Hour 3 - A Gen Z's Perspective

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 3 - A Gen Z’s Perspective

Date: February 9, 2026
Podcast Host: iHeartPodcasts

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Overview

This episode opens with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton recapping the latest headlines, including the still-unfolding Nancy Guthrie ransom story and highlights from the Super Bowl. The third hour pivots to cultural commentary centered on advertising, entertainment, and generational attitudes. The hosts tackle the aftermath of Bud Light's "woke" ad misstep, reactions to the Super Bowl halftime show featuring Bad Bunny, and broader themes of cancel culture and the shifting political winds among Gen Z. Reporter Ashley Brassfield of the Daily Caller joins for a Gen Z perspective on politics, sports, and music. Lively listener calls wrap the hour with candid takes and personal stories.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Bud Light’s Brand Crisis and Patriotic Advertising

• Main Point:
  The Bud Light boycott, triggered by their partnership with a transgender influencer, is discussed as the "most consequential boycott" the hosts have seen.

• Super Bowl Ads:
  Clay notes Budweiser's attempt at rebound with over-the-top patriotic advertising:

  • “Budweiser had the most red-blooded, crazy patriotic ad that I have seen in a long time. It's a little bit ridiculous, but… it was like an America F. Yeah, crazy patriotic commercial.” (03:00)
  • Callers and hosts agree it was the best commercial amidst a lackluster ad slate, showing brands reacting to cultural pushback.

• Cultural Reflection:

  • “I do think that that is reflective of the cultural swing.” (03:41, Clay)

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2. Cancel Culture: A Tale from the Bar

• Anecdote:
  Bar owner Danielle Jerinsky shares on social media about the impossibility of pleasing politically divided customers during the Super Bowl halftime show:

  • 80% favored Turning Point halftime, 20% wanted Bad Bunny. The minority took to social media to attack the business when not fully accommodated.
  • Clay says:
    • “The left, if they don't get what they want, tries to destroy you. The right just says, by and large, hey, we should have options.” (04:23)

• Buck’s Analysis:

  • “It's people that are unhappy with things… there is no space on the left for anything other than whatever the hive mind demands.” (05:20)
  • Segues into a plug for Buck’s book, ‘Manufacturing Delusion’, tying it to broader trends in intolerance and media indoctrination. (06:20)

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3. Super Bowl Halftime Show: Language, Identity, and Accusations of Racism

• Hosts' main critique:
  The show should be in English “since most people in America speak English.” The conversation lampoons the idea of tailoring the show to a minority language and expands to hypothetical scenarios.

  • “The Super Bowl halftime show should be in English. Like, I don’t even see that as being controversial.” (08:45, Clay)
  • “Should the Super Bowl next year feature a Chinese pop band… the whole thing will be in Mandarin?” (09:03, Buck)

• Listener Pushback:
  Brad from Raleigh Durham calls in:

  • “A lot of times when you guys get on your rant, you sound racist, man… The whole thing with Bad Bunny was about the history of Puerto Rico.” (12:02, Brad)
  • Clay counters:
    • “Saying it should be in English is not racist… If your goal is to put on something that over 100 million people will enjoy, my suggestion would be you should do it in the language that most of the people watching are watching in.” (12:22, Clay)

• Cultural Institutions/Language:

  • “Major American cultural institutions should speak English.” (13:17, Clay)

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4. Sports, Political Pressure, and Virtue Signaling

• Ashley Brassfield Interview: Gen Z’s Perspective

  • Voter ID:

    • Discussed the SAVE Act and Senate filibuster tactics.
    • “This would require a lot of time, a lot of standing, a lot of talking… but this is one of those options that they could utilize…” (19:37, Ashley)
    • On Democratic attitudes: “Around 80% agree with this legislation… just waiting to play the game with the Democrats to see if they'll cave…” (20:58, Ashley)

  • College Athletics & Virtue Signaling:

    • “The two most significant things from my time at University of South Carolina… Covid… [and] Black Lives Matter… we all had to sit down to talk about if we’re going to put a Black Lives Matter patch under our SEC patch… None of our team… were black… just a waste of time. Not something sports related, not academic related.” (25:16, Ashley)

  • Media Training for College Athletes:

    • Discusses how the media can steer athlete commentary for political angles.
    • “A lot of athletes are becoming aware that it’s not really what they’re being [asked], the sports media are to say what they want to say, but using your voice.” (24:09, Clay)

• Young Conservatives, Political Momentum & Culture:

  • “There is this essence of disappointment from Gen Z currently… They’re much more moderate in certain ways when it comes to cultural aspects…” (31:01, Ashley)
  • “I do think there’s still hope if they can get those affordability and domestic issues down. But I do think there is a lot of people in my generation that have kind of gone down the slope of disappointment to an extent.” (31:01–32:42, Ashley)

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5. Music & Generational Taste: Screamo, Led Zeppelin, and Taylor Swift vs. The Beatles

• Halftime Show Musical Taste:

  • Ashley Brassfield:
    • “I think that Bad Bunny was not political in this performance. Besides saying, you know, God bless America as well as other Latin American countries. I do think that they have an issue with knowing their audience and what their audience wants.” (27:11, Ashley)

• Worst Music Genre:

  • Ashley: “I think… it’s screamo.” (28:42, Ashley)
  • Explains: “It’s the type of rock music where it’s just like complete screaming.” (28:54, Ashley)

• Taylor Swift vs. The Beatles:

  • Clay: “Taylor Swift is the Beatles of the 21st century.” (33:09, Clay)
  • Ashley: “Taylor Swift is an extremely talented performer… she’s been around since I was probably 8 years old. The amount of time she’s put in, she’s become very successful. So to an extent, I agree with you there. I think that as far as music skill, the Beatles might have something on her. But we'll see.” (33:24, Ashley)

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6. Lighthearted Closers & Listener Stories

• Humor & Banter:

  • Caller jokes about Clay’s mustache resembling a 1970s adult film star. (35:21, Doug)

• Personal Impact:

  • Teacher recounts a former student whose classroom “stock market” project led his parents to buy Harley Davidson stock for him, which paid for college. (36:19, Barbara)

• Positive Note to End:

  • “Love it. Perfect. End of the show. Great job, Barbara. Speaking truth and having fun.” (36:40, Buck)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Budweiser had the most red-blooded, crazy patriotic ad that I have seen in a long time… a baby bald eagle… an America F. Yeah, crazy patriotic commercial.” (03:00, Clay)
• “The left, if they don't get what they want, tries to destroy you. The right just says, by and large, hey, we should have options.” (04:23, Clay)
• “[Leftists] have no room, there is no space on the left for anything other than whatever the hive mind demands.” (05:20, Buck)
• “Saying it should be in English is not racist… If your goal is to put on something that over 100 million people will enjoy… you should do it in the language that most of the people watching are watching in.” (12:22, Clay)
• “There's a sort of babyishness that I think is at the heart of it as well.” (06:30, Buck)
• “None of our team… were black… just a waste of time. Not something sports related, not academic related.” (25:16, Ashley)
• “I do think there’s still hope if they can get those affordability and domestic issues down. But I do think there is a lot of people in my generation that have kind of gone down the slope of disappointment to an extent.” (32:42, Ashley)
• "Taylor Swift is the Beatles of the 21st century." (33:09, Clay)
• "If you want the Turning Point halftime show on, you were able to track it down, but you weren't going to attack someone over having Bad Bunny on." (04:14, Clay)
• “What is the worst genre of music?” “I think… it’s screamo.” (28:42, Ashley)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Bud Light & Super Bowl Ads: 00:04–03:41
• Cancel Culture at the Bar: 03:41–05:20
• Halftime Show Language & “Racism” Accusations: 08:45–14:53
• Ashley Brassfield Interview: 19:15–34:07
  • Voter ID/Filibuster: 19:15–22:14
  • Sports/Education Virtue Signaling: 25:15–26:46
  • Gen Z Cultural Politics: 31:01–32:42
• Music Generations Debate: 33:09–34:00
• Lighthearted Call-ins/Closers: 35:11–36:46

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Podcast Tone & Style

The conversation mixes earnest political and cultural discussion with tongue-in-cheek banter and playful sarcasm—a hallmark of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show. The episode balances critique of contemporary trends with listener interactivity, self-deprecating humor, and moments of genuine generational insight.

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This summary provides a comprehensive reflection of the episode for listeners seeking an informative, entertaining breakdown of the key topics, guest contributions, and the show’s distinctive voice.

Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[B]

Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show podcast. Welcome in our number three, Clay Travis, Buck Sexton Show. A couple of things that. Well, first of all, we're still waiting on the Nancy Guthrie outcome. Every single news station as we begin the third hour of the program is covering this as the number one story. We have talked about this. It all is speculation because the amount of information that we still know is not very substantial. Deadline today at I believe 5pm Mountain, 7pm on the east coast of a $6 million ransom to be paid. So we will see what ends up happening there. We've talked some about Jeffrey Epstein. We have talked some about the Super Bowl. We have talked about a wide variety of different topics that have popped over the weekend. I did want to give you a super positive buck and one of our callers is going to build on this as well, I would say, and I think you probably would sign on. The most consequential boycott of a product that any of us have ever seen in our lives was what happened to Bud Light. In the wake of their deciding to put a trans influencer on a Bud Light can during the midst of the March Madness, the Bud Light brand basically died overnight. Bud Light has since been desperate to try to get people to drink the beer again. And they essentially have gone back to just trying to make funny, comedy, joke commercials again. They've been using Shane Gillis. They had Peyton Manning. They had a couple of those during the super bowl that took place. Did you see the ad for Budweiser with the. You did not see this ad? Okay. Budweiser had the most red blooded, crazy patriotic ad that I have seen in a long time. It's a little bit ridiculous, but it was a Clydesdale horse which has been a focal point of Budweiser for some time. And it had a baby bald eagle that basically was raised riding on the back of the Budweiser ad. And it was a bald eagle and it was like an America F. Yeah, crazy patriotic commercial. I think it is a direct response to the collapse of the brand that they decided, you know what, America's a good place, we should be embracing it more. And I do think it's a direct result of the cultural rejection of their woke advertising that that happened. And David in Scottsdale, I said we were gonna get to some of your calls at the top of the third hour. That is, I think the take that you were going to share. Most of the ads were crap. They were not particularly funny. Or Eng engaging or even frankly memorable. Other than the Backstreet Boys, which dominated. But David, what you got for us in Scottsdale?

[A]

Yeah, I was gonna say that was by far the best commercial. Who doesn't love Freebird? A Clydesdale and a Bald Eagle.

[B]

It was brilliant.

[C]

One of the most pro America ads I've ever seen.

[B]

Yeah, thank you for the call. I do think that that is reflective of the cultural swing. I also got this buck. I, um. Danielle Jerinsky posted this on Twitter. I run a business, a sports bar, JJ's Place. Yesterday, 80% of the bar wanted the Turning Point halftime show on. Interesting. The rest wanted Bad Bunny to accommodate. I put the TVs on half and half the 20% started canceling the orders, talking, taking to social media, calling me racist, being disrespectful to my staff, and leaving one star reviews on Google and Yelp. Mind you, the 80% who wanted the Turning Point halftime show weren't happy. Bad Bunny stayed on, but they didn't leave me a bad review, take to social media, cancel their orders, or disrespect my staff. It's become impossible to run a business. I support three generations in my family on a sole income, try to accommodate everyone. The bar business is not what it used to be. Sad day. This, to me, I thought, was really representative of the world in which we live now. If you wanted the Turning Point halftime show on, you were able to track it down, but you weren't going to attack someone over having Bad Bunny on. I thought that was kind of an interesting window into the world in which we live. The left, if they don't get what they want, tries to destroy you. The right just says, by and large, hey, we should have options.

[A]

Yeah, of course. Well, that's because the left is the, is the. Not just the party or even the ideology. It is the, the ethos, the central ethos is that of the malcontent. It's people that are unhappy with things. They, they're, they think they're victims. They think that the, the world is out to get them. They think they're oppressed, whatever it may be. And so I wasn't surprised at all when I read that. I know it's gone a bit, a bit viral online. And it's one of those things that, you know, you can expect the same way that anytime a leftist is upset about anything being right wing anywhere or being even sort of conservative or traditional Americana, they're very quick to say they want to boycott and they'll never do, you know, they'll never go to this place again or they'll never buy this product again, whatever it may be, because they have no room, there is no space on the left for anything other than whatever the hive mind demands. Which is a great opportunity to tell everybody about manufacturing delusion. Clay, my book, which comes out next week, which is all about this, about how the left uses brainwashing, indoctrinate, indoctrination, propaganda about you. Please go and get @clay&buck.com your early copy and you will get a special for the pre orders. For the pre orders, a special video with a former CIA operations officer and myself talking about a whole range of intelligence mind control stuff including oh yes, we get into MK Ultra, we get into some of that stuff. So indeed, sorry Clay, for the shameless plug, but it is in fact the case that the leftists are always going to be like this. They're always going to be intolerant of anything that isn't what they want. There's a sort of babyishness that I think is at the heart of it as well. And, and you know, there's this idea that we have to have this like the super bowl has to be like a celebration of Puerto Rico or something. No, actually it didn't have to. Why? The super bowl should just be about entertaining the hundred million people that are watching. Like we don't actually need this to be like Puerto Rico history Month or something. Like we've had enough. We get it.

[B]

If the super bowl had been in Puerto Rico, that might make sense. It wasn't. And I love Puerto Rico. I've spent more time in puerto rico than 99% of the people probably out there in this audience listening right now. I lived in the Caribbean. I even Buck, back in the day took salsa dance lessons, lessons with my wife Laura and went salsa down dancing in old San Juan on a weekend trip.

[A]

I.

[B]

Yes, Buck is stunned. Laura is. Laura is in the. I was just 99.999 percentile for excellent dancers.

[A]

Like our next. Our next video or rather our next. Forget about stakes, our next bet. There's going to have to be a dance challenge and you're going to have to salsa dance and post it on your social is what's going to have to happen here. As long as I want the full thing.

[B]

I want rose in the mouth.

[A]

I want the flowy sleeves, you know that the super tight like gaucho pants or whatever. I want the whole thing, man.

[B]

I want it all. Laura wanted because we were in the Caribbean, we were living in The Caribbean. At the time, she wanted us to take salsa dancing lessons together. So we had a Puerto Rican salsa dance instructor. I don't know. We went once a week or something. And then we went out salsa dancing in Puerto Rico State and Old San Juan. I love Puerto Rico. It's beautiful country of the most beautiful places in the world. But the super bowl should be. Halftime show should be in English. Like, I. I don't even see that as being controversial, but we got some talkbacks. I always love this.

[A]

Can I just say something?

[B]

We have.

[A]

We have a lot of Asian Americans in America. In this country, we have a lot of Asian Americans, a lot of Chinese Americans. Should the super bowl next year feature a. A Chinese pop band to show, you know, to pay homage to, like, the contributions of the Chinese? So the whole thing will be in Mandarin. Is that where we want to go? I'm just wondering why not. By the way, the army probably would love it because they want TV rights in China. So, like, let's just go for it. Let's just make this the new thing. We're going to unite the country by dividing the country. That's the point.

[B]

I think it would probably be Korean K Pop, which is, I understand, very, very popular right now. The super bowl halftime show should not be in Korean. Like that. That is not. I don't think. I don't think that's a smart play. I. I don't think, by the way, that Korea's. Whatever the biggest sporting event in Korea is. I have no earthly idea. Like, it should. I don't think that it should be in English. Like, I would. I would think that was a bad look. If the goal is to have every Korean in South Korea, we. Who knows what the most popular thing in North Korea is? But I don't think that it should be in. In English since.

[A]

Since we're in, like, show and tell and sharing time here. You know, Claire recently tried paddle or padel, if you want to go with the more Latin. I played for the first time. I'm playing again today. This is very popular in Latin America and in Spain.

[B]

Is this a version of. What is this a version of? Like, how would it. Is it.

[C]

It's.

[B]

I've seen a lot of people talking.

[A]

About this, like, a cross between. I don't know, maybe like, racquetball and squash and it's something like. It's somewhere. It's like if squash and tennis had a baby, maybe. I mean, it's a little bit. But it's really for people who want to have the sort of social interaction of tennis without having to learn how to play tennis is what I would say. Having done both, that's where I would say it is.

[B]

It's different. The thing that's so popular now that is like Padel.

[A]

Oh, you're talking pickleball.

[B]

Pickle. How does it compare to pickleball?

[A]

Pickleball is for senior citizens, which is cool, by the way. It's cool. You. You play pickleball with your colt 1911. When you go to the range, you're good to go. Like, that's the way it's supposed to be. There's place for the walkers to collect near the pickleball court. Pickleball is just. It's for senior citizens. When I'm a senior citizen, I'll play pickleball. It's lovely.

[B]

So Padel is more physically engaging than pickleball.

[A]

Padel is pickleball for people who drive around on Vespas and drink very small coffees.

[B]

I don't, I don't know all. I've seen people playing all these different sports, but I will play this because if you want to reach out and you want to, by the way, you're going to get ripped for that take. And I don't even have enough knowledge of it to know. I just know pickleball community is going to come for you with their paddles and their.

[A]

And their, you know, definitely more scared of 1911. Colt 1911 community. But pickleball community, yes, they. They bite and they kick.

[B]

Brad from Raleigh Durham says we're racist. Cut D.

[A]

A lot of times when y guys get on your rant, you sound racist, man. You really do. The whole thing with Bad Money was about the history of Puerto Rico.

[C]

I mean, come on, man.

[A]

So why does it sound. I don't like the music. Why does that sound racist? I don't understand.

[B]

Also, saying it should be in English is not racist. Like, English is the language of the country. If I went to Japan and I said, you know what, Sumo wrestling. If they have halftime shows or the baseball at Japanese baseball, they should only do it in English or they should only do the halftime shows in Chinese, I would think that would probably make the average Japanese sports fan not enjoy it as much as they otherwise could. If your goal is is to put on something that over 100 million people will enjoy, my suggestion would be you should do it in the language that most of the people watching are watching in. You know, like, regardless of what your background is, you should be able to understand what someone is saying. That's the foundation of communication. So I don't even understand the whole. I understand that everybody who wants to try to attack people immediately says it's racist, but I don't even understand how it's racist to say I think that major American cultural institutions should speak English.

[A]

I told you before I confided in you, and then you shared it with a few million people that I work out listening to Creed. Still, that's okay. That's okay. Now we have, for example, a very robust audience of Cuban Americans down here in South Florida who listen to this show. I know because they give me the thumbs up and a wink whenever I see them in public. So whatever. And there are people, right, if they want to make fun of Creed, that's okay. If they want to say that Creed is gringo slop, I'm not going to. I'm not going to take that personally.

[B]

I think they're wrong.

[A]

But you see what I mean. You're allowed to not like a musical actor, musical band, you know, or even a genre. And that doesn't make you a bad person. It doesn't make you a racist in any direction. And I don't like that people do this thing where they try to make it that because it's just lazy. It's just lazy thinking. It's a celebration of the history of Puerto Rico. The game was in the Bay Area. Like, why are we celebrating Puerto Rico at the Super Bowl? Also, why are we celebrating New Hampshire at the Super Bowl?

[B]

I mean, who cares?

[A]

This is absurd. Why aren't we celebrating Papua New guinea at the Super Bowl? Like, what are we doing here, folks?

[B]

Yeah, and look, I said this earlier. The game in Miami had Shakira and Jennifer Lopez. And Jennifer Lopez celebrated. Puerto Rico was six years ago, but it was in Miami. It actually made sense that you would do a Latin infused celebration of South Florida culture writ large.

[A]

That's a Miami crossover artist with huge global appeal. In English, Bad Bunny is not popular outside of Latin America.

[B]

But to your. But to your point, they went to San Francisco to do it, which makes even less sense. Also, look, the reason people say something's racist is not to actually have an argument. It's to end an argument. Because the idea is once you say that, it's the worst thing that you can say. And then the argument turns into, well, I'm not racist. Instead of it being an argument about the underlying aspects of the dispute in the first place, My argument to you would be. The first person to say that's racist is actually just acknowledging that they've lost the underlying dispute because they're having to go to just ad hominem attack, by the way. But I wanted to play that because he was angry and he wanted to call us racist and you know, which. Try to share all perspectives. When we come back, we'll take some more of your calls. We'll continue to interact. We're going to have Ashley Brassfield on at the bottom of the hour. But when tragedy strikes, the Tunnel of the Towers foundation honors America's heroes and their families like United States army specialist Andy Kingsley. Andy served our nation with honors, part of the 82nd Airborne Division. Throughout his distinguished career, he received various awards and decorations including purple heart. But while Andy was deployed, he was severely injured. The incident resulted in the loss of his right leg, partial vision loss, a traumatic brain injury, and more. He spent over a year at Walter Reed National Military Medical center learning how to navigate life with his injuries. Living with severe combat injuries can make even life's daily tasks challenging. That's why receiving a specially adapted mortgage free smart home from Tunnel to Towers has been life changing for Andy. It allows him to live with greater independence and dignity. This is the power of giving to tunnel the Towers. Many more heroes like Andy need your support. Donate $11 a month to tunnel the [e-mail] that's t the number 2t.org.

[A]

Do we have to go to a Bad Bunny concert to really experience the full catalog of Bad Bunny before we. That's the other thing I'm getting people telling me if I listen to more of it, I would like it. I don't think they understand what like means. I, I think that they're confused about this.

[B]

I think that going to the concert might be fine if you. I wouldn't buy tickets. I mean, I don't like going to that many concerts to begin with.

[A]

Well, we could say that your name is Senor, Senor Clay and perhaps.

[B]

But that would be my choice. It wouldn't be inflicted upon me in a foreign language at the most significant American cultural event of the year. So those are, you know, to me, like choosing to go try something new is fine, but experiencing something that none of us can understand. I like your, like, maybe next year Korean K pop is going to be the halftime show. Maybe. Maybe so.

[A]

I would think Psy would put on a much better show personally for the super bowl. And I actually mean that. So, you know, but he could do the whole thing in Korean and we'd all sit there and anyone who's like, maybe the super bowl shouldn't be sung entirely in Korean.

[B]

Like racist.

[A]

Why are you so racist? Can't you celebrate soul? S E O U L sure, precious metals have always been important to societies and nations. But in the past few years you've seen just how precious they are. Prices, my friends, look at gold. Look at what's going on. Gold is real. It is stable in terms of a thing of value all throughout history and the price is been going up. Birch Gold Group wants you to get some gold. You can have gold in a tax shelter retirement account. You can also just take possession of physical gold safely in your own home. That's what I've done. But Birch Gold can help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into an IRA in gold no matter how many years you've had that account established. A plus rating with a Better Business Bureau. Go with Birch gold today. Text buck to 98. 98 98. Again, text B U C K to 98. 98 98. We're joined by Ashley Brassfield. She is a reporter at the Daily Caller. She's got a piece out today. Senate Republicans have the power to force Democrats to filibuster voter id. So why don't they. Ashley, welcome to the program. Great to have you on.

[C]

Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

[A]

So let's talk about this. We discussed the SAVE Act a little bit before. Democrats hate election security. Republicans aren't going to get this thing through, it seems. But why not force the Democrats hand and show everybody on the record that Democrats, like I said, hate election security.

[C]

Well, that's exactly right. And I think that the talking filibuster here, which Senator Mike Lee, who's sponsored the Save America act, he's put forth the idea that this talking filibuster that hasn't really been utilized in modern history except for back in the day in 1957 when Strom Thurmond was filibustering the Civil Rights act, that this was something that was used often and they could bring it back for the Save America act to get election integrity legislation across the board here. And what this does, I mean, it really buys Republicans time as well to get a lot more people on board to sponsor this legislation, get the votes in place they would need during that time when the Democrats of filibuster and I think a lot of Americans know this themselves, that, you know, senators, congressmen, they tend to be lazy. This would require a lot of time, a lot of standing, a lot of talking, something they don't love to do but this is one of those options that they could utilize, especially with Leader Thune in charge, and he could lead this way.

[B]

Is there any significance that John Fetterman has come out as a Democrat and said voter ID makes sense? Is there any other hope for Democrat support? I think that would get us to 54, if my math is correct. But to your point, you need to get to 60 to kind of really get anything done in the Senate. Any other Democrats? Maybe some of those that are in states that Trump won potentially considering this decision?

[C]

Yeah, I mean, I think that this will allow them more time to get on board. I mean, this could last for weeks if you did the talking. Filibuster. I think the argument here with Thune is could we be doing other things with other legislation? I know when he was speaking last week, he talked about a highway bill, a farm bill. This is legislation that the president's been talking about since the campaign trail. Election integrity. And we saw in the 2020 election. I was a Georgia resident at the time, we saw the aftermath of that. So I do think that this is a popular discussion amongst Democrats as well. I think around 80% agree with this legislation. The president said it to a reporter at the White House the other day, Reagan, Reese, that 80% of Democrats, they support this. So it's really just really just waiting to play the game with the Democrats to see if they'll cave or not, and then, you know, kind of winning the PR war here.

[A]

You know, Ashley, we've been talking a fair bit today about sports. Clay loves the sports. He is a sports ball aficionado. You don't just like the sports in theory. You are a Division 1 athlete at the University of South Carolina. So you've actually been. Been to NCAA stuff and competed and buck.

[B]

What is the mascot of the University of South Carolina? That's a great lead in. Is there any chance that, you know.

[A]

Zero.

[C]

Make him say it.

[A]

Zero. Zero.

[B]

Oh, it's a fun one, Ashley. I'll let you tell everyone.

[C]

Well, we're the Gamecocks, but, you know, the short version is Go Cocks. That's, of course, what we say.

[B]

I thought that's the cheer at South Carolina.

[C]

Yes, well, yes, well, we are very proud.

[B]

I'm a very proud okie dokie.

[A]

Now, I want to ask you about these skiers. These skiers, though, Trump very unhappy with them. I think rightly so. They're getting asked about whether they have mixed feelings about. About America competing rather on behalf of America at the Winter Olympics. I just feel like they should have mixed feelings about the fact that so few people actually want to watch skiing in the first place, that maybe they shouldn't be jerks. What do you think?

[C]

Yeah, I think that's exactly right. I mean, this is, I think the Winter Olympics, in the Olympics in general. I mean, I played beach volleyball. That's the most watched sport in the Olympics in general. So this is Winter Olympics now. But I think that the skiers, you know, getting asked the question, are they worried to compete on the behalf of the United States? The question itself in general, why are you even asking that? I mean, I think that politics and sports, obviously there's some convergence. We saw that last night with the super bowl convert performance. But they're representing their country. They've worked their entire lives to get there. Just why are you even asking that in the first place to them that you should be asking them about, you know, their wins, how they're willing to compete? Any other question than that?

[B]

Actually, I think that's really important and I. We may dive into this tomorrow because the Winter Olympics will become more the story, I think in the wake of the super bowl ending. But I did through Grok, which I love using. This is an example of left wing sports media turning this into a story. And for people out there who don't know, during Biden, Clinton and Obama 20 years, there were no questions about politics that were asked of American athletes. Only when Trump has been in office, Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0 have sports media decided, oh, we should ask, I don't know, a downhill skier what he or she thinks about American immigration policy. And then when they get an answer, they turn it into the narrative that this is so controversial that everybody has to talk about it. You were an athlete at the University of South Carolina. I've actually spoken to a lot of athletes in my career as a media guy to try to tell them, hey, be careful of media using you to tell the story that they want to tell. Not you're not even really aware of how you're being used. I'm curious, when you were at South Carolina, did they. You may not have gotten a ton of questions in volleyball, certainly basketball and football would get the majority of questions from media. But did you guys have training like that? Because I think a lot of athletes are becoming aware that it's not really what they're being saying. They're using you as a proxy. The sports media are to say what they want to say, but using your voice?

[C]

No, I think that's exactly right. And I we had A little media training. To answer your question, I think the two most significant things from my time at University of South Carolina that I recall is I was there from 2019 to 2021. And during that period of time, obviously Covid hit. I was forced to spit in tubes for a year and a. And I was never vaccinated. There was kind of pressure campaigns internally that, you know, were put on us, those that were not vaccinated at the time. But another thing that was taking place was Black Lives Matter. And to give you a perspective, beach volleyball, if you probably look at the democratic demographics across the board for Division 1 beach volleyball, I guarantee majority of the girls that are involved in it are Caucasian at least. And the Black Lives Matter, we all had to sit down to talk about if we're going to put a Black Lives Matter, I guess, patch under our SEC patch on our jerseys. And none of our team, for perspective, were black. And so just it's virtue signaling and the fact that we all had to sit down, have a meeting to talk about if we were all okay with that. Just a waste of time. Not something sports related, not academic related even. It's really. Those were the two most significant things that I recall. I mean, the spitting in the tubes and then, of course, the Black Lives Matter patches.

[B]

You and Riley Gaines were both in office. Riley does a lot of work with us at Outkick, and they had the same pressure they put on her. She was a swimmer at the University of Kentucky. You just mentioned that you were in College in 2020. That makes you way younger than either Buck or myself. So the super bowl halftime show, is it. What is your take?

[A]

And I mean, way, way younger than you. Like younger than me, but yeah, go ahead.

[B]

All right, so. So my take is regard, regardless of what you think, that it's not crazy to want the super bowl halftime show to be in English, since most people in America speak English. But what was your overall assessment? You can love it, you can hate it. I presume that you watched of the super bowl halftime show.

[C]

Yes, I definitely tuned in. There's a lot of controversy. I've had to comment about it on other news outlets, of course, as well. So I was very interested. And of course, after his Grammy is acceptance speech, Bad Bunny talking about ice. And. And then Roger Goodell coming out saying, oh, it's not going to be political. I was skeptical to see if that would be actually true. And I mean, for the most part, I think that Bad Bunny was not political in this performance. Besides saying, you know, God bless America as well as other Latin American countries at the time. I think one of the main things, like you said that the obvious was nothing was in English besides Lady Gaga's performance. But I think the main differences that I notice of Kendrick Lamar's performance last year at the super bowl and this performance is there was much more diversity, which I know that's a lefty term, but I did notice the overall stage presence and I guess the setup of the actual performance. It was impressive in my opinion. But I do think there's something to be said if you're going to try and attract a broader audience. And this is American football game. I think the NFL for a long time has tried to play the card in the marketing scheme that they are going to be FIFA. They want this worldwide presence. They have games in Germany, Mexico City and all these things. So they tried to take that on. And yes, Bad Bunny is pretty well known amongst my generation. I do think there is a lot of people that listen to him. But if you're looking at the broader NFL audience, are they actually marketing to that audience? I do not think they are here. The performance itself ended up being okay, but I do think that they have an issue with knowing their audience and what their audience wants.

[A]

What is the worst genre of music? Ashley?

[C]

I think go scream out. I feel like it's screamo.

[B]

I don't even know what that is. What is this gender anything?

[A]

Take us into this Gen Z world. What is this screamo?

[C]

Well, you know, I love a good classic rock. I love the Led Zeppelin. I'm a big country music fan. I'm from the Southeast. And I think screamo is the type of rock music where it's just like complete screaming, if you know what I mean.

[B]

Like, very dark is what old people.

[C]

Okay, yes.

[A]

No, no, no, no. Hair metal is like. Hair metal is like. Like Guns N Roses and Motley Crue.

[B]

That's not.

[A]

She's talking about more like. Like the. Like the death metal, where they like death metal.

[B]

Okay, sorry. Death metal is what I meant to say. Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry. Hair metal guy.

[A]

Hair metal is amazing. You're gonna utterly disgust.

[B]

Sorry, I bet. I meant death metal, not hair metal. Sorry, sorry. I don't want your. I don't want your hate mail.

[C]

No, I. I enjoy some Led Zeppelin at acdc, all the classic rock, but that's a little too far for me. You know, some rap. It all sounds the same nowadays, so we'll put that in that category as well.

[A]

Also, did you think the NFL game was so boring that people should just stop watching the NFL because it's usually so boring. I don't know. That's where I come down on this.

[C]

That's a good point. And I know a lot of Patriots fans that are just really disappointed today. But I mean I was really wanting a good game here and we didn't get one. And I think they were saying that Bad Bunny got more yards in the first half than that was a line.

[B]

That was a very nice by the way, the postseason NFL, the wild card round and the divisional round were about as good as football could get. Any one play could have changed the outco. This was a really poor game, but the postseason up till now was pretty good. What so significant, significant question here and we're talking to to Ashley Brassfield as we go forward. What do you think? There's so much talk. I wrote a book about it about young people supporting President Trump and the fact that culturally many people have begun to reject the left. We're now into year two. What would you say the vibe of people around your age in America is today? Is that same momentum existing? Has it changed? Where is, you know, the 25 year old in America today, based on your experience?

[C]

Yeah, I'm going to go with its change and I know a lot of people are not going to want to hear that. But I do think it has changed. And I know is on with Buck on his podcast talking about this not too long ago of the elections in November, what we were seeing with mom Donnie and I think that was the tell all sign there that what was happening with affordability then, they didn't like that word so they changed it over to pricing. And now the president's going to be on the road every week this year going into the midterms to help Republicans win be due to the fact that the messaging is just really not there on that domestic issue. Another thing with my generation, we lived through the last 20, 25 years of war in the Middle east very exhausted about the foreign policy issues. I think they're sick of it. They want the focus to be on that domestic policy, feeling that affordability, the pricing back in their pockets palpably. And you know, there's reasoning there that it's going to kick in in 2026 with the big beautiful bill. But also you I cover a lot of Congress and what you're seeing from Congress currently is one of the most unsuccessful Congresses in the first year of a president's term where they passed less than 40 bills. So I think that there is this essence of disappointment from Gen Z currently, they and I do think that they feel that from the right, President Trump was able to take the cultural issues going on these podcasts. I mean, he really took the bull by the horns in 2024. And I think it's kind of slowed down on our generation since then. They're much more moderate in certain ways when it comes to cultural aspects. And I think even the president talks about the Bad Bunny performance. I don't know if it's going to resonate very well. Sometimes there's been moments where I question it myself. But I, I do think there's still hope if they can get those affordability and domestic issues down. But I do think there is a lot of people in my generation that have kind of gone down the slope of disappointment to an extent.

[A]

Well, before we let you go, Taylor Swift, is she your generation's Beatles? Because this is an outrageous claim that somebody has made recently on this show.

[C]

Who made that? Who made that claim?

[A]

That would be Clay, of course.

[B]

A brilliant man by the name of Clay Travis. You might have heard of him before.

[C]

Well, I, I, that's the question. Would you have rather had bad Taylor Swift instead of Bad Bunny CLAY A billion percent more.

[B]

Taylor Swift is the Beatles of the 21st century.

[A]

Look at the skilled pivot from the Capitol Hill reporter over here. You notice that, by the way, she's not taking that hand grenade. She's like, well, let's just move into another version of answering the question. I like that. That was good.

[C]

You know, I'm not the biggest Swifty myself, but at the same time, Taylor Swift is a extremely talented performer. I may not agree with her politics in many ways, but she is very talented. I think for the numbers she did when it came to, you know, selling tickets worldwide, it shows that she really has gained momentum with the female, you know, Gen Z demographic. I mean, she's been around since I was probably 8 years old. I went to a Taylor Swift concert. So I will say, the amount of time she's put in, she's become very successful. So to an extent, I agree with you there. I think that as far as music skill, the Beatles might have something on her. But we'll see.

[A]

I guess we'll see, Clay. We'll see. Ashley Brassfield, Daily Caller, Great to have you, Ashley. We'll talk to you soon.

[C]

My pleasure. Thank you.

[A]

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[B]

Let's roll really quick through these callers who have been waiting for a while. Each of you get 30 seconds. Doug in West LA. Fire away.

[C]

Play.

[A]

I saw the photo you posted yourself with a mustache and I wanted to call to wish you the best of.

[B]

Luck as you attempt to reboot your career in porn. Thank you, Doug. Now you never know where I'm going to be making money. Never know where I might show up. Linda, that mustache does look like it belongs in the 1970s in some porn film. Linda in Winter Springs, Florida.

[C]

So, so my question is that the the Guthrie family, why are they constantly at the sister's house? This reminds me of a Breaking Bad series when they had that whole thing in Arizona and it was the family member, you know, hiding.

[B]

Thank you. There, there are a lot. Linda is asking a question that is very common. The family. Is there any kind of involvement? We do not know, but that argument is prevalent or that question is prevalent on social media. Barbara in Marblehead, Ohio, close us out with a positive story. You got 30 seconds.

[C]

When I taught sixth grade, I gave every student $10,000 in September and told them to buy stock. One student at Christmas had done so well with his Harley Davidson stock that his parents bought him the stock for Christmas. And 10 years later he came back and told me that that stock put him through college.

[B]

Love it. Perfect. End of the show. Great job, Barbara. Speaking truth and having fun.

[A]

Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.