Hour 3 - Buck's Pete Hegseth Story

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Episode: Hour 3 - Buck's Pete Hegseth Story
Release Date: March 26, 2025

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1. Introduction and Audience Engagement [00:59 – 01:35]

Clay Travis and Buck Sexton kick off the third hour of their show with enthusiasm, announcing their commitment to engaging with listeners through live calls and talkbacks. They emphasize their dedication to discussing pressing news stories with intelligence and humor, setting the tone for an interactive and dynamic session.

2. Casting Disney's Snow White: Sabrina Carpenter vs. Julia Butters [01:35 – 05:05]

Caller Andrew from Winston Salem, North Carolina initiates the discussion by advocating for Sabrina Carpenter as the ideal choice for Disney's Snow White, citing her broad appeal across demographics and her confidence in self-mockery. Andrew states, “I think she has caught the apple of the American eyes and many different demographics” (01:35).

Buck Sexton supports Andrew’s choice, highlighting Sabrina’s fame and status as a pop princess, noting her Grammy nominations and widespread popularity. He remarks, “She is insanely famous musician” (02:15).

However, Clay Travis admits unfamiliarity with Sabrina Carpenter, leading to Buck teasing Clay about his lack of connection to current pop culture. The conversation shifts as Caller April from Salt Lake City suggests Julia Butters for the role, praising her complexion and acting credentials from projects like Gabby and Criminal Minds. Clay, still unfamiliar, continues to express his limited awareness of newer pop culture figures.

3. The Left’s Stance on Beauty and Excellence in Hollywood [06:07 – 09:31]

Clay and Buck delve into a critical analysis of the left's influence in Hollywood, arguing that the left opposes traditional standards of excellence and beauty. Clay asserts, “I think that the left opposes excellence and beauty as a general thing” (06:07). They discuss how this opposition leads to the promotion of less traditionally attractive individuals in media and advertising, using Victoria’s Secret as a prime example. Buck supports this by highlighting the decline in sales when Victoria’s Secret shifted to "body positivity" models, stating, “Sales collapsed because people are looking like, I don't. I want to aspire to be something that I am not” (08:59).

4. Critique of George Clooney and Alignment with Trump’s Views [10:19 – 13:29]

The hosts express a unanimous critical view of George Clooney, aligning their opinions with former President Donald Trump’s sentiments. Clay states, “George Clooney, one of the most overrated actors of his generation” (30:37), while Buck recalls Trump’s similar criticism, reinforcing their stance that Clooney is a "third-rate movie actor."

5. NPR Funding and Political Bias [24:03 – 29:52]

Clay and Buck address the controversy surrounding NPR’s funding and perceived political bias. They showcase a clip of NPR Executive Catherine Marr testifying on Capitol Hill, where she faces tough questions about past statements on white supremacy and looting. Buck criticizes the use of taxpayer dollars to fund NPR, questioning its impartiality and fairness, saying, “Taxpayer dollars shouldn't be coming to Clay and Buck. We are advertisers” (27:48).

Clay warns of the dangers of continuous government favoritism leading to a "spoils system," potentially resulting in financial collapse if not addressed promptly. He concludes, “This is part of a collectivist and authoritarian playbook” (29:52).

6. Current Events: War in Israel [21:59 – 25:18]

The conversation briefly shifts to the escalating conflict in Israel, with Buck emphasizing the importance of supporting organizations like the International Christian Fellowship of Jerusalem (IFCJ). They urge listeners to donate, highlighting the critical work IFCJ is doing in providing bomb shelters, food, and aid to those affected by the war.

7. Interactive Banter and Listener Calls [32:08 – 41:58]

Throughout the episode, Clay and Buck engage in light-hearted banter with listeners:

• Caller Debbie from Tallahassee criticizes the Snow White script, claiming it “sucks without any” compelling characters, to which Buck humorously defends Sydney Sweeney’s casting.

• Caller Ray suggests Caroline Levitt as the perfect Snow White, proposing simple alterations like dyeing her hair black to fit the role.

Clay and Buck continue to discuss their mutual disdain for George Clooney and praise Caroline Levitt's performance as White House Press Secretary, highlighting the double standards in media coverage based on political affiliation.

8. Notable Quotes

• Andrew on Sabrina Carpenter:
  “I think she has caught the apple of the American eyes and many different demographics.” (01:35)

• Buck on Sabrina’s Fame:
  “She is insanely famous musician.” (02:15)

• Clay on Left’s Opposition to Beauty:
  “I think that the left opposes excellence and beauty as a general thing.” (06:07)

• Clay on George Clooney:
  “George Clooney, one of the most overrated actors of his generation.” (30:37)

• Buck on NPR Funding:
  “Taxpayer dollars shouldn't be coming to Clay and Buck. We are advertisers.” (27:48)

• Clay on Spoils System:
  “This just becomes a spoils system that continues on with more and more rapacious and greedy jockeying for access to the government spoils until it's unsustainable mathematically.” (29:52)

9. Conclusion

Clay and Buck wrap up the segment with continued discussions on cultural and political issues, maintaining their critical stance on left-leaning influences in media and advocating for traditional standards of excellence and beauty. They stress the importance of listener engagement and support for causes aligned with their values, ensuring their audience remains informed and involved.

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Note: Time stamps indicate the approximate starting point of each discussed segment within the transcript.

Transcript

[Ritual]

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome back into Clay and Buck. Third hour kicks off now. We've got a bunch of news stories we're going to be diving into, but we said we would take some calls and some talkbacks and we are men of our word here. So let's dive into some of these Right now. We've got all lines lit callers from all over the country. Andrew in Winston Salem, North Carolina, you're up first. Well, hey, thanks guys. First time been able to get into y'all. Been tried, tried many times. But this is the number one news station or news radio in the country right here.

[Buck Sexton]

Amen. Thank you for listening.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. So my casting choice would be Sabrina Carpenter for Snow White. I think she has caught the apple of the American eyes and many different demographics. I think she handles herself really well and is not afraid to make fun of herself. I think she would promote Snow White much better than Ms. Zegler. And there's a lot of people in the music industry icons that want to work with her and have like Paul Simon and I'm sure Dolly Parton wants to work with her in the future. I know who. Thank you so much for the call. Clay. Do you know who Sabrina Carpenter is? I've never heard of her, nor have I ever seen her before.

[Buck Sexton]

She is insanely famous musician. So that is really funny that you have never heard of her. It's like the Morgan Wallen situation on.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, did I just do one of those? Is she a country music person?

[Buck Sexton]

I'm not an first of all, I am tone deaf, so I am not a great judge of incredible singing talent or anything else. But she is one of the most famous young singers out there right now. So I think that she would likely potentially do very well. She's pretty. She's got that sort of alabaster skin. Careful. The peanut butter skin line.

[Clay Travis]

You were going to say that. I knew you were going to talk about that. Quote from.

[Buck Sexton]

I don't know. I don't know if I ever talk about the color skin of somebody in a positive way. So the alabaster skin line is just, you know, she's, she's white. I mean, Snow White is white. As, as, as a big part of her appeal. And it's like not a super tan skin but, but it is very funny in and of itself and, and there are a lot of people. She is a, called a pop princess. She was the, she's a Grammy nominee. She's very, very popular at, uh, at this point in time. So I don't heard of this element here. You've never heard of Sabrina Carpenter?

[Clay Travis]

Never heard of her before. So I clearly, I don't know. I just don't. I'm not that connected to the, the pop culture these days. April, in Salt Lake City, where we are number one. And we love you, Salt Lake, for listening to us. Thank you so much. What's going on, April? Hi, my favorite men. Hello. Hi.

[Buck Sexton]

Hey.

[Clay Travis]

I was just thinking that Julia Butters was, would be a really good choice. She's got that perfect complexion. She's fairest of them all. But she could be very tan as well. She's, she's known for like Gabby and Criminal Minds. She does the role of Ella in a Prime video series, Transparent.

[Buck Sexton]

She's been known for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

[Clay Travis]

She's really, really cute. Good looking actress.

[Buck Sexton]

I sent you a picture of her on Facebook messenger.

[Clay Travis]

Okay.

[Buck Sexton]

I have. Thank you.

[Clay Travis]

Have great taste in radio. And we know that since you say we're your favorite men, you've got great taste in men. So I'm assuming Julia Butters is an excellent choice. Clay, once again, I don't even know. I've never heard of this person before.

[Buck Sexton]

Have you? I had to look her up. I didn't know who she was. But she does have a Snow White look about her. I tend to think this would be, you know, kind of an opportunity where somebody just calls. Somebody calls in there like the agent for, for the individual.

[Clay Travis]

And well, I think unfortunately the moment has passed because they're not going to make another Snow White movie for a.

[Buck Sexton]

Very long time, maybe for the rest of the life of anybody out there that is here. By the way, I put up a poll and I'm probably going to get, get dunked on by my wife for this, but I have a poll up right now. Is my wife right? Am I distracted by Sydney Sweeney's boobs and not making rational choices? Or would Sydney Sweeney in the role of Snow White have made the movie a billion dollars? You can all go vote in this right now. 80%, 87% of you say Sydney Sweeney would have made this a billion dollar franchise. So maybe many of you are also in the audience out there, thousands of you voting at Clay Travis on Twitter. Maybe you are also similarly bedazzled by her, by her decolletage. But most of you are agreeing with me right now, which Laura Travis will still, will still argue the other way. But that is, that is out there on the, on the big poll day as well.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I think that maybe, maybe this is getting too deep into the philosophy of this, but I think that the, the left, including the, you know, the left, it used to be predominantly when they were in charge of Hollywood and they still are, but things are changing or Hollywood's not what it used to be. Yeah, they had left wing politics, but they would have, the people they would put forward who were supposed to be good looking were very good looking. I think that the left opposes excellence and beauty as a general thing, excellence as a general concept. And I think that they are increasingly, they find beauty to be exclusionary or, you know, it's an exclusive category and therefore it's not inclusive and therefore it can't be a good thing. Which is why we have, you know, these campaigns of like very basically very unattractive and weird looking people to sell clothing, for example, which has started in recent years. Like this all comes from. There's something psychologically that pushes this, by the way, this is all failed. They tried to say, oh no, this is going to expand our. That's a lie. It actually fails dramatically because people, when you're talking about things where you're buying into it for the brand, for the story, there should be, there's an aspirational quality to this. Right. Like when I buy an Under Armour shirt, I'm not going to look like Bo Jackson in his prime in my Under Armour shirt. You know, I mean, I wish.

[Buck Sexton]

Good recall there. Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

Thank you. Yeah, but I'm not going to look like him. But I still, you know, you aspire to that brand and you See this? And there's sort of a signaling in your brain of like, well, I want to be a part of that in some way. Same thing is true with like leading ladies in Hollywood. You know, we're allowed to be like, oh, this is a very beautiful and alluring person who is on the silver screen and you know, it doesn't have to be all pulled down into the sort of the hoi polloi and the day to day of every.

[Buck Sexton]

Now the best example of this buck is Victoria's Secret. Victoria's Secret for a generation. Sold. Hey, we want. We. We have these beautiful women wearing lingerie and everybody understands that they're not going to look probably as beautiful as the average Victoria's Secret supermodel, but is an aspirational desire. And they decided for body positivity reasons we're going to start having basically normal women modeling the lingerie. And you know what happened? Sales collapsed because people are looking like, I don't. I want to aspire to be something that I am not. Right. Like the entire aspect of whether you like it or not of, of selling gear, to your point, like men wear shoes because they hope they're going to jump as high as Michael Jordan. Is that ridiculous? Yes. But the aspiration is that you can be something like someone who is not normal. You can aspire to also be a better version of yourself. And so they.

[Clay Travis]

This. The way that this, I think is manifested in the psychology and the philosophy of the left, the Democrat party, is that they are inherently uncomfortable with and want to suppress excellence, as I said, because it is exclusive. Right? So to be excellent at anything means you have to be elite or better than others in the category, right? To be an excellent classical musician, flute, to be an excellent, you know, to be a, A beauty queen, to be.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, it's the entire foundation of sports, right? This is why the men and women's sports so important, right?

[Clay Travis]

Perfect example of this. So there, you know, you can either elevate what is excellent and give people something aspirational as a society, or you can pull everybody down by destroying merit and excellence in whatever ways that you can because then they're easier to control because they're demoralized and society is now just one. Just one sort of formless mass of people who want to be safe and warm and fed and never aspire to anything. And this is, this is how the psychology of the left manifests itself more and more in art, which I think instead of elevating people, brings people down, which is a very fancy way of Saying this is why they turned against hot chicks. You see what I did there? I stuck the landing.

[Buck Sexton]

It's also I think we talked about this a little bit yesterday but I do think that you said Rachel Zegler not good enough looking to be Snow White. I think that's not a bad argument. I mean this is an incredibly beautiful.

[Clay Travis]

I like how you're tiptoeing the Clay's like I'm not sure going to take the heat on that one with you, buddy. I think you're on your own on that one.

[Buck Sexton]

By the way. I would 1 billion percent welcome. Daily Mail Mediate headline. Clay Travis, Fat ugly radio guy says that Rachel Zegler is not good looking enough to be Snow White. I will second your take. That was your first take. I will sign on to it. I will co sign it. But the part that I think is ridiculous is they decided to go with a Latina Snow White which I think we have to end this race based craziness. Right? We talked about this a little bit yesterday but I do hope because Hollywood is such a copycat copy copycat place that this idea of having historic figures that are defined in some way by their physical appearance and claiming that it doesn't matter to your point, the black female Viking warrior. Yeah, that didn't happen. Right. Like Bridgerton. Hey, this is set in a 17th or 18th century palace in London. I'm sorry, like everybody there was white by and large. Unless there's some visiting, you know, foreign country emissary there. So you telling me, hey, we're trying to deconstruct history by just having people play roles that they could have never played. It takes me completely out of the story. Much like. And I'm going to get more heat for this musicals like I don't want people to start singing. I like plays. I was looking. I'm going to be up in New York recently, Buck. I'm going to go see Othello with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal playing which I think will be an amazing Broadway play. They're doing previews for it right now. I like historic Shakespeare. I like plays. I might even go see the. I'm going to get heat for this when I'm up there. I might even go see this new George Clooney Broadway play which is about the Edward R. Murrow, I think or somebody back in the 50s who was a newscaster. And I know George Clooney is a super left wing guy but he's pretty talented actor I think. And I know Denzel Washington Is one of the greatest actors of his generation. I would like to see him on a stage.

[Clay Travis]

See, I like, I like, I like arguing you when I can. I don't think George Clooney is a very good actor. I think he, I think he's plays the same thing and everything he's in. I think he's very one note. So I'm just, I'm going to throw a flag on this one.

[Buck Sexton]

Is he handsome?

[Clay Travis]

All right, he's. He's handsome, sure. Is he a. Is he a good actor though? I've never seen George Clooney in anything where I've gone. Oh, yeah, he really like leaned into that one. It's always the same thing. He's like, look at me, I'm so handsome. Look at my square jaw. I don't know. I'm not into it.

[Buck Sexton]

I don't have a problem.

[Clay Travis]

He's not, he's not a full melodian either. He's not full melusion. Let's be honest.

[Buck Sexton]

Mallus better looking than Clooney. I agree with you there. I think. Can we go to the archives? I think Trump came on the show and ripped George Clooney with the exact same take that you have last year.

[Clay Travis]

I think I agree on everything, Clay.

[Buck Sexton]

I think Trump came on and said, he's a TV guy, he's not really a movie star. He didn't have that good of a career. I think, I think Trump came on the show and said that about George Clooney. See if we could track that down in the archives. I'm going to go watch the play and I'm going to go watch. Do you agree with me on Denzel? Yeah, like one of the greatest actors.

[Clay Travis]

One of the 10 best actors of his generation. Yes. Denzel's phenomenal. Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

And so I'm gonna go watch that, I think in a couple of weeks when I'm up in New York City. And, and my point on that is excellence. I want to see excellence. And I don't. I would not go see again. Do you see my point, though, about.

[Clay Travis]

When you look at, when you look at authoritarian and totalitarian societies, they. People are all demoralized and all they're allowed to aspire to is the will of the state there. This is why, you know, art is crushed, religion is crushed. You can't, you can't aspire to have a relationship.

[Buck Sexton]

Buildings are not beautiful. Right. You know, like, yes, looking buildings. Absolutely.

[Clay Travis]

There, there is a, this is a, A, an effect.

[Buck Sexton]

Beauty across the, across the entire platform.

[Clay Travis]

Of the, of the Authoritarian, because then people just. Oh, they just want whatever the most basic things are, and they don't want to be attacked, and they don't. They don't want to be different. And because there is nothing to aspire to, because there is nothing that you want to become or that you want, you try to emulate in some way in your own life. You just. Whatever the state, whatever sort of gruel the state dishes out on your plate, that is your life. And this is what you see in, like, former Soviet bloc architecture. And, you know, people would talk about some of the Soviets, you know, they made things a little more complicated because they took, you know, brilliant artists like Tchaikovsky, for example, and they had the Bolshoi, the ballet, the state funded ballet. But that was all done before this. You know, that was all done before Stalin came along. Right? These. They didn't produce any good artwork except for dissident writers, which tells you something in the 20th century. So. So the attack on beauty and the destruction of it as a concept in whether it's physicality, architecture, music, all these things, it is actually part of a collectivist and authoritarian playbook. I mean, it always is, right? Let me tell you. Not a lot of interesting new artwork being created in China these days. Everything that you think of as Chinese culture that's, you know, interesting and worthwhile, that's before Mao. Since Mao, nothing new. They just copy our stuff and our technology and. But, I mean, there's nothing new, and there's a reason for that. All right, I got a little fired off about this one, but we need. We needed to take. We need to take this out of the Clay Sydney Sweeney zone for a second here. You're a funny. You're. You are.

[Buck Sexton]

She would have made a bill. She would have made a billion dollars. I'm just trying to help Disney out, trying to help the company out, and they won't listen to me.

[Clay Travis]

So I have a hard turn here, and it's something that really matters and is important, and there's no way that I can do it without just telling you it's gonna be a hard turn. But I want to talk to you about my friends at Preborn, because they're doing really important work day in and day out. The financial support that you're giving, you, the pro life community give to this nonprofit organization goes so much further than you'll ever know. I mean, your donation could affect future generations. You're helping families to grow and build. You're creating life. It is beautiful. Preborn operates clinics across the country where abortion rates are highest. They are there on the front lines offering women a choice and the choices come into Preborn Meet your baby via free Ultrasound. We will support you. You will have love, no judgments, but the help that you need to bring your baby into this world and then to help you for two years after the birth of that baby. The ultrasound experience is a game changer for so many women because afterwards they realize I have to give life to the tiny baby growing inside me. In 20 years they've saved 300,000 plus lives to date. When you make a donation to Preborn, your gift provides for that ultrasound. $28 is the cost of it and that's a dollar you could donate dollar figure you could donate each month to please consider donating securely today. Dial pound250 on your phone and say the keyword baby. That's pound250 say baby or visit preborn.combuck that's preborn.com buck sponsored by preborn want.

[Buck Sexton]

To be in the know when you're on The Go the Team 47 podcast Trump highlights from the week, Sundays at noon Eastern in the Clay and Buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or.

[Clay Travis]

Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ritual]

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[Buck Sexton]

And I'm Maria Konnikova. We're both journalists and professional poker players, and on our podcast Risky Business, we talk about taking risks in everything from poker to politics and we talk about betting, from betting on elections to betting on your favorite basketball team. We've learned a lot about taking risks through our own research and sometimes even our own bets. And we share what we've learned with you.

[Ritual]

Are you still doing sports betting?

[Buck Sexton]

I had no idea that you'd wagered over a million dollars for your research. I bet almost the entirety of the 20, 22, 23 NBA season, all the regular season, then about half the playoffs. And I learned that, I mean, it's probably what I should have expected, but.

[Clay Travis]

I learned that it's pretty hard.

[Buck Sexton]

I went on a huge heater at the start of the NBA season where it was up like 70,000 bucks. I'm like, man, I'm really good at the sports betting stuff. But then, but then things change now that Marge Madness is upon us. We're talking bracket strategies and a whole lot more. Join us and listen to Risky business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in Clay, Travis, Buck Sexton show we've got some fun clips for you of NPR's Head On Capitol Hill testifying. We'll play some of those for you in a moment. Good friend of the show, Tommy Lahren has weighed in on Sydney Sweeney saying it's a children's movie. Clay Ben Dominic, opening night, I'm there. He agrees with me on Sydney Sweeney, Superman himself. Dean Cain, who has been on the show, says, both my wife and I have good points. The comments are really, really funny online and I think that you guys will enjoy them. If you want to have some laughs to, to this and I would encourage you to go check it out. In the meantime, we want to tell you about serious things that are going on in the world, including in Israel right now, where we have had a tax levied in the north from Lebanon and also in the south from Hamas. The war is back underway there and the work that the IFCJ is doing is incredibly, incredibly important. And we all want you to join us and do the best possible thing that you could do to help the people of Israel, which is go make a donation to the ifcj. They are providing incredible opportunities for people dealing with a great deal of difficulty in their lives right now, making it safer with bomb shelters, providing food, also vehicles to protect people who are out there. Go to supportifcj.org 888488 ifcj that's supportifcj.org.

[Clay Travis]

All right, welcome back into Clay and Buck. The signal firestorm is dying out that's the good news. I think it's dying down. We've seen it all now and. Or I think we've seen it all and people are going to move on to other stuff here soon. But government's still talking about at the very top level. So we'll bring you the latest on it in just moments ago. Pete Hegseth here. Secretary of Defense Hegseth. He. Wait. It's kind of amazing. Whenever I say that, I'm just like, wow. Secretary of Defense Hegseth. I remember, dude, we were on the Blaze together. Actually, can I tell you a quick story about Secretary of Defense?

[Buck Sexton]

Yes, he is.

[Clay Travis]

He is a. He's a brave fellow. And not just for the. Serving his country in the war zone. Reason. We had a. I think it was a sponsor who came in at one point and it was a. It was a water filtration system, but, you know, something you could carry with you for like camping or something, right? It was a little water filtration device. And Pete. And again, this is. This was. People knew. We talked about this on the show. This isn't like some, you know, behind the scenes big thing. But Pete was like, I really want to try this out. And we're like, yeah, okay. Like, go put, you know, go do some tap water or something. He went out to the curb in New York City where there was a puddle.

[Buck Sexton]

Oh, God.

[Clay Travis]

And he poured the puddle water into the filtration system and drink it to.

[Buck Sexton]

Test whether or not it worked.

[Clay Travis]

And he was fine.

[Buck Sexton]

I hope it worked. I mean, that's. That's trusting your. That's trusting your product they offer. They.

[Clay Travis]

He. He was like. It was. It was actually him and Will Cade. If you ask Will Kane, he was there. He'll remember this too. You know, Will and him are good friends. And I don't know. I don't know if Will. I should. I should ask. I don't know if Will drank it. I don't remember. But I remember. What do you think when they were like, buck, will you try it? It's like, absolutely not, sir. Do you think I'm a barbarian? But Pete was. He was drinking that water, no problem. And I. I was just like my. He was fine. So the system worked. But, man, I was not going to be the guinea pig for.

[Buck Sexton]

For that one.

[Clay Travis]

So anyway. And now. Now he's Secretary of Defense. All right. Secretary of Defense Hegseth. That was a decade ago. Secretary of Defense Hegseth. Here he is, and he's talking about the truth of the signal chat. Play it Nobody's texting war plans. Well, I noticed this morning, out came.

[Buck Sexton]

Something that doesn't look like war plans. And of fact, they even changed the.

[Clay Travis]

Title two attack plans because they know.

[Buck Sexton]

It'S not war plans.

[Clay Travis]

There's no units, no locations, no routes.

[Buck Sexton]

No flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information.

[Clay Travis]

You know who sees war plans?

[Buck Sexton]

I see them every single day. I looked at them this morning. I looked at attack plans this morning. You know who does attack plans and war plans? Men like that admiral right there, Papara for the Indo Pacific, or Eric Kurilla, our general in centcom. They do attack plans and war plans, and thank God we have those leaders.

[Clay Travis]

Who do it and do it well.

[Buck Sexton]

And our enemies know it. My job, as it said, atop of.

[Clay Travis]

That, everybody's seen it now, Team Update is to provide updates in real time, general updates in real time, keep everybody informed. That's what I did. There you have it, Clay.

[Buck Sexton]

That is the absolute latest. I think that this story, hopefully is over Again, unless there is more that has not been released from the Texas exchange that they are going to continue to milk at the Atlantic. So that is going on. There's also this buck, which is pretty funny. The NPR executive had to testify on Capitol Hill today, and I wanted to play this for you because I was watching it. This just happened earlier today during the show. The NPR exec, Catherine Marr. I think. I'm not sure how exactly you pronounce her last name, but she has a history. I remember seeing these of insanely woke. Of insanely woke tweets, and she was confronted about them. This is about a minute and a half. This is Congressman Brandon Gill of Texas bringing up all of her old tweets about America being addicted to white supremacy. Why in the world are we giving any money at all to npr? Listen to what this sounded like. Do you believe that America is addicted to white supremacy? I believe that. I tweeted that. And I. As I've said earlier, I believe much of my thinking has evolved over the last half decade. Do you think the white people should pay reparations?

[Clay Travis]

I have never said that, sir.

[Buck Sexton]

Yes, you did. You said it in January of 2020. You tweeted, yes, The North. Yes, all of us.

[Clay Travis]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

America, yes. Our original collective sin and unpaid debt. Yes. Reparations. Yes. On this day.

[Ritual]

I don't believe that was a reference.

[Buck Sexton]

To fiscal reparations, sir. What kind of reparations was it a reference to?

[Clay Travis]

I think it was just a reference.

[Ritual]

To the idea that we all owe much to the people who came before us.

[Buck Sexton]

How much reparations have you personally paid, sir?

[Clay Travis]

I, I don't believe that I've ever paid reparations.

[Buck Sexton]

Do you believe that looting is morally wrong?

[Ritual]

I believe that looting is illegal and I refer to it as counterproductive. I think it should be prosecuted.

[Buck Sexton]

Do you believe it's morally wrong, though?

[Clay Travis]

Of course.

[Buck Sexton]

Of course. Then why did you refer to it as counterproductive? The very different, very different way to describe it.

[Clay Travis]

It is both morally wrong and counterproductive.

[Buck Sexton]

As well as being tweeted. It's hard to be mad about protests in reference to the BLM protests, not prioritizing the private property of a system of oppression. You didn't condemn the looting. You said that it was counterproductive. NPR also promoted a book called In Defense of Looting. Do you think that that's an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars?

[Clay Travis]

I'm unfamiliar with that book, sir, and I don't believe that was at my.

[Buck Sexton]

Tweet that you read that book. I mean, the level of lies. These people are under oath. You would think that they would be very well prepared for being questioned about what they have said in public. I just. This has to happen this time. I know people have been talking about it for a long time. Why in the world does one red cent of our tax dollars go to npr? I. I've never heard anybody explain to me why that makes sense. This show isn't funded by the government. It's funded by our advertisers. We are out here talking to a large audience because you respond to us. We're competing with npr. Why would the government be picking favorites and giving NPR millions and millions of dollars to help subsidize their programming that otherwise can't pay for itself. And we're not getting that same benefit. And we shouldn't. Your taxpayer dollars shouldn't be coming to Clay and Buck. We are advertisers. We've got a business. They really. It has to happen now. Because if they can't shut off the fund funding spigot for NPR now, Buck, they're never going to do it. They're just going to keep talking about it forever.

[Clay Travis]

This just becomes a spoils system that continues on with more and more rapacious and greedy jockeying for access to the government spoils until it's unsustainable mathematically. And then we have a financial reset, perhaps a financial collapse. We really don't want to go there. This has happened in other places in other countries or nations and parts of history and it gets really ugly. We don't want that. So whether anyone's willing to be serious about that now, it is a mathematical certainty that that is what we'll get to. If we can take matters seriously now, we can prevent that.

[Buck Sexton]

Buck Here is we were having some fun. You and, and President Trump have the exact same opinion on George Clooney. This is on this very program, July 12, 2024, the day before he was almost assassinated. You know, you and I almost had the final interview with President Trump if he had been shot on July 13th. This is Trump calling George Clooney a third rate movie actor. Listen, do you follow kind of this palace intrigue, it's really kind of wild. In the two weeks since you knocked him out in the debate, I mean, they have just spun completely out of control. And I've been reading that Barack Obama, George Clooney comes out and says, hey, you gotta drop out. Can you believe how much of a dumpster fire they are right now?

[Clay Travis]

Well, I thought George Clooney was very disloyal because whether you like Biden or not, you know, he's been nice to Clooney. I thought it was very disloyal. Backstabber, third rate movie actor. He was a television actor who never made really a good movie. And so he's sort of third rate. He goes as a movie actor. Clark Gable, he's not. And you know, but I thought it was a, I thought it was a great act of disloyalty. I'm going to two things here, Clay. First of all, amazing recall from you. I did not remember this response from Trump. And then the second part of this is he's, as so many other things, 100% cuts right to the heart of it. Spot on. George Clooney, one of the most overrated actors of his generation. And a joke on top of that.

[Buck Sexton]

I love that you and Trump had the same opinion. So if I go see this Broadway play of George Clooney, you think I'm making an awful, a awful entertainment decision?

[Clay Travis]

I don't know. Is Sydney Sweeney in it? I mean, it depends. There's many factors.

[Buck Sexton]

That's good point. The comments on the Sydney Sweeney Snow White idea are a gold mine. If you want to be just laughing, we'll read a few of those for you when we come back. We'll also Caroline Levitt had a White House press briefing, by the way. I think Trump is doing a briefing, a press conference at 4 Eastern. So there's no telling how that's going to go. Right. That's a good popcorn moment.

[Clay Travis]

Caroline was Handling the press. Here we have it. We have a sound bite of her doing this just as we were on the air. Let's see what kind of mood she's in today. Play it.

[Buck Sexton]

Does the president feel that he was misled by his National Security advisors, whoever it was that told him there was no classified information in there now that he's seen these messages. I've now been asked and answered this question three times by the both of you. And I've given you my answer. The president feels the same today as he did yesterday. Sorry, I might follow up on what you had just said. Go ahead, Philip. I'm not taking your follow up. I have a follow up on something you just said, though. Caroline, that's Caitlin.

[Clay Travis]

Regarding taking your follow up.

[Buck Sexton]

Philip, go ahead.

[Clay Travis]

I have called you. Hey, look at that. Just slapping it down.

[Buck Sexton]

Caroline. You know, I spent a lot of time with Caroline over the weekend and Buck, you and I started having Caroline on the show and she was running for Congress in New Hampshire in two to, at the age of 26.

[Clay Travis]

We, we saw talent. We saw talent early. We even tried to, we honestly, we'll just say we were going to bring her into the Clay and Buck podcast network at one point and then they offered the job of being campaign spokesman for Trump and she's like, I think I got to do that. We're like, God bless. Go do that.

[Buck Sexton]

That's a good move, no doubt. And you know, she's got an eight month old. I feel like sometimes this just gets lost in the, in the conversation. If there were a Democrat White House press secretary performing as ably as right now Caroline Levitt is, and she had an eight month old baby, she would be girl boss, slay queen. You would not be able to avoid positive coverage. And I saw reading the other day the Washington Post just ripped Caroline to shreds for working for Trump. I mean, I do think the double standards, like think about how hard it for those of you, Buck, you're about to be in this boat. For those of you who have had, you know, infants, babies, Imagine having a baby while having one of the most challenging jobs in America. I really do think that's true. White House press secretary, where everybody is looking for every single word that you say, dissecting it, trying to rip you to shreds all the time, doing both those things so ably at the same time. And yet there's almost zero positive coverage about her compared to if she were working at a Democrat administration. She would be one of the most praised people in all of the news media. It's just the disconnect between how she's being treated is pretty crazy. And I do think it's worthy of taking note for all of you out there. Caroline's killing it, doing a great job, let me tell you. Buck, we. What was it? 38 I got right. And 37 you got right in the NCAA tournament so far.

[Clay Travis]

Record right on his heels. I'm hot on his heels, everyone. I'm.

[Buck Sexton]

I've got a one game lead record ratings, highest rated NCAA tournament since 1992. Some are saying that's entirely because Buck Sexton has filled out a bracket and become aware that the NCAA tournament now exists. People are watching it like crazy. Tomorrow starts a sweet 16. I have got picks for all of you. All right, here is the winner. Buck for prize picks, this is for Thursday and Friday, I believe. Cooper Flag, they've got a free square for everybody. You have to do this in the first 24 hours. Cooper flag, best player for Duke, maybe the best player in the tournament overall. He's going to score more than one half point. You have to get this in the next 24 hours. It is effectively a free square like on bingo. You can't lose that one. Then tomorrow, sorry, Friday, Zakai Zigler, point guard for Tennessee game against Kentucky. He's going to have more than 11 1/2 points. And then Walter Clayton Jr. Talented guard for the University of Florida alma mater of Buck's lovely wife Carrie. He is going to have more than 14 and a half points. If we are right about that, you will more than double your money. Again. Cooper Flag, Zakai ziglar, Walter Clayton Jr. All more. If you put in $20 you get back 52. So you were more than double your money. Get hooked up today. Prizepix.com Code Clay. You can play in Texas, you can play in Georgia, you can play in California. 40 states, 13 million people signed up. Play $5, you get 50 bucks. I just gave you that. Winner pricepicks.com code clay. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton telling it like it is. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ritual]

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[Buck Sexton]

I'm Nate Silver. And I'm Maria Konnikova. We're both journalists and professional poker players. And on our podcast Risky Business, we talk about taking risks in everything from poker to politics. And we talk about betting. From betting on elections to betting on.

[Clay Travis]

Your favorite basketball team.

[Buck Sexton]

We've learned a lot about taking risks through our own research and sometimes even our own bets. And we share what we've learned with you.

[Ritual]

Are you still doing sports betting?

[Buck Sexton]

I had no idea that you'd wagered over a million dollars for your research. I bet almost the entirety of the 2022, 23 NBA season, all the regular season and about half the playoffs. And I learned that, I mean, it's probably what I should have expected, but.

[Clay Travis]

I learned that it's pretty hard.

[Buck Sexton]

I went on a huge heater at the start of the NBA season where it was up like 70,000 bucks. I'm like, man, I'm really good at the sports betting stuff. But then, but then things change. Now that Marge Madness is upon us, we're talking bracket strategies and a whole lot more.

[Ritual]

Join us and listen to Risky business.

[Buck Sexton]

On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in Clay Travis, Buck Sexton show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us and we have got a lot that's been going on on during the course of the show. Debbie down in Tallahassee. That's where your in laws live, right? Buck? She wants to weigh in. This is jj. Cut. JJ.

[Clay Travis]

Hi, Clay. Hey, Puck.

[Ritual]

You guys are missing the whole point.

[Clay Travis]

The script for Snow White sucks without any. I don't care who they put in their actress, actor, whatever, the script sucks. Disney would never make it. Can I just say, Debbie, don't disagree with you. However, Clay just wants to talk about Sydney Sweeney. He doesn't care. He doesn't care.

[Buck Sexton]

I want Disney to make money. I tried to make them a billion dollars. All they. Bob Iger could have called me up. He would have said, clay, trying to decide who to put in Snow White. And I would have said, bob, Sidney Sweeney's the right call. Trust me. Don't listen to anybody else. And right now, Bob Iger would be sitting on a big pile of cash. He'd be like Scrooge McDuck diving into his big vault full of cash. If they made Sydney Sweeney Snow White instead, Rachel Zegler is just lighting Disney's money on fire. She's ripping Trump. She's talking about how awful America is. She's pro Palestine. I mean, they. It's as if they picked the worst possible. She didn't even like Snow White. She ripped the original Snow White. The idea of Prince Charming. Who plays Prince Charming, by the way? Do we know. Is Prince Charming even in the movie? I don't. I don't. Did they write. Did he write him out? Is it just a girl?

[Clay Travis]

Not very. I'm gonna guess he's not very charming based on how everything else is going.

[Buck Sexton]

So, yeah, it was a great film. Saved Snow White's life, gives her a kiss, dislodges the. The bite of the poison apple. All these things, great things that even happen in the new movie. I don't know. It's a fabulous ending. Ray, what do you got for us? Yeah, you called us, Ray. Fire away.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, yes, I did. Yes, I did. Debbie Stole my Thunder. I think you guys are missing it too. I think maybe you've got some retina damage or something from having to cover Maxine Waters or Randy Weingarten, Janet Mills, all those ladies. The perfect Snow White would be Caroline Levitt. You just dye her hair black. She is the personification of Snow White.

[Buck Sexton]

We lost Ray there. I mean, that's. I bet Caroline Levitt could dress up as Snow White for Halloween and pull that off. I hadn't thought about it. She probably can sing, too.

[Clay Travis]

I don't know. She probably can sing.

[Buck Sexton]

She's multi talented, by the way, Buck, tomorrow we're going to have some fun with this. You know how Jasmine Crockett said she wasn't making fun of Greg Abbott for being in a wheelchair? Turns out she's made fun of Greg Abbott for being in a wheelchair a bunch of times in the past, too.

[Ritual]

Oh, my stomach is a mess. And you feel lousy. Something is just off, but you don't know what. Yeah, we get it.

[Buck Sexton]

You've tried every fad, diet and supplement.

[Ritual]

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