Hour 3 - Keep Calm, This is Not World War III

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show – Hour 3: Keep Calm, This is Not World War III

Release Date: June 23, 2025
Hosts: Clay Travis and Buck Sexton
Description: Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics, and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with engaging conversations and opinions.

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1. Iran Missile Strikes and U.S. Response

[02:42] Clay Travis:
Clay opens the discussion addressing recent events where Iran fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar. He notes that all missiles were intercepted, resulting in no casualties. He contextualizes this as a potential retaliation following the U.S.'s deployment of B2 bombers.

Notable Quote:
"Iran fired ballistic missiles at a US base in Qatar. Fire so far reporting is that all the missiles that Iran fired have been intercepted. No injuries to speak of yet."
— Clay Travis [02:42]

[04:08] Karen Kilgariff:
Karen provides updates, mentioning that both Saudi Arabia and Qatar condemned the Iranian strikes. She further elaborates that Iran appears to be scaling back its aggressive stance, possibly leaving strategic decisions to Israel.

[24:28] Clay Travis:
Clay questions the next steps, particularly what former President Trump envisions for the situation. He expresses uncertainty about whether Trump seeks a deal that includes regime change or a path toward normalization under scrutiny.

2. New York City Mayor’s Race: Zoran Mamdani’s Controversial Candidacy

[04:59] Clay Travis:
Clay shifts focus to the New York City mayoral race, highlighting the Democratic dominance in the city. He expresses skepticism about incumbent Andrew Cuomo’s potential re-election, suggesting a "comeback theory" that may be shaky.

[06:02] Karen Kilgariff:
Karen critiques Cuomo's legacy, referencing his mishandling of COVID-19 and personal scandals, arguing that he might be the best option Democrats have, albeit far from ideal.

[09:42] Clay Travis:
Clay introduces Zoran Mamdani, a New York State Assemblyman leading in the polls with radical proposals like reducing traditional policing and introducing alternative bodies for law enforcement.

Notable Quote:
"It's like if Gavin Newsom was running for mayor of New York and he was up against a lunatic socialist. I guess Gavin Newsom would be a better choice too."
— Clay Travis [06:33]

[11:52] Zoran Mamdani:
Zoran Mamdani articulates his platform, proposing city-owned grocery stores to combat rising food prices. He emphasizes the need for lower prices without profit motives.

[12:56] Clay Travis:
Clay criticizes Mamdani’s plan, comparing government-run supermarkets to Cuba’s inefficient system and expressing concerns about unaccountable bureaucratic control over essential services.

[15:10] Clay Travis:
The discussion evolves to the economic implications of high state taxes in New York, highlighting the migration of high earners to states with no income tax like Florida and Texas, thereby draining resources from New York.

Notable Quote:
"If you're making a million dollars a year, you're saving 140 grand on your taxes. For a lot of people, that covers a lot of their living expense."
— Clay Travis [15:20]

3. U.S. Political Climate: Media, Trump, and World War III Narratives

[26:27] Clay Travis:
Clay addresses the hysteria surrounding claims of entering World War III, particularly criticizing figures like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene for fueling fear without substantial evidence.

Notable Quote:
"We are not entering World War Three, and nuclear war is not on the horizon."
— Clay Travis [33:37]

[35:22] Karen Kilgariff:
Karen reinforces the improbability of World War III by questioning the lack of allies for Iran, emphasizing that major powers like China and Russia are not supporting Iran in a way that would escalate to global conflict.

[36:04] Clay Travis:
Clay dismisses fears by pointing out that global powers remain disengaged from escalating Iran into a wider conflict, thereby debunking the notion that current events are leading toward a global war.

4. Listener Questions and Further Analysis

[27:42] Karen Kilgariff:
Karen responds to listener concerns about the impact of the Iran situation on oil prices, explaining that China's demand for Iranian oil might actually benefit them amidst sanctions, thereby stabilizing global oil prices.

[31:11] Karen Kilgariff:
Karen challenges the narrative that Iran could effectively relocate its nuclear materials under heavy surveillance, arguing that such actions would only simplify Israeli targeting efforts.

[33:34] Clay Travis:
Clay critiques the sensationalist rhetoric used by some political figures, arguing that it hinders rational discourse and creates unwarranted panic among the public.

5. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

[36:37] Clay Travis:
Clay concludes by urging restraint and informed analysis, emphasizing that hyperbolic claims of imminent global conflict are unfounded and serve only to create unnecessary fear.

[41:00] Clay Travis:
Clay wraps up the discussion by highlighting the importance of understanding geopolitical realities over succumbing to alarmist narratives.

[47:36] Karen Kilgariff:
Karen summarizes the current Middle Eastern tensions, reassuring listeners that the situation remains contained and catastrophic scenarios like World War III are highly unlikely.

[49:05] Clay Travis:
As the show winds down, Clay hints at future discussions while maintaining a calm perspective on current events, encouraging listeners to stay informed without panic.

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Closing Remarks:
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton emphasize the importance of maintaining composure amidst geopolitical tensions and political upheaval. They encourage listeners to critically evaluate sensationalist claims and focus on informed, rational discussions to navigate complex global issues.

Additional Notes:

• The episode includes discussions on domestic politics, particularly the New York City mayoral race, illustrating concerns about radical policy proposals and their economic repercussions.
• Analysis of media narratives and political rhetoric underscores the hosts' commitment to dispelling unfounded fears and promoting factual discourse.

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For listeners seeking an in-depth analysis of current events without the noise of advertisements and sensationalism, this episode provides valuable insights into geopolitical tensions and domestic political dynamics.

Transcript

[Host 1]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Host 1]

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[Clay Travis]

3 of clay and Buck kicks off right now. Just in case you're joining US and missed the first part of the show. Update here. Iran fired ballistic missiles at a US base in Qatar. Fire so far reporting is that all the missiles that Iran fired have been intercepted. No injuries to speak of yet. And it looks like Iran going through the motions on some form of retaliation after the US over the weekend had its B2 bombers, which I must say big winner over the weekend, the B2 bomber program. $2.4 billion a piece for those planes, but pretty impressive, pretty impressive what they.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Can do, fly from dudes flying those. And I know there was, we'll have some fun maybe at the end of the show with the boys in the planes or whatever. That turned into a controversy for the New York Times. You saw this but 37 hours, they start off going east, they confuse people, make them think that we're headed west and non stop fueling in the air pursuing.

[Clay Travis]

They got microwaves up there, they got a little lavatory facility and they're basically in this cockpit. You know, it's not, not deluxe accommodations but they, they're able to fly and deliver these strikes. They take off. I think the reports from Missouri, from air base in Missouri. So pretty amazing when you think about what the capabilities of the United States military are. And we saw them on display, no doubt.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I mean it was really, really incredible. Thanks to them. And again to update everybody out there because I know many of you may have family members serving in the Middle east, friends, it appears that Iran has effectively thrown in the towel on their response here. Reports that they fired the same number of missiles that we did, that they were all intercepted, no casualties so far. And the decision now will be back in the proverbial court of Donald Trump. Do we say, okay, this is, you know, we attacked their nuclear weapons abilities, we wiped them largely out. Iran has basically uttered a face saving gesture of response and we're now going to step back and let Israel do as they see fit. Like we'll see. The ball's back in our court. I think it's fair to say yes.

[Clay Travis]

So now we can take a moment because there's not much in the way of updates on the Iran situation. Now we can take a moment, I think to look at the mayor's race in New York City just as we are on the eve of the primary there. As you know, New York is a very much a Democrat enclave. Something like 80% to 80% of voters in the five boroughs vote Democrat, give or take. And so if you win the Democrat primary, you're going to be the next mayor of New York. I think that is clear. And they have ranked choice as well. So you put your number one and then your number two and your three, it's you go down this whole rabbit hole of ranked choice. Cuomo had been the candidate that Clay has been saying is going to win. Clay, I don't know. I don't know if he's going to win. It's looking a little shaky here. Your whole comeback theory might, you know.

[Karen Kilgariff]

It'S looking a little tough how bad your home city of New York City has gotten. That the best case scenario for the city at this point seems to be one of the worst governors during COVID who sent people into nursing homes to effectively die, who got everything wrong and had to resign in shame because of sexual harassment, is infinitely the best choice that Democrats could pick and that they actually have a far worse decision that may be made.

[Clay Travis]

This is like if Gavin Newsom was running for mayor of New York and he was up against a lunatic socialist. I guess Gavin Newsom would be a better choice too. I mean, Gavin Newsom and Cuomo to me are very similar on the. On the COVID record. Just both absolutely awful.

[Karen Kilgariff]

When you see this as a born and raised New York City resident who finally got fed up and moved to Miami, but you have a lot of family and friends in New York City.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Do you take it as validation for the fact that leaving was the right call, or you more resigned and sad that New York City could be in a position this bad?

[Clay Travis]

Both.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, both.

[Clay Travis]

I know half my family still lives in New York and in Manhattan. And you know, we have our studio in Manhattan, which you and I both make pilgrimages to on a regular basis. Not that regular New York tax man, but you know, once, once in a rare while in my case. But Clay is not so much on the radar. He never lived in New York. But I will say this. It's. He. Okay. This is a perfect. We need to describe this Mamdani guy. In a second. We'll give you some updates on who this guy is. Our friend Carol Markowitz, who's one of our podcast hosts in the Clay and Buck network. She's. Great show. Longtime New Yorker like me, moved to Florida like me also right around the same time I did. And she says because I like to tell stories about the old days in the early 90s where there was just crime everywhere, graffiti everywhere, people getting robbed, people getting mugged. Totally normal. No one even noticed people in my school. We had to get a security guard posted outside of my Catholic school on the Upper east side. Which is among, and at the time was definitely the nicest, I would argue, Upper West, Upper east parts of the city. Because so many kids, Clay, they're talking about grammar school kids were getting robbed, you know, by like young gang members were showing up and they were, you know, saying, run your pockets and take all your stuff. Anyway, it was crazy. I mean, I say this stuff out loud, no one believes you. Look at the numbers. You had 2,100 homicides in 1990, 1991, 2,100 homicides in New York City. Kara Markowitz said this, though it's brilliant insight. The difference between then and now is that then, even then, even Democrats agreed that crime was a bad thing that you want to get rid of. Now, they may have. It may have taken them too long to figure out how to do it, but they wanted to do it. Now I'm not so sure about that. Now I think that they've been convinced that the true leftist, socialist maniac Democrats out there, like this Mamdani guy, they think that crime is like the cry of the oppressed or something and that this is something that society just has to accept. And that is terrifying. I mean, here's. Let me give you an example. Here is Mamdani. This is back in. This is the guy who is now ahead in the polls to be mayor of New York. Ok? He's ahead of Cuomo, to be clear. As of today. This is back in 2020. New York State Assemblyman Zoran Mamdani play 36. Do you think that we have to almost do without policing in certain areas which are labeled to be high crimes.

[Host 1]

To have alternative bodies do the policing.

[Clay Travis]

And a more compassionate, more merciful, more social, you know, assisting and helping more than arresting and putting in jail.

[Zahran Mamdani]

I absolutely think that what we need to do is give support and funding to institutions that are trained to deal with these kinds of issues. As you said, if you're having an argument with someone and there's a risk of it escalating, who is better positioned to de escalate it? Someone who is well known in the community or someone who has been trained specifically in de escalation or a stranger who has a gun?

[Clay Travis]

Oh, yeah. Who. Who wants that job? Who wants to be the first? This is. So this is living in an alternate universe. But there was talk about this Violence Interrupters, they were calling this. We're going to have somebody who will negotiate between the gangs. No, the gangs are shooting each other over drug territory because that's what they do. And if you don't have A gun. They're going to shoot you too.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah. And look, this guy. I believe we have another cut. That just kind of gives you a sense of how crazy this guy is. And he may be the next mayor of New York City. But, and if you're wondering what, what's the timing on this, tomorrow is officially primary day. Right? I believe New York City staff, you guys can correct me if I'm wrong on this. Tomorrow is officially primary day. They have been doing early voting every day up to the 24th, and I believe tomorrow is Democrat primary day. So this is the day when everybody's going to go out and, and be making the decisions. Buck, this guy said that he wants to launch government run supermarkets in New York City if he's elected mayor. This is how crazy this guy is. This is mom, Donnie. And again, the primary is tomorrow. So this will be decided in short order. And there's the ranked choice, primary voting and everything else. So it's a messy situation, but a lot of you out there listening. This is the first major election that we will have seen since Trump was elected about six months ago. Here he is saying, hey, we need government run supermarkets like we're in Russia back in the 1980s.

[Zahran Mamdani]

Listen, grocery prices are out of control. The cost of eggs and milk has skyrocketed. Some stores are even using dynamic pricing, jacking up the cost over the course of a day, depending on what they can get away with. It doesn't need to be this way. I'm Zahran Mandani, and as mayor, I will create a network of city owned grocery stores. It's like a public option for produce. We will redirect city funds from corporate supermarkets to city owned grocery stores whose mission is lower prices, not price gouging. These stores will operate without a profit motive or having to pay property taxes or rent, and will pass on those savings to you.

[Clay Travis]

You know where you're really going to be able to trust the meat quality? You know where you're really going to be able to know that you're getting the best delivery of that produce and you can count on it. The dmv, grocery store. That's where you really want to be. You want unaccountable government bureaucrats to be in charge of picking the freshest fish to put out on the counter. That's going to work out great. Clay, this guy is offering people breadlines.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yes.

[Clay Travis]

And they're voting for it again.

[Karen Kilgariff]

This is why I think everybody should have to go walk through the streets of Cuba because you're down in South Florida. And a lot of our listeners have family in Cuba. Go see what government run supermarkets in Cuba look like. See what's available on the shelves. See what's available. See how long you have to stand in line to try and buy these products. This is the ad that he's running.

[Clay Travis]

It's an adage running now, but it's so stupid too. This is like when people complain about the gas stat. You've pointed this out. The profit margin on gas is tiny. The profit margin that grocery stores have to make, that they make is like 1 or 2%. But because they. Everyone has to buy groceries to live basically. If you're in a neighborhood where there are people, yes, you're going to make money. But this idea that the fat cats are somehow just extracting from everybody because they're. The price of eggs is the price of eggs because of the demand versus the supply. The idiot socialists who have no understanding of economics or history keep making these same arguments. This guy's backed by aoc, he's backed by Bernie Sanders. He's horrible on crime, he's horrible on the economy. I mean, everything that New York City needs help with, this guy is going to be a disaster on. And I just. Who is. But you know what? He'll be the first Muslim mayor of New York City. They can talk about diversity, they can talk about inclusion, and they can talk about caring about the poor while they. Oh, he wants to create 200,000 new housing units. Okay, how's that going to go? Where's that money going to come from? And what are those housing units going to be like? You know, you start to look at this, you know what? People generally don't get excited about living in government housing projects in New York. You know why? Because they're generally not very nice and they never increase in real estate value because they're projects.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Did you see what Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida said sharing a story about this guy's platform? This is going to be great for property values in Palm Beach.

[Clay Travis]

That's what the government is. Totally true. It's totally true. We're just going to keep it, you know, that New York has lost. I. What. Do you remember what the figure is? I think it was $13 billion is what I saw.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Oh, the percentage of people. And this is so important. And I think a lot of people still haven't recognized it. I live in Tennessee, you live in Florida. A lot of you out there live in Texas. When you have no state income tax, it makes a difference. If you make 75 or 80 or $100,000 a year. If you make $10 million a year or something like that, like a lot of these hedge fund and private equity guys do, you're talking about putting an extra million dollars in your pocket over the course of one year. And they found out now we can live anywhere. Why would we give that?

[Clay Travis]

This is also a way of saying, and you have to make even $10 million. I mean, you look at this, you know, let's. You're talking about New York City. It's 14% for a lot of people. If you're in, let's say you're making a million dollars a year, which isn't, you know, isn't as much as it used to be. But if you make a million dollars a year, you're saving 140 grand on your taxes. For a lot of people, that covers a lot of their living expense. So the state, it's like, Clay, imagine this. Well, you actually have the same thing. It's like the state of Tennessee is saying, hey Clay, you don't have to pay your rent, you don't have to pay for your food. We'll cover that for you if you live here. That's what it's like for people who leave New York to go to Texas, Tennessee, Florida.

[Karen Kilgariff]

In my neighborhood, Buck, the number of people that have abandoned Florida, that have abandoned Illinois, that have abandone New York over state and local taxes and actually can pay almost their entire mortgage just based off the money that they're saving on those taxes is massive. And the more money you have, the more flexibility you have to be able to live anywhere. So the people that New York's losing, that Illinois is losing, that California is losing, are the biggest taxpayers that are funding all of this crazy government expense. And at some point that becomes an issue, and I'm afraid New York City is starting to figure that out.

[Clay Travis]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

Clay Travis at Buck Sexton Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Host 2]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

Karen and Georgia from My favorite Murder thanks to Hyundai, we got to take a post show drive in the Ionic five.

[Host 1]

We had snacks, laughs and we even recorded a special episode featuring some unforgettable car themed stories.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Take a listen. The Montgomery Bus Boycott Success was dependent on the action and dedication of many individuals, of course, but today we're going to focus on the work of one of those people in particular. A woman in her 30s. And yes, I love her name. It's Georgia Gilmour.

[Host 1]

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[Karen Kilgariff]

Welcome back. In updating you on what's going on in the Middle East. Iran seems to have a few effectively laid down. They noticed, gave us notice in advance of their response. No American casualties on the ground. The Saudis have now condemned Iranian strikes on Qatar as Qatar also condemned Iranian attacks. I think it's really important here and we'll break down this for you more now that we can kind of start to think about what's going to happen next. But Buck, the Iranians are effectively isolated. The people out there who said, oh, look out, China's gonna come in, Russia's gonna come in, other Middle Eastern countries are gonna line up and there are gonna be real consequences if Israel attacks Iran, God forbid the United States gets involved. Seems like that hasn't happened at all. In fact, Iran has basically rolled over and is begging for the United States not to attack them anymore.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, like I said, we'll get into this and also some of your, some of your talkbacks and calls on the Iran issue here in just a moment. The, the remaining question though is I would want to know and you know, Trump will probably tell us because he's Trump. But what does Trump want next? He says he wants there to be a deal. Right. Because he's Trump, he wants a deal. Does that deal mean that the current Iranian regime, if they repent of their ways in some way post nuclear program, would be allowed to, you know, if there's a trust but verify in place, move more toward normalcy? Or is it, you know what, we need somebody else in charge here and good luck to you guys over in Iran. We're not doing it for you. That's what I don't have. Clarity. I don't think anyone has clarity on this yet. What comes next in Iran if current trends continue? Yeah.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And I think the big question is this is an Iranian decision. Do they look around and start to recognize again if they can get access to the Internet, if they can see how this is playing out, that after 46 years they have an impotent leadership that has lied to them about their ability to bring war to Israel and the United States and in fact, they got wrecked in one week. Look, I'm up in Michigan right now and it is fabulous up here. And our friends at Rapid Radios are based in the state of Michigan. They have built an Incredible business nationwide LTE coverage. Rapid radios 100% private, no monthly fees. The simplicity of walkie talkies with the great technology they hold a a charge for five days. Great. If you're worried it's hurricane season right now, see how that goes. Tornadoes, obviously you never know when those are going to arise. Why not get hooked up right now and give your family peace of mind with Rapidradios.com save 60% free UPS shipping from Michigan Code Radio for an extra 5% off. That's Rapid Radios.com code radio.

[Clay Travis]

All right, welcome back into Clay and Buck. We're taking a look at the now aftermath of the Iranian retaliatory missile strikes on a US Base in Qatar. And so far it was pretty much a non event. I mean so far as no casualties, no major destruction. The missiles were intercepted and the Iranians it is now reported coordinated like told America we're firing. So that really is then Clay assuming that's all true. It is like a stage managed response from the Mullers. And so we should continue to keep an eye on this. But it looks pretty pretty contained for now. Wanted to take some of your commentary thoughts into consideration here. Lines are open. 800-282-2882. We have I thought this was funny. VIP email from Brian. Liberals are against anyone having nuclear power anywhere except for Iran. It is funny. Very Iranian nuclear ambitions are sacred. Anybody else? Nuclear power is scary, right? But but Iranian nuclear stuff is sacred according to the libs.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I saw this and I thought this was kind of a checkmate on the argument against nuclear strikes strikes to prevent nuclear weapons. On our behalf by Trump they said oh now we're really in danger. There's no telling what Iran's going to do now. And my argument was well, if you think that Iran is a huge threat now, weren't they a way bigger threat with nuclear weapons? In other words, I would rather them if they're going to attack us have less effective weapons than more effective weapons. I thought that was kind of they were checkmating themselves with their own logic and they would say well now they're more likely to strike us. I actually think we have ensured and we're now seeing this that they don't have the ability to hit us with anything is the essence of this. And I mentioned it earlier if we could go back in time and Bill Clinton in 1994 I saw Rahm Emanuel say this could have a do over. He would have tried to Wipe out North Korea. They said Jimmy Carter got over there.

[Clay Travis]

Missile, missile program. Not the country, the missile program.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Yeah, yes, yeah, so, yeah, yeah, we don't want to kill you in North Korea, but yeah, like our other caller.

[Clay Travis]

Was like, hey, we bomb them and we bomb them again and we bomb them some more. It's like, hey buddy, it's a lot.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Of bombing, North Korea, nuclear weapons back in the 90s. If we could have restricted their access to them, that would have been a really good thing. And I think the lesson that we learned from that is we cannot allow these rogue dictator states to have access to nuclear weapons because it's logical for them to want them because it preserves their power. Because once you have them, Kim Jong Un, your point, basically has created a theocracy built around his father and, and that you have to bow down and worship him. We don't, it's not a good thing that they at some point could have a guy just decide to bomb a nuclear weapon there, but we don't have the ability to take him out now and to take out their nuclear weapons. We can't allow Iran to be the equivalent of North Korea in the decades to come.

[Clay Travis]

Let's do a talk back here from Brian in Worcester, Massachusetts. This is Talkback Dd hi, Buck. Brian from Worcester, Mass. I just wanted to get your take on. You have these leftist journos out there this weekend saying that, oh, Iran, because Trump telegraphed it so soon, Iran actually moved most of their enriched uranium out of those sites and they still all have it. I mean, I don't believe that, but I'm just wondering what your analysis is on where they're getting that intel, quote unquote from and what you think the, the truthfulness of it is. Thanks. Yeah, I don't, I don't buy that. And here's why the Israelis have this whole place mic'd up. Okay. This is one thing that we know. If, if they know where to put the tactical missile strike in an apartment building so that it only kills the nuclear scientist. You are not about to believe, I don't think anyone should believe, that they would allow the evacuation of the most sensitive material from the sites that are going to be completely saturated with intel, surveillance coverage, all of that. Right. So I do not, I do not buy. Yeah, did they try to get some stuff out of there? I'm sure. But I do not buy that they were able to salvage their nuclear program with some last minute trucks and that the Israelis who are flying constant airstrikes, let that just work.

[Karen Kilgariff]

That's the key. Just logically think through this. If you know that's a nuclear site and suddenly you bring the nuclear site out of the bunkers to put it onto trucks and Israel has complete air superiority, you're actually making their job easier. So the logic of that argument doesn't stand up to your point, Buck, because Israel would just wipe out the trucks filled with the nuclear armaments. And it would be way easier to do that than have to go into the side of a mountain like we had to do with the bunker busting bombs.

[Clay Travis]

Also imagine that's your job. It's like you, you have to move the enriched uranium.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Last week, Buck, I was saying I don't know whether Iran had pulled all their guys out, but can you imagine going into the four Dow the side of the mountain for the last few weeks when at any moment you know that the US could decide to just wipe you out? That's like the worst job in the world. And I hope for those guys credit or safety. I don't want anybody to get killed who doesn't have to get killed. I hope Iran didn't have them still going into the mountain just waiting for the bunker busting bomb to come in and wipe them out. I mean that's a kind of a, that's a tough, that's a tough gig.

[Clay Travis]

Some, some folks on the right are gonna, I think, have to take a, take a little bit of, of a moment to collect themselves, maybe even take a chill pill and calm down about some of this stuff. I've seen some really bad analysis of this from some. You're like, well, why, you know, why don't I name. It's not about naming individuals. And people can see what others have said. And I'm not, I'm not about, and neither is Clay taking shots at or undermining anybody on the right. Certainly in the commentary sphere, politicians we have to hold to account. So sometimes we're going to get a little salty about what a Republican senator is voting for, whatever. But other people that are commenting, they have their audiences and they have what they do. But that's all a way of saying Marjorie Taylor Greene here saying that we are entering World War three and nuclear war. She needs to calm down. That's actually not what we are doing right now. Play 37. Six months in, six months in, Steve. And here we are turning back on the campaign promises.

[Karen Kilgariff]

And we bombed Iran on behalf of Israel.

[Clay Travis]

Yes, it was on behalf of Israel. We are entering a nuclear war, World War three, because the entire world is going to, erupt, and you want to know the people that are cheering it on right now, their tune is going to drastically change the minute we start.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Seeing flag draped coffins on the nightly news. On Fox News that brainwashes all the.

[Clay Travis]

Baby boomers and on cnn that brainwashes all the Democrat baby boomers. And that is exactly how this is going to go down. That's, that is not how this is going to go down. I'm not saying, look, we've left open, I said that this thing could change overnight. There could be something that happens and there's an issue and we have to handle it. But what she's saying is that somehow Donald Trump would have to be so inept, poor decision making, lacking in strategic vision, that as commander in chief, he would allow us to get drawn into a situation where the entire world at some level, right, I mean, not every country, but where many countries are at war with us over this earth. That's crazy town stuff. And I can say that very confidently. And if I end up being wrong, well, who will care? Because it'll be the middle of World War iii. It's reckless to say this stuff. It's okay to say we shouldn't strike Iran. Well, we already have. So that's, you know, I don't begrudge anybody there. I don't agree with the strike. I don't, you know, cuz bad things are gonna happen. But when you're claiming that we're in the midst now, or rather we're entering World War Three and nuclear war, you're saying crazy stuff that is scaring people and preventing sober assessment of what's going on and adult conversation about what should happen now. So I very much disagree with Congresswoman Taylor Greene's assessment here to the point where I think she sounds like a jackass and it's not a good thing to be doing.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I would just say pretty straightforwardly, World War 3 requires that Iran have an ally. Can you name one country that has lined up behind Iran? This is where I think that there has not been enough pointing this out. The Middle Eastern countries want Israel to do this, right? They may say again publicly, oh, Israel's like, what? Saudi Arabia wants Iran to not have nuclear weapons. The uae, Qatar, all of them agree with what we did and what Israel is doing there. Even China and Russia haven't said a word hardly in defense of Iran.

[Clay Travis]

This is also like, think about this, you think the Chinese give a crap about what happens to Iran? They do not. Okay, the Chinese, the Chinese Communist Party doesn't care about what's happening to Chinese people for the most part, okay, they definitely don't care about a few nuclear sites getting hit in Iran. Whatever their diplomats say, no one's even going to remember tomorrow. And their diplomats are just hoping they don't get thrown into some dark cell and tortured to death by Xi Jinping. So, yeah, it's not, this is not some, there's no way. It's just crazy.

[Karen Kilgariff]

If anything, China is looking at this and saying, oh, maybe we need to reconsider invading Taiwan.

[Clay Travis]

I knew he was going to go Taiwan. Clay one up on Taiwan. I knew.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I'm just saying I don't know what would happen because we have the strategic ambiguity perspective as it pertains to what we would do if China tried to take Taiwan. But I definitely think that the Chinese noticed. Holy crap. The US Flew all around the world, wrecked the nuclear capabilities of Iran and the Iranians didn't even know we were in their airspace. Maybe the US has got military capabilities that would be a threat and maybe they would stand up for Taiwan.

[Clay Travis]

Well, maybe also just bring it back to Trump and the World War Three and all these conversations that are going on right now. By the way. I think very few people are actually making the case. There's some big voices that are saying it, but we're not, we're not on the World War Three or, you know, a long way from, from anything that would require or that should involve that level of. It's hysteria. Okay, that's hysteria. That's not, that's not what's going on here. Maybe Trump has learned the lesson, though. You know, it's amazing to me some of the people that have turned and again, MTG is a member of Congress, so I've a little more. But some of the people on the right that I'm seeing and including some that honestly look, I like and think are really good on a lot of stuff. They're not good on this. And I think in part it's, they've gone too far in the direction of, you know, everything. Everything now is the Iraq war and WMD lies. Everything is, is a 20 year war in Afghanistan that ends up with the Taliban coming back into power. It's like, well, you know, we've seen that there are plenty of things that happen that don't result in this. And just because whether it's, you know, airstrikes in Syria, which by the way, Trump did in the first Trump administration, nobody even remembers them. That's all you have to know about how much mission creep there was There no one even remembers these missile strikes that we did remember this. There was talk about chemical weapons usage, which now there's a lot of debate over whether that even happened. Put that aside. I think Trump maybe did learn the lesson, though, Clay. And the lesson is you could hit people and then use hitting them as part of the framework of understanding of you want to get hit again or not behave. You don't actually have to remember the Colin Powell thing of, you know, if you break it, you buy it or whatever. I mean, that was his. That was his witticism that caught on with so many people. No, actually, just because you bomb nuclear reactors doesn't mean you have to have 82nd Airborne landing on the outskirts of Tehran, seizing the airfields and being in charge of, like, Iranians plumbing for the next 10 years. Like, we don't actually have to do that. Trump's not going to do that. I mean, that's what I see from all this. I think the lesson has been learned.

[Karen Kilgariff]

The other thing I would say here, some of you are saying, okay, how does this impact my pocketbook price of oil down 7 1/2% as I am talking to you, down $5.50. I was talking about this with Buck off air. If the big concern had been, oh, the straight of four moves, how is this going to impact the overall price of oil? You know, where most of Iran's oil goes? China. So the last thing that China wants is Iranian oil fields getting attacked because it increases the cost of their oil and gas, which is about 2% of the overall population, overall supply. But overwhelmingly, China benefits from discounted Iranian oil and gas because of the sanctions that are in place. So again, a lot of this, the, the analysis here has not been sophisticated and I think it builds on this Buck. It's just an overall expectation of catastrophe. Everywhere. Sometimes catastrophe happens. But if you expect all the time for everything to end in catastrophe, most of the time you are going to be wrong. And again, I think what we are seeing in the reaction from Iran is it's very muted. It's nowhere near World War Three. And I would just say if you expect World War three to happen, you have to name at least one significant country that is willing to go to war to protect Iran. I don't think there's even one of them, just FYI.

[Clay Travis]

Yeah, I mean, you think the Russians have a lot of extra manpower to throw into situations. The Russians have had to bring North Koreans to come help them out, and that's for a fight that is very central to the Putin Russian Kremlin ethos. So people, look, you do need to know something about something to have a lot of ideas about that thing. And there are a lot of people out there right now who don't know nothing about nothing, all right? And they're really, really flapping their gums on this stuff in ways that I think are unhelpful. Again, they're entitled to, America. Entitled to. I just think they don't know what they're talking about. So it's. I'm also entitled to say that, you know, we are on a talk radio show. Online scammers are tricking Americans with fake passport renewal websites. But instead of getting a new passport, they're finding out that their online information has been stolen. Remember, there's only one official government site for applying for passports. It's important to understand how cyber crime and identity theft are affecting our lives. Just like it's important that you rely on Lifelock for online identity theft protection. They've been at it for two decades, helping tens of millions of Americans, including Clay and me, from online identity theft. Look, there are a lot of places that can accidentally expose your information. It can happen to the best of companies if there's a data breach. That's why LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second for risks to your identity. And if you do become a victim of identity theft, a dedicated US based restoration specialist will fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Easy. To help protect yourself with LifeLock, join now. Save 40% off your first year with My Name Buck as your promo code. Call 1-800-LIFELOCK or go online to lifelock.com and use promo code Buck for 40 off terms apply.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Making America great again isn't just one man, it's many. The Team 47 podcast Sundays at noon Eastern in the Clay and Buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Georgia Hardstark]

Edu hey, it's Karen and Georgia from My favorite Murder. Thanks to Hyundai, we got to take a post show drive in the Ionic five.

[Host 1]

We had snacks, laughs and we even recorded a special episode featuring some unforgettable car themed stories.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Take a listen. The Montgomery Bus Boycott Success was dependent on the action and dedication of many individuals. Of course, today we're going to focus on the work of one of those people in particular, a woman in her 30s and yes, I love her name. It's Georgia Gilmore.

[Host 1]

Oh yes. Today's story is centered on a group of courageous women dedicated on taking down Hitler during World War II. They banded together to form an all female ambulance corps which became the first unit of its kind to join an official combat division on the Western front. This is the story of the Rochambeau Group, best known by their nickname, the Rochambelles. Oh my God, right? This episode is brought to you by the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5.

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[Karen Kilgariff]

Welcome back in Closing Up Shop Monday edition of the program just to reinforce if you happen to just be getting in your car. Iran has responded. No casualties, no bombs reached the ground, shot down and they appear to be saying basically we're done. So World War 3 does not appear likely to have happened. We will continue to update you on this. I'm sure there's going to be more drama in the Middle East. Want to say this. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is the 40 year anniversary of Buck and I starting this show and.

[Clay Travis]

Look, we I hope you got me something nice.

[Karen Kilgariff]

I did not get you anything nice because I'm not good at gifts. But we consider it a gift every single day to get to talk to all of you and we have had a lot of experiences already with you. Hope to have many more. I am up here. By the way, I wanted to say thanks to WTCM News Talk 580, one of our new affiliates. Huge audience, Traverse City, Michigan. My wife is from Michigan. We're up here for the week and we love all of you all over the place but WTCM 580 news talk new affiliate here. Thanks for having me in studio but good to have you back stateside and we will be continuing to break down all of the absolute latest on this but good sign today. It appears that much of the angst has been dialed down.

[Clay Travis]

Dive into this and more tomorrow. Everybody. Thanks for hanging I'm going to go drink some tea with honey.

[Host 2]

And here we have a specimen from the early 2000s, a legacy investing platform.

[Karen Kilgariff]

Please don't touch the exhibit folks.

[Host 2]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

Georgia from My Favorite Murder. Thanks to Hyundai, we got to take a post show drive in the Ionic five.

[Host 1]

We had snacks, laughs and we even recorded a special episode featuring some unforgettable car themed stories.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Take a listen. I'm going to tell you a story today, Karen. It's about a pivotal role that cars played in none other than the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

[Host 1]

Okay, well, yes, it's right there in the title, right? This episode is brought to you by the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5.

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[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Clay Travis]

Thanks dad.

[Karen Kilgariff]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

You see a headline but don't have time to read the whole story. Or there's so much news you're not sure what is worth your time. Colby I'm Colby Ekowicz, co host of Post Reports, the weekday afternoon podcast from the Washington Post. Post Reports brings you what's relevant and revealing. Breaking stories, politics, wellness, culture. Each episode goes beyond a headline for the context you need. Find Post Reports now, wherever you're listening.

[Host 1]

This is an iHeart podcast.