declining
  • Record U.S. lifespan reached in 2025
• The hosts argue the media would highlight these successes endlessly if a Democratic administration achieved them.

3. Narrative Battles: Identity Politics and Media

• The hosts critique the inability of the left to maintain a “martyr” narrative regarding individuals involved in clashes with ICE, pointing to new video evidence and the demographic background of ICE officers.
• Discussion on historical illiteracy as it relates to reparations, colonization, and who is responsible, pushing back on simplistic celebrity statements about "stolen land." (Billie Eilish is used as an example.)

4. Listener Interactions and Pop Culture Sidebar

• The hosts play and react to several listener talkbacks, veering humorously into topics like Taylor Swift’s legacy and the pronunciation of Polish surnames, injecting some levity.

5. Special Guest: Kevin Roberts (Heritage Foundation)

• Roberts discusses:
  • Effective policy and law enforcement responses in Minneapolis.
  • The left's inconsistencies and obstacles in addressing the border and public safety.
  • The importance of sustained advocacy, especially regarding gender ideology and parental rights.
  • Demographic shifts in the U.S., with red states gaining population and legislative power.
  • The need for conservatives to articulate a bold, positive vision for the future, not merely oppose the left.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

ICE Operations and Community Safety

“Numerous criminal aliens have already been arrested. We've arrested 14 people who had homicide convictions, 139 assault convictions, 87 sex offenses, 28 gang members have been arrested... We're taking a lot of bad people off the street. Everybody should be grateful for that.”
— Tom Homan, former acting ICE director (03:42)

Cause and Effect: Border Security and Crime

“To me, the fact that we are deporting tons of violent criminals and the fact that people can't illegally come into the country in mass numbers, it's not coincidental that we hit 125 year low in murders at the same time that we have the most secure border in the history of the nation.”
— Clay Travis (05:23)

The Martyrdom Narrative Fails

“Once the video came out of Preddy spitting and kicking the taillight, the whole idea... vanished. They weren't the heroic mom or nurse that the Democrats had tried to sell.”
— Buck Sexton (10:27)

Reparations and Historical Literacy

“Anytime someone says we need reparations for slavery, make that argument. Like, okay, well, you realize that the vast majority of the reparations would have to be paid by England, right?... Britain actually made all the decisions in the colonies. That's why we had the Revolutionary War.”
— Buck Sexton (13:03)

On the Resilience of Conservative Wins

“The left never sleeps... if the other side comes into power, they may be tempted to go back to this nonsense. What has changed... is the American people have sustained their sentiment against this nefarious practice. And I don't see that changing.”
— Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation (26:36)

Positive Outlook for the Conservative Movement

“We also have to cast a vision about what we're for... The role of Heritage... is to articulate that if we, in fact, were on the cusp of an American golden age, we need to revitalize the family, restore the dignity of work... and make sure... we explain why the rule of law and citizenship are vital for the American future.”
— Kevin Roberts (30:42)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Minneapolis ICE Operations & Fatalities: 01:24–05:23
• Crime Down, Border Secured—Connecting the Data: 05:23–07:57
• Anti-ICE Narrative and Media Failures: 07:57–12:14
• Reparations & Historical Context: 12:14–15:57
• Transition to Gender Ideology Issues: 21:25–22:01
• Interview with Kevin Roberts – Heritage Foundation: 23:06–33:45
• Conservative Strategy & Demographic Change: 30:03–32:24
• Listener Call-ins & Pop Culture Banter: 37:44–42:50

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Tone and Style

Clay and Buck’s delivery maintains a confident, irreverent, and often playful tone, combining policy detail, evidence, and pointed humor. The show weaves together serious analysis with asides and banter, keeping even complex topics engaging and accessible.

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For listeners seeking an in-depth understanding of the right’s perspective on border enforcement, crime, and culture war issues—with a splash of cultural commentary and direct engagement with listeners—this episode encapsulates the “Clay and Buck” approach: lively, data-driven, unapologetically conservative, and entertaining.

Transcript

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human.

[iHeartRadio Announcer]

Friday Kick off the Winter Olympics in style with the opening ceremony from Italy featuring a special performance by Mariah Carey. Celebrate the greatest athletes from around the globe as they come together to go for gold. Lipsy for sensational the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.

[Clay Travis]

Ilia Malady redefining the Sport Friday at.

[iHeartRadio Announcer]

8 Eastern, 7pm Central on NBC and.

Peacock this Sunday, iHeartRadio brings you live to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara for the Super Bowl 60 tailgate concert presented by NetApp. It's the ultimate pre game party featuring an exclusive performance from Teddy Swims. Your front row experience will be on iHeartradio stations across the country and the free iHeartradio app this Sunday at 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific. Then after the concert, tune in to the Super Bowl 60 pregame show on NB.

[Kevin Roberts]

See.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Tom Homan]

Play cut to part of the surge operation here. Numerous criminal aliens have already been arrested. We've arrested 14 people who had homicide convictions, 139 assault convictions, 87 sex offenses, 28 gang members have been arrested, just to name a few. We're taking a lot of bad people off the street. Everybody should be grateful to that. Who in their right mind would want these dangerous criminals walking around their communities?

[Clay Travis]

It's absolutely true. And you know, Clay, I want to get back into the home in this home in press conference and Homan talking about what's going on here. But beyond that, the drop in violent crime that has happened in this country since Trump came into office, if this were a Democrat administration that had specifically said we have a nationwide mandate to make people safer and to bring down the murder rate and show these kind of results, you would hear about it would be the every day and CNN would just have panels talking about this new era of law enforcement success and everything else. You have crickets from much of the media on this. Because yet again, this is not something that should be complicated, but the left makes it complicated because they're insane. It turns out, Clay, when you give the good guys the mandate to protect innocent people and to do their jobs as law enforcement officers, whether it's ICE or just cops or FBI or whomever, everybody's safer. And now a few thousand people are walking around the streets alive who would not have been if Trump had not decided to make America safe again.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, yes, all to that. And I think the Trump administration has actually done a poor job, relatively speaking, in directly connecting 125 year low in murders with the safest border that we've ever seen in any of our lives. Because to me, the fact that we are deporting tons of violent criminals and the fact that people can't illegally come into the country in mass numbers, it's not coincidental that we hit 125 year low in murders at the same time that we have the most secure border in the history of the nation. So to me, if you want to, and I think we should make that argument and continue to emphasize it, those aren't disconnected facts. The reality is these. The reason we hit 125 year low in murders is because of the secure border. Here's the other thing, Buck. It's not coincidental that the number of deaths from fentanyl is collapsing. And we also just hit last year an all time record high for lifespan. A child born last year could expect to live 79 years. That is the longest lifespan in the history of anyone lives in the United States today. So in 2025, last year, think about this. We set 125 year low in mortars, in murders, we set the most secure border and we set an all time record high for average lifespan. All of those are directly connected to bringing security to the nation. And that's why I look at what's going on in Minneapolis and we're bringing some of our people out of Minneapolis now. But what they're trying to do is what happened with BLM in 2020. They're trying to create lawlessness because if they can do it in Minneapolis, it will spread across the country. Now the one positive, I'll say, Buck, and I don't know if you would co sign on this or not. It doesn't feel like the violence and the opposition to ICE in Minneapolis has really spread that aggressively in that many other cities. Right. Like in blm, suddenly there were protests everywhere. It didn't matter what city you were in, it didn't matter what state you were in. It spread rapidly across the entire nation. Minneapolis has been a flashpoint for anti ICE protests. But it doesn't feel like similar in 2020 that we have seen the same growth of these protests nationwide. Does that make sense? Like it doesn't seem like it's taken root in the same way.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I think that the. I'm sure you talked about this, Clay, when I was checking out Bezos's rockets. But the fact that two clearly Latino American ICE officers were involved in the shooting I think also complicates the martyrdom narrative of Preddy. Right. Because what they want it to be is white right wing Trumpers who are fascists and everything else. These two ICE officers who, I mean, I forget their names but it was like Santiago and Rodriguez or something. I mean these guys are clearly of Latin American background. And I think that that also makes, as we said from the beginning, it wasn't the person the two people shot were not black, which for the left is a big thing. That is a far. They get far more energized over that issue. And I think that they are not winning the narrative battle over this stuff in the way that they thought that they would. But also, there has been a tactical change here, which is a. From the administration, which makes sense to me. Tom Holman, this is cut one. He's saying, look, they're drawing down some officers, but Minnesota authorities are cooperating in an increased fashion, and so they should be able to continue the mission. Play one.

[Tom Homan]

We currently have an unprecedented number of counties communicating with us now and allowing ICE to take custody of illegal aliens before they hit the streets. Unprecedented cooperation. Now, say it again. This is efficient. Requires only one or two officers to assume custody of a criminal alien target, rather than eight or 10 officers going into the community and arresting that public safety threat. Given this increase in unprecedented collaboration and as a result of the need for less law enforcement officers to do this work in a safer environment, I have announced, effective immediately, we will draw down 700 people, effective today, 700 law enforcement personnel.

[Clay Travis]

So, Clay, they've gotten more cooperation, according to Tom Holman, and therefore, they need less bodies from ICE on the streets. But also, even more importantly, this is what they've wanted all along. And the fact that they weren't getting it is indicative of what the Democrat left was. Was willing to create here, which was that the chaos on the streets was the result of their refusal to work with federal law enforcement. The law enforcement. Refusal to work with federal law enforcement. And it's just when the more people heard this, I think they just felt, this is. This is crazy.

[Buck Sexton]

I think totally. And building on what you said about Alex Preddy. Yes. Who shot him, I think was somewhat of a story Buck. I think the minute the video came out of him spitting and kicking the taillight, the Alex Preddy story basically vanished. Because much like when the video came out of Renee Goode and you could see that she hit the guy with her car, once the video came out of him spitting and kicking the taillight. The whole idea of Renee Goode was just a mom who dropped her kids off to school. And then you see the video of her hitting the ICE agent, and then you see the video of her pulling up and honking her horn, and all of the videos came out, and then you see Preddy spitting, kicking, tail lights. They weren't great plaintiffs anymore. They weren't the heroic nurse. They weren't the heroic mom that the Democrats had tried to sell. And that incongruent incongruous nature of what they actually were engaged in. All of a sudden, the story vanished. I mean, I haven't seen very much about Alex Prey at all. I mean, I know the Grammys people were showing up and Grammy Awards tanked, as they always do, the more political they get. But I think even for Democrats, pretty and good vanished based on the full story of their action being given, which was they were obstructing ICE agents. They weren't just bystanders who happened to end up engaged in violent treatment with no justification at all. They were trying to stop ICE from doing their job. And frankly, Preddy in particular, looks like he had a mental illness in the way that he was interacting with ice. I mean, I think I actually feel sorry for him because if you're spitting on people and if you're kicking out tail lights, I don't care what your motivation is. You are not in any way, I don't think, able to be defended.

[Clay Travis]

You know, does you think it changes the calculation at all for Billie Eilish with her stolen land thing? Do you think she even knows that it was. It was, you know, Spaniards who initially stole the land or essentially, like, now, are you. She has any idea.

[Buck Sexton]

Familiar with American colonial history?

[Clay Travis]

But does she know who stole the. She says we stole the. Who stole the land, though? Actually, actually, if anything, the British Anglos did kind of a solid by at least stealing it from the. The Spaniards who stole it in the. So, you know, we're getting them back. You know, we're getting a little revenge for the. For the tribes there because we took it from the Spaniards. So there you go. But I don't think she knows.

[Buck Sexton]

This is my whole point. This gets into the weeds a little bit, but it definitely points out how much historical illiteracy is. Anytime someone says we need reparations, right, for slavery, make that argument. Like, okay, well, you realize that the vast majority of the reparations would have to be paid by England, right? Because for the vast majority of slavery in America, the British were the ones who benefited because they were colonies. So only if you actually dive into.

[Clay Travis]

Would all the South Asian immigrants to England, would they also be paying into this, though? I'm just wondering, like, sort of. They. They pay too.

[Buck Sexton]

That's where it gets really interesting. You're like, okay, I agree. Reparations. England's gonna have to pay for two thirds of American slavery. You're like, what? Why would they pay? Well, you're like, well, because they actually benefited from it. Because from 1619 to 1783 or 1776, whatever year you want to create. Britain actually made all the decisions in the colonies. That's why we had the Revolutionary War. So Britain would actually have to pay the vast majority of reparations, not the United States because United States only had slavery for 80 years. And anyway, nobody ever really runs through it.

[Clay Travis]

And just to be clear by the numbers, by the numbers, Spain exterminated far more than, far more natives than the Anglos did. If you. Because when you look at Central and South America, I mean the Maya, I'm sorry the Inca empire alone. The Inca empire alone probably had more people in it than all of the tribes in North America put together at the time of, of colonial exploration and, and the founding. So you know, does Spain walk around crying tears about this all day? No. Why? Because we think of Spain as part of Latin America all mixed in together now and somewhat non white even though there are totally white Spaniards with blonde hair. You know, it's all but the point you get in the actual history. And I want to know Billie Eilish, who is she who stole the land? I want to ask her who does she think stole it and who is.

[Buck Sexton]

We're actually following up and asking questions. This played some cuts of a couple of the outkit guys that asked Steve Kerr, I think you probably saw those in Doc Rivers about the comments that they made. Actually following up and making them demonstra. The lack of depth of basic knowledge that they have is what real media should do. If we truly had journalism, you wouldn't just report what someone says. You would follow up and aggressively question them to see what the depth of knowledge they have for the take that they've put out.

[Clay Travis]

There is Billy Eilish, if you come from a racially mixed family and if you have like, like Barack Obama, black father, white, white mother. So then does your white. Does the white parent like pay reparations but the, the black parent gets the reparation? Like how does that work with the reparations?

[Buck Sexton]

I'm just wondering also how about the African countries that sold the slaves? Like shouldn't they have to pay part of the reparations since they, what about.

[Clay Travis]

The, what about the African immigrants to America who arrived here in the last 20 years who love it here by the way and are like Nigerian Americans are doing great by the numbers in terms of GDP and, or GDP per capita. Do they get the rep. Because I'm pretty sure they're just, they just got here but they're black. Do they get reparations? I don't think anyone's really thought this. Well, oh, we're gonna, we're gonna do the lineage thing. Oh, okay. And then how much, how much do you get? It all falls apart, doesn't it? The whole thing, it's all absurd. Billie Eilish, though, she should stick to kind of the warbling songs.

[Buck Sexton]

Back her home. She has to get back her home. I would. I definitely love the moron that Billie Eilish probably has as PR when suddenly she's having to respond on this PR front. You know, it's not like somebody stole one of her song lyrics and did something with it on TikTok. It's all of a sudden, hey, you're gonna turn back over your multi million dollar mansion. We'll take some of your calls. Talkbacks. By the way, we got some great talkbacks. 800 282. 280 82. But I want to tell you, prize picks get hooked up right now as we are about to have the super bowl on Sunday. Here is my pick for all of you. You can play in all 50 states. You can play along with us. It's nearly four to one on the payout. Drake may free square more than one half passing yard. We cannot lose on that one. More than one half passing touchdown for Drake, May, Jackson, Smith and Jigba More than 93 and a half receiving yards and Sam darnold more than one and a half passing touchdowns. You go to pricepicks.com use code clay that's pricepicks.com code clay and you will get hooked up in a heartbeat with $50 in credit deposited in your account. You can play in California where I am right now. You can play in Florida where Buck is right now. Across the width and breadth of the country, you can play in all 50 states. New York, Minnesota, Montana, Texas, Georgia, wherever you are, you can play prizepix.com code Clay $50. $50 in your account when you play $5. That's pricepix.com code Clay prizepix.com code C L A Y.

[Clay Travis]

You don't know what you don't know, right? But you could on the Sunday hang with Clay and Buck podcast Friday, kick.

[iHeartRadio Announcer]

Off the Winter Olympics in style with the opening ceremony from Italy featuring a special performance by Mariah Carey. Celebrate the greatest athletes from around the globe as they come together to go for gold.

[Clay Travis]

Lipsy Vaughn, Sensational.

[iHeartRadio Announcer]

The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.

[Clay Travis]

Ilya Malini redefining this sport Friday at.

[iHeartRadio Announcer]

8 Eastern, 7 Central on NBC.

And Peacock this Sunday, iHeartRadio brings you live to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara for the Super Bowl 60 tailgate concert presented by NetApp. It's the ultimate pre game party featuring an exclusive, exclusive performance from Teddy Swims. Your front row experience will be on iHeartradio stations across the country and the free iHeartradio app this Sunday at 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific. Then after the concert, tune in to the Super Bowl 60 pregame show on NBC.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in Clay Travis, Buck Sexton show we're going to be talking here shortly with what Kevin Roberts, who's the head of the Heritage Foundation. He's gonna join us at the bottom of the hour. But let me hit you with a couple of news stories that are out there that have been updated recently. We still don't know where Nancy Guthrie is. They're still searching for the 84 year old mother of Savannah Guthrie. The updates there the second Trump assassin would be assassin. Ryan Ruth has been given life in prison and sentenced. He will spend the rest of his life in prison. That was the West Palm beach would be assassin who showed up at the golf course, Buck, and was hiding in the bushes all day and would have killed Trump there in the summer if I remember correctly, August, if I remember of the 2024 election season. So he has now been sentenced to life in prison. Remember Buck, he was motivated, he said, by the idea that Trump was Hitler and the Ukraine war. Directly acting on the left wing perspectives.

[Clay Travis]

We're coming up here in a few minutes with Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage foundation and Heritage Action. So we'll be talking to him about what's going on in Minneapolis. But also this trans issue, which is something that all of. Look, the only people that are going to talk about this are people on the right who have been right on this issue for a long time. Media does not. I don't think the media has a good way to spin this. I think the only, their only move play at NBC News, at cnn, New York Times, whatever's left of the Washington Post. Their only move is to ignore. That's all they can do. I don't think there's a way for them to go around this.

[Buck Sexton]

I think that's 100% true. And we'll talk about that with, with Kevin Roberts. I got some more data for you on that. But I want to tell you right now, if you are dealing with. Unfortunately, there's still a lot of people who had ice storms and lost their power for multiple days, potentially nearly three weeks in the Nashville area, for people to be without their powers. And if you are out there and you want to protect yourself in the event that something like this happens now been 11 days in Tennessee that people don't have power. That's what rapid radios are for. They provide clothes, clear communication, long battery life, durability stands up to real world emergencies. We have them in the Travis household. Fortunately, our power stayed on, but lots of people's power did not. And many people who lost their power were able to stay communicating with their families through rapid radios. One of our listeners said, hey, my daughter, she was in Oxford at Ole Miss University of Mississippi, was hit in a very significant way. Oxford area was one of the worst parts of the ice storm. Cell phone networks were all down, almost all of them. Rapidradios.com, able to keep this family in touch.

[Clay Travis]

Rapidradios.com welcome back into play and buck. We're joined by Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage foundation and Heritage Action. Kevin, thank you for making the time for us today.

[Kevin Roberts]

Oh, man, you two know I'll make the time anytime to talk to you.

[Clay Travis]

Ah, we very much appreciate it, sir. You do have fantastic taste in radio from what I understand. So that's, that's a good start. That's a strong start.

[Kevin Roberts]

Well, the combination of politics and patriotism and sports is, you know, it's like a man's dream.

[Clay Travis]

Thank you. That's why we're at almost 600 stations these days. Things are going well. But tell us about your view here. Let's start. Let's Start with what you see going on in Minneapolis from a policy perspective on the immigration frontier, the immigration fight, trying to enforce the laws there. We played some Tom Holman bites. In fact, guys, when we played Cut three and let. Let Kevin react to what he's saying about what's going on there. Play three.

[Tom Homan]

I was away to where the. The roadblocks just. I called the chief of police and he went and disbanded them after I got the phone with him. He has promised to take enforcement action so illegal. You can't do that. And again, it messes those folks. What are you doing? You really think it will stop a nice and CBP from doing the job? It's a joke. Only people you're hurting is your own community. Who wants to go and get groceries, pick up the dry cleaning or go to work, whatever. You're just hindering them. Stop.

[Clay Travis]

I mean, Kevin, what is this? It's like the Blackhawk down movie where they're throwing tires in the roads and lighting them on fire to stop the trucks from being able to go. Or the. The Humvees, you know, move. They're setting up roadblocks in Minneapolis. Yeah.

[Kevin Roberts]

I mean, as I've said a few times over the last two weeks, imagine if this were Little Rock in 1957 or some other hot spot during the desegregation battles. It's. I mean, the Democrats in Minnesota and nationally are on the same side. I mean, it's exactly what they're doing. And I just want to say about Tom Homan, I mean, color me bias, because he's not just a former Heritage colleague, but a good friend of mine. When the president said that he was sending Tom in on the ground, you knew that there was going to be an improvement for a couple of reasons. First of all, the man's a truth teller and the American people are with him. But secondly, his experience as a law enforcement officer commands the respect and even the fraternity of most law enforcement. Even when the knuckleheads who are the mayor and the attorney general and the governor are saying to do otherwise. What Tom has been able to do in a short amount of time is get some level of cooperation. Obviously not nearly enough, evidenced by the roadblocks. I just think Tom has got to stay on the ground there until we bring these people back under the rule of law.

[Buck Sexton]

We're talking with our friend Kevin Roberts, the Heritage Foundation. Buck and I started off the show today. Thanks for coming on with us. Talking about Buck's got one son. I've got three sons. But the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Medical association are both now saying, hey, there shouldn't be trans surgeries for kids under 18. It comes on the heels of a $2 million verdict being given in Westchester county, just north of New York City from mostly blue jurors, probably blue voting jurors. What are your thoughts on the sudden change in stories like these? You're a parent as well. What do you attribute it to? How sustainable are these wins? How much do you get concerned if we have a Democrat back in the White House, some of these organizations will flip on their head again.

[Kevin Roberts]

Yeah, you know, I'm tempted, both as a parent of four and as a policy leader, I guess, to say these, these wins are just going to keep being accrued and we've won on this issue. But I know better than that, because the left never sleeps. And if the midterms go sideways, but especially if 2028 brings a Democrat back in power, they may be tempted to go back to this nonsense. I will say, though, just to inject a little bit of optimism, what has changed is not just the legal judgments, which of course prompted one of those decisions, but much more importantly even than that, the American people have sustained their sentiment against this nefarious practice. And I don't see that changing. Obviously, there are places like Heritage and many other places where there's been heroic work on this. My colleague Jay Richards, Ryan Anderson now over at Ethics and Public Policy center, have been fantastic on this. But even more importantly than these smart guys, it's just the everyday American, especially if their parents saying, we've had enough and we're not going back. So I'm more optimistic. But we also have to be realistic if the other side comes into power, that they do goofy things, you know, evidenced by what they're doing in Minnesota.

[Clay Travis]

Speaking to Kevin Roberts, he is the president of the Heritage foundation. And, you know, we've been talking a bit, Kevin, about this moment where finally there seem to be the beginnings, at least, of consequences for these transgender surgeries. Do you think that they're real? You know, you mentioned they're gonna come back into power. What are your expectations for how Democrats, especially going into the presidential election, are going to handle this issue? Because even when Kamala was running, you remember it came out, that clip where she said, and I might get this wrong, Clay, correct me if it was that she wanted taxpayer funded transgender surgeries for illegals. And people thought that has to be a. That has to be a right wing meme. That was a joke. And it turned out it was Real. And then she tried to walk away from that. Are they going to just pretend like they've not done all these things or are they going to be speaking loud and proud about how they want hormones for 12 year olds, etc.

[Kevin Roberts]

I think there's a war inside the American left about where they land on that. So, you know, if there are in fact leftist leaders who are closer to the center than others, they want to abandon all of that, especially as it relates to kids. But there, I can tell you, if you're looking following what's going on in the state of Virginia just a couple of weeks into Spanberger's term there, the supposed moderate has been governing as just the most leftist, almost Tim Wall style kind of governor. And so I think the reason that the left will probably revert to form and challenge the right on the progress made against transgender ideology is because of all the muddied interests that fund that. I mean, let's keep in mind one of the reasons that this has continued in spite of the good news that you mentioned at the top of the segment is because there are tens of millions of dollars that are behind this agenda. As long as those entities keep funding the left, you're going to see people like Spanberger and some of these supposed moderate Democrats govern the wrong way on that issue. That's why we have to be so vigilant and that's why we can't say we won on the issue. The left never sleeps, including on this one.

[Buck Sexton]

Since this data came out, we're talking to Kevin Roberts at the Heritage Foundation. I'm sure you saw this. The population gaining the most were 10 Trump states. That is domestic migration inside of the country, the population losing the most, nine Kamala states. You spend a lot of time thinking about the future, trying to build a culture. By the way, building on top of that, the red states, people are having way more babies than blue states are. This is becoming pretty significant. What is the role of the Heritage foundation in your mind going forward in not only Trump year 2.0, but as we get ready for the midterms and as you mentioned earlier, 2028?

[Kevin Roberts]

Well, number one, in the shorter term between now and 2030, to do our role appropriately in making sure conservatives stay in power. We can do that both at the Heritage foundation, but also in our more political arm, Heritage Action, which I also lead. And the reason I say 2030, as you know and you've talked about, once we get to reapportionment for the next decade, if in fact we can keep the left from doing anything strange with it, you know, interfering with it, then there's going to be a massive electoral benefit for Republicans, you know, maybe another two dozen seats. But the second thing that I would say is we also have to cast a vision about what we're for. I mean, it's one thing for the math to be improving for us, as you outlined so well, but that math is going to be relatively immaterial, whatever the advantage it presents, if we're not actually saying what our vision is for the future. That's the problem that Congress is having right now as they face the midterms. What are you for? And that's not just what you've done, but what are you for? And so the role of Heritage in that, and it is our bread and butter, is to articulate that if we, in fact, were on the cusp of an American golden age, we need to revitalize the family. We need to restore the dignity of work and free enterprise. We need to continue to expand the restoration of America's power, but to do so in a restrained way. No more neocon interventionism. And the fourth thing we've got to do is to make sure, kind of going back to Minnesota, we explain why the rule of law and citizenship are vital for the American future. I applaud the President and vice President for always talking about the future. We need to make sure that Congress is doing that. And so you might say, Heritage is kind of a very friendly accountability partner for the center. Right. To make sure that happens.

[Buck Sexton]

Those are all super important things. I am about to get on a plane and head to San Francisco, where the super bowl is gonna be. I know you are a monster sports fan and a Texas Longhorn fan in college football. What's going to happen between the Seahawks and the Patriots? Have you decided who's going to win the Super Bowl?

[Kevin Roberts]

As I told my middle daughter, who's our big football fan at home, I said, I just can't pull for the Patriots, even though I hate Seattle. So I'm rooting for Seattle and hope they win. But I sure wish my Cowboys were there.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, I agree. I'm rooting for Seattle, too. Very excited for their prospects. I just want to tell you something, Kevin, that your esteemed in house scholar there, Steve Yates, you know, he pulled together a trip for me and for him to go to Taiwan. We met with the President there. And that trip, not only did we speak to some senior folks at the Pentagon right when we got back, but when I was with the Secretary of War on Monday, we were talking a little. A little Taiwan. So Steve is doing great work for you guys and representing you very well and getting interest at the very highest level. So take care of my man Yates, will you?

[Kevin Roberts]

Count on it. And thank the two of you and genuinely, guys, for being, most importantly, great patriots, but including that great friends of the Heritage Foundation.

[Clay Travis]

Fantastic. Good to see you. Or good to have you on. We can kind of see. We can hear you. Can't quite see you, but thanks for being with us, Kevin.

[Kevin Roberts]

Good.

[Clay Travis]

Good to have you.

[Kevin Roberts]

All right, man. Take care, Evie.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[iHeartRadio Announcer]

Friday. Kick off the Winter Olympics in style with the opening ceremony from Italy featuring a special performance by Mariah Carey. Celebrate the greatest athletes from around the globe as they come together to go for gold. Lipsy for sensational the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.

[Clay Travis]

Gilgamesh redefining the Sport Friday at 8.

[iHeartRadio Announcer]

Eastern, 7 Central on NBC and Peacock.

This Sunday, iHeartRadio brings you live to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara for the Summer Super Bowl 60 tailgate concert presented by NetApp. It's the ultimate pre game party featuring an exclusive performance from Teddy Swims. Your front row experience will be on iHeartradio stations across the country and the free iHeartradio app this Sunday at 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific. Then after the concert, tune in to the Super Bowl 60 pregame show on NBC.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

Welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton show. We're going to be joined by Lieutenant Governor of Georgia Bert Jones. Top of the next hour on Girls and Women in Sports Day. He's got some thoughts on that. We'll dive into it, but we got a bunch of talkbacks. I thought we would hit some of those to close up the second hour of the program. And so let's start with a Chris from Tampa, Florida.

[Clay Travis]

The one armed man there, Mr. Sexton, was from the Fugitive. That would be the Fugitive.

[Buck Sexton]

There you go. We gotta he gets the gold star.

[Clay Travis]

The high five. Correct. There was a fugitive reference on the show yesterday.

[Buck Sexton]

I stepped all over the gladiator reference. If I If I remember correctly, Corey in Minnesota. But I've. I've won him over, baby.

[Clay Travis]

When I was listening to Clay about.

[Kevin Roberts]

The Taylor Swift thing, I started laughing and kind of a what a moron move that was. And the more I think about it and the more I've listened to his arguments, I think he's 100% right. The Beatles are great because it's our generation. She is going to span multiple generations and multiple genres by the time it's done.

[Clay Travis]

I think he's falling into this common trap of Clay's obviously wrong position that he's very persuasive in making. That's what I feel bad for him here.

[Buck Sexton]

It's like the. The meme that everybody shares of Alonzo Morning back in the day, he was a player for the Miami Heat. He's shaking his head no, and then just inexplicably, he keeps shaking his head no, and then he changes to shaking his head yes. Nobody's talking to him. That's like me every day. I'm just convincing people. Brian in Katy, Texas.

[Kevin Roberts]

C, this is Brian in Katy, Texas. Clay's right. Taylor Swift has already been putting out albums for 20 years.

[Clay Travis]

People have been listening to her their entire lives.

[Kevin Roberts]

They're going to keep listening to her.

[Buck Sexton]

I love these backs. Really great stuff.

[Clay Travis]

All these bands have been putting out. The Backstreet Boys have been putting out albums for 20 years.

[Kevin Roberts]

Who cares?

[Clay Travis]

This is nonsense.

[Tom Homan]

This is.

[Clay Travis]

The longevity thing. Isn't really an argument, as far as I can see, but just right.

[Buck Sexton]

More people listen. D Podcast listener Tony. Let's see what he has to say.

[Kevin Roberts]

Buck, I think you've just. I'm not even sure. I think you've just become officially Polish. You love Buffalo. You love the Goo Goo Dolls. I just heard it. And you love kielbasa, so you got to. You got two going right out. Kielbasa. The Goo Goo Dolls, who are like, Johnny resnick is, like, 100% Polish from downtown Buffalo. We got to get you some. Well, first of all, we got it. We got to get you to be a build fan.

[Buck Sexton]

I think it was your roommate, Polish sausage, that you were particularly fond of.

[Clay Travis]

If I remember that he introduced me to. Yes. The first time I ever experienced Polish sausage. And it was delicious. I'll have you know.

[Buck Sexton]

The spice.

[Clay Travis]

It was quite good.

[Buck Sexton]

I was.

[Clay Travis]

I was a fan. Yeah. No, Goo Goo Dolls. Love the band. And I actually have had some very close friends from Buffalo over the years, so I feel like I'm kind of a honorary Buffalonian, if that's A thing.

[Buck Sexton]

I think that's. I would like to see the Bills win a Super bowl one day, and I'd like to see Josh Allen win a Super bowl one day. I don't know it's ever going to happen. People in Buffalo are saying, yeah.

[Clay Travis]

By the way, producer Ally is so Polish that nobody can produce. I can pronounce her last name. Nobody. She's very lucky. She got a cool last name in the marriage that's easy to pronounce, but her actual Polish last name. We've been working with her for years. I've known Ali for a decade. I have no idea how to pronounce that last name. It's very Polish.

[Buck Sexton]

I agree. And also, you made a great, great call.

[Clay Travis]

It's like. It's like Koch la Palsk. It's like Koslapowskoveski or something.

[Buck Sexton]

It's.

[Clay Travis]

It's up, you know, like that.

[Buck Sexton]

What's wild is when we would try to email and you were finally like, you just gotta simplify this email. Because she tried to predict.

[Clay Travis]

Brilliant.

[Buck Sexton]

I don't know. The first and last names were in email addresses, as they often are at many different places.

[Clay Travis]

I did. I did make producer Ali change her email address because I got so sick of not being able to spell her name. So that is. That is a real thing that happens. So maybe the Polish will be mad at me, but, man, you get the C's and the Z's and the Y's and everything in there. I don't know what's going on.

[Buck Sexton]

No, a hundred percent. One more. By the way, as we go to break. Yesterday we played our Goodfellas talk back. Sounded like. And now he's way back in and says everybody's making fun of him at work.

[Clay Travis]

Hey, Clay and Buck, it's Dave from Pennsylvania again. Man, I can't believe you play that callback. Everybody at work is busting on me. They're downloading this thing over.

[Tom Homan]

Over.

[Clay Travis]

What I said about Clay and his.

[Buck Sexton]

Music.

[Clay Travis]

Is toned at the air. I got a cold yesterday. My throat was sore. I was trying to yell on the phone. Oh, my God, you guys are awesome. That was unbelievable. Fantastic. Yeah, that was great.

[Buck Sexton]

He's like, you.

[Clay Travis]

Fuck you guys. I'm like, hey, we love it. Give us those talk backs, everybody. Clay, where are we going? Third hour here. Who's up next?

[Buck Sexton]

Well, we've got the Lieutenant Governor of Georgia. We'll talk to him off the top of the show, maybe talk a little bit about the Washington Post and the decisions that they have made. Basically, to shut down much of that newspaper and how and why that ended up happening. All that coming your way in the.

[iHeartRadio Announcer]

Third hour this Sunday, iHeartRadio brings you live to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara for The Super Bowl 60 tailgate concert. Presented by NetApp. It's the ultimate pre game party featuring an exclusive performance from Teddi Swims. Your front row experience will be on iHeartradio stations across the country and the free iHeartradio app this Sunday at 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific. Then after the concert, tune into The Super Bowl 60 pregame show on NBC.

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.