Hour 2 - Would You Do This on a Date?

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show Episode: Hour 2 - Would You Do This on a Date?
Release Date: August 12, 2025
Host: Clay Travis and Buck Sexton
Producer: iHeartPodcasts

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1. Economic Landscape: Inflation and Tariff Policies

Timestamp: [00:34]

Buck Sexton opens the discussion by addressing the current state of the U.S. economy, noting that “inflation is holding steady at 2.7%” ([00:34]). He commends former President Donald Trump's tariff policies, describing them as “prescient” and “wise” thus far ([00:50]). Buck challenges skeptics who worry that tariffs will negatively impact the economy, asserting that any detrimental effects have “already started” ([00:55]).

Clay Travis adds to the conversation, emphasizing the interconnectedness of the economy, border security, and crime as the “triad of governance and critical issues” ([02:15]). He suggests that while the government plays a significant role in the economy, it’s essential to find a balance to ensure effective governance.

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2. Trump-Putin Alaska Summit: Prospects for Peace in Ukraine

Timestamp: [01:45]

The hosts delve into the anticipated Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, aimed at negotiating a “ceasefire and a pathway to end the Russia-Ukraine war” ([01:45]). Buck highlights the “staggering casualty figures” associated with the conflict and underscores Trump's humanitarian motives behind seeking peace ([02:05]). He remains optimistic, stating, “it would be a remarkable situation” if Trump successfully brokers an agreement between Putin and Zelensky ([02:20]). However, Buck anticipates media backlash regardless of the outcome, predicting that Trump will face criticism and “never give him a Nobel Peace Prize” even if he achieves peace ([02:45]).

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3. Rising Concerns: Crime in Washington D.C.

Timestamp: [03:41]

Shifting focus to domestic issues, Buck and Clay examine the escalating crime rates in Washington D.C. Buck cites historical data, mentioning that D.C. was “the per capita murder capital of the United States” in the early '90s ([03:41]). A caller elaborates on this, referencing former Mayor Marion Barry’s notorious admission that D.C. “doesn't have a crime rate problem except for the murders” ([04:00]). This highlights the persistent struggle the city faces with violent crime despite improvements over the decades.

Buck shares a personal anecdote about his stolen e-scooter in New York City, reflecting broader sentiments about underreporting minor crimes due to perceived inefficacy of law enforcement ([04:34]). He humorously recounts, “they are gonna have their best guys on that one” when discussing the police response to his scooter theft ([04:55]).

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4. Listener Interaction: E-Scooters, Violent Crime, and Policing Strategies

Timestamp: [05:13 - 15:12]

The conversation intensifies as Buck discusses efforts to combat rising violent crime in D.C. A listener mentions that while murders are declining, other violent crimes are on the rise, questioning the accuracy of crime statistics ([07:16]). Buck responds by emphasizing the complexity of crime data, noting that while murders are more visible and harder to hide, other violent crimes often go underreported ([07:45]).

Further, Buck critiques the D.C. Police Department after a “police commander” was placed on administrative leave for allegedly “changing crime stats” ([07:16]). This incident fuels the debate on the transparency and reliability of crime reporting in urban centers.

A caller argues for increased police presence in high-crime neighborhoods, proposing a pairing system where National Guardsmen work alongside local police to “cut crime by 50%” ([14:46]). Buck concurs, pointing out the necessity of deploying law enforcement where it’s most needed, citing former practices like New York’s “stop, question, and frisk” policy ([15:00]).

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5. Audience Engagement: Dating Mishaps and Social Observations

Timestamp: [24:23 - 46:44]

The tone shifts as Buck shares a humorous personal story about attempting to impress a date with his stolen e-scooter ([24:23]). A caller chimes in with a similar experience, recounting how using a “gift certificate” for a restaurant during a first date signaled a lack of genuine interest ([27:50]). Buck humorously advises men to “pick up the tab on the first date” to avoid appearing disinterested ([29:14]).

Another listener emphasizes the impracticality of reporting minor crimes, drawing parallels to Buck’s e-scooter theft and the broader issue of underreporting in communities facing high crime rates ([05:30]). The segment blends humor with serious reflections on personal safety and societal expectations in dating.

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6. Concluding Discussions: National Guard Deployment and Future Prospects

Timestamp: [32:05 - 33:19]

As the episode nears its end, Buck and Clay discuss Mayor Muriel Bowser’s stance on deploying the National Guard to assist with D.C.’s crime issues. Buck speculates that Bowser aims to “leave open the possibility of taking credit” for any improvements, subtly attributing potential successes to Trump’s influence despite political constraints ([32:25]).

A caller from Florida suggests a correlation between restrictive gun laws in democratic-run states and rising violence, advocating for more robust Second Amendment protections ([35:53]). Buck supports this by highlighting statistics that indicate higher gun ownership correlates with lower gun violence, challenging prevalent narratives about gun control ([37:37]).

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Notable Quotes

• Buck Sexton on Tariffs:
  “Trump on the tariffs looking very prescient, very wise so far” ([00:50])

• Buck Sexton on DC Crime Commander Investigation:
  “There is a lot of smoke, and I'm telling you, there's fire there, too” ([08:37])

• Buck Sexton on Murder Rates Correlation:
  “If the murder rate is high, other crime is high too, 100%” ([10:49])

• Caller on Gift Certificates and Dating:
  “I'm just telling you, I don't believe there's a single relationship that has ever come from a first date gift certificate” ([28:48])

• Buck Sexton on National Guard Deployment:
  “If this were happening in Chicago, Mayor Johnson would be screaming about Nazism and racism and Trump as, like, the head of the KKK” ([32:25])

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Conclusion

In this engaging episode of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, the hosts navigate through pressing economic concerns, international diplomatic efforts, and the escalating crime rates in Washington D.C. Their interactive segment with listeners brings a blend of humor and serious discourse on societal issues such as policing strategies and personal safety. By intertwining personal anecdotes with broader policy discussions, Clay and Buck offer listeners a comprehensive analysis of contemporary challenges, all while maintaining their signature blend of intelligence and humor.

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Note: Advertisements, musical interludes, and non-content segments have been excluded to focus solely on the substantive discussions of the episode.

Transcript

[Buck Sexton]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Clay Travis]

Ice Cube's Big Three is the surprise hit of the summer. This Saturday, 4pm Eastern on CBS, with playoff elimination on the line. The most physical, fiercest and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win to make the playoffs. And breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad in a do or die match for both teams. Six teams are allowed for four spots and all must win. There's no crying in the big three. And the no holds barred action starts Saturday at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific, presented by iHeart.

[Buck Sexton]

Second hour of Clay and Buck kicks off right now. Thanks for being here with us, everybody. And we've got some interesting stories to update you with, including, well, did we say inflation held steady at 2.7%? Just let you know, inflation holding steady. Trump on the tariffs looking very prescient, very wise so far. I know there are people that are still clinging to the idea that, oh no, just wait, any day now the tariffs are going to tank the economy. Wouldn't that happen at least a little bit, a little bit already if that was going to be the case? But we've got also the Trump sit down. The Putin Trump Alaska summit on Friday where he's going to try to get a negotiated cease fire and a, a pathway to an end of the Russia Ukraine war, which, Clay, I have to say the, the casualty figures that you hear about this, including when we were up in D.C. and visited the White House and talking to some of the national security folks in that White House, the casualty figures are staggering. And this is a war that, because we're not involved directly in combat, it is, it feels obviously a lot further away. Our people are not getting shot, our people are not getting killed. But there are people getting shot and killed in huge numbers. And Trump on a humanitarian level and on a what's good for the world and good for business level, wants this thing to end. So we'll see if he's able to pull that off. It would be a remarkable situation, Clay, if Trump is able to get some kind of a deal from Putin, even the beginnings of a deal from Putin and Zelensky. And then you're going to have the media say he gave, he pushed, he pushed Zelensky too much or he gave, you know, it's never good enough. Whatever Trump does, it's never good enough. So just be prepared for that. And they'll never give him a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what he does. It does not matter. Trump could end war for all time and they would still not give him a Nobel Peace Prize. But we're going to continue to look at that and give you a preview of where all that's going. But something I thought was very interesting, Clay, is a story that's getting a lot of attention and circulating now on the D.C. crime issue. Remember, we have a mantra here on the show. We talk about it for elections, but it's true in general, what really matters to us day to day. Economy, border crime. Economy, border crime. It's kind of the triad, the big three of governance and critical issues. And they obviously play into each other. And there are areas where the government has an outsized role, perhaps too big in the economy. But that's a whole other conversation. And here we are now looking at efforts to make things better and safer in D.C. you would think that public safety and reducing crime is a bipartisan, a truly bipartisan issue. You know, Clay, I looked this up. It was the DC Was in fact a little trivia for you. The per capita murder capital of the United States for at least a year or two in the early 90s, the worst place for murder in America.

[Caller]

Which is saying something which led to one of the most unbelievable. It's real quotes from a. A mayor, political figurine, Marion Barry. The esteemed Marion Barry said D.C. doesn't have a crime rate problem except for the murders, I mean, which is an all timer. And for people out there who, who. I get it. And the books are being cooked on crime in many different cities when it comes to carjacking or robberies or the fact that a lot of times some of you out there in cities know this to be true. Something gets stolen and it takes so long for the police to come that you're like, screw it, this is not even worth my window got broken. I'm just. A lot of people don't report relatively minor crime because they know it's more. It's going to take longer of their time than to deal with it. Murder.

[Buck Sexton]

Which is why when someone stole my E Scooter. That's right, my cool E Scooter. Zoom, zoom. All over New York City. And then some ruffian, some scoundrel stole my E Scooter right off the streets. It was very sad.

[Caller]

And you didn't even report that, right?

[Buck Sexton]

I did not. I did not. Because it cost like 250 bucks. And to go to the police, what are they gonna do? They're gonna have their. I'd be like, legitimately, oh, yeah, we got our best Guys, on that one, we got detectives working around the clock looking for your e scooter. First of all, I thought they'd look at me like. You were all on an e scooter, buddy. Really? Okay.

[Caller]

I'm surprised anybody dated you when you were single, when you were riding around on an e scooter with a helmet on. Wow.

[Buck Sexton]

Harsh. Harsh. Way harsh. Play.

[Caller]

But are Easter. I wasn't married in Miami.

[Buck Sexton]

People do. People do ride them here pretty. Pretty regularly. Yeah, I'd say It's. It's.

[Caller]

They got really popular in Nashville for a while, and then it was like the whole. It was like they had some sort of overproduction, and now nobody's on them. Have you noticed there were these companies of them?

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, there were these companies that got venture capital funding, a number of them, and they just. They just sort of flooded the zone with these electric scooters in a whole bunch of cities. Nashville was one of them. D.C. was one of them.

[Caller]

People just abandoned them in huge piles. It was actually.

[Buck Sexton]

It became an eyesore, and they. They were getting broken, they were getting stolen. I mean, the whole thing, you know, you need a really high trust society for those things to work the way they're supposed to. Meaning that everyone puts them where they're supposed to at the end, and people don't break them, and people don't steal them, and they don't just leave. So it was a total mess. The other thing is, I know plenty of people who have, like, absolutely wiped out on those things. It's not hard. It's not hard to do. The thing that people don't realize on those things is that if you. If you go to an on, if you're going at speed and you go to, like, an uneven ledge.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

There's no. It's not like a car where you go over the speed bump, you will come to a screeching halt and go flying over those handlebars. I know people who have lost their teeth, broken their elbow. Anyway, so that's what happened. So, yes, someone stole my e scooter, and I'm still sad about it. Now let's talk about the crime statistics that should be reported. And that is the serious stuff in D.C. and Clay, it turns out, for those of us who were skeptical of the claim that D.C. has the lowest violent crime rate it has had in 30 years. First of all, notice not murders. We always talk about this. Murders are hard to hide. No matter. Unless you're in, like, the middle of a cartel war in Juarez. Murders tend to get you Know, the tend to get the orientation of feeding.

[Caller]

People to crocodiles in Costa Rica, right? Like, in general, it's hard to hide dead bodies.

[Buck Sexton]

It's. It's something that tends to get everyone's attention. And the murder rate in D.C. is down a lot from the 90s, but it went up dramatically, especially because of BLM. 2023 had a peak. But, Clay, here's a story. A D.C. police commander. This is just from all this is recent DC Police commander under investigation for allegedly changing crime stats in his district. Now, you might say, oh, wait, why would he do that? Because they must be so honest with their crime stats. Oh, no. The Metro Police Department confirmed that an officer was placed on paid administrative leave in mid May. But it happened. This is the key. It happened one week after that officer filed an EEO complaint on an assistant chief and the police union accused the department of deliberately falsifying crime data. This guy came out and was part of, hey, they're cooking the books. So the police department puts him on leave for cooking the books, which he says he is being made to do by his chain of command. That is highly suspicious. A lot of smoke, and I'm telling you, there's fire there, too.

[Caller]

Well, you know this, and anybody who's ever worked in business knows this. You get targets, and sometimes the data can allow you to manipulate the targets in ways that make it look like you're doing better than you actually are because of the way the data comes in. And so it doesn't surprise me. This is why, to me, you have to go to murder. I understand the argument of, hey, there are a lot of other serious crimes, but I would bet that it is almost unprecedented for a city to have a low murder rate and a high violent crime rate in other facets. Right? Or vice versa, to be true. A high murder rate and a low violent crime rate in conjunction, none of that would overlap. Right? A high murder rate is typically going to also mean a high rate of sexual assault, a high rate of robbery, a high rate of carjacking. All of those things run in concert. And so, you know, I think overall, this is important. Here's another thing, Buck, that almost nobody talks about. You know, our medical care has become so good that a lot of people that in past years would have died of and been murder victims now survive. So somewhat the rate of murder over the last 25 years, it should be down precipitously because we're far better at saving life because of health care. And so I think sometimes you have to look at number of people that are being shot and going into hospitals. This is also true, you know, for, for combat, for the Ukraine, Russia war, for instance, and certainly for other of our soldiers out there. You guys know this to be true. We are able to save far more life than we ever have before. So the data doesn't always tell the same story because if you got shot in 1968, odds were you probably are going to die. We're saving a lot more lives now compared to then, if that makes sense. So again, look at what the actual data shows and that story is. Violent crime is far too often a major issue in almost every city in America.

[Buck Sexton]

I think they did an after the fact assessment of fatalities on our side. Americans lost in the Vietnam War and if there was just a rudimentary training in suck, what's called a sucking chest wound. Yeah, they would have, A lot more people would have survived. So. Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's true. These, these numbers, when you can do analysis of them with, with murders though, what you see is if the murder rate is high, other crime is high too, 100%. This is the, then there's a, there's a little bit of a difference here in San Francisco, for example, and we could get into why this is. But in San Francisco you have very high property crime and sort of public disorder crimes, but a pretty low violent crime rate. But you don't, what you don't have is a very high violent, to the Marion Barry point. You don't have a very high violent crime rate and very high murder rate and a well ordered society otherwise. Right. That, that does not. You can have a lot of property crime and not a lot of murders. You will not have, you know, I mean even, you know, you go to even some European countries and there's a lot of pickpockets and a lot of theft, but like, you know, you're not going to get stabbed in an alleyway.

[Caller]

I mean, we talked about this with London and Paris have 1 28th the murder rate of Washington D.C. let me repeat that. London and Paris, 1 28th the murder rate of washington D.C. that's why if you're ever talking to someone who's British or French and they are coming to the United States or frankly Australian now even sometimes Canadian, they look at the data and they think, oh my goodness, the United States is incredibly dangerous. And it is. If you live in London and you're coming over to New York City, New York City is far safer. And then you're going to get on a train and come down to DC as many Brits do. That's 28 times as likely you would be murdered in Washington D.C. as London. They do have a lot crazy to think about.

[Buck Sexton]

They have a lot of knife crime and a lot of home invasions with knives. Though in the UK it's actually getting much worse there than it has been in a long time. But yet, yes, they don't have the murder. This is, murders are overwhelmingly in this country. I mean, if you look at the real hub of where this is happening, it's off. It's generally gang related, inner city shootings. I mean, that's what really drives it. This is what drives it in Chicago. This is what drives it in St. Louis. This is, you go New Orleans, all the places that have. Birmingham, unfortunately has a really high crime rate.

[Caller]

Louisville. So Louisville, where, you know, I mean, and again, to your point, because you did this, the cops know where the crimes are going to happen.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh yeah.

[Caller]

It's not as if you need. When they talk about D.C. you and I just were up there, we stayed in Georgetown. I'm sure they can use a few extra cops in Georgetown. It's pretty safe, right?

[Buck Sexton]

My, my uncle was a cop in Savannah, Georgia in the 90s. He actually moved on to the LAPD and did his career out there. But he was, you know, for like, I think maybe, I don't know, six or seven years he was in Savannah pd For those of you who are Savannah listeners at one of his stories he tells, he says that he was at a murder, the scene of a murder, and there was a crowd that had formed and he just sort of looked around, he said, you know, anybody see anything? And a guy put up his hand, he said, I didn't kill anybody. Turned out, turned out that guy went away. That guy went away. So, you know, you never know what you're going to find out.

[Caller]

But if you flood the zone, so to speak, there's five neighborhoods in every city that actually need to have the zone flooded and you could cut crime by 50%. I mean, that's just the reality. So when we're talking about police needing to be deployed or National Guard or whatever else, it's really just a few neighborhoods in most cities where the vast majority of violent crime happens. So it's, it's not as if you need to flood.

[Buck Sexton]

You know, this is what happens.

[Caller]

I mean, you look at New York.

[Buck Sexton]

They had stop, stop, question and frisk, which they now abbreviate a stop and frisk. But stop, question and frisk. And when that was going on the city was at its all time high of safety and people said, oh, but we don't need to keep doing that. We don't need to keep doing that. And yeah, for a few years when they got rid of it, it seemed like things were okay and then it turned and then it got worse and then all of a sudden you had a problem.

[Caller]

And that's what needs to come back everywhere. We'll talk more about this, we'll take some of your calls, 800-282-2882. But I want to tell you the Tunnel the Towers foundation makes a lasting difference in real lives like the lives of the Clark family. U.S. air Force Sergeant Jesse Clark's military service came to an end after a chemical exposure caused a large tumor to form in his brain. As a result, he's paralyzed on the left side of his body, legally blind, prone to memory loss, and in a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. Friends like you help Tunnel the Towers build this hero a new smartphone to help him smart home to help him live a more independent life. So many more families like the Clarks need your help now. Since Tunnel the Tower's founding after the horrific events of 9 11, we can't forget. Not when so many have sacrificed so much. America's heroes have given so much to us. Together you can join Buck and also me and help show your support by donating $11 a month to tunnel the [e-mail] that's t the number 2t.org want to be in the know when you're on the go the Team 47 podcast drop 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.

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[Clay Travis]

The reviews and ratings are in and Ice Cube's Big Three is the surprise hit of the summer this Saturday, 4pm Eastern on CBS, with playoff elimination on the line, the stars will be flocking to Los Angeles to witness the most physical, fiercest and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win over Houston to make the playoffs, reeling from last week's savage beating at the hands of Chicago's possessed Montrez Harrell. Last time these teams met, Miami beat Houston, but they are a dangerous team having their manhood at stake. Then breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad in a do or die match for both teams. Will LA avenge their previous shocking loss to perennial basketball Boston rivals to survive, six teams are allowed for four seasons spots and all must win. Don't miss the Big Three, the three on three basketball league everyone is talking about. There's no crying in the Big Three and the no hold spot action starts Saturday at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific, followed by two games on Vice starting at 6:30 Eastern.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Caller]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Caller]

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[Caller]

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[Clay Travis]

I do not always think that more police make streets safer.

[Caller]

When you walk down the streets of Georgetown, you don't see a police officer on every corner, but you don't feel unsafe. So what is it about talking about places like Southeast D.C. right, Ward 8, if you will, that people say, well, we need more officers to make us safe. I think we have to rethink what safety means in America.

[Buck Sexton]

Is she a moron? Is she a moron? No, truly. What, why do you have more cops in Southeast? Because there's more crimes there. I, I, why don't we have as many cops in the middle of like rural Nebraska as we do in downtown Baltimore? Because there's more crimes and people there.

[Caller]

I have, I don't think I've ever been anywhere where I have seen cops and thought, I wish there were fewer cops here in my entire life. I mean, I think partly this is cultural that Simone Sanders is not really speaking for herself because I bet she lives behind a gated community with tons of security. I bet she lives in a very.

[Buck Sexton]

Nice place with very low crime.

[Caller]

But I have never been anywhere in America where I have thought, you know what? I wish there were fewer cops at this event. I never thought that in my entire life. Have any of you wanted there to be fewer cops where you were? I've never had that thought. And I think most Americans haven't had that thought either.

[Buck Sexton]

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[Caller]

There is a zero percent chance if I were single that I would have scooted anywhere. I mean I would have. I would have been late for every meeting just because I would have been afraid that I would come by and see me on the scooter and never date me again.

[Buck Sexton]

This is going to sound like I'm making it up, but I'm not making it up. But I feel like we're all family here. So I will tell you this, okay? During COVID a couple of years before I met my wife, when I was a single guy, I was out trying to meet the love of my life. My beloved Carrie. And I hadn't met her yet, and it was a couple years before, and I had the scooter because during COVID that was when it was great to have the scooter, because you could fly all over New York. Not fly, but you could move really fast all over New York because there.

[Caller]

Were very few people out and about, because no one at that time.

[Buck Sexton]

So I could get all over. But, you know, restaurants will be open sometimes. I remember I was like, you know what? I was like for this. This is true story. I was like, for this. It was a second date to me. It wasn't a first date. I was like, but for this date, you know what? I'm just going to. I'm going to show up with my scooter because it's convenient, and, like, I'll give her. I'll give her a ride home on my little e. Scooter. And I didn't really think this through. You know, she was a. She's a petite lady. She wasn't big. I didn't really think this through, though. Those things are not meant for two people. So when she got on the back of it and we tried to go. I'm not kidding, we were going 0.5 miles an hour. It was moving.

[Caller]

You would have been better off walking.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, walking is way faster. We were moving, but it was moving at the speed of like, a toddler's Tonka truck. You know what I mean? When it kind of goes on the driveway. And we had a. We had a sustained laugh at my expense. Um, and I don't think there was.

[Caller]

A third day, but we did have fun. There you go. I wouldn't have kept dating you. I mean, I would have been like, this guy's riding a scooter. He won't even spin. He won't even splurge for a Uber ride back home. It's probably cold. The wind's.

[Buck Sexton]

I do wish there was. There was video of my face, though, when, like. Because, you know, I hit the throttle and I didn't know, and. And it kind of, like, lurched forward, and then it was just at, you know, at turtle speed. I mean, it was this. Old ladies with walkers were telling me to get out of the way. Slowpoke. It was really not good.

[Caller]

I remember. This is kind of funny date story. Not for me. I've been married for 20, like, five years or whatever the heck it is. 22 years. Next year, next month, this month, anyway. A long time. 21 years and. But I remember a girl being like, yeah, I Went on a date. She's like, I'm a little. We used to do. I do anonymous mailbags at Outkick, and I would answer a lot of questions. Girl was like, yeah, I went on a first date. She's like, I just. I don't really feel like he was into me. And I was like, you know, in the email, and she was like. And as evidence of that, she said he paid with a gift certificate. And I was like. I was like, I'm sorry, ladies. If you go out to dinner with a guy on the very first date and he pays with a gift certificate, then he is really not that into you because he's not even willing to pull out the actual credit card. And it's even funnier if it's like, can you just take the 20? You know, it's like a $25 gift certificate. So, you know, I'm just telling you, I don't believe maybe there's somebody listening. I don't believe there's a single marriage that has ever resulted from a first date or a man paid for the dinner with a gift certificate. Because I think women are like. Like, look, I mean, I'm not saying that. That. That I expected the.

[Buck Sexton]

The.

[Caller]

The. The absolute sun and moon and stars on the first date, and. But you took me to Applebee's or Outback, and you whipped out, like that, the Outback gift certificate for the Bloomin Onion. I'm just not saying that that's the guy that you want to spend the rest of your life with. Maybe there's somebody out there. If there's a single person listening who went out on a first date, and the guy she's with paid with a gift certificate, gift card, then. Then maybe I'm wrong. I don't think there's a single relationship that has ever come from a first date gift certificate. So that is my advice to men out there, that if you're dating a girl or if you're the girl, if he's paying for you with a gift certificate, he's not that into you. He wasn't even willing to actually use real cash. He's using what his mom gave him for Christmas to take you out for.

[Buck Sexton]

Blooming onions still preferable to splitting the check on the first date. I will say so. It's. It's a little.

[Caller]

It's.

[Buck Sexton]

You know, this is in. This is purgatory. This is, like, in between. Right? I mean, it's not great, but not terrible. Guys, you gotta. You gotta pick up the. Even if you don't like her. Even if she's a lit. Even if she's a Bernie Sanders voting purple haired. You didn't know this is what you were getting into. Date. You pay on the first date. Guys, don't, don't, don't make. We have young. We have young single men listeners here. 20s, 30s, 40s, guys who are single out there. You pay on the first date. Boys.

[Caller]

I agree 100%.

[Buck Sexton]

It's just the way it is. There's no if, ands, or buts. All right, Norman in NYC wants to weigh in. What's going on?

[Caller]

Norman still laughing about the credit card? The gift card.

Gift card. You can't do it, Norman. You can't do it. You've probably been married for. For 30 years. But I'm trying to help the young men out there. Don't screw this up.

My God. The card was given to him by his mother. Oh, my God.

It's like you got a Christmas gift card for the Outback Steakhouse. You not even willing to take and pay the girls dinner for yourself. Your mom and dad are paying for it.

Do it. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

[Buck Sexton]

You got Norman. I don't wait to come. Do we have to come back to Norman? Norman's. Norman's tickled over there.

[Caller]

Let me say this. I think first and foremost, Washington, D.C. should be the safest community on the planet. Yes and foremost. That is where the President of the United States, dignitaries come from all over the world. There is no excuses. No excuses for one thing to be going wrong in Washington D.C. the second thing is I agree with the President, the National Guard there, and I think that it's important that the mayor takes the pride off the shoulder and say I'm getting additional help in Washington D.C. to be able to combat the problems that we face. I think that what I would do is pair up one law enforcement officer from the District with one National Guardsman to give it more power, to give people more comparability. The word National Guard is scaring people. It's additional law enforcement. New York City talks about the fact that we need more police. Well, how? Take the 4,000 or 5,000 National Guardsmen that want to be deployed, give them the opportunity to work alongside another police.

[Buck Sexton]

Can I point out something as well, Norman? All the people that don't totally, totally agree with your sentiments here, all the people that are freaking out about Trump deploying National Guard to help with law enforcement, they were fine with national guard holding empty M16s at airports during COVID As if that had anything to do with Anything. I mean, they just had people standing there with guns, making you fill out contact tracing forms. What was the National Guard gonna do, hand me some extra Kleenexes? It was absurd. And they were all fine with that. I just want to point out no purpose for them whatsoever other than a show of force, because we were all supposed to obey and bend the knee to Fauci, that vile turd.

[Caller]

Oh, absolutely. And let me say this. Tell a mother that lost her child the gun violence, that she doesn't want more police in the community. Amen, father that doesn't have one. Come on, man. Get with potus. Let's do what we got to do. Yes, we're in uncharted territories in some area, but the ship is turning. Let's get on board, turn the ship and go in a different direction because all of this other stuff from the Democrats have not been working. It's just been kicking the can down the road.

Norman. Yeah, I agree with him, and I. You mentioned this yesterday, Buck, and we'll play a cut for you maybe in a little bit. We're gonna take a couple more calls. But I think Muriel Bowser, the mayor of D.C. actually agrees with Trump, but politically is not able to say that. Listen to her answers and how she's trying to thread that fine line. I think she welcomes the support.

[Buck Sexton]

She is not. If. If this were happening in Chicago, Mayor Johnson would be screaming about Nazism and racism and Trump as, like, the head of the kkk. I mean, it would be complete meltdown. Okay? Complete meltdown. That's not what you're getting from Mayor Bowser. She was pretty, you know, I mean, she's saying, I don't think we need it. She's trying to defend her record a little. Maybe we should get to some of those. Get some of those clips. She's not. She's not coming out swinging hard at Trump on these things, because I think she wants to leave open the possibility of taking credit for it, which. Which, if it gets better, she'll take a victory lap. And you know what? If she doesn't stand in the way, fine. You know, I mean, as long as it's getting better there, because we all know that people will understand that Trump was the instigator of these improvements. But, yeah, I think it's. It's very interesting to see how that dynamic plays out.

[Caller]

We've also got here David, and Florida is next.

[Clay Travis]

Thank you.

[Buck Sexton]

David in Florida. Yes.

[Caller]

Hey, listen, Buck, when the. When the bike went dead, who pushed who on taking it back?

Yeah, what happened when the scooter was failing? What did you do? Did you like, just kick her to the curb and ride home?

[Buck Sexton]

I, I, I will tell. I called an Uber for her to take her home and then I kind of, sadly, I didn't even really want to ride the ride the scooter anymore. I kind of walked it home. You know when you skinned your knee as a kid on your bike and you were like, unsure of it, you know, and you're like, I don't know, like, I skinned my knee. That's kind of how I felt about my e scooter. It was like I was defeated and I just walked alongside it in sorrow. Alone.

[Caller]

Yeah. Took your soccer ball and went home. So, you know, the solutions today for D.C. and the mayor's solution is as ridiculous as it was when Marion Barry was in office in the early 90s. It was the murder capital of the world, I think, a couple years consecutive. And that solution was to change the name of the basketball team from the Washington Bullets because of that to the Washington Wizards. That was their solution.

[Buck Sexton]

I remember.

[Caller]

And it's just completely out of ridiculous at a ridiculous level now.

So thank you for the call.

I want to ask you a, I want to ask you a question real quick. I know maybe, maybe 4th of July or something. Could you guys maybe play an old Paul Harvey rest of the story? The signers of the Declaration of Independence? It's a great, it's a great rest of the story, man. I think everybody appreciate it so.

Well, that's fun. That is a question for rights for people way smarter than me, meaning producer Ali. Can, can look into it. By the way, I will say 250th anniversary. I just saw this come across the Twitter Wire here, Buck UFC fight, South Lawn, July 4, 2026. That is according to Dana White. And I think Ivanka Trump is working on trying to put this thing on. They are going to do the fight and then have the fireworks. I'm going to try to pull some strings for us Buck to get that's one of the coolest sporting events of all time to see a UFC competition on the south lawn of the White House and have it sort of connected also simultaneously to the extraordinary July 4th on the 250th anniversary of the United States. It doesn't get much Trumpier than that. But that, by the way, speaking of July 4th is underway right now. Let's get one more quickly in here. Barney and North Carolina, what you got for us?

Yeah, my thing is with D.C. and all these Other big cities are all democratic run in democratic run states and they're all anti second amendment. And is there any correlation with the violence and crime with that?

Thank you for the call. Barney, I bet was a big fan of Andy Griffith back in the day. Maybe named after the legendary Barney Fife. That is by the way one of the all time great shows. Do you ever grow up watching Andy Griffith showbuck?

[Buck Sexton]

Oh no.

[Caller]

Andy Griffith show is still so good. Black and white Andy Griffith before they went to the color version. Old school Andy Griffith shows Opie everything else and be so good. So what's interesting is we have seen skyrocketing levels of firearms purchase since 2018. Ish. I think if any firearm maker out there were looking at it, there are way more guns on the street now than ever before. And many of the places with the highest rates of gun ownership are actually seeing much lower rates of gun violence. And many of the places with the most restrictive laws on gun ownership are seeing record high levels of gun violence. Again, it is the legal gun owner, as many of you know out there is actually one of the most law abiding people. Like leave aside gun crime, they actually commit crimes at infinitely lower rates than anybody else.

[Buck Sexton]

Concealed carry permit holders in this country have a lower violation of the law rate than law enforcement.

[Caller]

Wow.

Yeah, that's a heck of a stat. That's a heck of a stat. Doesn't surprise me but. But that is super interesting. Look, I'm going to go to Chattanooga, Tennessee, my mom's hometown, next week and I am speaking to a Republican group in Chattanooga, Tennessee. And as part of that trip, I'm going to be going to see for the first time the facilities of our friends at Legacy Box where they are taking care of millions of you when it comes to preserving your family memories. I'm actually really excited next week to take that tour. They are doing an incredible job of making sure that your digital memories are that your old school memories with vhs, with, with old photographs, with maybe film reels, whatever you have memory wise from the 70s, 80s, 90s, even before. Before everything went digital. Do you have the ability to preserve it? Do you have the ability to share it? Is your family's history taken care of? Or is it in somebody's attic? Is it in somebody's garage? Why not go ahead and give the gift of your family's history being preserved forever with Legacy Box? They've done it for a million and a half families. They will take care of you one videotape at a time, one photo at a time. Carefully preserving your memories onto digital files. Again. Next week, I'm going to go see exactly how they do this at their factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. With Legacy Box, you can get hooked up right now with an incredible offer before we get into the holiday season. Legacybox.com Clay For 50 off your order Legacybox.com Clay 50 off trust me. Go check this out. I think you're going to be impressed. That's a legacybox.com clay50 off do it today. News you can count on, and some laughs too.

[Buck Sexton]

Clay Travis at Buck Sexton Find them.

[Caller]

On the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.

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[Clay Travis]

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[Caller]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Caller]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Caller]

Yeah, you guys were talking about, you know, it's kind of low brow to use a gift gift certificate for, you know, a restaurant. I'm thinking, why the hell wouldn't you?

On a first date. On a first date, you're trying to impress a girl and she's like, hey, thank you for taking me to the dinner. And you're like, well, I just want you to know my mom is basically paying for this date. You're not worth my credit card.

No, see, I think that's where you're wrong here, Clay. You know, somebody gave you a gift certificate. I know you, like, you know, wherever I'm gonna give you this gift certificate and you say, okay, I'm gonna save this. So you know, my favorite restaurant, if I've got a hot date, I'm gonna be able to bring her there. I might be short of money in that week, but I'm going to save it for. For a special occasion. And you're going to use your gift certificate for that.

[Buck Sexton]

I think Todd has used some gift certificates on Todd.

[Caller]

Are you married?

I long since married, yes.

Okay, on the first date that you went on with your wife, did you use a gift certificate?

They didn't have gift certificates.

Okay. That's why you're married today, Todd. That's why you're married today. She would have been like, I can't stay with this guy. He just used a gift certificate on our very first date. We'll have some fun. You guys can weigh in. We love you, Todd.

[Buck Sexton]

Thank you for calling it. Thank you.

[Caller]

But I'm glad you're married because you would have made a poor decision and tried to use a gift certificate with the love of your life. And she would have said, I don't think I can trust this guy. He doesn't even have the money for a blooming onion at Outback. Why do I want to be betrothed? To him for the rest of his mom paid for our date.

[Buck Sexton]

At least he didn't show up to the date on an E scooter and try to make it an E scooter for two, so he's got that going.

[Caller]

For him, which is nice. Could have been a lot worse. We'll have some fun next hour. Thanks for hanging Clay Travis and Buck Sexton on the front lines of Truth.

[Clay Travis]

Sean Ice Cube's Big Three is the surprise hit of the summer. This Saturday, 4pm Eastern on CBS, with playoff elimination on the line, the most physical fierceness and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win to make the playoffs, and breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad in a do or die match for both teams. Six teams are allowed for four spots and all must win. There's no crying in the big three, and the no holds barred action starts Saturday at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific.

[Advertiser]

Presented by iHeart this is an iHeart podcast.