Hour 3 - Jesse Kelly Hangs With Us

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 3 – Jesse Kelly Hangs With Us
Date: February 12, 2026
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts

Episode Overview

This lively episode features host Clay Travis and Buck Sexton welcoming radio personality Jesse Kelly for a wide-ranging conversation on the current state of American politics, culture, education, and more. The hosts keep the mood humorous as they discuss everything from Super Bowl party etiquette to the seriousness of victims’ responsibilities in the Epstein case, the outlook for the 2026 elections, the impact of modern pop culture, and challenges in education. Listener calls add further color, touching on issues like school curriculum changes, mustache culture, and the decline of major American cities.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Super Bowl Party Behavior and Masculinity

• Ice Water Controversy (Starts ~04:06)
  • Jesse Kelly faces friendly ribbing for drinking ice water at a Super Bowl party rather than an alcoholic beverage.
    • Kelly: "I haven't watched the NFL in years because of all the Black Lives Matter stuff...I left at halftime after I made everybody turn off the Bad Bunny halftime show and turn on the other one." (04:06)
  • Discussion about what defines masculine choices at a party, with playful references to cucumber wedges and Brussels sprouts.
    • Buck jokes: "Brussels sprouts for the table versus cucumber wedged ice water at a Super bowl party. I...think that I'm the more masculine choice here." (05:21)

2. Jesse Kelly’s New Book – “Jesse's Little Red Book”

• Overview and Availability (06:18 – 07:40)
  • Kelly announces his free e-book, a collection of thoughts on politics, culture, and even food, offered as a riff on Mao’s Little Red Book:
    • “It's free. It's not a gimmick or a scam...Just a little booklet that's obviously a riff on Mao's Little Red Book, which he used to slaughter all kinds of people in China. No one will be slaughtered after my Little Red Book.” (06:37)
  • Book available via email at www.jessekelly.com.

3. Responsibility of Victims in the Epstein Case

• On Moral Obligation to Name Names (07:40 – 11:06)
  • Clay expresses frustration that victims repeatedly hold press conferences about abuse by powerful men but refuse to name names.
    • Clay: "If you're on your 20th press conference...and it's the 20th time, you haven't named a single name. I'm sorry, I need to hear some names now." (09:32)
  • Jesse agrees, relating it to the MeToo movement and acknowledging the tension between privacy and public responsibility.

4. 2026 Election Outlook

• Predictions and Economic Impact (11:47 – 12:40)
  • Jesse Kelly forecasts the Republicans will likely lose the House but keep the Senate, emphasizing the outsized impact of the economy on “normie” voters:
    • “Normies...vote on 'Can they afford chicken? Can they afford a plane ticket to go see their mother?'...They have to feel it in their pocketbook. Are they feeling it?” (11:47)
  • Potential for a tumultuous two years of a Trump presidency if re-elected, including repeat impeachments.

5. Cultural Lightning Round: Taylor Swift and Pop Icons

• Comparison to The Beatles (12:40 – 13:39)
  • Clay asks Jesse to react to claims that Taylor Swift is becoming the Beatles of the 21st century.
    • Jesse: "I'd almost want to figure out, is he hurt? Is there something wrong inside...? If I met somebody that broken and wrong, I would want to find out." (13:00)
  • Buck: “She is an absolute icon, and long after three of us are gone, her music is going to echo throughout the world, bringing everyone together.” (13:39)

6. Listener Call-Ins & Mustache Debates

• On Style and Personal Grooming (21:46 – 23:44)
  • Several listeners weigh in playfully on mustache versus beard maintenance:
    • AJ from Wisconsin: "A mustache takes far more discipline...Beards are symbols of laziness..." (22:20)
  • Listeners also defend or poke fun at Clay’s and others' facial hair choices.

7. Education: Standardization and Teacher Choice

• Teacher Jackie on Curricular Control (25:35 – 30:16)
  • Jackie, a high school English teacher, laments the lack of teacher autonomy and "race-baiting" content in mandatory, standardized workbooks from College Board:
    • “I have no anonymity in my choices in my classroom...they're race baiting in all the stories...anti-American, like colonialism is the root of all evil.” (25:35)
  • She highlights diminished opportunities for teaching classic texts and cross-content creativity.
  • On diminished reading skills among students: "100% Inability to read deeply...They don't have the stamina for that." (29:10)
    • Buck and Clay express concern that AI will accelerate the loss of critical reasoning and textual analysis skills.

8. Urban Decline, Drugs, and Baseball

• Listener Input on Drugs and Urban Decay (35:30 – 38:10)
  • Callers from the Pacific Northwest and San Francisco describe visible increases in drug use and homelessness, citing the impact of drug policy changes:
    • "Seattle and Portland both have gone down the tubes. And it seems to coincide with the legalization and the uptick in pot..." (37:00)
  • Portland’s decline affects prospects for major events, such as losing out on a potential Major League Baseball franchise to Salt Lake City.
    • Buck: "Portland is going to lose a Major League baseball team and Salt Lake City is going to get it." (37:19)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jesse Kelly on Masculinity and Super Bowl Parties:
  “I like ice water...I don't like to rub my wealth in anyone's face, but I have an ice machine. It makes endless amounts of ice. And so I spend my days drinking icy cold water as if I'm on an Arctic expedition.” (05:58)

• On Victim Accountability:
  Clay Travis:
  “If you're going to come out publicly and say, I was abused, you have to deliver the goods...I need to hear some names now.” (09:32)
  Jesse Kelly:
  “As soon as people start getting paid on this stuff, start getting famous on this stuff, that is inevitably going to invite scammers and scummy people, too, who love to give press conferences every other day.” (09:32)

• Cultural Barbs about Taylor Swift:
  Jesse Kelly: “If I met somebody that broken and wrong, I would want to find out. Is it rehab? Look, I'll pitch in some money, Buck.” (13:00)

• On Teacher Autonomy & Indoctrination:
  Jackie (NC teacher):
  “There is no longer teacher choice...You have no choice. You can supplement, I suppose, but you have to be in lockstep with College Board SAT Spring Board.” (27:47)

• Worries about Youth Literacy and AI:
  Buck Sexton:
  “With the power of AI, these kids are going to lack the ability to even understand when they're being manipulated by the algorithms that govern AI...If kids don't have the depth of knowledge to grapple with complex issues...we're in trouble.” (31:23)

• On Urban Decline:
  David from Idaho (caller):
  “Seattle and Portland both have gone down the tubes. And it seems to coincide with the legalization and the uptick in pot in those towns.” (37:00)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Jesse Kelly joins, Super Bowl party/masculinity banter: 01:09 – 06:18
• Jesse’s Little Red Book discussion: 06:18 – 07:40
• Epstein victims’ responsibilities: 07:40 – 11:06
• 2026 Election predictions: 11:47 – 12:40
• Taylor Swift vs. The Beatles debate: 12:40 – 13:39
• Listener calls and mustache/beard talk: 21:46 – 23:44
• Teacher Jackie on loss of curriculum autonomy: 25:35 – 30:16
• Concerns over AI and student literacy: 31:15 – 32:07
• Urban decline, drugs, and MLB chat: 35:30 – 38:10

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Tone and Style

The episode maintains a snappy, joking camaraderie, even when addressing serious topics. The dynamic between the hosts and Jesse Kelly is playful and brash, poking fun at each other and at political targets with irreverence but occasionally pivoting to grave concerns about culture and politics. Listener calls connect the show to grassroots experience and provide additional flavor, especially around lighthearted debates over mustaches and music selection.

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For listeners seeking insights into conservative commentary on political, cultural, and educational trends—delivered with wit, skepticism, and plenty of banter—this episode offers a strong, representative sample of Clay & Buck at their most engaging.

Transcript

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Clay Travis]

Welcome everybody. Third hour of Clay and Buck joins us right now. In fact, right now it's Clay, Buck and Jesse that you will be talking to. Jesse Kelly joins us. He is the host of the Jesse Kelly show syndicated by Premier Networks. In the evenings he has a new book out, Jesse's Little Red Book which we'll be talking about here in a second. And he is America's tallest radio host according to the Guinness Book of World Records. So Jesse, welcome.

[Jesse Kelly]

Well I'm just happy I can finally bring some talent to the airwaves here. Buck and I do have to ask before we get going, what did you do to your hair? But.

[Buck Sexton]

I love that mustache. Avoided all, all attacks. I, you know I pointed this out. Did you get a new take on. Because Buck has been getting the same haircut as like 20 year olds in Miami now. So this is Jesse.

[Clay Travis]

I go, I go to a barber shop with some wonderful Cuban Americans who speak very limited English and you are seeing the end product of that here. But I will have you know that Clay's teenage sons in shock referred to this haircut as cool.

[Jesse Kelly]

Yes, but have you seen Clay's mustache? I mean with all due respect, are we going with Clay's broods opinion here?

[Buck Sexton]

You know those. How about you opening with no hair. Coming after Buck for a haircut like that is just an unprecedented attack from you. That's like Iran coming into the negotiations with Trump and, you know, threatening to obliterate. Obliterate Washington, D.C. clay.

[Clay Travis]

Clay wanted to read an email that you posted from one of your fans on air on this show. And I was like, oh, Jess. I was like, no, Jesse's our friend.

[Buck Sexton]

That's not.

[Clay Travis]

You know what, Clay? Go ahead.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm not. Let's start off. You want to throw stones? Make sure I grabbed it here because I was laughing during the commercial break. This is an email. Jesse is on many of these same stations in the evening. The subject is gay boy, which, by the way, I'm sure got flagged because you and Mayor Pete are emailing so frequently with each other. Jesse, I think that's what you call each other, right? Jesse, you say you had an ice water at the super bowl party. How many fruit wedges did you throw in that water? Was any cucumber involved? People are concerned your gayness is bleeding over into the NFL. Just go watch the halftime show. Why are you so gay? It's okay to use my name, Aaron. So, you know, there's a lot of super bowl talk. Why? Aaron wants to know, why are you so gay? Would you like to apologize to America for drinking an ice water at the super bowl party?

[Jesse Kelly]

No, I would not like to apologize. And let me explain, it was not my party, and I didn't care about the Super Bowl. I haven't watched the NFL in years because of all the Black Lives Matter stuff. I went from being NFL superfan to. So I never watch it. I went to a neighborhood party because my neighbor who barbecues and he smokes all these delicious meats, he had smoked chicken wings. But anyway, the fellas and ladies were getting together. Of course the ladies stayed inside because they're too annoying. And the guys went out back and we ate meats. I did not go for the game. I didn't care about the game. I left at halftime after I made everybody turn off the bad bunny halftime show and turn on the other one. Then I made it halfway through that, and I left at halftime. I was there to hang with the fellows for a little bit and have some meats. The super bowl is on a Sunday. I am 44, not 24 years old anymore. I try to limit my alcoholic beverages, period. Let alone on a Sunday night when I have to work the next day. So, yes, I had ice water, and I had to tell everyone there, I had ice water and I had to catch crap from them and then I had to catch crap from my losers, and now I'm getting it from you guys. What's wrong with ice water? I like ice water.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, I mean, it's fine. I mean, we heard rumors that there.

[Clay Travis]

Were cucumber wedges in the ice water.

[Buck Sexton]

I know. I just remember you coming after me for Brussels sprouts. And I think if you were trying to assess masculinity, Brussels sprouts for the table versus cucumber wedged ice water at a Super bowl party. I, I just think that I'm the more masculine choice here.

[Jesse Kelly]

Well, if I have to be honest, I didn't advertise it was ice water because I had one of those big, big. I forget what brand it was. One of the big insulated mugs with the lid on it. So if you looked and I walked in with it, you probably were just.

[Buck Sexton]

Carrying around your own water. Now this is what chicks do in your Stanley Cup.

[Jesse Kelly]

No, no, I like the water to stay cold. I have an ice machine. I don't like to rub my wealth in anyone's face, but I have an ice machine. It makes endless amounts of ice. And so I spend my days drinking icy cold water as if I'm on an Arctic expedition.

[Clay Travis]

Tell us about. I'm going to save you here, Jesse. I'm going to pull you out of the Arctic icy waters here for a second. Like a polar bear grabbing a seal. Tell me the Little Red book. This is available@jesse kelly.com right now. What is this?

[Jesse Kelly]

Okay, first of all, it's free. I need to stress this. It's free. It's not a gimmick or a scam. I, I wrote every. I wrote the anti Communist manifesto. What was that a couple of years ago? I'm not an author. I don't want to ever want to write another book again. And I didn't want to write another book, but I had some extra thoughts. Like I wanted to put an extra chapter in it, basically. But then as I was sitting down and I was hashing it out, it turned into, I think it's 93 pages, which is more than an extra chapter. And I thought, well, how do I even get this to people? I don't want to put it in hardback. Why don't I just email it to everybody? So we came up with the idea, let's just write it. It's a little booklet on, you know, my thoughts on the Democrats, Republicans, culture. I even have food thoughts in there. Whatever. Just a little booklet that's obviously a riff on Mao's Little Red Book, which he used to slaughter all kinds of people in China. No one will be slaughtered after my Little Red Book. It's just little food for thought item about where we're at as a country. And it's free. We just put in your email address@jesse kelly.com and we email it to you. That's what it is.

[Buck Sexton]

It's a pretty cool idea. So I would encourage people to. To potentially check this out. If you're into gay authors, which, you know, it's an important, important moment to. To honor you. I know it's Black History Month, but, you know, Gay Author Month is coming up soon, I'm sure, and it's an esteemed accomplishment. All right, I'm gonna. I'm gonna. So this is all, like, prelude to, you can choose to join me in right now. People are coming after me like crazy. Or you can say, you know what, Clay? That's you on an island. And it's an interesting island because I watched yesterday Pam Bondi testify on Capitol Hill, and she was interrupted by so called. And I say use the phrase so called because these women are saying, hey, we were abused by people other than Jeffrey Epstein. And they continue to have all these press conferences, and they keep showing up, and they were in the press conference, and they're in the back of the. I mean, at the. At the. At the hearing, they're in the back of it. They're chanting. They're drawing attention to themselves where. What am I missing here? If you are a victim, if somebody assaulted you, you. And yet that person is still alive, and maybe they're still out there assaulting other people, don't you have an actual obligation if you are doing all these press conferences to actually make the public allegation file lawsuits, get investigations to occur? What am I missing here? At some point when you're showing up for all these press conferences saying, I'm a victim, I'm a survivor, Epstein is dead. Jelaine Maxwell's in prison. They're saying there's other people that abuse them. Don't they have an obligation morally to actually tell us who these people are? I mean, I. I'm just. I'm fired up about it.

[Jesse Kelly]

I don't. I don't disagree. I. But I think this. This Epstein stuff, it's very similar to. To like, the. What the MeToo movement was like that started out. And it was a really good thing because women who had been abused by men felt comfortable coming forward and finally voicing It. And then it took, like, five minutes for it to turn really scummy and scammy. And very clearly it was a money grab. And he took me out on a bad date and he ordered Brussels sprouts, and now I'm mad at him. That kind of a thing. And so I think the exact same thing is taking place with Epstein, who was clearly a creep and a monster, was surrounded by creeps and monsters, did all kinds of creepy, monstrous things, and I hope every one of them gets thrown into prison. However, as soon as people start getting paid on this stuff, start getting famous on this stuff, that is inevitably going to invite scammers and scummy people, too, who love to give press conferences every other day and have their name in 60 minutes. But at some point, if you're going to. If you're going to come out publicly and say, I was abused, you have to deliver the goods. I don't necessarily think you're crazy. Now, if you want to stay quiet, I get that. I know a bunch of women who have sadly gone through this kind of thing, and they don't want to talk about it. They don't feel comfortable talking about it. And that's not my place to tell anyone to talk about it. But if you're. If you're on your 20th press conference talking about the powerful men who've abused you and it's the 20th time, you haven't named a single name. I'm sorry, I need to hear some names now. I want to hear some names. I want to know which of the powerful people in our society are freaking monstrous predators preying on women. You've teased me at this point in time. Now, you got to deliver much more.

[Buck Sexton]

If they truly are out there and they did it to you, they're likely doing it to other people. So to me, the moral obligation people say, oh, there's an NDA. They got paid $100 million. They can't talk. This is BS like the Epstein. The Epstein estate is not suing you. I've been through some of these cases before with representing women and representing people in situations like these. You. I just. I. I'm fired up about it. Okay. Where are we, Jesse, year two, as we are now? You know, you got a primary. You live in Texas. You got a primary in, what, two and a half weeks, whatever it's going to be? What do you expect in 26?

[Jesse Kelly]

I expect that we will lose the House of Representatives and keep the Senate. I think that's a reasonable expectation. How bad that loss is remains to Be seen. If we fight tooth and nail, we might lose it by a little. If, if this economy does not come back for most people, then we're probably going to lose it by a lot. And Trump's going to be impeach, impeached every other day in the House. And it's going to be a miserable last two years of his presidency. I think it's all going to depend on the economy. Those US Political people, everyone listening right now. We know all the ins and outs. We know all the issues. But the normies who decide elections don't vote on that. They vote on. Can they afford chicken? Can they afford a plane ticket to go see their mother? Is the economy back for them? Selling them on another big trade deal does not do anything for the normies out there. They have to feel it in their pocketbook. Are they feeling it? I don't know. They better be feeling it by election time or we're in trouble.

[Clay Travis]

Jesse, putting you back on the hot seat here for a second. What would you say to a full grown man with a mustache who lives in the Nashville area who makes the claim that Taylor Swift is on her way to being the 21st century version of the Beatles?

[Jesse Kelly]

Man, that is just so sad. If I had a moment, if I could. If I could talk to that guy, if I had him, if I had a chance to talk to that guy, I'd really want to. I mean, I'd almost want to figure out, is he hurt? Is there something wrong inside? Is there something going on in his life that we need to find out about? Can we get him help? Is it? I am. I have a heart for people, Buck. If I met somebody that broken and wrong, I would want to find out. Is it. Is it rehab? Look, I'll pitch in some money, Buck. I know you will, too, Clay. You probably would, too, if you met anybody that unbelievably deranged.

[Buck Sexton]

She is an absolute icon, and long after three of us are gone, her music is going to echo throughout the world, bringing everyone together.

[Jesse Kelly]

Go to Jesse Kelly.com for drinking ice.

[Buck Sexton]

Water at a Super bowl party. You didn't drink ice water after you ran a half marathon. You drank ice water at a Super bowl party. While I might mention hanging out with guys and pounding meats on the patio, I think in your phrasing, he's going to be voting for Mayor Pete in every election for the rest of his life. He's Jesse Kelly. Make sure that you go subscribe to his podcast, check out his new book, and you can listen to him on many of these same stations in the evenings. Jesse, thank you. See you boys through the Tunnel that's ours. Foundation you can honor the courage and sacrifice of our nation's greatest heroes, first responders and military heroes like United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Christy Rabitz. Christy served our country with unwavering dedication for 20 years. As a combat nurse, she provided life saving care to wounded soldiers including at Walter Reed National Military Medical center during the height of the Global War on Terror. Christy was also a devoted wife, mother and mentor whose life was rooted in compassion and integrity. After six years of courageously battling service related cancer, Christie's life was tragically cut short. She leaves behind her husband Stephen and their two kids. Tunnel the Towers honored Christie's service and sacrifice by paying off the mortgage on her family's home. Help more families like Christie's join us in donating $11 a month to tunnel the towers at t2t.org that's tthenumber2t.org.

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[Buck Sexton]

Jesse Kelly just on with us. Also Secretary of education Linda McMahon in our number two I saw yeah hour number two. If you are out there listening right now and you have not already subscribed to the podcast, you should also want to remind all of you we are now airing on Sirius XM channel 123. So if you have satellite radio and you are traveling around the country Maybe you're on the road for President's Day weekend. I'm going to be on the road a bit and many of you may be out there. If you got kids on a little bit of a break from school, whatnot, you can find us all over the country. We want you to continue to listen on the 555amaz stations we have, and soon you will be able to watch all three hours of this program on YouTube. If you haven't subscribed on YouTube, I think last I checked, 120,000 of you have, which we appreciate, but we want to bump those numbers. I would like to get it. I think we could get it up over a mil is the big goal. I think we can get it up over a million in the next year. I think when we start putting up the three hour show and people are able to find it there, in addition to podcast and all the live radio and everything else, I think we can take the YouTube show up over a million subscribers. I think we can get that next year at some point.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I certainly add a really fun dynamic to what we're doing here because then, for example, all of you could, after you've listened on the radio, go check out the YouTube and you could see that the haircut that I got that Jesse remarked on. I've already taken some incoming on this one clay. I got home from my barber shop and I feel like I'm doing great. You know, it's all very light, very aerodynamic.

[Buck Sexton]

How often do you get your hair cut?

[Clay Travis]

Once a month. Okay. You know, every four or five weeks. That's enough.

[Buck Sexton]

That's, that's, that's legit. Okay.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah. So. So I went, I. But I came home and I looked at my wife and I said, and I said, what do you think? She said, it's fine. And there was like a three second pause before fine.

[Buck Sexton]

I think it looks good. I don't. I, I understand, but this is.

[Clay Travis]

That's like dagger to the heart, man. When you ask your wife, what do you think? And she says something is dot, dot, dot, fine? It's not fine, by the way.

[Jesse Kelly]

That's fine.

[Buck Sexton]

Flip it. Not fine, by the way. Flip it. How do I look in this new dress? Dot, dot, dot. Fine.

[Jesse Kelly]

You.

[Buck Sexton]

You're lucky if you make it out of that house alive. Like, there is no equality. Like you're gonna say great no matter what.

[Clay Travis]

Great is the word. Great is the word, guys.

[Buck Sexton]

You say great, you look great no matter what.

[Clay Travis]

No matter what's a trash bag on. She puts a trash bag on. She's like, I only paid 500 for it. What do you think? It was on sale like that trash bag was great.

[Buck Sexton]

It's great. She could pause and completely denigrate you or I think you've talked about this before. The, the real woman move is, are you gonna wear that? Like they don't say change, they say, are you going to wear that? The number of times I've heard in my life getting ready. I've been married 20, I don't know, I should probably know this 22 years now. Number of times I've been told, are you gonna wear that? I guess not. Headed right back into the, into the, into the laboratory here to find something new that I need to put on. But yeah, you can't ever say this is a good valid Valentine's Day. Is Saturday good Valentine's Day choice? She looks great. Everything she's ever put on looks fantastic.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

You know who's going to be excited about this? Your sister in law who's traveling to Las Vegas to spend a lot of money to go see them in concert because they're wildly popular with women of a certain age in America between the ages of, let's say 25 and 45 right now.

[Clay Travis]

I think that's right.

[Jesse Kelly]

Yeah.

[Clay Travis]

That is their, that is their key demo. You know, you never know. You think you know somebody and then all of a sudden they're buying expensive tickets to back street and going to the Sphere. You know, it's a crazy world we live in. We have a ton of talkbacks. Only some of them mad at Clay. But we'll get to them anyway. Here we go. Marin in Arizona. This is Talk back in E. This.

[Caller]

Is Baron in Arizona. Tell Clay I didn't have a mustache and I was really good at landing airplanes. I'm retired now, but I have over 30,000 hours of flying time.

[Clay Travis]

Well, so I. I guess you said.

[Buck Sexton]

I don't think I took a shot. I said that I look like I would be good at landing airplanes. But Marin, I appreciate the fact she didn't have a mustache, but she was still good at landing airplanes. I'm glad she's still with us.

[Clay Travis]

That's good stuff. Here we go. AJ In Racine, Wisconsin.

[Buck Sexton]

A mustache takes far more discipline. It takes far more active effort than a beard does. Beards are symbols of laziness, whereas a mustache takes effort every day to groom it shows a much put together man. This is coming from a bearded gentleman. Myself doesn't thought about that.

[Clay Travis]

Doesn't AJ Kind of sound to you like a guy who spends hundreds of hours making dioramas of like Revolutionary War figures, you know, intense.

[Buck Sexton]

He probably do well. Probably do well in the Linda McMahon test that I'm going to take about 1776 history. I really want to take that test. We got to figure out if I can get a special dispensation to do so.

[Clay Travis]

Michael from Florida G. Let's hear it.

[Buck Sexton]

Listen, I'll put this to bed right now. The mustache has to stay. You've actually become the, let's say the.

[Jesse Kelly]

Most depended on reporter or slash broadcaster.

[Buck Sexton]

Slash whatever acronym or.

[Jesse Kelly]

Or title we want to give.

[Buck Sexton]

You are now the Tom Tucker from Family Guy of our media.

[Jesse Kelly]

And the mustache has got to stay.

[Clay Travis]

That's just the way it is. You may be the most trusted mustachioed media figure in America right now. Clay. That is a real thing.

[Buck Sexton]

Yeah, look, I'm just America's sweetheart. And, you know, this is quite the. Quite the change from much of my career. By the way, people are coming after you. El Paso. El Paso. They shut down the airport for a little bit for not recognizing the Mexican radio song. I obviously have no idea, but you're the musical expert here. H. Buck.

[Clay Travis]

I can't believe that you've never heard the Mexican radio song. It's a comedy song. Talking about a guy that was in a band back in the late 70s when suddenly he tunes on the radio and he hears from across the border the Mexican radio station playing his rock song. It's a great song. You should listen to it. Come on, man.

[Buck Sexton]

That's a cool concept of a song idea, but I know nothing about it.

[Clay Travis]

I've never heard of it, nor had I heard it the song before. I think there are cooler songs that we could put into our rejoin hopper as. As it were. But yeah, no, I'm. I'm not. I'm not taking an L on that one. Like, this is some song from the 70s, guys. I was born in the 80s. You know, we got to keep it real over here. Long island listener Junior listens on wor. This is I.

[Jesse Kelly]

Hey, guys, it's Junior on Long Island. Whomever is picking your bumper music needs to get a raise first. Wall of voodoo then. Was not was.

[Buck Sexton]

I say give that person more money. Was not.

[Clay Travis]

Was.

[Buck Sexton]

I don't know. Is it? But Greg has been. I think producer Greg is picking the music. So he's now rigging the talkbacks to angle for raises. Not a bad move by him. By the way, Jackie in North Carolina, she's been waiting a while. We were talking with Secretary of education Linda McMahon. Jackie, you wanted to weigh in?

[Caller]

Hey. Hello, boys. I was weighing in on the top to bottom control in public schools that I am exposed to on the daily. I'm a teacher in North Carolina. I won't say where. So College Board. I teach in high school. College Board is disseminating a workbook that all of our students have to use and is mandating that we use it. I have no anonymity in my choices in my classroom. And so at any rate, long story short, they're race baiting in all the stories that they choose in these workbooks. They are anti American, like colonialism and colonialism, the root of all evil. And to Linda, to your point, I should say, boys, I'm not needed. We had a couple snow days over the past couple weeks. I went home and I turned on a switch for dissemination of the curriculum that they have chosen. There was nothing for me to do. It's already electronically put into a platform which I just allow the children to access. And that's it. I mean, it's really horrific. And our personal children went to private school and had a vastly different experience and actually learned something. Sadly, the children that sit in our schools here in North Carolina are absolutely. They're absolutely suffering and they're. And it shows in the test results.

[Buck Sexton]

What grade? Can you tell us what grade you teach?

[Caller]

I teach 12th grade English. Well, excuse me. English 3 and English 4. So one one block of English 3 and two blocks of English 4. So I see. I see it in English 3. And I've taught English 2 and 10th grade. I refuse to teach freshman. That's just a little bit too much. So I've seen it literally up and down the curriculum vertically. How.

[Buck Sexton]

I'm curious, from your perspective, how has it changed? I don't know when you started teaching, but when you started teaching, was it drastically different? How have you seen the evolution of the curriculum as dictated by North Carolina progress in your career?

[Caller]

I've been in North Carolina since the mid 2000, and it has. There is no longer teacher choice. You are told what to teach. They give you the, you know, they give you the feeling that you have choice in your classroom. You do not. You have no choice. You can supplement, I suppose, but you have to be in lockstep with college Board SAT Spring Board. And you have to. You have to also be in lockstep with what your principal says and your, like, little local overlord says. I mean, you get zero choice. Zero choice. And when I first started teaching, you could go cross content. You could. Me, as an English teacher, I could go over to history and cross content it and, you know, like, text. And that would meet both worlds and make the kids excited. If they are. There is nothing exciting about teaching anymore.

[Buck Sexton]

All right, let me ask you this, because I'm concerned about this, and I see it. My older son reads a lot. My middle son, like, getting him to read anything is a challenge if you're teaching English. 4. Do kids. I know kids have pretended to read books for a long time, but do kids have the ability to read text, meaning classic novels, and interact with them? Or are you seeing, with the rise of social media, an inability to read deeply with your kids?

[Caller]

100% Inability to read deeply, reason being, everything that they're being given is, like, tackled in, like, 10, 15 minutes. First, if it's a, you know, chapter book you have to read, forget about it. They don't have the stamina for that. The first time in our curriculum, as it stands now, that the children in this part of North Carolina see Shakespeare, is, as seniors, crazy. They may read a sonnet here or there, but they're not studying Shakespeare. And the only thing they read is Othello, where I'm at and, you know, you're in Othello for two weeks and done, you know, and you have no choice as a teacher what books you can read. You can, like, suggest supplementation, but that has to be done outside of class. So my children, aside from the Text that they're reading in the workbook again, that's being disseminated from College Board and we are being mandated to use and you know how that might be indoctrination. The only two other texts they're reading are, like I said, Othello and Pygmalion or the Crucible. Thank God. Which is really fun to teach, but.

[Buck Sexton]

Thank you for calling in. Jackie. This is. Thank you for giving us your perspective, Buck. This is something that I actually worry about. Big picture. We talk about historical illiteracy. I worry that kids, younger kids are not developing a depth of reasoning that is required in order to analyze things in a complex way and that instead they're going to be on AI and they're going to say, hey, tell me she just mentioned Othello. Tell me the story of Othello or tell me what the themes are of Huckleberry Finn. And when you don't experience it and grapple with text yourself, your depth of knowledge of basically anything is non existent. Because I would argue the most useful tool that exists is the ability to read and analyze information. And I think it's going to matter even more in the culture in which we're moving to because I think things are just getting more complicated.

[Clay Travis]

It's all true. And I don't even have to type that into AI to be able to understand it. I agree with you. I think that's where we are.

[Buck Sexton]

And by the way, with the power of AI, these kids are going to lack the ability to even understand when they're being manipulated by the algorithms that govern AI. I don't want to be like a super alarmist here, but depth of reasoning and knowledge is basically to me all that should be taught in school. And I worry that it's being completely erased in many of our schools. And if kids don't have the depth of knowledge to grapple with complex issues in an in depth way, then we're in trouble going forward because basically we're just going to have two emoticons running against each other in elections going forward. The happy face emoticon is going to win by the way, most of the time.

[Clay Travis]

So what? Who else do we have in the calls? I just lost my call screen. That's why I'm being quieter.

[Buck Sexton]

You tell me we're good, you got to read and then we'll come back and we'll take some more calls and more talkbacks.

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

Headed into the final segment of the program. Encourage you to go subscribe to the podcast. Make sure you don't miss a single moment. Rob in West Palm I'm gonna be down there next week for about 24 hours at 1290 WJNO. He had this to say Klay Hey.

[Clay Travis]

Buck, this is Rob from West Palm. This is why you Guys connect so well with people in America. As you were talking to secretary Linda Matt McMahon and she was explaining the test, I was saying to the radio, give it to us. We all like to take it for fun. And the moment I said that, you guys repeated it. Thanks.

[Buck Sexton]

There you go. Just a couple of normal guys hanging out with all of you. But people are mad about yesterday. I should play a couple of these cuts, too. This is unidentified podcast listener B. We had a big conversation about cannabis yesterday, and I just wanted to. And the fact is maybe a little bit more dangerous than has been let on, as more and more are discovering. And here is B. Hey, Clay and Buck.

[Clay Travis]

I just wanted to inform you guys and correct you on your 90 THC claim that we have nowadays in cannabis. Cannabis flour that you get from dispensaries is right around probably 17, 18% to about 30%. And that's cannabis flower. There are products out there with up to 90% THC. They're called concentrates. But the THC flower that's available is not that high. That guy seems very knowledgeable about what's going on in the dispensary. Dispensary. What do you. How do you say? Dispensary? Dispensary. There you go.

[Buck Sexton]

C Is. And I do think this is interesting. I was just in San Francisco. I talked about the needles that I saw walking to our studio through. I think it was the Tenderloin district in where our studio is at Iheart and David, Idaho raises this, which I think is pretty important. Seattle and Portland both, Buck, decided basically, hey, we're not going to criminalize drugs anymore. Which has been an argument that's been out there for some time. Hey, just decriminalize it and things would be better. The number of people that I saw in San Francisco who were clearly on meth, Buck, and they have, like a certain walk. I didn't really even realize it, but they. Their bodies just carry themselves differently. All over the streets of San Francisco was staggering. And it's even worse, I think, in much of Seattle and Portland. Cut. C. Hey, guys, love the show.

[Clay Travis]

As far as pot. As someone who relocated from Seattle to Idaho the last five years, I can tell you that Seattle and Portland both have gone down the tubes. And it seems to coincide with the legalization and the uptick in pot in those in those towns. So there you go.

[Buck Sexton]

I mean, I think it is true that Portland in particular, I know this to be true, Was on track to get a major league baseball team, you might say major league baseball teams. What does that matter. The Major League Baseball is going to expand and they were going to wanted to put one on the west coast and one on the east coast. Ish Portland was going to be the choice. It has fallen apart to such a degree since COVID and with the legalization of drugs that Portland is going to lose a Major League baseball team and Salt Lake City is going to get it. And I think that is a significant impact. Just to give you one idea of something that would have gone a long way towards helping to put the team's the city's face on a national and international stage. Not going to happen anymore.

[Clay Travis]

I am sad that the Pacific Northwest cities at least have been overrun by the communist scourge. You know, San Fran, Seattle, Portland, these should all. They're great cities with really bad politics but they're all great cities and it's a shame that they can't have a bit of a wake up. Although San Francisco did get a did elect a mayor who is not crazy.

[Buck Sexton]

Daniel Lorry's been doing a better job, I think it's fair to say. I mean compared to the Brandon Johnson in Chicago and the mom Donnie in New York City, the crazy decisions that have been made by some left wing cities. I think things got bad enough in San Francisco that people decided they need to make changes. And I also think this is emblematic of the big tech world. A lot of these guys who just look at data said we're not going to allow this to happen anymore. I was out for the super bowl on Wednesday night. Our friend Colin Cowherd, who's also distributed by iHeart, was at his event. A bunch of business guys were there living in San Francisco. They came up and they said we absolutely love your shows. Like we love what you and Buck do. Talk more, do more. I mean it was awesome. We had a really good conversation. But there is, I think increasingly a demand for sanity in many of these cities. Now whether they can fulfill it or not remains to be seen. But I mean a small thing relatively speaking, like are you going to get a major League baseball team? Salt Lake City is better run than Portland and as a result they're going to get a Major League baseball team. I really do believe in the next few years. We'll be back to you with y' all for the Friday edition tomorrow. Thanks for hanging, speaking truth and having fun. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

[Clay Travis]

Foreign. This is an iHeart podcast.

[Buck Sexton]

Guaranteed Human.